Hebrews 4:8-11, ESV: “For if Joshua had given them rest, God would not have spoken of another day later on. 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. Let us therefore strive to enter that rest, so that no one may fall by the same sort of disobedience.”
The following quotes are from The Reign of the Servant Kings by Joseph C. Dillow
“This [REST] refers to the completion of our task and subsequent entrance into our reward, which is the meaning elsewhere in Hebrews—ownership of the millennial land of Canaan, the future reign of the servant kings, joint rulership with Messiah in the heavenly country, the millennial land of Palestine.”
“We enter into rest only when we persevere in faith to the end of life. When we do this, we will obtain a share in the inheritance, the millennial land of Canaan, and will rule with Christ as one of His metochoi [partners] there. Rest is not just the land itself; it also includes the state or condition of ‘finished work,’ of final perseverance, into which the faithful Christian will enter. God has not set aside His promises to Israel. The promise of the inheritance, the land, is eternally valid, and those Christians who remain faithful to their Lord to the end of life will share in that inheritance along with the Old Testament saints.”
This quote is from the Life Application Study Bible (LASB)
“God wants us to enter his rest. For the Israelites of Moses’ time, this rest was the earthly rest to be found in the Promised Land. For Christians, it is peace with God now and eternal life on a new earth later.” They have more to say, but it involves enjoying God’s rest and peace now. This is certainly true but it distracts from the point that is being made in Hebrews. The rest of Hebrews is not a present rest as important as that is. The rest of Hebrews “remains…for the people of God” (4:10). We are to “strive to enter that rest” (4:11). That does not sound like “enjoying God’s rest and peace now.” The “rest” of Hebrews can lost is one is not diligent to obey so that we do not fail to enter God’s rest like Israel did (4:11). As F.F. Bruce says “THE REST OF GOD MAY BE FORFEITED.”1The Epistle to the Hebrews by F. F. Bruce pg. 75
References