perseverance vs disobedience

Let us therefore strive to enter that rest, so that no one may fall by the same sort of disobedience.​ Hebrews 4:11

This verse contrasts the goal of perseverance with the threat of disobedience. Real faith will persevere. Unbelief will disobey God. That is the point of this exhortation. It calls the Jewish believers in its audience to remember the history of the Old Covenant. God delivered His people Israel out of Egypt only to have them turn away from Him, grumble, complain, disbelieve, and disobey Him. The result was that an entire generation fell dead in the wilderness. They would never find rest in the Promised Land.

The possibility exists for those in the Hebrews original readership to similarly fail with a false profession of faith. In a climate for the original audience of dual persecution (Rome actively attacked Christians, Jewish authorities and families rejected Christians) the original audience might choose to reject Jesus even as they found the gospel initially attractive. Doing so would be a rejection of the rest (eternal life) offered only in Christ. It would show itself in the disobedience of turning from the gospel and returning to ineffective works-based efforts that Jesus fulfilled and ended with His perfect high-priestly sacrifice of Himself.

Jesus,

You call us to persevere in Your perfect work for us. We believe. You empower us to love You and live for You. This is in spite of all that may lure us away from faith. How can we turn away? In this Advent season we celebrate You, Lord Jesus, the gift of God for our salvation. We sing of You as “King and God and sacrifice”.

I long for Your rest, my Lord! I am closer to the end of my days than I am to the prime of my days. And as I keep seeing my mortal decay, feeling it in my body, accepting it in my soul, I also witness the world spinning into the chaos of evil. I feel the brokenness evident even in what I love most in life. I feel loss after loss as the result of all this brokenness, and I long for Your rest to make the pain end and pour the eternal beauty and joy of You to fill my weary soul. I hold to the promise of Your rest… there by Your side with loved ones already home there. I will soon know what I now believe! Faith will be sight as I persevere to the end. Until I am in such glory, I say now… Amen.