Hebrews 4:1-13: a much needed rest.

Presented to Swift Current Corps, 20 September 2009
By Captain Michael Ramsay

Hebrews 4 is an important part of Hebrews for Salvationists and all others who believe in holiness but, like much in this book, this is somewhat confusing. I know personally in researching this, I read through the text a number of different times and consulted quite a few Biblical journals and commentaries. You remember –of course- that the book of Hebrews is (probably) really a sermon[1] and right in the midst of this sermon here is another 3-point mini-sermon on King David’s Psalm 95.[2] It is a sermon about a sermon. So then today we are all listening to a sermon about a sermon within a sermon. That would seem to be 3 sermons for the price of one. Not a bad deal – but that doesn’t mean you can skip out the next two weeks’ sermons – and you can probably see why this might be somewhat confusing.

This part of the mini-sermon that we are looking at today (Hebrews 4:1-11,12&13) deals with rest.[3] I have recently discovered ‘youtube’, though I confess that I haven’t quite figured out how to use it. Carlye Morris (our Salvation Army War College practicum student this summer) showed Susan, the girls and I this clip about rest…

[4]

The Pink Panther in this clip did finally enter into some rest but it isn’t entirely the rest that the preacher to the Hebrews here is speaking about. The preacher of Hebrews in his sermon on David’s Psalm 95 mentions God’s rest as it pertains to three different groups: God himself at the time of the creation of the world (4:4,10); we ourselves, today (4:3, 6-11); and the Hebrews with Moses and Joshua when they stood at the precipice of the promised land (4:1-3, 8-10).

Israel failed to obtain rest

The preacher begins this section of his mini-sermon by reminding us that, with the exception of Joshua and Caleb, the Israelites who left Egypt didn’t enter the land that was promised to them. They did not enter the rest that God had prepared for them (Hebrews 4:1,3,5,8, Numbers 14).

It was all sitting there for the taking. God had provided this amazing meal for them, metaphorically speaking. These people had been living off of bread (from heaven mind you, Exodus 16, Numbers 11, Deuteronomy 8, Nehemiah 9:20, Psalm 78:24, John 6) and water (It would be even twice from a rock, Exodus 17:1-7; Numbers 20:1-13; Deuteronomy 8:15; Nehemiah 9:15; Psalms 78, 105:41, 114:8, Isaiah 48:21) and now they have the opportunity to have fresh food (see Exodus 16, Numbers 11, Joshua 5:12 and also Revelation 2:17). Grapes as big as can be imagined – better than any GM foods – and picked right off the vine (Numbers 13:27). God had grown all the produce in this land here, preparing this great meal for His invited guests. While they were just spending time wandering around the desert, God was preparing this great feast to welcome them home into their promised rest from all that wandering. The people were tired and cranky and very hungry. God takes 400 years (Genesis 15) to make this great feast for them and when they finally get there, God offers them this great feast in ‘the land of milk and honey’ they say… ‘No thanks we’ll pass’. Can you imagine?

I remember years ago I owned a tutoring company and I even did some private educational instruction for a family on Vancouver Island, myself. Many nights of the week I would be working late at their place so the mom would often make these amazing meals and invite me to join the family before I headed off to my next appointment. One time, to repay the favour, we decided to invite the family to our house for dinner. Susan spent the day cooking this amazingly fancy meal and making the house look presentable while I was at the office. I returned and then Susan and I both went all out making this whole fancy dinner set-up for our chosen guests and they were late (not the 40 years late that the Israelites were for God’s meal but they were late). We were waiting for them and waiting for them and waiting for them. We had gone to all this trouble and then when they finally arrive and sit down for dinner the teenage sons let us know why they are late: “We’re not hungry; we just ate at McDonald’s.”

