At this point we need to read Hebrews 3:6-7: “But Christ, as a Son over His house, Whose house we are, if we hold fast the boldness and the boast of hope firm to the end. Wherefore, even as the Holy Spirit says, Today if you hear His voice.” Verse 6 says that we are the house of God and that the Son of God is now over the house taking care of it. If we would enjoy Christ, we need to be in the house and be a part of the house. Verse 7 begins with the word “wherefore,” indicating that it is the continuation of the foregoing verse. The use of the word wherefore to connect verses 6 and 7 means that we must take care of the house of God or else we shall miss the Sabbath and not enter into rest. Hebrews 4:7, being a continuation of 3:7, says, “He again designates a certain day, Today, saying in David after so long a time, as He has said before, Today, if you hear His voice, do not harden your hearts.” Verses 8 and 9 continue, saying, “For if Joshua had brought them into rest, He would not have spoken concerning another day after these things. There remains therefore a Sabbath rest for the people of God.” If we put all of these verses together, we shall see that today the Sabbath rest is the house of God. If we do not remain in the house of God, we shall miss the Sabbath rest. The writer seemed to be saying to the Hebrew believers, “Your fathers in the wilderness did not listen to the word of God. So, after that, in the Psalms, the Spirit set up another day for you to enter into rest. What is the rest that you need to enter today? It is the house of God under Christ, the Son of God.” The “wherefore” in 3:7 is very important. If we did not have this word here, we would be unable to see that the Sabbath rest today is the house of God under the care of the Son of God.
Although thousands of Christians have been saved, so many of them remain in the wilderness; they have never entered into the good land. What is today’s good land? It is a situation in which there is God’s habitation with God’s kingdom. This is the church life. The church is God’s house, God’s habitation, and God’s kingdom. Thus, the church is today’s good land. If we miss this, we miss today’s Sabbath rest.
For years I wondered about the Sabbath rest in Hebrews 4, being dissatisfied with all the interpretations of it that I heard. But now, seeing that the church is today’s Sabbath rest, I am fully satisfied and at rest about this matter. The house of God under the care of the Son of God is our rest, home, homeland, land of Emmanuel, and good land flowing with milk and honey.
In Matthew 11:28-30 the Lord Jesus said that if we were heavy laden and would come to Him, He would be our rest, and in Matthew 12:8 He said that He was the Lord of the Sabbath. Where is this Christ who is our rest and who is the Lord of the Sabbath? He is in the church. If we would take Christ as our rest, we must be in the church. The book of Revelation mentions clearly that this Christ, the all-inclusive One, is now walking in the midst of the lampstands, that is, among the churches. Not only is He walking among the churches, but, as Revelation 2 and 3 reveal, He is the Spirit speaking to the churches. If you want to touch Him, enjoy Him, and partake of Him as your rest, you need to be in the church. The church is our Sabbath today. If you apply this concept to all of the verses in Isaiah concerning the Sabbath, you will see how meaningful it is. How do we keep the Sabbath today? By having the church life. Oh, how we need to have the church life! We are the real Sabbath keepers; we keep the Sabbath day by day. What a Sabbath we are enjoying today! What a rest this is!
In the book of Hebrews the church is mentioned briefly but strongly. Hebrews 2:12 says, “I will declare Your name to My brothers; in the midst of the church I will sing hymns of praise unto You.” The church is the place where the Firstborn Son of God can declare the Father to His brothers and sing praises to the Father. This is not a small thing. Many of us can testify that for years where we were before we came into the church life we did not have the realization that the Son of God was declaring the Father to us or singing praises to the Father in our midst. Although you might have attended many so-called Christian services, have you ever had the sense that where you were the Son of God was praising the Father in your midst? But how about today in the church meetings? Meeting after meeting, we do have the sense that the Lord is revealing the life, the reality, of the Father. Every time we meet together we have the sense that the Lord is happy with us, that the Son of God is praising the Father. This is the Sabbath rest.
In Hebrews 2 we have the church wherein the Son of God praises the Father, and in chapter three we have the house of God of which the Son of God takes excellent care. This church, this house, is the Sabbath rest. After mentioning these two matters in chapters two and three, the writer of Hebrews speaks of the remaining Sabbath rest in chapter four, telling us that we need to be “diligent to enter into that rest” (v. 11). What is the Sabbath, the good land, mentioned here? It is the church life, the house of God, the church in which the Son of God praises the Father, and the house of God taken care of by the Son of God. The “wherefore” at the beginning of 3:7, connecting, as we have seen, the house of God in chapter three with the Sabbath rest in chapter four, is a strong proof that the church life is today’s Sabbath rest. We all must endeavor to enter into it, and once we have entered into it, we should never leave it.
Barnabas is an illustration of a person who gave up the Sabbath rest. Barnabas brought the Apostle Paul into his ministry and for quite a while was an apostle working along with Paul (Acts 9:26-27; 11:25-26; 13:2; 14:14). Eventually, however, Barnabas dissented with Paul and separated from him, taking Mark with him and going on his own way while Paul went with Silas to establish the churches (Acts 15:36-41). From this point onward, there is no further record concerning Barnabas in the book of Acts, for he was through with the Sabbath rest of the church life. Barnabas came into the Sabbath rest and stayed for a time, but then he left it because he was dissenting. After that, he was out of the Sabbath rest and was no longer in the divine economy.
In Romans 16:17-20 we have a warning about the matter of dissenting. Verse 17 says, “Now I beg you, brothers, keep a watchful eye on those who make divisions and causes of falling contrary to the teaching which you have learned, and turn away from them” (Recovery Version). The causes of falling here refer to a falling away from the church life. Such divisions and causes of falling will keep us away from the Sabbath rest. This kind of thing is not only happening today but also happened during Paul’s days. If you would check with those who are opposing the church life or dissenting with it today, you will find that none of them has rest. They have no joy or peace, only jealousy, because they are not in the Sabbath, not in the good land. Whoever becomes dissenting against the church life and opposes it will miss the Sabbath rest. In Romans 16:18 Paul continues, “For such men do not serve as slaves our Lord Christ, but their own appetites; and by smooth and flattering speech deceive the hearts of the simple” (Recovery Version). These dissenting ones have a taste, desire, and appetite for their own little kingdom and empire. Do not listen to their arguments or excuses. Their basic factor is their appetite. They are hungry for something, for there is a gap deep within them. They are seeking for something to satisfy their desire. That is the meaning of the word appetite in this verse. These dissenting ones employed smooth and flattering speech, deceiving the hearts of the simple. Then verse 20 certainly refers to the Sabbath rest: “Now the God of peace will soon crush Satan under your feet. The grace of our Lord Jesus be with you” (Recovery Version). When the God of peace is present and Satan is crushed, that surely is the Sabbath rest. The grace of the Lord also points to the rest. We should not be distracted by the dissenting ones but stay with the church to enjoy the Sabbath rest. The church is God’s desire today. Therefore, it is God’s Sabbath rest.