Hebrews 4:1-13: A Sabbath Rest for God's People
Hebrews - Jesus is Greater • Sermon • Submitted
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· 90 viewsThe Sabbath promise still stands so strive to enter God’s rest
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Introduction
Introduction
Quote
Quote
Commentary on the New Testament Use of the Old Testament
In 4:1–2 the author executes a transition that moves the discourse from the topic of the faithless, disobedient wanderers (3:7–19), who are used as a negative example, to the promise of rest for the new-covenant people of God (4:3–11). The author’s main point in this transition is that there is a “rest” of which the psalm speaks that some of the hearers will miss if they do not respond appropriately (4:1). In 4:2 the analogy between the community addressed and those who fell in the wilderness is reiterated. Both communities have had the “good news” preached to them, but the preached word is not enough; faith must come into play. The implication is that the first hearers of Hebrews must respond in faith in order to avoid the situation of the disobedient of the desert.
Scripture
Scripture
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.
Outline
Outline
Hebrews 1-2 - Jesus is Greater Than the Angels
Hebrews 1-2 - Jesus is Greater Than the Angels
Hebrews 1:1-4 - God has Spoken
Hebrews 1:5-14 - The Son is Superior to the Angels
Hebrews 2:1-4 - A Warning
Hebrews 2:5-9 - Lowliness to Crowning Glory
Hebrews 2:10-18 - Jesus has Delivered His Brothers
Hebrews 3:1-4:13 - Jesus is a Greater Rest
Hebrews 3:1-4:13 - Jesus is a Greater Rest
Hebrews 3:1-6 - Jesus is Worthy of More Glory Than Moses
Hebrews 3:7-19 - Disobedience After the Exodus
Hebrews 4:1-13 - A Sabbath Rest for God’s People
Hebrews 4:1-5 - Promise of Rest
Hebrews 4:6-11 - True Sabbath Rest
Hebrews 4:12-13 - The Living Word of God
Purpose of Book
Purpose of Book
Christ, who has accomplished salvation through His atoning sacrifice, is greater than all things; therefore, persevere in true faith and encourage others to do likewise
Christ, who has accomplished salvation through His atoning sacrifice, is greater than all things; therefore, persevere in true faith and encourage others to do likewise
Main Point
Main Point
The Sabbath promise still stands so strive to enter God’s rest
The Sabbath promise still stands so strive to enter God’s rest
Hebrews 4:1-5 - Promise of Rest
Hebrews 4:1-5 - Promise of Rest
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.”
Therefore,
Therefore,
Continuation of thought regarding the Numbers 14 incident
Continuation of the warning - Be diligent to enter God’s rest
While the promise of entering his rest still stands,
While the promise of entering his rest still stands,
Promise
ⓑ in our lit. more generally of divine promises
His rest
Still stands
④ to cause someth. to remain in existence
The promise of entering God’s rest is still available. The door has not closed. Eternal rest is only available through the victorious and redemptive work of Jesus
Let us fear lest any of you should seem to have failed to reach it.
Let us fear lest any of you should seem to have failed to reach it.
Us - the author includes himself in the warning
You - PLURAL
Failed
① to miss out on someth. through one’s own fault
Psalm 95:7–11 (ESV)
7c Today, if you hear his voice,
8 do not harden your hearts, as at Meribah,
as on the day at Massah in the wilderness,
9 when your fathers put me to the test
and put me to the proof, though they had seen my work.
10 For forty years I loathed that generation
and said, “They are a people who go astray in their heart,
and they have not known my ways.”
11 Therefore I swore in my wrath,
“They shall not enter my rest.”
The fear mentioned here is a reverential fear not one of condemnation.
