Paul continues to draw application from the Davidic text in Psalm 95:7 to the Christians residing in Jerusalem in the middle of the seventh decade of the first century (somewhere around 65 AD). Hebrews 3:1 through 4:13 is a cohesive section of Paul's argument in this epistle, but we have divided our comments into two chapters to note the differing emphases in the two subdivisions of this section.

Having noted "the better ground of faithfulness" (3:1-19) in Jesus Christ, Paul now keys off of the idea of "rest" in Psalm 95:11 (cf. 3:11,18,19). The Hebrew participants of the Exodus were anticipating a "rest" from the oppressive tyranny of the Egyptians and subsequently from the wearying wanderings in the wilderness. The "rest" they sought was in a geographic location, a "resting place" (Deut. 12:9) in a land beyond the Jordan river (cf. Deut. 3:20; 12:10), a "promised land" (cf. Numb. 14:40; Deut. 9:28) which God had promised as an inheritance wherein they could "rest" from their enemies and live securely (Deut. 12:9,10). For the Exodus generation the concept of "rest" was to be achieved by entering into the land of Canaan or Palestine. "But they were not able to enter because of unbelief" (3:19). So after a delay of forty years due to the faithless disobedience of the generation that left Egypt, the next generation of the Jewish nation did enter into the Promised land under the leadership of Joshua (cf. Joshua 3). The promise of God to the Jewish peoples for a physical form of "rest" was then fulfilled.

"The Lord gave Israel all the land He had sworn to give to their fathers, and they possessed it and lived in it. And the Lord God gave them rest on every side, according to all that He had sworn to their fathers, and no one of their enemies stood before them; the Lord gave all their enemies into their hand. Not one of the good promises which the Lord had made to the house of Israel failed; all came to pass" (Joshua 21:43-45).

Even though "the Lord had given rest to Israel" (cf. Joshua 23:1), there was still the continued conditional need for a faithfulness on the part of the Israelites (Joshua 22:4,5; 23:6) in order to enjoy and appreciate God's "rest" in the land of promise.

Long after the Jewish nation had entered into the promised land of rest under the leadership of Joshua, the psalmist David continued to refer to God's "rest" (Psalm 95:11). Paul infers (4:8) that such a reference indicated that there was still a divine "rest" beyond the possession of the Palestinian land. This was consistent with the Jewish Messianic expectations of an eschatological "rest" to be inaugurated by the Messianic deliverer, which usually retained the physical expectation of such "rest" in a self-governed nation of Israel in the land of Palestine.

The radical new understanding of Paul's conception of God's promised "rest" was that it was a spiritual fulfillment in the Person of Jesus Christ, rather than a particular physical and geographical land placement and ethnic nation. Paul regarded the "promised land rest" sought by the Hebrews in the Exodus to be but a pictorial prefiguring of the function of God's spiritual "rest" in Jesus Christ (4:3) in the new covenant. Since Jesus is "the heir of all things" (1:2), those who are "in Christ" are "joint-heirs with Christ" (Rom. 8:17) of all the promises of God (II Cor. 1:20), including the promise of entering God's "rest".

Once again, the connections that Paul makes in his argument are based upon his use of the Greek translation of the Old Testament, the Septuagint (LXX). Paul ties together the "rest" mentioned by David in Psalm 95:11 and the previous mention of God's "resting" on the seventh day of creation in Genesis 2:2. In the Hebrew text of the Old Testament Genesis 2:2 uses the Hebrew word shabbath, meaning "to cease, desist, or rest." David's reference to "rest" in Psalm 95:11 uses the Hebrew word menuhah, meaning "resting place." These were such distinctly different Hebrew words and concepts that they would not likely be drawn together to support a common argument. But in the Greek translation (LXX) of the Old Testament, Genesis 2:2 uses the Greek word katapause, and Psalm 95:11 uses the Greek word katapausin, both words being from the same root word, meaning "to cease or refrain from" with the extended meaning of "rest." This allowed Paul to bring them together and merge the concepts of "rest" in order to explain that Jesus is the "better rest of God" for Christian people, the Sabbath rest (4:9) as well as the promised place of rest.

The historical context that precipitated Paul's epistle was such that Paul's emphasis on "rest" likely countered a contemporary prevailing emphasis on "rest" in the Judean region where the recipients of this letter resided. Consistent with the historical accounts of the Israelites in the wilderness seeking "rest" from the oppressive Egyptians and other enemy nations, the zealots of Palestine in the first century were advocating that the Jewish peoples needed to seek "rest" from oppressive Roman rule by revolting against this occupying enemy of God's people. This was integrated, of course, with the long-held eschatological expectation of a Messianic "rest" wherein the Jewish people who regarded themselves as "God's chosen people" would occupy their "promised land" of "rest" as a self-governing nation once again.

The Jewish Christians in the church at Jerusalem had accepted Jesus as the promised Messiah, but they were repeatedly caused to question whether the expected Messianic "rest" was being realized in their experience. The physical forms of such "rest", as understood historically by their forefathers, were obviously not materializing. Their Jewish kinsmen were constantly pressuring them to expect the traditional understanding of "rest" rather than some ethereal concept of spiritual "rest" in Jesus Christ. Perhaps they were having reservations about whether the Messianic expectations were really fulfilled in Jesus, and were being tempted to revert back to tangible and physical Jewish expectations of national and religious "rest". What a tempting prospect that would have been, to join the insurrection against Roman rule in hopes of effecting a renewed Jewish kingdom in that geographic place of Palestine that had been promised to their forefathers of previous generations as a "land of rest," and to thereby also protect their Jewish religious worship practices on the Sabbath "day of rest," patterned as it was on God's resting on the seventh day of creation.

