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HEBREWS 4

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.

FOR WE ALSO HAVE HAD THE GOSPEL PREACHED TO US, JUST AS THEY DID; BUT THE MESSAGE THEY HEARD WAS OF NO VALUE TO THEM, BECAUSE THOSE WHO HEARD DID NOT COMBINE IT WITH FAITH.

NOW WE WHO HAVE BELIEVED ENTER THAT REST, JUST AS GOD HAS SAID, “SO I DECLARED ON OATH IN MY ANGER, ‘THEY SHALL NEVER ENTER MY REST.’” AND YET HIS WORK HAS BEEN FINISHED SINCE THE CREATION OF THE WORLD.

HEBREWS 4

FOR SOMEWHERE HE HAS SPOKEN ABOUT THE SEVENTH DAY IN THESE WORDS: “AND ON THE SEVENTH DAY GOD RESTED FROM ALL HIS WORK.”

AND AGAIN IN THE PASSAGE ABOVE HE SAYS, “THEY SHALL NEVER ENTER MY REST.”

IT STILL REMAINS THAT SOME WILL ENTER THAT REST, AND THOSE WHO FORMERLY HAD THE GOSPEL PREACHED TO THEM DID NOT GO IN, BECAUSE OF THEIR DISOBEDIENCE.

HEBREWS 4

THEREFORE GOD AGAIN SET A CERTAIN DAY, CALLING IT TODAY, WHEN A LONG TIME LATER HE SPOKE THROUGH DAVID, AS WAS SAID BEFORE: “TODAY, IF YOU HEAR HIS VOICE, DO NOT HARDEN YOUR HEARTS.”

FOR IF JOSHUA HAD GIVEN THEM REST, GOD WOULD NOT HAVE SPOKEN LATER ABOUT ANOTHER DAY.

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.

HEBREWS 4

LET US, THEREFORE, MAKE EVERY EFFORT TO ENTER THAT REST, SO THAT NO ONE WILL FALL BY FOLLOWING THEIR EXAMPLE OF DISOBEDIENCE.

FOR THE WORD OF GOD IS LIVING AND ACTIVE. SHARPER THAN ANY DOUBLE-EDGED SWORD, IT PENETRATES EVEN TO DIVIDING SOUL AND SPIRIT, JOINTS AND MARROW; IT JUDGES THE THOUGHTS AND ATTITUDES OF THE HEART.

NOTHING IN ALL CREATION IS HIDDEN FROM GOD’S SIGHT. EVERYTHING IS UNCOVERED AND LAID BARE BEFORE THE EYES OF HIM TO WHOM WE MUST GIVE ACCOUNT.

In Hebrews 1 we saw that Jesus is not just a prophet - but greater than the prophets.

JESUS GREATER THAN

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We then saw that Jesus, the Son of God, is not an angel - but greater than the angels.

JESUS GREATER THAN

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In Hebrews 3 we saw that Jesus is greater than Moses, the mediator of the Old Covenant (Testament).

JESUS GREATER THAN

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In Hebrews 4 we see that Jesus is greater than Joshua, because through him we enter the true rest (from works).

JESUS GREATER THAN

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Let’s briefly look at the importance of Joshua.

Initially he was Moses’ servant and apprentice (Num 11:28) and accompanied him part of the way when he ascended Mount Sinai to receive the Ten Commandments (Ex 24).

1) SERVANT LEADER

Yet this faithful servant would eventually become Israel’s faithful leader.

Later Moses appointed Joshua to succeed him as leader of the Israelites (Lev 27) and to lead them into the ‘Promised Land’ of Canaan (Deut 1:38).

1) SERVANT LEADER

Many people want to be leaders without serving first. Joshua is a great example of a leader who had first proved himself through faithful service.

Num 11:28 Then Joshua, the son of Nun, who had been Moses’ servant from the time when he was a child, said, My lord Moses, let them be stopped. (Basic English Bible)

So Joshua was Moses’ servant and apprentice since his youth. This means that for 40 years he served under Moses in the wilderness before becoming Israel’s leader.

