Chapter 3 ended with a warning against unbelief, against lukewarm reliance on one’s identity for salvation, instead of diligently persevering, striving to make your calling and election sure. Chapter 4 of the Epistle to the Hebrews picks up right there, continuing to exhort the audience to “enter God’s rest.” The author wants wholehearted obedience to God, as proof that his audience has indeed entered God’s rest. And, though we fail in obedience, we must remain faithful. Because Jesus is our perfect High Priest, we can confidently ask Him to give us mercy and grace in our time of need. Let’s take a closer look at Hebrews 4.
1) V1-2 – 1Therefore, since the promise of entering His rest still stands, let us be careful that none of you be found to have fallen short of it. 2For we also have had the gospel preached to us, just as they did; but the message they heard was of no value to them, because those who heard did not combine it with faith [Or because they did not share in the faith of those who obeyed].
The author begins this passage with “therefore,” requiring us to recall what was previously stated; essentially, unbelief prohibits entry to the Promised Land. In other words, since unbelief keeps us out, and since we are still welcome to enter the Kingdom of God, we need to be careful not to disbelieve. Disbelieving is equivalent to being “found to have fallen short of” God’s rest, God’s Kingdom, heaven, or the Promised Land. Phillip Hughes defines God’s rest as “the enjoyment of perfect harmony with [the] Creator; it can therefore only be rest in God. As such it is totally incompatible with unbelief and disobedience toward God; hence, the inability of the rebellious Israelites to enter into God’s rest.” Reminding his audience of the gospel message that has been preached to them, the author explains that they must believe it, for it is not enough just to hear it. Referring to the Israelites after the Exodus, the author says they heard the gospel, but many of them did not believe it. So the gospel, preached as the promises of God, saved believers in the Old Testament just as in the New Testament.
The translation at the end of v2 is difficult. As the NIV – a meaning-for-meaning translation – renders it, “The message they heard was of no value to them, because those who heard did not combine it with faith,” we might conclude that faith is man’s contribution to salvation. But this has been addressed previously. Faith is a gift; we do not conjure it up from with our dead souls. The optional, parenthetical translation found in the NIV makes better sense, “The message they heard was of no value to them, because they did not share in the faith of those who obeyed.” The ESV, my preferred translation, renders this verse like this: “The message they heard did not benefit them, because they were not united by faith with those who listened.” Other manuscripts say, according to the ESV, “It did not meet with faith in the hearers.” This alternate renderings present faith as something external to ourselves, something we cannot create within us, something that has to be granted to us, which is exactly what it is.
2) V3-10 – 3Now we who have believed enter that rest, just as God has said, “So I declared on oath in My anger, ‘They shall never enter My rest’” [Psalm 95:11, also in v5]. And yet His work has been finished since the creation of the world. 4For somewhere He has spoken about the seventh day in these words: “And on the seventh day God rested from all His work” [Genesis 2:2]. 5And again in the passage above He says, “They shall never enter My rest.” 6It still remains that some will enter that rest, and those who formerly had the gospel preached to them did not go in, because of their disobedience. 7Therefore God again set a certain day, calling it Today, when a long time later He spoke through David, as was said before: “Today, if you hear His voice, do not harden your hearts” [Psalm 95:7-8]. 8For if Joshua had given them rest, God would not have spoken later about another day. 9There remains, then, a Sabbath-rest for the people of God; 10for anyone who enters God’s rest also rests from his own work, just as God did from His.
The author of Hebrews confidently asserts, “Now we who have believed enter that rest” (v3), but we need to understand the tenses of these verbs. Our believing is presented in the past tense, though it is an ongoing activity; faith was granted to us sometime ago, but we continue to exercise it, by grace, in the present. Additionally, we “enter that rest,” a present, yet passive motion that is also ongoing. It’s passive, because rather than walking through a door, it is as if we are being brought through the door, incapable of walking through on our own. And that’s an appropriate picture. Having been found dead in sin, the Holy Spirit regenerates us with the gift of faith, making us alive but still incapable of perfect obedience. Thus, to enter God’s Kingdom, we must be carried through by the only one who can enter, Jesus Christ, because of His perfect obedience. Ligon Duncan concludes with a crucial point of Hebrews: “The Christian life is both active and passive. That is, God is working in us – passive. But we are working to do God’s will – active. So growth in grace involves us exerting some energy, and that means if we are neglectful, if we are unconcerned about that, we’re not just going to be sucked along in a vortex towards holiness. We’ve got to apply some energy there, and the author of Hebrews is concerned that these people don’t seem to realize that. And that neglect can really land them in a dangerous place.”
