Hebrews 4:1-11
1 Therefore, while the promise of entering his rest still stands, let us fear lest any of you should seem to have failed to reach it. 2 For good news came to us just as to them, but the message they heard did not benefit them, because they were not united by faith with those who listened. 3 For we who have believed enter that rest, as he has said, “As I swore in my wrath, ‘They shall not enter my rest,’” although his works were finished from the foundation of the world. 4 For he has somewhere spoken of the seventh day in this way: “And God rested on the seventh day from all his works.” 5 And again in this passage he said, “They shall not enter my rest.” 6 Since therefore it remains for some to enter it, and those who formerly received the good news failed to enter because of disobedience, 7 again he appoints a certain day, “Today,” saying through David so long afterward, in the words already quoted, “Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts.” 8 For if Joshua had given them rest, God would not have spoken of another day later on. 9 So then, there remains a Sabbath rest for the people of God, 10 for whoever has entered God’s rest has also rested from his works as God did from his. 11 Let us therefore strive to enter that rest, so that no one may fall by the same sort of disobedience.
I think it is very possible that we have misunderstood one of the most famous verses of the Bible. I am speaking of Matthew 11:28. This will sound familiar to many of you:
Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.
I say I think we may have misunderstood this because most times this is spoken of in terms of Jesus giving rest to tired people, Jesus giving respite to weary people. The problem is not that that is wrong. The problem is that that is not enough. In reality, the “rest” about which Jesus speaks is much more than that. In fact, as we will see in Hebrews 4, it actually means “salvation.” Christ will give us the eternal rest of the Kingdom, the eternal rest of His presence.
In the early church, the fathers spoke of there being “three rests,” and they used our text as one of the texts to justify this. For instance, John Chrysostom said:
He says that there are “three” rests: one, that of the sabbath, in which God rested from works; the second, that of Palestine, in which, when the Jews had entered, they would be at rest from their hardships and labors; the third, that which is rest indeed, the kingdom of heaven, where those who obtain it do indeed rest from their labors and troubles.
That seems clear enough. The church father Theodore of Cyr was even more succinct about the three rests:
…first, the seventh day…second, the land of promise; and third, the kingdom of heaven.[1]
Yes, there are three rests: sabbath, promised land, and the Kingdom of Heaven. This means that the first two rests are preparatory for and types of the greater rests the surpasses them. In other words, Jesus offers something than neither the sabbath nor entry into the promised land could offer, as Hebrews 4 will bear out.
I want us to talk about the rest that Jesus offers. We need to listen and listen very closely to how Hebrews 4 unpacks this important issue. We will approach it by considering two main ideas that emerge from this passage.
One may be near the rest that Jesus offers without actually being in the rest.
We begin with a painful but needed truth: that nearness to the offered rest does not mean one is in the offered rest. Consider:
1 Therefore, while the promise of entering his rest still stands, let us fear lest any of you should seem to have failed to reach it.
Let us note first the good news of verse 1 as well as the caution. The good news is that “the promise of entering his rest still stands.” That is, God is still calling us into the rest of His salvation. The door is still open. The curtain has yet to fall. You can still come home! But there is also a caution. “While the promise of entering his rest still stands” also carries with it the truth that it will not stand forever. The door will, in fact, close one day. The curtain will, in fact, fall. This is why we must not turn away! We must enter into the rest of God today!
2 For good news came to us just as to them, but the message they heard did not benefit them, because they were not united by faith with those who listened.
This verse begs the question: who is the “us” and “them” the writer of Hebrews speaks of. To understand this we must remember, yet again, that the chapter/verse divisions of scripture were added many, many years after the writing of the Bible. Were you to go back in time to the early church and ask the congregation to “turn to Hebrews 4” they would say, “What on earth is Hebrews 4?!” They would not know of our chapter/verse divisions. Now, chapters and verses are helpful tools for navigating the Bible, but sometimes they’re unhelpful, as when, for instance, they break of the flow of thought from Hebrews 3 to Hebrews 4.
Hebrews 3 ended with this somber reminder of what happened to Israel in their wilderness wandering:
16 For who were those who heard and yet rebelled? Was it not all those who left Egypt led by Moses? 17 And with whom was he provoked for forty years? Was it not with those who sinned, whose bodies fell in the wilderness? 18 And to whom did he swear that they would not enter his rest, but to those who were disobedient? 19 So we see that they were unable to enter because of unbelief.
So the “them” of verse 2 refers to the rebellious Israelites who never entered the land of promise due to their lack of belief and their rebellion. Now hear again verse 2:
2 For good news came to us just as to them, but the message they heard did not benefit them, because they were not united by faith with those who listened.
He is drawing a parallel and giving a warning. Like Israel, we received good news of salvation. And, like Israel, we must make sure that we actually believe lest we fail to enter the promised rest.
In other words, vicinity to the promise does not mean ownership of the promise. Being near the things of God does not mean one has entered the things of God. Why did some fail to enter the land of promise? Because, the writer of Hebrews says, “they were not united by faith with those who listened.”
They were not united by faith but they were united in having heard. They all heard, but only some listened. There is a difference between hearing and listening.
Beware the presumption that just because you are familiar with the things of God you actually have received the things of God! Beware! The writer of Hebrews now moves to reinforce his point by quoted from Psalm 95:11.
3 For we who have believed enter that rest, as he has said, “As I swore in my wrath, ‘They shall not enter my rest,’” although his works were finished from the foundation of the world.
This usage of Psalm 95:11 is intended to further draw the distinction between those who believe and those who do not. On the one hand we see “we who have believed” and on the other, “They shall not enter my rest.” Once again, vicinity does not equate to possession. Being near the things of God does not mean one is in an actual relationship with God. Now he moves to a consideration of the three rests we spoke of earlier: sabbath, promised land, and Kingdom.
