Here is a powerful warning that means exactly what it says. If we do not believe God any more strongly and clearly than the Israelites in the wilderness, we will not enter God's rest.
A peculiarity of Hebrews 4:1-3 is that the term rest appears three times in these three verses, and it is used a total of nine times in this one chapter. We have all heard that repetition is the best form of emphasis. And God certainly is drawing our attention to something important in times like the Hebrews faced. That much repetition ought to be enough to make us understand that there is something here very important to our spiritual well being. It is clear that the author knew that the Jews needed to be reminded and encouraged regarding this term's meaning.
One of the usages of that word ought to bring the Sabbath to mind immediately. That, indeed, is one of the things that the author implies in this chapter, but it is not the only thing that the author is drawing attention to here by using the term rest.
Three different Greek words are used by the author and then translated into the one English word rest. The first word is katapausis. In Strong's, it is 2663, and it means reposing down, abode, rest. The second word is katapauo. It is 2664, and it means settled down, or (caused to) desist, cease, rest. As you can probably tell, these two are related to one another and from the same root. The third word is sabbatismos. It is number 4520, and it means the repose of Christianity, rest, Sabbath. It, brethren, is a horse of a different color from the other two, as used in this chapter.
From where would a Jewish Christian of the 1st century and a modern Christian draw his understanding of the author's use of the term rest in this sort of context? Well, the roots of this term go all the way back to the promises made to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. The roots of the use of this word are not just a matter of its specific meaning, or of the promises themselves; but also the fact that the Bible clearly shows that much of Abraham's, Isaac's, and Jacob's lives were lived in a rather nomadic and itinerate way despite the fact that they were materially prosperous and had a rich relationship with God to go along with that prosperity.
A settled life they did not live. A settled life was always something hoped for - something off in the future, when their responsibilities would permit them the stability that other people seemed to have. Despite the exceeding wealth of Abraham and Isaac, Abraham never owned a piece of property other than Sarah's gravesite.
Where do I get the idea that God's plan was completed from the very beginning? It comes right out of verse 3.
God had this all planned out before He started. You can confirm this in Ephesians 1:4 and also in II Timothy 1:8-9. Both say that these things were finished from the foundation of the earth. I think this gives us some sort of an idea, an ability to catch just a little bit of a grasp of the immensity of the thinking of God.
When we stop to think that, usually if a man builds a building (whether it is a house, office building, or whatever), he draws up the plans before he does it. But - because men are not God - the plans have to be adjusted, and altered, and changed; and we sometimes start all over again, maybe with a new plan. But God's mind is such that He had everything figured out before He began!
That is so awesome, when you figure what just the earth is like or what just our little universe is like within the Milky Way, and what the Milky Way is within all of the heavens. What a Mind! And yet we worry. We will see that Jesus clarified some things here, just in case there would be a question.
Remember that I told you before that in Hebrews 4:3, this verse is telling us that the plan of God was completed before God even started the creation. But there is something else that is also mentioned here. It is a little bit difficult in the King James Bible, because it is not … . . .
Let us go to Hebrews 4. This section has two points that I want to make here.
Now, what are the two points? The first is a long-ranged point, and the second is a short-ranged point.
1. The long-ranged point is that we need to be diligent to enter the rest that is the Kingdom ofGod. That is the rest we are looking for. That is when God will cease from His spiritual labors, when we have come into His rest in the Kingdom.
2. The short-ranged point is in verse 9: There remains therefore a rest for the people of God. That word rest is sabbatismos - the Sabbath rest. In fact there is another translation that says: We must therefore keep the Sabbath as the people of God. (I am not saying that is right or wrong; but it seems a good translation to me.) But the point I am getting at is that the Sabbath is a type of GOD's rest.
We have a weekly, twenty-four hour period of time when we can be still. God gives us one day in seven as an opportunity to be still and come to know Him. That is one of the reasons that we have the Sabbath day. People of God need this one day - to pull out of the world, to take it easy, to get out of the rat race, and to get into communion with God. We need to use this time, on the Sabbath day: to get into the right attitude, to see godly reasoning, to receive instruction, to see God at work, and to get to know Him. (Those are the five points that I just mentioned a few minutes ago.)
We have the Sabbath day to be still; but it is not just limited to the Sabbath day. Those of us, who are lucky, find time during the week (and, during the year) when we can be still. This time of the year is one when we need it the most. That is, to be still before the Passover - to get our minds in the right attitude and get the right instruction so that we are in the proper way of thinking (in the proper mode) for the Passover and the holy days.
It is not restricted just to now. Also before Trumpets and Atonement, and the Feast, is another time when it would be good for us to find a time of stillness. Any time, when we are in need of self-evaluation, is a time when it is best to be still.
