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THE SUPREMACY OF CHRIST

About Moses

The Rest of God

Hebrews 4:1-13

Following the previous illustration about the discipline of God, we are warned to take care lest someone among us has failed to achieve the promise of the rest of God, as it remains in force, not having yet been entirely fulfilled. We hear the Gospel just as the Israelites in the desert heard the good news about the promised land. But only listening did not bring benefit to them, nor will it to us: it is also necessary to believe in the Word of God. All those who call themselves Christians should ensure that they are not failing to achieve the goal of having faith. If their profession of faith is not genuine, they run the danger of straying and adhering to some religious or profane system that cannot save.

The central concept of this text is the rest of God, and if it is not understood, the interpretation of this chapter becomes a minefield, loaded with theological explosives hidden in almost all verses. The interpretations of this concept have been almost as varied as the warning passages, so that they have given the interpretation of the concept itself. Before presenting the various points of view, it would be useful to collect and summarize the facts about the rest of God that can be inferred from this text:

1. The noun katapausis, "rest", is employed in seven verses (3:11,18, 4:1,3,5,10,11) and the verb katapauo, "to rest", in three (4:4,8,10). A third word sabbatismos linked to them, "celebration of the Sabbath", is used once (4:9), this being its only appearance in the New Testament (recognized for the first time in ancient Greek literature). These three words are employed in this book about a single concept: the rest of God.

2. It is the rest of God, because three times in this text God calls it "my rest" (3:11, 4:3,5). This is the prototypical rest of God where he has remained since He ceased his work of creation (Genesis 2:2). This rest is available and is offered to believers.

3. The rest of God was partly given to the Israelites when they entered the promised land; however, it embraces much more (4:7,8).

4. The rest of God is still available through faith in Christ, and is something to be enjoyed in the present and in anticipation of the future (4:1-11).

5. This availability ends for those who listen to the preaching of the Gospel of Christ, but do not believe (4:2), just as it did for the generation of Israelites in the exodus, because of their unbelief (3:19).

There are four main interpretations for what is meant by "entry into the rest of God":

1. The enjoyment of the land. This is the concept of katapausis, "rest", based on the promise for the generation of the Exodus, represented by its entry into Canaan, where Israel would enjoy rest and security against their enemies (Deuteronomy 12:9,10). This interpretation corresponds only to a part of what is meant by "God's rest". Joshua provided a part, and this rest did not end with him, but was still available at the time of David (4:7,8), and is still available now, because it was never fully accomplished. The purpose of this book to the Hebrews is to encourage Jewish believers into the fullness of the rest. Although already enjoying their citizenship on Earth, they still have not yet entered the full rest of God.

2. The joy of heaven. The evidence provided for this interpretation is that Hebrews indicates that the enjoyment of the rest is still future (4:1,11). Some additional evidence is that there is an association between the concepts of rest and the experience of heaven, as described in Revelation 14:13. Although one cannot disagree with the comment about the future aspect of rest on which this point of view is based, this view is deficient because it fails to include the specifically Jewish context of the text of the Old Testament.

3. The enjoyment of spiritual life, or "rest by faith". The basis for this understanding is that the rest of God is something that we who currently believe can already enjoy through faith (eiserchometha is the imperfect medium and must be understood as "we are causing us to enter"). The call of the Lord Jesus to go into His rest can be a parallel idea (Matthew 11:28 to 30).

4. The enjoyment of the Messianic age (the Kingdom of Christ). This text provides ample proof of this enjoyment:

• As in the second interpretation above, the "joy of heaven", it gives us the idea of a promise that remains, and certainly indicates the anticipation of a future enjoyment (4:1,11).

• The present indicative eiserchometha (4:3) can be understood as a futuristic present as found in Matthew 17:11, John 14:3 and 1 Corinthians 16:5.

• Although the idea of rest is not limited to the use of the land, it should not be completely disassociated from it.

• As Psalm 95 is often classified as a "Psalm of enthronement", whose contents are interpreted as prophecy of the Messianic age, it follows that the rest of God must also be understood in this sense.

• There is a strong connection in Jewish tradition between the Messianic Kingdom and the concept of the celebration of the Sabbath (sabbatismos, 4:9). A prayer of the long-standing traditional Shabbat says, "may the Almighty let us inherit the day that will be entirely a Sabbath and the rest of eternal life." In fact, the Old Testament associates the Messianic age with rest (Psalm 132:12-14, Isaiah 11:10, 14:3, 32:18).

Each of these four interpretations are viable. but limited. However, if the join them, we find the following concise definition of what is the "rest of God": for every human being, the rest promised by God consists in a state of peace with God and with men, on earth and in heaven. It corresponds with the current position of the believer in his relationship with God and subsequent enjoyment through continuous access to His presence and all the associated benefits, such as reward, help, blessing and divine protection.

