Lesson 7: Hebrews 4:1-13
Headed to the Promised Land with Israel
Hebrews 4:1-13
Therefore, while the promise of entering his rest is still open, let us take care that none of you should seem to have failed to reach it. For indeed the good news came to us just as to them; but the message they heard did not benefit them, because they were not united by faith with those who listened. For we who have believed enter that rest, just as God has said,
“As in my anger I swore,
‘They shall not enter my rest,’”
though his works were finished at the foundation of the world. For in one place it speaks about the seventh day as follows, “And God rested on the seventh day from all his works.” And again in this place it says, “They shall not enter my rest.” Since therefore it remains open for some to enter it, and those who formerly received the good news failed to enter because of disobedience, again he sets a certain day—“today”—saying through David much later, in the words already quoted,
“Today, if you hear his voice,
do not harden your hearts.”
For if Joshua had given them rest, God would not speak later about another day. 9 So then, a sabbath rest still remains for the people of God; for those who enter God’s rest also cease from their labors as God did from his. Let us therefore make every effort to enter that rest, so that no one may fall through such disobedience as theirs.
Indeed, the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing until it divides soul from spirit, joints from marrow; it is able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart. And before him no creature is hidden, but all are naked and laid bare to the eyes of the one to whom we must render an account.
Though the wilderness generation in Israel’s past did not believe the good news, the promised rest still remains for believers today. The rest, however, is something more than what Joshua promised or provided. The promised land is more than Canaan; it is a rest in God and a participation in God’s own rest. The promised land is where we presently rest with God in God’s own seventh day rest. We rest with God in the heavenly Jerusalem, the city of the living God, Mt. Zion, though we do so as we await the fullness of that rest when Jesus returns for our salvation. Let us, therefore, persevere in faith that we might enter that eternal rest.
This text opens and closes with an exhortation.
- Let us take care that none of you should seem to fail to reach it (4:1b).
- Let us make every effort to enter that rest (4:11a).
The exhortations are combined with warnings.
- For indeed the good news came to us just as to them; but the message they heard did not benefit them, because they were not united by faith with those who listened (4:2).
- So that no one may fall through such disobedience as theirs (4:11b).
The warning comes from the path that the wilderness generation embraced: it was one of unbelief and disobedience. They hardened their hearts and did not trust the promise. Consequently, they disobeyed and failed to enter the promised land. This disobedience is emphasized in Hebrews 4:6 and Hebrews 4:11.
The exhortation comes from the fact the rest still remains. The rest that was promised to Israel is still available. This rest is the good news Israel heard, and it is the good news we still hear when the gospel is preached. It is the good news the preacher in Hebrews offers: the gospel has come to us just as it had to Israel at Sinai and in the wilderness.
The preacher knows this rest still remains because it is part of Psalm 95, which is quoted twice in this section. The first quote identifies the rest: “my rest” or God’s rest. The second quote provides a warning: “do not harden your hearts.” Both the rest and the warning still apply because it is still “today” as Psalm 95 declares. In one sense, it is always “today,” because that is the day of salvation. The offer of the promised rest is always present while the journey continues. Whether it is Israel in the wilderness of Zin, or the Psalmist in the wilderness of sin, or the preacher’s audience in Hebrews in the wilderness of a hostile environment, or ourselves in the present wilderness of cultural shifts, the promised rest remains good news. It is still available for those who trust in God’s promises.
But what is this rest? On the one hand, it is not what Joshua was able to accomplish. Joshua led the conquest of Canaan (Joshua 21:44; 22:4; 23:1) and his work ultimately led to the “rest” God gave David and Solomon in the United Kingdom of Israel (2 Samuel 7:1, 11; 1 Kings 5:4; 8:56). There is a limited sense in which God gave Israel rest in the land. But this is not the ultimate rest to which Psalm 95 refers. The preacher says, “For if Joshua had given them rest, God would not speak later about another day” (Hebrews 4:8).
On the other hand, the preacher grounds the rest described by Psalm 95 in Genesis 2:2-3. On the seventh day, God rested. This is God’s rest (“my rest”). God invites us to enter God’s own sabbath rest within the creation. I suspect this refers to entering God’s own life to commune with God and participate in that rest. But this is not a passive rest. In God’s own rest, God is active in communing with God’s people, filling the earth with God’s people, and sustaining the creation. We enter the rest to participate more fully in that communion. We don’t enter to become coach potatoes or passive observers. Our rest in God is an active one. Yet, still a rest free from the anxieties, toils, and burdens of the wilderness. We will cease from the labors of a world filled with hostility and pain and enjoy the fullness of God’s promised land in the new heaven and new earth.
The last two verses of this reading in Hebrews function as a conclusion to the first section of the whole sermon. Throughout this first section from Hebrews 1:1 through Hebrews 4:11, the speech of God has been the main topic. God spoke through the prophets, God spoke through the angels who mediated the law, the Son spoke to Father on behalf of his brothers and sisters, God spoke through the Son, and God spoke through the Holy Spirit in Scripture. God has spoken in various ways and times and continues to speak.
This speech is the “word of God” in Hebrews 4:12. It is neither a dead letter nor a blunt useless instrument. It is living, that is, it continues to speak in the present as well as in the past. It is active, that is, it works effectively. It is a sharp sword, that is, it opens up our most secret and hidden thoughts in our hearts. The word of God confronts us in our nakedness as nothing is hidden from God. The word of God exposes us.
This word of God comes to us in the embodied life of Jesus whom the original witnesses saw. This word of God comes to us through Scripture as it continually calls us into God’s mission, confronts our sins, and heals our wounds. This word of God is the exhortation of the preacher in Hebrews. His own homily is the word of God. As the Second Helvetic Confession (1566) says, “The preaching of the word of God is the word of God.” When Scripture is faithfully preached, it, too, is the word of God.
God has spoken. The word (logos) of God comes to us in various ways and now especially through the Son. It demands a response, an accounting. Just as the paragraph began with “word (logos) of God,” so it ends with the term logos (word, account). When God speaks the living word (logos) of God, we must respond with our own word (logos).
When God spoke in the wilderness, how did Israel give its own word (logos) in response? When the Psalmist sang his poem, how did the congregation respond with its own word (logos)? When the preacher in Hebrews delivered his sermon as the word of God, how did the assembly respond with its own word (logos)?
When we hear the voice of God, the Spirit who continues to speak through the words of Scripture, what kind of word (logos) will we offer in response? Belief or unbelief? Obedience or disobedience? However we respond, we must give an account (logos).