The book of Hebrews contains extensive discussions on the two covenants and covenant-related themes. The most extensive discussion in the New Testament on the historical old and new covenants occurs in Hebrews 7-10 (see appendix A for an analysis of these chapters). The Bible's most thorough discussion of another important covenant theme- covenant rest-occurs in Hebrews 3 and 4. This study of the covenants would not be complete without exploring the biblical theme of covenant rest, especially as it is presented in Hebrews 3 and 4.
The Spiritual Rest Offered God's Covenant People
God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit rest in one another's love. The angels trust God and rest in His love for them. Faith itself is a resting in God, trusting in Him and His promises. This rest of faith is covenant rest. Covenant rest is nourished by an assurance of God's presence and the trustworthiness of His promises. Covenant rest manifests itself in an obedience that comes from faith.
When Moses implored God to lead His covenant people and teach them His ways, God responded, "My Presence will go with you, and I will give you rest " (Exod. 33:14). God Himself is His people's true rest. As they would put their faith in Him, and through the empowerment of His Spirit would obey His commandments, they would experience covenant rest--a confident rest in His love and promises to provide for their temporal necessities and eternal salvation. "Let the beloved of the Lord rest secure in him, for he shields him all day long, and the one the Lord loves rests between his shoulders" (Deut. 33:12). Covenant rest is the experience that results from resting in God and internalizing the gospel of salvation by grace through faith.
The faith experiences of God's covenant people of old were expressions of this covenant rest in Him:
• Created in God's image, Adam, before he fell, rested in God's love for him, and after he fell rested in God's promise that He would provide One who would crush the head of the serpent (Gen. 1:27; 3:15).
• Enoch by faith rested in God when he "was taken from this life, so that he did not experience death" (Heb. 11:5).
• Noah rested in God "when [he was] warned about things not yet seen, [and] in holy fear built an ark to save his family ... and became heir of the righteousness that comes by faith" (Heb. 11:7).
• Abraham was resting in God by faith "when called to go to a place he would later receive as his inheritance, [he] obeyed and went, even though he did not know where he was going, [making] his home in the promised land like a stranger in a foreign country; ... for he was looking forward to the city with foundations, whose architect and builder is God" (Heb. 11:8,10).
• Moses also experienced covenant rest when "by faith ... he regarded disgrace for the sake of Christ as of greater value than the treasures of Egypt, because he was looking ahead to his [eternal] reward [promised by God] ... [and] saw him who is invisible" (Heb. 11:24-27).
While the Bible nowhere explicitly states that any specific Old or New Testament believer entered this deep, spiritual rest promised by God, it may be safely assumed that all true believers did. It was this covenant rest that God spoke of through Isaiah-"This is what the Sovereign Lord, the Holy One of Israel, says: 'In repentance and rest is your salvation, in quietness and trust is your strength, ...'"--and through Jeremiah: "This is what the Lord says: 'Stand at the crossroads and look; ask for the ancient paths, ask where the good way is, and walk in it, and you will find rest for your souls'" (Isa. 30:15; Jer. 6:16).
The Sabbath--Sign of Covenant Rest
The Sabbath represents this covenant rest in God. The word "Sabbath" is not a word that has been translated from an original Hebrew or Greek term in the Bible, but rather one that's been transliterated. A translated word brings the meaning of the original language into the new language. A transliterated word simply brings the sound of the original word into the new language. The English word "Sabbath" comes from the Hebrew word "shabaat" and the Greek word "sabbaton." Translated, they mean "rest." Thus at creation "God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it he rested [Hebrew, shabaat] from all the work of creating that he had done" (Gen. 1:3).
When God codified the Sabbath commandment in the Decalogue at Sinai, He invested it with both temporal and spiritual significance. On the one hand, it provided much needed physical rest and restoration from the labor of the week. On the other, it was to continually remind His covenant people that He Himself was their true rest--they could trust Him, their Creator, to make provision for their temporal needs on this earth, and to make provision also for their every spiritual necessity to secure their place in His eternal kingdom. This truth must never be lost from view. The Sabbath represented not merely physical rest but even more importantly spiritual rest--"so you may know that I am the Lord who makes you holy" (Exod. 31:12-13). The rest envisioned in the Sabbath provided physical rest from labor in order to promote deeper spiritual rest in God. Sabbath rest, with its attendant temporal and spiritual blessings, was not offered exclusively to the nation of Israel, but to all humankind--"the Sabbath was made for man" (Mark 2:27). The only true rest for all humanity is in God. The Sabbath of the fourth commandment represents that universal, timeless truth. The Sabbath always pointed beyond itself to Him who is humanity's true rest. God intended that in observing the Sabbath, humanity would be drawn by His Spirit more deeply into rest in Him.
