Robert Broyles

Hebrews 4 Verse 1: "Therefore, since the promise of entering his rest still stands, let us be careful that none of you be found to have fallen short of it."

In the preceding chapter the unbelieving Jews couldn't enter the promised land because of their unbelief. See Heb 3:19. Are we to assume then that an entrance into the promised land is "His rest"? No! Why? Because the book of Hebrews (probably written by Paul) was written well after the exodus. What then does "His rest" refer to?

Verse 2: "For we (i.e, we who have believed) also have had the gospel proclaimed to us, just as they did (i.e., the Jews of the exodus); but the message they heard was of no value to them, because it was not united by faith in those who heard. 3 For we who have believed enter that rest...."

Note verse 3: We who have believed enter "His rest"! Clearly accepting the gospel is the same as entering God's rest. But again, from what did God rest?

verse 4: "For He (God) has said somewhere concerning the seventh day: 'And God rested on the seventh day from all His works'"

What is Paul referring to? Genesis 2:1-3 But what does the Sabbath of Genesis have to do with the gospel? There's one common denominator and that is that God rested the 7th-day from both His work of creation and His work of redemption.

However, the subject in Hebrews chapter 4 is "the gospel" ("His rest") and not creation. Why did God rest the 7th-day from His work concerning the gospel? Well, what is the gospel? Is it not the birth, life, death and resurrection of Christ? Yes!

The question is what part of God's work through Christ legally redeemed the fallen race to Him? Was it not the death of Christ on the cross?

According to Rom 5:9 We "have been justified by His blood". What does that mean? It means that we have been justified by His life laid down in death. That is, we have been "reconciled to God through the death of His Son." Rom 5:10 Why? Because Christ's death is our death. See Rom 6:6; Rom 7:4 and 2 Cor 5:14. 

What did Christ cry out just before He died late Friday afternoon? "It is finished" John 19:30 What was finished? God's work of redemption "in Christ Jesus".

Now when did Christ die? Turn to Luke 23:54 "It was the preparation day, and the Sabbath was about to begin". Christ died just before the Sabbath began. Keep in mind the Bible recons a day from sunset to sunset. 

What did God the Father do? He rested the 7th-day from His redemption "in Christ Jesus"! 

Hebrew 4:9 "So there remains a Sabbath rest (Greek: sabbatismos - "a keeping of the Sabbath") for the people of God. 10 For the one who has entered His rest (i.e., has accepted the gospel) has himself also rested from his works, as God did from His (on that 7th-day about 2000 years ago)."

April 14 2018 • 0 responses • Vote Up • Share • Report

Tim Maas Retired Quality Assurance Specialist with the U.S. Army

In my opinion, the "rest" spoken of in the passage cited in the question is not a state of inactivity or slumber, but represents the sense of fulfillment, satisfaction, or accomplishment that occurs after achieving or completing an objective toward which one has been laboring or striving. 

In the case of God, this "rest" occurred when God had completed His creative work during the six days described in Genesis 1.

In the case of the Israelites after leaving Egypt, this rest was represented by the ceasing of their forty years of nomadic wandering in the wilderness, and their ultimate possession of the land that God had previously promised to Abraham. God said that those who rebelled against Him during those wanderings would not enter that rest.

For believers in Christ, that rest will occur when their earthly lives are over, and they spend eternity in God's presence, and do not have to contend any longer with the fallen world system, their own sinful flesh, and the workings of the devil that hindered their fellowship with God during their lives.

April 15 2018 • 1 response • Vote Up • Share • Report