Chapter 4: Hebrews 4: Entering God’s Rest

 

The final verses of Hebrews 3 introduced us to the idea that not every believer is an overcomer. The example is given of the Church in the wilderness under Moses. These Israelites had enough faith to accept the Passover Lamb, but they did not have sufficient faith to hear God’s voice at Sinai (Pentecost) or to enter the Promised Land at Tabernacles after the twelve spies gave their report.

As I pointed out, this is not about salvation. It is about true believers who have been covered by the blood of the Lamb. But it is about true believers dying in the wilderness without receiving the promise. And, as Hebrews 4 points out, the problem is insufficient faith. The author of Hebrews uses the example of Israel as an exhortation and warning to the New Testament Church, lest we follow their example. Hebrews 4:1 says,

¹ Therefore, let us fear lest, while a promise remains of entering His rest, any one of you should seem to have come short of it.

It is common to view Israel’s biblical journey as an allegory and yet misunderstand the symbolism. There are two levels of meaning in this allegory: Personal and Corporate. In the personal application, “Egypt” represents the Sin that keeps us in bondage. Paul speaks of this in Rom. 6:20, saying, “when you were slaves of sin.” Sin is personified as a hard taskmaster, much like the Egyptians were to Israel (Exodus 1:11).

When we became believers in Christ, however, the effect of Passover in our lives was to set us free from this Egypt-Sin, for it was on the day of Passover that Israel was set free from bondage in Egypt. Not only did Passover make “believers” out of the individual Israelites, but Passover also created the Church in the wilderness (as a corporate unit, a nation made up of individuals).

It was a “Passover Church,” because it was created on the day of Passover.

From there, Israel was baptized at the Red Sea (1 Cor. 10:1, 2) and then went to Mount Sinai to receive the law on the day that became known as the feast of Pentecost. Here Israel refused to hear the voice of God, as we saw in Hebrews 3, and this failure ensured that Israel would remain a Passover-level Church. It would not be until Acts 2 that the Pentecost-level Church was formed. It was, again, a corporate church or nation made up of individuals.

But even the Church under Pentecost was not the final Church that Christ was forming. There was a third feast (Tabernacles) which even the Pentecostal Church could not attain during the Pentecostal Age. It was reserved for our time after the end of the Pentecostal Age. Those who come into this third level of faith are the overcomers, who will inherit the first resurrection to reign with Christ during the Tabernacles Age to come.

Thus, the “Promised Land” is not heaven, but “the promises of God” that have been given from the beginning. On an individual level, it is the promise of life in The Age, called in the New Testament, aionian zoe. Those who attain this promise will be given immortality in the first resurrection and will not have to await the general resurrection like the rest of the believers. The fact that there will be believers in that second resurrection is made clear by comparing Rev. 20:4-6 with John 5:28, 29.

John said in Revelation 20 that the first resurrection is limited to those called to be “priests of God and of Christ.” There are no unbelievers in that first resurrection. Jesus spoke of the second resurrection in John 5:28, 29, where ALL would be raised—some given life (immortality), and some to judgment. The fact that some would be given life at the time that others would be judged shows clearly that He was speaking of the second resurrection at the time of the Great White Throne judgment. This means there will be believers raised in the second resurrection. And this, in turn, means that the first resurrection includes ONLY believers, but NOT ALL believers.

And so Hebrews 4:1 exhorts believers to follow the example of Caleb and Joshua, rather than that of the Israelite Church. It is quite possible for believers to fall short of entering the “Promised Land.” But this does not mean they will “go to hell.” The Promised Land is not heaven, as opposed to hell. The Promised Land is the fulfillment of the feast of Tabernacles. This is the true goal of the Christian life.

Just as Passover is for our justification, and Pentecost for our sanctification, so also is Tabernacles for our glorification.

Passover brings salvation to our spirit; Pentecost brings salvation to our soul (mind); and Tabernacles brings salvation to our body. This was Paul’s thought as he wrote in 1 Thess. 5:23,

²³ Now may the God of peace Himself sanctify you entirely; and may your spirit and soul and body be preserved complete without blame at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.