At the end of v3, with a further explanation in v4, the author starts elaborating on God’s rest; he acknowledges that God finished His work of creation and has been resting ever since (the concept of the unending seventh day of creation rest, a topic which perhaps deserves more discussion…). And v5-7 reiterate the point that some will enter God’s rest and some will not, depending on whether there is the obedience of faith present in them in the end. It’s a call to perseverance. Ligon Duncan’s sermon on Hebrews 4:1-10 includes this introductory point:
Chapter 4 of Hebrews opens up with a discussion of the believer’s rest, and that invites a comparison between the two Joshuas: the Joshua of the Old Testament and the Joshua of the New Testament; the Joshua whose job it was to bring the children of Israel out of the wilderness and into the promised land, and the Lord Jesus who indeed brings His children out of the wilderness and into the land of rest. And here God is calling us to perseverance and to priorities. He’s not just telling old stories from the Old Testament because they are interesting or because they have interesting theological points. He is telling this because He is urging us to perseverance and to priorities. In fact, we might even say He’s calling us here to perseverance in our priorities.
So we come to the mention of Joshua in v8. And it’s worth saying that all of the Old Testament characters provide great examples for us of good and bad, virtue and vice. The apostle Paul writes of them in a very similar fashion, and in so doing, gives the same sort of conclusion as the author to the Hebrews, in 1 Corinthians 10:1-12:
For I do not want you to be ignorant of the fact, brothers, that our forefathers were all under the cloud and that they all passed through the sea. They were all baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea. They all ate the same spiritual food and drank the same spiritual drink; for they drank from the spiritual rock that accompanied them, and that rock was Christ. Nevertheless, God was not pleased with most of them; their bodies were scattered over the desert. Now these things occurred as examples to keep us from setting our hearts on evil things as they did. Do not be idolaters, as some of them were; as it is written: ‘The people sat down to eat and drink and got up to indulge in pagan revelry.’ We should not commit sexual immorality, as some of them did – and in one day twenty-three thousand of them died. We should not test the Lord, as some of them did – and were killed by snakes. And do not grumble, as some of them did – and were killed by the destroying angel. These things happened to them as examples and were written down as warnings for us, on whom the fulfillment of the ages has come. So, if you think you are standing firm, be careful that you don’t fall!
But additionally, the Old Testament histories often serve as types of realities to come. And that’s the case here with Hebrews. Again Ligon Duncan comments: “Joshua’s rest was not the ultimate rest. Even though Joshua brought the children of Israel into the land of Canaan, that was not the ultimate rest which God had prepared for His people. He says explicitly there remains a Sabbath rest. Israel had a tendency toward satisfaction once they were in the land. They were satisfied with the land, and they took it in some cases as the ultimate expression of God’s rest. And the author of Hebrews quote of Psalm 95 and especially his emphasis on the word “today” is an indication that there was more to come and that even spiritual Israelites understood that there was more to come, that the land of Canaan was not the ultimate fulfillment of God’s promises for Israel. Canaan, the land of conquest, was a type. It was a foreshadowing, it was an anticipation of a future, a greater, a new covenant rest that the people of God were going to experience.” Phillip Hughes says, “The promise of entering into God’s rest extends far beyond the historical event of the entry of the Israelites into Canaan under Joshua’s leadership. The possession of the land of Canaan was indeed a fulfillment of the promise” [made to Abraham]. But even Abraham, as the author of Hebrews will explain in chapters 11-12, looked forward to a greater fulfillment of God’s promise, a heavenly city and not merely a chunk of earth. There’s a heavenly Jerusalem still to come.
When we celebrate the Lord’s Day, the Sabbath day of rest, we look forward to heaven, which will be a permanent, everlasting, spiritual rest. Do you look forward to heaven? Malcolm Muggeridge once poignantly said, “The only ultimate tragedy is that a man makes this earth his home.” Don’t do that. Press on towards God’s rest. Martin Luther said, “It is due to the perversity of men that they seek first peace and then righteousness and consequently they find no peace.” Remember Jesus’ words, “Seek first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness and all these things will be added unto you.” If you pursue the righteousness of God, you find the rest of God. But if you seek for something else, you miss it. Ligon Duncan concludes his sermon interestingly, “The problem is not that we want too much. It’s that we’re satisfied with too little. We’re satisfied with the token rest and satisfaction and temporal contentments of this world, which always have diminishing returns and always disappoint, instead of pressing towards that ultimate rest that God has prepared for us. The author of Hebrews wants this congregation to stop and reflect for a minute and say, ‘Are we really pressing towards that rest?’ And then He urges us, ‘Press towards that rest to come. Don’t fall short of that rest.’”
3) V11-13 – 11Let us, therefore, make every effort to enter that rest, so that no one will fall by following their example of disobedience. 12For the word of God is living and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart. 13Nothing in all creation is hidden from God’s sight. Everything is uncovered and laid bare before the eyes of Him to whom we must give account.
The two final passages of this chapter are follow up exhortations from the message of v3-10. Again we have the command to “make every effort to enter that rest” (v11). Remember, the verb “enter” used earlier in v3 was present tense, and ongoing, but passive. Here in v11, it’s active. We must do it, because God is doing it in, with, by, for, and through us. It’s the same as Paul’s urge in Philippians 2:12-13, “Continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you to will and to act according to His good purpose.” In addition to the command, the author also reveals why we should obey his command: “So that no one will fall by following their example of disobedience” (v11). As we persevere in faith, we avoid falling into disbelief, like the Israelites who died in the wilderness.
V12-13 offer additional motivation for perseverance in faith, for obeying God, and for seeking first His righteousness. God’s word – living, active, and sharp – judges our hearts! “Nothing in all creation is hidden from God’s sight. Everything is uncovered and laid bare before the eyes of Him to whom we must give account” (v13). You can’t hide from God. He knows. And His word convicts. The threat of judgment – fear – is often used as a motivator for righteousness in Scripture, and here is no exception.
4) V14-16 – 14Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has gone through the heavens [or gone into heaven], Jesus the Son of God, let us hold firmly to the faith we profess. 15For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are – yet was without sin. 16Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.
Though fear of judgment is a real motivator for obedience, the author of Hebrews knows we can’t obey perfectly; and he doesn’t want us to live in fear if we trust Christ. So he again urges perseverance in “the faith [that Jesus is Lord that] we profess,” and he reminds us again of Jesus, our perfect high priest, whose fulfillment of such a role will be explained in the following chapters. Jesus is able “sympathize with our weakness” (v15). This is amazing. God established commands. We broke the commands, yet God is sympathetic toward us. He doesn’t say, “It’s no big deal; it’s okay; don’t worry about it.” But He sympathizes with our weakness. He doesn’t harshly and immediately destroy us, though He could justly do that; He feels sorry for us. By His very nature, though He has never sinned, He understands; He can identify with us and our weakness, because He became a man, like us in every way that we are tempted – “yet was without sin.” Because He understands and has not already destroyed us, we can – and we should – “approach the throne of grace with confidence” (v16).
There’s no denial that God is sovereign; there’s no trampling His grace as if it were mandatory. Rather, there’s an understanding that Jesus, as our “great high priest,” has dealt with our sin once and for all; there’s an understanding that we who have faith in Jesus, by grace, are welcome before the sovereign Lord, who has already shown us grace. In the Old Testament, believers kept their distance from the holy God; but in the New Testament, we draw near to Him. It’s because Jesus’ work is finished. Ligon Duncan says, “[Jesus’] priesthood actually establishes a real fellowship between God and His people, whereas the old covenant priests could only shadow and foreshadow that fellowship.” In coming before Him, we “receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need” (v16). When we sin, it’s easy to run away and hide. But the author of Hebrews wants us to come confidently, with the freedom to speak plainly, to our gracious God, who knows everything and understands our troubles and longs to literally “throw you a rope,” to bestow the mercy of forgiveness and the grace that transforms.
Footnotes
- 4:2 Many manuscripts because they did not share in the faith of those who obeyed
- 4:3 Psalm 95:11; also in verse 5
- 4:4 Gen. 2:2
- 4:7 Psalm 95:7,8
- 4:14 Or gone into heaven
Bible text from Gospelcom.net. Copyright 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society.