Jesus is Better - Hebrews 4
The writer of
Hebrews builds on his warning to not harden our hearts by offering an
invitation for believers to “strive to enter that rest.” The word “strive”
means, “make every effort necessary,” or “do whatever it takes.” This is an
invitation to make every effort necessary to enter the rest that Jesus
offers. Isn’t this what we all desire… rest for our weary hearts, rest from the
busyness of life, and even rest from the discouragement we face?
What are some things you do to find rest?
Have you ever found yourself working extremely hard to rest?
Spiritually speaking, what are some things you do to find rest?
Do you ever have times when you feel spiritually exhausted?
Who gives true rest?
Rest in Christ is
available to every man.
Hebrews 4:1-13
Therefore, while
the promise of entering his rest still stands, let us fear lest any of you
should seem to have failed to reach it. 2 For 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. 3 For we who have believed enter that rest,
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. 4 For he has
somewhere spoken of the seventh day in this way: “And God rested on the seventh
day from all his works.”
5 And again in this
passage he said, “They shall not enter my rest.” 6 Since therefore it remains
for some to enter it, and those who formerly received the good news failed to
enter because of disobedience, 7 again he appoints a certain day, “Today,”
saying through David so long afterward, in the words already quoted, “Today, if
you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts.”
8 For if Joshua had
given them rest, God would not have spoken of another day later on. 9 So then,
there remains a Sabbath rest for the people of God, 10 for whoever has entered
God’s rest has also rested from his works as God did from his.
11 Let us therefore
strive to enter that rest, so that no one may fall by the same sort of
disobedience. 12 For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any
two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and
of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart. 13 And no
creature is hidden from his sight, but all are naked and exposed to the eyes of
him to whom we must give account.
The Holy Bible:
English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2016), Heb 4:1-13.
Study
Notes
WEEK 4 NOTES: Hebrews 4:1-13
The writer of
Hebrews reminds us that the door to enter the rest of Jesus is open, but people
could still fail to reach rest. Chapter three made a reference to the
Israelites after they were set free from slavery in Egypt in the Old Testament.
An entire nation of Israelite people received a promise from God that He was
going to give them the Promised Land. This nation followed God in the cloud by
day and the pillar of fire at night. They watched Him do miraculous things, and
God proved He could be trusted. Yet, the majority of people who crossed through
an ocean on dry ground still missed out on entering the rest God provided.
The writer of
Hebrews presents a frightening truth — people can hear the good news of Jesus and
never experience the benefits of saving faith. Rest can be made available and
accessible for people, and they can still fail to reach it. Thankfully, chapter
four offers a reminder we can have complete rest in Jesus through obedience.
Joshua and Caleb modeled this type of obedience when they trusted God would
provide victory in Canaan. These men did everything they could to enter that
rest through obedience. This brings us to an important question: how can I find
complete rest in Jesus through obedience?
We can only find
complete rest:
In Fear
Numbers 13 tells
the story of the twelve spies Moses sent into the Promised Land. Ten of the
twelve spies in the Promised Land acknowledged how beautiful and resourceful
the land was, but they also discouraged the nation of Israel because their fear
was misplaced. The ten spies had a greater fear of the giants in the land than
they did the Lord. Fear of the Lord provides wisdom, growth, awe, faith, and
rest in God. Proverbs 1:7 says, “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of
wisdom.” Philippians 2:13 says, “Work out your own salvation with fear and
trembling.” Entering the complete rest Jesus offers begins with a heart that
fears the Lord.
Through
Faith
The writer quotes
what God said about those who walk in disobedience from Psalm 95. Over and over
in this passage it says, “They shall not enter my rest.” Who is he talking
about? Those who aren’t obedient. In other words, those who don’t have faith in
God’s Word. Faith in God’s Word leads us to rest.
By the
Word
The last way we can
enter rest is through God’s Word. Isaiah 40:7 reminds us God’s Word will remain
forever. His Word also reveals. It pierces us at our deepest level. We must be careful
to hold onto God’s Word and respond to everything He says with obedience and
faith. That’s how we can enter the rest Jesus offers.