The fear is real. The author is warning the flock that they would not be found in Christ on Judgement. Do not become like the Exodus generation - some traveled all the way to the Promised Land, but failed to enter God’s rest. Their disbelief in God resulted in them not entering eternal rest. This church, unlike the Exodus generation, has not been rejected
For good news came to us just as to them, but the message they heard did not benefit them,
For good news came to us just as to them, but the message they heard did not benefit them,
Good News
② mostly specif. proclaim the divine message of salvation, proclaim the gospel
Benefit
① to provide assistance, help, aid, benefit, be of use (to)
The Good News to the Israelites was Moses leading them out of Egypt as the Lord said He would.
1 Now the Lord said to Abram, “Go from your country and your kindred and your father’s house to the land that I will show you. 2 And I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. 3 I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonors you I will curse, and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.”
16 Go and gather the elders of Israel together and say to them, ‘The Lord, the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, of Isaac, and of Jacob, has appeared to me, saying, “I have observed you and what has been done to you in Egypt, 17 and I promise that I will bring you up out of the affliction of Egypt to the land of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Amorites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites, a land flowing with milk and honey.” ’
For us the Good News is the Gospel
3 For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, 4 that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures, 5 and that he appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve.
Because they were not united by faith with those who listened.
Because they were not united by faith with those who listened.
Only Joshua and Caleb were those who had faith to enter the Promised Land
Their Good News did not benefit them because they lacked faith in God
They originally received the good news in faith, but the next 40 years were defined by disobedience
There were those who had faith in God and entered the Promised Land
For we who have believed enter that rest, as he has said,
For we who have believed enter that rest, as he has said,
Believed
② to entrust oneself to an entity in complete confidence
Future rest
Eternal inheritance
15 Therefore he is the mediator of a new covenant, so that those who are called may receive the promised eternal inheritance, since a death has occurred that redeems them from the transgressions committed under the first covenant.
Heavenly country
13 These all died in faith, not having received the things promised, but having seen them and greeted them from afar, and having acknowledged that they were strangers and exiles on the earth. 14 For people who speak thus make it clear that they are seeking a homeland. 15 If they had been thinking of that land from which they had gone out, they would have had opportunity to return. 16 But as it is, they desire a better country, that is, a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared for them a city.
New Jerusalem
1 Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. 2 And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. 3 And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God. 4 He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.”
True believers receive the eschatological rest promised by God
Though an eschatological view, believers enjoy the rest promised by God now as well. The Kingdom of God is both a present and future reality
“As I swore in my wrath, ‘They shall not enter my rest,’”
“As I swore in my wrath, ‘They shall not enter my rest,’”
11 Therefore I swore in my wrath,
“They shall not enter my rest.”
Although his works were finished from the foundation of the world. For he has somewhere spoken of the seventh day in this way: “And God rested on the seventh day from all his works.”
Although his works were finished from the foundation of the world. For he has somewhere spoken of the seventh day in this way: “And God rested on the seventh day from all his works.”
2 And on the seventh day God finished his work that he had done, and he rested on the seventh day from all his work that he had done. 3 So God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it God rested from all his work that he had done in creation.
God’s creation work finished after days 1-6
The rest He implements looms over the patriarchs, the Exodus generation, and into today
And again in this passage he said, “They shall not enter my rest.”
And again in this passage he said, “They shall not enter my rest.”
11 Therefore I swore in my wrath,
“They shall not enter my rest.”
Hebrews 4:6-11 - True Sabbath Rest
Hebrews 4:6-11 - True Sabbath 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.
Since therefore
Since therefore
Continuation of thought regarding the Numbers 14 incident
Continuation of the warning - Be diligent to enter God’s rest
It remains for some to enter it, and those who formerly received the good news failed to enter because of disobedience, 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.”
It remains for some to enter it, and those who formerly received the good news failed to enter because of disobedience, 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.”
You/Your - PLURAL
The rest is still open today
The Exodus generation failed to enter God’s rest because of their disobedience
David wrote Psalm 95 that the author quotes here in Hebrews 3-4
Do not harden your hearts “today”, in this moment!
For if Joshua had given them rest, God would not have spoken of another day later on.
For if Joshua had given them rest, God would not have spoken of another day later on.
