Hebrews 4:3-4
6 July 2025
For we who have believed enter that rest, as He has said,
“As I swore in My wrath,
‘They shall not enter My rest,’”
although His works were finished from the foundation of the world.
For He has somewhere spoken of the seventh day in this way:
“And God rested on the seventh day from all His works.”
For we who have believed enter that rest as He has said, 'As I swore in My wrath, they shall not enter My rest,' although His works were finished from the foundation of the world. For He has somewhere spoken of the seventh day in this week, and God rested on the seventh day from all His works.
Now, with this text, we're going to do two introductions. There's going to be an introduction which basically deals with the entire remaining argument about rest from verses 3 to 11. We're going to see that, explicitly speaking, in today's passage, that is going to be initially grounded in the rest we have since creation. So there's an argument that is being built from verse 3 to verse 11, which helps us to understand that we still have a rest today.
Let me just read from Psalm 23, the beginning, just to give you an idea of what this rest looks like. Psalm 23 begins with this glorious declaration: "The Lord is my Shepherd; I shall not want. He makes me lie down in green pastures. He leads me beside quiet waters. He restores my soul."
Now, likely, many of you will be familiar with this psalm, one of the most recognized psalms of all the 150. And the opening of this psalm has such a wonderful picture for the Christian to behold—for the Christian who knows that the Lord is our shepherd, guiding us—clueless, not knowing where we're going, sheep in the direction that he has ordained through the salvation we have in Christ. And note the language that describes what the Christian now has and experiences: we shall not want, we're lying down in green pastures, we're beside quiet waters, there is a restoring of our soul. So there's a picture of peace, there's a picture of tranquillity, there is a picture of rest.
Now, this is important to stress that when we deal with the subject of rest—which is an argument that is going to be built in what we see today, in what we'll see then in verses 5 to 8, and then the argument reaching its climax in verses 9 to 11 of Hebrews 4—that this is a rest that we have. Christian, this is a rest that we have.
Some may even point to something like Psalm 23 and say, "Well, what about the valley of the shadow of death? What about the suffering? What about the other week when we were dealing with the thorn in the flesh, this sort of trouble, affliction that we face?" That's true. These are the realities of suffering and persecution, even, that Christians face in this world. But this remains true: we still have this rest.
And this is where today's text explicitly is so important to lay a foundation here. Because what do you come to do on this, which is now the Christian's Sabbath, the Christian's day of rest? You are resting from things, you are resting for something, namely the worship of God. We as Christians have the blessing to know and experience this now. Even if your life is absolute chaos, this is what we have in Jesus Christ.
As the Book of Hebrews is beginning to unpack the glorious truths of who our Lord is, we're going to slowly begin to see just what a rich blessing it is for us to know and experience a life that is in him. Because that's what we yearn for, is it not, as Christians, that we will grow in our maturity of understanding just how deep and significant it is to live as a Christian? So yes, certainly it is absolutely all about Jesus. But as we've been saying in this study in the Book of Hebrews, we need to understand all the more, well, what do we mean by "it's all about Jesus"? Because otherwise we could be creating a Jesus out of the figment of our imagination, or we may have applications related to Jesus that have nothing to do with Scripture.
And so with that said, eventually, as we come to the end of verse three and verse four, we're going to consider the Sabbath principle of rest and why this is an important foundation. But before we do that, let me just spend a few moments just unpacking the thrust of the argument in this chapter from verse three.
As we've noted, verses three and four are dealing with an initial rest which is established—an initial rest which is established at creation, and which we see being then put into place and practice in the giving of the law. And in the congregation of Israel, they have a Sabbath rest.
Then as we come to verses five to eight, which we'll deal with next time, we then have mention of another rest. The first rest, verses three to four, is this Sabbath day's rest. Then in verses five to eight, we have mention of the rest which Israel will enter into when they cross over the Jordan into the Promised Land.
So in the Old Testament, the Sabbath is described as rest. Exodus 35:2 says, "Six days work shall be done, but on the seventh day you shall have a Sabbath of solemn rest, holy to the Lord." And similarly, the Promised Land of Canaan also uses this word, rest. Deuteronomy 12:9 says, "For you have not as yet come to the rest and to the inheritance that the Lord your God is giving you."
Now, as the argument develops, we then see by verse 9 down to 11, that there is a specific and a unique rest which is now found in Christ. So if you're just following this argument, we have two different rests mentioned in the Old Testament: the Sabbath rest and the rest of the Promised Land in Canaan. And both of these are being used in Hebrews chapter 4 to build towards this wonderful climax of the rest that we have in Jesus Christ.
Now, this is important to grasp and understand because this is establishing the principle of rest for the people of God.
Now, as we come to our text, notice how verse three begins. Because there's something that is declared here that we could easily bypass, but we should dwell on because of its significance. Verse three begins, "For we who have believed enter that rest." Now, notice, it doesn't say, "For we who have believed will enter that rest." It says, "For we who have believed enter that rest."
Now, how do we enter that rest? How can any of us enter into this rest that we're unpacking the argument of in Hebrews chapter four? Well, the first two verses have already dealt with it. In verse one, we are informed emphatically that the promise of entering this rest still stands. Israel didn't enter their promised rest in the time of Moses; we've unpacked that in chapter three. So how can we enter this rest? Verse two: "Those who are united by faith." If you are one who has been convicted of your sin, saved by faith in Jesus Christ, then you enter into that rest.
Think about this right now: the fruit of the rest that is given to you is a benefit in your life. Today, as we sit here this evening in a fallen world, there's sin, there's sickness, there's disease, there's death—the very real afflictions that we are not immune to. And right now, you know, we're not physically with God in heaven at this moment. And yet the promise of heaven doesn't rest on what we do tonight. The promise of a rest doesn't rest in what we do tonight. It is only because of the faith we have in this glorious gospel.
Romans 5:1 says, "Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, [what do we have?] we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ." You see what a verse like this is declaring for you as a Christian: by the faith that you have, you are justified. You are declared legally, forensically justified in the presence of God. And therefore, you have peace. You have a peace with this God who is the One who holds the universe in the palm of His hand, who gives you the very breath that you breathe this very moment, who numbers every grain of sand, who has put every star in the sky. It is the one fallen men are separated from, and do not have peace with because of sin.
We've seen so much of Israel's sin and the evil, wicked, unbelieving heart that separated them from God, even though they saw so much of the wonders and beauty of God. And that is man in our foolishness, in our rejection and rebellion of God. And this is why, week after week, as we come to the Book of Hebrews, we come to be reminded of and we magnify this glorious gospel—this glorious gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ to come for a people who are at enmity, who are not at peace, who do not have rest in and with God.
This is the condition of fallen man today: there is no peace, there is no rest. Man is in torment, in sin, and the evil one seeks to strike, to jab, to poke, to destroy. But where do you stand? Where do you stand this evening because of the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ? Where do you stand in coming into this building to worship this God as one whose hope and confidence rests entirely in Jesus Christ? Is this not why and only why and how we can come into this place knowing that we are safe and secure, knowing that we have peace and rest with our God?
This is what we've unpacked so far in the Book of Hebrews, what we're going to continue to draw out in the chapters that follow: that the living God has made the way of salvation, and He is the way of salvation in clothing Himself in human flesh, assuming the physical condition in which we live here this evening, but not in the moral and spiritual way by which we are corrupted in our sinful flesh. Jesus is the One who is without sin. Jesus is the One who lived the life that was perfect. And it is this perfect life which is laid down for sinners like us.
This is the gospel: that the righteous requirement of the living God could not, cannot, will never be in any way, shape or form met by any one of you. But it is completely and gloriously and wondrously met by the Lord Jesus Christ, by His completed work. And by "completed" it would mean by Him tasting death, facing the death that you and I deserve. Christ would face that for His people. And that is the message of the gospel. That is the hope that we can proclaim to this broken, needy area, to this nation, to this earth: that Christ has come to die for sinners, that He has defeated sin and death, that He is risen victorious from the grave, and in Christ. And because of what Christ has secured, verse three begins, "For we who have believed enter that rest." We enter it. We experience this, we know this. Because we are no longer separated from—we are no longer cut off from God, because our sin has been eternally put away by Christ on the cross. And we stand as those justified who now have peace, who now have perfect rest with Him.
And yet, in Hebrews 3:7 – 4:11, in a passage that is unpacking an argument about the rest that we have in God, there are so many warnings of danger, so many warnings, so many repeated warnings, in fact. Because what you'll find as you just glance across at chapter four is that the quotes that are given, quotes which are repeated from chapter 3, as it says here in Hebrews 4:3—this is exactly the same thing as Hebrews 3:11, 'As I swore in my wrath, they shall not enter my rest.'
Now, why does the author to the Hebrews start to repeat himself? He's not becoming forgetful. No, everything is very pointed. This is the inspired word of the living God. But these points are being repeated and emphasised because now the argument has progressed. The argument has progressed from "look at Israel and their wickedness" now to "look at the rest that we have." And so we're now reading the same quote again, but in another context. It's the same thing about Israel not entering this rest God had promised for them in Canaan. But now we're thinking in lines of, there is a rest which still stands. There is a rest which we enter by faith in Jesus Christ. And so as we look to this, we see that, yes, Israel had a promise, and yet there was an entire generation that completely and utterly blew it.
