The Christ Church Wednesday Bible Study Group is doing a study through the New Testament book of Hebrews. The word better is used thirteen times in the book of Hebrews as the writer shows the superiority of Christ and His salvation over the Hebrew system of religion. Another word that is repeated in this book is perfect; in the original Greek it is used fourteen times. It means a perfect standing before God. Eternal is a third word that is important to the message of Hebrews. When you combine these three words, you discover that Jesus Christ and the Christian life He gives us are better because these blessings are eternal and they give us perfect standing before God. This study is not a diet for “spiritual babes” who want to be spoon-fed and coddled. In this letter you will find “strong meat” that demands some chewing and enjoying.
In this session we talk about entering into God's rest
These are the notes to Session 4.
Click on the YouTube link at the end of these notes for the audio recording of session 4.
Christ Is Greater In The Rest He Gives
In this next section of Hebrews which is a long one from 3:7 to 4:13. It is important that we understand the background of this section, which is the exodus of Israel from Egypt and their experiences of unbelief in the wilderness.
It was not God’s will that Israel remain either in Egypt or in the wilderness. His desire was that the people enter their glorious inheritance in the land of Canaan. But when Israel got to the border of their inheritance, they delayed because they doubted the promise of God (Num. 13—14). “We are not able” wept the ten spies and the people. “We are able with God’s help!” said Moses, Joshua, and Caleb. Because the people went backward in unbelief instead of forward by faith, they missed their inheritance and died in the wilderness. It was the new generation that possessed the land and entered into their rest.
With this background, we can now better understand one of the key words in this section—rest.
The writer mentioned two different “rests” found in Old Testament history: (1) God’s Sabbath rest, when He ceased from His creation activities
Hebrews 4:4 NKJV 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”;
(2) Israel’s rest in Canaan
Deuteronomy 12:9-10 NKJV for as yet you have not come to the rest and the inheritance which the Lord your God is giving you. But when you cross over the Jordan and dwell in the land which the Lord your God is giving you to inherit, and He gives you rest from all your enemies round about, so that you dwell in safety,
Hebrews 3:11 NKJV So I swore in My wrath, ‘They shall not enter My rest.’ ”
But he saw in these “rests” illustrations of the spiritual experiences of believers today. The Sabbath rest is a picture of our rest in Christ through salvation
Hebrews 4:3 NKJV For we who have believed do enter that rest, 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.
The Canaan rest is a picture of our present rest as we claim our inheritance in Christ
Hebrews 4:11-13 NKJV Let us therefore be diligent to enter that rest, lest anyone fall according to the same example of disobedience. For the word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. And there is no creature hidden from His sight, but all things are naked and open to the eyes of Him to whom we must give account.
The first is the rest of salvation; the second is the rest of submission.
There is also a third rest that enters into the discussion, that future rest that all believers will enjoy with God.
Hebrews 4:9 NKJV There remains therefore a rest for the people of God.
This word for rest in verse 9 is the Greek word sabbatismos—“a keeping of a Sabbath”—and this is the only place in the New Testament where this word is used. When the saints enter heaven, it will be like sharing God’s great Sabbath rest, with all labors and battles ended.
Now let’s get to this section of Hebrews;
Hebrews 3:7-19 NKJV Therefore, as the Holy Spirit says: “Today, if you will hear His voice, Do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion, In the day of trial in the wilderness, Where your fathers tested Me, tried Me, And saw My works forty years. Therefore I was angry with that generation, And said, ‘They always go astray in their heart, And they have not known My ways.’ So I swore in My wrath, ‘They shall not enter My rest.’ ” Beware, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief in departing from the living God; but exhort one another daily, while it is called “Today,” lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin. For we have become partakers of Christ if we hold the beginning of our confidence steadfast to the end, while it is said: “Today, if you will hear His voice, Do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion.” For who, having heard, rebelled? Indeed, was it not all who came out of Egypt, led by Moses? Now with whom was He angry forty years? Was it not with those who sinned, whose corpses fell in the wilderness? And to whom did He swear that they would not enter His rest, but to those who did not obey? So we see that they could not enter in because of unbelief.