The "Rest" Israel Did Experience, and the "Rest" They Didn't
When God brought Israel out of Egypt, He promised to lead them into Canaan and give them rest from their enemies that they might worship Him, be groomed by His Spirit into a holy people who "keep his precepts and observe his laws," and fulfill their missionary purpose unhindered (Ps. 105:42-45; cf. Deut. 12:8-11). He performed mighty acts on their behalf, providing them with abundant evidence that they could trust Him and rest in His promises to provide for their every physical and spiritual necessity. He worked miracles to deliver them from Egypt, opened the Red Sea before them, fed them with manna from heaven, brought water from a rock to quench their thirst, and gave them His law amidst wondrous displays of His power. And yet, when He brought them up to the borders of Canaan to take the land He had promised them, they rebelled, refusing to go in for fear of being impotent against the fortified cities and well-armed inhabitants of the land who appeared to them as giants (Num. 14:2-11). As a result, they were required to return to the wilderness where they wandered around for forty years until a new generation grew up who would exercise greater faith (Num. 14:26-33). This refusal to trust God and enter Canaan at the first opportunity He gave them became known as "the rebellion." Ever after it would symbolize their failure to rest in God and trust in His covenant commitment to enable them to do everything He would ever ask of them. It symbolized the truth that those who do not exercise faith in God will never enter His rest.
Once, during the forty years the Israelites subsequently wandered in the wilderness, they again came to a place with no water. Earlier, at a place they afterward appropriately called Massah (meaning "testing"), they had run out of water and accused God of betraying them. At that time God brought water from a rock to quench their thirst, demonstrating that they could trust Him and rest in Him (Exod. 17:1-7). Now again, years after "the rebellion," they again ran out of water and complained against God, showing that they still did not fully trust Him and were not resting in His love and provision for them. They appropriately named that place Meribah, which means "quarreling" (Num. 20:1-13).
Forty years after "the rebellion," when they had refused to enter Canaan under Moses's leadership, Joshua successfully led Israel into Canaan that they might receive rest from their enemies and be able to love and obey God unhindered. "Now that the Lord your God has given your brothers rest as he promised, ... be very careful to keep the commandments and the law that Moses the servant of the Lord gave you: to love the Lord your God, to walk in all his ways, to obey his commands, to hold fast to him and to serve him with all your heart and all your soul" (Josh. 22:4-5; cf. 23:1,6,11). In other words, now that God has given you physical rest from your enemies, strive to enter the spiritual rest of complete trust in God that will manifest itself in love for God and obedience to His commandments. As a general rule, however, the physical rest Joshua gave Israel from their enemies never translated into the spiritual rest of complete trust in God, love for God, and obedience to His commandments.
Thus the nation of Israel on the whole failed to trust God who alone could be their true rest and Sabbath. And it is the nature of God's covenant that no matter how many physical blessings He may shower on us, if we do not trust Him, we will never experience the deep spiritual rest He invites us into in covenant relation with Him. Only those who through the Spirit accept the gospel and enjoy a new covenant experience in loving relationship with God will enter that rest.
Though Israel as a whole did not enter that rest, God never gave up. Centuries later we find God, through the psalmist, appealing for the people of Israel to stop hardening their hearts (doubting and disobeying God) so that they might enter into the spiritual rest and security God had promised them: "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 [while remaining in that condition of unbelief and disobedience] enter my rest'" (Ps. 95:7-11).
Yet, even though God continued His appeals through the prophets, the majority of Israel failed to enter God's rest. One senses a deep blend of hope, frustration, and anguish permeating God's appeals to His people through the prophets Isaiah, Jeremiah, and Ezekiel:
• "This is what the Sovereign Lord, the Holy One of Israel, says: 'In repentance and rest is your salvation, in quietness and trust is your strength, but you would have none of it'" (Isa. 30:15).
• "This is what the Lord says: 'Stand at the crossroads and look; ask for the ancient paths, ask where the good way is, and walk in it, and you will find rest for your souls. But you said, "We will not walk in it" (Jer. 6:16).
