The Rest That God Promised

4Therefore, while the promise of entering his rest is still open, let us take care that none of you should seem to have failed to reach it.²For indeed the good news came to us just as to them; but the message they heard did not benefit them, because they were not united by faith with those who listened.^*3For we who have believed enter that rest, just as God^* has said,
‘As in my anger I swore,
“They shall not enter my rest” ’,
though his works were finished at the foundation of the world.⁴For in one place it speaks about the seventh day as follows: ‘And God rested on the seventh day from all his works.’⁵And again in this place it says, ‘They shall not enter my rest.’⁶Since therefore it remains open for some to enter it, and those who formerly received the good news failed to enter because of disobedience,⁷again he sets a certain day—‘today’—saying through David much later, in the words already quoted,
‘Today, if you hear his voice,
do not harden your hearts.’
⁸For if Joshua had given them rest, God^* would not speak later about another day.⁹So then, a sabbath rest still remains for the people of God;¹⁰for those who enter God’s rest also cease from their labours as God did from his.¹¹Let us therefore make every effort to enter that rest, so that no one may fall through such disobedience as theirs.

12 Indeed, the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing until it divides soul from spirit, joints from marrow; it is able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart.¹³And before him no creature is hidden, but all are naked and laid bare to the eyes of the one to whom we must render an account.

tested in all ways as we are

14 Since, then, we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus, the Son of God, let us hold fast to our confession.¹⁵For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who in every respect has been tested^* as we are, yet without sin.¹⁶Let us therefore approach the throne of grace with boldness, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.

The “Letter to Hebrews” is difficult to read not only because it uses obscure details from Jewish tradition to make its points but also because its mode of argument is also strange. The first part of this extract is devoted to proving from scripture a) that there is a “rest” which God himself enjoys and which he offers to his people, and b) that although the Sabbath is a sign of this “rest” it is only a sign: the true “rest” is a dimension of God’s peace beyond the confines of earth and history. Out of the convoluted argument emerges the wonderful promise: “so then, a Sabbath rest still awaits the people of God.” If those of us living in comfort and afflunce can neverthless long for that rest, how much more those brothers and sisters who live in poverty and persecution! If that is your situation I hope you can receive this promse today. Beyond, and therefore even in the midst of trouble, the Christ who was laid in the tomb brings rest.

His struggle with the words of the Bible leads the author to a splendid description of God’s word, as “alive and active…able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart.” I believe this is true firstly of Jesus Christ the Word of God, whose life, ministry death and resurrection furnish the sharpest and most saving critique of my life that I can imagine; and secondly of the Scripture that witnesses to Christ, whose wisdom is my daily resource. To allow the Word of God to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart is a blessing we slowly learn to value; but having learned it we never want to lose it again.

On this Holy Saturday we can indeed reflect that Jesus our great high priest found his life tested against the edge of painful circumstance. Although he did not swerve from his allegiance to God, he knows enough of weakness to sympathise with us. More than that, he brings into the place of God’s mercy and grace, that is, into the promised “rest”, which, like his death, turns out not to be an end but a new beginning.