Understanding the Jewish mindset (being of Jewish heritage himself), Paul could sympathize with the struggle the Jerusalem Christians were confronted with. Perhaps he had also been appraised of their difficulties by someone who had recently visited the Jerusalem church. Paul writes to his "brethren" (both physical and spiritual), to explain that the risen and living Lord Jesus is the basis of "the better rest of God." The better rest of God is not to be sought in a restoration of a physical "place of rest" in Palestine, nor is it to be found in religious rituals on a particular Sabbath "day of rest." Paul's premise is that the spiritual reality of the presence and function of the Spirit of Christ in the Christian allows for the divine dynamic of God's grace to function in the Christian's life, and thus allows the Christian to "rest" from all performance efforts to seek God's approval, and thereby to enjoy God's creative, redemptive and restorative action.

The "better rest of God" in Jesus Christ is the fulfillment of the prototypical creation story, for now in the spiritual "new creation" (Gal. 6:15) of the Body of Christ, the new "Israel of God" (Gal. 6:16), God "rests" after having done everything necessary to create "new creatures in Christ" (cf. II Cor. 5:17) by the regenesis of spiritual regeneration. In the resultant new creation Sabbath rest (4:9) God's sustaining grace continues to function, allowing all of His new creation to enjoy all that He has done and is doing in His Son, Jesus Christ. Jesus also serves as the fulfillment of the new Exodus, for Jesus has delivered people from the slavery of sin to the new place of rest "in Christ." This was God's spiritual intent for His People from "before the foundation of the world" (4:3), and the physical genesis of creation and historical exodus were typological prefigurings of what God determined to enact in Jesus Christ and those united with Him as Christians.

When the Spirit of Christ dwells and abides in Christians, the place of God's "rest" is within us. In his defense before the Jewish high priest, Stephen explained that "the Most High does not dwell in houses made with hands" (Acts 7:48), and quoted God's statement from Isaiah 66:1: "'Heaven is My throne, and earth is the footstool of My feet; What kind of house will you build for Me?' says the Lord; 'Or what place is there for My rest (Greek katapauseos)?'" (Acts 7:49). The place of God's "rest" is in His new creation people, in the "household" that Jesus Christ has built (3:6), in the church of the living God, in Christian people. Having "Christ in us, the hope of glory" (Col. 1:27), God "rests" in the temple house (I Cor. 3:16; 6:19; II Cor. 5:1; 6:16) of our individual bodies and the collective Body of the Church, expressing His own character in Christians' behavior by His grace, and enjoying the results of His new creation. Christians, who have experienced God's spiritual knife in the cutting off of sin in "the circumcision of the heart" (Rom. 2:28,29), continue to experience Christ's penetrating work as He exposes the subtle differences between religious performance and the inner "rest" of relying on God's grace. Paul's desire for the Jerusalem Christians was that they recognize "the better rest of God" and cease from their "works" as God has rested from His works (4:10), which would entail refraining from all nationalistic endeavors and avoiding all religious performance in order to enjoy the continuing grace-work of God in Jesus Christ.

4:1 - In light of the failure and exclusion of the initial Exodus generation from the promised land of God's rest, Paul wrote, "Therefore, let us fear lest, while a promise remains to enter into His rest, any one of you should appear to have failed to obtain it." Writing with a sense of urgency, Paul explained to the Jerusalem Christians that God's promise remains open and available to enter His rest. God's "rest" was not revoked when the older Exodus generation rejected such in unbelief (3:19). The next generation (Numb. 14:31) entered the land of rest with Joshua (Josh. 3). The promise of God's "rest" remained open in David's day (4:7), and continued in subsequent generations to be expected in the reign of the Messianic deliverer. Since the ultimate fulfillment of all of God's promises is in Jesus Christ (II Cor. 1:20), Paul explained to the Christians of Jerusalem that God's promised "rest" remained available only in Jesus. Since Jesus is the "heir of all God's promises" (1:2), those who are "in Him" as Christians are heirs of all God's promises (6:12; 9:15; 10:36; 11:39,40). The Christians in Jerusalem still had the opportunity to enter into the experiential efficacy of God's dynamic activity of grace, and "rest" in His sufficiency rather than trying to perform for God and make things happen for God. They were doubtless being encouraged by their Jewish relatives there in Judea to join the action of revolt against Rome in order to effect a utopian dream of restful self-rule in Palestine. Such striving performance that fought to acquire "rest" was contrary to the spiritual "rest" that Paul was advising them was already available in Jesus Christ.

Identifying himself with his readers, Paul wrote, "Let us fear lest any one of you should appear to have failed to obtain it." Doesn't "perfect love cast out fear" (I John 4:18)? Yes, the action of the God who is perfect love (I John 4:8,16) does overcome all human fears, but that does not negate a healthy fear-respect for God (II Cor. 7:1; Col. 3:22; I Pet. 2:17) and the divine consequences of unbelief (2:2,3; 3:12,13), nor genuine Christian fear-concern that our Christian brethren might miss the availability of the abundance of God's grace (cf. Eph. 3:20) and the opportunity to "rest" in His sufficiency (cf. II Cor. 3:5). The possibility of such failure obviously existed or there would not have been any cause for fearful concern about "coming short of the grace of God" (12:15). Paul was concerned that each individual Christian in the Jerusalem church ("any one of you" - cf. 3:12), should fail to enter God's grace-rest. The concern was not that these Christians might "seem" or "appear" to miss the opportunity of God's rest in some apparently delusionary misconception, but that it might be evidenced in the manifested appearances of their behavior that they were engaged in religious self-effort rather than relying on God's grace. Did it appear to Paul that the Jerusalem Christians were in danger of coming short of God's rest? In that the temptation of religious activism always opposes the availability of God's "rest", and the Christians in Jerusalem were tempted to engage in such activism to implement nationalistic and religious interests, then it is likely that Paul considered them in danger of failing to enter into God's "rest". Coming short of, or failing to obtain, God's "rest" is always a result of faithlessness, unbelief (3:12,19; 4:2), and unwillingness to be receptive to God's activity in accomplishing His objectives in His way.