We have Christ as our example of being faithful; and then we have the man Moses who is also faithful. We can look at both examples. They are wonderful examples. But Moses led the people into the wilderness to bring them into the Promised Land, a type of our journey to the Kingdom of God. And these people heard the gospel, as we see in chapter 4, verses 1 and 2 there. They heard the gospel, but they did not mix it with faith. They did not believe the gospel that was preached to them. They did not believe the truth of what God was doing with them.
And so what did they do? They rebelled, they disobeyed. And God said, Ok, if this is the way you're going to be, you're all going to die in the wilderness. So He destroyed them and they did not enter His rest. Paul tells us, let us take a look at this example and learn something from it. And the thing we need to learn from it is that we have heard the gospel, we have to mix it with faith, that is, we have to take what we have heard, be faithful, and obey God. Do the things that He wants us to do, in fear that we will not make it, so that we will make it. And be diligent about it! Have some zeal!
That is what He wants us to do. Take what we have learned, and what we continue to learn, mix it with faith, that is, trust and confidence in God that He can get you where He needs you to be and where you want to be, which is the Kingdom of God. Trust Him that the instructions that He gives you in the Bible are apt for your situation. What you need to do, how you need to be, what your attitude needs to be, and do it, obey it, follow it.
And you know what that is going to do? That is going to land you in His rest. The Promised Land is yours. God will not destroy you in the wilderness. The Kingdom is open to you. Hear the gospel, add some faith, follow the instructions, enter His rest. Sounds easy, does it not? We know it is not. But that is the formula. Hear, faith, follow, firstfruits. Simple to say; hard to do. But that is the general formula.
Now this is a very theologically rich passage, but the essential truth, here, is that God's rest - the Kingdom of God - is still before us. We have not entered it yet. The only One who has entered God's rest is Jesus Christ. And it is kind of interesting that He has not stopped working because we have not entered that rest yet.
However, Paul gives a very stern warning here. He says that what befell the Israelites in the wilderness (and they fell by the tens of thousands, through sins of various sorts through their wilderness trek) that same fate could befall us also. The lesson here is that if we want to enter God's rest, of which the Sabbath is a type, of which the Promised Land was a type, we have to continue walking, and we have to continue working to overcome sin. We have not yet entered God's rest. Have you noticed?
So our work, as verse 10 says, has not yet ceased. The work is not over until we enter the rest. God worked six days, and He rested on the seventh, and hallowed it for us, to give us right there in the second chapter of the Bible what He wants us to do.
So Paul's advice, keep up the good work all the way into the Kingdom of God.
We are told that we are to be partakers of Christ, and that entails if we hold to the beginning of our confidence with the foundation, as I mentioned. We are told not to neglect our salvation or let this world take your crown. We must not allow our hearts to become hardened. He tells us that we should not be like those that came out of Egypt. They saw the miracles of God and the awesome power of God, and then rebelled against Him and troubled Him forty years and died short of the rest that was set aside for them.
Our journey, brethren, is to the Kingdom of God and our rest is the Kingdom of God. Who is it that could not enter that rest? Those who hardened their hearts.
The apostle Paul knew that he was on a journey, and that he had two hearts, or two ways of living, in him. One of these hearts was to fight against and the other was to fight for.
You might wonder why this happened on the Sabbath. What is the significance of this being done on the Sabbath? It is the Sabbath that commemorates God, our Creator. This is the same God who rested on the seventh day of creation. This is Jesus Christ - the Word of God!
The word sabbath, in Hebrew, even means rest. That is the basic idea of the Sabbath - it is a rest. It looks back on creation. Now to what does this rest, the Sabbath, look forward to?
Now what happened when Jesus Christ was raised from the dead? He entered His rest! And guess when Christ was resurrected? On the Sabbath, when the wavesheaf was cut!
They all tie together. So by a resurrection from the dead, we inherit and fully enter the Kingdom of God. We could call it the World Tomorrow, or maybe a few other terms may come to mind.
What he is saying is that from the time of creation, this plan has been going apace. This is how God set it up to work. The people of Israel did not enter that rest. But, we have taken their place, as it were, and are in the process of entering that rest. That is why it uses the phrase, do enter, because it is talking about a process that is ongoing. We are a part of it now, and it will continue on if we hold fast the beginning of our confidence to the end.
Let us finish in Hebrews 4 and get the conclusion that Paul came up with when he made these statements about the ones dying in the wilderness and their bones being strewn about the desert. And so he has a conclusion for us.
We could do it. We can enter that rest. We can go forward without falling into that same example because God is with us.
