Entering God’s Rest
Genesis 2:1-3; Leviticus 23:26-28, 32; Hebrews 4:1-13
January 22, 2017 • Download this sermon (PDF)
Congregation of Christ: Yesterday most of us witnessed the orderly, peaceful and transfer of power from one administration to the next. It was beautiful to witness, reminding us all to be thankful to the Lord who gave us liberty and freedom in this land. So we can sing with joy,
O beautiful for pilgrim feet,
Whose stern impassion’d stress
A thoroughfare for freedom beat
Across the wilderness!
In President Trump’s inaugural speech, as in most others before his, there were quotes from the Bible. One of the quotes is from Psalm 133:1, “Behold, how good and pleasant it is when brothers dwell in unity!” King David wrote this psalm about Israel, God’s chosen people in the Old Testament. Trump actually changed “brothers” into “God’s people,” which is correct, because Israel was God’s people then. So this verse applies to God’s people today, which is the Church of Jesus Christ. The exhortation for Americans to be united is always a great goal, but America, nor any other nation today, is not God’s chosen nation.
In every inauguration, there is much anticipation and hope for the better. Expectations are high, and more often than not, after a “100-day honeymoon,” this hope and expectations are dashed. As Christians, when our expectations are not met, we are to remember a verse from our Call to Worship, “Return, O my soul, to your rest; for the LORD has dealt bountifully with you” (Psalm 116:7).
We are to hope in the Lord, and find our rest in him. And this is also the exhortation to us today from our text in Hebrews 4. We are to enter God’s rest, and not fall short of it. The promise of rest still remains for us and for everyone who would hear God’s Word. The exhortation from God’s Word is this: “strive to enter that rest” that God has for everyone who listens. God’s Word pierces the heart and soul of those who enter.
Warning: Do Not Fall Short of It
The Preacher first has a warning, which is also an exhortation, “let us fear lest any of you should seem to have failed to reach it. 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.”
What was the writer talking about as the good news? He continues to quote Psalm 95, where the psalmist says that the people of Israel often grumbled and rebelled against God when they were hungry and thirsty in the wilderness. Then, when they were on the verge of entering Canaan the Promised Land, on the shores of the Jordan River, they refused to enter.
Why did they refuse to enter the Promised Land? Because they heard from the 12 spies that the people of the land were giants, and their cities were well-fortified. They feared they would die fighting against these cities, and their wives and children would become slaves. They did not listen to Joshua and Caleb, who believed God’s promise that he will give them the land. This is what the writer refers to in verse 6, “and those who formerly received the good news failed to enter because of disobedience.”
This was the good news that was preached to them: God’s promise that he will give them the land, so they will be able to conquer and settle the land, if they believed. This means that God himself would fight for them. And this is the same promise we hear from God’s Word today: that all who are united to Christ by faith will enter the Promised Land, heaven itself.
So the Preacher warns those Jewish Christians and us today who do not listen to God’s promises, “As I swore in my wrath, ‘They shall not enter my rest.’”
Promise: It Still Remains
Although the first-generation Israelites led by Moses did not enter the Promised Land, God fulfilled his promise to give them land under Joshua. They conquered all of Canaan, and God gave each of the twelve tribes a portion of the land. So in Joshua 21:43-45, we read:
Thus the LORD gave to Israel all the land that he swore to give to their fathers. And they took possession of it, and they settled there. And the LORD gave them rest on every side just as he had sworn to their fathers. Not one of all their enemies had withstood them, for the LORD had given all their enemies into their hands. Not one word of all the good promises that the LORD had made to the house of Israel had failed; all came to pass.
Not one word of all of God’s promises to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob had failed. But Hebrews 4:8 says that Joshua had not really given them rest, for “God would not have spoken of another day later on.” Israel had rest on every side in the Promised Land under Joshua, but a later day of rest still awaited them. So, what is this rest the the writer is talking about?
The answer is in both earlier and later verses. In verses 3-4, we read that God’s “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.’” The Preacher connects the rest that they still await with God’s rest on the seventh day of creation. Moses wrote that on the seventh day, God “rested and was refreshed” (Exo 31:17). Was God exhausted from creating the world that he had to rest? Certainly not! But he had a twofold purpose for his seventh-day rest. The first is to demonstrate the physical rest for mankind one day every seven days. The second is to ground the observance of the seventh-day Sabbath rest on his own seventh-day rest.
But is the writer speaking of rest only as mere physical rest? No, and there are three reasons in our text why he is not. First, he writes in verses 9-10, “So then, there remains a Sabbath rest for the people of God, for whoever has entered God’s rest has also rested from his works as God did from his.” If this was merely resting from physical work, then there would be a permanent cessation of physical work in this age. Our physical rest would not be once a week, but for eternity. And we are not yet in eternity. This rest is spiritual rest.
The seventh-day of creation is different from the first six days. In each of the first six days, there is a summary, “And there was evening and there was morning.” The seventh day has no such summary, implying that the seventh-day is still ongoing, and will last for eternity. This is why everyone who enters God’s rest “has also rested from his works,” now and forever.
Second, the word “rest” is used eight times in Chapters 3 and 4. In all but one of these eight uses, the word refers either to Israel not entering God’s rest, or God resting from his works in creation. What is that one exception? It is the Greek word sabbatismos in verse 9, which in English is “Sabbath rest.” Here, the readers are exhorted to rest from their works.