Questions
for Discussion
What does it mean
to fear the Lord?
The writer of
Hebrews references the Israelites in the desert. Would you say your life more
reflects the fear of the ten spies or the faith Caleb and Joshua had?
Are there parts of
God’s Word you are having a difficult time believing in faith?
What are some
things in your life keeping you from obedience?
What does it mean
to “strive” in verse eleven?
How does God’s Word
give you rest?
END
Teacher Notes:
This week’s lesson
continues with memories of Israel’s history. The audience of Jewish believers initially
would have related this message to Caleb in the Old Testament rather than
Jesus.
Caleb appears in
Numbers 13-14 as one of the twelve men Moses sent to spy in the Promised Land –
they were gone for 40 days. The spies returned with a report that the land flowed
with “milk and honey” just as God promised. But also, that there were giants in
the land and cities well-fortified. Ten of the twelve spies decided the giants
living in the land would be impossible to fight. These ten discouraged the entire
nation from walking by faith in God. Caleb and Joshua were the only two spies who
believed God would give Israel victory in the Promised Land. Consequently, the
entire nation would wander in the wilderness for 40 years (an entire
generation) and never enter the Promised Land – only Caleb and Joshua.
Fast forward 40
years. The leader of the new generation of Israelites, Joshua, is dividing up
the land among the tribes and Caleb approaches him at the ripe old age of 85
and boldly claims the mountain on which the giants lived to be given to him so
he can go and have victory over them as God promised. Caleb wanted to fight one
more battle with God’s help. This 85-year-old man models what it looks like to
strive to enter the rest that God provided.
This rest that we
are talking about today, is not a mindless, lazy, gluttonous rest. The rest we
find in Christ is a secret place of victory and peace where we work out our
salvation with fear and trembling, holding on to the Word of God. What allowed
Caleb to be as strong of a believer at 85 as he was at 40? He was a man who
feared God, held on to God’s Word and believed in faith. He sought God with all
of his heart, mind and soul to enter His rest.
Some of the Jewish
Christians who received this letter may have been on the verge of turning back
from their promised rest in Christ, just as the people in Moses’ day had turned
back from the promise land. In both cases, the difficulties of the present moment
overshadowed the reality of God’s promise, and the people doubted that God
would fulfill His promises. When we trust our own efforts instead of Christ’s
power, we too are in danger of turning back. Our own efforts are never adequate;
only Christ can see us through. Vs 1-3
The
Israelites
of Moses’ day illustrate a problem facing many who fill our
churches today. They know a great deal about Christ, but they do not know Him
personally – they don’t combine their knowledge with faith. Let the Good News
about Christ benefit your life. Believe in Him and then act on what you know.
Trust in Christ and do what He says. Vs 2
Why did
God rest on the 7th day?
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. Vs 4
God had given the
Israelites the opportunity to enter Canaan, but they disobeyed and failed to
enter (Numbers 13; 14). Now God offers us the opportunity to enter His ultimate
place of rest – He invites us to come to Christ. To enter His rest, you must
believe that God has this relationship in mind for you; you must stop trying to
create it; you must trust in Christ for it; and you must determine to obey it. Today is the best time
to find peace with God. Tomorrow may be too late. Vs 6-7
God wants us to
enter His rest. For the Israelites of Moses’ time, this rest was the earthly
rest to be found in the promised land. For Christians, it is peace with God now and
eternal life on a new earth later. We do not need to wait for the next life to
enjoy God’s rest and peace; we may have it daily now! Our daily rest in the
Lord will not end with death but will become an eternal rest in the place that
Christ is preparing for us (John 14:1-4). Vs 8-11
If Jesus has
provided for our rest through faith, why must we “make every effort to enter
that rest”? This is not the struggle of doing good to obtain salvation, nor is
it a mystical struggle to overcome selfishness. It refers to making
every effort to appreciate and benefit from what God has already provided. Salvation is not
to be taken for granted; to appropriate the gift God offers requires decision
and commitment. Vs 11
The Word
of God
is not simply a collection of words from God, a vehicle for communicating
ideas; it is living, life-changing, and dynamic as it works in us. With the incisiveness
of a surgeon’s knife, God Word reveals who we are and what we are not. It
penetrates the core of our moral and spiritual life. It discerns what is within
us, both good and evil. The demands of God’s Word require decisions. We must
not only listen to the Word; we must also let it shape our lives. Vs 12
Nothing can be
hidden from God. He knows about everyone everywhere, and everything about us is
wide open to His all-seeing eyes. God sees all we do and knows all we think.