4 For he has somewhere spoken of the seventh day in this way: “And God rested on the seventh day from all his works.” 5 And again in this passage he said, “They shall not enter my rest.” 6 Since therefore it remains for some to enter it, and those who formerly received the good news failed to enter because of disobedience, 7 again he appoints a certain day, “Today,” saying through David so long afterward, in the words already quoted, “Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts.” 8 For if Joshua had given them rest, God would not have spoken of another day later on.
The ultimate rest of the Kingdom is greater than the rests of both sabbath and promised land. For this reason, we are once again (as we were in Hebrews 3) called to come to God today and not to harden our hearts. Why? Because the rest of God is open to us now but will not be open to us forever if we continue to reject it!
The reference to Joshua in verse 8 and the second rest of the promised land is significant. There is likely a wordplay going on here. The HCSB Study Bible notes that the “name ‘Jesus’ is a Greek derivative of the Hebrew name Joshua, which means ‘the Lord is salvation.’”[2] In other words, while the first Joshua was unable to bring the people of God into an eternal rest that will never end, the second Joshua, Jesus, can do so!
Yet the warning remains: we are not in actual possession of the rest that Jesus offers simply by virtue of knowing a good deal about it or of knowing the language of it or of being in the congregation that sings about it! We must possess it ourselves.
I saw a fascinating picture from, likely, the 1960s that illustrates this well. The picture is of a man sitting on the back bumper of his truck that has a visibly flat tire. He is frustrated, his elbow resting on his knee and his chin resting in his hand. What makes this picture most remarkable is what is contained in the back of the truck: just behind him and towering above him we see a huge pile of tires.
A tire truck, stranded with a flat tire.
The frustrated driver was right to be so: he was so close to what he needed but might as well have been a thousand miles away. He was in the vicinity of his deliverance but not in actual possession of it. Proximity does not equal relationship.
Some years ago I heard a speaker talk about being at the Hoover Dam. He went to visit the gift shop. There on the door to the gift shop was a sign that said, “Gift Shop Closed. Power Out.” The speaker said he stared at the sign then turned his head just a bit to the right…to see the Hoover Dam looming just right over there!
No, vicinity does not equal possession!
So, too, with the rest that Jesus offers. To be near it is not the same as to be in it. To know about it is not the same as being in possession of it.
You were called to a rest above all other rests. You were called to Kingdom rest. You were called to the rest that Jesus gives.
Have you entered that rest through faith?
Strive to be sure that you have entered the rest of Jesus.
Our text concludes with an outright plea for us to enter the rest that Jesus offers! It is greater than the first sabbath rest. It is greater than the second promised land rest. It is the Kingdom rest of Jesus. Listen:
9 So then, there remains a Sabbath rest for the people of God
What a beautiful verse! What comforting words! The rest of the kingdom remains. It is open to you. It is offered to you still! Now, you can come in!
And now, the plea:
10 for whoever has entered God’s rest has also rested from his works as God did from his. 11 Let us therefore strive to enter that rest, so that no one may fall by the same sort of disobedience.
This striving has nothing to do with “works righteousness.” This is not talking about “earning your salvation.” The word “earn” is never used here.
Sometimes I feel that we Protestants are so cautious about the idea of earning our salvation (and I hasten to add that we should indeed be wary of this tragic and soul-destroying idea!) that it spills over into a suspicion and misunderstanding of any notion of effort. But as Dallas Willard has said, “Grace is opposed to earning, not to effort.”
We are to strive to enter that rest! We know it is wholly by grace through faith, but we must not become flippant and presumptuous. Are you sure that you have believed? Does your life bear witness to the confession you have made?
Our lives should reflect the reality of our faith! Let us strive! Let us follow Jesus! Let us make sure that we are truly resting in Him!
I am forever inspired and convicted by the story of John Wesley, who came to Georgia in the 18th century as a clergyman. On the boat on the way over a great storm arose and Wesley clung to the sides in fear and trembling. He feared death. He feared drowning. He lost his nerve and his faith! In the midst of the storm, however, he looks and sees a band of Moravian believers singing hymns to God in perfect peace. He could not believe what he was seeing!
After landing, Wesley sought out the head of the Moravian Christians. “What do you have that I do not have?” he asked. “How could all of you be so calm and so at peace in the midst of that storm?”
To which the Moravian leader replied, “Mr. Wesley, do you have Christ?”
“I know all about Christ!”
“But that is not what I asked. Do you have Christ?”
“I am a clergyman who has come to reach the lost!”
“But that is not what I asked. Do you have Christ?”
On and on the Moravian leader refused to relent on his great question: “Do you have Christ?”
The question haunted Wesley.
A few years later, after his return to England, Wesley had his famous conversion at Aldersgate Chapel in which his “heart was strangely warmed.” Then God used Wesley in an unbelievable way and we remember him and his faith and mission to this day!
Church, the question is not, “Are you near the rest that Christ offers?” That means very little indeed! No, the question is, “Are you in the rest that Christ offers? Do you have Christ? Does He have you?”
There is a rest for the people of God.
It is offered to you and open to you now.
Enter that rest.
Enter by faith in the Son of God, Jesus Christ.
Enter while there is still time.
[1] Heen, Erik M., and Philip D.W. Krey, eds. Hebrews. Ancient Christian Commentary on Scripture. Gen. Ed. Thomas C. Oden. New Testament, vol.X (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 2005), p.60-61.
[2] Holman Bible Editorial Staff, Holman Bible Editorial Staff. HCSB Study Bible (Kindle Locations 149154-149155). B&H Publishing Group. Kindle Edition.