Written ~ 11-14-2024
Read Hebrews Chapter Four
Hebrews 4
In chapter three the author of Hebrews spoke about rebellion and the hardening of the heart and a warning that if anyone continues disobeying the Word of God would result in an eternal separation from God. Chapter three left off with several questions…
- Who was it who rebelled against God, even though they heard His voice?
- Wasn’t it the people Moses led out of Egypt?
- Who made God angry for 40 years?
- Wasn’t it the people who sinned, whose corpses lay in the wilderness?
- To whom was God speaking when He took an oath that they would never enter His rest?
- Wasn’t it the people who disobeyed Him?
Yes, chapter three is speaking of the children of Israel who wandered around in a wilderness for 40 years in disobedience to God. But in truth, it can be applied to us today. Anyone living in direct disobedience and rebellion towards God is following a path toward destruction. Those who continue sinning against the Word of God will never step into His rest.
We are going to pick it up now in chapter four where these thoughts are continued…
Hebrews 4:1-5…
1 “God’s promise of entering His rest still stands, so we ought to tremble with fear that some of you might fail to experience it. 2 For this good news – that God has prepared this rest – has been announced to us just as it was to them. But it did them no good because they didn’t share the faith of those who listened to God. 3 For only we who believe can enter His rest. As for the others, God said,
“In my anger I took an oath:
‘They will never enter My place of rest,’”
even though this rest has been ready since He made the world. 4 We know it is ready because of the place in the Scriptures where it mentions the seventh day: “On the seventh day God rested from all His work.” 5 But in the other passage God said, “They will never enter My place of rest.”
We need to understand something, and I would say most of us reading these words are believers and we already qualify as those who will enter into God’s rest. But there may be some reading this who still haven’t said yes to the truth. Those are the people I’m speaking to right now, because you still refuse to put your life in the hands of the Lord you could be on the verge of missing God’s presence and God’s rest. It may not be something you feel is urgent. You may have the attitude that when you die that’s when you will rest. Well, sorry to disappoint, but that’s just not the case. The only way after death to have rest, is if you have put your faith in the Lord Jesus Christ and accept Him as Lord and Savior over your life. With Christ, after death you will step into God’s rest but without Christ, after death you will step through the gates of hell. Several references in the New Testament have described hell as a place of fire, a place of darkness, a place of weeping and gnashing of teeth, a place of eternal chains and a place of torment. I am confident when I say… this is not rest…
As we continue our study through the Book of Hebrews… Wouldn’t it be wonderful if we could all have the same heart, the same mind and share the same faith in Jesus Christ? Wouldn’t it be awesome if all of us reading through the Book of Hebrews made the decision to follow Jesus? I know it would make this heart of mine extremely joyful. Verse 4:1 says, “God’s promise of entering His rest still stands, so we ought to tremble with fear that some of you might fail to experience it…” Isn’t that a comforting thought that this promise of God still stands! We haven’t missed the chance to enter into God’s rest. So, as we come together and read the Word of God together, we should be challenging each other to really think about what God is asking from us; we do that by obeying His Word, having faith, believing and accepting His Son, then sharing the Good News of Salvation to everyone we come in contact with! If doing all that is not a concern of yours and some of your family members and close friends perish without knowing the Lord personally, think about how it will make you feel it you didn’t do everything you could to share Christ with everyone you know.
So, let’s look at the “rest” these verses are talking about…
Taken from the Life Application Study Bible footnotes…
- God’s rest has several meanings in Scripture:
- The seventh day of creation and the weekly Sabbath commemorating it (Genesis 2:2; Hebrews 4:4-9)
- The Promised Land in Canaan (Deuteronomy 12:8-12; Psalm 95)
- The peace with God we now have because of our relationship with Christ through faith (Matthew 11:28; Hebrews 4:1, 3, 8-11)
- Our future eternal life with Christ (Hebrews 4:8-11)
- We should warn each other about the danger of missing God’s rest. If we let doubt about God’s promises, lack of trust in His power, or rejection of His love overtake us, we could forfeit the good things He has for us.
- God rested on the seventh day, not because He was tired, but to indicate the completion of creation. The world was perfect, and God was well satisfied with it. This rest is a foretaste of our eternal joy when creation will be renewed and restored, every mark of sin will be removed, and the world will be made perfect again. Our Sabbath rest in Christ begins when we trust Him to complete His good and perfect work in us.
Hebrews 4:6-11…
6 “So, God’s rest is there for people to enter, but those who first heard this good news failed to enter because they disobeyed God. 7 So God set another time for entering His rest, and that time is today. God announced this through David much later in the words already quoted:
“Today when you hear His voice,
don’t harden your hearts.”