The glorification of the body does not mean that our present body will be glorified. Rather, Paul speaks of two bodies, one earthly and one heavenly (2 Cor. 5:1). Paul does not answer the rhetorical question in 1 Cor. 15:35, “And with what body do they come?” Instead, he focuses on the FACT of resurrection and the various kinds of glory that people will receive, depending upon their calling and their faithfulness. Yet we are given the example of Jesus’ body after His resurrection. It was the same, yet different. No one recognized Him after His resurrection until He did something or said something. Yet the body in which He appeared on earth was certainly “flesh and bones” (Luke 24:39). He went out of His way to prove that He was not a spirit—not until He disappeared, of course.

That glorified body has authority in both heaven and in earth and therefore has the ability to be flesh and bone one moment and spirit the next.

This is the promise of Tabernacles that Hebrews 4:1 exhorts us to attain. The Promised Land is made of dirt. So are we. The Promised Land is not heaven up there, but heaven on earth. The bodies of the manifested Sons of God will show Christ to the rest of humanity—believers and unbelievers. The believers will receive extra incentive to press on to receive the full promise of God by the next resurrection. The unbelievers will “come to Zion” to learn of His ways as well (Isaiah 2:3). During the Tabernacles Age, most of the nations on earth will come to know Christ, for He will rule all nations with a “rod of iron” (Rev. 2:27); that is, His rod, or scepter, will be unbreakable.

² For indeed we have had good news [the Gospel] preached to us, just as they also; but the word they heard did not profit them, because it was not united by faith in those who heard.

The first thing to note is that the Gospel, i.e., “good news,” did not begin with the New Testament. It was preached to the Israelites as well. Any word from God is the Gospel, whether veiled or openly preached with understanding. The gospel of the cross was preached to Israel by means of the Passover Lamb and its specific ceremonies. Though the people did not understand the prophetic significance of their actions, it still required a certain amount of faith to be obedient.

Verse 2 above should not be taken to mean that the Israelites had no faith at all. Certainly, they all had sufficient faith to leave Egypt. The verse above does not focus upon their leaving Egypt, but upon their hearing God’s voice at Pentecost (Mount Sinai). That is where they “heard” the voice of God giving them the Ten Commandments. But that hearing did not profit them, because they lacked the faith to draw near to God and to continue hearing His voice. Faith comes by hearing, Paul says in Rom. 10:17. The people refused to hear, preferring that Moses would hear God and then tell Israel what God had told him.

Moses did tell Israel what God had said, but it produced no faith in them, because they wanted to hear a man, rather than God Himself. They even lacked the ability to hear the voice of God through Moses, which would have produced faith. It would seem that only a few like Caleb and Joshua had the ability to hear God through Moses.

The exhortation for us today is the based upon the same facts. The Church under Pentecost from Acts 2 until the present day has experienced the same problems as Israel in the wilderness under Moses. Men have often lacked the ability to hear God for themselves and have thus preferred to hear God through men. This could have worked out, if the people had had the ability to hear God through men, instead of desiring to hear men. But this was not often the case. Worse yet, they often elected leaders who were just like them, lacking the ability to hear God.

As time passed, many church leaders discouraged their congregations from learning to hear God for themselves, fearing that the people would soon “hear” something contrary to the word or opinion of the leader. Without love, Christians cannot walk together in the face of doctrinal disagreements. But instead of training Christians in love, it was easier to train them in fear, so that the congregations would be held together by fear, rather than by love.

To summarize Hebrews 4:2, Israel refused to hear God (Ex. 20:18-21). Since faith comes by hearing, the result of their refusal was insufficient faith to enter the Promised Land the following year. Having Moses tell them what God said was no substitute for hearing God directly or indirectly. So they fell short of the promise (vs. 1) because the word was not united by faith in those who heard at the base of Mount Sinai.

³ For we who have believed enter that rest, just as He has said, “As I swore in My wrath, they shall not enter My rest,” although His works were finished from the foundation of the world.

It is assumed everywhere in the New Testament that believers would be able to hear God’s voice and follow the leading of the Spirit. This is the essence of the Christian life once he or she has been justified by faith. Whereas Israel had refused to hear at that Sinai Pentecost, the disciples went to the upper room to hear His voice in Acts 2. The disciples succeeded where Israel had failed.

So it was assumed that everyone would be a true Pentecostal in those days. It was assumed that everyone would at least strive to follow the example of Caleb and Joshua. It was assumed that everyone had gotten past Mount Sinai and was on the way toward the Promised Land to fulfill the feast of Tabernacles.