4:2 - To further explain the danger and peril of failing to be receptive in faith to God's "rest", Paul wrote, "For indeed we are those having had good news presented to us, just as they also did,..." Paul and the Jerusalem Christians to whom he wrote had the good news of God's promised grace-rest presented to them. The "good news" of the gospel is the Person of Jesus Christ, the living dynamic of His resurrection life which allows the grace-rest of God to be operative in Christian lives. The "good news" they received was not just historical data or doctrinal interpretations, but was the vital dynamic of the life of the risen Jesus who provides all the performance necessary for the Christian life, allowing them to "rest" in His grace-action.

There is a shared root of words in the Greek text that is not apparent in the English translation. The word "promise" in verse 1 is epangelias, and the word for "good news preached to us" in verse 2 is euangelismenoi, both employing the Greek word angelia, meaning "message." The message of God's promised "rest" was presented to the Exodus generation of Israelites as well as to Paul and his readers. This does not mean that the Hebrews who exited Egypt were evangelized with the gospel of Jesus as Paul and the Jerusalem Christians were. Paul's statement here is not equivalent to Paul's statement to the Galatians that "the gospel was preached beforehand to Abraham" (Gal. 3:8), so that Abraham could recognize that the promises made to him pertained to all that God was going to make available in Jesus Christ by faith. Paul's words in this verse simply mean that the initial Exodus generation was presented with the good news of a promised "rest" in the land of Canaan when Joshua and Caleb returned from their surveillance of the land (Numb. 13:30; 14:7-9). Paul and his fellow Jewish Christians in Jerusalem were similarly presented with the good news of God's promised "rest", but the difference was that this spiritual "rest" was in Jesus Christ alone, wherein the "finished work" of Christ's redemptive performance allowed for the sanctifying performance of the indwelling Spirit of Christ in Christian behavior.

There was a similarity in the Exodus Israelites and the Jerusalem Christians in that both groups were presented with the good news of a promised "rest," but there was a dissimilarity in the content of that "rest" between a geographical land and the spiritual function of God's grace. Paul's concern was that there should not be a similarity in the way that these old covenant and new covenant Peoples of God responded to the good news of promised "rest." Contrasting the Israelites response with what he was advocating for the Jerusalem Christians, Paul wrote, "but the word they heard did not benefit them, because it was not connected with faith in those having heard." Those Hebrews who departed Egypt with Moses heard God's message of a promised "rest" in Canaan, but they never benefitted or realized the advantage of that promise because they were unwilling to connect or unite with God's promise in the receptivity of faith. It was a useless and futile promise to them because they cut themselves off from God's action through unreceptive disobedience. "Whatever is not of faith is sin" (Rom. 14:23). The conditional contingency for receiving all that God has available in His Son, Jesus Christ, is the receptivity of faith that is available to God's action. This theme of the responsibility of faith is repeated throughout this epistle as the Greek words for faith, pistis and its derivatives, are employed at least thirty-nine (39) times.

It should be noted that the final phrase of verse 2 has been translated by some, "because they did not share the faith of those who heard," indicating that the faithless wilderness generation did not share the faith of Joshua and Caleb, who listened to and were receptive to God's promised action of "rest." This interpretation is not the most accurate translation of the Greek text and not likely to have been Paul's intent when he wrote.

4:3 - They, the rebellious Hebrews in the wilderness, did not connect with God's promised "rest" by faith (4:2) and did not enter because of unbelief (3:19), but in contrast, "we," Paul and the Jerusalem Christians, can enter God's new covenant "rest" by faith. "For we, those having believed, can enter into rest." "Those having believed" are Christians who "have been saved by grace through faith" (Eph. 2:8). Their initial receptivity of faith to Christ's redemptive work allows them to enter into the continued grace performance of Christ's life and to cease from repetitive religious performance. This "rest" is not an externalized objective place of "rest" outside of ourselves, but is the subjective experience of resting from self-effort by receiving God's activity. This is not a place of "rest" entered once and for all wherein we are statically confined, but is a dynamic "rest" to be constantly realized by "holding fast" (3:6,14) in the condition of faithful receptivity. This is not a place of "rest" in heaven in the future, but is the present process and experience of being receptive to God's grace. This present experience of "rest" is available to all Christians. "For we, those having believed, can enter into rest."

In contrast, "just as He has said, 'AS I SWORE IN MY WRATH, THEY SHALL NOT ENTER MY REST.'..." Whereas Christians have the opportunity to enter God's "rest" in Christ, God declared that the faithless grumblers of the wilderness could not, and would not be given the opportunity to, enter His "rest" in the land of Canaan. The way into God's grace-rest remains open to Christians, but the threat of exclusion based on unreceptiveness still remains, as illustrated in the faithlessness of the unbelieving Hebrews who serve as the example not to be followed (4:11; I Cor. 10:1-13).

Although God banned the initial generation of Exodus Hebrews from the land of "rest" in Canaan, Paul wanted to explain that God's "rest" was not to be statically historicized only as the entry of the Israelites into Canaan at the time of the Exodus. "And yet," Paul breaks his train of thought with yet another contrast, "the works" (of God) "had been brought into being from the foundation of the world." The dynamic working of God that allows man to rest in God's working was effectively implemented from the founding and creation of the cosmos, and from the point of humanity being brought into being in the Genesis. God's works, His intent and willingness to do all the necessary energizing and performing within His creation, were established and available from the beginning of the created order. Man was created, not as a self-generative actuator, but as a receptive vessel, a contingent, dependent, and derivative creature, who would derive character and action from God. The divine generation and working of all things that would bring glory to Himself within His creation was actuated from the commencement of creation, thus allowing humanity to "rest" in God's activity by receptivity. In other words, God's "rest" for mankind is not a reality initiated at the time of the Exodus, but was brought into being in the Genesis of all created things.

