Hebrews 4:3

The eternal rest in heaven. As he said - Clearly showing that there is a farther rest than that which followed the finishing of the creation. Though the works were finished - Before: whence it is plain, God did not speak of resting from them.

We enter into a blessed union with Christ, and into a communion with God through Christ; in this state we actually enjoy many sweet communications of pardon of sin, peace of conscience, joy in the Holy Ghost, increase of grace and earnests of glory, resting from the servitude of sin, and reposing ourselves in God till we are prepared to rest with him in heaven." 2.

quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — odd-straight-quotes

For we only that have believed enter into the rest - The proposition is, There remains a rest for us. This is proved, ver. 3- 11, thus: That Psalm mentions a rest: yet it does not mean, 1. God's rest from creating; for this was long before the time of Moses.

For we which have believed do enter into rest,....

They were to keep the seventh day a holy sabbath to the Lord, therein praising him who had raised them up out of nothing by creating power, and praying to him that he would create them anew by his Spirit of grace, and direct their faith to the promised Redeemer and restorer of all things, by which faith they find rest in their souls.

He specifies this, that we have a promise left us of entering into his rest; that is, of entering into a covenant-relation to Christ, and a state of communion with God through Christ, and of growing up therein, till we are made perfect in glory.

[Other Sermons by Mr. Spurgeon upon the same text are Sermons #866, Volume 15—REST and #2090, Volume 35— A DELICIOUS EXPERIENCE.] THE text does not say that we who have believed shall enter into rest. That is a very great Truth, but it is not the Truth that is taught here. We "do enter into rest," even in this present life! All who are Believers in the Lord Jesus Christ are already enjoying rest of heart and, in proportion as faith possesses their souls, in that proportion they enjoy perfect rest.

Two other oldest manuscripts read, "Let us enter." into rest--Greek, "into the rest" which is promised in the ninety-fifth Psalm. as he said--God's saying that unbelief excludes from entrance implies that belief gains an entrance into the rest. What, however, Paul mainly here dwells on in the quotation is that the promised "rest" has not yet been entered into.

LAST Sabbath we meditated upon the fact that those who came out of Egypt did not enter into the rest of God. "They could not enter in because of unbelief." Today I shall not seek so much to warn as to encourage, while we look at the way by which we can enter into the true rest. The faithful minister of God should be like the parent birds, who, when their young are old enough for flight, sometimes drive them from the nest to make them fly.

REST! A dainty word, indeed! Too rich a syllable for this unstable earth! Is it not a stray word from the language of the celestials? REST! Is it obtainable? Is it possible? Can there ever be rest for the race who were driven out of Paradise to till the ground from where they were taken and to eat bread in the sweat of their face? Rest! Is it possible for a soul polluted with sin, tossed to and fro with lusts and agitated with outward temptations?

REST! A dainty word, indeed! Too rich a syllable for this unstable earth! Is it not a stray word from the language of the celestials? REST! Is it obtainable? Is it possible? Can there ever be rest for the race who were driven out of Paradise to till the ground from where they were taken and to eat bread in the sweat of their face? Rest! Is it possible for a soul polluted with sin, tossed to and fro with lusts and agitated with outward temptations? Is not man like the dove sent forth from the ark, when towards evening, it longed for a rest for the sole of its feet, but found none? Is it not the fate of man's soul to use her wings as long as they will last her—forever flitting to and fro in vain pursuit of rest—seeing far and wide mocking wastes of disappointments, but never reaching a place of repose for her flagging pinions? How apt was the simile of the old Saxon chieftain when he compared the unenlightened soul to the bird which flew in at the open windows of the banquet hall, was scared by the uproarious shouts of boisterous warriors around the fire and passed out again by another window into the cold and the darkness! Our spirit, attracted by the tempting glare, darts into the halls of pleasure, but soon is frightened and alarmed by the rough voice of conscience and the demands of insatiable passions and away it flies from the momentary gleam of pleasure and dream of happiness into the thick darkness of discontent and the snow storm of remorse. Man, without God, is like the mariner in the story, condemned to sail on forever and never to find a haven. He is the real wandering Jew, immortal in his restlessness. Like the evil spirit, man by nature walks through dry places, seeking rest and finding none.

