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In this message we come to the Sabbath rest (Heb. 4:9). What is the Sabbath rest? As I have already pointed out, throughout the centuries it has been difficult for Christians to understand the matter of the good land of Canaan. Likewise, Christians have been unable to understand properly the Sabbath rest revealed in Hebrews 4. Some say that the Sabbath rest in this chapter is the millennium. They say that the millennial kingdom, a period of a thousand years (Rev. 20:4), will be the seventh period of a thousand years, the first six thousand years being the period from the time of Adam’s creation until the time of the Lord’s coming back. This concept is based upon the fact that in the eyes of the Lord a thousand years are the same as a day (2 Pet. 3:8). According to those who hold this concept, six days mean six thousand years, and the seventh day will be the seventh thousand, the Sabbath rest during the millennium. This interpretation has never satisfied me. To say that the Sabbath rest in 4:9 is simply the millennial kingdom is not altogether accurate; it is only partially correct.
In order to have the proper understanding of the Sabbath rest, we need to consider the first mention of it in the Bible. The first time that the Bible mentions the Sabbath is after the creation of man (Gen. 2:2-3). Many Christians, looking at this matter superficially, only see that the Sabbath was the seventh day, the day on which God rested after completing His work of creation. Although it is correct to say this, we need to look into the contents. Why did God not rest on the fifth day? You may say that He did not rest on the fifth day because He had not finished His work. That is correct. What, then, did God lack? It is very meaningful to see what He lacked.
According to the record of Genesis 1, God created all things by means of His word, calling things not being as being through His word. But the creation of man was not done in this way. God did not create man simply by saying, “Man,” and bringing mankind into being. No, God made man with the dust of the ground (Gen. 2:7). Nothing else was made with any kind of material substance. When God wanted light, He said, “Light,” and light came into being. The creation of man, however, was absolutely different. When God created man, He did not call things not being as being. Firstly, there was a conference among the Godhead (Gen. 1:26) and then He used a certain material, the dust of the ground, to create man. If man had not been created on the sixth day, God would have been unable to rest on the seventh day even though everything else had been created. It was not the completion of the work that caused God to rest — it was the creation of man. After God created man, He was satisfied and was able to rest.
How can we prove this? In all the days of creation, except for the second day, God looked at His work and said, “Good.” But at the end of the sixth day, after man had been created, God saw everything that He had made and said, “Very good” (Gen. 1:31). When He said, “Very good,” it meant that He was satisfied. At the end of the sixth day, seeing man in His image to express Him and committed with His authority to represent Him, God was satisfied and said, “Very good.”
Our study of the Bible has been greatly influenced by our religious background. Even before we ever read the Bible, we already had certain concepts about it. These concepts are damaging. Before we could look at the colors in the Bible, we had already put on colored eye glasses. As a result, we could not see the real colors in the Scriptures. We must take off our glasses and look at the Bible in a pure way. This is why I say again and again that we must return to the pure Word and reread and restudy it. We need to forget what we have heard about Genesis 1 in the past. If you reread Genesis 1 and 2, you will see that God rested on the seventh day not mainly because His work was finished but because He had attained what He desired. What God desired was not a finished work. Rather, He wanted mankind to be on the earth expressing and representing Him. This is His heart’s desire. As long as God can have this, He is satisfied. God’s heart is satisfied by having man on the earth expressing and representing Him. When God had this, He rested on the seventh day.
When man was damaged by the fall, this rest was lost. At this point, we need to consider John chapter five, the case of the enlivening of the impotent man. John 5:9 says, “And immediately the man became well, and picked up his bed and walked. Now it was the Sabbath on that day” (Recovery Version). In enlivening the impotent man, the Lord did something which, according to the Jewish regulations, was not permitted on the Sabbath day. As a result, the Jews persecuted the Lord Jesus. Verse 16 says, “And for this the Jews persecuted Jesus and sought to kill Him, because He did these things on the Sabbath” (Recovery Version). On the Sabbath day, they sought to kill Jesus. Do you believe that anyone who is seeking to kill a person could be at rest? Do you think that all those persecuting Jews had rest in their hearts? I do not believe it. In verse 17 we see the Lord’s answer to the Jews: “My Father is working until now, and I am working” (Recovery Version). The Lord seemed to be saying, “You are keeping the Sabbath, but My Father is working. The Sabbath that He had on the seventh day has been lost because man has been damaged. As long as man has not been recovered, My Father is still working. Look at this poor man. He has been lost, spoiled, ruined, and corrupted by the enemy of God. How can My Father rest? You may rest according to your tradition, but you don’t have the real rest. While you say you keep the Sabbath, you don’t know what the Sabbath really means. You do not have rest, do you? Neither does My Father have rest. So, My Father is still working, and I am working too. This is why I am here. I have come here to do My work. Don’t you know that the Sabbath has been lost, that the Sabbath on which God was satisfied has been lost, destroyed by the enemy of God? Don’t you know that God lost what He had gained? My Father is working until now. Since Genesis 3, My Father has never stopped working because the man who satisfied Him has been damaged.” How we need to be impressed with the real significance of the Sabbath! The significance of the Sabbath is that God is satisfied with man when man expresses and represents Him. When there is a situation in which man expresses God and represents Him, that day is the Sabbath to God.
