3 For we who have believed enter that rest, just as He has said, “As I swore in My anger, They certainly shall not enter My rest,” although His works were finished from the foundation of the world. 4 For He has said somewhere concerning the seventh day: “And God rested on the seventh day from all His works”; 5 and again in this passage, “They certainly shall not enter My rest.” 6 Therefore, since it remains for some to enter it, and those who previously had good news preached to them failed to enter because of disobedience, 7 He again sets a certain day, “Today,” saying through David after so long a time just as has been said before, “Today if you hear His voice, Do not harden your hearts.”
8 For if Joshua had given them rest, He would not have spoken of another day after that. 9 Consequently, there remains a Sabbath rest for the people of God. 10 For the one who has entered His rest has himself also rested from his works, as God did from His. 11 Therefore let’s make every effort to enter that rest, so that no one will fall by following the same example of disobedience.
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The rest of God has many meanings. In the creation, we know God rested from the work of creation on the 7th day which became for the Jews the Sabbath, a day of rest. (Sabbath means to stop doing something, like working). Sabbath rest was so important it even made it into the 10 commandments (Exodus 20:8). If you broke it, you were to be stoned (killed) by the others of the nation (Numbers 15:32-36). For the nation of Israel in the wilderness, rest was the promised land, where they could rest from their 40 years of wilderness wandering, free from slavery, in their own country. We’ve seen that those Israelites who disbelieved God died in the wilderness; they never entered the rest. The author then quotes David in Psalm 95:7 speaking of “today” and entering rest indicating that 500 years after Israel entered the promised land, there was another rest available, “today”. Joshua didn’t bring them to the “rest” Hebrews is talking about here. For Hebrew Christians and us today, the rest is usually understood to mean salvation. It remains available to all and we cease from working to earn it (Sabbath) but rest in Christ and His all-sufficient work. V11 is another warning to not fall away through disobedience. Press on to obedience which is based on faith.