Hebrews 4:1

EXHORTATION CONTINUED;

THE CHRISTIAN'S REST ATTAINED BY FAITH;

THE POWER OF GOD'S WORD;

THE GREAT HIGH PRIEST;

BOLDNESS AT THE THRONE OF GRACE

Let us fear therefore, lest haply, a promise of being left of entering into his rest, any one of you should seem to have come short of it. (Hebrews 4:1)

Why should people fear, especially Christians? Simply because great and eternal rewards are subject to forfeit as long as people are in the flesh, because a powerful and aggressive foe in the person of Satan and his hosts are opposed to us, and because the multitude of distractions, temptations, and necessary labors of life constantly tend to produce that one moment of life in which inattention can lead to everlasting ruin. This fear is reinforced by the thought that many others failed, even after a glorious beginning.

The first thirteen verses of this chapter conclude the second exhortation, or warning, and the idea of "a rest" for the people of God, already mentioned in Hebrews 4:18, is taken up and further elaborated. "Rest" in the usage at this place is a much more varied and extensive thing than merely entering Canaan, for it is a concept that is made to stand for all the spiritual and eternal rewards of faith. The Christian rest includes rest in Christ, as procured by taking his yoke and learning of him (Matthew 11:28,29), rest from the labors of life (Revelation 14:13), and rest with the Lord in heaven throughout all eternity; and although the author of Hebrews might have preached the Christian rest from the standpoint of Christ's teachings and those of the apostles, he elected to base his appeal upon the Old Testament, equally valid, and better designed to woo his readers back from a reversion to Judaism; hence the statement that "there was a promise LEFT," in the sense of being "left open." How so? Five hundred years, almost, after Israel entered Canaan, David in Psalms 95:7-11 spoke of there being a rest for God's people, indicating that their final entry into Canaan was not the full attainment of that rest, and that something much more than that was involved.

Again, the word "haply" injects the idea of inadvertence. Alas, it must be supposed that the far greater part of Christians falling away from faith in Christ do so unintentionally. Few indeed ever decide boldly against the Lord, and move decisively against him; but, on the contrary, they allow inattention to spiritual things, carelessness in attending worship, neglect of daily prayer and study of the Word, and encroachments upon their time due to worldly and pleasure-loving friends to divert their attention first, and later their whole life and conduct from the path of honor and duty. It is hard to imagine a more urgent and persistent warning than the one given here.