Chapter 4 of Hebrews is the conflict between the tree of the knowledge of good and evil and the Tree of Life condensed into one chapter. Within this beautiful chapter’s riches, we find the conflict defined and the answer made plain.
When Eve began to doubt God’s word, she failed to resist the lies of the serpent. Once doubt (unbelief) got a hold of Eve, sin followed. Why? When Satan caused Eve to question the goodness of God by telling her that God was withholding what was best from her, she was left with only herself to rely on.
As with Eve, relying on ourselves is not just hard, sweaty work, it leads to spiritual death. Lives of self-dependence and sweaty work are due to our knowledge of good and evil. This is not the rest God had intended for His beloved.
Then to Adam He said, “Because you have listened to the voice of your wife, and have eaten from the tree about which I commanded you, saying, ‘You shall not eat from it’; Cursed is the ground because of you; In toil you will eat of it All the days of your life. Both thorns and thistles it shall grow for you; And you will eat the plants of the field; By the sweat of your face You will eat bread, Till you return to the ground, Because from it you were taken; For you are dust, And to dust you shall return.” Genesis 3:17-19
From the beginning, the end of God’s labor has been rest. This rest was denied to us the day we chose the knowledge of good and evil. Only now, through Christ, has rest been repurchased and the offer of rest made once again.
So there remains a Sabbath rest for the people of God. For the one who has entered His rest has himself also rested from his works, as God did from His. Therefore let us be diligent to enter that rest, so that no one will fall, through {following} the same example of disobedience. Hebrews 4:9-11
Think back…
The day you gave your life to Christ you entered into this rest. The peace you enjoyed was that all was at rest with your soul. Sabbath rest became much more than a day of the week to observe. Sabbath rest became a lifestyle of dependant relationship with God. Your trust and fellowship with God was pure and unfettered. Your time in prayer and Bible study was time with your lover. Sin became to you as unattractive as a ball and chain. What happened? What changed? The Apostle Paul wrote about this problem when he wrote to the churches of Galatia:
Are you so foolish? Having begun by the Spirit, are you now being perfected by the flesh? Galatians 3:3
Like the evil serpent, our knowledge of good and evil comes sneaking around and speaks doubt, “salvation can’t be free, what good are you doing for God? You are evil if you don’t do something…”
This battle between rest in the Spirit and works of the flesh continues within each of us. Others will often tempt us to doubt the finished work of Christ. They often use shame to motivate works and, if we let it, the process begins: shame, works, and then death. We feel this death in several ways: loss of peace and joy, besetting sin and loss of His presence. Some of us will push on and on until, at last, our joy and strength are gone; we are burnt out. Others will begin to idolize their own good works and become proud like the Pharisees.
In contrast, works that arise from our relationship of dependence on the Tree of Life come naturally as we abide in Him. In addition, they’re “easy and their burden is light.” The power to perform these works is promised and given. Even in the midst of persecution, the grace the disciples experienced allowed them to go their way rejoicing. In this state, and only then, do we become true co-laborers with Him and can trust that the fruit will be living fruit.