TEXT: Hebrews 4:1-13

SUBJECT: Exposition of Hebrews #4: Christ over Canaan and the Sabbath

This morning brings us to the fourth sermon in our study of Hebrews. Its theme you know: Christ over all. "In all things He must have the preeminence". In the first two chapters, we have learned that He is over the prophets and over the angels. In chapter 3, He is presented as over the most revered name in the Old Testament, Moses. Why? Because Moses was a part of God's family, but Christ is its founder. And because Moses is a servant in God's house, but Christ is a Son over the house.

This chapter begins with "therefore". Hence it is connected with what precedes it. What is that? Christ over Moses. Remember, the author has taken a tangent from his main thought, and now continues it. The life of Moses reminds him of the wilderness experience he led. This is where he picks up the thought.

He opens with a directive, v.1: "Therefore, since a promise remains of entering His rest, let us fear lest any of you seem to have come short of it". To simplify: "Let us enter His rest".

What is this "rest"? It is compared to two things: the land of Canaan, v.3, and the first Sabbath, v.4. What do the comparisons mean? "Canaan" was a type of heaven, the resting place of God's people after the exodus from Egypt and the long wilderness journey. The "First Sabbath" was the day when God survey His creation and pronounced it all "very good"--a perfect world it was. Thus, it too, was a type of heaven, as Revelation 2:7 seems to indicate.

Thus, the "rest" we're urged to "enter" is heaven. We mustn't "come short" of it. In other words, we mustn't begin the Christian life well only to fall away in time; we must persevere to the end. He strongly believes that we shall "enter His rest". Cf. Hebrews 10:39.

To encourage us to "enter His rest", he reminds us of a people who didn't: Israel, vv.2-5. "For indeed, the Gospel was preached to us as well as to them; but the word which they heard did not profit them, not being mixed with faith in those who heard it. For we who have believed do enter that rest, as He said,

`So I swore in my wrath,

They shall not enter My rest',

"...though the works were finished from the foundation of the world. For He spoke in a certain place of the seventh day in this way: `And God rested on the seventh day from all His works', and again in this place: `They shall not enter My rest'".

Israel had the opportunity of entering His rest of Canaan, v.2a. How? By believing the Gospel. What does he mean by "the gospel"? I don't think he uses it in the technical sense of I Corinthians 15:1-3. But in the more general sense of "the good news". The "good news" of what? Of entering into God's rest in Canaan. They might have done so. There was nothing in God--or in Canaan--that kept them out.

Israel, however, lost the opportunity of entering into His rest, v.2b. Why? Because of unbelief. V.3 is a parenthesis: Had they believed the Gospel, they would have entered the land! But because they didn't believe it, they forfeited His promise and incurred Divine judgments,

"So I swore in My wrath,

They shall not enter My rest".

Israel, therefore, might have entered their rest; but they didn't. Yet they might have. It was a real opportunity. To put it in theological terms, it was "the free and sincere offer of the Gospel". God meant what He said: had they believed, they would have entered the land. How do we know this? Because vv.3b-4 say so: "...although the works were finished from the foundation of the world. For 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'". Now this "certain place" is Genesis 2:2. What it implies is this: Canaan was prepared for Israel from the beginning of time. By the Sixth Day, it was ready and waiting for God's people to inherit it. Thus, their opportunity was real. And it was squandered.

This brings up an important question: Did Israel's unbelief thwart the promise of God? The answer is given in vv.6-10: "Since, therefore, it remains that some must enter it, and those to whom it was first preached did not enter because of disobedience, again 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'.

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

Therefore, Israel's unbelief did not nullify the promise of God. For "some must enter it". Who? Not the unbelieving Jews to whom the promise was first made, but to believers. Not just to Joshua and Caleb who believed in the days of Moses, but to all believers in every age. This we know because the promise was re-made centuries later in the 95th Psalm.

But this doesn't make sense, does it? Who wrote the Psalm? David. From where? In Jerusalem. Thus, it seems, that Israel did "enter His rest"--under Joshua. V.8 solves the riddle: "For if Joshua had given them rest, he would not afterward have spoken of another day..."

What does this mean? The "rest" that Joshua provided was only a partial and temporary "rest". And more: it was a prophetic rest--it looked to a "rest" that lay far beyond the occupation of Canaan.

What is it? Some have said "heaven"; others have said "faith". Both are true, but neither quite fits the context. A better answer is Christ. "There remains a sabbath-rest for the people of God". The English reading of v.9 may be misleading. For the word "rest" here is different from the five that precede it and the two that follow. The others are a more general rest. But the "rest" that "remains for the people of God" is special: it is the "Sabbath-rest". This word must have electrified the first readers of Hebrews. They were devout Jews, of course, and had rested on the Sabbath every week of their lives. But they knew that the Sabbath served a prophetic function; that it looked forward to a full and final rest. When they came to Christ, they found "the One of whom Moses in the law and the prophets did write, Jesus of Nazareth". And their "rest" in Him looked forward to a final "rest" in glory, Revelation 14:13, Psalm 16:11.

Whatever your view of the Sabbath is, you must remember that "the rest" it promised is fulfilled--not by going to church on Sunday--but by coming to Jesus Christ. Colossians 2:16-17 couldn't be clearer: "Therefore, let no one judge you in food or in drink, or regarding a festival or a new moon or sabbaths, which are a shadow of things to come, but the substance is of Christ".

V.10 explains what one does when he comes to Christ or "enters His rest", i.e., "Ceases from his works as God did from His". What does this mean? That he no longer goes to work? That he no longer tries to live holily? Of course not. It means that he quits trying to save himself by personal effort and places his whole confidence in the Lord Jesus Christ.

"Nothing in my hand I bring,

Simply to Thy cross I cling;

Naked come to Thee for dress,

Helpless look to Thee for grace;

Foul I to the fountain fly,

Wash me Savior, or I die".

In vv.11-13, we read an urgent appeal to "enter His rest". "Let us, therefore, be diligent to enter that rest, lest anyone fall after the same example of disobedience. For the word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. And no creature is hidden from His sight, but all things are naked and open to the eyes of Him to whom we must give account".

The command is "be diligent to enter that rest". Charles Simeon put it this way: "Be serious--be in earnest--don't trifle--don't trifle!"

Why should we be so serious about "entering that rest"? Vv.12-13 tell us why. Because of the Word of God. What does this mean? The Bible? No. It means "the word of God just spoken". What word? "Today, if you will hear His voice, harden not your hearts". About this word, he says:

It is "living". It was spoken centuries before. But it hasn't died with the men who first heard it. It is still alive today; it is speaking--right now!

It is "powerful". It will accomplish its mission. Thus, if you harden your heart against the gospel, you will suffer the consequences.

It is "sharper than any two edged sword". This means it is deadly. The Gospel--Paul tells us elsewhere--"is a savor of life unto life and a savor of death unto death". To those who believe it, it is a great blessing. To those who reject it, it is fearful curse.

It is "a discerner". It not only condemns a public apostasy, but the most secret departures from Christ as well".

Because the danger is real and grave, we had better "be diligent to enter that rest".

You had better "be diligent" to renounce every hope of saving yourself--by works, by sorrow, by ritual, by morality. You had better "be diligent" to enter God's rest in God's way--by faith in the crucified and risen Lord.

Because Christ is so far exalted over Moses, 2:1-3.

"This is My beloved Son in whom I am well pleased. Hear Him!" God give us the "ears to hear" for Christ's sake. Amen.