Various misunderstandings result from mistranslating the verb in this phrase. The Greek word used here is ginomai, which is the root of the word genesis, meaning "to bring into being." When this verb is translated and interpreted as "finished" (KJV, RSV, NASB, NIV), as if it were the Greek word teleo, derived from telos, then interpreters often mistakenly indicate that the "finished work" of Christ (cf. John 19:30 - tetelestai) was completed from the inception of the cosmos, or even before the foundation of the world. Such interpreters often cite Revelation 13:8 as a parallel text, and if they are using the KJV translation mistakenly indicate that "the Lamb was slain before the foundation of the world" (Rev. 13:8 - KJV). Jesus' function as the sacrificial lamb "was foreknown before the foundation of the world" (I Pet. 1:20), and God's foreknowledge allowed the names of receptive believers to be written in the book of life before the foundation of the world (Rev. 13:8), but we must beware of mystical interpretations that project God's redemptive work outside of space and time, thus dehistoricizing God's work in Christ and making the historical passion of Christ into a redundant exercise.

4:4 - The recognition that God's "rest" was available to man from the creation of the world when God's working in His creation was "brought into being", allows Paul to make a mental connection with God's "rest" from His creative work. "For He has said somewhere concerning the seventh day, thus:" Again, as in 2:6, it is not that Paul had forgotten the reference of the verse he was quoting from Genesis 2:2. This was a common indirect way of referring to a well-known text. "God has said somewhere (and we all know where)..."

Continuing his documentation of the preexistence of God's "rest" prior to the Exodus, Paul quotes Genesis 2:2: "AND GOD RESTED ON THE SEVENTH DAY FROM ALL HIS WORKS;..." As usual throughout this epistle, Paul's quotation of the Old Testament text is from the Greek translation of the Septuagint (LXX). This allowed him to connect the idea of "rest" in Genesis 2:2 to the mention of "rest" in Psalm 95:11, for in the Septuagint the Greek word for "rest" in Genesis 2:2 is katapause and the Greek word for "rest" in Psalm 95:11 is katapausin, both derived from the same root word meaning "to cease or refrain from," often in the sense of "rest" from working. Had Paul been using the Hebrew text, the word shabbath in Genesis 2:2 (meaning "to cease or desist") and the word menuhah in Psalm 95:11 (meaning "resting place") would not have allowed for such a convenient connection, as they had very different connotations. Paul's objective in using the word connection of the Septuagint translation was to explain how God's "rest" pre-dates the pictorial land provision of the Exodus, and has been God's intent from the very beginning of man's existence.

Why did God cease from His creative work and "rest" on the seventh day of creation? It was not because He was exhausted or worn-out, because God "does not become weary or tired" (Isa. 40:28). It was not because there was nothing else to do and God ceased working to become quiescent or inactive, for God "is working until now" (John 5:17) and His very Being requires active expression in sustenance, providence, grace, intercession, judgment, etc. within His creation. God's Being and action can never be separated or detached, for His Being is always expressed in consistent action, and His action is always expressive of His invested Being. This is why the deistic concept of God's creating all things and then passively detaching Himself from that creation to watch it function reduces God to an abstracted and impotent deity-figure. God rested from His creation work because He wanted to allow creation to function as intended by the dynamic of His working within it, and thus to allow the created order to "rest" in His expression of His Being within it. God looked down upon His creation after He created mankind, and said, "It is very good" (Gen. 1:31). Since God alone is good (Matt. 19:17; Mk. 10:18; Lk. 18:19), the creation can only be "very good" if God is functioning within His creation expressing His all-glorious character of goodness unto His own glory (Ps. 19:1). This is the raison d'etre of mankind; we were "created for His glory" (Isa. 43:7), and He can only be glorified as we "rest" in the receptivity of His active expression of His character. God "rested" on the seventh day of creation so He could enjoy the function of His creation and allow mankind to enjoy the creation with Him by "resting" in the divine dynamic and sufficiency of His continued working.

It was the shabbath "rest" of God mentioned in Genesis 2:2 that was the stated basis of the Jewish Sabbath celebration on the seventh day of each week, as explained when God gave the ten commandments on Sinai (Exod. 20:8-11). The seventh day Sabbath was intended to be a day when God's people would cease from their labors in order to enjoy God's working in celebration and praise. Unfortunately the Sabbath day observance in Judaic religion became loaded with legalistic limitations of what could and could not be performed on Saturday, and the intended function of the Sabbath was seldom realized. Paul will explain the spiritual fulfillment of the seventh day Sabbath when he refers to the new covenant "Sabbath rest" in verse 9.

4:5 - Reiterating the connection he was making between Genesis 2:2 and Psalm 95:11 to explain that the "rest" of God was always God's intent for man, Paul repeats (cf. 3:11,18,19; 4:3) the quotation from Psalm 95:11: "...and again in this (place, passage, text), 'THEY SHALL NOT ENTER MY REST'." The failure of the followers of Moses to enter into the Canaan land of "rest" was due to their own unbelief (3:12,19; 4:2); they were culpable for their inexorable incredulity and inflexible iniquity. But God's promise of "rest" for His People would not be thwarted (cf. Job 42:2). God allowed the next generation of Israelites to enter the land, even though they seldom found the "rest" that could have been theirs in the land because of their continued faithlessness. David still believed in the promised "rest" many generations later when he wrote the Psalms (this will be Paul's subsequent argument in verse 7 and 8). God's promised "rest" could not be defeated! He continued to act on man's behalf to provide the "rest" that could only be fully realized in the dynamic grace function of His Son, Jesus Christ, when man was restored to function as God intended by His indwelling presence and activity in man. It has been noted that when God "rested" on the seventh day of creation there was no "evening" to the seventh day, as there was on all previous days of creation (Gen. 1:5,8,13,19,23,31), perhaps implying that the day of God's "rest" is eternal, without end, and never to be nullified. That eternal "rest" of God is available in Jesus Christ, who said, "Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you, and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart; and YOU SHALL FIND REST FOR YOUR SOULS." (Matt. 11:28,29; cf. Jere. 6:16).