Now, one thing that we're going to point out with regards to this quote that we've not drawn out yet, because we have already dealt with it, is the fact that in this quote, halfway through verse three, it says that "they shall not enter My rest." And it's worth dwelling on this to realise that any language in this passage about rest is a rest which is of God. This is the rest of God.
And here we have some inescapable realities: rest, peace, love, joy. These sorts of terms, these sorts of truths are key examples and strivings that people have in this world. People want to have peace; people want to have rest. People want to have love. People want to have joy. And yet, what is the reality that we see in Scripture? These are from God. They are of God. They are in God. They are defined by God, and they cannot be separated from God.
Now, do you understand that this evening? Israel, surely in their own sinful, unbelieving heart, they wanted to be at rest. That's why they did the foolish things that they did. They didn't want to battle against seeming giants. They didn't want to go in a place that was dangerous. They wanted to have peace. They wanted to have rest. But they didn't trust God. They didn't know and believe that it was in God that they would get this.
And how often do we look at situations, circumstances, and think, "Well, that's my path to getting some peace. If I do this, then I'll get some rest." But what so often do we do? We turn to the flesh, to the ways of the world. We look to cut corners. We look for a quick path. And so often we are rejecting our Creator, we are rejecting our God.
Now, friends, again this evening, this point needs to be stressed: there is rest, true rest, which is from God, which is of God, which is defined by God. And it is united by faith in Jesus Christ that is yours, in Jesus Christ. It is not found in some other external source or way of thinking or doing. It is found in Jesus Christ. That is the argument that is being made in this chapter. And that is what we need to behold as we continue to unpack this. Israel didn't believe, but here tonight, by the grace of God, we come as those who believe.
Now, as this point is made, this quote again, "as I swore in My wrath, they shall not enter My rest." The verse then goes on to say at the end, "although His works were finished from the foundation of the world." Now this is the point where we come to the definition of rest, in the time of creation. But notice it begins here in verse three by saying, "from the foundation of the world."
Now, if you can just turn to the book of Genesis, chapter 2, because this is where this declaration comes from. Genesis chapter 2. We'll just read verse 1 initially to see this language, Genesis 2:1 says, "Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the hosts of them." In this verse here in Genesis 2:1, there is a definite and a concluding statement about the creation of all things, everything is made, it is completed. And this is what the word foundation means in Hebrews 4:3, which means the whole of something, the entirety of it.
Now, verses like this leave us with no doubt or room for error. So if we're wondering where something like an evolutionary process might fit in, well, it doesn't, because the word of God is emphatically clear. The heavens and the earth were finished. This is the process. They were finished in six days as God had decreed it. It was finished. This is the foundation of the world that is mentioned in Hebrews 4:3.
Now just keep your finger in Genesis 2 for a moment. And let's go back to Hebrews chapter four for a moment, and let's just read how the argument progresses in Hebrews 4:4. We've just had mention of "His works were finished from the foundation of the world." We're on this subject of rest. And notice how it links to rest in verse four, because it goes on to say, "For He has somewhere spoken of the seventh day in this way, and God rested on the seventh day from all His works."
Now here is where we put the pieces together, where the introduction to this argument of rest is found. Go back to Genesis chapter two. That "somewhere" is Genesis 2. So let's read this time Genesis 2, but we'll read verses 1 down to verse 3. It says,
"Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the hosts of them. And on the seventh day God finished His work that He had done, and He rested on the seventh day from all His work that He had done. So God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it God rested from all His work that He had done in creation."
Now when it says that God rested, this is not because God was tired or weary and needed to have some sort of break or lie down from creating the earth and the universe. No, our Lord tires not—He is Yahweh. He is constantly at work. John 5:17 says, "But Jesus answered them, 'My Father is working until now, and I am working.'" And this is what makes Genesis 2:3 particularly striking, because it says that God blessed the seventh day and made it holy. And this is where we have the understanding of rest as an argument from creation.
Now, the rest which is being instituted at the time of creation is distinct from this promised, fulfilled rest we have in Christ. But what we need to see here is that this Sabbath day rest is not simply a principle in the time of the Old Covenant, in the giving of the Law and the Ten Commandments, but this is something that we are blessed to know and experience today. And it is practically worked out in this context with the giving of the Lord's Day. This is not a day where it is heaping up rules that bind you in your conscience and action. No, it is a day which gives you the opportunity of rest. And this word "rest" here in this context means the cessation from work. So it means a ceasing to work. And this is an important thing to understand because when we look at the principle of Sabbath rest, it is an important argument for helping us to picture the rest that you have in Jesus Christ.
