![]() ![]() Then the writer seemingly contradicts himself by telling us to make every effort: “For anyone who enters God’s rest also rests from his own work, just as God did from his. The kind of faith that enables us to enter into God’s rest is a faith that first demands that we rest from relying on our own works. Hebrews 4:10–13 explains the nature of this faith. Some had heard the good news of Christ, but they rejected it for lack of faith. The Hebrews had had the gospel preached to them, just as the Israelites knew the truth about God, but the messages were of “no value to them, because those who heard did not combine it with faith” (Hebrews 4:2). Faith, the author goes on to assert, is the key to entering God’s rest. God’s rest, then, is in the spiritual realm, the rest of salvation. He alone can provide the eternal rest of salvation through His blood shed on the cross for the remission of sins. The promise that still stands is the promise of salvation through God’s provision-Jesus Christ. Using the Israelites as an example of those who were not resting in God’s promises, the writer of Hebrews goes on in chapter 4 to make the application personal, both to the Hebrew Christians and to us: “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” (Hebrews 4:1). But, eventually, the next generation did place their faith in God and, by following the leadership of Joshua, they, some forty years later, entered into God’s rest, the land of Canaan (Joshua 3:14–17). God had warned and entreated them He had caused His mercies to pass before them, and had visited them with judgments in vain and He now declares that for all their rebellion they should be excluded from the Promised Land (Hebrews 3:16–19). All the means of reclaiming them had failed. Into that rest God solemnly said the Israelites who disobeyed Him would never enter (Hebrews 3:11). The particular “rest” referred to here was that of the land of Canaan. Instead, they murmured against Him, even yearning to go back to their bondage under the Egyptians (Exodus 16:3 17:1–7 Numbers 20:3–13). All that was required of them was to fully trust in Him and His promises. In giving them the land of Canaan, God had promised them that He would go before them and defeat all their enemies in order that they could live securely (Deuteronomy 12:9–10). What is this “rest” the Hebrew writer is talking about? How do we enter it? And how do we fail to enter it? The writer to the Hebrews begins his discussion of God’s rest in chapter 3, where he references the Israelites wandering in the desert. The concept of entering into God’s rest comes from Hebrews 3-4. ![]()
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