This I think must be about how God feels. He invited the Israelites to this special feast of ‘milk and honey’ that he took 400 years preparing (see Genesis 15) and by the time they finally arrive, God invites them in and tells them to help themselves to the best food that they have ever seen and they say ‘no thanks’. Of the first Hebrews to see the land, all except for Joshua and Caleb say that no, they don’t want it. They’ll just eat at McDonald’s. They’ll just return to Egypt (Numbers 14:3,4).

God is understandably a little bit upset and says to them. If you’re going to be that way than I don’t want you here either. Go away (Number 14:20-25). I’ll invite Caleb and Joshua and another generation of people back. Your kids can come without you to this promised feast, this promised rest, after the rest of you have died (Numbers 26:65, Numbers 32:12, Joshua 14).

God prepared this promised rest for the Hebrews who had been wandering around the desert. They said ‘no’ to the rest so God withdrew the offer until after they had all died. Hebrews 4:3: “So I declared on oath in my anger, ‘They shall never enter my rest.’”

How does this apply to us?

This is a key point that the preacher is making. God promised rest to the Hebrews in the desert and He provided rest for them but they rejected it and so they did not receive it (Hebrews 4:3, Numbers 14). The homiletician applies this promise to us now as well saying that this offer that they refused (and was thus no longer open to them, Numbers 14:26-45) if we have not rejected it, it is still open for us to take advantage of.[5]

Hebrews 4:1 and 2: “Therefore, 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. For 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.”

There are a couple of things that the preacher to the Hebrews goes on to examine from here in his sermon. The first thing he explains to us is how this promised rest can still be available to us. How can this rest that Israel didn’t experience it under Joshua (Jesus) – how can this rest that their generation rejected and so died in the wilderness of Sin (Exodus 16:1, Numbers 13:21) - how can this rest still be available to us today?[6]

The preacher gives us some things to think about. He says, Hebrews 4:3a, “Now 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.’” The preacher says we enter that rest – so long as we act on our faith in His faithfulness and don’t reject that rest like Israel did in the desert. He says they shall NOT enter His rest but we can still enter His rest if we choose to do so.[7]

This rest is a little bit like a warm bed waiting for us on a cold night. We have been involved in The Salvation Army for a while now in quite a few different communities. Some of the communities that we have been involved in were big urban centers like Vancouver that have an horrific amount of people suffering from homelessness and some of the communities we served in were small communities with really cold winters like Nipawin and Tisdale (and I believe that it is cold here too, we’ll find out soon) and then – of course, there was Winnipeg – it is big, urban, plagued with homelessness AND it is really, really, very, very cold! There are many people who really struggle and suffer from every evil of homelessness in the big cities. It is bad enough to be homeless in Vancouver (I would not wish this on anyone!). It is even worse to be homeless on the streets of Winnipeg when it is –40 (before the wind chill is factored in) and where it seems that every year some people freeze to death. There are shelters open to people so that they can have a night’s rest but there are never enough beds. In Vancouver, I remember seeing people lining the streets for hours waiting for the shelters to open to make sure that they are one of the ones who are able to enter that rest. They want to make sure that they don’t miss it (even if that ‘bed’ is just a mat upon a floor in the DTES). In Winnipeg I remember walking the streets with The Salvation Army on cold nights looking for people to point them to open beds so that they need not freeze to death. On really cold nights if there isn’t a bed available the police will even help by arresting some people as a means of getting them off the street and ultimately saving their lives. Inevitably though, there are some people who still refuse that rest of the shelter. There are some who choose to die outside of that rest – even though there may be a bed open and waiting for them. This is some of what the preacher of Hebrews is talking about.

What exactly is God’s rest?

That then raises the question, what exactly is His rest. What exactly is God’s rest? It must be more than simply that land that He promised to Abraham, Isaac and Israel that the generation under Moses did not enter (Numbers 14). The preacher of this sermon to the Hebrews argues here that this rest they rejected is even more than that land. The preacher explains it in terms of creation. He explains it terms of the creation of the world. He says, Hebrews 4:3b-5, “And yet his work has been finished since the creation of the world. For somewhere he has spoken about the seventh day in these words: ‘And on the seventh day God rested from all his work.’ And again in the passage above he says, ‘They shall never enter my rest’” (See also Genesis 2:1-2; Exodus 20:8-11). He speaks about us entering into the same kind of rest that God has experienced since creation but what does that really mean?