4:6 - "Since" God's rest was available and accessible prior to and subsequent to the Exodus generation "therefore it remains for some to enter into it." God's promised "rest" will not lack for fulfillment. it remains open and available for God's People (4:1). Paul's statement that it remains available for "some" to enter into such rest does not constitute an arbitrary divine delimitation of the privilege of God's rest. Rather, it takes into account that God's rest is conditioned and contingent upon a Christian's receptivity of faith to allow God to act, and realistically recognizes that not all of God's people are willing to receive His grace-provision in order to enjoy His rest.

"And" a case in point of such refusal is that "those previously having had good news presented to them did not enter in (to God's rest) because of disobedience." The faithless generation at Kadesh had the good news (4: 2) of a promised land of rest presented to them by Moses (Exod. 13:5) and by Joshua and Caleb (Numb. 13:30; 14:6-9), but they forfeited their opportunity to enter into that provisional portrayal of divine rest because of their defiant disobedience (3:18; 4:11; cf. Numb. 14:11,12, 21-23). In contrast to the "obedience of faith" (Rom. 1:5; 16:26) that God desires, the initial generation of Israelites that departed Egypt responded in "the disobedience of faithlessness," unreceptive to what God promised to do for them, and not persuaded that God could or would provide what He promised. It was their choice; they chose not to enter into the land of promised rest, and God gave them the consequences of their choices. They had no one to blame but themselves!

4:7 - As it is the ever-persistent desire of God to make His rest available to man, "He again delineates some day: 'Today,'..." in which His rest can be realized. This is not a reference to a certain, specific or particular day, for Paul notes that the word was used in David's "day," and Paul is employing the Davidic text to apply to the Jerusalem Christians of the first century. These "last days" (1:2) of the Christian era, the "day of salvation" (II Cor. 6:2; cf. Isa. 49:8), constitute the continued period of opportunity to experience God's grace and rest in Jesus Christ. But more specifically for the Jerusalem Christians to whom he was writing, Paul wanted to emphasize the ever-present "rest" of the ever-present I AM, for "right now."

God was "saying through David after so long a time, as has been said before, 'TODAY IF YOU HEAR HIS VOICE, DO NOT HARDEN YOUR HEARTS.'" The promised rest was not terminated or withdrawn when the younger generation of Israelites finally entered Canaan after forty years of wandering. "After so long a time," the interval between Moses and David, between the account in Numbers 13 and 14 and the statements of David in Psalm 95:7-11, a period of approximately 450 years, David could still encourage his generation to be receptive to God's promise of rest by listening to God's revelatory voice and refraining from hardening their hearts. When David wrote these quoted words (which Paul admits have been previously cited in his epistle - 3:7,13,15) the people of Israel were already in the land of Canaan, but they were still being encouraged to enter into God's rest, evidencing that such rest was not just the occupation of a particular geographic land parcel, nor was it limited to a particular time period. God's rest is still available, Paul is repeatedly explaining to his readers.

4:8 - Continuing to document his argument, as all good lawyers do, Paul wrote, "For if Joshua had provided them rest, He (God, through David) would not have spoken of another day beyond that day." The name Iesous is the Greek form of both Joshua and Jesus, both meaning "Jehovah saves or delivers." The context of Paul's argument concerning the historical usage and availability of God's "rest" dictates that the most likely reference here is to Joshua, just as the name is translated in Luke 3:29 and Acts 7:45. The Authorized Version (KJV) translated the name as Jesus, creating numerous unnecessary interpretive problems.

When Joshua led the next generation into the promised land of rest across the Jordan river, they remained a people of bickering unbelief. They had arrived in the promised physical location of rest (Neh. 21:43-45; Josh. 21:43-45; 22:4,5; 23:1), but they had not found the "rest" that faithfully derived from God's provision. God's "rest" was not encompassed merely in residence in a particular country. One need only consider the period of the Judges and Kings in Israel's history to observe the unrest that the Hebrew peoples experienced in Canaan. By the time David became king of Israel (approximately 400 years after Joshua), he was still speaking for God of an available "rest" that required the receptivity of "hearing His voice" and the availability that refrained from "hardening their hearts" in self-determined actions. That continued promise of "rest" evidenced that God's 'rest" was not limited to a particular place/time context in Canaan in the fifteenth century B.C. The promised land where the Hebrews could cease from oppressive enslavement was but another shadow-picture of a physical representation that pointed to a spiritual reality that could only be fully realized in Jesus Christ.

Paul's argument in well-reasoned, as usual: If God's rest was to be in the land of Canaan, and Joshua led them into the land, but they continued to experience unrest, then there must be a rest of another kind that is beyond the located placement of the land and residence therein. Likewise, if the day of God's rest was in Joshua's day, and God (through David) still promised a rest in David's day, then the "Today" of God's promised rest is not limited to yesterday, but to "another day beyond that day" ­ to the ever-present "Today" of God's people.

