In verse 11, we are admonished to “make every effort to enter” this New Covenant rest, this sabbatismos, for if we do not, we will “fall by following their example of disobedience”. To understand this admonition, we must consider precisely who the “example” is here and what their “disobedience” consists of. The example here refers back to chapter three, where we find mention of Israel being led through the desert, coming upon the promised land and choosing not to enter but return to Egypt. The key to their failure here is “disobedience”, apeitheia in the Greek. This term literally means to be unpersuaded or unconvinced. If we recall the story (Numbers 12-14), Israel has come to the promised land and sent 12 spies in to check it out. Ten say there is no way Israel can take the land, while two say God has told us it is ours and we can surely take it. Israel is unpersuaded or unconvinced by those choosing to act in accordance with what God said and chooses to return to Egypt. Israel chooses to cling to the old rather than enter the new which God had promised them, and this is the example we are admonished not to follow. We have been promised here a new type of rest, a sabbatismos, a permanent state or condition of rest, as opposed to the temporary old “day” of rest. Just as in the example, it is being “unconvinced” of this new rest God has promised here in Hebrews and clinging to the old which brings about the failure to enter. It is the failure to be convinced of this permanent state of rest, this permanent rest for the search for meaning and purpose in life, which causes us to cling to the old, temporary rest of a day off from work. While this may still be a useful thing to hold to from a purely practical sense, a failure to be convinced of the existence of a new rest as well (set forth here in Hebrews), can cause us to fail to enter this new rest as well. May we hold to the old rest, while also being convinced of the existence and benefit of entering into the new as well.

We have seen, in the preceding verses, that full and final rest for the people of God could not be found in Moses and the law, not in Joshua and the land, nor in David and the prophets. This rest could only be found in the New Covenant in Christ, which David himself prophesied about its coming in a future “day”. As we reach the climax of this section of Hebrews, we find it continuing on in the theme of the superiority of the New Covenant in Christ to everything in the Old Covenant, here in terms of the superiority of its rest. This verse begins with the present active indicative of apoleipo- to leave behind or remain. The use of this verbal form shows us that this rest’s remaining is a statement of fact (indicative mood) of a present reality (present tense). Full and final rest has been left unfulfilled until the arrival of Christ, and this rest remains a present reality available to all who are in Him. This rest is referred to through the usage of the term “sabbatismos” here. This usage is the first time in which this term appears anywhere in Greek literature. It is likely made up by the author of Hebrews to describe a new reality present in the New Covenant era. The Greek language does not contain the term sabbath, a concept absent from Greek culture, so the Hebrew shabbat is simply transliterated into Greek as sabbath. This term sabbath, of course, would appear in the Septuagint (Greek Old Testament), but the writer here adds the “ismos” ending to the term, which is what causes its uniqueness. The ending ismos is used to refer to a state or condition of things resulting from the concept behind the term to which it is added. The term sabbath (shabbat) essentially means “rest”, so sabbatismos here refers to a state or condition of rest, as opposed to the temporary, one day period of rest in the Old Covenant law, revealing one facet of the superiority of this New Covenant rest. The rest that “remains” is then, first of all, superior as to its duration, no longer a one day pause in the work process, but a continual reality of the believer’s existence. The rest which remains is, then, a settled state or condition of existence available to the people of God in the New Covenant in Christ. As we continue on in our examination of this chapter, we will find that this rest is superior as to its nature as well as its duration. We will also find that while this rest remains available, it requires something of the believer to be entered into. Our next sequence of posts will examine the nature of this rest, and exactly how we are to go about entering it, that this “sabbatismos” may be the state or condition of our own existence.

