Jesus: Our Sabbath-Rest
Greater Than: A Study in Hebrews • Sermon • Submitted
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· 54 viewsThe Lord promised the people of Israel, as they prepared to take the Promised Land, to give them rest as they faithfully followed Him. Under the leadership of Joshua, the people of Israel begin to conquer the land promised to them. As their kingdom expands, the people become satisfied with the progress made and fail to rely on the Lord and follow Him to the end. As a result, the people of God lose sight of their dependence upon God and fail to place their faith in His promises. Israel never experienced the rest promised by God. Their lives in the Promised Land became defined by temporary and often fruitless work that was ripped from their hands by their enemies. Jesus though comes as the fulfillment of the rest promised by God. In Christ, we find the rest that God always intended for His people.
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The Promise of God
The Promise of God
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-
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.
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.”
Therefore since it still remains for some to enter that rest, and since those who formerly had the good news proclaimed to them did not go in because of their disobedience, God again set a certain day, calling it “Today.” This he did when a long time later he spoke through David, as in the passage already quoted:
“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 their works, just as God did from his.
The writer of Hebrews once again points us back to the Old Testament and the promises through which the Lord presented to Israel to drive their obedience and faith. The Lord has continually presented to the nation of Israel the promise or invitation to enter into His rest.
The writer of Hebrews once again points us back to the Old Testament and the promises through which the Lord presented to Israel to drive their obedience and faith. The Lord has continually presented to the nation of Israel the promise or invitation to enter into His rest. There are five specific points of reference in the text looking back at the Lord’s invitation to man to find rest.
The writer of Hebrews once again points us back to the Old Testament and the promises through which the Lord presented to Israel to drive their obedience and faith. The Lord has continually presented to the nation of Israel the promise or invitation to enter into His rest.
Since the beginning of creation, the Lord has made clear the picture that there is rest available to mankind and even more importantly that rest in needed for mankind. In verse 4, the writer of Hebrews references creation. On the seventh day the Lord rested. God did not need rest. God was not tired. God was giving man a picture, an invitation to enter into something unique in all of creation, enter into the rest of the Lord.
In verse 6, the writer then moves us to the people of the rebellion, the Israelites in the wilderness. God leads the people of Israel right up to the river overlooking the promise land and he tells them to go and take it. Instead of heeding the words of the Lord, they send spies who come back with the report that the people there are giants and God has led us out here to die.
Verse 8, the writer of Hebrews moves from Moses to Joshua in this invitation for rest and Joshua leads the people of Israel into the Promised Land. The Promised Land was another picture of the rest that the Lord would bring.
Verse 7, The writer brings us to David who recognized the rest that the Lord was offering and instructed the hearers to not harden their hearts to the invitation.
Verse 9-10, the Lord continues to make the invitation. God longs to bring salvation to His people. He is offering wholeness, hope, sustenance, healing. He is offering rest. Salvation is rest.
The Sabbath Rest
The Sabbath Rest
Hebrews 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.
The word careful is not a good translation, the word in the Greek is fear. Let us fear that none of you be found to have fallen short of His rest.
The writer is pleading with us to not harden our hearts and to allow our unbelief to keep us from God. The writer of Hebrews making it clear what rest really is. Rest is not taking a break. Rest is not a break from work or endeavoring. When the Lord rested on the seventh day, work was still taking place for if it were not so, the universe would have imploded for it is Christ who holds the universe together, .
When the Lord rested on the seventh day, the picture of the Lord’s rest is a rest of completion. When we complete something, the next moment is rest. We are resting in the knowledge that the work has reached a final moment and no longer is there worry and stress of its completion. It has been done and is now able to fulfill its purpose. When the Lord rested, His work of creation was complete.
In the law, the Lord further instilled this invitation through the command for the Sabbath rest.
Then the Lord said to Moses, “Say to the Israelites, ‘You must observe my Sabbaths. This will be a sign between me and you for the generations to come, so you may know that I am the Lord, who makes you holy.
“ ‘Observe the Sabbath, because it is holy to you. Anyone who desecrates it is to be put to death; those who do any work on that day must be cut off from their people. For six days work is to be done, but the seventh day is a day of sabbath rest, holy to the Lord. Whoever does any work on the Sabbath day is to be put to death. The Israelites are to observe the Sabbath, celebrating it for the generations to come as a lasting covenant. It will be a sign between me and the Israelites forever, for in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, and on the seventh day he rested and was refreshed.’ ”
When the Lord finished speaking to Moses on Mount Sinai, he gave him the two tablets of the covenant law, the tablets of stone inscribed by the finger of God.
As Moses was receiving the ten commandments, the Lord’s final words to Moses were in regards to the Sabbath. The Sabbath was to be observed as a reminder or picture to the people that just as the Lord is holy, He has made them holy. The Sabbath is to recognition not of our need for rest, but rather of our need for God. It is God that is our rest. Our rest comes from this truth, that the Lord has already completed today.
The Lord has already completed our salvation. The Lord has already completed our worries, our fears, our anxious thoughts. The Lord has already completed the work of today, tomorrow and the next day. The Lord has worked all things to completion. We can find rest in our trust that the Lord has completed the work.
The writer pleads with us to fear missing this because in missing this truth, in missing the Lord’s rest, we also miss out on truth of his completion. Many of us live our lives daily, hourly striving, endeavoring to earn our holiness and the approval of God. We work ourselves to the bone in the hopeless and fruitless pursuit of redemption, making up for what we have failed in, making right the wrongs of our lives. These things have already been completed and we can harden our hearts to the Lord in our pursuit.
True Confession - Accepting Help
Verse 9 and 10, there is still hope. The Lord continues to make the invitation. Each Sunday as we gather, our hearts are given the opportunity to surrender to the Lord’s completion again and again.
What does it look like for you to trust that the Lord has completed the work? What good is the Christ child’s coming if the work is still yet to be done?