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Hebrews and the Rest that RemainsAn Essay by Eugene Prewitt

The ProblemHebrews four, at least as it reads in the King James Version, combines a

number of statements about rest in such a way as to confuse me. And Ithink it is fair to extrapolate that fact to say that it confuses many.

The rest looks, sometimes, future. Other times, it looks to be at present. Itlooks to be Gods rest of the Sabbath that has been here for millennia. Thenit looks like the rest of heaven (which most commentators have concluded itto be.) Some persons use the passage to prove that we should keep theSabbath. Others use it to prove that born-again persons are spirituallykeeping the Sabbath by their restful dependence on the grace of God.

And frankly, it is the devils very normal mode of operation to preach error

and take for his text a confusing passage. If we feel that we cant say whatthe passage really means, we hesitate to say that any one else is wrong.

It is also normal for me to undervalue what I do know about a passage whenstruggling to understand a portion that I do not really understand. I will resistthat tendency in this essay.

The Context and Message of Hebrews

Hebrews opens with one big idea. God spoke to His people many waysbefore Jesus came to earth. But at the last, God spoke through Jesus. This is

the Jesus that created all things. And this is the Jesus that will inherit allthings.

God, who at sundry times and in divers manners spake in time pastunto the fathers by the prophets, Hath in these last days spoken untous by his Son, whom he hath appointed heir of all things, by whom alsohe made the worlds; Heb 1:1-2

The remainder of chapter 1 contrasts Jesus with the angels. He is in everyway more exalted. He is the Creator and they the created ones. He sendsthem to help us and they are sent.

That is how chapter two is introduced. In view of its Source, we ought to givespecial heed to the truth that angels have communicated.

For if the word spoken by angels was stedfast, and every transgressionand disobedience received a just recompence of reward; How shall weescape, if we neglect so great salvation; which at the first began to be


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spoken by the Lord, and was confirmed unto us by them that heardhim; Heb 2:2-3

And why do men receive such valuable service by the angels? Why do theyserve us and not rather we them? Because of our relation to Jesus, the one

we have seen that is appointed heir of all things. Initially it was a man,Adam, that was set over the works on this planet. And that is the pointHebrews is making. Adam was set over the works of Gods hands.

For unto the angels hath he not put in subjection the world to come,whereof we speak. But one in a certain place testified, saying, What isman, that thou art mindful of him? or the son of man, that thou visitesthim? Thou madest him a little lower than the angels; thou crownedsthim with glory and honour, and didst set him over the works of thyhands: Heb 2:5-7

And this brings us back to the original point. Jesus is destined to inherit allthings. But He has not inherited them yet. The things on earth are notsubject to him.

But now we see not yet all things put under him. Heb 2:8

The next few verses address the important question: How does Christsexalted destiny benefit us? And the answer is that Jesus became a man, andso became the captain of our race. He tasted death for us so that we mighttaste the joys of what He deserves. He lives as our Priest to assure that wecan inherit with Him the things that he inherits. He lives to comfort us.

For in that he himself hath suffered being tempted, he is able tosuccour them that are tempted. Heb 2:18

Chapter 3 begins by inviting us to consider Jesus in these dual roles ofpriest and apostle (one that has been sent). The Hebrews are invited tocompare Christ to Moses. What do they have in common: They were faithful.How do they differ? Christ built the household of which Moses was amember.

And this brings us to our portion of Hebrews. Under what condition are we

counted as part of Christs household, the one He created and faithfully caresfor?

And Moses verily was faithful in all his house, as a servant, for atestimony of those things which were to be spoken after; But Christ asa son over his own house; whose house are we, if we hold fast theconfidence and the rejoicing of the hope firm unto the end. Heb 3:5-6


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Endurance Makes the DifferenceSo being part of Christs house is not conditioned on an event. Those thatare faithfully faithful to death are counted as His seed. (Faithfully faithful that is, we should be talking and acting as if our faith were invincible, holdingour rejoicing firm despite the changes in our feelings.)