1) SERVANT LEADER

Of the twelve spies sent by Moses to scout Canaan, only Joshua and Caleb gave a positive report - displaying their faith in God, despite the negativity of the majority.

THE TEN: “Why is the LORD bringing us to this land only to let us fall by the sword? Our wives and children will be taken as plunder.” (Num 14:3)

JOSHUA AND CALEB: “The land we passed through and explored is exceedingly good. If the LORD is pleased with us, he will lead us into that land, a land flowing with milk and honey, and will give it to us.” (v7-8)

2) MAN OF FAITH

Because of their faith in the Lord, out of the 12 spies, only these two were allowed to enter the promised land.

Num 14:37-38 these men responsible for spreading the bad report about the land were struck down and died of a plague before the LORD. Of the men who went to explore the land, only Joshua son of Nun and Caleb son of Jephunneh survived.

2) MAN OF FAITH

Joshua was a man of great faith. At the Jordan River the waters parted for Israel, as they had for Moses at the Red Sea (Josh 3).

Notably when the Israelites faced an alliance of Amorite kings, Joshua again demonstrates his faith at Gibeon by asking God to cause the sun to stand still, so that he could finish the battle in daylight (Josh 10).

2) MAN OF FAITH

Joshua had been Israel’s commander at their first battle after exiting Egypt, against the Amalekites (Ex 17).

After becoming Israel’s leader before entering Canaan, Joshua led them in military commander style. The book of Joshua covers the period when he led the conquest of Canaan. The first battle was at Jericho, where God miraculously brought the city walls down (Josh 6).

Thereafter Joshua led the Israelites to several victories, securing much of the land of Canaan – THEIR LAND OF REST.

3) LAND OF REST

Joshua showed mercy to the household of Rahab who had protected the Israelite spies earlier on (Josh 6:25). He was a man who honoured covenants.

Joshua 5:22 Joshua said to the two men who had spied out the land, “Go into the prostitute’s house and bring her out and all who belong to her, in accordance with your oath to her.”

4) MERCIFUL COVENANT KEEPER

Despite being a mighty military general, Joshua still showed mercy to the Gibeonites and honoured their covenant even though it had been attained deceitfully.

Josh 9:22 Then Joshua summoned the Gibeonites and said, “Why did you deceive us by saying, ‘We live a long way from you,’ while actually you live near us? … 24 They answered Joshua, “… we feared for our lives because of you, and that is why we did this. 25 We are now in your hands. Do to us whatever seems good and right to you.” 26 So Joshua saved them from the Israelites, and they did not kill them.

4) MERCIFUL COVENANT KEEPER

FREEDOM FROM SLAVERY

The English name Joshua is a rendering of the Hebrew language ‘Yehoshua’, meaning “Jehovah (or Yahweh) is salvation”.

And so Joshua gave the Israelites ‘salvation’ from slavery by leading them to the Promised Land.

5) SALVATION

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Servant-leader

Man of Faith

True rest

Merciful covenant keeper

Salvation from slavery

Jesus greater

than Joshua

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1) Servant-

leader

Like Joshua, Jesus was a servant-leader. Despite being their Lord and Master, he still ‘served’ those who followed him.

John 13:12 When he had finished washing their feet, he put on his clothes and returned to his place. “Do you understand what I have done for you?” he asked them. 13 “You call me ‘Teacher’ and ‘Lord,’ and rightly so, for that is what I am. 14 Now that I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also should wash one another’s feet.”

GREATER THAN JOSHUA

However the faithful servant Joshua was always but a man. In contrast although Jesus was “in very nature God” he took “the very nature of a servant”:

Phil 2:5 Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus: 6 Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, 7 but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness.

GREATER THAN JOSHUA

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2) Man of

Faith

We saw earlier how despite the obvious challenge in taking the Promised Land, Joshua and Caleb were the only two spies who had faith that God would give them victory. By faith they saw the end result, not the obstacles.

