The Book of Hebrews boldly proclaims the superiority of Jesus Christ and Christianity over every other religion on earth. Jesus Christ is superior to everyone and everything. Hebrews 3-4 talks about the superiority of the rest Jesus offers us compared to the rest that Israel failed to enter into under the Old Covenant law.
The author of Hebrews warned his Jewish readers about repeating some of Israel's difficult history under Moses' leadership in the desert wilderness (see Exodus 17:1-7; Numbers 20:1-13; Psalm 95:7-11). He went on to show the difference between Jesus and Moses (Hebrews 3:1-6) and compared their disciples' reactions. Because of their disobedience and unbelief, Moses' followers were unable to enter into God's promised rest (Hebrews 3:7-11). Christ’s followers need to resist the tendency toward unbelief and stubbornness by remaining confident to the end (Hebrews 3:12-15). Because of Israel’s unbelief, most of those who participated in the deliverance from Egypt were denied entry into the promised land (Hebrews 3:16-19). As a result, the author cautions Christ’s followers not to repeat the same pattern of failing to enter into God's eternal rest of faith. The example of Israel under Moses was used by the psalmist to warn the Israelites of his day against unbelief and disobedience. Likewise, the author of Hebrews recalls the psalmist's words to warn his readers about the dangers of unbelief.
God's plan was for Israel to find rest in Canaan after they were delivered from slavery in Egypt (Deuteronomy 5:12-15). Similarly, God’s desire for us is to find freedom from slavery to sin and learn to experience the divine rest we have when we accept Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior. However, just like with Israel, unbelief will keep us from receiving God’s promised rest (Hebrews 4:1-2). God's rest has been available to everyone since the creation of the world, but many of those who claim to be God’s people haven’t experienced it to the fullest because of the sin of unbelief (Deuteronomy 28:65; Lamentations 1:3). God’s true rest can only be obtained by faith in what God has already accomplished for us through the cross (Hebrews 4:3-5).
The Israelites who disobeyed Moses did not enter the promised land or experience the rest that God had promised. The Israelites that entered Canaan under Joshua were from the following generation. Long after Joshua's time, David reaffirmed God's promise of rest to show that Israel’s occupation of Canaan was not the fulfillment of God's true rest (Hebrews 4:6-8; Psalm 95:7-8). Salvation by faith alone is the divine rest that God offers to each of us on a daily basis. The Greek word for rest in Hebrews 4:9 is different from the word used in Hebrews 3:11, 18; 4:1, 3, 5, 10, 11. This word is “sabbatismos” and it means a “Sabbath rest” and is found only here in the New Testament. The Jews commonly taught that the Sabbath foreshadowed the world to come, and they spoke of it as “a day which shall be all Sabbath.”
Hebrews 3:12-15 says, "Take care, brothers, lest there be in any of you an evil, unbelieving heart, leading you to fall away from the living God. But exhort one another every day, as long as it is called “today,” that none of you may be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin. For we have come to share in Christ, if indeed we hold our original confidence firm to the end. As it is said, “Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion.”
The recipients of this letter were in danger of falling away from God and forsaking their assembling with one another (Hebrews 3:12; 10:25). They were warned against allowing unbelief and a sinful heart to cause them to fall away like Israel had throughout their history. The Greek word is "apostēnai." It means to “to turn away from, or apostatize from” the faith (see Luke 8:13; and 1 Timothy 4:1). The author warned his readers not to turn away from their faith in Christ as Lord and to walk together in mutual love and encouragement as long as it is called “today” (Hebrews 3:13). The sin of unbelief can lead a person away from the only true God. This kind of unbelief is the stubborn refusal to trust in God and the truthfulness of his word. Those who commit this type of apostasy are said to be "crucifying the Son of God all over again" by their unbelief (Hebrews 6:6).
God has called each of us to exercise faith in Jesus Christ, His one and only Son. Biblical faith is a trusting commitment to God and belief in His promise of salvation and eternal life (Psalm 18:2; 40:4; 71:5; 73:26; Proverbs 3:5; Jeremiah 17:7; John 3:16; Romans 1:16; 5:1).
The rest in Hebrews 4:9 is not the weekly, Seventh-day Sabbath rest given to Israel under the Old Covenant.
It is a perpetual “Sabbath rest” to be enjoyed by believers who are in fellowship with the Father and the Son. We are meant to experience it every moment of every day in contrast to the weekly Sabbath rest Israel had under the Old Covenant Law. Unbelief keeps us from entering into God's rest, but trusting in what Christ has done for us opens the door wide. We do not need to wait for the next life to enjoy God's “sabbatismos” rest because it is said to be, “Today.” We can enter God’s rest right now by trusting in Jesus Christ alone for our salvation! The divine rest God offers us will not end in death but will continue on through eternity in our heavenly home (John 14:1-4).
In Hebrews 4:11-13, the author says that we must be diligent to enter the rest into which we have already entered.
We cannot live by Law and grace! You must live by one or the other.
Hebrews 4 uses 3 different illustrations for the rest of what God wants us to enter into in the New Covenant. The type of rest that God alone entered into after he created the universe (Hebrews 4:4), the rest spoken of by David in the Psalms (Hebrews 4:6-7), and the rest Joshua wanted Israel to enter into when they took possession of the promised land (Hebrews 4:8-10). The text doesn’t say anywhere that we have to keep the weekly, seventh-day Sabbath from the Old Covenant. The Seventh-day Sabbath has nothing to do with our salvation and nothing to do with the gospel of Jesus Christ. The Sabbath served Israel as a ceremonial sign of the Mosaic Covenant to distinguish Israel from the surrounding nations (Exodus 31:16-17; Nehemiah 9:13-14; Ezekiel 20:12, 20). It was never made a requirement for the New Covenant Church (Acts 15; Colossians 2:14-17; Romans 14:5-12; Ephesians 2:11-16; Galatians 4:10-11). The New Covenant rest that God promises us is the assurance of salvation in Jesus Christ alone. Just as God rested after His work of creation in Genesis 2, we can find both, physical and spiritual rest when we stop trying to earn our salvation and trust in what Christ has already accomplished for us (Hebrews 4:9-10; Matthew 11:28; John 3:16; 5:24; 17:3; Romans 6:23; 1 John 2:25).
Jesus Christ promises God’s divine rest to all those who believe in Him. Matthew 11:28-30 says, “Come to me, all who labor and are heavily 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. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”
Jesus Christ is the good shepherd who came into the world to free us from the curse of sin and death and give us an abundant life. Jesus came to set us free from life’s worries and to give us comfort and peace by trusting in Him. God’s true rest is for everyone who seeks the forgiveness of their sins and freedom from the crushing burden and guilt of trying to earn their salvation by good works.
We can only experience God’s divine rest when we stop working for our salvation and put our trust in Jesus Christ alone for our redemption.
Dictionaries: “sabbatismós”
• The Complete Word Study Dictionary says,
“the noun sabbatismós, a Sabbath keeping, is used in Hebrews 4:9 to indicate the perpetual Sabbath rest to be enjoyed uninterruptedly by believers in their fellowship with the Father and the Son in contrast to the weekly Sabbath under the Law. It is a divine rest into which the believers enter in their relationship with God here on earth and in eternity” [σαββατισμός / sabbatismós].
• Thayer's Greek Lexicon defines “sabbatismos” as “The blessed rest from toils and troubles looked for in the age to come by the true worshippers of God and true Christians” [R.V. sabbath rest, Hebrews 4:9].
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