Let Us Take Heed
Take heed to what? To the sad history of the nation of Israel and the important lesson it teaches. In verses 7-11
The writer quoted from Psalm 95:7–11, which records God’s response to Israel’s tragic spiritual condition.
Psalms 95:7-11 NKJV For He is our God, And we are the people of His pasture, And the sheep of His hand. Today, if you will hear His voice: “Do not harden your hearts, as in the rebellion, As in the day of trial in the wilderness, When your fathers tested Me; They tried Me, though they saw My work. For forty years I was grieved with that generation, And said, ‘It is a people who go astray in their hearts, And they do not know My ways.’ So I swore in My wrath, ‘They shall not enter My rest.’ ”
God had delivered His people from Egypt and had cared for them, revealing His power in many signs and wonders. Israel saw all of this and benefited from it, but the experience did not bring them closer to God or make them trust Him more.
In fact, just the opposite took place: They hardened their hearts against God! They put God to the test and He did not fail them, yet they failed Him.
Hebrews 3:12 NKJV Beware, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief in departing from the living God;
The people of Israel (except Moses, Joshua, and Caleb) did not believe God could cause them to go into and conquer Canaan which means that their hearts wandered from God and His Word.
They also had evil hearts of unbelief ; they did not believe that God would give them victory in Canaan.
They had seen God perform great signs in Egypt. Yet they doubted He was adequate for the challenge of Canaan.
They even wanted to return to Egypt! Imagine wanting to exchange their freedom under God for slavery in Egypt! Of course, all this history spoke to the hearts of the readers of this letter because they were in danger of “going back” themselves.
God’s judgment fell on Israel in the wilderness at Kadesh Barnea. That entire generation was condemned to die, and only the new generation would enter the land.
God said, “They shall not enter into my rest” (Heb. 3:11).
But what message does this bring to a believer today? No believer today, Jew or Gentile, because we can’t could go back into the Mosaic legal system since the temple is gone and there is no priesthood. But every believer is tempted to go back into the world system’s life of compromise and bondage. This is especially true during times of persecution and suffering.
True believers are willing to suffer for Christ, and they hold firmly to their convictions and their confession of faith.
Hebrews 3:6, 14 NKJV but Christ as a Son over His own house, whose house we are if we hold fast the confidence and the rejoicing of the hope firm to the end. For we have become partakers of Christ if we hold the beginning of our confidence steadfast to the end,
We are not saved by holding to our confession. The fact that we hold to our confession is proof that we are God’s true children.
It is important that we take heed and recognize the spiritual dangers that exist. But it is also important that we encourage each other to be faithful to the Lord.
Hebrews 3:13 NKJV but exhort one another daily, while it is called “Today,” lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin.
Christians belong to each other and need each other. Moses, Caleb, and Joshua did try to encourage Israel when the nation refused to enter Canaan, but the people would not listen.
It is clear from this section that God was grieved with Israel during the entire forty years they wandered in the wilderness.
This didn’t start with the bad report from the spies that went into Canaan and came back with the report that they couldn’t take the land. It started soon after they were freed from Egypt.
The Jews had not been out of Egypt long when they began to provoke God. After He supplied bread for them, they complained about a lack of water.
Exodus 16:1-5 NKJV And they journeyed from Elim, and all the congregation of the children of Israel came to the Wilderness of Sin, which is between Elim and Sinai, on the fifteenth day of the second month after they departed from the land of Egypt. Then the whole congregation of the children of Israel complained against Moses and Aaron in the wilderness. And the children of Israel said to them, “Oh, that we had died by the hand of the Lord in the land of Egypt, when we sat by the pots of meat and when we ate bread to the full! For you have brought us out into this wilderness to kill this whole assembly with hunger.” Then the Lord said to Moses, “Behold, I will rain bread from heaven for you. And the people shall go out and gather a certain quota every day, that I may test them, whether they will walk in My law or not. And it shall be on the sixth day that they shall prepare what they bring in, and it shall be twice as much as they gather daily.”
