Hebrews 4:10

for he that is entered into His rest, he also hath ceased from his own works, as God did from His.

The fact that all the works of God, including the eternal rest in the mansions above, were finished from the foundation of the world, is here substantiated from Holy Writ: For He spoke somewhere concerning the seventh day thus, And God rested on the seventh day from all His works, Genesis 2:2. Note that God is distinctly named as the Author of this passage as well as the next. The argument is that, if God rested from all His works, then that of preparing the rest here spoken of must also have been finished. Not only was the earth, as the footstool of the Lord, created and filled with the glories of His goodness, but the heaven itself was at that time united in fellowship with the earth in a paradise which should have lasted forever. The blessed rest of God was ready for all men when the works of creation were finished. This appears also from the passage to which the inspired writer has alluded throughout his argument: They shall never enter into My rest, Psalms 95:11. For these words prove that God had a rest, and that He had intended this rest for all men, the disobedience and unbelief of certain men making it necessary for the Lord to exclude them from the salvation which His gracious will wanted to give them. Thus the Lord did not withdraw His rest from mankind because of sin, the promise of this rest being rather based upon Christ Jesus the Redeemer, but He is obliged to deny its blessings to the unbelievers, since unbelief rejects the proffered grace and prefers to live without God's blessings.

The inspired author therefore returns to his argument: Since, then, it remains that some should enter into it, and they to whom the good news was first proclaimed did not enter on account of their unbelief, He again fixes a certain day, Today, saying in David, and after so long a time, as has been stated before, Today, if you hear His voice, do not harden your hearts. From the passages quoted it is clear that the rest of God's salvation is still there, that it is reserved for some to enter into, that the promises of God stand secure, that God has not changed His will or mind with reference to the enjoyment which men should have in the bliss above. In this knowledge and belief we should not be shaken by the fact that they who first had the opportunity of hearing the good news, the Gospel-message as given to the patriarchs, did not enter into the rest of the Lord, for this was due entirely to their unbelief. In addition to these facts, however, the certainty that some must enter into the eternal rest is supported also by the repetition of the promise. For many years after the days of Moses, in the time of David, through the mouth of David, God again fixed a day when men should enter into His rest. It is the same passage upon which the inspired writer has based his arguments throughout this long section. With the eternal God "today" is not confined to the time of Moses, nor to that of David, but extends to Christian times and includes the period of God's gracious dispensation till the end of the world. Israel came short of the rest through unbelief; we do enter it who believe.

Lest some reader now raise the objection that the rest referred to in the quotation from Psalms 95:1 was that of Canaan only, the author guards against this misunderstanding: For if Joshua had brought them to their rest, He would not speak after these events of another day. It is true, of course, that Joshua, through the victories over the tribes of Canaan, gained possession of the Promised Land. But that this rest and peace is not completely covered by, is not identical with, the rest proclaimed in the Gospel-promise by Moses, is evident from the fact that the Lord, long after these events had taken place, had the prophet record the passage in which He referred to a today which manifestly was not covered by the period of the conquest of Canaan, by which Joshua brought the people to rest in the land of their fathers. The inspired writer, therefore, once more reaches the conclusion or statement which he had placed at the head of the discussion as a topic: There remains, then, a Sabbath-rest for the people of God. The rest appointed to the saints is characterized by the name "Sabbath-rest," to indicate that it is like that and belongs to that which God Himself entered into on the seventh day, Genesis 2:2. It is the rest of perfect happiness and contentment, of a bliss immeasurable and unspeakable, in the presence of God and of Jesus Christ. There can be no doubt that this rest is meant in the passage upon which the author's entire argument is based. The great Sabbath-rest is appointed to the people of God; it is secure, safe. For all those that belong to the people of God it is safe, whom Jesus has brought back into that blessed fellowship with God that was intended for all men at the beginning. For them all, for all believers, the rest of God is an eternal Sabbath reserved for them in heaven.

It is God's rest in which man is to share also in another respect: For he that enters into His rest himself also rests from his works, just as God did from His. Even as God, at the end of creation, entered into His rest and is even now resting from all the works which He made, so those that become partakers of this rest by faith will rest from their labors, Matthew 25:35; Revelation 14:13. All the works of the believers, weak and sinful as they are in themselves, yet are consecrated by the fact that they are performed in the name of Jesus, to the glory of God. In this respect the rest of eternity will be a reward of grace. And a rest it will be for the believers, at any rate, because it will mean a deliverance from all evil, from all tribulations, trials, temptations, afflictions, miseries of this earthly life, from all cares and pains and distresses peace, perfect peace, in the presence of God. Therefore the Christian's heart, as St. Augustine says, is not content till it rests in the Lord throughout eternity.