Now we need to return to the matter of the good land. Why was the good land a rest? Did the children of Israel rest in the good land? From the very day they entered into it they were fighting constantly. Then why did God call that land the rest, as He did in Deuteronomy 12:9? Superficially speaking, people say that the good land of Canaan was called the rest because the people made their homes in it and settled there. This thought is rather natural and superficial. The land was a rest because the temple could be built there. There, with the temple, God could have His expression and representation. When God is expressed and represented, there is satisfaction for both God and man, and that is the real rest.
The Sabbath rest in 4:9, as typified by the good land of Canaan (Deut. 12:9; Heb. 4:8), is Christ as our rest. Christ is rest to us in three stages. In the church age, He, as the heavenly Christ, the One who has expressed, represented, and satisfied God and who rests from His work and sits on the right hand of God in the heavens, is the rest to us in our spirit (Matt. 11:28-29). In the millennial kingdom, after Satan has been removed from the earth (Rev. 20:1-3), God will be expressed, represented, and satisfied by Christ and the overcoming saints. Then Christ with the kingdom will be the rest in a fuller way to the overcoming saints who will be co-kings with Him (Rev. 20:4, 6) and share and enjoy His rest. In the new heaven and new earth, after all the enemies, including death, the last enemy, are subdued to Him (1 Cor. 15:24-27), God will be fully expressed, represented, and satisfied by all His redeemed ones in Christ. At that time Christ, as the all-conquering One, with that glorious situation, will be the rest in the fullest way to all God’s redeemed for eternity. Thus, the Sabbath rest mentioned in 4:9 and typified by the rest of the good land of Canaan should only cover the first two stages of Christ as rest to us and should not include the third stage. The rest in the first two stages is a prize to His diligent seekers who are not only redeemed but have also enjoyed Him in a full way so that they have become the overcomers; whereas the rest in the third stage is not a prize but the full portion to all the redeemed ones. Therefore, Christ as rest to us in the first two stages, especially in the second stage, is the Sabbath rest mentioned here, the rest that remains for us to seek after and enter into diligently. It is in the second stage of Christ as rest to us that Christ will take possession of the whole earth as His inheritance (Psa. 2:8; Heb. 2:5-6) for His kingdom in the millennium (Rev. 11:15). All His overcoming followers, who seek and enjoy Him as their rest in the first stage, will participate in His reign at that time (Rev. 20:4, 6; 2 Tim. 2:12). It is then that they will inherit the earth (Matt. 5:5; Psa. 37:11). Some will have authority over ten cities, some over five (Luke 19:17, 19). It is then that they will also partake of the joy of their Lord (Matt. 25:21, 23). That will be the kingdom rest, which is typified by the rest of entering into the good land of Canaan. The rest of the good land was the goal to all the children of Israel who were redeemed and delivered from Egypt; likewise, the rest of the coming kingdom is the goal to the New Testament believers who have been redeemed and saved from the world. We are all on the way now towards this goal.
When God rested on the seventh day, Adam also rested. Likewise, when God has no rest, man has no rest either. In John chapter four, the Lord Jesus was laboring because He was hungry. Moreover, both He and the Samaritan woman were thirsty. Was there any rest there? No, there was no rest because man had not yet been gained by God for His expression and representation. Not until man has been gained by God to express and represent Him can God and man have rest. If in the church life today all the brothers and the sisters go their own way and no one goes God’s way, there will be no rest, even if we come together in a very active way. In such a case, there is not the wonderful church life. The church life is a life in which man is gained by God on earth for His expression and representation. When this situation appears, we all shall be in the rest, because God will be satisfied to see Himself expressed and represented through a group of human beings. Whenever this happens on earth so many angels in heaven will be rejoicing for God’s satisfaction. How do we know when God is satisfied and at rest? We know it because our spirit is satisfied. Now we know the real meaning of the Sabbath rest: it is the satisfaction of God with man in having gained man to express and represent Him on earth. Whenever such a situation appears, that is the Sabbath, and both God and man are satisfied and rested. This is the Sabbath rest.
In type, this Sabbath rest was the good land. In actuality, however, this rest was not realized by the children of Israel when they entered into the good land. Therefore, the psalmist prophesied of a remaining Sabbath rest for God’s people (Psa. 95:7-11). The book of Hebrews quotes Psalm 95 concerning the rest. What is this Sabbath rest? In principle, it is the situation in which man is gained by God to express and represent Him. This situation did not come into being until the church came into existence.