Have you ever asked yourself: ‘what does it mean that God rested on the seventh day?’[8] What does it mean that He rests? Does God go to sleep?[9] Does He turn off the alarm? Does God just spend a day at the lake or watching football? Does God stop working? Does not the Bible say that our very breath comes from God and therefore if He withholds His breath, if He takes the day off and takes His spirit from us, then we will surely die? (Psalm 104:29-30; See Genesis 2:7, 2 Samuel 22:16, Job 27:3, Job 33:4, Psalm 18:15, Ezekiel 37, Revelation 11:11.) Let us not forget too that, John 5:17, when Jesus got in trouble for healing on the Sabbath that “Jesus said to them, ‘My Father is always at his work to this very day, and I, too, am working.”’ Jesus said that his Father is always working – not periodically with some catnaps here and there: not taking a break to go to the lake. God and Jesus, Jesus says, are always working. They don’t (He doesn’t) take Sundays off (or the Sabbath which is Saturday, for that matter). Jesus tells us that God is always working.

So if God is always working and we are to join Him in his rest, how can we do this? How can we be always working with God and be in a state of rest? How can we always be resting with a God who is always at work? What is the preacher of Hebrews getting at? (I’m sure you can see now why I said this passage was a little bit confusing for me and why I consulted no shortage of commentaries and journal articles in preparing for today.) So what exactly is this rest of God’s that the Israelites turned down and so perished in (the wilderness of) Sin?

William Lane reminds us that rest for those with Moses and Joshua referred to relief from turmoil and secured borders that were to accompany entrance to the Promised Land - not idleness (Deuteronomy 12:9-10; see Numbers 14 and Psalm 95:7-11).[10] He further emphasizes that the preacher of the sermon to the Hebrews here is connecting God’s act of creation to Psalm 95:11[11] and Simon J. Kistemaker says, “Rest for God does not mean idleness; rather it is a cessation from the work of creation; God continues to enjoy this rest now that the work of his creation is completed.”[12] The book of Jubilees from the second century CE even tells us that God invites both people and angels to join him in this celebration of His rest.[13] God’s rest means that He has finished His creation and that is good (Genesis 1:31-2:2). God’s rest is not a temporary state of ‘taking time off work’ – because we know that God never stops working (John 5:17). God’s rest is rather a cause for a celebration that we are invited to join. God’s rest is this ‘perfect Sabbath rest’[14]

How do we enter into this rest?

So then how do we enter into this perfect Sabbath rest? How do we enter into this celebratory rest while we are still running the race (1 Corinthians 9:24-27) and while we are still pressing on towards the goal (Philippians 3)? How do we enter this rest while we are still fighting the good fight (1 Timothy 6:12)? How do we enter this rest, without giving up and falling short of the prize as Hebrews 4:11 warns us (see Luke 9:62)? What does it look like to enter God’s rest? Is it simply a time after we die and go to heaven or even after that at the ultimate resurrection of the dead, at the Eschaton? Is that all it is? I don’t think so. I think it relates to something here and now in our own lives as well.[15] I think it refers to something that we in The Salvation Army, and many in the Methodist, Anglican, and Holiness traditions refer to as entire sanctification. The Kingdom of God, after all, is at hand. Pfeiffer says that, “This ‘Sabbath rest’ does not mean the end of service to God and works which are the fruit of the Spirit. On the contrary, this rest [is what] makes such works possible. It is not simply the rest of Heaven but the rest of the spirit in Christ…’[16] The Heidelberg Catechism states “that every day of my life I rest from my evil ways, let the Lord work in me through his Spirit, and so begin already in this life the eternal Sabbath.”[17]

