I received the following email regarding God's rest. Here is my response.
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From: XXXX
Sent: Monday, March 13, 2023, 12:52 PM
To: Jerry Back <jerry_back@msn.com>
Subject: Interesting
An interesting comparison. I have much to learn about this and that!
Jos 1:12 And to the Reubenites, the Gadites, and the half-tribe of Manasseh Joshua said,
Jos 1:13 "Remember the word that Moses the servant of the LORD commanded you, saying, 'The LORD your God is providing you a place of rest and will give you this land.'
Jos 1:14 Your wives, your little ones, and your livestock shall remain in the land that Moses gave you beyond the Jordan, but all the men of valor among you shall pass over armed before your brothers and shall help them,
Jos 1:15 until the LORD gives rest to your brothers as he has to you, and they also take possession of the land that the LORD your God is giving them. Then you shall return to the land of your possession and shall possess it, the land that Moses the servant of the LORD gave you beyond the Jordan toward the sunrise."
Heb 4:8 For if Joshua gave them rest, then He would not have afterwards spoken about another day.
Heb 4:9 So, then, there remains a sabbath rest to the people of God.
Heb 4:10 For he entering into His rest, he himself also rested from his works, as God had rested from His own. LXX-Psa. 95:11; Gen. 2:2
Heb 4:11 Therefore, let us exert ourselves to enter into that rest, that not anyone fall in the same example of disobedience.
XXXX,
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Greetings, XXXX
The author was writing to Jewish Christians who were finding that being a Christian in that day was harder than being a Jew and so were considering going back to the OT way of life. In this epistle, he gives five parenthetical warnings: The Danger of Drifting (2:1-4), The Danger of Distrust (2:7-4:16), The Danger of Dullness (5:11-6:20), The Danger of Disregard (10:26-39), and The Danger of Disaffection (12:27-29).[i] He uses lessons from the history of the Jews in the OT to explain these dangers, sometimes with direct references, sometimes with quotes from the LXX, and sometimes with allegory. This of course does not give us a license to use the allegorical method of interpreting Scripture. He was writing Scripture under the direction of the Holy Spirit. Hence his license to do so in order to illustrate a point.
With regard to rest in Hebrews chapter 4, the author uses the fear of the sons of Israel to enter the land where God was leading them as an allegory of the Jews’ distrust of God in the new dispensation. Their fear of the people in the promised land in the OT was actually a lack of trust in God's ability to bring a physical victory over the pagans who occupied the land. This resulted in God not allowing them to enter. Not entering meant no physical rest. They wandered in the wilderness for forty years. Every one of that generation died never entering the land except for Joshua and Caleb.
The author uses this as a type of fear of living for Jesus their Messiah. This led to their not entering into the spiritual full fellowship with God in the NT. In typology, the antitype is always greater than the type. This is very Jewish reasoning. The type was not entering into rest in the land in the OT. The antitype was not entering into full eternal rest in this life in the NT.
Even Moses failed to enter the land. But he was still a son of God. The danger of not trusting God in all things NT was that they would not fully enjoy life unto the ages. Note that translators turn this around in translations to read eternal life to our detriment. The noun is zoe, a quality of life in relationship with God and aionios, unto the ages. It begins when we are born of God. Unbelievers will live forever also, but will not enjoy a quality of life with God.
While some want to take this letter to the Hebrew Christians as a warning against the loss of salvation, it is the loss of the full enjoyment of salvation under the sun, in this life. (cf. Jas 1:21; 2:12ff., 5:5:20 w. Heb 4:12; 6:119; 10:38-39; 12:3; 13:17).
Note also that we often quote 1 Jn 5:11-12 with regard to eternal life (zoe aionios), but not verse 5:13. Why not? And why does John need to tell us that we have eternal life if we have eternal life? It's because, unless we are living in fellowship with the Father and the Son and with each other by walking in the light, we don't feel like we have eternal life. Hence we fail to enter into God's rest, i.e., experience the quality of life He intends for us right now.
This is the explanation of the five parenthetic warnings and the reason why we should take care to seek soul salvation under the sun. The tragedy is that it is possible to be saved so as by fire (1 Cor 3:15-16). That is, our soul is saved, but we do not have the enjoyment of our salvation now and will not have much by way of rewards when we get to heaven. We are not working for rewards. We already have all the rewards. The danger is we can lose them by not walking in fellowship with God and His people now.
May you enjoy life unto the ages right now.
Thanks for your question.
DJB
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[i] An Exegetical Examination of the Warnings in the Epistle to the Hebrews, (A Dissertation presented to the faculty of Grace Theological Seminary, by Duane A. Dunham, May 1974).