Third, God’s work of creation and his rest, and Israel’s rest in the Promised Land are both foreshadows of a greater reality. This reality is that God’s people, those who believe and trust in his Son Jesus Christ will gain eternal rest in the final Promised Land, heaven itself.
Challenge: Strive to Enter It
So in verse 11, the Preacher exhorts all Christians, “Let us therefore strive to enter that rest, so that no one may fall by the same sort of disobedience.” Does this mean that we will enter God’s rest only by striving to do our own good works?
Most Jews, both in the Old Testament and in the time of Jesus, believed so. They were commanded by God to observe Sabbaths, new moons and feasts, and offer animal sacrifices to God. The most important of these feasts was the Day of Atonement:
And the LORD spoke to Moses, saying, “Now on the tenth day of this seventh month is the Day of Atonement. It shall be for you a time of holy convocation…. And you shall not do any work on that very day, for it is a Day of Atonement, to make atonement for you before the LORD your God… It shall be to you a Sabbath of solemn rest, and you shall afflict yourselves” (Lev 23:26-28, 32).
The Day of Atonement was “a Sabbath of solemn rest” when Israel did not do any work, and gathered for a holy assembly. It was also a day when Israel offered animal sacrifices to make atonement for their sins. So we know that this day is also a foretaste of the once-for-all sacrifice of our Lord Jesus Christ on the cross as our Substitute to atone for all our sins. And we celebrate his life, death and resurrection every Lord’s Day like this when we gather together for a holy assembly to praise and give thanks to our Triune God.
So also on this Lord’s Day, we are called to cease from our physical works. But not only physical work. More importantly, we are called to rest from our works in order to be saved, because no one can be saved by works. We can only be saved by the works of Christ, if we put our faith and trust in him. Paul says, “For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast” (Eph 2:8-9). Jesus invites us to rest in him,
Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. 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 (Mat 11:28-29).
Therefore, this call to “strive to enter that rest” is not a call to do good works, or to do the best we can to atone for our own sins and be saved. It is a call to faith, just as the Preacher exhorts the Hebrew Christians in our text, “For we who have believed enter that rest” (verse 3). It is also a call to obedience, as he says in verse 11, “so that no one may fall by the same sort of disobedience.”
Our faith must be evidenced by our obedience to all God’s commandments in his Word. Our knowledge and faith must be evidenced by our zeal for good works. Faith must be combined with obedience to God’s Word. This is the relationship between faith and works, just as James writes, “faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead,” and “faith apart from works is useless” (Jas 2:17, 20).
Warning: God’s Word Cuts the Heart Entering It
Our text has a warning to exercise faith through obedience to enter God’s rest. But it also has a promise that those who do will enter this eternal Sabbath rest. So the challenge is to strive to enter that rest, because our striving is evidence of that saving faith.
Lastly, in verses 12-13, there is again a warning, which also serves as an exhortation. How do we exercise the faith that was given to us? By striving to do good works. How do we know what good works are before God? We read all about it in Scriptures. The only good works pleasing to God are those arising out of faith, “Without faith, it is impossible to please God” (Heb 11:6).
Our text teaches us two things about God in a perfect balance in relationship to his Word. First, God has a warning that we should have a healthy respect for his holiness. His Word is “living and active.” When it is sent out, read and preached, it accomplishes its purposes, “so shall my word be that goes out from my mouth; it shall not return to me empty, but it shall accomplish that which I purpose, and shall succeed in the thing for which I sent it” (Isa 55:11). Those who listen through the work of the Holy Spirit are given God’s eternal Sabbath rest. But those who do not listen will not enter that rest, and will be lost forever.
God’s Word is like a powerful sword that it is able to “[pierce] to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart.” Some people believe that “soul” and “spirit” are two different parts of a human being, but they are the same. The writer is saying that God’s Word knows our whole being. This is why on Judgment Day, all our works will be exposed to God. But fear not, Christian! All our sinful works have already been judged when Jesus died on the cross as a Substitute for all our sins.
But secondly, God has a gracious promise of rest for those who listen to his Word. You who believe are given this faith by the Holy Spirit, not because you are a good person, and you deserve it. You are saved only because of God’s grace, mercy and love, nothing else. As Paul says in Romans 9:15-16, “‘I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion.’ So then it depends not on human will or exertion, but on God, who has mercy.”
So dear friends, do you have faith? And if you say you have faith, do you evidence that faith by obeying God’s Word? Jesus says to you, “If you love me, you will keep my commandments” (John 14:15). If you have faith and you evidence that faith with good works, then you have God’s rest even in this life. And when you persevere in the faith, obeying God’s Word in your life, Christ’s promise to you is this, “as you have always obeyed… work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure” (Phil 2:12-13). And at the end, when Christ returns, he again promises, “he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ” (Phil 1:6). Now, you already rest in God, even in sufferings. In eternity, your joy will be complete.
And I leave you with this exhortation, so you may be assured of God’s promise of Sabbath rest because your faith is evidenced by your obedience to his Word:
And by this we know that we have come to know him, if we keep his commandments. Whoever says “I know him” but does not keep his commandments is a liar, and the truth is not in him, but whoever keeps his word, in him truly the love of God is perfected. By this we may know that we are in him: whoever says he abides in him ought to walk in the same way in which he walked (1 John 2:3-6).
