Israel in the wilderness never entered God’s rest. Hebrews 4 says the promise is still open, and it explains what that rest is: a rest God has offered since creation, first pictured in the seventh-day Sabbath, and entered by faith. “There remaineth therefore a rest to the people of God.” The chapter closes with two great encouragements for anyone who wants to enter: the living word of God that searches the heart, and a great High Priest who sympathizes with our weakness and invites us to come boldly to the throne of grace.
A study in Hebrews 4 · Arthur Baldwin · StandUp4Jesus.Org · 17 min read
Lest Any Of You Should Seem To Come Short
“Let us therefore fear, lest, a promise being left us of entering into his rest, any of you should seem to come short of it. For unto us was the gospel preached, as well as unto them: but the word preached did not profit them, not being mixed with faith in them that heard it.”
Hebrews 4:1-2
Chapter 3 ended with Israel shut out of Canaan “because of unbelief.” Chapter 4 draws the lesson: “a promise being left us.” God’s promise of rest was not cancelled when that generation failed. It is still open, and so is the danger of missing it.
Notice verse 2: “unto us was the gospel preached, as well as unto them.” Israel in the wilderness heard the gospel. The good news of salvation did not begin in the New Testament. But the word did them no good because it was “not being mixed with faith.” Hearing the truth is not enough. It must be received, trusted and acted on.
God Did Rest The Seventh Day
“For we which have believed do enter into rest, as he said, As I have sworn in my wrath, if they shall enter into my rest: although the works were finished from the foundation of the world. For he spake in a certain place of the seventh day on this wise, And God did rest the seventh day from all his works. And in this place again, If they shall enter into my rest.”
Hebrews 4:3-5
What is God’s “rest”? The writer answers by going back to the very beginning. God’s works “were finished from the foundation of the world,” and “God did rest the seventh day from all his works” (quoting Genesis 2:2). God’s rest began at creation, and the seventh day was its sign and memorial. Every week, the Sabbath has invited God’s people to share His rest.
“As regards this world, God’s work of creation is completed. For ‘the works were finished from the foundation of the world.’ Hebrews 4:3. But His energy is still exerted in upholding the objects of His creation.”
Ellen G. White · Patriarchs and Prophets, p. 115
“We which have believed do enter into rest.” The rest is entered by faith. It is not only the physical rest of one day, though it includes that. It is the rest of trusting God completely, the rest of a heart at peace with its Creator and Redeemer.
“Seeing therefore it remaineth that some must enter therein, and they to whom it was first preached entered not in because of unbelief: Again, he limiteth a certain day, saying in David, To day, after so long a time; as it is said, To day if ye will hear his voice, harden not your hearts. For if Jesus had given them rest, then would he not afterward have spoken of another day.”
Hebrews 4:6-8
“Jesus” in verse 8 is the Greek form of the name Joshua. Joshua led Israel into Canaan, but that did not exhaust God’s promise of rest. Centuries later, God was still saying through David, “To day… harden not your hearts” and warning, “They shall not enter into my rest” (Psalm 95). If settling in Canaan had been the whole of God’s rest, He would not have “spoken of another day.” The land was only a picture of something greater.
There Remaineth Therefore A Rest
“There remaineth therefore a rest to the people of God. For he that is entered into his rest, he also hath ceased from his own works, as God did from his. Let us labour therefore to enter into that rest, lest any man fall after the same example of unbelief.”
Hebrews 4:9-11
Here the writer changes his word. Everywhere else in this passage “rest” translates katapausis. But in verse 9 he uses sabbatismos, a word that means “a Sabbath-keeping” or “a Sabbath rest.” Read literally, verse 9 says: there remaineth therefore a Sabbath-keeping to the people of God.
That matters. Hebrews was written to Jewish Christians who were being tempted to go back to the old system of sacrifices and priests. The letter will show at length that those ceremonies were shadows fulfilled in Christ (Hebrews 8-10). But when it speaks of God’s rest, it does not say the Sabbath has passed away. It says a Sabbath-keeping “remaineth.” The weekly seventh-day Sabbath was never one of the shadows. It was given at creation, before sin and before any sacrifice, as a memorial of God’s finished work.
