Hebrews 3:12-4:13 -The Second Warning

Hebrews 4:1-11 – God’s Rest is available

We’ve seen the symmetrical structure of a chiasm before. Heb 4:1-11 uses a larger one to drive home the author’s point.

A    ¹ Therefore, let us fear if, while a promise remains of entering His rest, any one of you may seem to have come short of it.

B    ² For indeed we have had good news preached to us, just as they also;

C    but the word they heard did not profit them, because it was not united by faith in those who heard. ³ For we who have believed enter that rest,

D   just as He has said, “As I swore in My wrath, They shall not enter My rest,”

E  although His works were finished from the foundation of the world. ⁴ For He has said somewhere concerning the seventh day: “And God rested on the seventh day from all His works”;

D’   ⁵ and again in this passage, “They shall not enter My rest.”

C’ ⁶ Therefore, since it remains for some to enter it, and those who formerly had good news preached to them failed to enter because of disobedience,

B’   ⁷ He again fixes a certain day, “Today,” saying through David after so long a time just as has been said before, “Today if you hear His voice, Do not harden your hearts.” ⁸For if Joshua had given them rest, He would not have spoken of another day after that. ⁹ So there remains a Sabbath rest for the people of God. ¹⁰ For the one who has entered His rest has himself also rested from his works, as God did from His.

A’   ¹¹ Therefore let us be diligent to enter that rest, so that no one will fall, through following the same example of disobedience.  ^[1]Hebrews 4:1–11 (NASB95 with special formatting added)

When these verses are laid out to make the symmetry clear something amazing happens. One part of the symmetry expands and explains the other.

A – A’  Entering requires diligence.

Greek word is stronger than diligence. It means to be zealous; to make every effort. Here’s a paradox. Entering the rest takes daily attention, effort, desire, persistence. Notice the similarity of thought between A and A’. Both contain the exhortation “let us” and call upon the audience to enter God’s rest. Now that we see these two statements correspond to one another, we can grasp that Heb 4:11 defines what Heb 4:1 calls coming short. It means disobedience, and from all that has just been said in Heb 3, we understand that to mean not having a persistent inner peace because we trust God in every circumstance He puts before us. The chiasm reveals the author’s concept of falling away = unbelief (Heb 3:12,19); disobedience (Heb 4:11); lack of diligence (Heb 4:11)

B – B’ Refers back to Heb 3:7-19, comparing the Exodus experience to Christians.

Emphasizes that the physical rest corresponds to a current rest available for the people of God. This phrase re-emphasizes that Christians are being addressed. B and B’ are also similar concepts even though B’ is much longer than B. They are both about a message preached to God’s people. Comparing B and B’ we find that the message B referred to is that believers are expected to enter the same rest that God entered when He finished bringing the universe into existence! That is the most glorious message of all human existence. It tells us that we were meant to live without struggling to earn God’s love and presence and that from the beginning of our race we were meant to enjoy life forever.  The implication is that mankind’s lack of trust, their insistence on controlling life and gaining wisdom entirely on their own without God’s guidance and relationship is what has brought chaos, sadness and death to this planet.

C – C’ Lack of faith = disobedience

The correspondence of C and C’ point out that lack of faith is the reason for not living in God’s rest. And again drive home the point already presented in chapter 3 that lack of faith is disobedience. To conceptually emphasize the points made already, the central idea about God’s rest is surrounded by identical warnings that God refuses to allow those who will not trust Him to enter His rest. This points out a basic fact of human existence. God has made us in such a way that no person can be at complete inner peace without living in a trusting relationship with God. God has just made it that way and this is a statement of that fact.

D – D’ You can only enter the rest God’s way.

There is no other way. He has made it a certain way and that’s all there is to it.

E The rest is God’s rest of the seventh day.

Now we see that this is far beyond the physical rest of Israel. It is a rest that not only looks back to creation but is never-ending in the future. The central point then is that by considering Jesus’ faithfulness presented at the beginning of this section (Heb 3:1-6) and being faithful in trusting God’s Word, His promises, we can find inner rest because we need not fear death (Heb 2:14) and we need not fear God. Jesus is our redeemer and High Priest who intercedes with God on our behalf. Good news preached to us is that our works are finished. We need not work to earn God’s acceptance and access into His presence either in this life or evermore. This rest is entered by faith in God’s promises; but the confidence of hope. Heb 11:1 says faith = assurance of things HOPED for,…not seen which connects with Heb 2:5-9. The warning is that there is a consequence for not living in the rest. God will discipline us to try to get us to live in that rest because He loves us. Not all Christians appropriate this hope so as to live with the inner peace of hope, i.e. in rest.