FAITH OF JOSHUA

Likewise, despite the dreadful ‘obstacle’ of the cross, Jesus by faith spurned it’s suffering and shame, because he had our ultimate salvation in sight.

Heb 12: 2 Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame…

GREATER THAN JOSHUA

Speaking of his future crucifixion Jesus spoke of being ‘glorified’. It was necessary for the seed to die, in order to reproduce many seeds.

John 12:23 Jesus replied, “The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. 24 I tell you the truth, unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds.” (also John 13:31)

By faith, Jesus saw the end result of being “lifted up” (crucified) to be the redemption and eternal life for those who would believe:

John 3:4 “Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the desert, so the Son of Man must be lifted up, 15 that everyone who believes in him may have eternal life.”

GREATER THAN JOSHUA

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3) True

rest

David wrote “Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts as you did at Meribah, as you did that day at Massah in the desert, where your fathers tested and tried me, though they had seen what I did. For forty years I was angry with that generation; I said, ‘They are a people whose hearts go astray, and they have not known my ways. So I declared on oath in my anger, “They shall never enter my rest.”’” (Psalm 95:7b-11)

The psalmist refers to the times at Meribah and Massah (Meribah and Massah mean ‘rebellion’ and ‘testing’.) These are the places where the people complained about lack of water and Moses provided water from the rock. The people had left Egyptian slavery, crossed the Red Sea, but had no faith that God would solve the water situation (v9).

THE PROMISE OF REST

In Hebrews 3 we saw the author quoting this passage from Psalm 95 to show that God had promised His people rest, but that those who followed Moses would not enter the ‘rest’.

Heb 3:11 So I declared on oath in my anger, ‘They shall never enter my rest.’

And as the context of Psalm 95 shows, initially this ‘rest’ was seen as a reference only to the Promised Land.

Heb 3:16 Who were they who heard and rebelled? Were they not all those Moses led out of Egypt? 17 And with whom was he angry for forty years? Was it not with those who sinned, whose bodies fell in the desert? 18 And to whom did God swear that they would never enter his rest if not to those who disobeyed?

THE PROMISE OF REST

Then the author of Hebrews shows that the Promised Land of Canaan where Joshua led Israel to, was not a fulfilment of the promise of rest (because God had made an oath that they would never enter His rest).

Heb 4:8 For if Joshua had given them rest, God would not have spoken later about another day.

SO JOSHUA NEVER BROUGHT THE ‘REST’ WITH THE PROMISED LAND OF CANAAN.

GREATER THAN JOSHUA

But neither was the Sabbath day of the Mosaic Covenant the promised rest (but simply a type or shadow). After chapter 3 which deals with Moses and his followers we are told:

Heb 4:1 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…

SO MOSES NEVER BROUGHT THE PROMISED REST THROUGH THE SABBATH (the 4th commandment in the Law of Moses).

Both the Sabbath and the Promised Land were types of the true rest (from works) that Jesus brought about with the New Covenant of Grace.

GREATER THAN MOSES

Saturday Sabbatarians (applied to those who maintain that Christians ought to observe a Saturday Sabbath and not the Lord’s Day - Sunday) argue that “There remains, then, a Sabbath-rest for the people of God” (Heb 4:9) indicates that we should observe the Saturday Sabbath. However this ignores the context of the passage where the writer to these Jewish Christians clearly indicates that the real Sabbath-rest referred to a “rest from works” (‘works’ referring to our attempts to reach God by observance of laws and our own efforts):

Heb 4:8-10 For if Joshua had given them rest, God would not have spoken later about another day. 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.