In short, there are four stages of God's rest time:                                                           

1. The eternal aspect, a prototype of which is God’s rest after the cessation of His creative work on the seventh day (4:4,10). He continues to enjoy the rest, and serves as the source of the three other available aspects of rest.

2. The historical aspect, which is the rest associated with the joy of Israel in the land of promise (3:11,18,19, also Deuteronomy 3:20, 12:9, 25:19, Joshua 11:23, 21:44, 22:4, 23:1).

3. The contemporary aspect, which is the current relationship of deep and constant intimacy and blessing, that is available for all believers to enjoy a lifestyle of faith and spiritual rest.

4. The future aspect, which is the Messianic age when we believers will participate of the Messiah's universal kingdom from the land of Israel (Romans 5:17, 2 Timothy 2:12, Revelation 5:10, 20:6, 22:5).

So we conclude that a rest for the people of God remains in the future. This is the eternal rest, which will be enjoyed by all those who were redeemed by the precious blood of Christ. It is a day of rest (“sabbath”) that will never end.

He who enters God's rest enjoys a cessation of work, just as God did on the seventh day after Creation. Before we were saved, we may have tried to work for our salvation. When we realize that Christ finished the work on Calvary, we abandon our own useless efforts and we trust in the risen Redeemer.

After salvation, we assume the task of dedicating ourselves to the loving service of He who loved us and gave Himself for us. Our good works are the fruit of the Holy Spirit in us. We often spend ourselves on His service, although we never tire of it. In the eternal rest of God, we leave our work here. This does not mean that we will be inactive in heaven or on Earth for all eternity. We still will love and serve Him, but there will be no fatigue, distress, harassment or distress.

Although the rest of God is still available, it is necessary to be diligent to enter it. It takes effort to make sure that our only hope is in fact Christ the Lord. We must diligently resist any temptation to merely profess faith in Him, and then renounce Him in the heat of suffering and persecution.

The adult Israelites who left Egypt were careless. They treated the promises of God lightly. They yearned for Egypt, land of their servitude. They were not diligent in appropriating the promises of God by faith. As a result, they never reached Canaan.

We should be warned by their example, because such unbelief will never cease to reveal itself:

1. It is first detected by the word of God. The word of God is:

• Living - always active.

• Powerful – produces the desired result.

• Sharp – it manifests itself in an excruciating way.

• It pierces to the division of soul and spirit, though it is not easy for us to distinguish between these intangible parts of the human being.

• Penetrates between joints and marrow –the joints are articulate, allowing movement, and the marrow is hidden from sight but vital to the bones.

• Discerning - discriminates and judges in respect of the thoughts and intents of the heart. It is the word that judges us, not our conscience.

2. Unbelief is made patent by Lord alive. Here the pronoun changes from the impersonal to the personal. And there is no creature hidden from His sight. Nothing escapes His attention. He is completely omniscient, constantly aware of everything that is going on in the universe. Obviously, the important point is that He knows where there is no real faith and where there is only an intellectual assent to facts.

R David Jones

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1 Therefore, since a promise remains of entering His rest, let us fear lest any of you seem to have come short of it.
Heb 4:2 For indeed the gospel was preached to us as well as to them; but the word which they heard did not profit them, not being mixed with faith in those who heard it.
Heb 4:3 For we who have believed do enter that rest, as He has said: "SO I SWORE IN MY WRATH, 'THEY SHALL NOT ENTER MY REST,' " although the works were finished from the foundation of the world.
Heb 4:4 For He has spoken in a certain place of the seventh day in this way: "AND GOD RESTED ON THE SEVENTH DAY FROM ALL HIS WORKS";
Heb 4:5 and again in this place: "THEY SHALL NOT ENTER MY REST."
Heb 4:6 Since therefore it remains that some must enter it, and those to whom it was first preached did not enter because of disobedience,
Heb 4:7 again He designates a certain day, saying in David, "TODAY," after such a long time, as it has been said: "TODAY, IF YOU WILL HEAR HIS VOICE, DO NOT HARDEN YOUR HEARTS."
Heb 4:8 For if Joshua had given them rest, then He would not afterward have spoken of another day.
Heb 4:9 There remains therefore a rest for the people of God.
Heb 4:10 For he who has entered His rest has himself also ceased from his works as God did from His.
Heb 4:11 Let us therefore be diligent to enter that rest, lest anyone fall according to the same example of disobedience.
Heb 4:12 For the word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.
Heb 4:13 And there is no creature hidden from His sight, but all things are naked and open to the eyes of Him to whom we must give account.

Hebrews chapter 4, verses 1 to 13