Hebrews 4:3-11 – Come to Me Those Who Are Weary

Study Date - 2018-06-18

Study Type - Adult Lesson

Fellowship - Acorns to Oaks

Series - Hebrews 2018-19

Book - Hebrews

Hebrews 4:3-11, rest in Jesus

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Review

Last time, we looked at the beginning of the Hebrews writer’s exhortation not to harden our hearts to the Gospel using the story recounted in Psalm 95 of the Israelites’ failure to believe God’s promise to Abraham, and obey His command to go up from Egypt to conquer the promised land. We saw that it was their lack of faith that prevented them from entering into God’s promised rest. The writer then compared them with those who hear the Gospel of Jesus, but do not believe it.

Come to Me Those Who Are Weary

The writer now continues his discussion of God’s promised rest.

³For we who have believed do enter that rest, as He has said:

“So I swore in My wrath,

‘They shall not enter My rest,'” _{[Psalm 95:11]}

although the works were finished from the foundation of the world. ⁴For He has spoken in a certain place of the seventh day in this way: “And God rested on the seventh day from all His works”;_{[Genesis 2:2]} ⁵and again in this place: “They shall not enter My rest.” _{[Psalm 95:11]}

_{[Hebrews 4:3-5 – NKJV ]}

The rest that God promised to the Israelite wanderers in the wilderness was that they would dwell peacefully in the land of Canaan, which He had promised as an inheritance to their forefather Abraham. God had commanded Moses to reiterate this promise to them before he led them out of Egypt…

¹Then the LORD said to Moses, “Now you shall see what I will do to Pharaoh. For with a strong hand he will let them go, and with a strong hand he will drive them out of his land.”

²And God spoke to Moses and said to him: “I am the LORD. ³I appeared to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, as God Almighty, but by My name LORD I was not known to them. ⁴I have also established My covenant with them, to give them the land of Canaan, the land of their pilgrimage, in which they were strangers. ⁵And I have also heard the groaning of the children of Israel whom the Egyptians keep in bondage, and I have remembered My covenant. ⁶Therefore say to the children of Israel: ‘I am the LORD; I will bring you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians, I will rescue you from their bondage, and I will redeem you with an outstretched arm and with great judgments. ⁷I will take you as My people, and I will be your God. Then you shall know that I am the LORD your God who brings you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians. ⁸And I will bring you into the land which I swore to give to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob; and I will give it to you as a heritage: I am the LORD.'” ⁹So Moses spoke thus to the children of Israel; but they did not heed Moses, because of anguish of spirit and cruel bondage. _{[Exodus 6:1-9 – NKJV]}

This passage says that the Israelites didn’t heed the preaching of Moses due to “anguish of spirit and cruel bondage” but if the truth be told it was because of a lack of faith to trust in God’s promise of rest. Remember what we talked about during our last study. Even before the written Word, all Israelite children would have been told of the promises of God to their forefathers. The message that God directed Moses to give them in this passage was just a reminder of what they had already heard. Nevertheless, they did not trust God to deliver on His promise. Therefore, they were unable to enter into His promised rest. Furthermore, as we discussed in our previous study, the nation of Israel even today has yet to fully realize the promise of God, not only in terms of the homeland He gave them, but more importantly the eternal life offered by Jesus – their Messiah (anointed One) – to all who even believe on His Name. John gives us a poignant example of this promise to His people and their rejection of it…

²⁷My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me. ²⁸And I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; neither shall anyone snatch them out of My hand. ²⁹My Father, who has given them to Me, is greater than all; and no one is able to snatch them out of My Father’s hand. ³⁰I and My Father are one.”

³¹Then the Jews took up stones again to stone Him. ³²Jesus answered them, “Many good works I have shown you from My Father. For which of those works do you stone Me?”

