October 10 – Hebrews 4:1-5. Enter His Rest.

October 10 – Hebrews 4:1-5. Enter His Rest.

Therefore, since the promise of entering his rest still stands, let us be careful that none of you be found to have fallen short of it. For we also have had the good news proclaimed to us, just as they did; but the message they heard was of no value to them, because they did not share the faith of those who obeyed.  Now we who have believed enter that rest, just as God has said, 


         “So I declared on oath in my anger,  ‘They shall never enter my rest.’ ”  


And yet his works have been finished since the creation of the world. For somewhere he has spoken about the seventh day in these words: “On the seventh day God rested from all his works.”  And again in the passage above he says, “They shall never enter my rest.”

I love these passages.  There are so many interesting details and sometimes we gloss over and miss them.  They may not get us too deeply into the theology, but they certainly make the author seem a little more real to us.

He’s a preacher.  And sometimes he forgets himself.  Don’t you love the second sentence?  “Let us be careful that none of you be found …”

In the second paragraph (after the quotation), he writes: “For somewhere he has spoken about the seventh day in these words …”  Somewhere?  The man knows his scripture quite well, but he can’t identify the book of scripture that it comes from.

For the last chapter and a half he has been quoting from Psalm 95.  He could probably go to the specific scroll that this passage comes from, but he can’t remember to tell us that it is even from the collection of Psalms.

These little details are a lot of fun to discern.  They take you away from the specifics of the text for just a few moments to enjoy the truth of who the author is. But, the other thing the author wants us to know is the importance of his message.

The good news has been preached to us, let it fall deeply into our hearts and souls so that we might be part of God’s kingdom on earth and when it is all said and done, might enter His rest.