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by Katie Erickson

“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 good news proclaimed to us, just as they did; but the message they heard was of no value to them, because they did not share the faith of those who obeyed. 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 works have been finished since the creation of the world. For somewhere he has spoken about the seventh day in these words: ‘On the seventh day God rested from all his works.’ And again in the passage above he says, ‘They shall never enter my rest.’” -Hebrews 4:1-5

The previous passage in Hebrews ended on a bit of a depressing note stating, “So we see that they [the people of Israel] were not able to enter, because of their unbelief” (Hebrews 3:19). But fortunately, this passage starts out with a “therefore” that brings good news - we don’t have to follow in their footsteps!

Because of Jesus’ redeeming work on the cross through His death and resurrection, the “promise of entering his rest” is still available to us. “Entering his rest” likely refers to eternal life in heaven, where we will be fully at rest and at peace with God for all eternity. Before Jesus came to earth, the people of Israel did not obey God and did not believe in Him as they should. But now that Jesus has come, the promise is open to all who believe.

But in spite of this, the author is still warning the readers to be careful and not become complacent. The phrase translated as “let us be more careful” in verse 1 more accurately means “let us fear.” We should have a healthy fear of falling short of God’s standards and falling away from our faith. The generation of Israel that wandered in the wilderness missed out on the fulfillment of God’s promises because of their disobedience; we should have a healthy fear of missing out due to disobedience as well.

The people of Israel had God’s marvelous acts to save them from slavery in Egypt. We have the gospel of Jesus Christ and how His marvelous act saves us from slavery to our sins. But, simply having the message of salvation is not enough! The message must be acted on in faith. Israel did not act in faith but rather they disobeyed. Are you acting in faith and living out the gospel message in your life? The message is of no value if it’s not being acted upon and lived out. We must share the faith of those who obeyed, not following in Israel’s footsteps of disobedience in the wilderness but instead being obedient to God out of our faith in His message.

In verse 3, the author again emphasizes faith by addressing “we who have believed.” It’s no longer about being part of the chosen nation of Israel; it’s about faith in Jesus Christ, which is accessible to all regardless of their nationality. The author again quotes from Psalm 95:11, part of what he quoted earlier in chapter 3. God had made an oath that if the people disobeyed Him, they would not enter His rest, and God fulfilled that oath by not letting that generation into the Promised Land.

The author quotes from the Old Testament again in verse 4 - this time from Genesis 2:2 at the end of the Creation narrative. This verse speaks of God resting from His work of creating the world, which ties into the theme of entering God’s rest that the author has been discussing. This rest is not to say that God has become idle but rather that He is resting in the satisfaction that comes with a big accomplishment, like creating an entire universe and all that is in it!

One more time, just to get his point across, the author repeats the quotation of “They shall never enter my rest” in verse 5. This sets up the author’s argument that is coming in the next verses, which we’ll look at next week.

The main focus of this section of Scripture is that we need to live out our faith through obedience to God’s Word. We will never live it out perfectly, but we should still strive toward that as much as possible. It’s not about our scorecard of what we did right versus what we did wrong; it’s about our heart’s attitude of following God. Are we desiring to follow Him with our lives, or are we being obstinate and only doing the minimum to get by?

Today, we can learn from the example of the people of Israel wandering in the wilderness. They had a bad attitude about what God had done for them. They forgot His works and they disobeyed Him. Because of that, that generation did not get to see the fulfillment of God’s great promises for them. Are we being like Israel and forgetting what God has done for us? We need to make sure we do not have “a sinful, unbelieving heart that turns away from the living God” (Hebrews 3:12) as Israel did.

If we desire to “enter God’s rest” – eternal life with Him – we need to live out our faith in Jesus Christ and the saving work that He completed for us. How are you doing with that in your life?

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