4:9 - The conclusion Paul draws is: "There remains therefore a Sabbath rest for the people of God." God's promised rest remains open, available and accessible to be experienced by His people "Today." Paul's emphasis is on the present availability of God's rest, for he wanted the Jerusalem Christians to focus on all that was available to them in Christ Jesus in the present, rather than on a future expectation of a nationalistic "rest" after the hoped for defeat of the Romans ­ a false hope, indeed, as verified by subsequent history within a few short years. Paul was encouraging the Christians of Judea to live their present lives in receptivity to the divine dynamic of the indwelling Spirit of Christ within them, rather than thinking that the "rest" of God was only an historical phenomenon of yesteryear or a utopian hope for the future. Those who have interpreted this verse to mean that "there remains in the future a Sabbath rest for the people of God" have missed Paul's point entirely, and fall prey to the same utopian hopes that Paul was warning his readers against. The "Sabbath rest" that Paul refers to is not a paradisiacal repose in a millennial period of time with governance located once again in the Palestinian land as some have speculated. This is not to deny, however, that the Sabbath rest already available to the Christian presently does not also have a continuum of fulfillment into the future and unto eternity.

Paul's reference to a "Sabbath rest" picks up on the previous citation of Genesis 2:2 where the Hebrew word for "rest" was shabbath. As noted above (4:4), the seventh day Sabbath observance of the Jewish people was based on the seventh day "rest" of God in creation (Exod. 20:8-10), and was intended to be a celebration of God's provision and a time to enjoy God's creation. The people and the land did not "enjoy the Sabbaths" (cf. Lev. 26:34,35) in Judaic religion, but now in the spiritual fulfillment of the new covenant God's people can enjoy the Sabbath rest by being receptive to what God has done and is doing, by living in the abundance of God's grace-dynamic. Paul's use of the Greek word sabbatismos, "Sabbath rest", instead of katapausis, "rest" (3:11,18; 4:1,3,5,10,11), is apparently designed to emphasize to his Jewish readers in Jerusalem that the Jewish seventh day Sabbath observance was also a provisional figure of the grace-rest that is available every day in every place to enjoy God in every way as Christians.

Whereas the "People of God" in the old covenant were the Israelites who were divinely selected to provide the physical prefiguring of God's intent in His Son, the "People of God" in the new covenant are those who are identified with the Son as Christians. Later in the epistle Paul will quote from the prophecy of Jeremiah indicating that in the promised new covenant, when God puts His Spirit and laws into the hearts of those receptive to His Son, "I will be their God, and they shall be My People" (8:10; Jere. 31:33). The apostle Peter explained to the Christians to whom he wrote, 'You are a people for God's own possession...; you once were not a people, but now you are the People of God" (I Pet. 2:9,10; cf. Ezek. 37:23; Hosea 1:10). Christians are the new covenant People of God, the spiritual fulfillment of Israel (Rom. 9:6,7; Gal. 6:16) and the people known as Jews (Rom. 2:28,29).

There remained available to the Christians of Jerusalem the opportunity to participate in the Sabbath rest of God, to cease from all their striving to please or appease God by keeping the Law, to refrain from trying to bring into being what they might have perceived to be God's plan to reestablish the nation of Israel, and to restfully enjoy God's grace moment-by-moment of every day. Such a Sabbath rest remains available to the Christian People of God in every age.

4:10 -   Continuing to develop the theme of "Sabbath rest" available for all Christians, Paul more specifically connects Christian "rest" with God's creation "rest" in Genesis 2:2, noting that God's rest in both categories involves a resting from "works." "For the one who has been entered into His rest has himself also rested from his works, just as God did from His own." Who is "the one" who has entered into God's rest and rested from his works? Some have understood this in a Christological sense as referring to Jesus Christ and His having entered back into the Father's rest after having rested from His redemptive works, just as God the Father rested from His creative works. The problem with such an interpretation is (1) it bifurcates the work of the divine Father and Son, thus impinging upon the trinitarian oneness of the Godhead, and (2) there is nothing in the immediate context of Paul's argument that would justify the insertion of a reference to Christ's redemptive work at this point. It is preferable, therefore, to understand "the one" being referred to as any (and every) individual Christian who is part of "the People of God" (4:9). Every regenerated Christian person "has been entered into" God's rest in Jesus Christ. The verb (eiselthon) is passive, meaning that the subject has been (aorist tense) acted upon by another. As Joshua (4:8) had ushered the Hebrew nation into the promised land of rest in Canaan, Jesus has ushered every Christian into the opportunity and availability of God's rest in Himself. But, as previously noted in the case of those who went into the promised land with Joshua, to be led in entrance into the place of rest does not necessarily entail experiencing God's rest subjectively by faithful receptivity to His activity. Likewise, it is true for Christians that "having been entered into" God's place of rest in Jesus Christ, there remains the choice of faith to experience God's rest by ceasing from our "works" orientation of religious performance, in order to rest in the sufficiency of His grace. This Christian responsibility to choose to experience God's rest will be emphasized anew in the next verse in an exhortation to diligence.

When the Christian enters experientially into God's grace-rest, he/she ceases and refrains from trying to perform for God. The "works" theology of dedicated performance that motivates so much of religious endeavor must be exchanged for a "grace" theology that recognizes that the objective of the Christian life is what God does in and through us, not what we might try to do for God. We "work out our salvation" by recognizing that "God is at work in us both to will and to work for His good pleasure" (Phil. 2:12,13), and allowing for His outworking expression as we are receptive to His activity (cf. James 2:17-26).

Since Christians are to rest from their works "as God did from His own" (Gen. 2:2), this must mean that as we rest in His sufficiency we appreciate and enjoy His sustaining work. To participate in God's rest is not passivism, for God always functions in accord with His character, and by our receptivity of faith we continue to allow for the outworking of His character in our behavior.

4:11 -   Paul exhorts his Jewish readers again (cf. 3:12; 4:1), "We should be diligent, therefore, to enter that rest, lest anyone fall by the same example of disobedience." He is emphasizing that Christians are responsible for choosing to be receptive in faith to what God in Christ wants to do in their lives. They should be eager and zealous to enter in to that experiential "rest".