1 A long time afterward, when the Lord had given rest to Israel from all their surrounding enemies, and Joshua was old and well advanced in years,
2 but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed the heir of all things, through whom also he created the world.
God spoke beyond the entering of the Promised Land. If it would have been rest then God would not have spoken in Psalm 95
Therefore, the rest promised by God is not limited to just land. The rest promised is uninterrupted fellowship with God Himself who is currently resting from His creation work
Jesus is the new and better Joshua. He leads His people to true Sabbath rest through His redemptive/salvific work
So then, there remains a Sabbath rest for the people of God,
So then, there remains a Sabbath rest for the people of God,
Since Joshua did not give them Sabbath rest as God promised, the door remains open for this rest for the people of God
Hebrews Exegesis
Indeed the author pulls together the rest promised to Israel in the land with God’s rest on the seventh day of creation. The word translated as “Sabbath rest” (σαββατισμός) does not actually use the word “rest,” though rest was closely linked with the Sabbath in Jewish tradition (Exod 16:23, 30; 20:11; 23:12). The reference to the Sabbath here points to the celebration and joy of the Sabbath. A link between the Sabbath and God’s rest on the seventh day is suggested in 4:4, and here the joy and praise that mark the end-time rest are featured
The ultimate rest believers experience is much greater than what the Israelites experienced during Joshua’s leadership
The rest we shall experience is the true rest only provided by God. We experience part of this rest now, but we will inherit our full rest until we reach the new Jerusalem
Who enters God’s rest? The people of God! Israelites and Gentiles who have placed their faith in the work of Christ. There is no distinction here either, there is only one body
1 I therefore, a prisoner for the Lord, urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called, 2 with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, 3 eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. 4 There is one body and one Spirit—just as you were called to the one hope that belongs to your call— 5 one Lord, one faith, one baptism, 6 one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.
For whoever has entered God’s rest has also rested from his works as God did from his.
For whoever has entered God’s rest has also rested from his works as God did from his.
The rest the people of God enter is patterned after God’s own rest in the creation narrative
Rest from works is not works-based righteousness!
The time of labor and suffering has ended for the followers of Christ
13 And I heard a voice from heaven saying, “Write this: Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from now on.” “Blessed indeed,” says the Spirit, “that they may rest from their labors, for their deeds follow them!”
Let us therefore strive to enter that rest,
Let us therefore strive to enter that rest,
Strive to enter
This rest is futuristic in nature - eschatological
Christ, who has accomplished salvation through His atoning sacrifice, is greater than all things; therefore, persevere in true faith and encourage others to do likewise
So that no one may fail by the same sort of disobedience.
So that no one may fail by the same sort of disobedience.
Persevere in faith!
The author wraps up his argument starting in Hebrews 3:7-11
7 Therefore, as the Holy Spirit says,
“Today, if you hear his voice,
8 do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion,
on the day of testing in the wilderness,
9 where your fathers put me to the test
and saw my works for forty years.
10 Therefore I was provoked with that generation,
and said, ‘They always go astray in their heart;
they have not known my ways.’
11 As I swore in my wrath,
‘They shall not enter my rest.’ ”
Perseverance of the saints - those who are truly God’s will persevere the end.
1 Again he began to teach beside the sea. And a very large crowd gathered about him, so that he got into a boat and sat in it on the sea, and the whole crowd was beside the sea on the land. 2 And he was teaching them many things in parables, and in his teaching he said to them: 3 “Listen! Behold, a sower went out to sow. 4 And as he sowed, some seed fell along the path, and the birds came and devoured it. 5 Other seed fell on rocky ground, where it did not have much soil, and immediately it sprang up, since it had no depth of soil. 6 And when the sun rose, it was scorched, and since it had no root, it withered away. 7 Other seed fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked it, and it yielded no grain. 8 And other seeds fell into good soil and produced grain, growing up and increasing and yielding thirtyfold and sixtyfold and a hundredfold.”
