Let us strive to enter into God’s rest by remaining obedient. The letter to the Hebrews in its entirety appeals for steadfastness of faith in the new way (Jesus), the emphasis being that Jesus not only continues the old dispensation but actually supersedes it. From the tone of the passage we have read today, it would appear that there were some who were beginning to go slack in matters faith. To give them some encouragement, the author of the letter reminds them that the goal of steadfastness in faith is to arrive at God’s Sabbath ‘rest,’ noting that even God ‘rested’ only after he had worked. He warns them that slagging in faith will make them miss out, just as did the generation of the Israelites whose murmuring against God and Moses made them not to set foot in the Promised Land (cf. Numbers 14:1-38).
The Sabbath rest is an important observance in the Judeo-Christian tradition. Not only does it recall God’s ‘rest’ after creation through which God hallowed creation, it is also a basis for holiness (God’s goodness: God ‘rested’ on the seventh day because all that God had created was GOOD). When humanity is therefore tasked with observing the day of God’s rest, all that God requires of them is to have in themselves the goodness (holiness) of God. In other words, the most perfect way of observing God’s Sabbath rest is to share in God’s goodness-a good that is other-oriented. The sin of the Israelites who were not able to enter the Promised Land was their self-centeredness, their failure to remain focused on God.