LAST Sabbath we meditated upon the fact that those who came out of Egypt did not enter into the rest of God. "They could not enter in because of unbelief." Today I shall not seek so much to warn as to encourage, while we look at the way by which we can enter into the true rest. The faithful minister of God should be like the parent birds, who, when their young are old enough for flight, sometimes drive them from the nest to make them fly. And, at other times, go before them, twittering and stretching out their wings, to tempt their callow offspring to try the air. Thus, at times, we endeavor to drive you to and at others we try to draw you to the flight of faith. Knowing the terrors of the Lord, we persuade—knowing the joys of true religion, we entreat. By all means we would induce men to quit the nest of their old trust and fly to Christ by faith. If God will bless the Word, so that you put your trust in Christ, we shall be content. No, more—our cup will run over with gratitude for your salvation. In the text, we have a declaration of experience, "We which have believed do enter into rest," to which is very singularly added, "As he said, As I have sworn in my wrath, if they shall enter into my rest." The happy declaration is supported by the tremendous oath of judgment, which shut out the unbelieving race. There is usually a promise embedded in a threat, like gold in quartz—just as there is generally a threat as the reverse of the golden coin of promise. When we read, in the opening chapters of the Bible, "In the day that you eat thereof you shall surely die," it was implied, was it not, that if they did not eat they should live? Though that promise was not stated in words, it was implied in the threat.

[Other Sermons by Mr. Spurgeon upon the same text are Sermons #866, Volume 15—REST and #2090, Volume 35— A DELICIOUS EXPERIENCE.] THE text does not say that we who have believed shall enter into rest. That is a very great Truth, but it is not the Truth that is taught here. We "do enter into rest," even in this present life! All who are Believers in the Lord Jesus Christ are already enjoying rest of heart and, in proportion as faith possesses their souls, in that proportion they enjoy perfect rest. It is not a future privilege—it is a matter of present enjoyment. And I pray my Brothers and Sisters in Christ not to impoverish themselves by making the text apply to the future, but to seek for the spiritual enrichment which God has given them by accepting the text just as the Apostle wrote it and so realizing that "we who have believed do enter into rest." It appears from the connection in which these words appear that the type and pattern of all true rest for men was the rest of God at the end of the six days of Creation. After He had worked so wondrously and finished all His creative work, we read that the Lord "rested on the seventh day from all His work which He had made." It is not easy for us to understand how the rest of God could ever have been broken, yet there must have been a deeper kind of rest for Him on that seventh day than during the previous six days, for it is expressly said that God did rest then. Into that great mysterious deep we will not try to plunge, but we know that the Lord was pleased, then, to institute the Sabbath as a perpetual memorial of His own rest and that Sabbath was to be observed by all men—and especially by all the Lord's own people in perpetuity, as if, I think, He would not only commemorate His own rest, but would also indicate that He intended men to be partakers of it.

For we which have believed do enter into rest - The great spiritual blessings, the forerunners of eternal glory, which were all typified by that earthly rest or felicity promised to the ancient Israelites, we Christians do, by believing in Christ Jesus, actually possess. We have peace of conscience, and joy in the Holy Ghost; are saved from the guilt and power of sin; and thus enjoy an inward rest. But this is a rest differing from the seventh day’s rest, or Sabbath, which was the original type of Canaan, the blessings of the Gospel, and eternal glory; seeing God said, concerning the unbelieving Israelites in the wilderness, I have sworn in my wrath that they shall not enter into my rest, notwithstanding the works of creation were finished, and the seventh day’s rest was instituted from the foundation of the world; consequently the Israelites had entered into that rest before the oath was sworn. See Macknight. We who believe, Οἱ πιστευσαντες, is omitted by Chrysostom, and some few MSS. And instead of εισερχομεθα γαρ, for we do enter, AC, several others, with the Vulgate and Coptic, read εισερχωμεθα ουν, therefore let us enter; and thus it answers to φωβηθωμεν ουν, therefore let us fear, Heb 4:1; but this reading cannot well stand unless οι πιστευσαντες be omitted, which is acknowledged to be genuine by every MS. and version of note and importance. The meaning appears to be this: We Jews, who have believed in Christ, do actually possess that rest-state of happiness in God, produced by peace of conscience and joy in the Holy Ghost - which was typified by the happiness and comfort to be enjoyed by the believing Hebrews, in the possession of the promised land. See before. From the foundation of the world - The foundation of the world, καταβολη κοσμου, means the completion of the work of creation in six days. In those days was the world, i.e. […]

For we which have believed do enter into rest - That is, it is a certain fact that believers “will” enter into rest. That promise is made to “believers;” and as we have evidence that “we” come under the denomination of believers, it will follow that we have the offer of rest as well as they. That this is so, the apostle proceeds to prove; that is, he proceeds to show from the Old Testament that there was a promise to “believers” that they would enter into rest.