I was listening to one of our secular news and talk radio stations one morning this past week. And there was an innocent joke, of all things, about our subject this morning.
A married couple was having a debate about who should get out of bed in the mornings to brew the coffee. Finally, the wife told her husband that it was his responsibility according to the Bible. The husband wanted to know where it said that. So she opened to a part of the New Testament where, across the top of the page it said, “He brews.”
I figured a little levity has been needed as we continue in this book which has such a sobering theme.
And I found it interesting that on a secular station there would even be the memory that at one time the Bible was considered to be a guide to how we might behave. Even among born again Christians in Bible churches it seems that there has come to be a rather casual attitude toward the Word of God. We seem to be trending toward an obedience-optional form of the Christian faith so often in the U.S. these days.
And maybe that’s because many have eliminated the concept of fear from our personal relationship to God. We have gotten so used to emphasizing the love, grace and forgiveness of God through Jesus that I would imagine a number of Christians might believe that the need to also fear the Lord is strictly an Old Testament concept.
However, a careful examination of Hebrews 4 will quickly dispel that notion. The writer to the Hebrews strongly suggests that a good ol’ dose of fear of the Lord is exactly what any true believer needs to finish well as a believer. In fact, I believe a good summary of chapter 4 is this: Fear God Today to Finish Well Tomorrow.
That certainly seems to be theme of the first 10 verses of chapter 4.
Remember, the Book of Hebrews was written to encourage Jewish Christians in the first century who had experienced years, even decades of persecution, to continue in their faith. The concern was that in order to find some relief this side of eternity these believers would abandon faith in Christ and return to Judaism in order to avoid the continuing persecution they were experiencing.
In chapter 3 we were introduced to Psalm 95 which recalled the wilderness wanderings of Israel under Moses for 40 years. And we were told to take heed of Psalm 95’s warning, “Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts as when they provoked Me in the wilderness.” And Hebrews 4 continues with that theme this morning.
Based on that warning from Psalm 95, Hebrews 4:1 encourages even New Testament believers, you and me, to fear, of all things.
“Therefore, let us fear if, while a promise remains of entering His rest, any one of you may seem to have come short of it”
The writer is clearly drawing a parallel between what happened to the Jews in the wilderness physically and what can happen to believers under the New Covenant spiritually. The warning at the end of chapter 3 was that not a few, but nearly all of Israel, because of their persistent unbelief and disobedience, because they hardened their hearts against God’s Word, had wandered in the wilderness for 40 years, had died physically, and had never entered what had been promised—the Promised Land.
And he’s telling us that it could happen to any of us who grow weary of following Christ to the point of abandoning our faith.
Now clearly the Promised Land was clearly the “rest” that had been promised to the Jews under Moses. However, as we’ve read, it becomes clear that the ultimate “rest” for Jews and believers goes beyond the Promised Land. Because here in chapter four, while speaking to Jewish Christians who were now living in the Promised Land, the statement is made that a promise still remains of entering His (God’s) rest once again.
Now this provides us with one of the major interpretive problems with understanding Hebrews 4. What is this “rest” that goes beyond the Promised Land for believers consist of? Exactly what is the writer of the Hebrews warning that we may lose if we abandon Christ?
There are a significant number of respected scholars who insist that this “rest,” which is later called a Sabbath-rest for God’s people, a “faith-rest,” an experience that a true believer may come to have in his spiritual life in which because of his maturity and faith, he comes to experience a greater level of assurance and peace in his walk here on earth.
With all due respect to those who teach this, I disagree. I believe throughout this book that the issue has to do with salvation. And although it is not possible for true believers to lose their salvation, it is possible for folks who abandon Christ to demonstrate that they were never saved in the first place. And that this is what this book is warning those of us who are believers against.
That’s one reason I reject this view. A couple others are these: I don’t find the concept of a “faith-rest” or arriving in your faith taught in other places in Scripture. The Apostle Paul speaks of continually striving to reach for the purpose God has for him in Philippians and makes the statement elsewhere that he dies daily—He dies to sin and self, daily. And my personal experience is that this is the kind of experience that I see all believers going through—I haven’t come across any nor have I experienced this faith-rest, as though I have arrived as a believer. There’s always a stiving in pursuit of following Christ.
I believe that the rest that Hebrews is talking about here in chapter is Heaven. And He’s saying this promise of receiving it has not yet been fulfilled, but that this promise still remains to be obtained, though it’s possible for any of us at some point to seem to have come short of it—if we fall away from Christ, as Hebrews 3:12 warns against.
I believe there is a strict parallel being drawn between the physical experience of the Jews in the Wilderness and the potential eternal experience, blessing or not, for believers under the New Covenant. I believe that the rest of the Promised Land promised to Jews in the Wilderness is the parallel and equivalent to Heaven, the Kingdom of God, which has been promised to Christians, Jew or Gentile, in the New Testament.
And the command to us is that if we would want to avoid the awful fate that befell the Jews in the wilderness, an even more awful fate, spiritual death, is that we need to fear. We need to fear God. If you fall away from Christ, the consequences will be eternally awful, and because they would be eternally awful, they would be hell, then, my goodness, the only appropriate response is fear.
And I think it’s precisely because we have under-emphasized fear in our evangelical subculture today, that so many take the relationship for God for granted and turn the grace of God into a license to do whatever they please.
Beginning in verse 2, the writer presses the parallel between the experience of the Jews in the wilderness and the experience of believers in the world. “For indeed, we have had good news preached to us, just as they also, but the word they heard did not profit them, because it was not united by faith in those who heard.” Now the good news that was preached to the Jews by Moses was different in content from the Good News preached to us. The Good News preached to the Jews was that if they believed and obeyed God, they would receive the rest of the Promised Land, mentioned as such in Deuteronomy 3, 12 and 25. The Good News preached to the New Testament believer is that through faith in Christ, who died for our sins, we would receive the promised eternal life in God’s Kingdom to come.
But the overwhelming majority of the Jews of that first generation that came out of Egypt never entered the Promised Land. And verse 2 explains why—because, ultimately the word, the good news that they heard, was not mixed or united by faith in the hearts of those who heard. At the critical point of entry into the Promised Land, when 10 of the 12 spies brought back a bad report about the giants in the Land, because of unbelief, the Jews rebelled against God and refused to enter the Promised Land.
Now there’s a surprising parallel here. Now, under the New Testament, with Jesus as our Prophet and mediator, 12 disciples have been sent out preaching the Good News or Gospel of Christ, and it is incumbent on us not to repeat Israel’s failure. We must continue to believe, and obey Christ—the message of the Gospel must be combined with faith in our hearts so that we do not fail to enter in to what God has promised us—which is heaven and the Eternal Kingdom of God.
And by way of warning, he again, for now the third time, quotes Psalm 95—but the part we don’t like to hear. Verse 3: “For we who have believed enter that rest, just as He said, “As I swore in my Wrath, they shall not enter My rest—although His works were finished from the foundation of the world.”
So on the one hand we have the assurance that faith saves us, but an encouragement to heed the warning of what happened to the Jews when they failed to believe.
And then an interesting concept is introduced—that God finished his works of creation and rested from them from the foundation of the World.
And now it becomes evident that he’s talking about a rest that goes beyond just the Promised Land—an eternal rest, what could be called the Sabbath rest of God, which is what heaven represents to the New Testament believer.
To drive this point home he quotes Genesis 2:2: “For He has said somewhere concerning the seventh day; “And God rested on the seventh day from all his works”: and again in this passage “They shall not enter my rest.” And the sense is that for us at least, and maybe to some degree for them, something more than just the Promised Land is at risk here—it is the Sabbath Rest of God in Heaven that is available to all who believe.
In verse 6 he presses the point again that this promise of entering this rest still remains, though some in the past had failed to enter it. “Therefore, since it remains for some to enter it, and those who formerly had good news preached to them failed to enter because of disobedience, He (God) again fixes a certain day, “Today,” saying through David after so long a time as has been said before, “Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts.”
So the author makes note of the point that Psalm 95 was written 450 years after the experience of the Jews in the wilderness. And that the Holy Spirit by making use of the word “Today” indicates both that the promise still remained for believers at that time, or at any time that may be called “Today” to enter into God’s rest. He again mentioned that some failed when they heard, but if you are hearing this today, then today applies to you. Right here and right now, don’t repeat their error. Don’t harden your heart when God speaks.
And then he drives home the point that the rest that is now at stake is beyond what Joshua promised—the Promised Land. Verse 8: “For if Joshua had given them rest, he would not have spoken of another day after that. So there remains a Sabbath rest for the people of God. For the one who has entered His rest has himself also rested from his works, as God did from his.”
To me, obviously, this Sabbath Rest is Heaven. It is eternal life. We are not encouraged to cease from our works of faith and obedience before Heaven. We are told elsewhere that we will rest in the Kingdom to Come, in Heaven, with God at rest. But while we are still here, we are to continue, as we can, to believe and obey. We don’t get a timeout here. We get a timeout in heaven. It is he who endures to the end who will be saved, as Jesus said.
So his point is this: Today, right here and right now, if you hear God’s voice, whatever you do, don’t harden your heart. Don’t take your rest now. The rest comes later, when you enter in, by continuing to endure to the end in this life.
About this the late Ray Stedman wrote, “These words must be taken seriously. The Word of God knows nothing of the easy believism that is so widely manifest in our own day. We think we can receive Jesus as Savior, raise our hand to accept Christ, and that settles the mater. We will go to heaven and there can never be any doubt about it from then on, though there is no change in our life. But the promise of Christ is that when He comes into the human heart there is a radical change of government which must inevitably result in a change of behavior. Unless that takes place, there has been no reality to our conversion.”
Fear God Today to Finish Well tomorrow and unto the end.
So the question that now might be asked is how do we do this. What becomes evident in the rest of the chapter is the vital role of the Word of God and prayer in this matter of persevering.
First, were told in verses 11-13, to let the living, penetrating, active Word of God direct you to persevere.
“Therefore, let us be diligent to enter that rest, so that no one will fall, following that same example of disobedience. For the Word of God is living and active and sharper than any two-edged sword and piercing as far as the division of soul and spirit and joints and marrow, and able to judge the thought and intentions of the heart.”
Pay attention to the Word of God—the Bible in this whole matter. These are not some dead letters written on the page. These are the living, inspired words of God which the Holy Spirit actively and energetically uses in our lives, which penetrates and reveals the thoughts and intentions of our hearts. It is so incisive, so penetrating, so revealing, that is able to do what no one and nothing else can do—it can resolve the notorious mystery of the difference between soul and spirit; it is so exacting, it can separate the joints, the bone from the marrow, which if you pay attention to any cut bone you can tell is nearly as difficult to define as the difference between soul and spirit. The Word of God is able to detect your motives, and open your own thinking and ways before you as well as before God.
And there is an accountability to it. Verse 13: “And there is no creature hidden from His sight, but all things are open and laid bare to the eyes of Him with whom we have to do.” Another reason to fear. God knows and the Word of God will reveal to us what’s really going on in our hearts, and will reveal and direct to us the way in which we ought to go—and that is to persevere with a pure heart before our all-knowing God. So be in the Word, and do not harden your hearts against it.
And then there’s the matter of prayer—prayer to a great High Priest who has the power to enable us to persevere. Pray to your Great High Priest for power to persevere.
Verse 14: Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession.
In other words, Jesus has gone the same way we have gone. He is the pioneer of our faith. He is the great high priest whose blood made it possible for us to even have a right relationship with God. And he passed through the heavens—that is He ascended on High—he made it, he successfully made it and because of Him, and his help, His power, we can too.
Verse 15: “For we do not have a high priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but One who has been tempted in all things as we are, yet without sin.” So He knows and understands the temptations and the trials we go through, and He sympathizes. He knows it’s hard. Because He too has been tempted, and yet without sin.
“Verse 16, “Therefore, let us draw near with confidence to the throne of grace so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.”
In other words, you’re tempted, your tested, your tired! Go to the throne. Pray. Pray as though your life depends on it. Because the One who hears understands, He’s merciful, and you will find grace to help in time of need.
The power of prayer made to your great High Priest who sympathizes with your weaknesses, He will enable you to endure, no matter what.
As I reflect now on my 50 years of following Christ, I had no idea the kinds of things I would experience, and especially how great the temptations would sometimes be. I absolutely cling to this verse. I cling to the example of Jesus praying in the Garden of Gethsemane when he confessed, “Lord, please, if possible, take this cup (the cross) from me. But not my will, but thine be done.” I have prayed that prayer over and over again in times of the most intense temptation, times when I feared I would fall to great sin, fall away from my confession, discourage those who have followed me as I followed Christ, and God has always, incredibly been faithful to make a way, to strengthen, to even provide in advance in the most amazing ways, so that I would indeed find grace in time of great need.
Take it to the bank. You spend time in the Word, and you depend on God in prayer, and when you fear today, you will finish well tomorrow.
