As we continue in our examination of the New Covenant “sabbatismos”, we now move, in verse 12, from an examination of the nature of this rest to the means through which we enter into it. Verse 12 reads as follows in the NIV: “For the Word of God is living and active. Sharper than any two-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart”. We will begin with an examination of the beginning clause of this verse: “For the Word of God is living and active”. We begin with the term “for” (gar in the Greek), serving to connect this to what precedes, continuing on in its examination of the New Covenant sabbath. Next we find the definite article followed by the noun logos, translated as “word” here. Logos is the noun form of the verb lego, which refers to speech of a very particular kind, speech which serves as an explanation of something, a logos is ultimately an explanation of or about something. We next find the genitive of theos with the definite article, identifying this word being “of God”. God is the source of the word, the subject of the word, the word is an explanation from Him, an explanation of ultimate reality. This also expounds on a theme found regularly here in the epistle to the Hebrews, the theme of the Word of God being not only something (the Bible as the written Word of God) but also as someone (Jesus as the living Word of God). It is through an ongoing encounter with the written Word of God that we grow to more fully “know” the person of the living Word of God, more fully know (a relational, experiential knowledge) the person of Jesus, who is the ultimate explanation underlying all of reality. It is also through this ongoing encounter with the Word of God that we find our individual purpose in life and, through the finding and fulfilling of this God-given purpose, that we find meaning in life, that we enter into the sabbatismos rest described in the preceding verses. So it is no accident that this verse appears here, and we are not moving on to a new topic in it. It is placed here to set before us the means through which we enter the New Covenant rest which the preceding verses set forth.

As we continue in our study of Hebrews 4, we encounter two Old Testament quotes in verses 4 and 5, The first here, in verse 4, is a quote of Genesis 2:2 and refers to God’s rest in creation. It reads as follows: “And on the seventh day God rested from all His work”. We must make note here of the fact that, in the beginning of his explanation of the New Covenant rest, he chooses to compare this rest to the rest of God in creation, and not to the rest of the people of Israel found in the Law of both Exodus and Deuteronomy. Here we find that the rest of the New Covenant is of the same type presented in God’s rest in creation, and not of the same type as the people’s rest provided in the Law. This is what we will find further delineated in the next several verses, which serve to fully establish the superiority of this New Covenant rest to the Old Covenant rest of the Law. To obtain a proper understanding of this New Covenant rest, it becomes necessary to examine more closely the rest of God which is of the same “type” as the rest of the people of God in the New Covenant. Genesis 2:2 is quoted here as follows: “And on the seventh day God rested from all his work”. As we may remember, the story of Genesis one is the “creation” story, and is the story of God preparing a home, and ideal habitation, for the creature created in His image and likeness. At the conclusion of the six days of creation, we find that God has created human beings in their ideal environment and pronounces His creation as “very good” (Genesis 1:26-31), which is then the conclusion of the six days. It is then, on the seventh day, which God “rests”. The crucial thing to be mentioned here, for our purposes, is as to the nature of this rest. God rests here not because he is tired and needs a day off, but rests because His work is finished, He has accomplished His purpose, done what He has intended to do, and rests after He has done so. The term translated rest here is the Hebrew “shabat”, or rest. As we examine this term more closely, we will find that it can refer to two different forms of “resting”. The term shabat can refer to rest as either a pause in work or a completion of work. The rest of the Old Covenant is of the first type, a temporary (one day) pause in the work process, while the latter is the type of rest of God in creation and is a completion of the work process. So ultimately here, we find first of all, that the rest of the New Covenant is of a different type than the Old, it is a “ceasing” of the work process, rather than a “pause” in it, and therefore superior to the Old Covenant rest in nature in that it is permanent rather than temporary, a ceasing rather than a pausing.