Hebrews 4

Hebrews 4:1

Heb. 4:1. Let us therefore fear, lest, a promise being left (us) of entering into his rest, any of you should seem to come short of it. We begin Edwards’ commentary of Hebrews 4 with his Blank Bible note refering to “IIII 1-11 see No. 309. See also note on John 5:17 listed under his comments on Hebrews 3:6. The sermon John 5:35, “The True Excellency of a Gospel Minister,” opens with a paragraph discussing John 5:17 to the end of the chapter:

That discourse of our blessed Saviour we have an account of in this chapter from the 17th verse to the end, was occasioned by the Jews’ murmuring against him, and persecuting him for his healing the impotent man at the pool of Bethesda, and bidding him take up his bed and walk on the Sabbath day. Christ largely vindicates himself in this discourse, by asserting his fellowship with God the Father in nature and operations, and thereby implicitly showing himself to be the Lord of the Sabbath, and by declaring to the Jews that God the Father, and he with him, did work hitherto, or even to this time; i. e., although it be said that God rested on the seventh day from all his works, yet indeed God continues to work hitherto, even to this very day, with respect to his greatest work, the work of redemption, or new creation, which he carries on by Jesus Christ, his Son. Pursuant to the designs of which work was his showing mercy to fallen men by healing their diseases, and delivering them from the calamities they brought on themselves by sin. This great work of redemption, God carries on from the beginning of the world to this time; and his rest from it will not come till the resurrection, which Christ speaks of in the 21st and following verses: the finishing of this redemption as to its procurement, being in his own resurrection; and as to the application, in the general resurrection and eternal judgment, spoken of from verse 20 to verse 30. So that notwithstanding both the rest on the seventh day, and also the rest that Joshua gave the children of Israel, in Canaan; yet the great rest of the Redeemer from his work, and so of his people with him and in him, yet remains, as the apostle observes, Heb. chap. 4. This will be at the resurrection and general judgment; which Christ here teaches the Jews, was to be brought to pass by the Son of God, by the Father’s appointment, and so the works of God to be finished by him. Heb. 4:2

Hebrews 4:2

Heb. 4:2. For unto us was the gospel preached, as well as unto them: but the word preached did not profit them, not being mixed with faith in them that heard (it).

Edwards’ Blank Bible contains this entry:

Dr. Watts in his orthodoxy and charity says that the words should be translated “to them was the gospel preached as well as unto us”? Here see Taylor’s key, p. 118. Margin. [See further this Book, p. 863-4].

On p. 863 of the Blank Bible we read:

Hebrews 4:2 For unto us was the gospel preached as well as unto them] Dr. Doddridge renders it, ‘For we are made partakers of good tidings as they also were’, i.e., of the promised rest and in his note on the preceding verse he observes the example is most suitable, being taken from their own ancestors, the evil being the same, namely, unbelief, the time resembling it, just after the establishment of a new constitution, and the consequence the same the exclusion from rest. The superiour dignity of Christ above Moses, and the superiour excellence of heaven above Canaan greatly confirm the force of the argument.

Heb. 4:3

Hebrews 4:3

Heb. 4:3. For we which have believed do enter into rest, as he said, As I have sworn in my wrath, if they shall enter into my rest: although the works were finished from the foundation of the world. In the Blank Bible the following is crossed out:

3.4.5 In order to understand the apostle’s reasoning on this place it must be taken notice of that by the expression of Entering into my Rest the Apostle intends Entering in with God into rest and being partakers with him of his rest his comfort and refreshment. Exodus 31:17.

and replaced with:

3v. The Apostle argues that we if we believe may enter into Rest, inasmuch as God’s swearing that the unbelievers should not enter implied that if they had believed they might have entered. Altho the works were finished from the foundation of the world., i.e. that (?) not hinder that God’s rest was so long ago inasmuch (?) another rest of God from the work of redemption as the apostle observed in the tenth verse.

" - into my rest. see p. 817. #” There is no Hebrews 4:3 note on p. 817. The note preceded by # is on 1 Corinthians 7:37 unrelated to Hebrews 4:3. “See Taylor’s key. p. 117. e.” Heb. 4:4-5

Hebrews 4:4-5

Heb. 4:4-5. For he spake in a certain place of the seventh (day) on this wise, And God did rest the seventh day from all his works. And in this (place) again, If they shall enter into my rest.

Blank Bible: “Cf. 4.3; 4.5”

4.5 And in this place again if they shall enter into my rest] In the expression My Rest in the 95th Psalm the apostle plainly understands something besides the rest which God had provided or the rest that he had promised. He understands the rest that God himself enjoys.

God’s rest spoken of in the preceding verse (with which these words are connected) was God’s rest in this sense and so in the improvement the apostle makes of these words in Psa. 95 in the following verses. He exhorts Christians to seek to enter in Christian’s rest in that sense viz to seek to be partakers of the rest that Christ enjoys that He entered into, when He had finished and ceased from his works as God did from His.

Heb. 4:6

Hebrews 4:6

Heb. 4:6. Seeing therefore it remaineth that some must enter therein, and they to whom it was first preached entered not in because of unbelief:

Blank Bible: See Taylor’s key p. 117: e.

Heb. 4:7

Hebrews 4:7

Heb. 4:7. Again, he limiteth a certain day, saying in David, To day, after so long a time; as it is said, To day if ye will hear his voice, harden not your hearts. Blank Bible:

Today after, so long a time, as it is said, to day] The apostle adds these words after so long a time, but or (?) that that is implied as it is said to day, or because it is so expressed to day, which he observes is as much as if it had been said Even to day after so long a time.

I repeat here the Bible Note #339 cited above under 3:6 f. because of its reference to Hebrews 4:7 :

[339] Hebrews 3:6-8 to chap. Hebrews 4:11. “Whose house are we, if we hold fast the confidence, and the rejoicing of the hope firm unto the end. Wherefore, as the Holy Ghost says, To-day if ye will hear his voice, harden not your hearts, as in the provocation,” etc. The apostle here supposes that when the psalmist here says, “To-day if ye will hear his voice, harden not your hearts;” it is as much as if he had said, “Although that was a long time ago, and do not harden your hearts now in this your day, and see that you never harden your hearts while your day lasts; for if ye do not harden your hearts, there is a rest of God, that you may enter into as well as they; but if you continue to harden your hearts, your day in a little time will be past as well as theirs.” The former part of this sense, viz. that by the expression, “To-day,” the psalmist means, In this day that you now have so long after their day is past, is evident by Hebrews 4:7 and the latter part of it, viz. that he means, Take heed that your heart be at no time hardened during your day, is evident, because in that verse 8 the words are brought in as a motive to perseverance. It is still more evident by the manner of the apostle’s bringing in the words in the 11 Thessalonians and 12th, as also in the 14th and 15th verses, and by the apostle’s paraphrase of the words, or gloss he puts upon them there, while it is called To-day, verse 13, and while it is said To-day, verse 15, which is the same thing as during the continuance of the day. From the psalmist exhorting us to hear God’s voice today, so long a time after the carcasses of the children of Israel fell in the wilderness, and so they failed of entering into God’s rest, and so long a time after others that believed entered into that temporal rest that Joshua brought them into; the apostle would argue that there remains still another rest for the people of God, to be entered into, as God spake concerning the children of Israel in the wilderness, as if there was a rest of God still to be entered into, though there had been a rest of God many ages before that, viz. that rest, or sabbatism of God, which God enjoyed on the seventh day of the creation, resting from the works of creation, which had been distinguished as God’s rest, or his sabbatism; but yet there then remained another rest of God to those that believed, viz. Christ’s rest in Canaan after the Egyptian bondage, and his redemption of his people out of Egypt, as is implied in his swearing in his wrath that those that did not believe should not enter into rest. So there still remains another rest also besides God’s rest from that redemption, as is implied in the psalmist, when speaking so long after of the unbelievers in the wilderness failing of entering into that rest, he still exhorts and says, “To-day if you will hear his voice, harden not your hearts, as they did;” implying that it will not be in vain for us even now to hearken, but we shall enter into God’s rest still if we hearken, even that rest that Christ entered into in heaven, after his great bondage here on earth, and his finishing the work of redemption. By which may be understood the force of the apostle’s reasoning in verse 3-11 of the next chapter. Heb. 4:8

Hebrews 4:8

Heb. 4:8. For if Jesus had given them rest, then would he not afterward have spoken of another day. The Blank Bible says “See note on Psalms 95:7; Psalms 95:8,” which is as follows:

7, 8. To day if ye will hear his voice Harden not your heart.] which is as much as to say it is not out of season to hear God’s voice in order to entering into God’s rest. Tho’ Joshua brought the children of Israel into Canaan so long ago the counsel is as proper now as ever and as needful in order to your entering into God’s rest. Hardening your heart will be as fatal now to you as it [was] to your fathers in the wilderness and hearing God’s voice will be no more in vain now than it was in Caleb and Joshua of old. The apostle’s interpretation 3.9 (sic) is most reasonable and natural and doubtless just. See p. 350 [where Edwards pursues the interpretation of Psa 95:7-11].

In the History of Redemption Edwards gives the significance of Israel’s entering Canaan under Joshua 11. The next thing that I would observe was God’s bringing the people of Israel under the hand of Joshua and settling them in that land where Christ was to be born. And that was the great type of the heavenly Canaan that Christ purchased. This was done by Joshua who was of Joseph’s posterity and was an eminent type of Christ, and is therefore called “the shepherd, the stone of Israel” in Jacob’s blessing of Joseph, Genesis 49:24. Being such a type of Christ, he bore the name of Christ; Joshua and Jesus are the same name, only the one is Hebrew and the other is Greek. And therefore in the New Testament, which was originally written in Greek, Joshua called Jesus, Acts 7:45, “Which also our fathers… brought in with Jesus,” i.e. Joshua, Hebrews 4:8, “If Jesus had given them rest, he would not have spoken of another day,” i.e. if Joshua had given them rest. Heb. 4:9

Hebrews 4:9

Heb. 4:9. There remaineth therefore a rest to the people of God.

The series of sermons on “The Perpetuity and Change of the Sabbath” cite this text:

The Sabbath is a day of rest; God hath appointed that we should, every seventh day, rest from all our worldly labors. Instead of that, he might have appointed the hardest labors for us to go through, some severe hardships for us to endure. It is a day of outward, but especially of spiritual rest. It is a day appointed of God, that his people thereon may find rest unto their souls; that the souls of believers may rest and be refreshed in their Saviour. It is a day of rejoicing; God made it to be a joyful day to the church: Psalms 118:24 , “This is the day which the Lord hath made, we will rejoice and be glad in it.” They that aright receive and improve the Sabbath, call it a delight and honorable; it is a pleasant and a joyful day to them; it is an image of the future heavenly rest of the church. Hebrews 4:9-11 , “There remaineth therefore a rest (or sabbatism, as it is in the original) to the people of God.

For he that hath entered into his rest, he also hath ceased from his own works, as God did from his. Let us labor therefore to enter into that rest.”

Heb. 4:10

Hebrews 4:10

Heb. 4:10. For he that is entered into his rest, he also hath ceased from his own works, as God (did) from his.

Earlier in the sermon series on the Sabbath, Edwards goes into a deeper discussion of meaning:

The gospel state is everywhere spoken of as a renewed state of things, wherein old things are passed away, and all things become new: we are said to be created in Christ Jesus unto good works: all things are restored and reconciled whether in heaven or in earth, and God hath caused light to shine out of darkness, as he did at the beginning; and the dissolution of the Jewish state was often spoken of in the Old Testament as the end of the world. But we who belong to the gospel church belong to the new creation; and therefore there seems to be at least as much reason, that we should commemorate the work of this creation, as that the members of the ancient Jewish church should commemorate the work of the old creation.

3. There is another thing which confirms it, that the fourth command teaches God’s resting from the new creation, as well as from the old; which is that the Scriptures do expressly speak of the one, as parallel with the other, i.e. Christ’s resting from the work of redemption, is expressly spoken of as being parallel with God’s resting from the work of creation, as in Hebrews 4:10 : “For he that is entered into his rest, he also hath ceased from his own works, as God did from his.”

