"For we who have believed do enter into the rest.. although the works were finished from the foundation of the world. For He spoke in a certain place of the seventh day in this way: "And God rested the seventh day from all His works." ..there remains a rest to the people of God. For he who has entered into his rest, he also has ceased from his own works, as God did from His." (Hebrews 4:3-10 MKJV)

==================================&&&&&&&=========================================

Click here for Part 2

It was never the End => God had a plan for the redemption and restoration of man(Genesis 3:14-15). He created us to live in His rest(Hebrews 4:9), where in Him we live and move and have our being(Acts 17:28), enjoying His wonderful abundant provision in righteousness, peace and joy(Romans 14:17). This in the abundant life of which Jesus spoke(John 10:10). The New Covenant was designed to bring us into that rest and to abide therein forever.

1. "Christ arrives right on time..He presented himself for this sacrificial death..God put his love on the line for us by offering his Son in sacrificial death while we were of no use whatever to him. Now that we are set right with God by means of this sacrificial death, the consummate blood sacrifice, there is no longer a question of being at odds with God in any way. If, when we were at our worst, we were put on friendly terms with God by the sacrificial death of his Son, now that we're at our best, just think of how our lives will expand and deepen by means of his resurrection life! Now that we have actually received this amazing friendship with God..We sing and shout our praises to God through Jesus, the Messiah!" (Romans 5:6-11 MSG)

2. "..Jesus'.. working from a far better plan. If the first plan--the old covenant--had worked out, a second wouldn't have been needed. But we know the first was found wanting..God said,..I'll throw out the old plan I set up with their ancestors..This new plan I'm making with Israel isn't going to be written on paper, isn't going to be chiseled in stone; This time I'm writing out the plan in them, carving it on the lining of their hearts. I'll be their God, they'll be my people. They won't go to school to learn about me..They'll all get to know me firsthand, the little and the big, the small and the great. They'll get to know me by being kindly forgiven, with the slate of their sins forever wiped clean. By coming up with a new plan, a new covenant between God and his people, God put the old plan on the shelf. And there it stays, gathering dust." (Hebrews 8:6-13 MSG)

Putting God to work again(The New Creation) => God invested everything we would ever need in Christ(Ephesians 1:3). He fulfilled all the righteousness of the law(Matthew5:17). Christ paid for every sin, past, present and future, once and for all and paid the price to buy us back from satans control into God's kingdom(Colossians 1:12-14). Christ then took on our sin, died and suffered the hell we deserved and then God raised Him up to eternal life never to die again(Romans 6:2-11). Jesus then declared "it is finished"(John 19:30) . This signaled the end of the new creation provision, and the beginning of the final rest. God put out His word that all who believe in Christ as their means of salvation, will experience the new birth. God is back sitting down and Christ at His right hand(1 Peter 3:21-22), extending a final invitation to enter into the rest of His finished work.

1. "..Christ; in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge..in Him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily. And you are complete in Him, who is the Head of all principality and power," (Colossians 2:2-10 MKJV)

2. "But when the Messiah arrived, high priest of the superior things of this new covenant, he bypassed the old tent and its trappings in this created world and went straight into heaven's "tent"--the true Holy Place--once and for all. He also bypassed the sacrifices consisting of goat and calf blood, instead using his own blood as the price to set us free once and for all." (Hebrews 9:11-12 MSG)

3. "..we see..that anyone united with the Messiah gets a fresh start, is created new. The old life is gone; a new life burgeons! Look at it! All this comes from the God who settled the relationship between us and him..God put the world square with himself through the Messiah, giving the world a fresh start by offering forgiveness of sins.." (2 Corinthians 5:17-19 MSG)

God has never given up on His eternal purpose, of a "..family in heaven and earth.." (Ephesians 3:15 KJV)

Selah

(To be continued..)

Click here for Part 4

To view others instalments in the series, click here