To make his point, Paul refers again to the "example of disobedience" (3:18; 4:6) of the initial exodus generation (Numbers 13 and 14), who had no confidence that God was trustworthy to provide what He had promised. As a consequence their bodies "fell in the wilderness" (3:17). Using the same word (Greek pipto) Paul expressed his concern that any one (cf. 3:12; 4:6) of the Jerusalem Christians should likewise "fall" and fail to participate in all that was available to them in Jesus Christ. Similar language was employed by Paul in his letter to the Corinthians, where he referred to the Hebrew forefathers of the Exodus who "fell" (I Cor. 10:8), and who should serve as an "example" (I Cor. 10:6,11 ­ Greek word tupos has essentially the same meaning as hupodeigma used here). The exhortation to the Corinthians is similar to that made here to the Hebrew Christians in Judea: "Let him who thinks he stands take heed lest he fall" (I Cor. 10:12).

4:12 -   Many commentators have struggled to explain the connection of verses 12 and 13 to the foregoing argument. Does the "word of God" relate to the previous mention of "hearing His voice" (Ps. 95:7; Heb. 3:7,15; 4:7)? Is Paul indicating that in order to enter into experiential Christian rest Christians must allow for a piercing and penetrating evaluation of their motivations to examine what they are doing what they are doing? The answer to both questions appears to be "Yes".

"For" (to facilitate entering into God's rest) "the Word of God is living and energizing and sharper than any two-edged knife,..." Prior to the Reformation in the sixteenth century, the "Word of God" was interpreted almost exclusively as reference to the personified Word of God (John 1:1) incarnated in the person of Jesus Christ (John 1:14). Reformation reaction to the ecclesiastical authority and pronouncements of the Roman Church, emphasized sola scriptura and elevated the Bible as the ultimate authority of the "word of God." Protestant interpretation for almost five centuries has tended to interpret "word of God" in this verse to refer to the written revelation of Scripture, or to a more generalized reference to the gospel message or teaching that accords with the Biblical record. The context, however, seems to demand reference to the living Lord Jesus who indwells Christians by the Spirit (Rom. 8:9), Who as the living "Word of God" continues to speak to our hearts that we might "hear His voice" and enter in to the grace-rest that God intends for Christians. The personal pronouns of the following verse (13), "His sight" and "the eyes of Him," serve to verify that Paul wrote of the personified "Word of God," Jesus Christ.

A book is not a living and energizing entity, although God's message can be effective and energizing (I Thess. 2:13). Through Isaiah God said, "My word which goes forth from My mouth; It shall not return to Me empty, without accomplishing what I desire, and without succeeding in the matter for which I send it" (Isa. 55:11). As the living "Word of God", Jesus is alive. He is life (Jn. 11:25; 14:6). The words that He speaks "are spirit and life" (Jn. 6:63). The power of his life energizes within us (Eph. 3:20), providing an ongoing personal revelation (cf. Eph. 1:17,18; Phil. 3:15) that penetrates into the recesses of our hearts.

The analogy that Paul uses to illustrate the Spirit of Christ's penetrating power is that of a "two-edged knife." The metaphorical reference in Revelation 1:16 to a "two-edged sword" proceeding from Jesus' mouth uses the Greek word romphaia which refers to a larger sword, spear or lance. The Greek word machaira used here usually referred to a smaller instrument more like a knife or dagger. It is interesting that the Greek Old Testament (LXX) uses this word machaira as the instrument used when Joshua required all the males to be circumcised immediately upon entry into the promised land of rest (Josh. 5:2-8). Is there an allusion here to Christ's "circumcision of the heart" (Rom. 2:29; Col. 2:11), and the continued penetrating action of the Spirit of Christ as He seeks to expose all considerations that would keep Christians from resting in the grace of God?

Christ's action as the "Word of God" in the Christian is analogous to a "two-edged knife"... "piercing as far as the division of both soul and spirit, of both joints and marrow, and able to discern the inner passions and insights of the heart." A physical knife can penetrate down to the bone, to the inmost marrow of the bone and to where the bones fit together at the joints. Metaphorically, Jesus Christ as the "Word of God" functions like a two-edged knife that penetrates into the depth of our innermost being of soul and spirit (cf. I Thess. 5:23). The purpose of the penetration is not destructive, but a constructive division in order to expose differentiation. Christian theologians, at least since the Reformation, have by and large not wanted to admit any division or differentiation between soul and spirit in man, choosing instead to perpetuate an ambiguous merging of the psychological and spiritual functions of the human individual. In so doing they have obscured the regenerative and sanctifying work of the Spirit of Christ, and denied many Christians a clear understanding of Christ's revealing work to lead us into God's grace-rest.

In His desire to protect us from a "hardened heart" (3:8,15; 4:7), and from "an evil, unbelieving heart" (3:12), the Spirit of Christ penetrates "to discern the inner passions and insights of the heart" of the Christian. The contrasted dichotomy of "soul and spirit" is likely retained in the respective differentiations of Christ's discernment between the inner functions of the inner being of the Christian individual. The New Testament usage of the word "heart" is inclusive of both psychological function (cf. II Cor. 8:16; II Thess. 2:17; James 1:26; I Jn. 3:19-21) and spiritual function (Rom. 5:5; II Cor. 1:22; Gal. 4:6; Heb. 8:10; 10:16). The indwelling Christ, the "Word of God," is able to differentiate between the psychological patterns of impassioned commitment and dedication to please God in the self-effort of performance and the spiritual impulse to operate by "the mind of Christ" (I Cor. 2:16) allowing God to function in and through us by the dynamic of His grace. Many Christians have the spiritual intent and purpose (cf. I Pet. 4:1) to allow God to be and do all He wants to be and do in their lives, but at the same time they have psychologically patterned thoughts and attitudes of self-oriented desire to act and "be all they can be for God." The differentiation between the spiritual motivations of God's intent and the psychological motivations of a fleshly desire to seek "a logical alternative to faith" can be very difficult to discern. Many Christians seldom take the time to evaluate their motivations of why they are doing what they are doing in their Christian lives. To that end the Spirit of Christ acts within us to make that discernment and to reveal such to us that we might choose to be receptive to God's grace and participate in His rest.