³³The Jews answered Him, saying, “For a good work we do not stone You, but for blasphemy, and because You, being a Man, make Yourself God.” _{[John 10:27-33 – NKJV]}

Just as God promised rest to the Israelites He led out of Egypt by the hand of Moses, so Jesus promises rest to all who will follow Him…

²⁷All things have been delivered to Me by My Father, and no one knows the Son except the Father. Nor does anyone know the Father except the Son, and the one to whom the Son wills to reveal Him. ²⁸Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. ²⁹Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. ³⁰For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.” _{[Matthew 11:27-30 – NKJV]}

But let’s be careful when we contemplate this rest that Jesus promises. We’re not talking about some kind of “your best life now” prosperity gospel here. Yes. Jesus promises rest to those who will come to Him, and that promise is trustworthy as all God’s promises are. But the promised rest will be found at the end of a journey, and in many cases that journey will be difficult. Just as the Israelites were called by God to journey to the land of promise, and conquer the various “ites” who were living there, so we who believe the Gospel must also contend for it before we may enter into the rest promised by Jesus. The Greek word meaning “rest” used in this passage – ἀναπαύω anapauō – is found twelve times in the New Testament. Two of these speak specifically of resting after labors of tribulation for the sake of the Gospel…

⁹When He opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of those who had been slain for the word of God and for the testimony which they held. ¹⁰And they cried with a loud voice, saying, “How long, O Lord, holy and true, until You judge and avenge our blood on those who dwell on the earth?” ¹¹Then a white robe was given to each of them; and it was said to them that they should rest _{[ἀναπαύω anapauō]} a little while longer, until both the number of their fellow servants and their brethren, who would be killed as they were, was completed. _{[Revelation 6:9-11 – NKJV]}

¹²Here is the patience of the saints; here are those who keep the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus.

¹³Then I heard a voice from heaven saying to me, “Write: ‘Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from now on.’ “

“Yes,” says the Spirit, “that they may rest _{[ἀναπαύω anapauō]} from their labors, and their works follow them.” _{[Revelation 14:12-13 – NKJV]}

The reference to Genesis 2:2 in Hebrews 4:4 is noteworthy. God’s resting from His labor of creation was also recalled when the Sabbath was decreed in the Fourth Commandment of the Law of Moses…

⁸“Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. ⁹Six days you shall labor and do all your work, ¹⁰but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the LORD your God. In it you shall do no work: you, nor your son, nor your daughter, nor your male servant, nor your female servant, nor your cattle, nor your stranger who is within your gates. ¹¹For in six days the LORD made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested the seventh day. Therefore the LORD blessed the Sabbath day and hallowed it. _{[Exodus 20:8-11 – NKJV]}

Even before the Law was given to Moses, the concept of resting on the Sabbath had been introduced in the provision and gathering of the manna…

²¹So they gathered it every morning, every man according to his need. And when the sun became hot, it melted.

²²And so it was, on the sixth day, that they gathered twice as much bread, two omers _{(about 4 quarts)}for each one. And all the rulers of the congregation came and told Moses. ²³Then he said to them, “This is what the LORD has said: ‘Tomorrow is a Sabbath rest, a holy Sabbath to the LORD. Bake what you will bake today, and boil what you will boil; and lay up for yourselves all that remains, to be kept until morning.'” ²⁴So they laid it up till morning, as Moses commanded; and it did not stink, nor were there any worms in it. _{(as there had been on other days when they gathered more than they needed for the day)} ²⁵Then Moses said, “Eat that today, for today is a Sabbath to the LORD; today you will not find it in the field. ²⁶Six days you shall gather it, but on the seventh day, the Sabbath, there will be none.”

