For we which have believed do enter into rest. The use of the present tense here ("do enter") has caused some difficulty to some expositors. Alford explains the text thus, that they are to enter into the rest who at the time of the fulfillment of the promise shall be found to have believed. Stuart points out that in "the idiom of the Bible, the
present tense is often used as a
universal tense, embracing time past, present, and future." It is indisputable that the words of the text, taken alone, suggest the subject which is stated above. And if further justification of our application of the text be needed, we may adduce two facts.
1. That our Lord promises rest - and, as we understand him, present rest - to those who believe in him (Matthew 11:28-30).
2. That faith in the Lord Jesus Christ admits the soul into rest here and now is a fact of Christian consciousness. So we proceed to consider the rest which is the present privilege and possession of those who intelligently and heartily believe in the Lord Jesus Christ.
I. REST FROM THE GUILT AND BURDEN OF SINS IS ATTAINED BY FAITH IS THE LORD JESUS CHRIST. He reveals the infinite mercy of God towards the sinner, He delivers those who trust him from the condemnation of the holy Law which they have broken (John 3:14-18; Romans 8:1). He freely and fully forgave the sinners who penitently approached unto him (Matthew 9:2; Luke 7:48-50). He imparts freedom from the bondage of sin (John 8:31-36; Romans 6:12-22). And from this forgiveness and freedom from sin there follows rest from the dread of the punishment of sin. Thus, as regards the guilt and bondage and punishment of sin, they who believe in the Savior "do enter into rest."
II. REST FROM THE PRESSURE OF TEMPORAL ANXIETIES IS ATTAINED BY FAITH IN THE LORD JESUS CHRIST. There is much of mental disquietude and distress amongst men as to the possibilities of their physical life and their temporal circumstances. What if their health should fail! if heavy losses should befall them! if gaunt poverty or dreary destitution should overtake them! Now, our Lord's teaching as to the paternal providence of God, when it is truly believed, delivers the soul from these distressing apprehensions and corroding cares (see Matthew 6:25-34; Matthew 10:29-31; Luke 12:6, 7, 22-31).
III. REST FROM THE DISTURBANCE AND DISTRESS OF SELF-WILL IS ATTAINED BY FAITH IN THE LORD JESUS CHRIST. Much of life's unrest and sorrow springs from the absence of acquiescence in the will of God; much of positive distress arises from the opposition of our will to his holy will. Faith in our Lord delivers from this. His revelation of the Divine fatherhood, when it is heartily accepted, leads to acquiescence in the Father's will, and that is rest, as he himself teaches (Matthew 11:25-30). We are led into the truth that
"Our wills are ours, we know not how;
Our wills are ours, to make them thine."
(Tennyson.) And then into the higher experience of:
"The heart at rest
When all without tumultuous seems -
That trusts a higher will, and deems
That higher will, not mine, the best. "O blessed life - heart, mind, and soul,
From self-born aims and wishes free,
In all at one with Deity,
And loyal to the Lord's control."
(Matson.)
IV. REST FROM UNSATISFIED AFFECTIONS IS ATTAINED BY FAITH IN THE LORD JESUS CHRIST. One of the deepest needs of the human heart is to love and to be loved in return. Unreciprocated and misdirected affections cause some of the bitterest griefs of human life. Our Lord summons us to set our supreme affections upon God (Mark 12:29, 80). As the Object of our highest and holiest love, God satisfies, inspires, and delights the soul; for he is supremely good and beautiful. He reciprocates our affections; he is unchangeable, and he ever liveth.
"Oh for that choicest blessing
Of living in thy love,
And thus on earth possessing
The peace of heaven above! Oh for the bliss that by it
The soul securely knows,
The holy calm and quiet
Of faith's serene repose!"
(Monsell.)
V. REST FROM THE SOREST SORROWS OF BEREAVEMENT AND FROM THE DREAD OF DEATH IS ATTAINED BY FAITH IN THE LORD JESUS CHRIST. Concerning our beloved departed, "Jesus saith, Thy brother shall rise again.... I am the Resurrection and the Life," etc. He has taken the sting from death and the victory from the grave (1 Corinthians 15:54-57). "Our Savior Jesus Christ abolished death, and brought life and incorruption to light through the gospel." And now to the genuine Christian
"There is no death!
What seems so is transition.
This life of mortal breath
Is but a suburb of the life elysian,
Whose portal we call death."
(Longfellow) To enter into and enjoy this spiritual rest is a privilege available to us here and now. "For we which have believed do enter into that rest." - W.J.
If Jesus [Joshua] had given them rest.
1.
The first is in this difference, that Joshua conquered Canaan not only for the people of Israel, but also for himself, that he might have his part and portion with them for him and his posterity (Joshua 18:49, 50). But our Lord Jesus hath purchased that heavenly Canaan only for our sakes, having had the possession of it before His incarnation Himself by the right of inheritance. He had a glory with God before the world was (John 17:5).2. The second difference is, Joshua did not conquer Canaan by himself alone, but had all the tribes of Israel to assist as his auxiliaries in his conquest; but our Lord Jesus hath by Himself alone purchased that heavenly inheritance. He saith, "I have trodden the winepress alone, and none were with Me" (Isaiah 63:3).
3. The third disparity is, the conquest of Canaan did not cost Joshua bloodshed or death; but our eternal inheritance cost Christ both His bloodshed and death (Hebrews 9:26; 1 Peter 1:18, 19).
4. The fourth is, Joshua could not quite expel the Canaanites out of Canaan (Joshua 15:63; Joshua 16:10, dec.). But our blessed Jesus hath perfectly subdued Satan, sin, and death to us, that nothing shall eternally harm us (John 16:33; 1 John 5:4: Revelation 12:11).
()
We are told in a certain legend that one day Rabbi Judah and his brethren, the seven pillars of wisdom, sat in the Temple on a feast day, disputing about rest. One said that it was to have attained sufficient wealth, yet without sin. The second, that it was fame and praise of all men. The third, that it was the possession of power to rule the state. The fourth, that it consisted only in a happy home. The fifth, that it must be in the old age of one who is rich, powerful, famous, surrounded by children's children. The sixth said that all that were vain, unless a man kept all the ritual law of Moses. And Rabbi Judah, the venerable, the tallest of the brothers, said, "Ye have all spoken wisely, but one thing more is necessary: he can only find rest who to all these things addeth this, that he keepeth the tradition of the elders." There sat in the court a fair-haired boy, playing with his lilies in his lap, and hearing the talk, dropped them with astonishment from his hands and looked up — that boy of twelve, and said, "Nay, nay, fathers, he only loveth rest who loves his brother as himself, and God with his whole heart and soul! He is greater than wealth and fame and power, happier than a happy home, happy without it, better than honoured age, he is a law to himself, and above all tradition." The doctors were astonished. They said, When Christ cometh, shall He tell us greater things? And they thanked God; for, they said, old men are not always wise; yet God be praised, that out of the mouth of this young suckling has His praise become perfect.()
There is a rebelliousness against himself in man — a disgust with himself. "We are weary: give us rest," said a tribe to one of their missionaries; and that tribe expresses the feeling of every human being.
People
David, Hebrews, JoshuaPlaces
JerusalemTopics
Afterward, Afterwards, Anything, Future, Joshua, Later, Rest, Speak, Speaking, SpokenOutline
1. The Sabbath-Rest for Christians is attained by faith.
12. The power of God's word.
14. By our high priest Jesus, the Son of God,
16. we may and must go boldly to the throne of grace.
Dictionary of Bible Themes
Hebrews 4:1-11 5059 rest, eternal
Hebrews 4:8-9
5059 rest, eternal
Hebrews 4:8-10
4975 week
Hebrews 4:8-11
1680 types
Library
February 22. "He that Hath Entered into his Rest Hath Ceased from his Own Works Even as God did from His" (Heb. Iv. 10).