If faithfulness is the condition of being part of Christs family, then Satan willaim at interrupting that very thing, faithfulness.

Wherefore (as the Holy Ghost saith, To day if ye will hear his voice, 8Harden not your hearts, as in the provocation, in the day of temptationin the wilderness: Heb 3:7-8

The passage goes on to quote a large portion of Psalm 95 that will bereferred to over and over again in chapters 3 and 4. The idea is that to dayis the day to be faithful. Today is the day to believe and obey rather than to

harden the heart.

When the quotation from Psalms 95 closes (with the right parenthesis), thebook comes right back to this point: Unbelief leads away from faithfulnessand causes us to depart from the living God. In view of the significance ofholding fast we are to encourage each other every day to be faithful.

So I sware in my wrath, They shall not enter into my rest.) Take heed,brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief, indeparting from the living God. But exhort one another daily, while it iscalled To day; lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of

sin. For we are made partakers of Christ, if we hold the beginning ofour confidence stedfast unto the end; Heb 3:11-14

So Psalms 95 is brought into the narrative to encourage life-long faithfulness.What exactly does the passage say? This is the last half of the Psalm, thepart used repeatedly in Hebrews:

For he is our God; and we are the people of his pasture, and the sheepof his hand. To day if ye will hear his voice, Harden not your heart, asin the provocation, and as in the day of temptation in the wilderness:When your fathers tempted me, proved me, and saw my work. Forty

years long was I grieved with this generation, and said, It is a peoplethat do err in their heart, and they have not known my ways: Untowhom I sware in my wrath that they should not enter into my rest. Ps95:7-11

The idea is very much like that of Hebrews 3. We are his flock, but oncondition. We wont be made to lie down beside green pastures any morethan the ten spies were if we grieve the Lord the way they did. Today is


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the day to believe, to obey. And what is this word rest that concludesPsalm 95?

Rest in Scripture

Psalm 95 is rehearsing a story that is found in Numbers 14. Where Psalm 95says they should not enter my rest the story in Numbers says they shallnot see the land that I swear unto their fathers. Doubtless ye shall notcome into the land. And ye shall know my breach of promise. Numbers14:23, 30, 34.

Such oaths are found elsewhere. And the LORD heard the voice of yourwords, and was wroth, and sware, saying, Surely there shall not one of thesemen of this evil generation see that good land, which I sware to give untoyour fathers. Deuteronomy 1:34-35.

Was Canaan the promised rest? Joshua and Caleb and the second generationentered the land. And there they had a type of rest. They had rest from war1,the gift of safety. Without such rest the promised land could hardly be apossession that fulfilled the promises.

ye go over Jordan, and dwell in the land which the LORD your Godgiveth you to inherit, and he giveth you rest from all your enemiesround about, so that ye dwell in safety; Deuteronomy 12:10 the LORD thy God hath given thee rest from all thine enemies roundabout, in the land which the LORD thy God giveth thee for aninheritance to possess it. Deuteronomy 25:19

And the land had rest from war. Joshua 14:15

If this kind of rest was the ultimate fulfillment of the promise (Genesis 12 and15) then Joshua did, indeed, give the people this kind of rest. But, in fact,that kind of rest was only an early installment of the rest that the fatherswere looking for. Abraham and Isaac and Jacob had the new earth in mindwhen they were thinking about the promises. They were looking afar offinto the future for the fulfillment of Gods covenant.

By faith Abraham, when he was called to go out into a place which heshould after receive for an inheritance, obeyed; and he went out, not

knowing whither he went. By faith he sojourned in the land of promise,as in a strange country, dwelling in tabernacles with Isaac and Jacob,the heirs with him of the same promise: For he looked for a city which

1 It was this kind of rest that was prophesied to characterize the reign ofSolomon. He was to be a man of rest and God promised to give him restfrom all his enemies round about and to give peace and quietness untoIsrael in his days. 1 Chronicles 22:9


