Hebrews 4 Bible Study
Therefore, let us fear, lest, while the promise of entering His place of rest remains, any of you should seem to miss out on it.
The reference is not to paralyzing fear that disables and enervates. The fear commanded here is a stimulus to action, like the fear that motivates mountain climbers to ensure all their equipment is working properly, provoking readers to enter God’s rest and stimulating them to believe and obey.
The opportunity to enter God’s rest still lies before them. They have not yet been rejected as the wilderness generation was. Nor has the rest yet been consummated. It has been promised but is not yet realized. The heavenly city, which is such a prominent theme in Hebrews, has not yet arrived.
For we also have been evangelized just as they also were, but the word [promise] that they heard did not benefit them, because they were not united with those who listened in faith.
For we who believed [His promise] are entering [His] place of rest, just as He has said, “So I swore an oath in my wrath, ‘[May I be cursed by God] If they enter my place of rest.’” And yet His works were done from the foundation of the world,
Even though the emphasis is on the future rest, it seems that
The rest is fundamentally eschatological, and yet the eschaton has penetrated the present
For somewhere He has spoken in this way regarding the seventh [day]: “And God ceased [rested] on the seventh day from all His works.”
And [He has spoken] in this [passage] again, “[May I be cursed by God] If they enter my place of rest.”
On the one hand they live in the day of opportunity. The rest is still open to them. The door has not been closed for entering the rest of God. On the other hand the wilderness generation demonstrates that some have repudiated the rest God offers.
Therefore, because it remains for some to enter it, and those who were formerly evangelized did not enter on account of unbelief/disobedience,
Again He appoints a certain day, “Today,” saying through David after such a long time, just as it has been quoted above, “Today if you hear His voice, do not harden your hearts.”
For if Joshua had caused them to rest, He would not have spoken about another day after these.
The rest given by Joshua can’t be the final rest since David hundreds of years later speaks of another rest, of a rest that is still available for the people of God. If the rest given by Joshua was final and definitive, no further rest would be offered. The author often makes the argument that the new is better, contrasting it with the old.
So then, a place of sabbath rest remains for the people of God.
Israel, in the land, experienced God’s rest to some degree. In the same way believers in Jesus Christ enjoy God’s rest in part, but the fullness of that rest will only be theirs in the heavenly city.
The rest given to Israel was a rest for a particular people in a specific location. But just as the rest points forward to a rest that embraces the whole creation, the new creation, the heavenly city, so Israel functions as a type for the new people of God, the church of Jesus Christ. The new people of God is not restricted to Israel but consists of Jewish and Gentile believers scattered throughout the world. The author doesn’t erect a distinction between Israel and Gentile believers, indicating that he envisions one people of God.
For the one who has entered His place of rest has himself also ceased [rested] from his works like God did from His own.
Therefore, let us make every effort to enter that place of rest, in order that no one may fall in the same pattern of disobedience.
They must not take God’s promises for granted as if they could inherit the rest even while straying from the message of Jesus Christ.
For this promise from God is alive and at work, and sharper than every double-edged sword, and penetrating so far as to separate soul and spirit, joints and marrow, and able to discern the ideas and thoughts of the heart;
God’s word penetrates to the core of the human heart, for God’s word represents God himself. Just as God knows our thoughts and attitudes, so God’s word judges our thoughts and intentions. God knows reality so that he knows whether we are believing or disbelieving, obeying or disobeying.
And no created thing is invisible in His sight, but all things are uncovered and laid bare before the eyes of Him with whom we have to reckon.
Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast to our confession;
For we do not have a high priest [who is] unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but [one who] has been tested in everything in the same way [yet] without sin.
Jesus is not only a majestic high priest who has entered the heavens and sits at God’s right hand. He is also a tender high priest. He sympathizes “with our weaknesses.” The word sympathy is not limited to compassion and empathy but also denotes Jesus’ ability to help those who are afflicted
It is evident from this text that sin is not intrinsic and inherent to human nature. Jesus was fully human in every respect, and yet he never sinned.
He is tender and transcendent.
Therefore, let us draw near with confidence to the throne of grace, in order that we may receive mercy and that we may find grace for well-timed help.
Since Jesus is both a transcendent (having gone into God’s presence in the heavens) and tender (sharing our frail and weak nature) high priest, believers are exhorted to draw near to God boldly to receive grace and mercy at a needy time.
The throne is designated as one “of grace.” Believers draw near to the throne boldly, for they know it is a throne of grace by virtue of Jesus’ work, not a throne of wrath. Hence they confidently and gladly ask God to grant them “mercy,” presumably for sins they have committed. At the same time they petition God for “grace” for the strength and power to face every situation in life. God’s grace is poured out as believers request help when they are overwhelmed.