Now, Christ rested from his works when he rose from the dead, on the first day of the week. When he rose from the dead, then he finished his work of redemption; his humiliation was then at an end; he then rested and was refreshed. When it is said in this place, “There remaineth a rest to the people of God;” in the original, it is, a Sabbatism, or the keeping of a Sabbath: and this reason is given for it, “For he that entereth into his rest, he also hath ceased from his own works, as God did from his.” These three things at least we are taught by these words:

(1.) We are taught by them to look upon Christ’s rest from his work of redemption, as parallel with God’s rest from the work of creation; for they are expressly compared together, as parallel one with the other.

(2.) They are spoken of as parallel, particularly in this respect, viz., the relation which they both have to the keeping of a Sabbath among God’s people, or with respect to the influence which these two rests have, as to Sabbatizing in the church of God: for it is expressly with respect to this that they are compared together. Here is an evident reference to God’s blessing and hallowing the day of his rest from the creation to be a Sabbath, and appointing a Sabbath of rest in imitation of his. For the apostle is speaking of this, Hebrews 4:4 , ‘For he spake in a certain place of the seventh day on this wise, And God did rest the seventh day from all his works." Thus far is evident; whatever the apostle has respect to by his keeping of a Sabbath by the people of God, whether it be a weekly Sabbatizing on earth, or a Sabbatizing in heaven.

(3.) It is evident in these words, that the preference is given to the latter rest, viz., the rest of our Saviour from his works, with respect to the influence it should have, or relation it bears to the Sabbatizing of the people of God now under the gospel, evidently implied in the expression, “There remaineth therefore a Sabbatism to the people of God. For he that entereth into his rest,” etc. For, in this expression, there remaineth, it is intimated, that the old Sabbatism appointed in remembrance of God’s rest from the work of creation, doth not remain, but ceases; and that this new rest, in commemoration of Christ’s resting from his works, remains in the room of it.

Heb. 4:11

Hebrews 4:11

Heb. 4:11. Let us labour therefore to enter into that rest, lest any man fall after the same example of unbelief.

Blank Bible: into that rest] That is, into Christ’s rest, be partakers with him in the rest that he rested.

Heb. 4:12

Hebrews 4:12

Heb. 4:12. For the word of God (is) quick, and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and (is) a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.

Blank Bible:

12] It is not meant that the word pierces to the dividing the soul from the spirit the joints from the marrow as some have supposed which is very unintelligible but dividing asunder those things themselves. The word in its powerful efficacy in mortification and conversion emptying the soul of itself and parting it from sin and weaning it from the world and bringing to a thorough self-denial or self-renunciation does as it were cut the soul asunder. ‘Tis an exceeding difficult thing for a man thus to renounce sin and the world and himself. It is like laying down his life. The soul in this work is as it were cut asunder. The joints in the parts of the body that are naturally closely joined (?), yea the very bone itself, is as it were divided through the midst of the marrow.

Heb. 4:13-14

Hebrews 4:13-14

Heb. 4:13-14. Neither is there any creature that is not manifest in his sight: but all things (are) naked and opened unto the eyes of him with whom we have to do. Seeing then that we have a great high priest, that is passed into the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast (our) profession.

Blank Bible: A great high priest] See Bp. Kidder’s Dem. p. 111.e and 112.a.b.

Heb. 4:15-16

Hebrews 4:15-16

Heb. 4:15-16. For we have not a high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as (we are, yet) without sin. Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need.

Edwards uses this text in his sermon on “The Most High A Prayer Hearing God” to show that “such worms as we should be allowed to come boldly at all times to so great a God!”

11. To show that it is eminently the character of the true God, that he is a God that hears prayer. This appears in several things.

12. In his giving such free access to him by prayer. God in his word manifests himself ready at all times to allow us to come to him. He sits on a throne of grace; and there is no vail to hide this throne, and keep us from it. The vail is rent from the top to the bottom; the way is open at all times, and we may go to God as often as we will. Although God be infinitely above us, yet we may come with boldness. Hebrews 4:14 , Hebrews 4:16 , “Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need.” How wonderful is it that such worms as we should be allowed to come boldly at all times to so great a God!

Chapter 5

Heb. 5:1-4