And verse 10 tells us what true Sabbath-keeping is: “he that is entered into his rest, he also hath ceased from his own works, as God did from his.” On the seventh day God rested from a finished creation. The believer rests in a finished redemption. We stop trying to save ourselves by our own works and rest in what Christ has done. The weekly Sabbath is the sign of that rest.
“To all who receive the Sabbath as a sign of Christ’s creative and redeeming power, it will be a delight. Seeing Christ in it, they delight themselves in Him. The Sabbath points them to the works of creation as an evidence of His mighty power in redemption. While it calls to mind the lost peace of Eden, it tells of peace restored through the Saviour.”
Ellen G. White · The Desire of Ages, p. 289
Notice the paradox of verse 11: “Let us labour therefore to enter into that rest.” We labour, not to earn the rest, but to enter it: to keep believing, to keep listening, to keep from drifting into the unbelief that kept Israel out.
Sharper Than Any Twoedged Sword
“For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any twoedged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. Neither is there any creature that is not manifest in his sight: but all things are naked and opened unto the eyes of him with whom we have to do.”
Hebrews 4:12-13
Why must we take the warning seriously? Because God’s word is “quick” — alive. It is not a dead letter. It cuts deeper than any sword, down to the place where our motives hide, and lays bare “the thoughts and intents of the heart.” Israel’s unbelief began in the heart (3:10, 12), and the word of God goes straight there.
We cannot hide anything from the One “with whom we have to do.” Everything is “naked and opened” before Him.
“Men may think to hide their evil deeds from human eyes, but they cannot deceive God. ‘All things are naked and opened unto the eyes of Him with whom we have to do.’ Hebrews 4:13.”
Ellen G. White · Prophets and Kings, p. 252
That could be a terrifying thought. But the next verses show that the One who sees everything is also the One who understands everything.
Come Boldly Unto The Throne Of Grace
“Seeing then that we have a great high priest, that is passed into the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our profession. For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin. Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need.”
Hebrews 4:14-16
These three verses are the hinge of the whole letter. From here to chapter 10, Hebrews will explain Christ’s priesthood in detail. But first it gives us the heart of it.
We have “a great high priest, that is passed into the heavens.” Israel’s high priest passed through the court and the holy place into the most holy place of an earthly tent. Jesus has passed through the heavens into the presence of God Himself. And He is “Jesus the Son of God”: fully human (Jesus) and fully divine (the Son of God).
He is not a priest “which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities.” He feels what we feel. He “was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin.” Every kind of temptation we face, He faced — and He never once gave in.
“Therefore Jesus was ‘in all points tempted like as we are.’ Hebrews 4:15. He endured every trial to which we are subject. And He exercised in His own behalf no power that is not freely offered to us. As man, He met temptation, and overcame in the strength given Him from God.”
Ellen G. White · The Desire of Ages, p. 24
“Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace.” The throne of the universe, which would be a throne of judgment for sinners, has become a throne of grace because our Brother sits beside it as our High Priest. We may come “boldly” — with confidence, speaking freely — and we will “obtain mercy” for our failures and “find grace to help in time of need.”
“The kingdom of grace is brought to view by Paul in the Epistle to the Hebrews. After pointing to Christ, the compassionate intercessor who is ‘touched with the feeling of our infirmities,’ the apostle says: ‘Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace.’ Hebrews 4:15, 16. The throne of grace represents the kingdom of grace; for the existence of a throne implies the existence of a kingdom.”
Ellen G. White · The Great Controversy, p. 346
So the chapter holds two gifts side by side. There is a rest still open to the people of God, a Sabbath-keeping that remains, entered by faith in the One who finished the work of creation and the work of redemption. And there is a High Priest who understands us, waiting at the throne of grace to give us the mercy and help we need to enter it.