The Salvation Army’s Officers are called to give up all secular employment and work for God alone. All of us as Christians are called to serve God and serve God alone. In this way, by putting off the old self (Romans 6:6, Ephesians 4:22, Colossians 3:9) and clothing ourselves fully with Christ (Romans 13:14, Galatians 3:27), by serving him and not ourselves, I believe that we too can experience God’s rest and the Kingdom of God that the Gospels of Matthew (Matthew 12:28, 21:32), Mark (Mark 1:15, Mark 4:11) Luke (Luke 9:27, 10:9, 10:11, 11:20, 17:21, 21:31), and John (John 3) tell us about that is at hand right now (See also Acts, Romans 13:11-14, 1 Corinthians 6:2, 1 Corinthians 15:2, Ephesians 2:8, 1 Peter 1).[18] The Salvation Army’s tenth doctrine states, “We believe that it is the privilege of all believers to be wholly sanctified, and that [our] whole spirit and soul and body may be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.”[19] We can all enter that rest today (Hebrews 4:7, Psalm 95:6-9).[20]

Hebrews 4:12, 13 records, “For 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. 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.”

So for those of us here today who are here standing at the precipice of God’s promise, we should not be afraid like the Israelites who did not enter the promised rest. We should not to turn down God’s salvation and die in the wilderness. Rather today as Hebrews 4:11 says, “Let us, therefore, make every effort to enter that rest, so that no one will fall…” Today, please let us all follow God into that celebration, into that rest and into that holy peace and security of complete fellowship with our Lord Jesus Christ.

Let us pray.