So let's just note a couple of texts here to see why the Sabbath rest is built on creation. Exodus 31:16-17 says,
"Therefore the people of Israel shall keep the Sabbath, observing the Sabbath throughout their generations as a covenant forever. It is a sign forever between Me and the people of Israel. For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, and on the seventh day He rested and was refreshed."
So this means that it was a sacred day. It's why during the time of Israel collecting manna from the wilderness, they collected twice as much the day before the Sabbath. It's why there are specific rules giving guidelines to Israel in the Old Testament regarding what they are not to do in order to know how they are to rest. Because it is a day of resting from work, and it is a day set apart for the worship of Yahweh.
In Isaiah 58:13-14 it says,
"If you turn back your foot from the Sabbath, from doing your pleasure on My holy day, and call the Sabbath a delight, and the holy day of the Lord honourable; if you honour it, not going your own ways, or seeking your own pleasure, or talking idly, then you shall take delight in the Lord, and I will make you ride on the heights of the earth. I will feed you with the heritage of Jacob your father. For the mouth of the Lord has spoken."
Now notice one crucial point regarding what the Sabbath rest is to look like in the time of the Old Covenant: it is to be a time of delighting in the Lord. Now we come to today, and who and what we are as Christians: are we coming as a people who are knowing the rest that we have in the Lord, which is a delight to our souls? Is it a delight to your soul to come to worship God? Because this is the reason why this day which is set apart now, which is the first day of the week, it's no longer the seventh because Christ rose from the dead. We see this in Revelation 1:10. We also see that regularly Christians would meet on the first day, which is the Sunday (Acts 20:7 and 1 Corinthians 16:2). It is a gift which has been given to us. A gift given to us based upon an argument from the principle of creation.
Six days you work and on the seventh day you rest. And though this is not the rest which we will be unpacking in verses 9 to 11, it very much gives us a foundation for understanding what that rest looks like. To be able to spend time in the presence of God here in this building as the called-out ones, as the Church of Jesus Christ, that we may worship our Lord and King. Is this not but a foreshadowing, a foretasting of what we are going to eternally delight in in heaven itself? This is what we will be blessed to do in the actual presence of the Lord of Lords and the King of Kings. And in this we will have perfect rest with our Lord in glory.
Now, spiritually to your souls, you have the blessing of knowing and experiencing that rest in the midst of the wickedness and sinfulness of this fallen world because of the faith you have in Jesus Christ. And this day, the Sunday in which you gather to worship, is the outworking, an expression, a picture of what we now have in Christ and what we will eternally have in glory.
Brothers and sisters, one of the reasons why the Lord's Day has become such a part-time affair with so many within the church is because we have become accustomed to not resting. We are very busy doing, and we might argue, "Well, I'm busy." Well, we see in the Gospel of Luke, Martha was busy. She had a lot to do and prepare when Jesus was coming. Mary, on the other hand, was sitting at the feet of the Lord Jesus. Who did Jesus commend?
Brothers and sisters, this is a sacred time for a people blessed with a sacred rest that we have in the Lord. And as this argument in Hebrews chapter four is developing, we start with the promise of rest from creation given to Israel in this Sabbath day. And now it is a Sabbath day's rest that we have on the Lord's Day. It is a time where, when we know there are many things to do, we know in whom we must trust; when there are many deadlines that need to be met, we know that in our heart He is sovereign, governing every circumstance, every deadline that you face. When there is time to be spent with people, we know that this is time spent together as the people of God, with our great God in glory. This is time not simply well spent. This is time that is a sacred blessing to our souls. It is a day which is set apart.
And this is why in Hebrews 4:4 it says that God rested on the seventh day from all His works, not because He needed to, but because He was establishing that principle for us. And here in Hebrews chapter four, it is building a picture: that perfect rest that you and I have in and through and because of the Lord Jesus Christ. An application like coming to a church service on Sunday is not because a group of religious people are telling you this is what you need to do—"Be more religious, be a really strict Sabbatarian, and that will get you into heaven." No. What folly! It is because of Christ and because of this wondrous gospel that we delight to do this, to be a people who know and experience the rest we have in God. And it is a rest which is expressed in contexts like this: the church of Jesus Christ coming together just on this one specific sacred day a week. This is a command of God. This is a blessing from God. It is the gift of God and by which we come to worship our God.
This is the argument of rest from creation. And then next time we will unpack the rest of the Promised Land as we continue to work towards the final promise, glorious, fulfilled rest that we have in Jesus Christ.