Exodus 17:1-7 NKJV Then all the congregation of the children of Israel set out on their journey from the Wilderness of Sin, according to the commandment of the Lord , and camped in Rephidim; but there was no water for the people to drink. Therefore the people contended with Moses, and said, “Give us water, that we may drink.” So Moses said to them, “Why do you contend with me? Why do you tempt the Lord ?” And the people thirsted there for water, and the people complained against Moses, and said, “Why is it you have brought us up out of Egypt, to kill us and our children and our livestock with thirst?” So Moses cried out to the Lord , saying, “What shall I do with this people? They are almost ready to stone me!” And the Lord said to Moses, “Go on before the people, and take with you some of the elders of Israel. Also take in your hand your rod with which you struck the river, and go. Behold, I will stand before you there on the rock in Horeb; and you shall strike the rock, and water will come out of it, that the people may drink.” And Moses did so in the sight of the elders of Israel. So he called the name of the place Massah and Meribah, because of the contention of the children of Israel, and because they tempted the Lord , saying, “Is the Lord among us or not?”
“Massah and Meribah,” which means “provocation and trial.”
The sin of Israel is stated in Hebrews 3:12—“departing from the living God.”
Israel departed from the living God by refusing God’s will for their lives and stubbornly wanting to go their own way back to Egypt. God did not permit them to return to Egypt. Rather, He disciplined them in the wilderness. God did not allow His people to return to bondage.
The emphasis in Hebrews is that true believers have an eternal salvation because they trust a living Savior who constantly intercedes for them. But the writer was careful to point out that this confidence is no excuse for sin. God disciplines His children. Remember that Canaan is not a picture of heaven, but of the believer’s present spiritual inheritance in Christ. Believers who doubt God’s Word and rebel against Him do not miss heaven, but they do miss out on the blessings of their inheritance today, and they must suffer the chastening of God.
So we are warned to take heed that we don’t make the same mistakes of the Israelites by not believing God’s promises, and miss His rest, the rest prepared for us if we obey.
2) Let us fear (4:1–8)
Hebrews 4:1-8 NKJV Therefore, since a promise remains of entering His rest, let us fear lest any of you seem to have come short of it. For indeed the gospel was preached to us as well as to them; but the word which they heard did not profit them, not being mixed with faith in those who heard it. For we who have believed do enter that rest, 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.
Hebrews 4:1-8 NLT God’s promise of entering his rest still stands, so we ought to tremble with fear that some of you might fail to experience it. For this good news—that God has prepared this rest—has been announced to us just as it was to them. But it did them no good because they didn’t share the faith of those who listened to God. For only we who believe can enter his rest. As for the others, God said, “In my anger I took an oath: ‘They will never enter my place of rest,’” even though this rest has been ready since he made the world. We know it is ready because of the place in the Scriptures where it mentions the seventh day: “On the seventh day God rested from all his work.” But in the other passage God said, “They will never enter my place of rest.” So God’s rest is there for people to enter, but those who first heard this good news failed to enter because they disobeyed God. So God set another time for entering his rest, and that time is today. God announced this through David much later in the words already quoted: “Today when you hear his voice, don’t harden your hearts.” Now if Joshua had succeeded in giving them this rest, God would not have spoken about another day of rest still to come.
Believers today may enter and enjoy their spiritual inheritance in Christ, but we must be careful lest we fail to believe God’s Word, for it is only as the Word is “mixed with faith” that it can accomplish its purposes.
The argument in this section is given in several propositions: (1) God finished His work and rested, so that His rest has been available since creation; (2) the Jews failed to enter into their rest; (3) many years later (Ps. 95), God said that a rest was still available.