The last part of verse 3 connects with verses 4 and 5. In fact, verses 4 and 5 explain the last part of verse 3:

³ . . . although His works were finished from the foundation of the world. ⁴ For He has thus said somewhere concerning the seventh day, “And God rested on the seventh day from all His works”; ⁵ and again in this passage, “They shall not enter My rest.”

It is obvious that entering God’s rest is the equivalent of entering the Promised Land. How was this God’s rest?

The idea of resting comes from the law of the Sabbaths, which in turn were based upon the pattern of God’s rest on the seventh day of creation (Gen. 2:2, 3). But the law expounds further upon this idea, for it sets forth three levels of rest, each based upon a different type of Sabbath.

The first Sabbath was the seventh DAY and was for man and beast.

The second Sabbath was the land-rest of the seventh YEAR, which also held all debts in abeyance during that year. In other words, no one had to repay debts during that year, because, at least in theory, they had no income from the land. To force people to continue making payments on debt would usually force people to sow and reap the land in order to make their scheduled payments.

The third and final Sabbath was the JUBILEE, which occurred after seven land-rest Sabbaths, or 49 years. This final Sabbath cancelled all remaining debt, and every family’s inheritance reverted to him if sold in the earlier years (Lev. 25:10-13).

The Jubilee trumpet was blown on the tenth day of the seventh month on the Hebrew calendar. This was the Day of Atonement (Lev. 25:9). Because the civil year began on the first day of the seventh month (September), the Jubilee actually began on the tenth day of the new year. The Jubilee trumpet was blown after 49 years had passed, but it was actually ten days into the fiftieth year that it was blown. The entire fiftieth year was a Sabbath year, in addition to the previous (49^th) year.

The Day of Atonement was a day of fasting and repentance (Lev. 23:27-32), but the Jubilee was a time of rejoicing (“jubilation”). The apparent contradiction is explained by the events which the day was meant to commemorate. The twelve spies gave their report on this day, bearing the first ripe of the grapes (Num. 13:20). They were supposed to recommend that the Israelites prepare to return to their inheritance (Canaan), for it was the 50^th Jubilee—ten days into the year 2,450 from Adam.

But ten of the spies gave an evil report (Num. 13:32), so in essence, they turned this Jubilee into a Day of Atonement. So the people had to repent each year on this day in commemoration of their refusal to enter the Promised Land.

If Israel had entered the Promised Land at this appointed Jubilee, their calendar from then on would have been in alignment with the Creation Jubilee calendar. That is, they would have marked a land-rest year seven years after entering the land. And their first Jubilee in the Promised Land would have aligned with the 51^st Jubilee from Adam. But instead, they entered Canaan 38½ years later, and so their rest years and Jubilees did not align properly with the Creation Jubilee calendar.

In other words, from their entry into Canaan to the captivity, their Jubilee system was an alternate Jubilee system. It was a calendar marked off in seven-year increments, with an extra rest year in the 50^th years. But their count of years did not begin on the 50^th Jubilee which was based upon God’s creation rest.

Hence, God says in Hebrews 4:5, “They shall not enter MY rest.” God’s rest is the Jubilee. It is the highest of the three Sabbath-rests and the most important, because it represents the cancellation of all debt (i.e., liability for sin). Verses 6-9 reads,

⁶ Since therefore it remains for some to enter it, and those who formerly had good news preached to them failed to enter because of disobedience, ⁷ He again fixes a certain day, “Today,” saying through David after so long a time just as has been said before, “Today if you hear His voice, do not harden your hearts.” ⁸ For if Joshua [i.e., Jesus, or Yeshua] had given them rest, He would not have spoken of another day after that. ⁹ There remains therefore a Sabbath rest for the people of God.

The Sabbath rest that yet remains for us is the Jubilee, which, in a way, is the preparation day for the feast of Tabernacles. These three Sabbaths overlay upon the three primary feast days: Passover, Pentecost, and Tabernacles. When one is justified by faith in the blood of the Lamb (Passover), one enters God’s first-level “rest.” When one is filled with the Spirit (Pentecost), one enters God’s second-level “rest.” When we receive the glorified, immortal body, leaving our old inheritance to dwell in a “booth” made of living branches, we enter into God’s rest (level three). It is the level of rest that God intended for us from the beginning.