Paul wanted the Christians in Jerusalem to "hear the voice" of the indwelling Christ who could and would reveal to them that the psychologically-based, well-reasoned efforts to oust the Romans and establish their own nation would not accomplish the purposed spiritual rest of God. All of their impassioned efforts of the "flesh" would end in naught, and they would never experience God's grace-rest in Christ, if they would not open themselves up to Christ's penetrating evaluation of their real motives and let the "Word of God" reveal what was going on in their inner man.

4:13 -   Christ is able and willing to discern and reveal our hearts, "and there is no creature hidden from His sight, but all things are exposed, having been opened to the eyes of Him, the Word, before Whom (we have to do)." God is omniscient, i.e. all-seeing and all-knowing, and no created thing is obscured from His sight. Adam and Eve tried unsuccessfully to hide from God (Gen. 3:9). Ananias and Sapphira thought they could pull the wool over God's eyes, but the Spirit of the Lord revealed their charade to Peter (Acts 5:1-11). Christian people, in particular, are transparent before the Spirit of Christ, for He knows every thought, attitude and motivation. We are naked, bare, exposed and vulnerable before the living "Word of God." It is impossible to deceive Him with any masks, facades or pretenses.

The final phrase of this verse is difficult to translate, as it appears to lack adequate verb action. Literally translated in accord with original word-order it reads, "...of Him before whom to us the word." Paul repeats his mention of "the Word" (Greek ho logos) with which he began the previous sentence (12). The objective was to explain to the Christians in Jerusalem that the personified "Word of God," the living Lord Jesus who lived in them, knew what was motivating them and wanted to reveal how He could lead them into spiritual rest. Paul's intent was similar to his statement to the Romans: "He who searches our hearts knows what the mind of the Spirit is, because He intercedes for the saints according to the will of God" (Rom. 8:27). The theme of Christ's all-knowing discernment leads directly into the following explanation of Christ's intercessory work as high priest.

Concluding Remarks:

The first readers of this epistle found themselves in the turmoil of political unrest, as well as the unrest of religious and economic ostracism from their Jewish kinsmen for having accepted Jesus as the Messiah. A pseudo-rest was being promised by the zealots of Palestine ­ a false-rest that corresponded with the land promise of rest made to another generation of their forebears approximately one and a half millennia earlier. The insurrectionists were promising that by revolt against Rome the Jewish people would again govern their own nation in the land that God promised them, and be able to "rest" from the oppression of Rome.

Paul explained to the Christians in Jerusalem that the risen Lord Jesus, the "Word of God" who lived in them, knew the pressures that were being brought to bear upon them. Similar pressure was brought to bear upon Him to be a military and political deliverer when they wanted to make Him "King of the Jews." Paul seems to be saying, "Jesus knows your tendencies to put your faith in physical realities of land, race, nation and religion. Jesus knows your psychological inclinations to declare, 'We can do it! We can pull it off!" by the fleshly self-effort of dedication and commitment to what is perceived to be 'God's cause.' But the rest of God is in Jesus Christ alone, for it is a spiritual rest that relies on God's grace within the dynamic of Christ's life, allowing you to cease from all your performance efforts to accomplish great things for God. Now is the time, 'Today,' to listen to His voice and remain receptive to God's supernatural divine activity. Jesus knows the external circumstances you are confronted with, as well as the internal motivations of your hearts, and that is why He can be a sympathetic high priest representing you before God as well as providing His rest within you."

The message remains pertinent to all Christians in subsequent times and in diverse places. The fallen world-order always presents us with a form of unrest, whether it be political, economic, religious, interpersonal, etc. Since the fall of man into sin we have been brainwashed with the humanistic premise that mankind has what it takes to solve the world's problems and create "rest." "The way to rest," the modern-day zealots declare, "is to get better educated, develop better skills, elect better government with better leaders, get better organized, and utilize better technology for increased productivity." On a more personal level "rest" is sought on the weekend, by taking a vacation at a resort or on a cruise line, or by taking a new job or a new spouse. The false offers of "rest" are presented to us just as they were to the first recipients of this letter.

Jesus said, "Come unto Me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest. You shall find rest for your souls" (Matt. 11:28,29). Augustine responded, "My heart, O Lord, does not rest until it rests in You." Rest is not found in increased religious dedication and commitment to performance and "works," but by living out of the divine dynamic of God's grace, by recognizing that "it is no longer I who lives, but Christ lives in me" (Gal. 2:20), by appreciating that our "good works" are only those which "God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them" (Eph. 2:10), and by enjoying "the power that works within us" (Eph. 3:20). This is not to imply that we replace the self-effort of performance with acquiescent passivism, but rather with the active power of God. Neither is there any implication that participation in God's rest in Christ will lead to avoidance of all the unrest of the world around us, for God's rest is not a rest from the circumstances and trials of life, but a rest in the midst of the problems of a life that may be busier than ever before. It is resting in His sufficiency, for "we are not adequate to consider anything as coming from ourselves, but our adequacy is of God" (II Cor. 3:5).

Christians continue to participate in God's rest as they continue to respond to God in faith (4:2). Christian faith is our receptivity to God's activity. Christians are not excluded from participating in the experience of God's rest because they have trials or are being tempted, nor even because the fail and misrepresent Jesus Christ in sinful behavior. Exclusion from God's rest comes only by a settled attitude of unbelief, a disposition of distrust in God that leads to disobedience day in and day out. In that case God will let such persons have their choice of unrest ­ without and within. But God continues to make available "the better rest of God" in Jesus Christ. "Let us be diligent, therefore, to enter that rest" (4:11).