[Oct. 31st, 1853.]
I. Exposition of the context.
The Apostle warns his readers against unbelief. He holds up to them the ancient Israelites as a warning. They had been brought out of Egypt. They had the promise of a rest in Canaan. They failed to enter it because of unbelief. There is an analogy between their case and ours. We have been delivered from worse than Egyptian bondage. A promise is made us of entering into rest. We should take heed lest we come short of it.
To prove that there is this analogy, the Apostle shows there is a rest for us. This he does by showing that the Psalmist spake of a rest as future, long after the Sabbatical rest established at the creation and long after the introduction of the people into the land of Canaan. There remaineth therefore a rest to the people of God.
II. The nature of that rest.
Three things are included in it. 1. Rest or freedom from labor. 2. Freedom from conflict. 3. The complete satisfaction of the soul arising from the attainment of the chief good.
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Freedom from labor. In one sense labor is a blessing, in another it is a curse. It is a curse as entailing the necessity for a lower form of activity, and as attended with pain and fatigue. In the rest which remains for the people of God, there will be no necessity of securing the means of subsistence by the sweat of the face.
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Freedom from conflict, (a.) Conflict with our own corruptions. (b.) Conflict with spiritual enemies. (c.) Conflict with conscience and remorse, (d.) with unsatisfied desires and cravings of our nature.
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Rest is the chief good. There are three conditions of inward rest.
(a.) Harmony or peace in our own nature, which supposes freedom from guilt, and complete order or holiness of heart.
(b.) The possession of an adequate portion for the soul which fills and satisfies all its capacities and desires. The wicked can have no rest. The worldly can have no rest. Nor can the self-righteous or any who do not enjoy the favor and fellowship of God.
(c.) Assurance in the security of this possession.
III. When does the believer enter on this rest? At death. Proof, 1. From this passage. 2. From Revelation; “Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord from henceforth.” Rev. 14:13. 3. From 2 Cor. 5:1–6, and other passages.
IV. Where is this rest? In heaven. This means negatively that it is not earthly, and positively that it is heavenly. Proof that it is in heaven. See 2 Cor. 5:1, John 14:1, with numerous passages in Revelation.
The practical use Paul makes of this truth is,
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To urge us to the attainment of this rest, and especially to warn us against unbelief.
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He holds up the efficacy and power of the word to assure us that neither the threatenings nor the promises of God fail.
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He points us to Christ through whom alone we can attain to this rest.
← 233. Let us therefore fear, lest a promise being left us of entering into his rest, any of you should seem to come short of it. Heb. 4:1 · Contents · 235. But we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is. 1 John 3:2 →