Posts tagged The Sabbath rest
“A Sabbath Rest for the People of God” Hebrews 4:1-13 (An Exposition of the Book of Hebrews–Part Six)

A Promised Rest for the Weary–The Promise of Psalm 95

For a tired and weary people, struggling in the face of all kinds of persecution and yet striving to persevere to the end in faith, nothing sounds better than God’s promise that at the end of the journey his people will enter his Sabbath rest. But God’s promised Sabbath rest is not merely physical rest from earthly burdens (although this is part of what is in view). Rest from our earthly burdens is merely an illustration of our heavenly rest which extends throughout all eternity. We enter into this eternal Sabbath rest when we place our trust in Jesus Christ.

As we move into chapter 4 of this remarkable book, we will take up the subject of the Christian Sabbath (the Lord’s Day). In this chapter, the author is continuing his discussion which began in the previous chapter when the author quoted the words of Psalm 95 and applied them to the congregation receiving this letter. This section (chapter 3:7-4:13) is part of the author’s case to demonstrate the superiority of Jesus Christ to Moses, and the new covenant to the old.

Psalm 95 was familiar to those Hellenistic Jews who became followers of Jesus Christ, and who composed the bulk of the congregation receiving this letter. This particular Psalm, which was read often in the synagogues as a celebration of the arrival of the Sabbath, is divided into two parts. The first part of the Psalm (vv. 1-7a) speaks of the proper worship of YHWH. The second half of the Psalm (vv. 7b-11), recounts Israel’s rebellion against YHWH at Meribah in the wilderness (an event recorded in Exodus 17). Hellenistic Jews understood the account of Israel’s rebellion as the sad story of one of the worst moments in Israel’s history and something not to be repeated.

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