Grace and peace to you from God our Father and our Lord, Jesus Christ. Blessed be His Name.
Welcome to afaitalk.com. Today we’re studying Hebrews 4. If you read last week’s lesson on chapter 3 you saw the preview. Today is about rest. Nearly the entire chapter is going to teach us how to experience it. Come, let’s study. I guarantee, you and I both will see something we haven’t seen before.
How can I do that? Because Jesus is already here, writing this through my hands. So before we begin, let’s pray.
Lord Jesus, we’re ready. Show us something that changes our lives, please. All this is for You and with You and through You so Lord, let it bring you glory and praise and honor. For You are everything we need.
I’m in the NIV and the AMP, as I find it elaborates on what I read in the NIV.
Read Hebrews 4:1-2
A Sabbath-Rest for the People of God
Now that you’ve read that, hold onto it and look what the AMP says.
Therefore, while the promise of entering His rest still remains and is freely offered today, let us fear, in case any one of you may seem to come short of reaching it or think he has come too late. For indeed we have had the good news [of salvation] preached to us, just as the Israelites also [when the good news of the promised land came to them]; but the message they heard did not benefit them, because it was not united with faith [in God] by those who heard.
The rest that God gives has existed since day seven of creation. Because He rested, we can. True, Jesus says that God is at work and He is too, but that doesn’t eliminate the rest we can experience. Jesus himself promised it in Matthew 11: 29 “Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me [following Me as My disciple], for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest (renewal, blessed quiet) for your souls. 30 For My yoke is easy [to bear] and My burden is light.”
According to verse 2, how did they lose it?
The message they heard __________ because __________
Read Hebrews 4:3-5
The critical thing is faith. Rest is another benefit of faith.
The first part of verse 3 in the AMP words it like this: For we who believe [that is, we who personally trust and confidently rely on God] enter that rest [so we have His inner peace now because we are confident in our salvation, and assured of His power],
Read Hebrews 4:6-7
Yes, there are just two things I keep hearing over and over in this study. The first one is that verse, it’s Psalm 95:7,8 and the second is the word confidence. It is still Today, you still have a chance to believe. Have you noticed those things?
Read Hebrews 4:8-11
It was decades, centuries even between those who disobeyed and lost their chance at entering the Promised Land and David’s psalm. Joshua was one of the two that obeyed God when the others didn’t and the delay in the wilderness was caused by this disobedience. But Joshua couldn’t bring them rest. That’s why God spoke through David in Psalm 95. Write out Hebrews verse 9 and the first part of verse 11, something like this:
There remains, then,
a Sabbath-rest
for the people of God.
Let us, therefore,
make every effort
to enter that rest.
Read Hebrews 4:12-13 AMP
12 For the word of God is living and active and full of power [making it operative, energizing, and effective]. It is sharper than any two-edged sword, penetrating as far as the division of the soul and spirit [the completeness of a person], and of both joints and marrow [the deepest parts of our nature], exposing and judging the very thoughts and intentions of the heart. 13 And not a creature exists that is concealed from His sight, but all things are open and exposed, and revealed to the eyes of Him with whom we have to give account.
That is why reading the Word of God is so imperative. And doesn’t it make you grateful to see that nothing is hidden from God’s sight?
Jesus the Great High Priest
Read Hebrews 4:14-15
Add a phrase from verse 14 to the written part you did above, change it even, so it will look something like this:
Let us hold firmly
to the faith we profess
because there remains
a Sabbath-rest
for the people of God.
Therefore, make every effort
to enter that rest.
Read Hebrews 4:16
While it is still Today, and nothings is hidden from God, yes, approach God’s throne of grace with confidence, for He sends grace upon grace already given and is merciful in His great love for us.
Praise be to Your Holy Name, dear Jesus. The wonders in Your words are so worth the studying. Thank You for this chapter, this study, this time and for the lessons You’re working into our lives through studying this. Help us all hold onto our faith and guard our hearts and bring all our thoughts into obedience to You. For You are worth our every attempt to study.