In a positive and good sense, the proper church life is God’s Sabbath. Now we can understand why the book of Hebrews warns the believers not to miss the Sabbath, telling them to be diligent to enter into it. What is this Sabbath? It is the proper church life. The writer seems to be saying, “O Hebrew believers, don’t go back to keep the old Sabbath, That is past. In the Psalms God prophesied of another day, the remaining Sabbath rest.” If you read chapters three and four of Hebrews carefully, you will find this promise of the remaining Sabbath rest. These two chapters speak of “another day.” This “another day” is “Today” (3:7, 13, 15; 4:7). This “another day,” “Today,” is the promised Sabbath rest that remains for us. The writer seemed to be saying, “Hebrew believers, don’t be foolish. The Sabbath rest that God kept in Genesis 2 has been destroyed and will never occur again. In the Psalms, God has assigned another day, ‘Today.’ This is the remaining Sabbath rest for you. You must enter into it.”
What is this Sabbath rest? Firstly, it is the church life. We must enter into the church life so that God may be expressed and represented on earth today, be satisfied, and find rest. When this happens, God and we shall have our Sabbath rest. If we do not get into the proper church life, we shall miss the rest. However, as we shall see, this is not altogether the meaning of the Sabbath rest in Hebrews.
In Matthew 11:28-29 the Lord said, “Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls.” Many Christians understand this verse in a very superficial way, thinking that it means they will find comfort whenever they are heavy laden and come to the Lord Jesus. Although this may work for you the first time, it may not work after that. If you just take the Lord as your rest according to your natural, selfish concept, the Lord will eventually turn His face away from you. Many Christians experienced this kind of comfort at the beginning of their Christian life only to find that it did not work well later on. Why? Because Christ is not our life and rest for our individual enjoyment but for the building up of God’s house. If you want to enjoy Christ as your rest, you must come to Him. But where is He? Where do we go to meet Him? We must come to the church. The rest, which is Christ Himself, is in the church. Why is this rest in the church? Because in the church God is expressed and represented, and where God is expressed and represented, there is the Sabbath. If you do not believe this, try to take your own way and pray to Christ for comfort. If you stay away from the church, you will probably find yourself unable to pray.
Today there is only one good land — the church life. Today’s church is the good land because in the church God has His habitation for His expression and representation. God’s throne, kingdom, and government are in the church. Thus, it is in the church that God is satisfied. If He is not satisfied there, then where is He satisfied? There is only one situation that can satisfy God: a situation in which a group of people has been gained by Him to be His expression and representation. The angels do not have this privilege because they have not been ordained to express and represent God. But we have been destined and ordained to express and represent Him. Therefore, God’s satisfaction and rest are in the church.
Although many Christians are truly saved, they are not in the church life. Likewise, many of the children of Israel were saved at the time of the Passover. They struck the blood, ate the lamb, came out of Egypt, crossed the Red Sea, and were saved. But how many of them came into the rest? Very few. In like manner, although there are so many real Christians, those who have been truly saved, very few are in the church life. Do you believe that all Christians are in the good land? No, many are wandering, and others still remain in Egypt, doing such worldly things as going to the movies. Since they have believed in the Lord Jesus, we cannot say that they have not been saved. However, they are in Egypt or in the wilderness, not in the good land. We need to be diligent to press on to enter into the rest. Where is our rest today? It is in the church life.
God is not the only one who desires to rest in the church life. So many unbelieving human beings are wandering, dissatisfied with their way of life. This is why we need to have the proper and high church life, the church life that will be the high gospel for the thirsty ones. This is not a matter of having a Sunday morning eleven o’clock service; it must be the proper church life in which God and man are satisfied. When the hungry and thirsty ones come to such a church life, they will see that this is what they have been looking for, that this is what they desire, and immediately they will enter into the Sabbath rest. All the believers as well must endeavor to enter into this rest. But today the book of Hebrews is closed to most Christians, and no one will touch it. We all must realize that the book of Hebrews is a part of the full gospel. Let me say what is on my heart: I want to encourage all the young brothers and sisters to go to the campuses to preach the gospel according to the book of Hebrews. They need to go and preach this high gospel for the proper human life.
When I was preaching the gospel years ago, my favorite messages were on the meaning of life, vanity, and drinking at the fountain of life. On New Year’s Day in 1932, I preached on the subject of vanity. After preaching for only twenty minutes, so many people stood up even before I had finished my call because I had touched their inward feeling, the feeling of vanity in their life, the vanity in their being. Although I did not preach very much on sin, eventually everyone repented of his sin. Oh, we must go to the thirsty people, to the hungry people, and preach the high gospel of the church life that can satisfy the hunger and thirst in their lives. The church life must be today’s Sabbath rest, the good land flowing with milk and honey.