In these verses, the writer moves forward in time from the wilderness generation to the time of David, somewhere around 400 years. The OT quotation here is from Psalm 95, in which David referenced what was spoken to the wilderness generation, demonstrating the continuing validity of the principle set forth there. This principle is that the voice of God speaks of a promise of entering His rest, and this rest is spoken of by David as timeless. We see this in the use of “today” here, for in one sense it is always today- in the wilderness generation, in David’s generation and in the New Covenant generation. What also remains is that this rest is entered by trusting fully in what God has said, this principle also valid “today”. What also remains is that unbelief is that which prevents this rest being entered, referenced here as a hardening of the heart. The writer then, in verse 8, tells us that the type of rest refenced in the New Covenant is the rest of entering the land of rest, not of a day off from work. We are then told that this rest of entering a land of rest serves as a type or shadow of the reality of ultimate rest provided only in Christ. We find, in verse 8, that Joshua has not in fact given them rest, that the land of rest was simply a shadow of the rest spoken of later by David as future. This land of rest in the time of Joshua is often seen as a type of heaven, but it must be noted that they faced many enemies in this land, and we will have no enemies in heaven. This rest is a rest in the presence of enemies, which is one way it equates to the rest provided by Christ in the New Covenant, a new “land” of rest, a dwelling place in which to find and enter the rest of God in the presence of enemies, a rest not of the body, but of the soul, which Jesus promises in Mattthew 11:28-29. The following verses will then demonstrate more fully just what this rest consists of, a dwelling place of rest for the soul, of which no enemy can deprive us.

Hebrews 4:6 reads as follows: “It still remains that some will enter that rest, and those who formerly had the gospel preached to them did not go in, because of their disobedience”. This verse begins with “oun epei” in the Greek (left out of the NIV translation), or “so then since”, here continuing on in the writer’s exposition of the reality of a different kind of rest to be found in the New Covenant. This leads into the present indicative of the verb kataleipo- “to remain or be left behind”, a statement of fact regarding a present reality. Though verse 5 concludes with the Old Testament reality of the fact that this type of rest was not available in the Old Covenant, this does not mean that rest has been done away with, but rather that rest is still available, but in a different form. We then find that this rest will be entered by “some” and not all. Some will enter this New Covenant rest and some will not, and the distinguishing factor is given here in the Greek term apeitheia, literally an absence of faith or unbelief. We must here note that this particular letter was written to a group of Hebrews who had come together in the name of Jesus Christ, but many of them had not left the rituals of the Old Covenant behind, had not left the Old Covenant Sabbath rest behind and entered into the rest of the New Covenant. They are compared here to the wilderness generation of the Old Covenant period, who” had the gospel preached to them”. In this case the good news was that God had given them the land, they just needed to go in and take it. Of course they failed to, and we are told this was due to their “unbelief” (apeitheia). So, we find here that rest still remains in the New Covenant (though of a different nature), and what also remains is the failure of many to enter it. What also remains, then, is the reason we may fail to enter it, unbelief, lack of trust in the good news of what God says. May we all trust in the good news of the New Covenant rest, and enter into it once and for all, not missing it as many of these Hebrews did.

As we continue in our examination of the rest which remains available for the New Covenant people of God, we now return to an illustration from the Old Covenant people of God which sets forth for us the means by which we may fall short of entering that rest. We begin with an assertion again of the reality of the presence of rest in both covenants, discovering that both peoples have “had the gospel preached to us”. The term gospel here is the perfect participle of euangellion, literally “good message or good news”. The “good news ” here of course is the rest promised in both covenants. We then find that some in the Old Covenant era “heard the message” but it was “of no value to them”. Simply “hearing” the message is not enough, it is of “no value” simply to hear, this hearing must be “combined with faith”. They received the message from God that the land of rest was theirs and they were to enter into it, all opposition would be overcome by the power of God and His “word” to them. However, when they reached the border of the land, they found giants there and chose not to enter. It was this failure to enter which was the lack of faith which kept them from rest. The Greek term faith here is pistis, most literally as to “trust”, used here with the definite article, and we find here that Biblical faith requires action. If we will not act upon what we are told, we do not “trust” it. Merely hearing is never enough, trust in the Word of God requires acting upon it, and their failure to act displayed clearly their lack of faith. It was this lack of faith in what God had told them which resulted in their failure to enter, and this incident is mentioned in order to make known that the means of failure to enter remains the same in both covenants. Later in the chapter we will find the New Covenant message of rest from God, as well as the means to go about entering into it, and we will also find that it is the lack of faith, the failure to trust in and act upon what God has told us which also results in our failure to enter as well.