• "Turn! Turn from your evil ways! Why will you die, O house of Israel" (Ezek. 33:11).
However, it is vitally important to keep this truth in mind: no one was precluded from entering God's true rest simply because that person happened to be born and live during the old covenant historical era. While "not all the Israelites accepted the good news [gospel]" (Rom. 10:16), and thus not all entered the deep spiritual covenant rest God offered them, many in the Old Testament period did. As Hebrews 11 testifies, countless thousands of Old Testament believers did through the Spirit's enabling put their trust in God, manifest the obedience that comes from faith, and thereby enter and enjoy God's covenant rest. God Himself was their true rest, their true Sabbath. The rest offered to believers in the new covenant era may be deeper, just as Christ's sacrifice surpasses the sacrifices of animals, but the experience of entering God's rest was no less real for the Old Testament believer than for the New.
Continuing the appeal to enter His rest that God had extended through the law and the prophets, Jesus appealed to those in the historical new covenant era: "Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, 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 will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light" (Matt. 11:28-30).
The Messiah had come into human history. Covenant rest was now found in Jesus during the historical new covenant era even as it had been found in the Lord[1] during the historical old covenant era. In both eras the Lord Jesus was the true Sabbath rest of His people as they put their trust in Him, relied on Him, and rested in Him.
The Sabbath-Rest That Remains for the People of God
This thematic backdrop of covenant rest, as developed in the law and the prophets and the subsequent appeal through Jesus to enter that rest, must be kept in mind if we hope to properly understand two critical chapters: Hebrews 3 and 4.
What the Bible Says
These chapters will first be quoted, followed by brief explanatory notes.
Hebrews 3:7-19
Therefore, holy brothers, who share in the heavenly calling, fix your thoughts on Jesus, the apostle and high priest whom we confess. He was faithful to the one who appointed him, just as
Moses was faithful in all God's house. Jesus has been found
worthy of greater honor than Moses, just as the builder of a house has greater honor than the house itself. For every house is built by someone, but God is the builder of everything. Moses was faithful as a servant in all God's house, testifying to what would be said in the future. But Christ is faithful as a son over God's house. And we are his house, if we hold on to our courage and the hope of which we boast. So, as the Holy Spirit says: "Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts as you did in the rebellion, during the time of testing in the desert, where your fathers tested and tried me and for forty years saw what I did. That is why I was angry with that generation, and I said, 'Their hearts are always going astray, and they have not known my ways.' So I declared on oath in my anger, 'They shall never enter my rest'" [Ps. 95:7- 11]. 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. We have come to share in Christ if we hold firmly till the end the confidence we had at first. As has been said: "Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts as you did in the rebellion" [Ps. 95:7-8]. Who were they who heard and rebelled? Were they not all those Moses led out of Egypt? And with whom was he angry for forty years? Was it not with those who sinned, whose bodies fell in the desert? 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 disbelief.
Hebrews 4:1-16
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. 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. 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. 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. 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. For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are--yet was without sin. Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need. (italics added)
These chapters begin (in 3:1-6) with references to Moses as the representative of God's grace-based, gospel-bearing, faith-inducing, and mission-directed historical old covenant and Jesus as the representative of the new. Both are honored as faithful stewards in God's house, but Jesus is as much more honored than Moses as His role is superior in the plan of salvation.
Psalm 95 is quoted (in 3:7-12), warning worshipers in the historical new covenant era against the faithless response to God that Israel demonstrated in "the rebellion" and during their experience in the wilderness. Those in the new covenant era who lack ultimate trust in God will as surely fail to enter God's covenant rest as did faithless Israel of old. This warning to new covenant worshipers appears all the more relevant and ominous in light of Jesus's warning question to the New Testament generation: "However, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on the earth?" (Luke 18:8).
Note how obedience and faith, disobedience and unbelief are used interchangeably throughout these chapters. For example, see Hebrews 3:18-19: "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 disbelief" (italics added). God never intended that faith and obedience be separated in the new covenant experience that "enters God's rest." Resting in God--trusting Him, growing in Him, relying on Him to empower us by His Spirit to love Him and obey Him--this is what it means to "enter God's rest."
Note that God's rest is equated with the gospel in chapter 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" (vv. 1-2). The same everlasting gospel that was preached through God's historical old covenant is being preached through the new. It must also be true that all those who accepted the gospel by faith in the historical old covenant era entered God's rest, just as those who accept the gospel by faith in the historical new covenant era do.
