Heb 4

Hastening to enter God’s rest

If you cover this chapter in two studies, break e.g. after Q2  and end with Q6.1, 6.2, 6.4 in the first session.

Context: Heb 1 quoted no less than 7 psalms to prove that Messiah is superior to angels. Therefore, Heb 2 infers, we must listen more carefully than the Israelites under Moses. Otherwise, we too will miss what the message of salvation by faith really says. For in the house where Moses was a servant, Jesus is the heir. We are his house, but only if we continue to hope in him and do not harden our hearts in the unbelief that caused the Israelites to disobey (Heb 3).

Outline: Quoting Ps 95, Heb 4 now teaches believers how they will be saved from falling away: They will remain believers and be saved from such hardening and disobedience only by following the voice that leads them day by day (3:13) in “making haste” (gr. spoudazo) to enter God’s own perpetual “Sabbath rest” (4:11). Ps 95 promised such rest to the people of God (4:9). Ceasing from their own works (4:10) – i.e. ceasing to rely on their merits – they enter the Sabbath rest of God himself (4:11) through faith in the work of God: A work that God prepared before the creation of the world and now carries out through his living word (4:12), so that with confidence we draw near to his throne to find grace, mercy and help (4:16).

Warm-up: Have you ever hiked with a group where a disagreement arose half way about whether you were on the right path to safely reach your destination? How did you resolve this?

Read: Hebrews 4

1) v1 begins with another “Therefore…”: What is the therefore there for? 

[The reasoning goes like this: Since all Israelites under Moses fell by unbelief (Heb 3), therefore (Heb 4:1) believers now must by no means return to that same weak law of Moses as their guide]  => Find out by asking:

  • Of whom did the preceding verse (3:19) speak, and what fault was found in these people?
  • By contrast, who is addressed in 4:1?
    • Let us fear/tremble… (gr. phobethomen, lit. let us have a phobia): About what? =>
  • …lest you seem to fall behind…: What does it mean to “fall behind” [gr. hystereo, lit. be posterior, at the end, being too late]?
    • Louis Segond translated well: “… qu’aucun de vous ne paraisse être venu trop tard “(that none of you will seem to have come too late)

2) vv1-10: What ‘Sabbath rest’ are Heb 4 and Ps 95 talking about?

  • v8 states that even though the Israelites conquered the land of Canaan (Jos 11:23), they didn’t thereby already “enter that rest” which God had promised. Why not?
    • What is the “other later day” spoken of? =>
  • Is the Sabbath rest only a metaphor for an afterlife in heaven, or rather a metaphor of our sanctification in the present life? How can we know? =>
    • v1 “…let us fear (gr. phobethomen)…”: If it were about the day you die, how could a phobia  about being late help anyone to enter that rest more on time?
    • v1 “…lest any of you should seem to have failed to reach it” [gr. dokeo, passive: i.e. to appear as one falling behind in the opinion of someone else]: Why can’t this refer to the day when you die? [cf v11: On that day, it will no longer be a matter of appearances] =>
    • If someone can now seem to be wanting of “rest”, when must such resting begin? In this life, or only after death? If only upon death,
  • v10: Do believers enter this rest only in the future? Or already on the day when they repent of their own works to turn to faith instead?
    • Hint: Why is v10 not in the future tense (not: “whoever will enter”, but “whoever has entered has rested”)? =>
    • Are men of faith resting and working at the same time? cf Ecc 4:6 Read Phil 3:6-8 => Which works did Paul consider a loss once he came to believe in Jesus?
    • How do ‘works’ of faith differ from works ‘of the law’?

3) vv11-13 starts with a paradox about haste and resting: What does it mean to make haste to enter God’s rest?

  • v11 “Make haste, therefore,…”: What makes the haste (or eagerness) worthwhile and necessary, v10? [The urgency of v11 comes from v1: We must find such rest in Christ during this life to not come too late. cf Noah’s story: Once the flood came, it was too late to enter the ark]
  • “...so that no one may fall by the same sort of disobedience”: What would be the “same sort”?
    • Did the Israelites fall because they broke the law, or because they refused to believe? Heb 3:19
    • Why such emphasis on “the same sort” of disobedience?
  • v11: What will protect believers from falling?
    • The zealous pursuit of a resting that can only be found in an afterlife (Ro 10:1-3)? Or entering God’s rest here and now?
    • How many who so enter may nonetheless fall away from faith?
  • What does v12 emphasize about God’s word?
    • v12 begins with “For…..”. => What preceding claim in v11 is proven by v12? Hint:
    • Why will no one fall who entered God’s rest? What will now ensure that they will persevere and stay believers to the end and never fall short of God’s rest? Anything within the believer himself?
    • How will the living word of God continue to cut away whatever is not becoming of a Christian?
  • v13: How can being ‘naked and exposed’ to the sight of God be useful to stay a believer and not return to dead moralism? cf Rev 3:17-18

4) Read Heb 3:14 … for we share in Christ, if indeed we hold our original confidence firm to the end: Now that Heb 4 explained how to do this, how would you summarize it in your own words?

  • Why do you think would anyone throw away this confidence of resting in God’s grace?
  • If you would throw it away, what would this prove? Why?

5) vv14-16 (if short on time, save for Heb 5): On what basis then will believers have confidence to pray?

  • v14: What is the difference between “holding fast to our profession” versus holding fast to God’s commandments? Why does it matter to know?
  • v15: What distinguishes the high priest that Christians confess from those that the Jews had in Old Testament times?
  • v16: What difference does that make for how one can now pray to God? =>
    • Would it make sense for God to ever reinstall and approve of a ceremonial worship according to Mosaic law in a future temple in Jerusalem, with a human high priest who brings animal sacrifices?
    • Why not?

6) Personal and application

  1. What does this chapter give you to help find out whether you are ‘in Christ’?
  2. If you think that you have your share in Christ (Heb 3:14), do you think you also have with this a firm promise that you will always stay a believer? What makes you confident (or uncertain) about that?
  3. Asked to be eager and to ‘strive’ to enter God’s rest (v11), what is your reaction: Do you regard this as a burden, a threat, a confusing command, a promise,… or what else? The very fact that God’s word asks you to do this, does that put you in ‘motion’, and if so, in what sense or what direction?
  4. Jesus promised: “Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest” (Mt 11:28). Have you found such rest, and if so, how? How do you explain to a child how to ‘come to Jesus’? How does that compare to how Hebrews explained here how to find rest? Does your ‘childproof’ explanation need an update, or any footnotes? Why or why not?
  5. Do you find anything in this chapter how you may help each other to not lose faith and its boldness and confidence in sincere prayers?

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