Reflections on Hebrews 3:7-4:9, Matthew 11:28-30, and Mark 2:23-28

The concept of the Sabbath was introduced by God at the very beginning of time. “Sabbath” means “rest”, and God later codified a day of rest as a statute for His people to observe. It was a continual practice intended to remind people of God’s deliverance from Egypt and His sanctifying work. For the contemporary Christian, there are mixed opinions about the sabbath–is it applicable? Should we honor it? How strict should we be? It is important, so we should seek to understand its meaning. By and large we dismiss its significance. It is a confusing subject and so we put it on the shelf for later. In so doing, we totally neglect key aspects of our faith, and miss out on the benefits God promises to those to take the sabbath rest seriously.

The Sabbath is all about rest. For six days, God did work. Then He rested on the Sabbath (Genesis 2:2-3, Hebrews 4:4). He blessed that day. He established sabbath rest as a perpetual statute–the fourth commandment in the ten commandments (Exodus 20:8). It was to be observed once a week. For six days, the people could work. But on the sabbath, they were to do no work. They were to rest. 

Shadow and Reality

What is significant about rest?  Like most of God’s statutes, there are two sides, two meanings as it were. There is the physical meaning and a far more important spiritual meaning behind it. As Paul says, the physical meaning is but a mere shadow of something that is to come, something with far more substance (Colossians 2:17). In this way, the statute of “rest” has two meanings.  The physical meaning is easy to understand: take a day off, don’t do work. You do the thing and you’re done, at least until next time. You get a temporal benefit–you rest on Sunday so you’re recharged to work on Monday. 

The spiritual meaning is a bit more complex. It requires understanding, wisdom, and familiarity with the scriptures. It may be harder to grasp, but it comes with rewards that far exceed any physical benefit.

Sabbath is Applicable Today

Is this day of sabbath rest still applicable for God’s people today?  The author of Hebrews gives us a resounding “Yes!”. The command was issued in Moses’ day, but as the author points out, neither in Joshua nor David’s time had it been realized (Hebrews 4:6-8). The promise to enter God’s rest is still out there–it remains (Hebrews 4:1,9). And since it remains, it is still possible to enter it (Hebrews 4:6). The church has the opportunity to do something the ancient Israelites could not–they can enter the rest. 

We know this call is for Christians, for at the beginning of this section, the author of Hebrews speaks to “brethren” (Hebrews 3:12) who are partakers of Christ (Hebrews 3:14). Rest is not for the ancient Israelites only. It is for us. 

That being said, we cannot mistake what kind of “rest” we are talking about. 

What is Rest?

Some Christians try to say the modern form of sabbath keeping involves Sunday. Some say it’s attending Sunday worship at a local church. Some say it’s not shopping on Sunday. Some say you must take naps on Sunday. I would suggest that none of these hits the mark of what God has in mind.

Taking a day off and not working is the shadow. It is a good idea, but it is not the only thing. The minute we try to make “going to church” or “taking a nap” the new sabbath requirement, we miss the point. In fact, we create conflict with the things of Christ. 

The movie “Chariots of Fire” glorifies Eric Liddell, whose conviction to do no work on the sabbath was honored as a lofty, nobel thing. Although his adherence to conviction is praiseworthy, the point of sabbath rest is much more than not working on Sunday. There is something far more at stake.

When we try to prescribe a healthy sabbath keeping policy and draw lines as to what is allowed and what is not, we immediately create nasty opportunities for the flesh. We create competition–who can be the most spiritual? Look at me, I’m napping every Sunday!  This is really just legalism under the guise of spirituality. When we reduce the sabbath to do’s and don’ts, we create opportunities to boast in our flesh, for pride, and for “biting and devouring” each other (Galatians 5:15). 

In reality, rest has nothing to do with us, nor what we do. It has everything to do with Jesus. Our only role is to be in Jesus’ presence, believing He is who He says He is. We come with a softened heart, ready to listen, ready to obey.

Rest for the Soul

When Jesus arrived on the scene, He did many works intentionally on the sabbath. His common practice of doing so always infuriated the Pharisees, religious teachers of the day. He did this to break the old understanding that rest is a legal practice to follow. He introduced an entirely new way to experience rest. The rest He offers is far better than a Sunday nap. 

Jesus introduces the new form of rest in a short sermon in Matthew 11. There, He appeals for people to come to Him. Quoting from Jeremiah, He offers rest for the soul (Matthew 11:28-30) to those who do so. So here we have the transition. Rest transitions from being a codified practice of reminders to an experiential condition found in the presence of Jesus.

Enter the Rest!

Jesus offers rest. But we should not think this rest is automatically experienced by the Christian.

This is a key message from the author of Hebrews. It is applicable for Christians then and today. Sadly, many of us are not entering the rest. As a result, we miss out on its benefits. Herein lies the key message for Christians today: enter the rest!  

