The rest in Hebrews 4 is the good news of the coming kingdom ...

[chubbena]

Because God's eternal rest is represented by the sabbath. (v. 4, 10)

Barnes also says this:

Is it God's eternal rest or is it man's eternal rest?
And what is in that eternal rest? Would it be like in the Garden of Eden when man were to take care of God's creations and off on the seventh? If such is the case, why do some consider it a bad idea to practise on the seventh now?
If such is not the case, what would it be like and is there any scripture to show?

 

[chubbena]

Sabbath keeping is Sabbath rest.

Sabbath rest is Sabbath keeping.


Because it is God's unending Sabbath rest into which we enter (Heb 4:9-10) through faith in Christ.

Our rest from our own work to save ourselves is an unending Sabbath rest,
as is God's rest from his own work of creation is an unending Sabbath rest.

If there is a physical millennium, will there be any physical work to do?
Will there be any physical work to do in eternity?
How does one interpret Isaiah chapter 11 as well as 65 and 66?
How does one interpret Revelation chapter 21 and 22?

 

[chubbena]

It's ceasing from our own works (of merit) and resting in His.

Does the context suggest "works of merit"? How?

 

[chubbena]

So we have one saying it is the millenial rest (even though paul said we can have it now)

We have some saying it is a sabbath day. Although people have been resting on saterday since the beginning of time so that can not be it.

And we have some saying we (as God did on the seventh day, rested from his work) can rest from our work. and consider the work of God no work at all (even tribulation.)

I think the third one is the only one which fits.

People have been resting on Saturday since the beginning of time?

 

[posthuman]

let us make therefore make every effort to enter that rest:


Therefore, my dear friends, as you have always obeyed—not only in my presence, but now much more in my absence—continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you to will and to act in order to fulfill his good purpose.
(Philippians 2:12-13)

Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen.
(Ephesians 3:20-21)

for we do enter into the rest -- we who did believe
(Hebrews 4:3)

And if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies because of his Spirit who lives in you.
(Romans 8:11)

I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me.
The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God,
who loved me and gave himself for me.
(Galatians 2:20)


no longer taking up the works of the flesh, but living instead by the Spirit, therefore no longer in bondage to the law of the flesh, having been ourselves crucified to it through Christ Jesus our Redeemer, who is become our Rest, our Hope and our Salvation!

 

[crossnote]

Does the context suggest "works of merit"? How?

Was there any other way into God's rest but by faith?

 

[Elin]

If there is a physical millennium, will there be any physical work to do?

A future temporal earthly Messianic kingdom is derived from uncertain interpretation of prophetic riddles, which uncertain interpretations disagree with certain and unequivocal NT teaching.

Will there be any physical work to do in eternity?

The NT does not specifically answer that question.
And where the NT makes an end to teaching, we must make an end to learning.

How does one interpret Isaiah chapter 11 as well as 65 and 66?
How does one interpret Revelation chapter 21 and 22?

Pretty much the way one interprets Rev 13, etc.;
i.e., all in the light of certain and unequivocal NT teaching.

 

[john832]

Katapausis (n.) and katapauo (v.) are different forms of the same word for "rest,"
used both for God's rest (Heb 3:11) and man's rest (Heb 4:8),
meaning the seventh-day Sabbath rest of both God and man (Heb 4:10).

However, unlike man's seventh-day Sabbath rest, God's keeping
of the seventh day Sabbath in rest is unending, and is sabbastismo,
which likewise in the NT is now the Sabbath rest for the people of God (Heb 4:9); i.e.,
it is unending rest from any work to save ourselves,
which unending rest necessarily moves into eternity.

There are only two different words used in Heb 4:9-10,
1) katapausis, katapauo - seventh day Sabbath rest
2) sabbatismo - unending Sabbath rest, of God and the NT people of God.

Let me quote your favorite source...

Assertion without demonstration is without merit.

 

[Elin]

Katapausis (n.) and katapauo (v.) are different forms of the same word for "rest,"
used both for God's rest (Heb 3:11) and man's rest (Heb 4:8),
meaning the seventh-day Sabbath rest of both God and man (Heb 4:10).

However, unlike man's seventh-day Sabbath rest, God's keeping
of the seventh day Sabbath in rest is unending, and is sabbastismo,
which likewise in the NT is now the Sabbath rest for the people of God (Heb 4:9); i.e.,
it is unending rest from any work to save ourselves,
which unending rest necessarily moves into eternity.

There are only two different words used in Heb 4:9-10,
1) katapausis, katapauo - seventh day Sabbath rest of the OT people of God.
2) sabbatismo - unending Sabbath rest, of God and the NT people of God.

So the difference ends up being between the temporary Sabbath rest of the OT people of God
and the unending Sabbath rest of the NT people of God.

Assertion without demonstration is without merit.

I have provided my demonstration.

It now falls to you to Biblically show its error.

 

[sparkman]

The Ten Commandments are a summary of the Old Covenant
Exodus 34:28 “So he was there with the Lord forty days and forty nights. He neither ate bread nor drank water. And he wrote on the tablets the word of the covenant, the Ten Commandments.
Exodus 31:18 “And he gave to Moses when he had finished speaking with him on Mount Sinai, the two tablets of the testimony, tablets of stone, written with the finger of God.
Deut 4:13 “And he declared to you his covenant, which he commanded you to perform, that is, the Ten Commandments, and he wrote them on two tablets of stone”.
Deut 9:9 “When I went up the mountain to receive the tablets of stone, the tablets of the covenant that the Lord made with you.”
Deut 9:11 “And at the end of forty days and forty nights the Lord gave me the two tablets of stone, the tablets of the covenant.”
The Old Covenant was an agreement between God and Israel, not God and Christians
Ex 31:12-17 And the Lord said to Moses, “You are to speak to the people of Israel and say, ‘Above all you shall keep my Sabbaths, for this is a sign between me and you throughout your generations, that you may know that I, the Lord, sanctify you. You shall keep the Sabbath, because it is holy to you. Everyone who profanes it shall be put to death. Whoever does any work on it, that soul shall be cut off from among his people. Six days shall work be done, but the seventh day is a Sabbath of solemn rest, holy to the Lord. Whoever does any work on the Sabbath day shall be put to death. Therefore the people of Israel shall keep the Sabbath, observing the Sabbath throughout their generations, as a covenant forever. It is a sign forever between me and the people of Israel that in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, and on the seventh day he rested and was refreshed.”
The Old Covenant is no longer in effect for ANYONE
Heb 8:13-9:4 In speaking of a new covenant, he makes the first one obsolete. And what is becoming obsolete and growing old is ready to vanish away. Now even the first covenant had regulations for worship and an earthly place of holiness. For a tent was prepared, the first section, in which were the lampstand and the table, and the bread of the Presence. It is called the Holy Place. Behind the second curtain was a second section called the Most Holy Place, having the golden altar of incense and the ark of the covenant covered on all sides with gold, in which was a golden urn holding the manna, and Aaron’s staff that budded, and the tablets of the covenant.
Gal 3:17 This is what I mean: the law, which came 430 years afterwards, does not annul a covenant previously ratified by God, so as to make the promise void.
Gal 3:19 Why then the law? It was added because of transgressions, until the offspring should come to whom the promise had been made, and it was put in place through angels by an intermediary.
Gal 3:24 So the law was our guardian until Christ came, in order that we might be justified by faith
Gal 3:25 But now that faith is come, we are no longer under a guardian
2 Cor 3:4-18 Such is the confidence that we have through Christ toward God. Not that we are sufficient in ourselves to claim anything as coming from us, but our sufficiency is from God, who has made us sufficient to be ministers of a new covenant, not of the letter but of the Spirit. For the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life. Now if the ministry of death, carved in letters on stone, came with such glory that the Israelites could not gaze at Moses’ face because of its glory, which was being brought to an end, will not the ministry of the Spirit have even much more glory? For if there was glory in the ministry of condemnation, the ministry of righteousness must far exceed it in glory. Indeed, in this case, what once had glory has come to have no glory at all, because of the glory that surpasses it. For if what was being brought to an end came with glory, much more will what is permanent have glory. Since we have such a hope, we are very bold, not like Moses, who would put a veil over his face so that the Israelites might not gaze at the outcome of what was being brought to an end. But their minds were hardened. For to this day, when they read the old covenant, that same veil remains unlifted, because only through Christ is it taken away. Yes, to this day whenever Moses is read a veil lies over their hearts. But when one turns to the Lord, the veil is removed. Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. And we all with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit.
The Sabbath, as part of the Old Covenant, is not in affect for ANYONE
Gal 4:10 You observe days and months and seasons and years! I am afraid I may have labored over you in vain.
Rom 14:5-6 One person esteems one day as better than another, while another esteems all days alike. Each one should be fully convinced in his own mind.
Col 2:16-17 Therefore let no one pass judgment on you in questions of food and drink, or with regard to a festival or a new moon or a Sabbath. These are a shadow of the things to come, but the substance belongs to Christ
Jesus is our Sabbath or spiritual rest, and we enter into that spiritual rest by placing our faith in Him
Matt 11:28-30 Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and lean from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.
Heb 4:1-8 Therefore, while the promise of entering his rest still stands, let us fear lest any of you should seem to have failed to reach it. For good news came to us just as to them, but the message they heard did not benefit them, because they were not united by faith with those who listened. For we who have believed enter that rest, as he has said, “As I swore in my wrath, They shall not enter my rest. “ although his works were finished from the foundation of the world. For he has somewhere spoken of the seventh day in this way: “And God rested on the seventh day from all his works.” And again in this passage he said, “They shall not enter my rest.”. Since therefore it remains for some to enter it, and those who formerly received the good news failed to enter because of disobedience, again he appoints a certain day, “Today”, saying through David so long afterward, in the words already quoted. “Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts.” For if Joshua had not given them rest, God would not have spoken of another day later on. So then there remains a Sabbath rest for the people of God, for whoever has entered God’s rest has also rested from is works as God did from his. Let us therefore strive to enter that rest, so that no one may fall by the same sort of disobedience.
Christians are under the New Covenant, which has much higher demands and different commandments
Luke 22:20 And likewise the cup after they had eaten, saying, “This cup that is poured out for you is the new covenant in my blood.”
Heb 9:15 Therefore, he is the mediator of a new covenant, so that those who are called may receive the promised eternal inheritance, since a death has occurred that redeems them from the transgressions committed under the first covenant.
Jn 13:34 A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another.
Jn 15:12 This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you.
Jn 15:17 These things I command you, so that you will love one another
Rom 13:10 Love does no wrong to a neighbor; therefore love is the fulfilling of the law.
I am a former Sabbathkeeper due to my association as a new believer with Worldwide Church of God (now called Grace Communion International). Worldwide Church of God came to realize in 1995 that Christians are under the New Covenant, and not the Old Covenant, and the Sabbath does not apply to Christians under the New Covenant. It was a sign of the Old Covenant (like baptism and the Lord’s Supper are signs of the New Covenant), and is not a moral absolute like Sabbathkeepers claim. Sabbathkeeping doctrine invariably takes the focus off the true gospel, which is about Jesus Christ and salvation by grace through faith in Him (Eph 2:8-9). As a Sabbathkeeper, I rarely heard messages about God’s grace and love; the message of such organizations invariably focuses on the Sabbath. Jesus Christ was also placed on the backburner and was not the focus of their teaching. If you would like good sources of information in regards to the Sabbath check out Grace Communion International’s website at https://www.gci.org/law I now attend an Evangelical Free church that focuses on Jesus Christ and salvation through Him, which is the true gospel.