Though Joshua led Israel into Canaan so that they experienced the physical rest from their enemies God promised them, he was not able to lead them as an entire nation into the deeper spiritual rest God offered them in Himself, through faith in Him. If he had, God would not have continued appealing through David (Psalm 95) for them to enter His rest (Heb. 4:8).
"There remains, then, a Sabbath-rest for the people of God" (4:9). All eight previous uses of the word "rest" in Hebrews 3 and 4 are a translation of the Greek word katapausis. But in this verse (4:9) the author deliberately used the Greek word, sabbatismos, a word not used elsewhere in the Bible, but used in extrabiblical sources to mean observance of the seventh-day Sabbath.[2] Even someone who doesn't understand Greek can tell from the sound of this word that it makes reference to the Sabbath. The author of
Hebrews himself leaves no doubt, for in this same context he links God's continuing appeal to enter His rest to the origin of the Sabbath at creation when "on the seventh day God rested from all his work" (4:4). By declaring that a Sabbath rest remains for the covenant people of God, Hebrews rescues true Sabbath observance from the faithless legalism of Judaism into which it had fallen and restores it to its true covenant role as a sign between God and His people that He is their Creator and the only One who can make them a holy people who can enter His rest.
There were many in Israel who ceased from work on the Sabbath and attempted to abide by the more than 1,500 additional laws the rabbis had added to the Sabbath, but who failed to enter God's rest "because they pursued it not by faith but as if it were by works"--an old covenant experience (Rom. 9:32). However, it is equally true that all those in the historical old covenant period who through the Spirit enjoyed a new covenant experience and thereby entered God's rest were observing the Sabbath according to the commandment. For them Sabbath observance achieved the purpose God designed for it, pointing beyond itself to Him who is their true rest. By observing it they were drawn by His Spirit more deeply into true covenant rest in Him.
I was taught from childhood to observe the Sabbath of the fourth commandment. I know from personal experience what a burdensome yoke Sabbath observance can be when it's applied legalistically, and also what an incredible blessing it can be when it's observed in a new covenant experience. I have no doubt in my mind but that by the agency of His Spirit God has worked through the Sabbath to draw my heart out more fully toward Him and to increase my love for Him. I have no doubt that the dedication of the Sabbath hours to worship, rest, and service has resulted in great spiritual blessing not only to my own spirit but to many others as well. If not for the time provided by the Sabbath hours I would probably not have taken time to minister to these people. I tend to be a fairly high-end type-A person who totes around shamefully long to-do lists. God has used the Sabbath to help keep me in balance and focused on people to the extent that I am. I am convinced that if any damage has accrued to me or to others in my sphere of influence relative to the Sabbath, it has not resulted from my attempts to observe the Sabbath but from my failure to observe it more fully as God originally gave it and as Jesus magnified it through His own example in His Sabbath miracles. For me it points beyond itself to Him. He is my true Sabbath.
"For anyone who enters God's rest also rests from his own work, just as God did from his" (4:10). Anyone who has experienced conversion from an immoral life or from legalism knows what it means to "rest from his own work." It is rest from the hopelessness engendered by immorality and from the insecurity and dry formality engendered by legalism. Isaiah said it well: "But the wicked are like the tossing sea, which cannot rest....'There is no peace,' says my God, 'for the wicked'" (Isa. 57:20-21). To which the psalmist answers: "Great peace have they who love your law" (Ps. 119:165). No heart knows such peace and love except one that rests in God as its true Sabbath. The heart that has been set free knows the meaning of Jesus's offer: "Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest."
Sabbath rest is exemplified in the testimony of Seminar speaker Shelley J. Quinn, who began observing the seventh-day Sabbath as an adult:
I grew up in a family that demanded perfection from me. The church I attended as a youth painted a picture of a wrathful God who also demanded perfection. I thought the Heavenly Father was watching over me, ready to zap me when I missed the mark.
All of my life I was performing for acceptance--for my family's and my God's. It wasn't until the Lord taught me His Sabbath truth that I was cut free from the cord of this performance mentality.
The first time I ever experienced complete freedom from performance was on the first Sabbath I celebrated. I sensed I had been given permission to sit back, relax and enjoy-no work, no daily duties, no demands. But most of all, I had the whole day to spend with God.