The author of Hebrews calls us to be concerned about this: “let us fear” (Hebrews 4:1). Christians today are at ease, unconcerned, not having a care. This author is warning us not to be that way. He suggests that it is possible to “come short of it” (Hebrews 4:1). The Israelites of old were unable to enter the rest (Hebrews 3:19). In the same way, Christians today can come short of the rest.

We should not ignore the significant opportunity we have for rest. 

Before launching in depth into how we can miss out on rest, and how we can find it, I suggest taking a simple test. Christians, ask yourselves these questions:

• Can a believer have an evil, unbelieving heart that falls away from God?
• Can a believer become hardened by the deceitfulness of sin?
• Can a believer be in a state where they are not experiencing rest?  

I believe the author of Hebrews is emphatically answering “Yes” to all these questions. These are the subjects discussed in the following sections.

The Dangers of Unbelief

The author uses the example of the Israelites at Meribah (Exodus 17:1-7, Psalm 95:7-11, Hebrews 3:7-11) to demonstrate how we fall short of rest. The Israelites God had saved from Egypt and fed with manna perished in the wilderness (Hebrews 3:16-19) were not able to enter the rest because of their unbelief (Hebrews 3:12,19). To believe is to accept that God cares for us and can do anything. Doing so when the situation seems impossible is the best form of belief.  At Meribah, the Israelites failed at this. They “saw His works for 40 years” (Hebrews 3:9). They had just seen God part the Red Sea and miraculously provide manna to feed them in the desert. And yet, in the moment at Meribah, they did not believe in God. Instead, they “tested” Him, hardening their hearts and grumbling (Hebrews 3:7-8). 

Christians should not think, “Oh, that was so long ago, it is not applicable to me”, or, “that was before Jesus, so it doesn’t apply”, or, “those Israelites were hard-hearted, I am not!” As Paul says, it is good and fitting practice to use the example of the Israelites as teaching lessons for Christians (1 Corinthians 10:6). These lessons are good for us because we are totally capable of doing all the bone-headed things they did.

Believing is not Automatic

We should not think that Christians always believe. We fall in and out of belief all the time. I would suggest that most of the time, we’re not believing. Like the Israelites, we can hear sermons preached to us all the time, but if we don’t combine it with faith and conviction resulting in obedience, it doesn’t profit us (Hebrews 4:2). A Christian can hear a sermon at 10am and be bickering with his wife in the car 15 minutes later. We are like the ones who know the right thing to do, but do not do it (James 4:17). We are like Paul, who knows the good thing to do, but practice evil anyway (Romans 7:19). Our brain knows God created the world and all that is in it, that He created us, that He controls the weather and events of nations.  Yet we still worry, we still grit our teeth when bad things happen. We are as susceptible to unbelief as those Israelites. And we test the Lord with our grumbling a lot more than we care to admit.

We should not think that a Christian can never be deceived by sin. Our hearts are corrupt and more deceitful than any other thing (Jeremiah 17:7). How often I have believed something, convinced that I was in the right, only to later realize how ridiculous I behaved. We can be hard-hearted as well, letting a scriptural truth go in one ear and out the other. I can’t tell you how many times I have unsuccessfully tried to remember the main message of a sermon on the drive home. 

The point is, we are prone to do the very same sins as the Israelites. And so it follows, we are just as likely not to enter the rest as they were. There are days when faith comes easy. Christ seems very real, very present. I catch a glimpse of rest in those hours. But more often than not, faith is difficult. My lack of it leads me away from rest.

A believer can slip in and out of rest at any given time. He doesn’t lose his eternal salvation, but his experience in this life falls short of rest. This is why the author of Hebrews can use a conditional statement: “If we hold fast the beginning of our assurance firm until the end…” (Hebrews 3:14). This almost sounds like it is possible to lose eternal salvation if we are not walking perfectly. But this is not the meaning. The author is saying our experience with rest in Christ is conditional, based on how well we hold fast. We can experience rest, but we must be in the presence of Christ to do so.

So, as the author of Hebrews says, Christians should be warned (“take care!”, Hebrews 3:12). We know with certainty that Christians are vulnerable to unbelief, disobedience, testing the Lord, deception by sin, and a hardened heart. If that were not the case, the author of Hebrews would have no reason to write Hebrews 3:12 through 4:9.  We are called to believe and enter the rest (Hebrews 4:3). We are warned not to come short of it (Hebrews 4:1). We are advised not to fall away from God in disbelief (Hebrews 3:12), to avoid being deceived by sin, and to not be hardened in our hearts (Hebrews 3:13). If we persist, we will not enter nor experience the rest.

How do we Enter the Rest?