"He that hath entered into His rest hath ceased from his own works even as God did from His" (Heb. iv. 10). What a rest it would be to many of us if we could but exchange burdens with Christ, and so utterly and forever transfer to Him all our cares and needs that we would not feel henceforth responsible for our burdens, but know that He has undertaken all the care, and that our faith is simply to carry His burdens, and that He prays, labors, and suffers only for us and our interests. This is what …
Rev. A. B. Simpson—Days of Heaven Upon Earth October 18. "All Things are Naked and Open unto the Eyes of Him with whom we have to Do" (Heb. Iv. 13).
"All things are naked and open unto the eyes of Him with whom we have to do" (Heb. iv. 13). The literal translation of this phrase is, all things are stripped and stunned. This is the force of the Greek words. The figure is that of an athlete in the Coliseum who has fought his best in the arena, and has at length fallen at the feet of his adversary, disarmed and broken down in helplessness. There he lies, unable to strike a blow, or lift his arm. He is stripped and stunned, disarmed and disabled, …
Rev. A. B. Simpson—Days of Heaven Upon Earth
April 23. "An High Priest Touched with the Feeling of Our Infirmities" (Heb. Iv. 15).
"An high priest touched with the feeling of our infirmities" (Heb. iv. 15). Some time ago we were talking with a greatly suffering sister about healing, who was much burdened physically and desirous of being able to trust the Lord for deliverance. After a little conversation we prayed with her, committing her case to the Lord for absolute trust and deliverance as she was prepared to claim. As soon as we closed our prayer she grasped our hand, and asked us to unite with her in the burden that was …
Rev. A. B. Simpson—Days of Heaven Upon Earth
October 22. "Touched with the Feeling of Our Infirmities" (Heb. Iv. 15).
"Touched with the feeling of our infirmities" (Heb. iv. 15). Some of us know a little what it is to be thrilled with a sense of the sufferings of others, and sometimes, the sins of others, and sins that seem to saturate us as they come in contact with us, and throw over us an awful sense of sin and need. This is, perhaps, intended to give us some faint conception of the sympathy that Jesus felt when He had taken our sins, our sicknesses and our sorrows. Let us not hesitate to lay them on Him! It …
Rev. A. B. Simpson—Days of Heaven Upon Earth
The Throne of Grace
In order to such prayer, the work of the Holy Ghost himself is needed. If prayer were of the lips alone, we should only need breath in our nostrils to pray: if prayer were of the desires alone, many excellent desires are easily felt, even by natural men: but when it is the spiritual desire, and the spiritual fellowship of the human spirit with the Great Spirit, then the Holy Ghost himself must be present all through it, to help infirmity, and give life and power, or else true prayer will never be …
Charles Haddon Spurgeon—Spurgeon's Sermons Volume 17: 1871
Heavenly Rest
"My rest," says God: the rest of God! Something more wonderful than any other kind of rest. In my text it is (in the original) called the Sabbatism--not the Sabbath, but the rest of the Sabbath--not the outward ritual of the Sabbath, which was binding upon the Jew, but the inward spirit of the sabbath, which is the joy and delight of the Christian. "There remaineth therefore"--because others have not had it, because some are to have it--"There remaineth therefore a rest to the people of God." Now, …
Charles Haddon Spurgeon—Spurgeon's Sermons Volume 3: 1857
How Should we Make Use of Christ, in Going to the Father, in Prayer, and Other Acts of Worship?
In short, for answering of this question, I shall lay down those particulars: 1. There should be a lively sense of the infinite distance that is between the great God and us finite creatures, and yet more betwixt the Holy Ghost and us sinful wretches. 2. There should be an eyeing of Christ as the great peacemaker, through his death and merits having satisfied justice and reconciled sinners unto God; that so we may look on God now no more as an enemy, but as reconciled in Jesus. 3. There should be, …
John Brown (of Wamphray)—Christ The Way, The Truth, and The Life
Entrance into Rest.
