"Then shall the King say unto them on his right hand, Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world." Matt. xxv, 34.
"Let us therefore fear, lest a promise being left us of entering into his rest, any of you should seem to come short of it. For unto us was the gospel preached, as well as unto them; but the word preached did not profit them not being mixed with faith in them that heard it. For we which have believed do enter into rest, as he said, As I have sworn in my wrath if they shall enter into my rest: although the works were finished from the foundation of the world. For he spake in a certain place of the seventh day on this wise, And God did rest the seventh day from all his work." Heb. iv, 1–4.
1. The same idea is presented in both the foregoing texts, viz., that the world made "in the beginning" is the destined resting place, or inheritance, of God's people. "As it came from the hand of its Maker, very good," free from the curse or the effects of sin, so it will be "given to the people of the saints of the Most High." It cannot be another creation, else it would not be that which was "prepared from the foundation of the world." Hence, when God says, "Behold, I make all things new," it does not mean that he will make a new class of things—things not made before; but that he will renew all things, or make anew that which has been previously made. So also when Peter says, We "look for a new heavens and a new earth wherein dwelleth righteousness," 2 Pet. iii, 13, it is evident that this "new heavens and new earth" bear the same relation to "the heavens and earth which are now," verse 7, that these latter bear to the world that was in the time of the flood, which, "being overflowed with water, perished." Verse 6. That is, the material is the same in each and all, but they differ in form, or have different relations.
While the two texts at the head of this article teach the same idea in respect to the original preparation of the "dominion" or "kingdom," (see also Gen. i, 26,) the latter of the two, Heb. iv, 4, contains proof of the affirmation.158
2. The whole argument of the apostle in Heb. iii, and iv, proves that "the rest" offered to the children of Israel, which those who fell in the wilderness did not receive, and which was given to the survivors under the leadership of Joshua, was typical of the rest that "remaineth" to the people of God. And this conclusion is drawn by the apostle himself in chap. iv, 8, 9. A certain rest was given them by Joshua; but if that was the true rest contemplated in the promise, why should he speak of it as a thing of the future in David's time? Or, if they who entered Canaan under Joshua received the true rest, why does David warn those who were likewise in Canaan, by the example of them who fell in the wilderness?
3. Because the apostle quotes Gen. ii, 2, "God did rest the seventh day from all his works," to prove that "all his works were finished from the foundation of the world," it has been thence inferred that "the rest" herein referred to, which was typical of the rest which remained to the people of God, was the seventh day, or weekly Sabbath; in brief, that the seventh-day Sabbath was a type of the everlasting rest of God's people. That this is a groundless inference may be proved by showing that the Sabbath will not meet the declarations of this scripture, and also by showing what this typical rest was. That the Sabbath could not be the rest, or type, referred to, is evident; for,
a. The typical rest was given to them by Joshua; Heb. iv, 8, margin; but Joshua did not give them the seventh-day Sabbath.
b. They who fell in the wilderness did not receive or enter into that rest; but they did receive and keep the Sabbath before they thus fell.
c. God sware that, because of their rebellion, they should not enter into that rest; but he never sware that they should not keep the Sabbath, or any other commandment, because of their unbelief. Rebellion, unbelief, or sin, may deprive of blessings promised, but can never absolve from duties commanded.
4. We also show that that rest was not the Sabbath, by proving by the Scriptures what that rest was, and that it was distinct from the Sabbath. See the following texts:
Deut. iii, 18–20. "And I commanded you at that time, saying, The Lord your God hath given you this land to possess it; ye shall pass over armed before your brethren the children of Israel, all that are meet for the war. But your wives, and your little ones, and your cattle, (for I know that ye have much cattle,) shall abide in your cities which I have given you; until the Lord have given rest unto your brethren, as well as unto you, and until they also possess the land which the Lord your God hath given them beyond Jordan; and then shall ye return every man unto his possession which I have given you."