Historically speaking, when we view the progression of the Kingdom on a time line, it works like this: Israel never kept a Jubilee or a land-rest Sabbath prior to the time of Ezra. Each year that they missed, they owed God one year as a sin-debt. By the 38^th year of David, Israel owed God 62 rest years and 8 Jubilees, or a total of 70 years. God then foreclosed upon the debt.

First, He had David number the people without collecting the half-shekel atonement money (2 Sam. 24; Ex. 30:11-13), to remove the protection that they enjoyed when Moses had collected the atonement money during the previous census in the wilderness. In David’s day, then, 70,000 men of Israel were killed in the plague—a thousand for each rest year that Israel owed God.

Apparently, the people still did not learn their lesson, for their time-debt grew again to 70 years by the time of the Babylonian captivity. God then sent them into captivity for 70 years specifically because they had refused to keep their Sabbaths. 2 Chron. 36:21 tells us this:

²¹ to fulfill the word of the Lord by the mouth of Jeremiah, until the land had enjoyed its Sabbaths. All the days of its desolation it kept Sabbath until seventy years were complete.

We are not told if they kept their weekly Sabbaths or not, but the time-debt accrued on account of their refusal to keep their land rests and Jubilees. By the time the people were taken to Babylon, they owed God seventy years, as I explained in chapter seven of my book, Secrets of Time.

When the people returned from the Babylonian captivity, they began to keep their land-rest years, as history shows. But even so, they refused to keep their Jubilees, showing the truth of Hebrews 4:9, “There remains therefore a Sabbath rest for the people of God.” It is the Jubilee (and the feast of Tabernacles) that remains to be fulfilled.

The fulfillment of this “rest” or Sabbath is explained in Hebrews 4:10 and 11,

¹⁰ For the one who has entered His rest has himself also rested from his works, as God did from His.

This verse summarizes Isaiah’s teaching on the Day of Atonement and the Jubilee. Isaiah 58 speaks of “the fast which I have chosen” (the fast on the Day of Atonement), showing the intent of God in this. It is not that God is interested in eating no food on that day, nor does God delight in people dressing in sackcloth and ashes. He tells us in Isaiah 58:6 that God intended the Day of Atonement to be the Jubilee:

⁶ Is this not the fast which I choose, to loosen the bonds of wickedness, to undo the bands of the yoke, and to let the oppressed go free, and break every yoke?

In verses 13 and 14, the prophet goes on to tell us the higher purpose and meaning of a Sabbath:

¹³ If because of the Sabbath you turn your foot from doing your own pleasure on My holy day, and call the Sabbath a delight, the holy day of the Lord honorable, and shall honor it, desisting from your own ways, from seeking your own pleasure, and speaking your own word, ¹⁴ Then you will take delight in the Lord, and I will make you ride on the heights of the earth; and I will feed you with the heritage of Jacob your father, for the mouth of the Lord has spoken.

In the first-level Sabbath, one might physically rest and study the Word of God. In a second-level Sabbath, one might begin to learn to cease from his own works even as Jesus Christ did nothing of Himself, but only what He saw His Father do. Likewise, He did not speak His own words, but spoke only the Father’s words. John 8:28, 29 says,

²⁸ . . . I do nothing on My own initiative, but I SPEAK these things as the Father taught Me. ²⁹ And He who sent Me is with Me; He has not left Me alone, for I always DO the things that are pleasing to Him.

Again, in John 12:49 and 50 Jesus says,

⁴⁹ For I did not speak on My own initiative, but the Father Himself who sent Me has given Me commandment, what to say and what to speak. ⁵⁰ And I know that His commandment is eternal life; therefore the things I speak, I speak just as the Father has told Me.

In John 14:10, Jesus says again,

¹⁰ . . . The words that I say to you I do not speak on My own initiative, but the Father abiding in Me does His works.

Again, Jesus said in John 9:4, “We must work the works of Him who sent Me as long as it is day.”

All that Jesus did or said was not of Himself. He had entered into that “rest” which yet remained for the people of God. The Sabbath that He kept was the highest form of Sabbath that God intended for man from the beginning. It is to cease from one’s OWN works, and desist from speaking one’s OWN words. It is to do only what the Father does and to speak only the Father’s words.

That is the Jubilee rest of Hebrews 4:10. Through Pentecost, the second-level rest experience, we begin to learn how to do this by the leading of the Holy Spirit. Yet Pentecost is a leavened feast that requires fire to make it an acceptable offering to God. It is a time of wilderness training, a time of growth to come to maturity. It is only when we reach the Tabernacles experience that we do this constantly with no fleshly interruptions.