Hebrews 4:1.--Let us therefore fear, lest, a promise being left us of entering into His rest, any of you should seem to come short of it. Hebrews 4:11.--Let us labor therefore to enter into that rest, lest any man fall after the same example of unbelief. I want, in the simplest way possible, to answer the question: "How does a man enter into that rest?" and to point out the simple steps that he takes, all included in the one act of surrender and faith. And the first step, I think, is this: that a …
Andrew Murray—The Master's Indwelling
What Now is Become of this True Church, or Where must the Man Go...
What now is become of this true church, or where must the man go, who would fain be a living member of it? He need go nowhere; because wherever he is, that which is to save him, and that which he is to be saved from, is always with him. SELF is all the evil that he has, and God is all the goodness that he ever can have; but self is always with him, and God is always with him. Death to self is his only entrance into the church of life, and nothing but God can give death to self. Self is an inward …
William Law—An Humble, Affectionate, and Earnest Address to the Clergy
To-Morrow
"There remaineth therefore a rest to the people of God."--Heb. iv. 9. J. S. Kunth, 1700. tr., Emma Frances Bevan, 1899 There is a Day of rest before thee-- Thou weary soul, arise and shine. Awhile the clouds hung darkly o'er thee, Awhile the captive's chains were thine. Behold, the Lamb of God will lead thee To still green pastures round the throne; Cast off thy burden, rise and speed thee, For soon the battle storm is done-- For soon the weary race is past, And thou shalt rest in Love at last. …
Frances Bevan—Hymns of Ter Steegen and Others (Second Series)
The Sabbath Year
Gerhard Ter Steegen Heb. iv. 10 Oft comes to me a blessed hour, A wondrous hour and still-- With empty hands I lay me down, No more to work or will. An hour when weary thought has ceased, The eyes are closed in rest; And, hushed in Heaven's untroubled peace, I lie upon Thy breast. Erewile I reasoned of Thy truth, I searched with toil and care; From morn to night I tilled my field, And yet my field was bare. Now, fed with corn from fields of Heaven The fruit of Hands Divine, I pray no prayer, …
Frances Bevan—Hymns of Ter Steegen, Suso, and Others
Whiter than Snow
Gerhard Ter Steegen Heb. iv. 14 To heart and soul how sweet Thou art, O great High Priest of God! My heart brought nigh to God's own heart By Thy most precious blood. No more my countless sins shall rise To fill me with dismay-- That precious blood before His eyes Hath put them all away. My soul draws near with trust secure, With boldness glad and free; What matters it that I am poor, For I am rich in Thee. Forgotten every stain and spot, Their memory past and gone, For me, O God, Thou seest …
Frances Bevan—Hymns of Ter Steegen, Suso, and Others
Old-Testament Gospel Heb 4:02
…
John Newton—Olney Hymns
John Newton the Word Quick and Powerful. Heb 4:12,13
…
John Newton—Olney Hymns
Statement of Faith.
1. We believe in one Unbegotten [428] God, Father Almighty, maker of all things both visible and invisible, that hath His being from Himself. And in one Only-begotten Word, Wisdom, Son, begotten of the Father without beginning and eternally; word not pronounced [429] nor mental, nor an effluence [430] of the Perfect, nor a dividing of the impassible Essence, nor an issue [431] ; but absolutely perfect Son, living and powerful (Heb. iv. 12), the true Image of the Father, equal in honour and glory. …
Athanasius—Select Works and Letters or Athanasius
The Power of God's Word to Convict Men of Sin.
In Hebrews 4:12 we have a Scripture which draws attention to this peculiar characteristic of the Bible--"For the Word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any two edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, andis a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart." The writings of men may sometimes stir the emotions, search the conscience, and influence the human will, but in a manner and degree possessed by no other book the Bible …
Arthur W. Pink—The Divine Inspiration of the Bible
The Great High-Priest.