REST FROM WORKS

Non-Sabbatarians frequently use the epistle to the Hebrews 3:7-4:11 to argue that the seventh-day Sabbath is no longer relevant as a regular, literal day of rest, but instead is a symbolic metaphor for the eternal ‘rest’ that Christians enjoy in Christ, which was in turn prefigured by the promised land of Canaan. 1

1 SOURCE: Wikipedia (Sabbath in Christianity: Reference) thefullwiki.org/ Sabbath_in_Christianity

REST FROM WORKS

So Jesus fulfilled the Sabbath rest shadowed in the OT by ‘resting’ in the tomb on Saturday, but rose from the dead on the first day allowing us to enter our rest.

Origen writes: “Hence it is not possible that the [day of] rest after the Sabbath should have come into existence from the seventh [day] of our God. On the contrary, it is our Savior who, after the pattern of his own rest, caused us to be made in the likeness of his death, and hence also of his resurrection…” 1

1 Commentary on John 2:28

REST FROM WORKS

Looking at the full context of Colossians 2 we now understand the ‘rest’ from works that Jesus achieved at the cross:

Col 2:13-17 When you were dead in your sins and in the uncircumcision of your sinful nature, God made you alive with Christ. He forgave us all our sins, having canceled the written code, with its regulations, that was against us and that stood opposed to us; he took it away, nailing it to the cross. And having disarmed the powers and authorities, he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross. Therefore do not let anyone judge you by … a Sabbath day. These are a shadow of the things that were to come; the reality, however, is found in Christ.

REST FROM WORKS

So the true Sabbath rest is to rest from works by relying on what another (Jesus) has done.

And so Jesus said, “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.” (Matt 11:28)

In contrast, Jesus said of the legalistic Pharisees that they “tie up heavy loads and put them on men’s shoulders, but they themselves are not willing to lift a finger to move them.” (Matt 23:4)

REST FROM WORKS

The NT indicates that the Sabbath found its goal in Christ’s redemptive work where through his death and resurrection we have rest from our own efforts to reach and please God.

Likewise while Canaan is often seen as a type of heaven, we see from this passage in Hebrews that it is more accurately a type of the “rest from works” that we have in this life once we accept Jesus and his completed work at Calvary.

The writer of Hebrews exhorts us to “therefore, make every effort to enter that rest, so that no one will fall by following their example of disobedience” (Heb 4:11).

THE TRUE PROMISED LAND OF REST is our release from the frustration of trying to earn salvation by our own efforts, when we finally understand and accept the grace of God through Jesus.

Rom 7:21 So I find this law at work: When I want to do good, evil is right there with me. 22 For in my inner being I delight in God’s law; 23 but I see another law at work in the members of my body, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within my members. 24 What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death? 25 Thanks be to God - through Jesus Christ our Lord!

THE TRUE PROMISED LAND

Likewise THE TRUE SABBATH OF REST is to cease from your own efforts and works for salvation and depend on the work of Jesus.

Gal 2:20 I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. 21 I do not set aside the grace of God, for if righteousness could be gained through the law, Christ died for nothing!”

THE TRUE SABBATH

The Sabbath is superseded by a day called ‘Today’ (the present age of grace) where we rest from works or efforts to merit salvation:

Heb 4:4-10 For somewhere he has spoken about the seventh day in these words: “And on the seventh day God rested from all his work.” … It still remains that some will enter that rest, and those who formerly had the gospel preached to them did not go in, because of their disobedience. Therefore God again set a certain day, calling it Today, when a long time later he spoke through David, as was said before: “Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts.” … 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.

THE TRUE SABBATH

Q: How do we enter the true rest?

A: By faith

Heb 4:2-3 For we also have had the gospel preached to us, just as they did; but the message they heard was of no value to them, because those who heard did not combine it with faith. Now we who have believed enter that rest…

FAITH

In the same context about God’s true rest, God says to the ‘Sabbath-keeping’ people, “So I declared on oath in my anger, ‘They shall never enter my rest.’” (Heb 3:11)

The writer of Hebrews showed that unbelief is what prevents us from receiving God’s true rest:

Heb 3:12-19 See to it, brothers, that none of you has a sinful, unbelieving heart that turns away from the living God. But encourage one another daily, as long as it is called Today, so that none of you may be hardened by sin’s deceitfulness… 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.

