Articles, Bible studies, and sermons that contain Hebrews 4:8:
Hebrews 4:3-11
That was one of their big problems. They had no faith, no trust in God to take the information that was revealed to them and use it for good. So he is saying, Look, we have to have faith in what God has called us to and the knowledge He has given us.
For we who have believed do enter that rest [We are on the way. It is not that we have come to it fully yet but we are on the way.], 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. 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; and again in this place: They shall not enter My rest. Since therefore it remains that some must enter it, and those to whom it was first preached did not enter because of disobedience, 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. For if Joshua had given them rest, then He would not afterward have spoken of another day. There remains therefore a rest for the people of God. For he who has entered His rest has himself also ceased from his works as God did from His. [So he gives us some marching orders.] Let us therefore be diligent to enter that rest, lest anyone fall according to the same example of disobedience.
The original Israelites failed through lack of faith and through disobedience. Then he mentions Joshua and the fact that even this new generation of Israelites that God commended may have entered the land, but they did not enter God's rest because the psalm speaks of another day in which the rest would be entered, the day in the future. The author here says it is still out there. You can still enter God's rest. You are on the road already, and make sure you enter God's rest, and you can do this by being diligent, by obeying, by being faithful, or as Jesus says, by enduring to the end in your calling. So speaking of the generation that Joshua led, though their conquest in the end was incomplete, they did far better than their parents. But the author implies that those events that occurred back then are to us only types. We are not to take them in terms of the reality of their incompletion, but we are supposed to think of them as typical, as metaphorical, as symbolic of the journey that we make in order to enter His rest in a spiritual way, in the only way that really matters. And he then says that the Sabbath is a type of the rest of God, and that in itself is a foreshadowing of the Kingdom. Just so we get all our ducks in a row here. So we can say God's real rest, the one that He has been shooting for all this time, giving us all these examples from the Old Testament and elsewhere, even in the New, that is still future. The rest of God is still future and it is now open to God's elect. And it is still Israel that is journeying to God's rest, but as Galatians 6:16 says, it is the Israel of God. It is a different group. It is a spiritual group. We call it just generally spiritual Israel. And it is the church, the Body of Christ. Lots of different names, but the same people. God's people whom He has called to take up this journey. And so we will enter it only if we remain obedient and faithful, unlike ancient Israel.
As one of my mentors, the late Bob Hoops, declared, the weekly Sabbath is a miniature or foretaste of the annual Sabbath - the Feast of Tabernacles, which is itself a miniature or foretaste to the Kingdom of God in the wonderful world tomorrow, ushering in the New Heavens and New Earth. The Millennium, symbolized by the seven days of the Feast of Tabernacles depicts a sanctified thousand years when the world will be at peace, resting from the horrible abuse and mis-governance it had endured for 6,000 years on mankind's tyrannical and irresponsible misrule. Before that Millennium arrives, God's called-out ones, by faithfully honoring God's weekly and annual Sabbaths, are promised much needed tranquil rest and spiritual reinvigoration for our lengthy and arduous spiritual journey.
In this sermon, Richard made two illuminating points (a long-ranged point and a short-ranged point) about our striving to enter God's rest, as referenced in Hebrews 4:1-11, one of our lead-off scriptures.
The long-ranged point is that we need to be diligent to enter the rest that is the Kingdom of God. 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.
The short-ranged point is in verse 9 of Hebrews 4: 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.
But the point I am getting at is that the Sabbath is a type of God's rest. Richard continues, 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 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.
As one of my mentors, the late Bob Hoops, declared, the weekly Sabbath is a miniature or foretaste of the annual Sabbath - the Feast of Tabernacles, which is itself a miniature or foretaste to the Kingdom of God in the wonderful world tomorrow, ushering in the New Heavens and New Earth. The Millennium, symbolized by the seven days of the Feast of Tabernacles depicts a sanctified thousand years when the world will be at peace, resting from the horrible abuse and mis-governance it had endured for 6,000 years on mankind's tyrannical and irresponsible misrule. Before that Millennium arrives, God's called-out ones, by faithfully honoring God's weekly and annual Sabbaths, are promised much needed tranquil rest and spiritual reinvigoration for our lengthy and arduous spiritual journey.
In this sermon, Richard made two illuminating points (a long-ranged point and a short-ranged point) about our striving to enter God's rest, as referenced in Hebrews 4:1-11, one of our lead-off scriptures.
The long-ranged point is that we need to be diligent to enter the rest that is the Kingdom of God. 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.
The short-ranged point is in verse 9 of Hebrews 4: 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.
But the point I am getting at is that the Sabbath is a type of God's rest. Richard continues, 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 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.
We need to be diligent to enter the rest that is the Kingdom of God. 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.
There remains a rest for the people of God. That word rest is sabbatismos, the Sabbath rest. 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. 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, 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 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.
The Sabbath looks forward to a future rest. When Jesus Christ was raised from the dead, He entered His rest. Christ was resurrected on the Sabbath, when the wavesheaf was cut. These events tie together. By a resurrection from the dead, we inherit and fully enter the Kingdom of God, which we could call the World Tomorrow.