²⁷Now it happened that some of the people went out on the seventh day to gather, but they found none. ²⁸And the LORD said to Moses, “How long do you refuse to keep My commandments and My laws? ²⁹See! For the LORD has given you the Sabbath; therefore He gives you on the sixth day bread for two days. Let every man remain in his place; let no man go out of his place on the seventh day.” ³⁰So the people rested on the seventh day. _{[Exodus 16:21-30 – NKJV]}

God thus introduced the observance of the Sabbath into the Israelite culture as part of His delivery of the children of Israel from the servitude of their bondage in Egypt. But sadly, Jewish society has never fully grasped this concept. Legalistically “honoring” the Sabbath and keeping it holy have been turned into works in and of themselves in an attempt to obey the letter of God’s law, all the while flaunting its spirit. In orthodox Jewish practice, and in the legal structure of the State of Israel, thousands – perhaps millions – of words have been devoted to defining exactly what work can and cannot be done on the Sabbath. Rabbinical interpretations have been set forth to define how the Sabbath is to be honored during space travel, or when flying on supersonic aircraft where it would be possible to start the flight on the day after Sabbath, and fly westward back “into” the Sabbath. The question arises whether it is then lawful to do the “work” of safely landing the airplane! Every village and town in the Nation of Israel has a boundary within which taking a walk is considered lawful Sabbath recreation, but beyond which walking would be unlawful work on the Sabbath. Every building with an elevator must have at least one elevator that operates in “Sabbath” mode on the Sabbath day, moving up and down continually stopping on every floor so that no one needs to do the “work” of pressing a button to summon the elevator or select a floor. Sabbath day breakfast and lunch in hotels are fairly dismal because they must be prepared before the Sabbath begins the previous evening at sunset.

The gospels recount a number of occasions on which Jesus performed healings on the Sabbath day which were considered unlawful work by the Jews. Jesus purposely ignored the letter of the Sabbath regulations that had been implemented, not by God but by Jewish leaders. These requirements didn’t actually implement the Sabbath rest ordained by God. Instead they laid upon the people an additional burden rather than the rest that God intended. Jesus always honored the Sabbath as God commands. The gospel accounts relate many instances in which Jesus taught in synagogues on the Sabbath. But Jesus Himself fulfills the spirit of the Sabbath – the rest of God…

²³Now it happened that He went through the grainfields on the Sabbath; and as they went His disciples began to pluck the heads of grain. ²⁴And the Pharisees said to Him, “Look, why do they do what is not lawful on the Sabbath?”

²⁵But He said to them, “Have you never read what David did when he was in need and hungry, he and those with him: ²⁶how he went into the house of God in the days of Abiathar the high priest, and ate the showbread, which is not lawful to eat except for the priests, and also gave some to those who were with him?” _{[1 Samuel 21]}

²⁷And He said to them, “The Sabbath was made for man, and not man for the Sabbath. ²⁸Therefore the Son of Man is also Lord of the Sabbath.” _{[Mark 2:23-28 – NKJV]}

⁶Since therefore it remains that some must enter it, _{(God’s rest)} and those to whom it was first preached did not enter because of disobedience, ⁷again He designates a certain day, saying in David, “Today,” after such a long time, as it has been said:

“Today, if you will hear His voice,

Do not harden your hearts.” _{[Hebrews 4:6-7 – NKJV]}

Hebrews 4:6 is a sobering and blunt reminder of the nature of God’s plan of salvation. Perhaps this isn’t the way most of us would prefer. If it were left up to us, most of us wouldn’t want anyone to be lost, and all would go to Heaven after they die. But God, in His perfect holiness and righteousness has ordained that some will enter into His rest while others will not. Jesus’ parable of the sheep and goats makes this clear…

³¹“When the Son of Man comes in His glory, and all the holy angels with Him, then He will sit on the throne of His glory. ³²All the nations will be gathered before Him, and He will separate them one from another, as a shepherd divides his sheep from the goats. ³³And He will set the sheep on His right hand, but the goats on the left. ³⁴Then the King will say to those on His right hand, ‘Come, you blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world: ³⁵for I was hungry and you gave Me food; I was thirsty and you gave Me drink; I was a stranger and you took Me in; ³⁶I was naked and you clothed Me; I was sick and you visited Me; I was in prison and you came to Me.’