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hath foundations, whose builder and maker is God. Therefore sprangthere even of one, and him as good as dead, so many as the stars ofthe sky in multitude, and as the sand which is by the sea shoreinnumerable. These all died in faith, not having received the promises,but having seen them afar off, and were persuaded of them, and

embraced them, and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrimson the earth. For they that say such things declare plainly that theyseek a country. . . Now they desire a better country, that is, anheavenly: wherefore God is not ashamed to be called their God: for hehath prepared for them a city. Hebrews 11:8-16

The condition, that we have already observed, of being counted as part ofthe family that inherits this eternal rest, is holding fast to faith. How longmust someone hold on? Until death. And so it is, in scripture, that death ispictured as the first installment of that eternal rest. Westerners haveadopted this idea into their phrase rest in peace.

And I heard a voice from heaven saying unto me, Write, Blessed arethe dead which die in the Lord from henceforth: Yea, saith the Spirit,that they may rest from their labours; and their works do follow them.Revelation 14:13And white robes were given unto every one of them; and it was saidunto them, that they should rest yet for a little season, until theirfellowservants also and their brethren, that should be killed as theywere, should be fulfilled. Revelation 6:11Therefore did my heart rejoice, and my tongue was glad; moreoveralso my flesh shall rest in hope: Acts 2:26

This places the timing of the conscious portion of our rest at the very endof time, at the resurrection of the just. That is when the unconscious portionof our rest ends. And for those that are troubled here on this earth, beingrelieved by Christs coming is a very sensible rest. That is the rest weanticipate.

And to you who are troubled rest with us, when the Lord Jesus shall berevealed from heaven with his mighty angels. 2 Thessalonians 1:7

As Canaan is to heaven, so is respite to the same. The refreshing seasons

here are foretastes of the future. According to Baxter in The SaintsEverlasting Restit is our troubles that make us sensible of how precious oureternal rest will be. Rest from persecution was a welcome change to theearly church. Acts 9:31. And a temporary rest from wearing labor wastreasured by the apostles.


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And he said unto them, Come ye yourselves apart into a desert place,and rest a while: for there were many coming and going, and they hadno leisure so much as to eat. Mark 6:31

These external periods of restfulness have their spiritual parallel. When we

feel secure and right with God, when we are conscious of the grace thatsurrounds us, we have an internal rest that coexists well even with intensework, even with external troubles.

Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will giveyou rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek andlowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. Matthew 11:28-29

Thus saith the LORD, Stand ye in the ways, and see, and ask for the oldpaths, where is the good way, and walk therein, and ye shall find restfor your souls. But they said, We will not walk therein. Jeremiah 6:16

Gods RestGod is not inactive. Neither does Deity die. Nor is our Lord perplexed by themultitude of cares. So the rest we have described so far hardly applies toHim. Nevertheless, the Bible speaks of Gods rest. God rests securely in Hislove. He is confident regarding his people when they have no suchconfidence regarding their own future.

The LORD thy God in the midst of thee is mighty; he will save, he willrejoice over thee with joy; he will rest in his love, he will joy over theewith singing. Zephaniah 3:17

And the Bible story very early notes Gods rest. After six days spent creatingthe world God rested. From other Bible information we might even gatherthat this rest was far more significant than it appears. If men were the last ofthe created intelligences and earth the last of the created habitats, then Godrested from a much larger work than the creation of the planet. He rested,rather, from having finished the making of all the hosts of the heavenlybodies.

Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host ofthem. And on the seventh day God ended his work which he had made;

and he rested on the seventh day from all his work which he hadmade. And God blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it: becausethat in it he had rested from all his work which God created and made.Genesis 2:1-3.

God wasnt tired. His rest must be some parallel to what we call a refreshingexperience. The Greeks had an active verb that means to cause to rest. It


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is translated as refreshed in the New Testament. Faithful brethren refreshus (1 Cor 16:18; 2 Cor 7:13; Philemon 1:7, 20).

And the Hebrews had a word for active refreshing rest Sabbath, theoriginal rest of God.