Here the rest is defined to be the possession of the land which the Lord gave to them; and this idea, and this only, appears in every text speaking on this subject. See the following:
Deut. xii, 9, 10. "For ye are not as yet come to the rest and to the inheritance which the Lord your God giveth you. But when ye go over Jordan, and dwell in the land which the Lord your God giveth you to inherit, and when he giveth you rest from all your enemies round about, so that ye dwell in safety; then there shall be a place," &c.
Josh. i, 12–15. "And to the Reubenites, and to the Gadites, and to the half tribe of Manasseh, spake Joshua, saying, Remember the word which Moses the servant of the Lord commanded you, saying, The Lord your God hath given you rest, and hath given you this land. Your wives, your little ones, and your cattle shall remain in the land which Moses gave you on this side Jordan; but ye shall pass before your brethren armed, all the mighty men of valor, and help them; until the Lord hath given your brethren rest, as he hath given you, and they also have possessed the land which the Lord your God giveth them; then ye shall return unto the land of your possession, and enjoy it, which Moses the Lord's servant gave you on this side Jordan toward the sun-rising."
Chap. xxi, 43, 44. "And the Lord gave unto Israel all the land which he sware to give unto their fathers; and they possessed it, and dwelt therein. And the Lord gave them rest round about, according to all that he sware unto their fathers; and there stood not a man of all their enemies before them; the Lord delivered all their enemies into their hand. Chap. xxii, 4. And now the Lord your God hath given rest unto your brethren, as he promised them: therefore now return ye, and get you unto your tents, and unto the land of your possession, which Moses the servant of the Lord gave you on the other side Jordan."
Chap. xxiii, 1. "And it came to pass, a long time after that the Lord had given rest unto Israel from all their enemies around about, that Joshua waxed old and stricken in age."
We have quoted thus largely to show that the fact as claimed is made very plain and prominent in the Scriptures. And "the rest" referred to in these texts meets every demand of Heb. iv, to wit; (1.) It was given to them by Joshua, (2.) It was the rest that God sware they should not possess because of their rebellion. See Num. xiv, 28–32. "As truly as I live, saith the Lord, as ye have spoken in mine ears, so will I do to you. Your carcasses shall fall in this wilderness; and all that were numbered of you, according to your whole number, from twenty years old and upward, which have murmured against me. Doubtless ye shall not come into the land concerning which I sware to make you dwell therein, save Caleb the son of Jephunnah, and Joshua the son of Nun. But your little ones, which ye said should be a prey, them will I bring in, and they shall know the land which ye have despised. But as for you, your carcasses, they shall fall in this wilderness." (3.) And all "those whose carcasses fell in the wilderness" did not enter therein.
5. That the land which they possessed, which Paul calls "the rest" typical of that which remains to the people of God, did represent or typify the earth, or dominion, or "kingdom prepared from the foundation of the world," see the following texts:
Gen. xvii, 8. "And I will give unto thee, and to thy seed after thee, the land wherein thou art a stranger, all the land of Canaan, for an everlasting possession; and I will be their God."
These words the Lord spake to Abraham. See also Gen. xiii, 14–17; xx, 18–21; and others; and compare Rom. iv, 13; "For the promise that he should be the heir of the world, was not to Abraham or to his seed through the law, but through the righteousness of faith," Gal. iii, 29; "And if ye be Christ's, then are ye Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the promise." That "promise" we have read in Genesis. But what is the inheritance promised? See Matt. v, 5; "Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth." Nothing less than the possession of "the earth" will fulfill the promise. This, and this only, is the rest, possession, or kingdom, "prepared from the foundation of the world." The land of Canaan, promised to Abraham, given to the children of Israel, represented this inheritance, or final "rest," yet remaining to the people of God.
6. This subject is so clearly set forth in the scriptures above quoted that it does not seem possible to misapprehend it if they are only read and considered. And it is thereby very clearly shown that the Sabbath was not and is not a type of the future rest of God's people, and therefore is not a typical institution.