Hebrews 4:4 – 11
With the Finger of God
For he spake in a certain place of the seventh day on this wise, And God did rest the seventh day from all his works. (Hebrews 4:4)
And in this place again, If they shall enter into my rest. (Hebrews 4:5)
Seeing therefore it remaineth that some must enter therein, and they to whom it was first preached entered not in because of unbelief: (Hebrews 4:6)
Again, he limiteth a certain day, saying in David, To day, after so long a time; as it is said, To day if ye will hear his voice, harden not your hearts.(Hebrews 4:7)
For if Jesus had given them rest, then would he not afterward have spoken of another day. (Hebrews 4:8)
There remaineth therefore a rest to the people of God. (Hebrews 4:9)
For he that is entered into his rest, he also hath ceased from his own works, as God did from his. (Hebrews 4:10)
Let us labour therefore to enter into that rest, lest any man fall after the same example of unbelief. (Hebrews 4:11)
When God the Almighty called Moses to the top of Mount Sinai, God prepared two tables of stone with His own hand, and with His finger wrote upon the stones what He required from each and every man on the face of the earth. These were the ten commandments on these first two stones written by the fiery finger of God to reveal to man: mans need of God. This was not divine inspiration, this was God writing on stone with His fiery finger. A God who can be so direct in His thoughts to man is not going to vary from that through His further revelation of Himself to man. The revelation of God is pure and true. It has not been defiled by the instrument of man, for the Holy Spirit of God has brooded or hovered over it to its very completion in the Book of the Revelation of Jesus Christ. The revelation of God to man is the communication of God to mans conscience to awaken the very soul of man to his need of God’s redemption in the very Person of God. The divine Spirit of God must move through the pulsating of the heart for it is with the heart that man believes.
That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. (Romans 10:9)
For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. (Romans 10:10)
And Philip said, If thou believest with all thine heart, thou mayest. And he answered and said, I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God. (Acts 8:37)
The Sabbath Day
It is God the Holy Spirit who establishes belief in the heart of man. He reveals the Almighty God to man, just as in divine revelation, He has revealed the sabbath day. This sabbath day was given to Moses by divine revelation. Remember, Moses was on Mount Sinai when God gave to him the holy commandment of the Sabbath day.
Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy. (Exodus 20:8)
Six days shalt thou labour, and do all thy work: (Exodus 20:9)
But the seventh day is the sabbath of the LORD thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates: (Exodus 20:10)
For in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore the LORD blessed the sabbath day, and hallowed it. (Exodus 20:11)
Speak thou also unto the children of Israel, saying, Verily my sabbaths ye shall keep: for it is a sign between me and you throughout your generations; that ye may know that I am the LORD that doth sanctify you. (Exodus 31:13)
Ye shall keep the sabbath therefore; for it is holy unto you: every one that defileth it shall surely be put to death: for whosoever doeth any work therein, that soul shall be cut off from among his people. (Exodus 31:14 )
Six days may work be done; but in the seventh is the sabbath of rest, holy to the LORD: whosoever doeth any work in the sabbath day, he shall surely be put to death. (Exodus 31:15)
Wherefore the children of Israel shall keep the sabbath, to observe the sabbath throughout their generations, for a perpetual covenant. (Exodus 31:16)
It is a sign between me and the children of Israel for ever: for in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, and on the seventh day he rested, and was refreshed. (Exodus 31:17)
We are well aware that all that was recorded from Genesis 1 on to Mount Sinai was given as God’s revelation to man concerning the history of creation and the revelation of the Creator Himself. This was given to Moses as the verbal expression of God, the very words were dictated to Moses by the voice of God. God is the divine historian. Every line, and every precept comes from God Himself. The early chapters of Genesis are the actual historical recording of the divine Architect of history, God Himself. It is divine thought for if God had not revealed it to Moses God’s rest on the sabbath day would not have been known by man. This holy day, one out of seven, is the day of God’s rest. He rested from the work of creation, and His divine work was ended with the day of rest. In Exodus 31 we are reminded of the finished work of both heaven and earth. Although we have little of the description of heaven in Scripture, and the glories of heaven, and its properties we do have in the revelation of God in the Book of the Revelation of Jesus Christ a description of heaven above. The Revelation of Jesus Christ is the last book in the canon of Scripture. The first book, Genesis, reveals earth and they who dwell therein. The last book, Christ’s revelation reveals heaven and they who dwell therein. The entire revelation of God is seen throughout the Bible. There are many jewels hidden within it’s pages that only the Spirit of God can reveal to the heart of man. God has revealed Himself throughout the Scriptures, every word has been breathed by the divine thought, every instrument of man has been under the control and guidance of the Holy Spirit of God. The Bible itself testifies that these Scriptures came through the mind and heart of holy men who wrote as they were led of the Holy Spirit of God. For the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man: but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost. (2 Peter 1:21) It is the Holy Spirit of God who has given the progressive revelation of God through many time frames, and God the Holy Spirit has kept conclusive, accurate, historical and spiritual thought so that the mind, and the thought that is related to man, is all of the divine Being of God. This divine thought runs through the entire Bible so that God uses many themes to bring about His thoughts to man in His progressive revelation to show man his need of God Himself.
A Greater Work Than Creation
In this theme of God ‘s rest we have a divine thread running through the whole of Scripture, and it comes to its conclusion in the eternal state of the new heaven and the new earth. In our study of Chapter 4 of Hebrews we have God describing in detail His rest. This is the longest description and chapter on God’s rest, and therefore, to us who believe, we have rest in God Himself. When the Lord Jesus declared on the cross, It is finished, a greater work than creation was accomplished. The unseen world of faith spiraled in the unseen, and the works of darkness were defeated. The Lord of glory went into the greatest battle field, which was the cross of Golgotha, the place of the skull, or the place of death. There was no life at Golgotha, only death, and the Son of God would pass into death to accomplish the divine work of salvation. It was a battle that brought forth the defeat of death, the defeat of sin, the defeat of Satan, and of all his hosts, and the defeat of man in Adam. Then, as in Genesis, God in the Person of Jesus Christ had finished His work. But wait, we only see death at the cross, only a lifeless body in the tomb. The Jews, both the Sadducees and Pharisees, the two high priests (by God’s law there was to be only one high priest), and the rulers of the Jews, the people, and the Roman world in all it’s dominion thought that they had finished the Son of God. They had witnessed His death, and in His death, they had consoled their own souls in the defeat of God the Son. They were through with the Son of God who they called a deceiver.
Saying, Sir, we remember that that deceiver said, while he was yet alive, After three days I will rise again. (Matthew 27:63)
Command therefore that the sepulchre be made sure until the third day, lest his disciples come by night, and steal him away, and say unto the people, He is risen from the dead: so the last error shall be worse than the first. (Matthew 27:64)
Pilate said unto them, Ye have a watch: go your way, make it as sure as ye can. (Matthew 27:65)
So they went, and made the sepulchre sure, sealing the stone, and setting a watch. (Matthew 27:66)
Now the Jews in their delusion believed in their hearts that they had put to death the Son of God. But they had doubts of their own convictions, and the last verse of Matthew 27, verse 66 shows the uncertainty of their hearts; for they desired the Roman seal to be placed on the tomb or sepulchre of the Son of God, the King of Israel. This was the last act of the hatred of man against the Son of God. The sepulchre was to be sealed with the Roman seal for all the world to see. And if the seal was broken the perpetrator or perpetrators would be under the penalty of death by Roman law. Both the Jewish religious leaders, and the Romans conspired together in this last act.
The Message Contained in 27:66
We have in this verse of 66, the double representation of the evil of man in both Jew and Rome. We know that in the Book of the Revelation that we have the trilogy of the number 6. The number 6 – 6 – 6 is the number of the man of sin in the final rebellion against God Almighty. How fitting that this last evil act of man in the diabolical conspiracy against the Son of God is recorded in verse 66 of Matthew 27. In Chapter 27, we have the witness of God (2) with two or three witnesses every word will be established. The number 2 represents a witness of God against man, and the number 7 represents the finished work of Christ that brings in God’s rest. Are we beginning to see the fulfillment of God in His seventh day of rest. As we enter into Christ’s death at the cross, so we will enter into His life in His resurrection.
There remaineth therefore a rest to the people of God. (Hebrews 4:9)
For he that is entered into his rest, he also hath ceased from his own works, as God did from his. (Hebrews 4:10)
Let us labour therefore to enter into that rest, lest any man fall after the same example of unbelief. (Hebrews 4:11)
The Mind of Christ
I will now bring forth the rest of God for we have the mind of the Spirit of God.
Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the spirit which is of God; that we might know the things that are freely given to us of God. (1 Corinthians 2:12)
Which things also we speak, not in the words which man’s wisdom teacheth, but which the Holy Ghost teacheth; comparing spiritual things with spiritual. (1 Corinthians 2:13)
But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned. (1 Corinthians 2:14)
But he that is spiritual judgeth all things, yet he himself is judged of no man. (1 Corinthians 2:15)
For who hath known the mind of the Lord, that he may instruct him? But we have the mind of Christ. (1 Corinthians 2:16)
The Spiritual Thread of Life in Type
I will now bring forth the rest of God for we have the mind of the Spirit of God. We are secured from our own works, and we have ceased from our own works in the death of Christ. For after all, the dead do no works. Now are we to stay in the death of Christ? No, we have life in His resurrection. We are a new creation, we are the children, or sons of God. In this aspect we labor for Him. Our old works in Adam are dead, but in our new works we are filled with His life, and labor in His finished work, and rest in Christ. We are joined to His life with a spiritual thread of life. This thread is now being woven into our life, and will produce the glorious garment of redemption at His appearing. This garment is one woven work, woven by the Son of God, from top to bottom without seam. And God has woven it so that it cannot be rent.
And he made the robe of the ephod of woven work, all of blue. (Exodus 39:22)
And there was an hole in the midst of the robe, as the hole of an habergeon, with a band round about the hole, that it should not rend. (Exodus 39:23)
I wish not to give a complete description of Aaron’s glorious garment, for that would interrupt our thought of God’s eternal rest. However, I will give the reason for the garment, and for our garment that is being prepared. We see in the fabric, and in the construction, the glory of our own salvation. Exodus 39 is one of the most personal chapters in the Book of Exodus. It describes the garment, the glorious garment, that only the high priest, which was Aaron at that time, could wear. He was virtually covered from head to toe with the articles of this entire complex garment. He was completely incased in this divine garment, and this divine garment could not be rent, that it should not rend (Verse 23). And in this garment, which was so complex in type and spiritual instruction, Aaron acted as a mediator between God and man. The garment was so glorious that the man Aaron merely carried it upon him. For Aaron was still a man under sin and death, but the garment was a figure (or type) of all the glories of Christ. And these glories gave Aaron life that he died not before God while he was performing his works before the Almighty. In Aaron’s position God is showing us His rest for Aaron was secured with the garment of God. Aaron could rest knowing that God had given him this garment that was called, HOLINESS TO THE LORD.
And they made the plate of the holy crown of pure gold, and wrote upon it a writing, like to the engravings of a signet, HOLINESS TO THE LORD. (Exodus 39:30)
Seeing then that we have a great high priest, that is passed into the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our profession.(Hebrews 4:14)
For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin. (Hebrews 4:15)
Let us consider our position in Hebrews, Chapter 4. We have a great high priest, we are brought in to His presence, and He possesses all the garments of heaven. He not only keeps us, but He presents us to God the Father in His own robes of righteousness. And in these garments of righteousness, which are HOLINESS TO THE LORD, He keeps us in Himself in God’s rest. For Christ is all in all. Which is his body, the fulness of him that filleth all in all. (Ephesians 1:23) As saints, we are clothed with His body. This is the body of divine righteousness that He has clothed us with, and we come before God in the One who is holy, harmless, and undefiled. Let us turn to Paul on Mars Hill.
God that made the world and all things therein, seeing that he is Lord of heaven and earth, dwelleth not in temples made with hands; (Acts 17:24)
Neither is worshipped with men’s hands, as though he needed any thing, seeing he giveth to all life, and breath, and all things; (Acts 17:25)
And hath made of one blood all nations of men for to dwell on all the face of the earth, and hath determined the times before appointed, and the bounds of their habitation; (Acts 17:26)
The entire city of Athens was given over to idolatry. Athens was a dark city, however, they prided themselves as intellectuals, as men of reason and philosophy, but even their knowledge and reason was darkened by Satan. They worshiped many gods, they worshiped the planets, they worshiped the stars and constellations, and sold idols of all shapes and sizes. The market place was full of idolatrous commerce, and with all their gods, they had no rest. They still carried their burden of sin as a man with a sack on his back filled with all the idolatrous materials that he can find. He barely can carry his sack, he is stumbling through life, the sacked filled with idols of all kinds. Does he find relief? No, he is still encumbered with his sin. His life is a trail of peril with no relief and no rest. I have labored hard all my life, even at age 73, I put a whole days work in either in the garden, or in the shop, I know what it is to sweat and labor till bones ache, and to know how good it feels at the end of the day to come in and sit down and rest. But that is only for the body. The greater rest is for the soul, I find that in this idolatrous world that the only true rest is in the resurrected man in heaven, the Lord Jesus Christ, who is the great high priest fulfilling the order of Melchisedec. This is the eternal rest of God, Christ is carrying us to the end of time, and to the end of both heaven and earth. At that point the earth that we know will be dissolved, many feel that God is really going to rework this earth. Think again! Could God rework this earth that has been stained by the blood of Abel, by the blood of the Hebrews while they were enslaved in Egypt, by the blood of the nation of Israel, which has been shed by the Assyrians, the Syrians, the Babylonians, the Romans, and even to our modern age Nazi Germany, and the Soviet Union under Joseph Stalin. Could God remake the world that witnessed the holocaust, and all the multitudes of Christians that have laid down their lives for their faith in Christ? And then, could God refresh a world that shed the blood of His beloved Son, that has been encased by sin and darkness for thousands of years? For, behold, the LORD cometh out of his place to punish the inhabitants of the earth for their iniquity: the earth also shall disclose her blood, and shall no more cover her slain. (Isaiah 26:21) No, both heaven and earth shall pass away, and God will bring forth a bright, shiny, new world right out of the box. He will bring forth a bright and glorious new heaven right out of the box. And when He has completed this wonderful new creation, He will gather all that are His and usher them in and rest with them. It will be a glorious heaven and a glorious world where righteousness dwells. This is our rest.