Summary of Rest in the Scripture

Outside of the book of Hebrews we find that God offers several varieties ofrest to men. Abraham was promised a prosperous inheritance from theEuphrates to the Nile. He had in mind a city with foundations that would bebuilt by God and just such a city will eventually land there. Those who arefaithful to death will have part in that eternal rest.

But in the meantime, they may experience rest here. The Sabbath is theclosest to what is coming and is, in fact, a remnant of the rest given in Eden.

And God may grant men other periods of refreshing rest from their labor. Hemay at times give them rest from oppression. At the end of their lives theyrest in the grave, free both from temptation and affliction.

But the greatest rest is that one called peace in the promise My peace Igive unto you. In the world ye shall have tribulation, be of good cheer, I haveovercome the world. It begins here in a place where it does not match ourcircumstances. It continues over yonder where it matches all things well. It isthe rest of grace, the answer of a good conscience toward God. It is therest found in the old and good paths, for those that will walk in them.

Rest in HebrewsThe idea of rest in the book of Hebrews is a microcosm of what is found inthe rest of scripture. The discussion is built around Psalm 95 and so hadparticular reference to the rest that was promised to Abraham and that waslost by the contemporaries of Joshua.

In Hebrews 3:15-18, the psalm is reviewed with the addition of the fact thatMoses brought them out of Egypt but was unable to bring them that sinned(v. 17) and them that believed not (v. 18) into the promised land. In thepsalm itself, it is those that always err in their heart and who have not

known [Gods] ways.

Taking Hebrews and Psalms together you can gather that to know God is totrust him and that obedience is a function of the heart. And finally, thatknowing God insufficiently to believe and obey is to be excluded from thepromised rest.


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So we see that they could not enter in because of unbelief. Hebrews3:19

If Abrahams descendants failed to realize the promised rest, then there isreason to fear that we might not fare better. That is the thought of the next

two verses.

Let us therefore fear, lest, a promise being left us of entering into hisrest, any of you should seem to come short of it. For unto us was thegospel preached, as well as unto them: but the word preached did notprofit them, not being mixed with faith in them that heard it. Hebrews4:1-2

If the unbelievers will not enter the rest, then it remains that believers willenter it. And what do we know about the rest? It is, God says in Psalm 95,my rest. We have already observed that Gods rest from creating the

universe began when this earth was finished. So for us the rest has anancient origin and a current enjoyment. This is the message of the nextverse.

For we which have believed do enter into rest, as he said, As I havesworn in my wrath, if they shall enter into my rest: although the workswere finished from the foundation of the world. Hebrews 4:3.

The Sabbath rest is used to prove this point, that all Gods works werefinished creation week. And this rest of God is, emphatically, the restreferred to in Psalm 95 when God says my rest. He rested in a perfect and

complete creation. So the next two verses communicate.

For he spake in a certain place of the seventh day on this wise, AndGod did rest the seventh day from all his works. And in this placeagain, If they shall enter into my rest. Hebrews 4:4-5.

Now while we have the Sabbath, we do not have a perfect and completecreation. The fulfillment of Abrahams promises waits for the creation of anew heaven and a new earth more than a thousand years from now. Sothe enjoyment of Sabbath is a foretaste of Gods rest, of what is coming. Notuntil heaven will the Sabbath be the very thing itself.

The descendants of Abraham received the promises first. That is, they heardthem first. Now the message has gone to all the world and that is a goodreason for us to profit from their failures. By unbelief they judged themselvesunworthy of eternal life.


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Seeing therefore it remaineth that some must enter therein, and theyto whom it was first preached entered not in because of unbelief2:Hebrews 4:6.Then Paul and Barnabas waxed bold, and said, It was necessary thatthe word of God should first have been spoken to you: but seeing ye

put it from you, and judge yourselves unworthy of everlasting life, lo,we turn to the Gentiles. Acts 13:46.

Now this is where we need to use our memory. We noted in chapter 3, whenPsalm 95 was first introduced, that the condition of being counted as part ofChrists family is life-long endurance. And that is the reason that Goddesignates a specific day for being faithful. Which day? Today. As long aswe serve God today, and for today, every day, our hearts will never behardened.