Even when we are unaware of His presence, He is there. When we try to hide from
Him, He sees us. We can have no secrets from God. It is comforting to realize
that although God knows us intimately, He still loves us.
How can
we enter into God’s rest?
The concept of
entering into God’s rest comes from Hebrews 3 — 4.
What is this “rest”
the Hebrew writer is talking about? How do we enter it? And how do we fail to
enter it?
The writer to the
Hebrews begins his discussion of God’s rest in chapter 3, where he references
the Israelites wandering in the desert. In giving them the land of Canaan, God
had promised them that He would go before them and defeat all their enemies in order
that they could live securely (Deuteronomy 12:9–10). All that was required of
them was to fully trust in Him and His promises. However, they refused to obey
Him. Instead, they murmured against Him, even yearning to go back to their
bondage under the Egyptians (Exodus 16:3; 17:1–7; Numbers 20:3–13).
The “rest”
referred to here was that of the land of Canaan. Into that rest
God solemnly said the Israelites who disobeyed Him would never enter (Hebrews
3:11). They had been rebellious. All the means of reclaiming them had failed.
God had warned and entreated them; He had caused His mercies to pass before them
and had visited them with judgments in vain; and He now declares that for all
their rebellion they should be excluded from the Promised Land (Hebrews
3:16–19). But eventually, the next generation did place their faith in God and,
by following the leadership of Joshua, they, some forty years later, entered
God’s rest, the land of Canaan (Joshua 3:14–17).
Using the
Israelites as an example of those who were not resting in God’s promises, the
writer of Hebrews goes on in chapter 4 to make the application personal, both
to the Hebrew Christians and to us: “Therefore, since the promise of entering his
rest still stands, let us be careful that none of you be found to have fallen short of it”
(Hebrews 4:1). The promise that still stands is the promise
of salvation through God’s provision — Jesus Christ. He alone can
provide the eternal rest of salvation through His blood shed on the cross for
the remission of sins.
God’s
rest, then, is in the spiritual realm, the rest of salvation.
Faith, the author
goes on to assert, is the key to entering God’s rest. The Hebrews had had the
gospel preached to them, just as the Israelites knew the truth about God, but
the messages were of “no value to them, because those who heard did not combine
it with faith” (Hebrews 4:2). Some had heard the good news of Christ, but they
rejected it for lack of faith.
Hebrews 4:10–13
explains the nature of this faith. The kind of faith that enables us to enter
God’s rest is a faith that first demands that we rest from relying on our own works. Then the writer
seemingly contradicts himself by telling us to make every effort: “For anyone who
enters God’s rest also rests from his own work, just as God did from his. Let
us, therefore, make every effort to enter that rest, so that no one will
fall by following their example of disobedience” (Hebrews 4:10–11). What this
apparent paradox means is that such biblical faith involves our
submissiveness to God, and our efforts in that area.
Though we desist in
our self-efforts to earn salvation and the promised eternal rest, we also “make
every effort to enter that rest” by choosing to depend solely on God, to trust
Him implicitly, to yield totally to the promises of God through the free grace
of His salvation. Why? So “that no one will fall by following their [the Israelites’]
example of disobedience” (Hebrews 4:11). We either trust ourselves to save ourselves,
or we trust God to do that for us through the sacrifice of Christ on the cross.
By failing to trust
God fully in His promises, we become disobedient and fail to enter the rest
that is eternal life, just as the children of Israel became disobedient when
they failed to enter the Promised Land.
So how do we stop
trusting ourselves? How do we place our full trust in God and His promises?
·
We enter God’s rest by first understanding our total inability to enter
God’s rest on our own.
·
Next, we enter God’s rest by faith in the sacrifice of Christ and
complete obedience to God and His will. “And to whom did God swear that they
would never enter his rest if not to those who disobeyed? So, we see that they
were not able to enter, because of their unbelief” (Hebrews 3:18–19). Unlike
the Israelites whose unbelief prevented them from entering the Promised Land,
we are to enter God’s rest by faith in Him, faith which is a gift from Him by
grace (Ephesians 2:8–9).
How is
Jesus our Sabbath Rest?
The key to
understanding how Jesus is our Sabbath rest is the Hebrew word sabat, which
means "to rest or stop or cease from work." The origin of the Sabbath
goes back to Creation. After creating the heavens and the earth in six days,
God "rested on the seventh day from all His work which He had made"
(Genesis 2:2). This doesn’t mean that God was tired and needed a rest. We know
that God is omnipotent, literally "all-powerful." He has all the
power in the universe, He never tires, and His most arduous expenditure of
energy does not diminish His power one bit. So, what does it mean that God rested on the
seventh day? Simply that He stopped what He was doing. He ceased from His
labors. This is important in understanding the establishment of the Sabbath day
and the role of Christ as our Sabbath rest.
God used
the example of His resting on the seventh day of Creation to establish the
principle of the Sabbath day rest for His people. In Exodus 20:8-11
and Deuteronomy 5:12-15, God gave the Israelites the fourth of His Ten
Commandments. They were to "remember" the Sabbath day and "keep
it holy." One day out of every seven, they were to rest
from their labors and give the same day of rest to their servants and animals. This was not just
a physical rest, but a cessation of laboring. Whatever work they were engaged
in was to stop for a full day each week. The Sabbath day was established so the
people would rest from their labors, only to begin again after a one-day rest.
The various
elements of the Sabbath symbolized the coming of the Messiah, who would provide
a permanent rest for His people. Once again, the example of resting from our
labors comes into play. With the establishment of the Old Testament Law, the
Jews were constantly "laboring" to make themselves acceptable to God.
Their labors included trying to obey a myriad of dos and don’ts of the
ceremonial law, the Temple law, the civil law, etc. Of course they couldn’t
possibly keep all those laws, so God provided an array of sin offerings and
sacrifices so they could come to Him for forgiveness and restore fellowship
with Him, but only temporarily. Just as they began their physical labors after
a one-day rest, so, too, did they have to continue to offer sacrifices. Hebrews
10:1 tells us that the law "can never, by the same sacrifices repeated
endlessly year after year, make perfect those who draw near to worship."
But these sacrifices were offered in anticipation of the ultimate sacrifice of
Christ on the cross, who "after He had offered one sacrifice for sins
forever, sat down on the right of God" (Hebrews 10:12). Just as He rested
after performing the ultimate sacrifice, He sat down and rested — ceased from
His labor of atonement because there was nothing more to be done, ever. Because
of what He did, we no longer have to "labor" in law-keeping to be
justified in the sight of God. Jesus was sent so that we might rest in God
and in what He has provided.
Another element of the
Sabbath day rest which God instituted as a foreshadowing of our complete rest
in Christ is that He blessed it, sanctified it, and made it holy. Here again we
see the symbol of Christ as our Sabbath rest — the holy, perfect Son of God who
sanctifies and makes holy all who believe in Him. God sanctified Christ, just
as He sanctified the Sabbath day, and sent Him into the world (John 10:36) to
be our sacrifice for sin. In Him we find complete rest from the labors of our
self-effort, because He alone is holy and righteous. "God made him who had
no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of
God" (2 Corinthians 5:21). We can now cease from our spiritual labors
and rest in Him, not just one day a week, but always.
Jesus can be our
Sabbath rest in part because He is "Lord of the Sabbath" (Matthew
12:8). As God incarnate, He decides the true meaning of the Sabbath because He
created it, and He is our Sabbath rest in the flesh. When the Pharisees
criticized Him for healing on the Sabbath, Jesus reminded them that even they,
sinful as they were, would not hesitate to pull a sheep out of a pit on the
Sabbath. Because He came to seek and save His sheep who would hear His voice
(John 10:3,27) and enter the Sabbath rest He provided by paying for their sins,
He could break the Sabbath rules. He told the Pharisees that people are more
important than sheep and the salvation He provided was more important than
rules. By saying, "The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the
Sabbath" (Mark 2:27), Jesus was restating the principle that the Sabbath
rest was instituted to relieve man of his labors, just as He came to relieve us
of our attempting to achieve salvation by our works. We no longer rest for only
one day, but forever cease our laboring to attain God’s favor. Jesus is our
rest from works now, just as He is the door to heaven, where we will rest in
Him forever.
Hebrews 4
is the definitive passage regarding Jesus as our Sabbath rest. The writer to the
Hebrews exhorts his readers to “enter in” to the Sabbath rest provided by
Christ. After three chapters of telling them that Jesus is superior to the
angels and that He is our Apostle and High Priest, he pleads with them to not
harden their hearts against Him, as their fathers hardened their hearts against
the Lord in the wilderness. Because of their unbelief, God denied that
generation access to the holy land, saying, “They shall not enter into My rest”
(Hebrews 3:11). In the same way, the writer to the Hebrews begs his readers
not to make the same mistake by rejecting God’s Sabbath rest in Jesus Christ. “There remains,
then, a Sabbath-rest for the people of God; for anyone who enters God’s rest
also rests from his own work, just as God did from his. Let us, therefore, make
every effort to enter that rest, so that no one will fall by following their
example of disobedience” (Hebrews 4:9–11).
There is
no other Sabbath rest besides Jesus. He alone satisfies the requirements of the
Law, and He alone provides the sacrifice that atones for sin. He is God’s plan
for us to cease from the labor of our own works. We dare not reject this one-and-only Way of
salvation (John 14:6). God’s reaction to those who choose to reject His
plan is seen in Numbers 15. A man was found gathering sticks on the Sabbath
day, despite God’s plain commandment to cease from all labor on the Sabbath.
This transgression was a known and willful sin, done with unblushing boldness
in broad daylight, in open defiance of the divine authority. “Then the LORD
said to Moses, ‘The man must die. The whole assembly must stone him outside the
camp’” (verse 35). So, it will be to all who reject God’s provision for our
Sabbath rest in Christ. “How shall we escape if we neglect so great a
salvation?” (Hebrews 2:3).
David’s Quotes:
Psalm 51:11-12, Do not cast me from your presence or
take your Holy Spirit from me. Restore to me the joy of your salvation and
grant me a willing spirit, to sustain me.
Psalm 34 - Of David. When he pretended to be insane
before Abimelek, who drove him away, he left.
1 I will extol the
Lord at all times; his praise will always be on my lips.
2 I will glory in
the Lord; let the afflicted hear and rejoice.
3 Glorify the Lord
with me; let us exalt his name together.
4 I sought the Lord, and he answered me; he
delivered me from all my fears.
5 Those who look to
him are radiant; their faces are never covered with shame.
6 This poor man
called, and the Lord heard him; he saved him out of all his troubles.
7 The angel of the Lord encamps around those who
fear him, and he delivers them. 8
Taste and see that the Lord is good; blessed is the one who takes refuge in
him. 9 Fear the
Lord, you his holy people, for those who fear him lack nothing.
10 The lions may
grow weak and hungry, but those who seek the Lord lack no good thing.
11 Come, my
children, listen to me; I will teach you the fear of the Lord.
12 Whoever of you
loves life and desires to see many good days,
13 keep your tongue
from evil and your lips from telling lies.
14 Turn from evil
and do good; seek peace and pursue it.
15 The eyes of the
Lord are on the righteous, and his ears are attentive to their cry; 16 but the
face of the Lord is against those who do evil, to blot out their name from the
earth.
17 The righteous cry out, and the Lord hears them; he
delivers them from all their troubles. 18 The Lord is close to the brokenhearted and saves those who are
crushed in spirit.
19 The righteous person may have many troubles, but
the Lord delivers him from them all; 20 he protects all his bones, not one of
them will be broken.
21 Evil will slay
the wicked; the foes of the righteous will be condemned. 22 The Lord will
rescue his servants; no one who takes refuge in him will be condemned.