UNBELIEF

Again in chapter 4 we are encouraged not to slip into unbelief – but to hold firmly to the faith. Remember that this was initially written to believers who were being tempted because of persecution to renounce their faith.

Heb 4:14 Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has gone through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold firmly to the faith we profess.

UNBELIEF

Q: What will keep us from the true rest?

A(1): Unbelief - not combining the gospel we have preached to us with faith.

Heb 4:1 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. 2 For we also have had the gospel preached to us, just as they did; but the message they heard was of no value to them, because those who heard did not combine it with faith.

A(2) Disobedience to the gospel we have heard:

Heb 4:6 It still remains that some will enter that rest, and those who formerly had the gospel preached to them did not go in, because of their disobedience.

UNBELIEF

And so in that context we are told that God’s word is a double-edged sword. On the one ‘edge’ it gives rest to those who believe, but on the other ‘edge’ it gives judgment to the unbeliever.

Heb 4:12 For the word of God is living and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart. 13 Nothing in all creation is hidden from God’s sight. Everything is uncovered and laid bare before the eyes of him to whom we must give account.

UNBELIEF

REST – BELIEVER JUDGMENT - UNBELIEVER

4) Merciful covenant keeper

We saw how Rahab was shown mercy by Joshua because she had sheltered the Israelite spies. She was obliged to hang a scarlet cord from her window as a sign of the oath:

Joshua 2:12 “Now then, please swear to me by the LORD that you will show kindness to my family, because I have shown kindness to you. Give me a sure sign 13 that you will spare the lives of my father and mother, my brothers and sisters, and all who belong to them, and that you will save us from death.”… 17 The men said to her, “This oath you made us swear will not be binding on us 18 unless, when we enter the land, you have tied this scarlet cord in the window through which you let us down, and unless you have brought your father and mother, your brothers and all your family into your house.”

GREATER THAN JOSHUA

The scarlet cord that Rahab used was one of the many instances of ‘types’ in the Old Testament which have a corresponding deeper reality (antitype) in the New Testament.

As the destroying army spared Rahab when they saw the sign of the covenant she had made with the Israelite spies, so God will spare and forgive us when he ‘sees’ the blood of Jesus (which justifies those who are parties of the New Covenant).

Matt 26:28 This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins.

Rom 5:9 Since we have now been justified by his blood, how much more shall we be saved from God’s wrath through him!

GREATER THAN JOSHUA

5) Salvation

from slavery

Remember that the English name Joshua is a rendering of the Hebrew ‘Yehoshua’, meaning “Jehovah is salvation”.

The vocalization of the second name component may be read as Hoshea - the name used in the Torah before Moses added the divine name (Numbers 13:16). ‘Jesus’ is the English of the Greek transliteration of ‘Yehoshua’ via Aramaic. In the Septuagint, all instances of the word ‘Yehoshua’ are rendered as ‘Ἰησοῦς’ (Iēsoūs/ Jesus), the closest Greek pronunciation of the Aramaic ‘Yeshua’ (Hebrew word #3443 in Strong’s, Neh. 8:17). Thus in Greek Joshua is called “Jesus son of Nun” (του Ναυή) to differentiate him from Jesus Christ. 1

1 Wikipedia: Joshua

SALVATION OF JOSHUA

So the name ‘Jesus’ is the same as Joshua meaning “Jehovah is salvation”.

Matt 1:21 “She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins.”

Now while Joshua saved the Israelites by leading them from the land of slavery to the Promised Land, Jesus saves “all who believe” from a much greater slavery – that of slavery to sin.

John 8:34 Jesus replied, “I tell you the truth, everyone who sins is a slave to sin. 35 Now a slave has no permanent place in the family, but a son belongs to it forever. 36 So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.”

GREATER THAN JOSHUA

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