³⁷“Then the righteous will answer Him, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see You hungry and feed You, or thirsty and give You drink? ³⁸When did we see You a stranger and take You in, or naked and clothe You? ³⁹Or when did we see You sick, or in prison, and come to You?’ ⁴⁰And the King will answer and say to them, ‘Assuredly, I say to you, inasmuch as you did it to one of the least of these My brethren, you did it to Me.’

⁴¹“Then He will also say to those on the left hand, ‘Depart from Me, you cursed, into the everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his angels: ⁴²for I was hungry and you gave Me no food; I was thirsty and you gave Me no drink; ⁴³I was a stranger and you did not take Me in, naked and you did not clothe Me, sick and in prison and you did not visit Me.’

⁴⁴“Then they also will answer Him, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see You hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and did not minister to You?’ ⁴⁵Then He will answer them, saying, ‘Assuredly, I say to you, inasmuch as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to Me.’ ⁴⁶And these will go away into everlasting punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.”_{[Matthew 25:31-46 – NKJV]}

We need to be careful in our understanding of this parable. Jesus is not talking about a works-based social gospel. Nevertheless, the parable clearly speaks of the righteous “sheep” doing good works in Jesus’ Name while the unrighteous did not. It would be easy by taking this parable alone and out of context to miss the point of salvation by grace alone through faith alone in Jesus alone. Our good works are the result – not the cause – of our salvation through faith…

⁸For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, ⁹not of works, lest anyone should boast. ¹⁰For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them. _{[Ephesians 2:8-10 – NKJV]}

But someone will say, “You have faith, and I have works.” Show me your faith without your works, and I will show you my faith by my works. _{[James 2:18 – NKJV]}

¹⁵“Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravenous wolves. ¹⁶You will know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes from thornbushes or figs from thistles? ¹⁷Even so, every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. ¹⁸A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a bad tree bear good fruit. ¹⁹Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. ²⁰Therefore by their fruits you will know them. _{[Matthew 7:15-20 – NKJV]}

The only work Jesus requires of us is faith in His Gospel. The apostle John confirms this…

¹⁰He was in the world, and the world was made through Him, and the world did not know Him. ¹¹He came to His own, and His own did not receive Him. ¹²But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name: ¹³who were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God. _{[John 1:10-13 – NKJV]}

The writer goes on in Hebrews 4:7 with a word of warning to those who have heard the Gospel, but have put off making a confession of faith. Most Christians who have been following Jesus for a while have heard someone say that if the rapture comes, then they will know that the Gospel is true, and they will give their hearts to Jesus then. There are a couple of issues with this idea. First, what happens if we die before the rapture of the Church? Furthermore, God’s Word states that He will send a strong delusion after the rapture of the church so that those who didn’t profess faith in the Gospel before the rapture may be unable to believe it afterward…

⁷For the mystery of lawlessness is already at work; only He _{(God’s Holy Spirit dwelling within the Church of Jesus Christ)} who now restrains will do so until He is taken out of the way. _{(at the rapture of the Church)} ⁸And then the lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord will consume with the breath of His mouth and destroy with the brightness of His coming. ⁹The coming of the lawless one is according to the working of Satan, with all power, signs, and lying wonders, ¹⁰and with all unrighteous deception among those who perish, because they did not receive the love of the truth, that they might be saved. ¹¹And for this reason God will send them strong delusion, that they should believe the lie, ¹²that they all may be condemned who did not believe the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness. _{[2 Thessalonians 2:7-12 – NKJV]}

Regardless of all that though, those who, having believed, delay confessing Jesus as LORD cheat themselves out of the blessings of God, and the promise of His rest…