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[1] William L. Lane, Hebrews 1-8 (WBC 47A: Word Books: Dallas Texas, 1991), p. liii. Cf. Thomas G. Long, Hebrews (Interpretation: a Bible Commentary for Teaching and Preaching: Louisville, Kentucky: John Knox Press, 1997), p. 3 and Fred B. Craddock, The Letter to the Hebrews (NIB 12: Nashville, Tenn.: Abingdon, 1998), p. 5.
[2] Thomas G. Long, p. 58.
[3] Simon J. Kistemaker, Hebrews (NTC: Thessalonians, the Pastorals, and Hebrews: Baker Academic: Grand Rapids Michigan, 2007), p.103; Thomas G. Long, p. 58. Long suggests that the sermon begins at Hebrews 3:12. But Cf. Fred B. Craddock, pp.44-45, 51. Craddock points out that 4:1-11 is a distinct unit within the greater section of 3:1-4:13 about the faithfulness of Christ.
[4] Blake Edwards. ‘In the Pink of the Night’ Available on-line at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rV5VgME5XPQ
[5] Ann Hoch Cowdery, "Hebrews 4:1-13" in Interpretation 48 no 3 (July 1994), p.283: “If one agrees with Ernst Käsemann that the principal motif of Hebrews is the wandering people of God (The Wandering People of God [Minneapolis: Augsburg Publishing House, 1984]), then rest can be interpreted as spatial and eschatological. Christians are pilgrims on a journey of faith, and rest is a heavenly blessing. The author's use of Psalm 95, according to Käsemann, implies that Canaan was a way station for the Israelites who were on their way toward a heavenly Jerusalem. Christians similarly receive no earthly promised land, but do live in the promise of divine rest. The Christ event is the fulfillment of the exodus. The pilgrim's life is characterized by a faithfulness that is manifested in obedience to God's Word, and God's promise is consummated when one has been led through the suffering of this world to a heavenly future.”
[6] Cf. Charles F. Pfeiffer, The Epistle to the Hebrews (Everyman’s Bible Commentary: Chicago, Ill.: Moody Press, 1962), p.36. The preacher of Hebrews refers to Jesus (which is a Greek name) by his Hebrew name, Joshua. This serves to emphasize the comparison.
[7] Luke Timothy Johnson, "The Scriptural World of Hebrews" in Interpretation 57 no 3 (July 2003), p.246: Thus, when the Holy Spirit speaks through Psalm 95 that “they did not enter into my rest,” the careful reader must conclude both that the Holy Spirit is correct concerning the generation of old—Canaan is not “God’s rest”—and must inquire further into what God’s rest might be. The psalm verse, after all, creates a contradiction in scripture that must be resolved, for LXX Josh 1:13 and 23:1 declare that the Lord had given a rest to the people by means of their entry into the land. Help is provided by a third text that serves to resolve the apparent contradiction, namely LXX Gen 2:2, which states that God rested (katepausen) from all his works on the seventh day. The people’s entry into the land was a rest for them, but it was not an entry into “God’s rest.” According to Hebrews, Psalm 95 therefore extends a rest for God’s people that Joshua could not enter but Jesus already has, namely, God’s own rest on the seventh day of creation: “Therefore, a sabbath rest (sabbatismos) remains for God’s people” (Heb 4:9).
[8]Ann Hoch Cowdery, "Hebrews 4:1-13" in Interpretation 48 no 3 (July 1994), p.285: “Based on Jewish tradition, the sabbath designates God's rest on the seventh day at the completion of creation. It is also a symbol for the eschaton with the priestly people of God celebrating the eternal sabbath. Sabbath instruction for the Jews suggests in addition, however, that rest and praise belong together and are to be practiced in the worship of the community as a remembrance of the past and a foretaste of the future (cf. Attridge, p. 130-31, and Lane, p. 101-02). The emphasis on "today" in verses 7 and 8 seems to present just such a challenge to the new people of God for their worship.”
[9] This would be in essence the Deists point of view: God created the world and then just disappeared so everything is left to us now. Many of the intellectual leaders of the American Revolution who weren’t Atheists were in fact Deists. Practically speaking they are almost the same. Neither believes that God is relevant to our daily lives. Both reject his help and so the author of Hebrews would argue that both, like that generation of Israel, declined their salvation.
[10] William Lane, p. 98.
[11] William Lane, p. 95.
[12] Simon J. Kistemaker, p. 108.
[13] Jubilees 2:18-21. Cited in Fred B. Craddock, p. 53.
[14] Charles F. Pfeiffer, p. 37.
[15] Cf. Fred B. Craddock, p. 53.
[16] Charles F. Pfeiffer, p. 37, cf. Ernst Käsemann, The Wandering People of God (Minneapolis: Augsburg Publishing House, 1984)
[17] Zacharius Ursinus and Caspar Olevianus, The Heidelberg Catechism, answer 103. Cited in Simon J. Kistemaker, p. 11.
[18] Michael Ramsay, 'Victory: The Final Whistle (Romans 13:11-14)' Presented to Nipawin and Tisdale Corps on December 02, 2007 and presented to Swift Current Corps on August 16, 2009. Available on-line at: http://sheepspeaks.blogspot.com/2007/12/victory-final-whistle-romans-1311-14.html
[19] Read ‘Salvation Story: Salvationist Handbook of Doctrine’ – an explanation of and an elaboration upon Salvation Army doctrines on line at: http://www.salvationarmy.org/ihq/www_sa.nsf/50f73564cddae39480256cf4005d2262/f46673a32c86611a80256e4e00477c1f/$FILE/sastory.pdf
[20] John B. Rogers, Jr., "Hebrews 1:1-4" in Interpretation 57 no 3 (July 2003), p. 293: “There remains before us a challenge and a choice. It is not the choice of whether we shall permit God's sovereign purpose to be accomplished in our life. It is rather, as Paul suggested to the Philippians, the matter of "working out" the implications of God’s saving purpose for us "with fear and trembling," ever mindful that God is at work in us for [God's] good pleasure (Phil 2:12-13). We choose, therefore, how we shall live in response to this gospel of our salvation. How, in the living of our days, shall we choose to express the gratitude, obedience, confidence, and courage appropriate to those who inhabit God's sovereign purpose thus declared?”