In our previous post, we examined the concept of sabbath in terms of the primary purpose of the letter to the Hebrews, the superiority of the New Covenant sabbath in Jesus to the sabbath of the Old Covenant in terms of its permanence as opposed to the temporary nature of the Old Covenant sabbath. In verse one, we again find the usage of katapausis as rest, continuing on in the idea of its permanent nature, and we are informed that the concept of a sabbath rest found in the Old Covenant is also found in the New, but in a different form, with the therefore here serving to connect this passage to chapter 3 and its mention of sabbath rest present in the Old Covenant. The Greek text here then follows the therefore with the aorist subjunctive of the verb phobeomai- literally as “to fear”, not here as in the sense of to be terrified of or dread, but more as to “take care or be wary” (be careful” in NIV). This is combined with the Greek epangelia here, referring to a promise. There is, in the Old Covenant, a promise of rest provided by God, and there is also a promise of rest provided by God in the New Covenant. A promised rest is a vital element of that which is promised by God in both covenants, and entering into this rest requires the choice of the individual to enter into it. This rest is provided by God, but the possibility remains that the believer may be “found to have fallen short of it”. The Greek term “found” here is the aorist subjunctive of dokeo- “to seem or appear to be”. The use of the subjunctive here emphasizes this as a possibility, that this rest is ours, but it is possible for us to live as though it is not, and this is what we are to “fear”. The fact of the continuation of a “promised rest” is further reinforced through the assertion that this “promise of entering His rest still stands”. The Greek term “entering” here is the aorist infinitive of eiserchomai- “to enter into”. The infinitive is a verbal noun, a verb used as a noun, and its usage here expands further on the nature of this rest, it is one which can and must be entered into. The Greek “still stands” here is the present participle of kataleipo- “to leave down, remain settled or standing”. The use of the participle here (a verb used as an adjective) tells us more still about the nature of this rest, that it “still stands” as a promise of God in the entirety of the New Covenant era. The remainder of this passage will expound further as to the nature of this rest, but the fundamental message we must take from this first verse is of the possibility of “falling short” of it, and that we must ever “take care or be wary” of the possibility of this “falling short” becoming a reality in our lives.

As we begin our examination of Hebrews 4, we must first consider the primary assertion of the Epistle to the Hebrews. The primary assertion of this Epistle is that the New Covenant in Jesus Christ is superior in every way to the Old Covenant in its various aspects. It begins in the first two chapters with an explanation of the superiority of Jesus as messenger of the New Covenant to angels as messengers of the Old Covenant. Chapter three then presents an explanation of the superiority of Jesus as mediator and law-giver of the New Covenant to Moses as mediator and law-giver of the Old Covenant. Chapter four is then a continuation of this assertion in relation to the superiority of the New Covenant sabbath in Jesus Christ to the Old Covenant sabbath in the law of Moses, presenting a thorough explanation as to the existence of a New Covenant sabbath and the nature of its superiority.

Chapter four begins, then, with the Greek word oun, which is translated as “therefore or consequently”. This usage obviously serves to connect to or continue the presentation in chapter three of “unbelief” as the phenomenon which prevents the people of God from entering His “rest” (Hebrews 3:16-19). The Greek term for rest used here is katapausis. This term is a compound word, consisting of the words kata and pausis combined to form one word. The term pausis essentially means “rest”, and the addition of the preposition kata (which basically means “down”) adds a settledness or permanence to this rest. It is this permanence which is the first aspect of the superiority of the New Covenant sabbath. The Old Testament term sabbath is the Hebrew Shabbat, normally translated as “rest”. Now this term can be used to represent two “types” of rest. It can refer to rest as either a pause or a ceasing of “work”. As we know from the Old Testament, this Old Covenant rest is essentially a “pausing” of work. It is a one day pause in the work process, one day to “rest” before resuming the work process the following day.

So we see here, in the usage of this particular Greek term, the first aspect of the inherent superiority of the New Covenant rest (sabbath). This term (katapausis) is used to refer to rest consistently in the first eight verses of chapter four, focusing repeatedly on the permanent nature of this New Covenant rest as opposed to the temporary nature of the Old Covenant rest. The use of oun here also serves to connect this chapter to the entirety of the Epistle to the Hebrews in it being a continuation of the assertion of the superiority of the New Covenant in Jesus to every facet of the Old Covenant, specifically in terms of the “Sabbath” found in each. Our next series of posts will examine Hebrews four more closely, in order to pursue a more thorough understanding of the existence of a New Covenant “sabbath”, and of its comprehensive superiority to the Old Covenant sabbath.