Psalms 95:1-11 NKJV Oh come, let us sing to the Lord ! Let us shout joyfully to the Rock of our salvation. Let us come before His presence with thanksgiving; Let us shout joyfully to Him with psalms. For the Lord is the great God, And the great King above all gods. In His hand are the deep places of the earth; The heights of the hills are His also. The sea is His, for He made it; And His hands formed the dry land. Oh come, let us worship and bow down; Let us kneel before the Lord our Maker. For He is our God, And we are the people of His pasture, And the sheep of His hand. Today, if you will hear His voice: “Do not harden your hearts, as in the rebellion, As in the day of trial in the wilderness, When your fathers tested Me; They tried Me, though they saw My work. For forty years I was grieved with that generation, And said, ‘It is a people who go astray in their hearts, And they do not know My ways.’ So I swore in My wrath, ‘They shall not enter My rest.’ ”
That “today”, mentioned in Psalm 95 and in Hebrews 4:8 is still here! This means that Joshua did not lead Israel into the true rest, because a rest still remains.
The Canaan rest for Israel is a picture of the spiritual rest we find in Christ when we surrender to Him. When we come to Christ by faith, we find salvation rest.
Matthew 11:28 NKJV Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.
When we yield and learn of Him and obey Him by faith, we enjoy submission rest.
Matthew 11:29-30 NKJV Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.”
The first is “peace with God”
Romans 5:1 NKJV Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ,
the second is the “peace of God”
Philippians 4:6-8 NKJV Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God; and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus. Finally, brethren, whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy—meditate on these things.
It is by believing that we enter into rest; it is by obeying God by faith and surrendering to His will that the rest enters into us.
(3) Let us labor (4:9–13)
Hebrews 4:9-13 NKJV 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. Let us therefore be diligent to enter that rest, lest anyone fall according to the same example of disobedience. For the word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. And there is no creature hidden from His sight, but all things are naked and open to the eyes of Him to whom we must give account.
Diligence is the opposite of “drifting”.
Hebrews 2:1-2 NKJV Therefore we must give the more earnest heed to the things we have heard, lest we drift away. For if the word spoken through angels proved steadfast, and every transgression and disobedience received a just reward,
How do we “give diligence”? By paying close attention to the Word of God. Israel did not believe God’s Word, so the rebels fell in the wilderness.
In comparing the Word of God to a sword, the writer was not suggesting that God uses His Word to slaughter the saints! It is true that the Word cuts the heart of sinners with conviction.
Here's an example;
Acts 5:29-33 NKJV But Peter and the other apostles answered and said: “We ought to obey God rather than men. The God of our fathers raised up Jesus whom you murdered by hanging on a tree. Him God has exalted to His right hand to be Prince and Savior, to give repentance to Israel and forgiveness of sins. And we are His witnesses to these things, and so also is the Holy Spirit whom God has given to those who obey Him.” When they heard this, they were furious and plotted to kill them.
and that the Word defeats Satan
Ephesians 6:17 NKJV And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God;
The Greek word translated “sword” means “a short sword or dagger.” The emphasis is on the power of the Word to penetrate and expose the inner heart of man. The Word is a “discerner” or “critic.” The Israelites criticized God’s Word instead of allowing the Word to judge them. Consequently, they lost their inheritance.
Of course, God sees our hearts,
Hebrews 4:13 NKJV And there is no creature hidden from His sight, but all things are naked and open to the eyes of Him to whom we must give account.
but we do not always know what is there.
Jeremiah 17:9 NKJV “The heart is deceitful above all things, And desperately wicked; Who can know it?
God uses the Word to enable us to see the sin and unbelief in our own hearts. The Word exposes our hearts, and then, if we trust God, the Word enables our hearts to obey God and claim His promises. This is why each believer should be diligent to apply himself to hear and heed God’s Word. In the Word we see God, and we also see how God sees us. We see ourselves as we really are. This experience enables us to be honest with God, to trust His will, and to obey Him.
All of this is possible because of the finished work of Jesus Christ.
Hebrews 4:10 NKJV For he who has entered His rest has himself also ceased from his works as God did from His.
God rested when He finished the work of creation. God’s Son rested when He completed the work of the new creation. We may enter into His rest by trusting His Word and obeying His will. We can do this as we listen to His Word, understand it, trust it, and obey it. Only in this way can we claim our inheritance in Christ.
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