8 Now if Joshua had succeeded in giving them this rest, God would not have spoken about another day of rest still to come. 9 So there is a special rest still waiting for the people of God. 10 For all who have entered into God’s rest have rested from their labors, just as God did after creating the world. 11 So let us do our best to enter that rest. But if we disobey God, as the people of Israel did, we will fall.”
Do you see the urgency in the words of this author? It should be the urgency in every believer’s heart. Don’t fall into the trap of disobedience. Don’t miss this place of rest because of selfish ambition and focusing on the cares of this world. Set your eyes on the future, set your eyes on the day you get to see your Savior’s face, set your eyes on what you can do to make sure each of your family members, each of your closest friends are going to step into God’s place of rest right along with you! Pay close attention to verse 4:11, “So let us do our best to enter that rest. But if we disobey God, as the people of Israel did, we will fall.”
So far, the Book of Hebrews has set forth an action plan… We must put into action the things we have learned from the Word of God, we must NOT rest right now, now is the time to be busy working for the Lord and bringing more people into His presence. Our rest will come when we step through the other side of death into God’s perfect peace, into His perfect rest.
In the next couple of verses, we will discover exactly what the Word of God does for us! It’s fascinating really, the Power these Words have when we read them with the full intent to apply them to our daily living. So, as we look at these next two verses, think about how you treat the Word of God. Do you value every single Word you read? Do you love being in your Bible, learning and trusting everything it has to say? Or is it more of a quick glance? Is it used only to get through a yearly reading plan to check off a list of achievements for the day? Or does your Bible spend most of its time on a shelf, hardly ever opened, never studied?
Well, hopefully these next two verses will provide some incentive to open your Bible, read it, study it, devour it like you would your favorite meal, because you know it’s what you need to survive in this world today…
Hebrews 4:12-13…
12 “For the word of God is alive and powerful. It is sharper than the sharpest two-edged sword, cutting between soul and spirit, between joint and marrow. It exposes our innermost thoughts and desires.
13 Nothing in all creation is hidden from God. Everything is naked and exposed before His eyes, and He is the one to whom we are accountable.”
When we study the Word of God and the verses seem to jump off the page and hit you square between the eyes, that’s the meaning of “alive and powerful.” The difference with the Bible than any other book, is that no matter how many times you read it, the words have the same or even more powerful effect each time they’re read. That is the miracle of the Scriptures, every word penetrates the soul, and each passage, given the chance, will change our hearts.
By reading the Bible and allowing it to speak to your heart, the Holy Spirit will bring life and breath to your very soul. The Bible has a way of convicting us of our wrongdoing. It gives us comfort in a way no other book could ever do. It brings joy to our hearts when we see the victory we have in Jesus. And it brings peace to the heart that needs rest.
It’s quite possible that a lot of people may not want the conviction of sin or surrender into complete obedience and that’s why so many Bibles are left on the shelf unopened. But when a heart is willing to be cut wide open and allow the Words of the Lord penetrate deep into every area, that’s where true healing begins and that’s where your Savior meets you. Think about your hurried, tiring lifestyle, where at the end of the day you want nothing more than to relax and decompress… well, the place where PERFECT Peace and PERFECT Rest is found is in the Word of God.
Hebrews 4:14-16…
14 “So then, since we have a great High Priest who has entered heaven, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold firmly to what we believe. 15 This High Priest of ours understands our weaknesses, for He faced all of the same testings we do, yet He did not sin. 16 So let us come boldly to the throne of our gracious God. There we will receive His mercy, and we will find grace to help us when we need it most.”
When do you need the mercy and grace of God? When do you call on the Lord for help the most? Jesus knows the struggles we face. But do we only bring complaints to the throne room of the Almighty God that have temporal significance? Do we ever ask God to help us open our Bibles? Do we ever ask God to help us read it and study it with His heart in mind? It says, in verse 4:15 that our High Priest, our Savior Jesus Christ understands our weaknesses, that means He knows we can struggle with the distractions the world throws at us. Jesus faced every frailty of a human body, so He knows the pain we feel, the disappointment, the frustration, all those things that seem to bombard our day. But I can guarantee He never allowed any of those things to get in the way of communing with His Father. And neither should we. So, when verse 4:16 says we can come boldly to the throne of our gracious God, we can come to Him anytime, with anything… but guess where we will find the answers to our most sought-after requests? Yep… You guessed it… His Word.
To enter into God’s rest, we must lay aside rebellion, disobedience and a heart that has been hardened. Today is the day to hear His voice and respond to His calling. Maybe it’s to respond to Salvation. Maybe it’s to open your Bible. Maybe it’s to get your eyes off the things of this world and focus on the throne of God. The voice of the Lord is calling. Let’s review verse 4:3, “…only we who believe can enter His rest…” Are you ready to believe? Are you ready to search the Scriptures for your answers? Are you ready to place all your faith, all your “things,” your entire life into the hands of Jesus? “…let us do our best to enter that rest…”
~AMEN~