I suddenly knew that I knew He would sanctify me--causing me to be all that He called me to be. Talk about entering into His rest! There is nothing like it. That's why Exodus 31:13 is my favorite Scripture about the Sabbath. It's a sign for me to remember that it is God who works in me to sanctify me--developing Christ's character of holiness.
Still, towards the end of the week, I sometimes find I'm slipping back into a performance mentality--thinking I'm not doing enough for God. But as I welcome the Sabbath, God reminds me of Galatians 3:3, "Are you so foolish? Having begun in the Spirit, are you now being made perfect by the flesh?" The Sabbath reminds me that apart from Christ, I can do nothing.
My life experience with God went through a radical transformation when I began celebrating His seventh-day Sabbath. I became aware that His grace is sufficient--His power is made perfect in my weakness.
I learned obedience is the pathway to blessing. And it's so much easier to obey, now that I know to depend totally upon Him for all things. Celebrating the Sabbath has taught me to receive God's love in a new dimension.[3]
"Let us, therefore, make every effort to enter that rest, so that no one will fall by following their example of disobedience" (4:11). The appeal here is to not be content with that form of religion that is external only and a continual burden. Sabbath-keeping that experiences nothing deeper than mere cessation from physical labor will not enter the true covenant rest of God. The striving to enter the true rest of God called for in this text is "the good fight of faith" to be fought with "the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God" and prayer, learning to trust Him and lean on Him and rest in Him through all circumstances, "for he who promised is faithful" (1 Tim. 6:12 NKJV; Eph. 6:17-18; Heb. 10:23). Anyone who responds to Jesus's invitation, "Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened," trusting His promise, "and I will give you rest" (Matt. 11:28), will not fail to enter that rest, for He has also promised, "Whoever comes to me I will never drive away" (John 6:37).[4] And those who sincerely and persistently ask God to show them His glory, that they might increasingly "grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge--that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God" (Eph. 3:18-19), will not fail to experience more and still more of His rest. Furthermore, this great truth is universal and timeless, experienced by believers of every people group and in every era of human history.
Another wonderful assurance has been granted in Hebrews 4:12-13 to all who earnestly desire a new covenant experience with God: "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." Under the supervision of the Spirit, the Word of God in Scripture received by faith searches out and destroys anything in the heart that inclines toward an old covenant experience, and will continue to produce more and still more of the fruit of righteousness that will enable the believer's witness to influence the lives of others toward the kingdom of God and true covenant rest in Him. For He has promised: "As the rain and the snow come down from heaven, and do not return to it without watering the earth and making it bud and flourish, so that it yields seed for the sower and bread for the eater, so is my word that goes out from my mouth: it will not return to me empty, but will accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose for which I sent it" (Isa. 55:10-11).
Finally, this extended passage ends (4:14-16) as it began with a focus on Jesus. He who came among us, as one like us, understands our weaknesses and can sympathize with our suffering. Being without sin, He is able to do for us everything that is necessary to secure our place in His eternal kingdom. Because He ministers constantly on our behalf from His position in heaven as our great high priest, we are called to "hold firmly to the faith we profess" and "approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need" (4:14-16). Those who by the Spirit enter God's rest will not be without temptations and trials. They may experience some failures in temporal and spiritual matters. But through eyes that have been opened by the Spirit, they discern God's throne as a throne of grace--not an indulgent, patronizing grace, but a forgiving, cleansing, and empowering grace that will supply all our needs "in our time of need." That throne of grace represents to them the constancy of His promise given long ago: "My Presence will go with you, and I will give you rest" (Exod. 33:14).
Summary
God's covenant provides spiritual rest and security for all who trust Him. God provided Israel with physical rest from their enemies and invited them to experience the deeper spiritual rest in Him through their trust in Him and confident reliance on Him to supply every need, both temporal and eternal. On the whole, due to their unbelief and disobedience, Israel failed to experience the spiritual rest God offered them in His covenant. Many, however, did experience that rest as Hebrews 11 testifies. God offers that same spiritual rest to all in the New Testament era who trust Him and exercise an obedience that comes from faith. This covenant rest has been signified in both Old and New Testament eras by the Sabbath of the fourth commandment which points beyond itself to Him who is our Creator, our Sanctifier, our true Rest, our Sabbath. "There remains, then, a Sabbath rest [Greek, sabbatismos] for the people of God."
Notes: