The Rest That Remains: Entering God's Sabbath Text: Hebrews 4:1-13
Introduction: The Unbelief That Kills
We live in a restless age. Our culture is a frantic, buzzing hive of activity, distraction, and anxiety. Men and women are driven by a thousand different taskmasters, from the tyranny of the urgent to the lust for more, and the result is a profound spiritual exhaustion. We are a generation that knows how to work, how to strive, how to worry, and how to medicate, but we have forgotten how to rest. And I do not mean the mere cessation of activity, like a machine that is switched off. I mean true rest, the kind of deep, settled peace that comes from knowing that the work is finished, the victory is won, and all is well.
The world offers its counterfeit rests. There is the rest of entertainment, which is just another form of noise. There is the rest of sloth, which is not peace but a spiritual stupor. There is the rest of self-righteousness, which is the most exhausting work of all, the constant labor of propping up a fraudulent identity. But none of these can quiet the soul. None of them can deliver what was promised.
The book of Hebrews is written to a people on the verge of making a catastrophic mistake. They were considering abandoning Christ to return to the shadows and types of the old covenant. They were tempted to trade the substance for the symbol, the reality for the ritual. And the author's argument here in chapter 4 is a thunderous warning: do not make the same mistake our fathers made in the wilderness. They had a promise of entering a rest, the land of Canaan, but their carcasses fell in the desert. Why? The text is explicit. It was not because the Anakim were too tall, or the journey too hard. It was because of one thing: unbelief. They heard the good news, the gospel, but they did not mix it with faith.
This passage is not a history lesson for antiquarians. It is a live grenade rolled into the middle of our assembly. The promise of entering God's rest remains open to us, right now, today. But so does the danger of falling short through the same spiritual malady. The issue is not whether God's rest is available; the issue is whether we will believe Him and enter in. This is a matter of spiritual life and death. To fail to enter this rest is not to miss out on a nice spiritual feeling. It is to perish. And so, we are called to fear, to be diligent, and to understand the nature of the rest that God has provided, a rest that was finished from the foundation of the world, foreshadowed in Canaan, and fully realized in the finished work of the Lord Jesus Christ.
The Text
Therefore, let us fear, lest, while a promise remains of entering His rest, any one of you may seem to have fallen short of it. For indeed we have had good news proclaimed to us, just as they also; but the word that was heard did not profit those who were not united with faith among those who heard. For we who have believed enter that rest, just as He has said, “AS I SWORE IN MY WRATH, THEY SHALL NOT ENTER MY REST,” although His works were finished from the foundation of the world. For He has spoken somewhere in this way concerning the seventh day: “AND GOD RESTED ON THE SEVENTH DAY FROM ALL HIS WORKS”; and again in this passage, “THEY SHALL NOT ENTER MY REST.” Therefore, since it remains for some to enter it, and those who formerly had good news proclaimed to them failed to enter because of disobedience, He again determines a certain day, “TODAY,” saying through David after so long a time just as has been said before, “TODAY IF YOU HEAR HIS VOICE, DO NOT HARDEN YOUR HEARTS.” For if Joshua had given them rest, He would not have spoken of another day after that. So there remains a Sabbath rest for the people of God. For the one who has entered His rest has himself also rested from his works, as God did from His. Therefore let us be diligent to enter that rest, lest anyone fall into the same example of disobedience. For the word of God is living and active and sharper than any two-edged sword, and piercing as far as the division of soul and spirit, of both joints and marrow, and able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart. And there is no creature hidden from His sight, but all things are uncovered and laid bare to the eyes of Him to whom we have an account to give.
(Hebrews 4:1-13 LSB)
A Promise and a Warning (vv. 1-2)
The writer begins with a solemn exhortation based on the tragic history of Israel in the wilderness.
"Therefore, let us fear, lest, while a promise remains of entering His rest, any one of you may seem to have fallen short of it. For indeed we have had good news proclaimed to us, just as they also; but the word that was heard did not profit them, not being united with faith among those who heard." (Hebrews 4:1-2)
The word "therefore" links us directly back to the conclusion of chapter 3: they could not enter because of unbelief. Because of this historical precedent, we are commanded to "fear." This is not a cowering, servile terror, but a holy, reverential awe. It is the healthy fear of a man working with high-voltage electricity. It is the sober recognition that we are dealing with matters of eternal consequence. The promise of God's rest is still on the table, but so is the possibility of forfeiting it. The phrase "seem to have fallen short" is a pastoral kindness, but the danger is utterly real. It is possible to be in the assembly of God's people, to hear the promises, and yet to die in the wilderness of your own heart.
Verse 2 makes the parallel explicit. We have had the "good news" proclaimed to us. The word is euangelizomai, from which we get "evangelism." We have heard the gospel, just as they did. What was their gospel? It was the promise of a promised land, a land flowing with milk and honey, a place of rest from their enemies and their wanderings. It was a tangible picture of salvation. But the message, the word they heard, did not profit them. Why? It was not a defect in the word, but a defect in the hearers. They "were not united with faith."
This is a crucial diagnostic principle. The Word of God is not a magic incantation. Its power is not automatic. It must be received, embraced, and trusted. You can sit under the most faithful preaching for fifty years, you can have the Word of God cascade over you week after week, but if it is not met with the active response of faith, it is like seed falling on concrete. It does not profit. Faith is the hand that reaches out and takes what God is offering. Without that hand, the gift remains on the table, and the soul starves.
The Nature of God's Rest (vv. 3-5)
The writer now begins to define this rest by weaving together several Old Testament threads.
"For we who have believed enter that rest, just as He has said, 'AS I SWORE IN MY WRATH, THEY SHALL NOT ENTER MY REST,' although His works were finished from the foundation of the world. For He has spoken somewhere in this way concerning the seventh day: 'AND GOD RESTED ON THE SEVENTH DAY FROM ALL HIS WORKS'; and again in this passage, 'THEY SHALL NOT ENTER MY REST.'" (Hebrews 4:3-5)
Notice the present tense: "we who have believed enter that rest." This is not just a future hope; it is a present reality. The moment a sinner trusts in Christ, he enters into a state of rest. He ceases from his own works of self-justification. He rests in the finished work of Another. But this present rest is just the down payment, the foretaste, of a greater rest to come.
To explain this, he quotes Psalm 95 again, where God swears in His wrath that the unbelieving generation will not enter His rest. The author then makes a startling connection: "although His works were finished from the foundation of the world." This seems like a non-sequitur, but it is the heart of his argument. The ultimate rest that God has for His people is not something He invented after the fact. It is grounded in His own eternal rest. He points us back to Genesis 2:2: "AND GOD RESTED ON THE SEVENTH DAY FROM ALL HIS WORKS."
God's Sabbath rest after creation was not because He was tired. It was a rest of completion, of satisfaction in a job well done. He looked at all He had made and declared it "very good." This creation rest is the primordial pattern. The rest offered to Israel in Canaan was a type, a picture, of this deeper reality. But the fact that God, centuries later in the time of David, was still speaking of "My rest" and warning people not to miss it, proves that the creation rest and the Canaan rest were not the final word on the subject. There is another, greater rest that remains.
Today is the Day (vv. 6-8)
The argument tightens. Since the promise is still open, there must be a current opportunity to enter.
"Therefore, since it remains for some to enter it, and those who formerly had good news proclaimed to them failed to enter because of disobedience, He again determines a certain day, 'TODAY,' saying through David after so long a time just as has been said before, 'TODAY IF YOU HEAR HIS VOICE, DO NOT HARDEN YOUR HEARTS.' For if Joshua had given them rest, He would not have spoken of another day after that." (Hebrews 4:6-7)
The logic is impeccable. Some must enter this rest. The generation in the wilderness failed because of disobedience, which is the flip side of unbelief. So, God appoints another day. He doesn't close the offer; He reissues it. Through David, hundreds of years after the conquest of Canaan, the Holy Spirit cries out, "TODAY."
This word "Today" is freighted with gospel urgency. Procrastination is the native tongue of the old man. "Tomorrow" is the devil's favorite word. But the Spirit of God always insists on "Today." If you hear His voice, if the Word is addressing you, the time for response is now. To delay is to harden. A soft heart is responsive; a hard heart is one that has heard the call and refused it. And hearts do not harden overnight. They harden through a series of small disobediences, a succession of ignored "Todays."