⁷Then Jesus said to them again, “Most assuredly, I say to you, I am the door of the sheep. ⁸All who ever came before Me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not hear them. ⁹I am the door. If anyone enters by Me, he will be saved, and will go in and out and find pasture. ¹⁰The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly. _{[John 10:7-10 – NKJV]}

I can personally attest to this as one who for 26 years after having heard and believed the Gospel that was preached to me as a young man, failed to confess Jesus as LORD of my heart and life. What blessings of life in Christ did I deny myself over those 26 years? What works in Jesus’ Name might I have done for others during that time instead of selfishly choosing to follow my own path? In the final analysis, the present day is the only reality in which we humans are able to live and act. Therefore, as Paul admonished the church at Corinth…

For He says:
“In an acceptable time I have heard you,
And in the day of salvation I have helped you.” _{[Isaiah 49:8]}
Behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation. _{[2 Corinthians 6:2 – NKJV]}

⁸For if Joshua had given them rest, then He would not afterward have spoken of another day. ⁹There remains therefore a rest for the people of God. ¹⁰For he who has entered His rest has himself also ceased from his works as God did from His.

¹¹Let us therefore be diligent to enter that rest, lest anyone fall according to the same example of disobedience. _{[Hebrews 4:8-11 – NKJV]}

Not being a Greek scholar and having a very pedantic and uncreative mind, I’ve had a difficult time coming to grips with Hebrews 4:8. It takes a bit of heavy sledding, but we will be rewarded with an insight into the deeply poetic, almost musical nature of this crescendo to the Hebrews writers’ exhortation in this passage. One source of confusion is the proper name found here in Hebrews 4:8. The Greek name is Ἰησοῦς Iēsous. It is a Greek derivative of the Hebrew name יְהוֹשׁוּעַ Yĕhowshuwa` meaning “Jehovah is salvation.” Indeed, the KJV renders Hebrews 4:8 as…

For if Jesus had given them rest, then would he not afterward have spoken of another day. _{[Hebrews 4:8 – KJV]}

Furthermore, the name Ἰησοῦς Iēsous isn’t the only apparent difficulty the translators have had with this verse. Notice that the KJV couches the last half of the verse as a question – would he not… – rather than the statement – He would not… – found in the NKJV and other English translations. Far from clarifying the issues, comparing English language translations makes understanding the verse even more difficult…

Now if Joshua had succeeded in giving them this rest, God would not have spoken about another day of rest still to come. _{[Hebrews 4:8 – NLT]}

For if Joshua had given them rest, God would not have spoken later about another day. _{[Hebrews 4:8 – NIV]}

For if Joshua had given them rest, God _{(Greek – he)} would not have spoken of another day later on. _{[Hebrews 4:8 – ESV]}

For if Joshua had given them rest, God would not have spoken later about another day. _{[Hebrews 4:8 – CSB]}

For if Joshua _{(Greek – Jesus)} had given them rest, He would not have spoken of another day after that. _{[Hebrews 4:8 – NASB]}

Notice that two of these translations include embedded footnotes pointing out the difficulties the translators had dealing with the Greek text. It is reassuring to learn that I’m not the only one having difficulty with this verse, but that doesn’t get us any closer to discerning its meaning.

Is the writer talking about Jesus of Nazareth or Joshua son of Nun in this verse?
Is the writer asking whether “he” (either Jesus or Joshua) would have spoken of another day, or stating bluntly that “he” did?
Who is it that the writer says (or asks) spoke of another day – Joshua or God?
To where in the Word of God is the Hebrews writer referring?