Again, he [designates YLT] a certain day, saying in David, To day, after so

long a time; as it is said, To day if ye will hear his voice, harden notyour hearts. Hebrews 4:7

If Joshuas conquest of Canaan had been the promised rest then Godwouldnt have warned us against missing that rest. The rest that wasestablished at Creation still exists for Gods people. We are still to restrefreshingly in the creative power and accomplishments of the Creator. Thisrestful dependence on the grace of Christ is so much like the Sabbath that itis called, in Hebrews 4, sabbatismos. In many versions it is called a Sabbathkeeping while in the KJV (Hebrews 4:9) it is called a rest.

8 For if [Joshua] had given them rest, then would he not afterwardhave spoken of another day [today]. There remaineth therefore a rest [thatwill fulfill the promise that was not fulfilled in Canaan] to the people of God [who are the believingpersons, like Joshua and Caleb]. Hebrews 4:8-9.

Unlike Joshua, Jesus has gone before us into heaven and is set down on theright hand of God. When on earth, Jesus was our example of a believing andobedient soul that refused to speak his own words or to do his own works. Herefreshingly rested from these in true dependence on the Creative power ofhis Father. Whether it is he, as our example, or we as his followers, that isdesignated by he in verse 10, I do not know.

For he that is entered into his rest, he also hath ceased from his ownworks3, as God did from his. Hebrews 4:10

2 Jude 1:5 I will therefore put you in remembrance, though ye once knew this, how that theLord, having saved the people out of the land of Egypt, afterward destroyed them thatbelieved not.3 Is 58:13 If thou turn away thy foot from the sabbath, from doing thy pleasure on my holyday; and call the sabbath a delight, the holy of the LORD, honourable; and shalt honour him,


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Believest thou not that I am in the Father, and the Father in me? thewords that I speak unto you I speak not of myself: but the Father thatdwelleth in me, he doeth the works. John 14:10

But as the footnote indicates, there is quite a connection between Sabbath

keeping and the rest of grace. Those that repudiate their own words andways to honor the Sabbath are learning by blessed experience what it is todepend moment-by-moment on the life-giving power that animated the manJesus.

We are to cease from sin. 1 Peter 4:1-2. Through obeying the law we are tobe freed from the Law, and that is part and parcel with no longer doing ourown works. It is Jesus that is to live in and through us. Galatians 2:19-20.

And so it is true in more ways than one that a Sabbath-keep remains for thepeople of God. It remains that we shall keep the Sabbath in the New Earth

where we will rest every day in the completed creation of God.

And it remains that we are to keep the Sabbath here that was given us (withmarriage) in Eden and preserved to us after the fall.

And it remains that we are to believe and obey today and so to rest in thesecurity of salvation by faith.

It is the last of these three that seems to fit the next verse best. It soundsvery much like the rest Jesus promised in Matthew 11 to those that areweary and heavy laden and who are willing to yoke up with Christ.

Let us labour therefore to enter into that rest, lest any man fall afterthe same example of unbelief. Hebrews 4:11

Our labor is to believe in the most practical way. But belief is a veryinternal motive. We may not even judge well whether or not we believe. Andthis emergency is met with the wonderful discerning power of the livingWord of God. It can point out for us our fatal unbelief. God sees our unbeliefalready. It is via the Word that He reveals it to us.

For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any

twoedged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul andspirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughtsand intents of the heart, Neither is there any creature that is not

not doing thine own ways, nor finding thine own pleasure, nor speaking thine own words: 14Then shalt thou delight thyself in the LORD; and I will cause thee to ride upon the highplaces of the earth, and feed thee with the heritage of Jacob thy father: for the mouth of theLORD hath spoken it.


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manifest in his sight: but all things are naked and opened unto theeyes of him with whom we have to do. Hebrews 4:12-13.

Summary of Rest in Hebrews

The rest of God, set aside for our benefit in the Sabbath, to be experiencedbest in the New Earth, is the consoling gift of a grace-controlled life today. Itcomes to the believing soul and never to any other class. We ought to beconscious of the danger of missing it and encourage each other tofaithfulness. Ultimately the best of the rest comes only to those that arefaithful to death. And so today is the day to avoid hardening our hearts.

Moral Metaphors and the Sabbath in Hebrews

Some have, when noting that the Sabbath is commemorative of the rest thatwill characterize the new earth, concluded that the Seventh-day Sabbath is

part of the ceremonial Sabbath. The effect of this conclusion is that the verypassage that says that a Sabbath-keeping remains to the people of God isused to prove that Sabbath-keeping is not obligatory.

I admit that the Sabbath in Hebrews 4 is made into a metaphor of sanctifiedliving. But am I thus admitting that the Sabbath is not part of the moral law?

Commands make ideal metaphors. Adultery represents illegal spiritual unionof church and state. Marriage represents the bond between Christ and thechurch that is broken by that spiritual adultery.

Theft represents a lack of evangelism in Jeremiah 23 as does debt in Romans1. In a reverse metaphor, we are to covet earnestly the best gifts. Mensbellies are their gods in Romans 16:17-18. And in Hebrews 4 the Sabbathwell represents the work of sanctification, of resting from our works whiledepending on the powerful grace of God.

But does the metaphor of Christ and the church make the seventhcommandment into a ceremonial law? Hardly. Husbands and wives have amoral obligation to each other and to any children they may have. Thatobligation is no empty form. When it is ignored human woe escalates.

And just so with the fourth commandment in Hebrews 4. How ironic it is thatthe command that begins rememberto keep holy is relegated toceremonial laws on just such reasoning as this: Christ is our rest andtherefore we no longer obey Him? The Sabbath-keeping illustrates ourrelation to Him and so we are under no requirements to keep it any longer?


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Adventists have long taught that the Sabbath is a sign of sanctification. Wehave recognized the illustrative value of the Sabbath since before we wereorganized as a religious body.

Moreover also I gave them my sabbaths, to be a sign between me and

them, that they might know that I am the LORD that sanctify them. Eze20:12Speak thou also unto the children of Israel, saying, Verily my sabbathsye shall keep: for it is a sign between me and you throughout yourgenerations; that ye may know that I am the LORD that doth sanctifyyou. Exodus 31:13

The passage indicates that the moral value of the sign is that in promotes aknowledge of the Lord as the sanctifying Agent. He that set aside a day asholy and blessed it, can do as much for a man. As Gods creative power gaveexistence to the Sabbath, so His creative power works in us both to will and

to do his good pleasure. And as he was refreshed on the Sabbath at theexperience of a job well completed, so we can be refreshed any day of theweek at the thought that Jesus spoke meaningfully when he said It isfinished.

It would be too bad if some believers in the present truth began to shy awayfrom the metaphoric value of the Sabbath over fear that it would belittle theimportance of keeping the command. On the contrary, let us exalt theSabbath as the sign of sanctification. And as Isaiah 58:13-14 suggests, let uslook for the blessing that comes to the obedient.

Jesus as our High PriestThis passage (Heb 3-4) is buttressed at both ends with direct references toJesus as our High Priest (Heb 2:17-3:1; Heb 4:14-16). The high priest is theone person that, on earth, entered into the Most Holy Place. And in heavenJesus certainly enters there, as Hebrews testifies.

What is in the Most Holy Place? In Revelation, where Jesus shows up dressedas High Priest, we twice see in the heavenly sanctuary evidence that the TenCommandments (the testament or testimony in the ark of thetestament) are there.

And in the midst of the seven candlesticks one like unto the Son ofman, clothed with a garment down to the foot, and girt about the papswith a golden girdle. Rev 1:13And the temple of God was opened in heaven, and there was seen inhis temple the ark of his testament: Revelation 11:19And after that I looked, and, behold, the temple of the tabernacle ofthe testimony in heaven was opened: Revelation 15:5


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them that fall: at the time that I visit them they shall be cast down,saith the LORD. Thus saith the LORD, Stand ye in the ways, and see,and ask for the old paths, where is the good way, and walk therein,and ye shall find rest for your souls. But they said, We will not walktherein. Jeremiah 6:14-16

And as in Jeremiah, so in Hebrews, it is in the old ways of obedientbelieving, that men find rest for their souls.

The rest is for those that hold fast to their faith. And it is ironic that thepassage of Hebrews 3-4 would be used by some to say turn away from thegood old paths when the passage is written to keep us in the same. We areto hold fast our profession in view of the fact that Jesus is the High Priest.

Seeing then that we have a great high priest, that is passed into theheavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our profession. Hebrews

4:14

Yes, to believe and to obey are synonyms in this passage. Hebrews 3:12-13;3:17-19.

Those who are unwilling to give the Lord faithful, earnest, lovingservice will not find spiritual rest in this life nor in the life to come."There remaineth therefore a rest to the people of God. . . . Let uslabor therefore to enter into that rest, lest any man fail after the sameexample of unbelief." The rest here spoken of is the rest of grace,obtained by following the prescription. "Labor diligently." {PUR,

November 7, 1901 par. 6}

One quarter of the Bibles references to unbelief are in Hebrews 3-4.Another quarter are in Romans 11. Our unbelief hinders the mighty worksof God. Matthew 13:58. Yet unbelief only has that power when it isunconfessed. When we pray I believe, help my unbelief that prayer isanswered. Matthew 17; Mark 9.

And in Hebrews 3-4, unbelief hardened the heart. Belief refreshes the soul.

And for those that know by experience, that it what the Sabbath does. It is

the rest of the Lord, given to us in Eden. And it well illustrates the 24-7 restthat comes from yoking up with Christ. That is how Paul uses it in Hebrews,as an excellent illustration.

Those that rest the most in the power of grace during the six work days mostappreciate the special time set apart for resting on the Sabbath.


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Stand ye in the ways, and see, and ask for the old paths, where is thegood way, and walk therein, and ye shall find rest for your souls.Jeremiah 6:16

-- The End

Appendix

Richard Baxter on Hebrews 4:10The Saints Everlasting Rest by Richard Baxter is about the Hebrews 4passage and is entirely predicated on the idea that the rest is that ofheaven. He mentions the Sabbath and Canaan as illustrations of theheavenly rest.

Adam Clark on Hebrews 4:10For he that is entered into his rest The man who has believed in

Christ Jesus has entered into his rest; the state of happiness which he

has provided, and which is the forerunner of eternal glory.Hath ceased from his own works--No longer depends on the

observance of Mosaic rites and ceremonies for his justification and finalhappiness. He rests from all these works of the law as fully as God hasrested from his works of creation.

Those who restrain the word rest to the signification of eternalglory, say, that ceasing from our own works relates to the sufferings,tribulations, afflictions, as in #Re 14:13. I understand it as includingboth.

In speaking of the Sabbath, as typifying a state of blessedness inthe other world, the apostle follows the opinions of the Jews of his own

and after times. The phrase shabbath illaah, veshabbath tethaah, thesabbath above, and the sabbath below, is common among the Jewishwriters; and they think that where the plural number is used, as in #Le19:30: Ye shall keep my Sabbaths, that the lower and higher sabbathsare intended, and that the one is prefigured by the other. See manyexamples in Schoettgen.

We need not be left a prey to Satan's power. . . . The children ofGod should not permit Satan to place himself between them and theirGod. If you permit him to do this, he will tell you that your troubles arethe most grievous, the sorest troubles that any mortal ever bore. He

will place his magnifying glasses before your eyes, and presenteverything to you in an exaggerated form to overwhelm you withdiscouragement.... Take the Word of God as the man of your counsel,and humble your doubting soul before God, and with contrition of heartsay, "Here I lay my burden down. I cannot bear it. It is too heavy forme. I lay it down at the feet of my compassionate Redeemer." . . .{OHC 319.3}

hebrews and the rest that remains an

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