Then comes the clincher in verse 8: "For if Joshua had given them rest, He would not have spoken of another day after that." Joshua's name in Hebrew is Yehoshua, which is the exact equivalent of the Greek name Iesous, or Jesus. Joshua, the first Jesus, was a great and faithful man. He did lead the people into the promised land. He did give them a measure of rest from their enemies. But that rest was incomplete and temporary. It was a shadow. If the rest Joshua gave had been the ultimate, final rest of God, then God would not have spoken through David centuries later about the need to enter His rest "Today." The fact that the offer was still open proves that Joshua's rest was not the substance. There must be a greater Joshua who brings a greater, final rest.
The Sabbath Rest Remains (vv. 9-11)
Here we come to the theological summit of the chapter.
"So there remains a Sabbath rest for the people of God. For the one who has entered His rest has himself also rested from his works, as God did from His. Therefore let us be diligent to enter that rest, lest anyone fall into the same example of disobedience." (Hebrews 4:9-11)
The conclusion is that "there remains a Sabbath rest for the people of God." The Greek word for "Sabbath rest" here is sabbatismos. This is the only place it appears in the New Testament. It means there remains a "sabbath-keeping." The author is telling these wavering Hebrew Christians that they are not abandoning the Sabbath by following Christ; they are entering into the true Sabbath. Christ is our Sabbath rest.
Verse 10 explains the parallel. "For the one who has entered His rest has himself also rested from his works, as God did from His." Who is the "he" who entered His rest? This refers ultimately to Christ. After His work of new creation was finished on the cross ("It is finished!"), Christ rested. He rested in the grave on the Sabbath, and then entered into His resurrection rest on the first day of the week. Just as God the Father worked for six days and then rested, so God the Son accomplished the work of redemption and then entered His rest. Because Christ has entered His rest, a Sabbath-keeping remains for us, the people of God. We enter that rest by faith in His finished work. We cease from our own dead works of trying to save ourselves. And this is why the Christian Sabbath, the Lord's Day, is on the first day of the week. The old covenant was work-then-rest. The new covenant is rest-then-work. We begin our week by celebrating the finished work of Christ, and our work for the next six days flows out of that foundational, gospel rest.
Therefore, because this glorious rest has been secured, we are to be "diligent to enter" it. This sounds paradoxical. Diligence to rest? Hard work to cease from work? But it is the diligence of faith. It is the strenuous effort of casting all our reliance on Christ alone, of fighting the unbelief that wants to crawl back to the filthy rags of our own righteousness. It is the fight to believe that the work is truly, finally, completely done.
The All-Seeing Word (vv. 12-13)
The chapter concludes with one of the most powerful descriptions of Scripture in all the Bible. This is the reason we must be diligent, because the Word we are dealing with is no dead letter.
"For the word of God is living and active and sharper than any two-edged sword, and piercing as far as the division of soul and spirit, of both joints and marrow, and able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart. And there is no creature hidden from His sight, but all things are uncovered and laid bare to the eyes of Him to whom we have an account to give." (Hebrews 4:12-13)
The "word of God" here refers to more than just the written Scriptures, though it certainly includes them. It is God's active, powerful, personal address to us, culminating in the living Word, Jesus Christ. This Word is not a passive object for our academic dissection. It is alive. It is active. It is a surgeon's scalpel. It is sharper than a Roman soldier's two-edged sword. It doesn't just scratch the surface; it penetrates to the deepest, most hidden recesses of our being.
It divides soul and spirit, joints and marrow. This is not a technical lesson in human anatomy. It is Hebrew poetry describing the absolute thoroughness of the Word's penetration. It gets all the way in. Nothing is hidden from it. It lays bare the "thoughts and intentions of the heart." We may be able to fool our pastor, our spouse, or ourselves. But we cannot fool the Word. It sees the hidden unbelief, the secret rebellion, the subtle pride that keeps us from resting in Christ alone.
And this living Word is wielded by a living God. "There is no creature hidden from His sight." The final picture is that of a wrestler in the Greek games, thrown to the ground, with his opponent's hand gripping his neck, forcing his head back, utterly exposed and helpless. That is what the word trachēlizō, translated "laid bare," means. Before God, all our masks are off, all our excuses are silenced. We are completely exposed before the eyes of "Him to whom we have an account to give." This is terrifying for the one who is still trying to hide in the bushes of his own works. But for the one who has fled to Christ for refuge, it is a profound comfort. Yes, God sees everything, and He has still provided a rest. He knows the worst about us, and yet He still says, "Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest."