the rest described in Hebrews 4 is Christ, not ceremonial weekly cessation of activity.
just as under the Law sin is never ultimately dealt with, but the priest must continually make offering year after year, there is no rest from endless ceremony.
but as Christ offered Himself once for all, in Him also is true rest, as the passage says, He spoke. of another day calling it "Today"
Do you mind if I bring context into this passage? It's often misquoted as a way to get out of Sabbath-keeping but the warning in this passage is actually the opposite.
Lets start with Hebrews 3 as it sets up the background for Hebrews 4
7 Therefore, as the Holy Spirit says:
“Today, if you will hear His voice,
8 Do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion,
In the day of trial in the wilderness,
9
Where your fathers tested Me, tried Me,
And saw My works forty years.
10 Therefore I was angry with that generation,
And said, ‘They always go astray in their heart,
And they have not known My ways.’
11 So I swore in My wrath,
‘They shall not enter My rest.’ ”
12
Beware, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief in departing from the living God; 13
but [b]exhort one another daily, while it is called “Today,” lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin. 14 For we have become partakers of Christ if we hold the beginning of our confidence steadfast to the end, 15 while it is said:
“Today, if you will hear His voice,
Do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion.”
16 For who, having heard, rebelled?
Indeed, was it not all who came out of Egypt, led by Moses? 17
Now with whom was He angry forty years? Was it not with those who sinned, whose corpses fell in the wilderness? 18
And to whom did He swear that they would not enter His rest, but to those who did not obey? 19 So we see that they could not enter in because of unbelief.
Please note the rest in these verses is not the seventh day Sabbath. It is this rest:
katapausis: rest
Original Word: κατάπαυσις, εως, ἡ
Part of Speech: Noun, Feminine
Transliteration: katapausis
Phonetic Spelling: (kat-ap'-ow-sis)
Definition: rest
Usage: (in the Old Testament of the rest attained by the settlement in Canaan), resting, rest, dwelling, habitation.
You have to be familiar with the story of Moses and what the Israelite's disobeyed due to their unbelief/disobedience.
Ezekiel tells us what the Israelites disobeyed in the wilderness and why some who did never entered into their Promised rest
Ezekiel 20:12 Moreover I also gave them
My Sabbaths, to be a sign between them and Me, that they might know that I am the Lord who sanctifies them. 13
Yet the house of Israel rebelled against Me in the wilderness; they did not walk in My statutes; they despised My judgments, ‘which,
if a man does, he shall live by them’;
and they greatly defiled My Sabbaths.
Then I said I would pour out My fury on them in the wilderness, to consume them.
Ezekiel 20:20
20
hallow My Sabbaths, and they will be a sign between Me and you, that you may know that I am the Lord your God.’ 21 “
Notwithstanding, the children rebelled against Me; they did not walk in My statutes, and were not careful to observe My judgments, ‘which,
if a man does, he shall live by them’;
but they profaned My Sabbaths. Then I said I would pour out My fury on them and fulfill My anger against them in the wilderness.
Also keep in mind Moses reviewed the Ten Commandments which includes the Sabbath commandment 40 years after they were given by God and right before entering into the Promises Land (their rest) and told them to diligently keep, so it would be a dangerous mistake to think we can follow their same example of disobedience
Hebrews 4:11 to receive our rest in Christ
Heb 4:10
So with this background it should make understanding Hebrews 4 easier. This whole passage is about how we are not to follow their same example of disobedience
Heb 4:6 Heb 4:11 and why the Sabbath-rest (keeping) remains (not changed) for God's people.
Hebrews 4:9 NIV and the rest in this verse literally translates into Sabbath-keeping
sabbatismos: a sabbath rest
Original Word: σαββατισμός, οῦ, ὁ
Part of Speech: Noun, Masculine
Transliteration: sabbatismos
Phonetic Spelling: (sab-bat-is-mos')
Definition: a sabbath rest
Usage:
a keeping of the Sabbath, a Sabbath rest.
Hebrews 4:10 For he who has entered His rest has himself
also ceased from his works as God did from His.
Those who enter into His rest ALSO cease from his works as God did from His.
When does God cease from His works?
This very passage tells us.....
Hebrews 4:4 For He has spoken in a certain place o
f the seventh day in this way: “And
God rested on the seventh day from all His works”; Which is a direct quote from the 4th commandments
Exo 20:8-11 and Creation
Gen 2:1-3
Those who enter His rest also rest on the seventh day (Sabbath keeping) just as God did
Exo 20:11. Man is made in the image of God to follow Him.
Sabbath keeping never ended for the people of God, but remains which is why we are not to follow the same path of disobedience of the Israelites.
Heb 4:11 In God's rest there is
no rebellion to Him or His commandments and the Sabbath is a commandments of God that
remains for His people.
Oh, that you had heeded My commandments!
Then your peace would have been like a river,
And your righteousness like the waves of the sea.
Isa 48:18
I pray this helps.