The Eternal Sabbath of Rest
But how far away is that eternal state? In the exercise of faith, in Jesus Christ, it is now; for I have entered into eternity with Him the moment that I believed. I entered into His death which satisfied God’s claim against me. In His resurrection I entered into His eternal life. Not only do we believe that Christ died for our sins, but we also believe that He rose again the third day for our justification, and our new life in Him. Now, by faith, I believe my transgressions were placed on Christ over 2,000 years ago. Was I there, did I die with Him? Not physically, but the Spirit of God tells me that through the transaction of God in the new birth that I enter into His crucifixion, and I with Him. Did I die in 2017? Not yet, but the Spirit of God tells me that the life that I now live in the flesh, I live by the faith of the Son of God who loved me, and gave Himself for me. The Spirit witnesses with my spirit, that I died in Christ, but He did not leave me there; for once again, I am raised in newness of life in Christ’s resurrection. I have become a new creation completely changed and removed from my old life in Adam so that I may enter into God’s eternal rest. We see in the finished work of Christ on the cross the 7th day or the eternal sabbath of rest, and the Spirit of God gives to us our rest in the new heaven and the new earth, although it is not present yet. Did not Abraham rejoice in seeing the day of Christ? although it was thousands of years away. Why should we not rejoice in the great I AM of eternity? Truly, it will be Christ who speaks the word in the creation of the new heaven and the new earth. If I am merely looking for a place this won’t do, I am looking and I am dwelling in God’s Christ, my Lord and Savior. As the 7th day speaks of completion, and God rested from the six days of creation, so we enter in to the eternal sabbath of rest in the finished work of Christ on the cross. Newness of life means just that, behold all things become new. As God the Father raised Him up, so He raised us who believe in the Lord with His beloved Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. The energy of the Spirit of God causes us to look forward to the eternal day of the new heaven and the new earth. If we lay hold of God’s rest as Abraham, we enjoy it now.
Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. (Matthew 11:28)
Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. (Matthew 11:29)
For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light. (Matthew 11:30)
This is rest for your soul in a Person and not a place. Jesus Christ is the divine, omnipotent God. What better rest can one have then to be at rest in the Son of God, and surely, the word of God tells us that Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today and forever. As I have labored many times in the hot Florida sun, sweat running down my face, my clothes damp, my hands aching, my back sore, my legs giving out, there are times I look forward to going into the house and to cease my labor and to rest my weary body. Even though I am still working, I am dwelling on that rest. Even though I am not in glory, nor in the eternal state of the new heaven and the new earth, I rest by faith, that the Lord Jesus has accomplished it all, and like Abraham, I rejoice in that day when it will come to pass; that there will be a new heaven and a new earth where righteousness dwells, and there will be a communication of rest that transcends all the people of God who are gathered by the Spirit of God to the Person of the Lord Jesus Christ. How wonderful this will be. And in the new man, I labor for God, but my labor is by divine unction; therefore, as I labor I find rest for my soul. (Matthew 11)
A Place Designated — The Eternal Rest of the Eternal God
In Genesis we have the 7 days of revelation, and in the 7th day God reveals that He rested from His labor. Then, in the continual revelation of God, we have the sabbath or the 7th day of rest given to Moses for the people of God, which were at that time, Israel. The sabbath day was a holy day, so now, all these things point towards one place, one time. They point towards the fullness of time when God sent forth His Son. We remember the declaration that the Jews said to Pilate that they did not want Christ left on the cross the sabbath day; however, that day had already begun. This was the fulfillment of the divine sabbath in Jesus Christ. This is the place where God entered into His eternal rest. This was done in the finished work of Christ on the cross. And His death on the cross is eternally linked with His resurrection. In His resurrection He gives us the power in Himself to enter into the eternal state of the new heaven and the new earth. Although it may be distant, we rest in God for its fulfillment. It will be a new heaven, and it will be a new earth, and all sin will be gone forever. It will be a place where righteousness dwells and where the eternal God will rest with those who love Him. This great rest will truly be a holy designation for in the new heaven and the new earth there will be no day nor time. God will be the great attraction for the redeemed souls of men, and they will yet wonder at all He has done by the Word of His power. Who being the brightness of his glory, and the express image of his person, and upholding all things by the word of his power, when he had by himself purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high; (Hebrews 1:3) Amen.
© Copyright 2017, Michael Haigh
Article may be used, but not for gain. Freely ye have received, freely give.
All Scripture references are from the Authorized King James Bible. (KJV)