Surprisingly, we can answer three of these questions pretty simply by examining the Word of God, and the remaining one with a little help from our friends. Let’s look at question 2 in this list first. In my total ignorance of Greek grammar, and having found no answer in any of the commentaries I found on Hebrews 4, I reached out to some of my friends who are well versed in Biblical Greek. One of them was kind enough to provide a concise and quick answer. Apparently, it isn’t my ignorance of Greek grammar that was causing my confusion, but rather my ignorance of my own native language’s history…

In the Greek a question mark is only implied, but not stated. You assume it is a statement unless you have a compelling reason to consider it to be a question. In this case there is no reason to infer a question, so it should be taken as a statement. But if you’ll notice, even the KJV doesn’t render it as a question, because there is no question mark in the KJV. This isn’t really a Greek question, it is an English one. In the old English they would make a statement like “would he not” to express an emphatic “he would not.” In modern English we don’t use that expression, thus, all the modern translations, including NKJV, correctly render it as “he would not.” But the KJV was correct, and didn’t contain a question mark. It’s just outdated, like me. 😉 _{[Dave Rolph – Senior Pastor Calvary Chapel Pacific Hills]}

A quick word search of the KJV New Testament reveals that the Greek name Ἰησοῦς Iēsous is never translated as Joshua even in Acts 7:45 where Stephen testified about the history of Israel during his trial. In that testimony, Stephen clearly referred to Joshua son of Nun as he recounted the story of the tabernacle of meeting which was constructed under Moses’ leadership in accordance with God’s instructions and carried into the land of Canaan by the children of Israel under Joshua’s leadership after their forty years of wilderness wandering that was brought about by their unbelief in the promise of God – the very context being discussed here in Hebrews 3 and 4! Given that context, it is clear that Hebrews 4:8 must also be referring to Joshua son of Nun.

Next, by searching the Old Testament for “Joshua” and “day” we can determine that Joshua son of Nun never spoke of “another” day. In fact, Joshua famously spoke of “today” just as the Hebrews writer did in Hebrews 4:7 which we just studied…

¹⁴“Now therefore, fear the LORD, serve Him in sincerity and in truth, and put away the gods which your fathers served on the other side of the River and in Egypt. Serve the LORD! ¹⁵And if it seems evil to you to serve the LORD, choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods which your fathers served that were on the other side of the River, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you dwell. But as for me and my house, we will serve the LORD.” _{[Joshua 24:14-15 – NKJV]}

Clearly then, since Joshua never spoke of another day of rest, the Hebrews writer must be speaking of God doing so through His prophets and by the Word of His Son – Jesus.

¹There shall come forth a Rod from the stem of Jesse,

And a Branch shall grow out of his roots.

²The Spirit of the LORD shall rest upon Him,

The Spirit of wisdom and understanding,

The Spirit of counsel and might,

The Spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the LORD.

³His delight is in the fear of the LORD,

And He shall not judge by the sight of His eyes,

Nor decide by the hearing of His ears;

⁴But with righteousness He shall judge the poor,

And decide with equity for the meek of the earth;

He shall strike the earth with the rod of His mouth,

And with the breath of His lips He shall slay the wicked.

⁵Righteousness shall be the belt of His loins,

And faithfulness the belt of His waist.

⁶“The wolf also shall dwell with the lamb,

The leopard shall lie down with the young goat,

The calf and the young lion and the fatling together;

And a little child shall lead them.

⁷The cow and the bear shall graze;

Their young ones shall lie down together;

And the lion shall eat straw like the ox.

⁸The nursing child shall play by the cobra’s hole,

And the weaned child shall put his hand in the viper’s den.

⁹They shall not hurt nor destroy in all My holy mountain,

For the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the LORD

As the waters cover the sea.

¹⁰“And in that day there shall be a Root of Jesse,

Who shall stand as a banner to the people;

For the Gentiles shall seek Him,

And His resting place shall be glorious.”

¹¹It shall come to pass in that day

That the Lord shall set His hand again the second time

To recover the remnant of His people who are left,

From Assyria and Egypt,

From Pathros and Cush,

From Elam and Shinar,

From Hamath and the islands of the sea.

¹²He will set up a banner for the nations,

And will assemble the outcasts of Israel,

And gather together the dispersed of Judah

From the four corners of the earth.

¹³Also the envy of Ephraim shall depart,

And the adversaries of Judah shall be cut off;

Ephraim shall not envy Judah,

And Judah shall not harass Ephraim.

¹⁴But they shall fly down upon the shoulder of the Philistines toward the west;

Together they shall plunder the people of the East;

They shall lay their hand on Edom and Moab;

And the people of Ammon shall obey them.

¹⁵The LORD will utterly destroy the tongue of the Sea of Egypt;

With His mighty wind He will shake His fist over the River,

And strike it in the seven streams,

And make men cross over dryshod.

¹⁶There will be a highway for the remnant of His people

Who will be left from Assyria,

As it was for Israel

In the day that he came up from the land of Egypt._{[Isaiah 11 – NKJV]}

As we have seen, the promised rest into which the Hebrews writer urges us to enter isn’t peaceful life in the land of promise that the Israelites have yet to attain. Nor is it the Sabbath day of rest ordained by God in the law. Certainly, it is not any earthly blessing to be attained through any good work of our own. It is the perfect rest found only through trusting in Jesus – that perfect rest into which our LORD Himself has entered through His suffering, death, and resurrection in our behalf. It is the peace with God and eternal rest spoken of by the prophet Isaiah in the prophecy we just read. It is the rest promised by Jesus in His own words…

Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. _{[Matthew 11:28 – NKJV]}

In summing up this magnificent exhortation, for Christ followers not to fall into the unbelief and mistrust of God that the Israelite wanderers did, the writer urges us to be diligent to enter into His promised rest and not to forsake our blessing of peace with God through disobedience. What then must we do to assure ourselves of His promised rest? The first and key step is to come to Jesus through belief in His Gospel just as the Hebrews writer will later exhort us…

But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him. _{[Hebrews 11:6 – NKJV]}

Then, having entered into the promise of His rest, we must nurture our relationship with Him as the Apostle Peter exhorts us…

⁵But also for this very reason, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue, to virtue knowledge, ⁶to knowledge self-control, to self-control perseverance, to perseverance godliness, ⁷to godliness brotherly kindness, and to brotherly kindness love. ⁸For if these things are yours and abound, you will be neither barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. _{[2 Peter 1:5-8 – NKJV]}

…not through reliance on our own works, or even our own honest faith, but by the power of God’s Spirit dwelling within us…

for it is God who works in you both to will and to do for His good pleasure._{[Philippians 2:13 – NKJV]}

So, with King David let us rest in hope!

A Michtam of David.

¹Preserve me, O God, for in You I put my trust.

²O my soul, you have said to the LORD,

“You are my Lord,

“My goodness is nothing apart from You.”

³As for the saints who are on the earth,

“They are the excellent ones, in whom is all my delight.”

⁴Their sorrows shall be multiplied who hasten after another god;

Their drink offerings of blood I will not offer,

Nor take up their names on my lips.

⁵O LORD, You are the portion of my inheritance and my cup;

You maintain my lot.

⁶The lines have fallen to me in pleasant places;

Yes, I have a good inheritance.

⁷I will bless the LORD who has given me counsel;

My heart also instructs me in the night seasons.

⁸I have set the LORD always before me;

Because He is at my right hand I shall not be moved.

⁹Therefore my heart is glad, and my glory rejoices;

My flesh also will rest in hope.

¹⁰For You will not leave my soul in Sheol,

Nor will You allow Your Holy One to see corruption.

¹¹You will show me the path of life;

In Your presence is fullness of joy;

At Your right hand are pleasures forevermore._{[Psalm 16 – NKJV]}

Looking Ahead

Next time, God willing, we will take up a study of some of the most well-known passages in all the Word of God as we consider the life found in the Word of God, and Jesus’ role as our great High Priest.

Hebrews 4:3-11 – Come to Me Those Who Are Weary

Audio Recording

Review

Come to Me Those Who Are Weary

Looking Ahead

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