DYNAMIS!
A publication of St. George Orthodox Christian Cathedral
Wichita, KS

Hebrews 4:1-13     (12/22)      Epistle for Tuesday of the Twenty-Ninth Week after Pentecost

 

God’s Promise of Rest:  Hebrews 4:1-13, especially vs. 1: “Therefore, since a promise remains of entering His [God’s] rest, let us fear lest any of you seem to have come short of it.”  Saint Paul encourages us to hold fast to confidence in Christ (Heb. 3:6), and not be like our predecessors in God’s household - the children of ancient Israel - who lost the temporal, Promised Land in the desert through unbelief.  And he does not wish us to lose our way amidst the distractions, testing, and arid thinking of this impermanent world, and so, in this present reading, the Apostle expands on the nature and meaning of the eternal rest of God.

First, Saint Paul reminds us that the promise of entering God’s rest remains (vs. 1).  His use of the present tense of verb emphasizes that God’s promised rest is an available reality now.  However, the rest he outlines does not refer to a time-limited, territorial place of settlement - the Promised Land.  The Land was the principal objective of the ancient sons of Israel who left Egypt and sojourned for years in the wilderness.  And almost all of them failed to enter the land.  But the Apostle speaks of another rest: “...fear lest any of you seem to have come short of it” (vs. 1).

What is this rest to which the Apostle refers?  He recognizes that God’s promised rest is contained in the gospel, which “...was preached to us as well as to them...” (vs. 2).  God’s rest has to do with His eternal Kingdom, that which will only be revealed fully at the end of the age, although it may be anticipated now by faith.  Trust in God is required to attain true, eternal rest - something that ancient Israel failed to risk at Kadesh (read Num. 13:1-14:23).

Saint Paul’s major point in this present passage from Hebrews is encouragement: do not lose heart!  We are members of God’s Household through faith, “For we who have believed do enter that rest...” (vs. 3).  He refers three times in the lesson to a prophecy given through David (Psalm 94:7-11, - see Heb. 4:3,5,7).  The Apostle’s point is that God would not give this prophecy through His Prophet, were not the eternal promise of rest always in force and available. 

Note especially that the Apostle underscores the on-going nature of the promise by referring to God’s rest following the creation of the world.  “For He [God] has spoken in a certain place of the seventh day in this way, ‘And God rested on the seventh day from all His works’” (cf. Heb. 4:4; Gen. 2:2).  In a way, what Saint Paul has us consider are three related rests: the rest of the Promised Land, the command implied in the Sabbath rest at Creation, and the antitype or the true promised rest of the age to come.  The Land is a type, while the eternal antitype is God’s true rest since the Lord our God is eternal from before time and forever.

The Apostle draws together his various points about God’s rest with a remark that hearkens back to the beginning of the passage: “There remains therefore a rest for the people of God” (vs. 9).  The verses in the passage after this statement largely are encouragement.  “Let us therefore be diligent to enter that rest...” (vs. 11).  We must not ignore ancient Israel’s failure to enter the rest, nor ignore their example of disobedience (vs. 11).  Remember: God with Whom we all shall deal is “...a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart” (vs. 12).  He sees all and knows all, “And there is no creature hidden from His sight, but all things are naked and open to the eyes of Him to whom we must give account” (vs. 13).  Be attentive if you would rest.

Orthodox life and worship offers the opportunity to anticipate the eternal, promised rest Saint Paul teaches here.  Sharing in the Liturgy is to join the assembly where true and right belief are held, to be in the presence of the Lord Jesus - the great High Priest (see vs. 14), to stand with those “...who have ceased from [their] works...” (vs. 10), and to enjoy rest with the Creator of all.

Blessed is the Kingdom of the Father, and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit!

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