Here we come to the pinnacle of this lesson. How do we enter the rest?  Can we experience the very thing the Israelites missed?  The answer is “Yes”, but we are to be diligent about doing so (Hebrews 4:11). It should be a regular practice of the church. The author of Hebrews is telling us to be proactive. He advises us to look at the example of Israel’s failure to enter rest, and do the opposite.

To appreciate the benefits of rest, and why this is important, we can understand what it feels like to not experience rest.  Such a person feels “weary” and “heavy laden”, for it is to these weary ones that Jesus calls to rest (Matthew 11:28). Such a person is tired because he is trying to find rest by good works, avoiding sin, napping on the sabbath, and so on. This is not the way to enter rest. 

Jesus calls all of us to “come to Him” and He will give us rest. We just need to be near Jesus with a believing, willing heart, and we will enter rest. We are to pick up His yoke, much like picking up our cross daily. We will be surprised how light His yoke is; the simplicity of Christianity.  

On a sunny sabbath day in Capernaum, Jesus and His disciples were walking through grainfields. The disciples were picking grains and eating them, a practice strictly forbidden by the law of sabbath rest. The Pharisees criticized the disciples for breaking the sabbath (Mark 2:24). But Jesus validated them. He compared them with the righteous David and his men, who because of their faith and piety, were justified even though they broke sacred laws of the tabernacle (Mark 2:25-26). Jesus’ point?  He held the disciples blameless. The trusting nature of their attitude toward the Lord trumped any legal code. Jesus is essentially saying, “they’re with Me”, and that makes them inherently righteous regardless of what they were doing. When Jesus calls Himself “Lord of the Sabbath” (Mark 2:28), He is saying He personally fulfills the law of sabbath rest. Anyone “with Him” fulfills that law too.

As long as we are close to Jesus, believing He is Lord, following along with a soft, willing heart, ready to listen and obey, we can experience rest.  Jesus is Lord of the Sabbath. We don’t follow laws and avoid things to find rest. He is our rest. Those who enter His rest also rest from their works (Hebrews 4:10). They no longer strive, no longer compare themselves with others, no longer focus exclusively on avoiding this or that to be qualified or worthy. They have come to realize rest is not about us, nor what we do. Rest is Jesus. We go to Him, we abide in Him. There, in His presence, we find a safe place. We find rest for our souls.

Rest from Self-Righteous Striving

In Jesus’ presence, our soul finds rest because we have cast off the weariness and burdens of self-righteous living. We no longer work to be righteous. We take on His righteousness. 

Bonhoeffer calls this external righteousness. It is an important truth of Christianity. Righteousness never comes from within. We have to receive it from an outside source. Paul was a zealot for self-righteousness, but after his conversion, he no longer wanted a righteousness “derived from the Law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which comes from God on the basis of faith” (Philippians 3:9). Righteousness is always bestowed. It is never earned. When we are “in Him”, righteousness is ours by association.  He is “the Lord our righteousness” (Jeremiah 23:6). We become the righteousness of God “in Him” (2 Corinthians 5:21). In the grainfields, the disciples were righteous in the moment, free from all guilt, because they were with Him. 

In the same way, we are righteous when He is with us because He is our righteousness. 

Sometimes I think the church preaches self-discipline too hard. Good disciplines such as regular confession, accountability, website blockers and such tend to become the means to maturity. In reality, we need more Christians to be with Christ. When we give sermon takeaways filled with action items, we promote self-righteousness, not external righteousness. These good practices have the appearance of wisdom, but it is self-made religion, self-abasement and severe treatment–good things to be sure–but as Paul says, they are of “no value against fleshly indulgence” (Colossians 2:23). We need more people in Christ. That is were we find rest for the soul. Like a gentle shepherd, Jesus leads those who follow Him to green pastures and still waters. In so doing, he restores the soul and leads us in righteousness (Psalm 23:1-3).

Sabbath Rest is a Daily Practice, not Weekly

We have the opportunity to experience rest of the soul. It is not automatic. We can easily come short of it. We are to be diligent about entering it.

The fluid nature of experiencing rest is why the author of Hebrews gives an imperative command to the church: “…encourage one another daily so you won’t be hardened by sin’s deceitfulness” (Hebrews 3:13). Sabbath rest is not just going to church. It’s not something we practice every Sunday. It is being in the Lord’s presence every day. It is what Paul means when he says “I die daily” (1 Corinthians 15:31). It is what Jesus means when He says we are to “take up our cross daily and follow” (Luke 9:23). We are to encourage each other every day, not just on Sundays.  It is a daily thing.

Let us not reduce honoring the sabbath to avoiding things, or napping on Sunday after church. It is an experience of rest our soul craves. We pursue it by being close to Jesus, letting Him fill us up and receiving His righteousness by association. This is rest from our labors. It is the rest our soul craves.