Wednesday | 10 December 2025
In the Scriptures, the term ‘rest’ refers to an inheritance that is given by God. He called it ‘My rest’. Psa 95:11. This inheritance is promised to those who receive God’s initiative to make them His people. For example, the land of Canaan was an inheritance that was given to the nation of Israel. It had been promised to their fathers, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. The Lord said to the children of Israel, ‘I will bring you into the land which I swore to give to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob; and I will give it to you as a heritage [inheritance]: I am the Lord.’ Exo 6:8.
The ‘promised land’ symbolised citizenship of an everlasting kingdom as a son of God. This inheritance will be obtained in full on the day of resurrection. At this time, having been made in the image and likeness of God through the process of adoption, the sons of God will receive a spiritual body and will live in fellowship with Yahweh, forever. This will be the consummation of the ‘promise of the Spirit’, identified by the apostle Paul as the ‘blessing of Abraham’. Gal 3:13‑14. The Lord described this promise to Abraham, saying to him, ‘Look now toward heaven, and count the stars if you are able to number them … so shall your descendants be.’ Gen 15:5.
Abraham recognised that the true inheritance that was promised to him and his children, in Christ, was eternal citizenship of a heavenly city. Significantly, the Scriptures describe this place of eternal abiding as ‘Beulah land’, meaning ‘the land of marriage’. Isa 62:4. Abraham’s understanding of this promise was highlighted by the apostle Paul, who noted that Abraham dwelt in tents in the land of promise ‘for he waited for the [bride] city which has foundations, whose Builder and Maker is God’. Heb 11:10.
Further Study:
Hebrews 3
References:
Psa 95:11
So I swore in My wrath, ‘They shall not enter My rest.’
Exo 6:8
And I will bring you into the land which I swore to give to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob; and I will give it to you as a heritage: I am the LORD.
Gal 3:13-14
Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law, having become a curse for us (for it is written, ‘Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree’), that the blessing of Abraham might come upon the Gentiles in Christ Jesus, that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith.
Gen 15:5
Then He brought him outside and said, ‘Look now toward heaven, and count the stars if you are able to number them.’ And He said to him, ‘So shall your descendants be.’
Isa 62:4
You shall no longer be termed ‘Forsaken’, nor shall your land any more be termed ‘Desolate’; but you shall be called Hephzibah, and your land Beulah; for the LORD delights in you, and your land shall be married.
Heb 11:10
For he waited for the city which has foundations, whose Builder and Maker is God.