The author of Hebrews has a paradigm of pilgrimage in mind. He is convinced that the church to which he is speaking—as well as the church today—is in an analogous position to Israel in the wilderness.
The Creator, who rested on the seventh day from all his works, said to Israel, “They shall not enter my rest“ (4:4-5, cf Ps 95:11). Notice how God calls it his rest, not theirs, not ours. So then, there remains a Sabbath rest for the people of God, for whoever has entered God’s rest has also rested from his works as God did from his (Heb 4:9-10).
The author uses a unique word translated as “sabbath-rest” in verse 9, sabbatismos. It is a Greek word found only here, nowhere else in the New Testament. Did he coin the phrase? It is quite possible. Remember, he draws heavily on the Greek translation of the O.T., and his own use of Greek is elegant and eloquent. There remains a sabbatismos for the people of God.
Whoever enters that “Sabbath-rest” also rests from his works as God did from his.
Now, as I have said previously, the traditional Protestant paradigm reads this as saying believers have already entered that rest when they are born again. This mode of interpretation operates according to the judicial model of justification like the one found in Romans 5. They have ceased trying to earn salvation by dead works and now rest by faith in God’s completed work of grace. It seems to be reinforced by verse 10: for whoever has entered God’s rest has also rested from his works as God did from his.
These are great truths indeed but they are out of place here. The works spoken of in the context of Hebrews 4 actually have nothing to do with so-called dead works in the justification model. Quite the opposite. They are good works that flow from redeemed hearts!
The author’s church in the wilderness analogy helps bring his thoughts into focus.
The Sabbatismos at the consummation of all things means we have arrived at our destination. We enter God’s promised rest, leaving behind the strife and striving that comes with faithfully following our Savior through the perils of the wilderness.
It is called sabbath-rest because it is grounded in God’s seventh-day rest of creation. The end ushers in a holy sabbath that never ends. Sabbatismos does not only mean rest. It emphasizes a goal, a sense of completion, and what happens during that rest—the unspeakable joy of living in his unmediated presence. For the author of Hebrews, the weekly Sabbath continues as a creation ordinance and an eschatological sign.
That is what awaits us. But for now, his prayer is that we will be equipped by the God of peace with everything good that you may do his will, working in us that which is pleasing in his sight, through Jesus Christ (13:21). Faithfulness in the wilderness is characterized by patient waiting and stirring up one another to love and good works (10:24).
We need to be, as Paul says, “rich in good works” (1 Tim 6:18).
I am sure that here, like any in other congregation, some people have more means and others have less. Here is good news. You can all be wealthy when it comes to the things that matter to God. Everyone has an equal opportunity to be rich in good deeds. But be careful your material wealth—with its fixation on accumulating and protecting possessions—does not hinder you from abounding in good deeds.
The author began this discussion regarding God’s ever-renewed call to faithfulness in chapter 3: Therefore, holy brothers and sisters, you who share in a heavenly calling, consider Jesus, the apostle and high priest of our confession, who was faithful to him who appointed him (1-2). He now concludes it with language both memorable and sublime.
For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart. And no creature is hidden from his sight, but all are naked and exposed to the eyes of him to whom we must give account (12-13).
He anticipates where he wants to take us next: Since then we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus, the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession (4:14).
And he presents all of this in his now familiar style of exhortation and warning: Let us therefore strive to enter that rest, so that no one may fall by the same sort of disobedience (4:11).