"Having then a great High-priest, Who hath passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. For we have not a high-priest that cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but One that hath been in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin. Let us therefore draw near with boldness unto the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy, and may find grace to help us in time of need. For every high-priest, being taken from among men, is appointed for …
Thomas Charles Edwards—The Expositor's Bible: The Epistle to the Hebrews
Rest
THE Master had much to say to his beloved children about this festival of God. It was of this that he delighted to tell them. Whilst the pestilence, and the war, and the persecution of Rome, were desolating the city, Master Tauler dwelt in the gladness of the bridal chamber, and told to the weary and sorrowful around him, the things that he had seen and heard. And thus it came to pass that many entered in, and found themselves in that inner chamber of rest, and peace, and joy, and to them "the curse …
Frances Bevan—Three Friends of God
Our Compassionate High Priest
"Who can have compassion on the ignorant, and on them that are out of the way; for that he himself also is compassed with infirmity."--Hebrews 5:2 The high priest looked Godward, and therefore he had need to be holy; for he had to deal with things pertaining to God. But at the same time he looked manward; it was for men that he was ordained, that, through him, they might deal with God; and therefore he had need to be tender. It was necessary that he should be one who could have sympathy with men; …
Charles Haddon Spurgeon—Spurgeon's Sermons Volume 38: 1892
Sixteenth Day for the Power of the Holy Spirit in Our Sabbath Schools
WHAT TO PRAY.--For the Power of the Holy Spirit in our Sabbath Schools "Thus saith the Lord, Even the captives of the mighty shall be taken away, and the prey of the terrible shall be delivered: for I will contend with him that contendeth with thee, and I will save thy children."--ISA. xlix. 25. Every part of the work of God's Church is His work. He must do it. Prayer is the confession that He will, the surrender of ourselves into His hands to let Him, work in us and through us. Pray for the hundreds …
Andrew Murray—The Ministry of Intercession
Here is the Sum of My Examination Before Justice Keelin, Justice Chester, Justice Blundale, Justice Beecher, Justice Snagg, Etc.
After I had lain in prison above seven weeks, the quarter-sessions were to be kept in Bedford, for the county thereof, unto which I was to be brought; and when my jailor had set me before those justices, there was a bill of indictment preferred against me. The extent thereof was as followeth: That John Bunyan, of the town of Bedford, labourer, being a person of such and such conditions, he hath (since such a time) devilishly and perniciously abstained from coming to church to hear Divine service, …
John Bunyan—Grace Abounding to the Chief of Sinners
The Saints' Privilege and Profit;
OR, THE THRONE OF GRACE ADVERTISEMENT BY THE EDITOR. The churches of Christ are very much indebted to the Rev. Charles Doe, for the preservation and publishing of this treatise. It formed one of the ten excellent manuscripts left by Bunyan at his decease, prepared for the press. Having treated on the nature of prayer in his searching work on 'praying with the spirit and with the understanding also,' in which he proves from the sacred scriptures that prayer cannot be merely read or said, but must …
John Bunyan—The Works of John Bunyan Volumes 1-3
The Water of Life;
OR, A DISCOURSE SHOWING THE RICHNESS AND GLORY OF THE GRACE AND SPIRIT OF THE GOSPEL, AS SET FORTH IN SCRIPTURE BY THIS TERM, THE WATER OF LIFE. BY JOHN BUNYAN. 'And whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely.'--Revelation 22:17 London: Printed for Nathanael Ponder, at the Peacock in the Poultry, 1688. ADVERTISEMENT BY THE EDITOR. Often, and in every age, the children of God have dared to doubt the sufficiency of divine grace; whether it was vast enough to reach their condition--to cleanse …
John Bunyan—The Works of John Bunyan Volumes 1-3
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