So then, there remains a Sabbath rest for the people of God…
When you read Hebrews straight through, one word keeps appearing like a drumbeat: Therefore. In the first four chapters alone, it surfaces ten times. Across the whole book, more than twenty. The preacher is stitching his sermon together with these little hinges, each one turning exposition into exhortation. Christ is greater… therefore pay close attention. God’s promise still stands… therefore hold fast. It’s like stepping stones across a stream. You can’t stand still — each “Therefore” calls you to move forward in faith.
Chapter 4 turns our eyes to one of the great promises of God: rest. The theme runs through all of Scripture. After creation, God rested on the seventh day—not because He was weary, but because His work was complete. Rest, then, is not a retreat from labor but a pause to mark a milestone of accomplishment, to remember God’s deeds, and to offer Him our gratitude in worship.
Israel longed for rest in the Promised Land after generations of wandering, always moving forward yet never arriving—until the appointed time when their desert sojourn was complete. For Christians, the Lord’s Day is our weekly Sabbath, reminding us that we were made not merely for labor but for His presence—free from worldly distractions so that He receives the full attention worthy of His glory.
But these were only glimpses, temporary fulfillments pointing to a more complete rest yet to come. The writer of Hebrews calls us to see rest through an eternal lens: the true Sabbath rest is found in Christ. By His finished work on the cross, He has opened the door into God’s eternal rest—not just the pause of a day, not only the possession of a land, but the deep and lasting joy of dwelling with God forever.
That rest begins even now. In Christ we are freed from the restless striving to earn God’s favor by law-keeping or by works. The law reveals our sin and the holiness of God, but it cannot save us. The blood of bulls and goats brought only limited atonement — repeated daily in the tabernacle, again in the temple, and year by year when the high priest entered the Holy of Holies. But Jesus has made atonement permanent. His sacrifice was once for all. In Him, we can rest secure, safe from the wrath to come, and confident of eternal life in God’s presence.
Yet Hebrews 4 carries forward the writer’s repeated warning. The wilderness generation heard the promise but failed to enter because of unbelief. That warning echoes to us: “Therefore let us strive to enter that rest, so that no one may fall by the same sort of disobedience” (Hebrews 4:11).
And right alongside this promise of rest, the preacher again names Jesus as our high priest. This is the third reference—first the faithful high priest who shared our sufferings (2:17), then the high priest of our confession (3:1), and now the great high priest who has passed through the heavens (4:14). When did He take up this role? When He completed His work on the cross and ascended to the Father’s right hand. There, in the true heavenly sanctuary, He intercedes for us — ever presenting His once-for-all sacrifice as the unshakable basis of our salvation.
Here the contrast comes into focus. The earthly priests of old never rested. Day after day they stood in the tabernacle, offering sacrifices again and again — because sin was never fully dealt with. Their work was never done.
But when Jesus offered Himself once for all, exclaiming “It is finished,” He sat down at the right hand of the Father. His work was complete, never to be repeated. The rest that eluded every priest before Him is now secured for us in Him.
This changes everything. In Christ, we are not just promised rest—we are already seated with Him in the heavenly places (Ephesians 2:6), a spiritual reality too mysterious to fully comprehend, yet no less true. His priesthood is our guarantee that the promised rest is not wishful thinking but a present reality and a future hope.
And still, the stepping stones continue. Chapter by chapter, the “Therefore” keeps leading us onward — to chapter 10, where the preacher will once again urge us to draw near, hold fast, and stir one another up, and then to chapter 12, where he brings us to the vision of Mount Zion and the unshakable kingdom of God. In the meantime his persuasive arguments build.
Hebrews won’t let us stand still. Every “Therefore” is a call to keep moving, to keep trusting, to keep holding fast until the journey is complete.
And the promise held before us is clear: those who cling to Christ will one day rest—not just from our labors, but in the very presence of God, forever. This promised rest is the “good news” mentioned twice in Hebrews 4. Disobedience kept the wandering Israelites from receiving it. Let us not fall into the same trap, but instead, in faith, respond to the writer’s closing invitation:
Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need (Hebrews 4:16).
Prayer: Heavenly Father, help us to receive the “good news” of our salvation, secured for us in Christ at Calvary. Teach us to rest in Him — to cease from striving in our own strength to atone for sin or to earn Your favor. Give us confidence to draw near to You, remembering the words of the apostle Paul, that You are “actually not far from each one of us” (Acts 17: 27). In Christ You have closed the gap. The veil surrounding the Holy of Holies has been torn in two, inviting us to enter Your presence without fear. Keep us faithful, Lord. Help us to hold fast and to trust in Your promise of eternal rest.