His Rest (Heb 4:11)

[Olde Tymer]

● Ex 31:16-17 . .The children of Israel shall keep the sabbath, to observe the
sabbath throughout their generations as a perpetual covenant. It is a sign between
Me and the children of Israel forever; for in six days The Lord made the heavens
and the earth, and on the seventh day He rested and was refreshed.

The Jews' weekly routine day of rest is a liturgical day. As such it is no more than
twenty-four hours in length, whereas the creator's day of rest is very different.

Six of the creation days were bounded by an evening and a morning; whereas the
seventh day wasn't bounded at all, viz: God has yet to terminate His rest and pick
up where He left off making things. In other words; God's rest has thus far been a
perpetual, never-ending day, viz: it's an on-going rest primarily because the entire
work of creation, from beginning to end, was completed and God left no unfinished
business awaiting His return to work. (Gen 2:1)

● Heb 4:10 . . For all who enter into God's rest will find rest from their labors, just
as God rested after creating the world.

Within the context of the letter to Hebrews "their labors" are relative to the
covenant that Moses' people entered into with God by means of Exodus, Leviticus,
Numbers, and Deuteronomy-- a.k.a. the Law -- which rewards compliance with
blessings, while at the same time penalizes non compliance with retribution, e.g.
Lev 26:3-38, Deut 27:15-26, and Deut 28:1-69.

So then, the people can never relax because the covenant-- with its requirements
and its consequences --is constantly hanging over their heads like a sword of
Damocles, suspended by a slender thread easily severed by the slightest infraction.

By no stretch of the imagination is the covenant comparable to God's rest wherein
He ceased from His labors when He was all done and there was nothing else to do;
whereas the covenant doesn't permit the people to cease from their labors because
its sacrificial system is never satisfied. In other words; every year starts them off
from square one all over again because they can't get by on only one Yom Kippur.

● Matt 11:28-30 . . Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will
give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and
humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my
burden is light.

Within the context of the letter to Hebrews, the rest Jesus spoke of consists of a
new covenant, a new high priesthood, and a new atonement system.

● Heb 4:11 . . Let us do our best to enter that place of rest.
_

 

[TibiasDad]

Within the context of the letter to Hebrews, the rest Jesus spoke of consists of a
new covenant, a new high priesthood, and a new atonement system.

For me, the contextual meaning of Hebrews is that believing Jews no longer are obligated to the ceremonial laws of worship, including the sacrificial laws, because Christ’s death fulfilled all those inadequate requirements that needed repeated year after year “once for all”.

● Heb 4:11 . . Let us do our best to enter that place of rest.

For Jews, this lifelong ritual of keeping the ceremonial laws and traditions was a difficult task; just as any lifelong practice would be difficult for us to change.

Doug

 

[Olde Tymer]

.
● Heb 8:7-8a . . For if there had been nothing wrong with that first covenant, no
place would have been sought for another. But God found fault with the people,

That is pretty much the crux of the weakness in the covenant that Moses' people
agreed upon with God per Exodus, Leviticus, and Deuteronomy. According to Rom
7:12 the Law is holy, and the commandment holy, and just, and good; so there is
nothing wrong with the covenant in that respect. The weakness in it has always
been human nature. (cf. Rom 7:10-23)

● Heb 8:8b-9 . . So He said: The time is coming-- declares The Lord --when I will
make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah. It will
not be like the covenant I made with their forefathers when I took them by the
hand to lead them out of Egypt, because they did not remain faithful to my
covenant, and I turned away from them, declares the Lord.

The new covenant is very brief in comparison to the length of the first covenant
because there are no rules and regulations governing a priesthood, no extensive
sacrificial system, and no code of conduct including consequences for non
compliance. Nor does the new covenant give God cause to turn away from His
people and/or evict them from their land.

● Heb 8:10-12 . .This is the covenant I will make with the house of Israel after that
time, declares the Lord. I will put my laws in their minds and write them on their
hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people. No longer will a man teach
his neighbor, or a man his brother, saying, 'Know the Lord,' because they will all
know me, from the least of them to the greatest. For I will forgive their wickedness
and will remember their sins no more."

* That passage quotes Jer 31:31-34 and implies that Yom Kippur is on track to be
phased out because God will cease recording His peoples' sins to be used as an
indictment against them later on.

● Heb 8:13 . .When God speaks of a new covenant, it means He has made the first
one obsolete. It is now out of date and ready to be put aside.

Although Moses' covenant is obsolete, it's not out of business just yet. Millions of
Jews are still under its jurisdiction because that is their covenant by default (Deut
29:10-15) The first covenant still has teeth. According to Ezek 20:33-38 numbers
of the Diaspora will be granted/denied entry into Messiah's kingdom on the basis of
their compliance with the first covenant.

Now, whereas the first covenant is involuntary, the new is just the opposite. No one
is born into it like they are the first covenant. Jews wishing to enroll in the new
covenant have to step up for it, and if they don't, they'll remain stuck in the first;
which is a very dangerous position to be in because that covenant doesn't allow
God to forget sins; viz: sins stay on the books; even sins that God has forgiven.

"Then The Lord passed by in front of Moses and proclaimed: The Lord, The Lord
God, compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in loving-kindness
and truth; who keeps loving-kindness for thousands, who forgives iniquity,
transgression and sin; yet He will by no means leave the guilty unpunished: visiting
the iniquity of fathers on the children and on the grandchildren to the third and
fourth generations." (Ex 34:6-7)

When you think about it, a new covenant was pretty much inevitable because God
didn't find fault with the old covenant, rather, He found fault with His people, viz:
it's the Jews' overall human nature that makes the first covenant impractical.

But also; the first covenant contains no provisions for regenerating the Jews and
making them a better person, viz: the first covenant is a rigid code that makes
exacting demands upon them while having no promise of renovating the core of
their being. Their improvement can be forged only within the terms and conditions
of the new covenant.

NOTE: It's not uncommon to encounter Christians claiming that it is impossible to
keep the law of Moses. Well; that's just not true. For example: Josiah was able to
keep it (2Kgs 23:25) Zacharias and his wife were able to keep it (Luke 1:5-6) and
Paul the apostle was able to keep it. (Phil 3:6) But those people were coerced into
keeping the law. It is God desire that folks comply with His instructions because it
is in their nature to do so.
_