True Rest- Hebrews 10:11-18

Having informed us of the necessity of offering our bodies as living sacrifices, ready and willing to do the will of the Father just as Jesus was, the writer of Hebrews then proceeds to tell us of the fruit which this decision to be a living sacrifice will produce in our lives. He begins in verse 11, by reminding us that the sacrifices of the Old Testament were not permanent but needed to be repeated over and over, that the Old Testament system involved a life of “work” and could not provide rest. He then tells us, in verse 12, that after His sacrifice Jesus “sat down at the right hand of God”. He informs us of this in order to help us understand the life of “rest” which becoming a living sacrifice brings, that this brings a rest from our search for meaning and purpose, that like Jesus we may “sit down” while still “working” (John 5:17). What all of this means is that as we offer our bodies as living sacrifices, we discover exactly how each of us as individuals are meant to uniquely reflect the image and likeness of God to the world, and we do so as we live out our unique purpose, as we discover who we are and what God has created us to do. We enter a life of rest from our search for meaning and purpose, and we then “work” to live out that God given purpose for our lives. He then tells us, in verse 13, that as we do so, we place our enemies more and more “under our feet”, that those things which keep us from living out our God given purpose are gradually overcome as we offer our bodies as living sacrifices. He next informs us that the sacrifice of Jesus has “made perfect forever” those who accept its benefits. The phrase “made perfect forever” is the Greek teteleioken eis to dinekes. The Greek word teteleioken is the perfect active indicative of teloo. This word refers to one who fulfills his purpose, who does what he is intended to do, and the phrase eis to dinekes carries the idea of something that is continual or perpetual. What all of this means is that those who come to Christ are given once for all the ability to see and continually live out their God given purpose. The phrase translated as “those who are being made holy” is one word in the Greek, the present participle of hagiazo . This word is translated as “holy”, and refers to something which is set apart for God’s service, as something which belongs to God. So what the writer is saying in using this Greek terminology is that the once for all sacrifice of Christ has enabled those who come to Him to live out their God given purpose, to become more and more set apart for His service, to belong more and more to Him. The writer then tells us that the Holy Spirit is given to us to help us discover and live out this purpose and to enter into a life of rest (verse 14). The coming of the Holy Spirit also involves a change of heart and mind in the believer, that each of us is given firstly the desire to offer our bodies a living sacrifice, and secondly the ability to see what this means for each of us, to understand what our God given purpose is, and that we only fulfill this purpose as we offer our bodies like Jesus did. He then concludes, in verses 17-18, by reminding us that the once for all sacrifice of Jesus has dealt fully and finally with our transgressions and shortcomings, that we no longer require the sacrifice of another to atone for past transgressions and shortcomings, and that the “sacrifice” of the New Covenant involves the offering of our bodies as living sacrifices for current and future obedience. So what we find here, then, is that the writer of Hebrews here encourages all who have accepted the forgiveness provided by the sacrifice of Christ to enter the life of “rest” which this acceptance provides. He desires that all of us would “dig out our ears”, that we would offer ourselves in service to God as Jesus did, and in doing so discover and live out our God given purpose, to enter the rest which produces valuable and productive work, which leads us to work while resting as Jesus does.