One of the chapters concerning the Sabbath which is misunderstood is Hebrews chapter 4, which we will discuss in this section. To gather more context, we will read the verses before it, which in this case is the last part of Hebrews chapter 3.
Hebrews 3:7-19, 4:1-12
7 Wherefore (as the Holy Ghost saith, To day if ye will hear his voice, 8 Harden not your hearts, as in the provocation, in the day of temptation in the wilderness: 9 When your fathers tempted me, proved me, and saw my works forty years. 10 Wherefore I was grieved with that generation, and said, They do alway err in their heart; and they have not known my ways. 11 So I sware in my wrath, They shall not enter into my rest.) 12 Take heed, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief, in departing from the living God. 13 But exhort one another daily, while it is called To day; lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin. 14 For we are made partakers of Christ, if we hold the beginning of our confidence stedfast unto the end; 15 While it is said, To day if ye will hear his voice, harden not your hearts, as in the provocation. 16 For some, when they had heard, did provoke: howbeit not all that came out of Egypt by Moses. 17 But with whom was he grieved forty years? was it not with them that had sinned, whose carcases fell in the wilderness? 18 And to whom sware he that they should not enter into his rest, but to them that believed not? 19 So we see that they could not enter in because of unbelief.”
“Let us therefore fear, lest, a promise being left us of entering into his rest, any of you should seem to come short of it. 2 For unto us was the gospel preached, as well as unto them: but the word preached did not profit them, not being mixed with faith in them that heard it. 3 For we which have believed do enter into rest, as he said, As I have sworn in my wrath, if they shall enter into my rest: although the works were finished from the foundation of the world. 4 For he spake in a certain place of the seventh day on this wise, And God did rest the seventh day from all his works. 5 And in this place again, If they shall enter into my rest. 6 Seeing therefore it remaineth that some must enter therein, and they to whom it was first preached entered not in because of unbelief: 7 Again, he limiteth a certain day, saying in David, To day, after so long a time; as it is said, To day if ye will hear his voice, harden not your hearts. 8 For if Jesus had given them rest, then would he not afterward have spoken of another day. 9 There remaineth therefore a rest to the people of God. 10 For he that is entered into his rest, he also hath ceased from his own works, as God did from his. 11 Let us labour therefore to enter into that rest, lest any man fall after the same example of unbelief. 12 For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any twoedged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.”
In Hebrews chapter three, the author addresses the Israelites falling away from God in the wilderness. When we read Exodus, Leviticus, and Numbers, we learn that the people continually provoked God through complaining and disobedience. The author uses them as a warning for Christians not to imitate their bad example.
In chapter four, we learn that the Israelites had the same gospel preached to them that was preached by Jesus and the early disciples. These verses refute the idea that there was more than one gospel in the Bible. The ancient Israelites fell away in that they did not combine the gospel message with faith. They continually refused to have faith in God’s words.
Even at the base of Mount Horeb in Arabia where the Ten Commandments were given, the Israelites resorted to fear instead of faith. God had invited the Israelites up to the mountain when the time was right (Exodus 19:13). But when the time drew near, they drew back.
“18 And all the people saw the thunderings, and the lightnings, and the noise of the trumpet, and the mountain smoking: and when the people saw it, they removed, and stood afar off. 19 And they said unto Moses, Speak thou with us, and we will hear: but let not God speak with us, lest we die. 20 And Moses said unto the people, Fear not: for God is come to prove you, and that his fear may be before your faces, that ye sin not. 21 And the people stood afar off, and Moses drew near unto the thick darkness where God was” (Exodus 20:18-21).
God was trying to draw the people up to the mountain so they could meet with Him and know Him. This would keep them from sinning. But they became afraid. Their descent into disobedience happened not long after this event with the golden calf (Exodus chapter 32).
One of the ways that the Israelites disobeyed in the wilderness is that they did not observe the Sabbath. In Exodus chapter 16, God sent manna to show them which day was the Sabbath. They received one portion of manna for five days, twice as much on the sixth day, and none on the seventh day. This cycle continued forty years!
In Ezekiel chapter 20, God recalls the journey of the Israelites in the desert. Apparently, they disobeyed the Sabbath in the wilderness, though God made it so easy for them to understand.
“10 Wherefore I caused them to go forth out of the land of Egypt, and brought them into the wilderness. 11 And I gave them my statutes, and shewed them my judgments, which if a man do, he shall even live in them. 12 Moreover also I gave them my sabbaths, to be a sign between me and them, that they might know that I am the Lord that sanctify them. 13 But the house of Israel rebelled against me in the wilderness: they walked not in my statutes, and they despised my judgments, which if a man do, he shall even live in them; and my sabbaths they greatly polluted: then I said, I would pour out my fury upon them in the wilderness, to consume them. 14 But I wrought for my name’s sake, that it should not be polluted before the heathen, in whose sight I brought them out” (Ezekiel 20:10-14).
When we take this information and look at Hebrews chapters 3 and 4 again, we can see that the author is referring to the Israelites’ disobedience particularly regarding the Sabbath. God rested in Genesis on the seventh day, and it is the only weekly day of rest in the Bible.
The author in these verses also utilizes the Sabbath as a depiction of salvation found through Jesus, which is the ultimate rest of God. The Sabbath teaches us about grace and salvation. Just as we do not work or labor on the seventh day, so we cannot earn our salvation.
In Hebrews 4:9-11, we learn: “There remaineth therefore a rest to the people of God.” The Greek word translated as rest in verse nine is sabbatismos, and it means “Sabbath rest.” The Sabbath rest remains for the people of God. It has not been changed because God set the example for us in Genesis, and He can never be wrong.