13 And he said to them, “Do you not understand this parable? How then will you understand all the parables? 14 The sower sows the word. 15 And these are the ones along the path, where the word is sown: when they hear, Satan immediately comes and takes away the word that is sown in them. 16 And these are the ones sown on rocky ground: the ones who, when they hear the word, immediately receive it with joy. 17 And they have no root in themselves, but endure for a while; then, when tribulation or persecution arises on account of the word, immediately they fall away. 18 And others are the ones sown among thorns. They are those who hear the word, 19 but the cares of the world and the deceitfulness of riches and the desires for other things enter in and choke the word, and it proves unfruitful. 20 But those that were sown on the good soil are the ones who hear the word and accept it and bear fruit, thirtyfold and sixtyfold and a hundredfold.”
Hebrews 4:12-13 - The Living Word of God
Hebrews 4:12-13 - The Living Word of God
12 For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart. 13 And no creature is hidden from his sight, but all are naked and exposed to the eyes of him to whom we must give account.
Verses 12-13 explain why the congregation should strive to enter God’s rest and why disobedience should be avoided.
For the word of God is living and active,
For the word of God is living and active,
Word of God
6 A voice says, “Cry!”
And I said, “What shall I cry?”
All flesh is grass,
and all its beauty is like the flower of the field.
7 The grass withers, the flower fades
when the breath of the Lord blows on it;
surely the people are grass.
8 The grass withers, the flower fades,
but the word of our God will stand forever.
Living
⑤ to be life-productive, offer life
Active
pert. to practical expression of capability, effective, active, powerful,
The Word of God is like God Himself - living and active
Sharper than any two-edged sword,
Sharper than any two-edged sword,
Piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow,
Piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow,
Hughes - NICNT
Hebrews Exegesis
Our author is not concerned to provide here a psychological or anatomical analysis of the human condition, but rather to describe in graphic terms the penetration of God’s word to the innermost depth of man’s personality
And discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart.
And discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart.
The Word of God does internal work. This internal work eventually becomes external, but the Word works deeply within. If there is no change...
The Word of God is a tool of judgment seeing if belief is true or not
And no creature is hidden from his sight,
And no creature is hidden from his sight,
There is a close connection between God His Word
Word of God.. His sight
1 Comfort, comfort my people, says your God.
2 Speak tenderly to Jerusalem,
and cry to her
that her warfare is ended,
that her iniquity is pardoned,
that she has received from the Lord’s hand
double for all her sins.
16 In his right hand he held seven stars, from his mouth came a sharp two-edged sword, and his face was like the sun shining in full strength.
13 He is clothed in a robe dipped in blood, and the name by which he is called is The Word of God. 14 And the armies of heaven, arrayed in fine linen, white and pure, were following him on white horses. 15 From his mouth comes a sharp sword with which to strike down the nations, and he will rule them with a rod of iron. He will tread the winepress of the fury of the wrath of God the Almighty.
But all are naked and exposed to the eyes of him to whom we must give account.
But all are naked and exposed to the eyes of him to whom we must give account.
Hebrews–Revelation Comment
The God who sees our hidden inner life (Acts 1:24; 15:8; Rom. 8:27; 1 Cor. 4:5) is a judge who will not be deceived by pious appearances (Isa. 11:3–4; John 2:23–25). Mercifully, this all-seeing divine judge has provided for guilty rebels a Great High Priest, Jesus the Son of God, who has experienced their temptations and now represents them before his throne—a throne of grace—in heaven (Heb. 4:14–16).
Closing Quote
Closing Quote
Evangelical Biblical Theological Commentary
Hebrews Bridge
Perseverance is the author’s main concern. The readers should not disobey as the wilderness generation did. They should strive to enter the rest while the opportunity still remains. The same applies to us today. The Lord is gracious and compassionate, but we should continue to trust in him and to obey him until the end. God’s word is powerful in judging (and saving) those who turn against him. It penetrates to the deepest secrets of our lives. God knows who and what we are and will judge us if we depart from him.