Getting back to Hebrews 4:11, we read,

¹¹ Let us therefore be diligent to enter that rest, lest anyone fall through following the same example of disobedience.

The “example of disobedience” here is the day Israel refused to enter the Promised Land when the twelve spies gave their reports. It was the day Israel as a nation refused to enter into God’s rest, the Jubilee and the feast of Tabernacles. And so, we find that God would not let them enter His rest, and 38 years later, God told them to enter Canaan at the time of Passover, instead of Tabernacles. They crossed the Jordan River on the tenth day of the FIRST month (Joshua 4:19), which was the day the people were to select the lambs to prepare for Passover (Ex. 12:3).

Hence, they were given only a first-level Sabbath, based upon Passover. Many years later, the New Testament Church was given a second-level Sabbath, based upon Pentecost. In fact, God instituted a seven-week (seven-Sabbath) countdown from the wave-sheaf offering to Pentecost. Both days fell on “the day after the Sabbath” that had been instituted in Moses’ day. Lev. 23:15 tells us,

¹⁵ You shall also count for yourselves from the day after the Sabbath, from the day when you brought in the sheaf of the wave offering; there shall be seven complete Sabbaths.

So we see that Moses prophesied of another Sabbath that was yet to come. The count of days changed from the Mosaic Sabbath to “the day after the Sabbath.” Pentecost occurred seven Sabbaths later, ending on the day later called Sunday, or the first day of the week, or the eighth day of the week. The seven-week Sabbath countdown to Pentecost was to serve as a jump-start for this new commemoration point for the Sabbath of the Pentecostal Age.

So we find the Christians meeting on the first day of the week (1 Cor. 16:2) called also “The Lord’s Day” (Rev. 1:10), and this is substantiated by the other writings of the early Church in the centuries that followed.

We today are now coming historically into that third-level Sabbath, based upon the fulfillment of the feast of Tabernacles. This Sabbath is not based upon one’s work in and of itself, but upon doing the works of God and speaking the words of God. This is how one ceases from his own works, and this was God’s intent for us from the beginning.

Because the Sabbath issue is so controversial among those who advocate keeping Saturday, it will be helpful at this point to deviate from our study of Hebrews and to look more closely at the way in which the Sabbaths developed in the law.

The old Sabbath had been established upon His death (i.e., Passover), but the law foretold a new Sabbath system based upon His resurrection (the wave-sheaf offering), as Lev. 23:15 says.

Both of these Sabbath systems were based upon the seven-day Creation pattern. However, they commemorated different events. The commandment to observe the seventh day depends fully upon which day is considered the first day. After all, the first day of the Pentecostal weeks (or Sabbaths) begins on the day of the wave-sheaf offering (Sunday).

The Mosaic Sabbath began in Exodus 16 when God began to give the people manna in the wilderness. Moses was told that manna would appear for the next six days, and that there would be no manna on the seventh day, for it was a “Sabbath” (Ex. 16:23). It is seen clearly, then, that the Mosaic Sabbath was established by the manna for 40 years. If anyone lost track of time, they could simply watch for the cessation of the manna and know that it was the seventh day.

The manna cycle began on the 15^th day of the second month (Ex. 16:1). This day later became known as the Second Passover (Num. 9). If a person were not able to observe the Passover in the first month, he was to observe it in the second month. Thus, the manna/Sabbath cycle began on the day of the Second Passover. And so it was based upon Christ’s death, of which the Passover celebration prophesied.

The New Covenant, however, which was brought in by Christ’s resurrection, had its own commemorative event, and for this reason it began to be kept on the day after the old Sabbath. It was called the first day of the (old) week, or the eighth day. For this reason it also pointed toward Sonship, for the presentation of the Sons of God can only be done lawfully on an eighth day (Ex. 22:30).

It has often been charged that Sunday was inaugurated by the Emperor Constantine in the fourth century. However, this is easily refuted by reading the writings of the early Church. There are many references to their meetings being held on the first day of the week long before Constantine was even born. Constantine merely legalized the day on which the Christians had been meeting for nearly three centuries. His edict says nothing of changing the Sabbath. The only Christians who might have objected to this were those very few Judaizers in Palestine, who held the belief system of the Jews who obviously would not agree that Jesus rose from the dead on the day of the Wave-sheaf offering. Hence, they did not understand the meaning of Lev. 23:15 or of any other changes in the law discussed in the book of Hebrews.

We continue now with our study in Hebrews 4:12,

¹² For the Word of God is living and active and sharper than any two-edged sword, and piercing as far as the division of soul and spirit, of both joints and marrow, and able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart.

It is not merely the Word of God itself that the author has in mind, but the fact that it is coming through one who has entered into God’s rest. When this living Word is spoken, rather than man’s words, it will divide soul and spirit and be able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart. It is a sword that is much sharper than those dull weapons that are able only to separate men’s heads from their bodies.

¹³ And there is no creature hidden from His sight, but all things are open and laid bare to the eyes of Him with whom we have to do.

When believers are moved by the Holy Spirit and speak the Word of God, all things are laid bare. We read in 1 Cor. 14:24, 25,

²⁴ But if all prophesy, and an unbeliever or an ungifted man enters, he is convicted by all, he is called to account by all; ²⁵ the secrets of his heart are disclosed; and so he will fall on his face and worship God, declaring that God is certainly among you.

Oh that Christians would use this sword, rather than the swords of men. Then would all men’s hearts be laid bare, their thoughts and intents revealed, and all men would be judged righteously by the Spirit in Truth.

There is a Hebrew idiom used often in the Old Testament: “the edge of the sword.” The word translated “edge” is from the Hebrew word peh, which literally means a “mouth.” From this idiom comes the biblical teaching that the Word of God is a sharp sword coming from the mouth. Revelation 1:16 says of Christ, “out of His mouth came a sharp two-edged sword.”

What is this “sword”? How does it differ from a carnal sword? The answer is given in Hosea 6:5, 6 in the NASB,

⁵ Therefore I have hewn them in pieces by the prophets; I have slain them by the words of My mouth; and the judgments on you are like the light that goes forth. ⁶ For I delight in loyalty [chesed, “mercy, kindness, or compassion”] rather than sacrifice, and in the knowledge of God rather than burnt offerings.

Jesus referred to this in Matthew 9:13, saying,

¹³ But go and learn what this means: “I desire compassion, and not sacrifice,” for I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners.

The meaning is this: Men thought that God desired sinners to be cut apart by a physical sword (or knife) as a sacrifice to God. And so we see throughout history all the religious wars where each side is convinced that God desires them to “kill His enemies.” But if they had understood the mind of God, they would have seen that God “kills” men not with a physical sword, but with “the words of My mouth.” That is the sharp sword that God uses. It is the Sword of the Spirit, i.e., the Word of God (Eph. 6:17).

God uses this sword because He delights in mercy, kindness, and compassion, not in sacrifice. For this reason, He gave Israel the Word of the Lord through the prophets, who hewed them in pieces—not by a physical sword, but by the sharp sword that is the tongue speaking the Word of God.

This sharp sword was offered to Israel at Mount Sinai on that first Pentecost when God came down upon Sinai and spoke the Word to the people. The people rejected that Sword, however, and so when it came time to conquer Canaan, they were left only with physical swords by which to conquer the Canaanites. The result was a bloodbath. But this does not truly reveal the mind of God. God did not hate Canaanites, nor did He desire that they be sacrificed by the sword.

And so when the feast of Pentecost was fulfilled in Acts 2, the disciples in the upper room accepted the Sword of the Spirit. They went out into the street and “killed” 3,000 people with the Sword of Mercy. This was in direct contrast to the 3,000 who were killed at the base of Mount Sinai by the Levites in Exodus 32:28. In each case, a sword was used, but with different results. Under Moses 3,000 men were subtracted from the church in the wilderness; in the New Testament 3,000 were added to the Church (Acts 2:41).

And so, in the hands of Spirit-filled Christians, the Word of God is the most powerful sword in the world. Instead of killing Canaanites with a physical sword, Christians are called to “kill the flesh” by means of baptism. The Great Commission in Mark 16:15-18 is based upon this Sword of the Spirit and is to be seen as the contrasting parallel to the command in Joshua’s day to kill the Canaanites.

The rest of Hebrews 4 deal with the subject of Jesus as our High Priest and should be discussed in connection to the fifth chapter. So here we will end our current discussion about entering into God’s rest.