REST REMAINING.-HEB. 4

Seventh-day Adventist Missionary Society · Oakland, California · Jun 23, 1881

REST REMAINING.—HEB. 4.

Two LETTERS of inquiry have lately been received, concerning Heb. 4, the seventh day, and the rest which remains to the people of God. One of them speaks thus:—

"It seems to me that the Jewish Sabbath was typical of the Christian's rest, as baptism by water was typical of spiritual baptism."

We have already pointed out the error of the latter idea, and shown that baptism, being a gospel institution, a commandment of the Saviour, could not be a type of anything in the gospel. No gospel institution can be a type, unless there is to be a future dispensation which is foreshadowed by the gospel dispensation. But we think no one will affirm this. Baptism being a gospel institution, it must continue as long as the preaching of the gospel continues. This conclusion is so reasonable, that we should accept it even if we did not find it directly taught in the commission given by Christ, and in the Acts of the Apostles.

And the statement concerning the Sabbath is equally erroneous. It is not a type. Not a text in all the Bible which speaks of the seventh-day Sabbath, will justify us in considering it a type. It has not a single characteristic of typical institutions.

But the question arises, Has the seventh day any relation to the rest which remains, spoken of in Heb. 4? We answer that it has; but not the relation of a type. This is easily understood when we have learned what is that rest which remains, into which the faithful alone can enter.

First we remark that the seventh day was sanctified as the day of Jehovah's rest before sin came into the world, before the gospel was required, and before types could have had any significance. It is true that Adam is called a "figure of him that was to come." Rom. 5:14. This is the nearest approach to a type that we find in Eden. But he was not a figure in such a sense as to destroy his literality as a man, as a subject of gospel privileges, and as the recipient of eternal life in the kingdom of God. A figure, yet not a type in the sense in which the word type is generally used.

Next we consider the remark of the apostle in Heb. 4:3: "Although the works were finished from the foundation of the world." God made promise of the land to Abraham and to his seed. Gen. 12:7; 13:14, 15, and others. To this promise we are heirs if we are Christ's. Gal. 3:29. Of the promise, or covenant, to Abraham, circumcision was given as a sign. Gen. 17:11. Then we find three points for consideration in this covenant:—

The promise of the land.
The seed, the heirs of the promise.
Circumcision, the token of the covenant.

These were first presented to their minds as the land of Palestine, the natural descendants of Abraham, and circumcision in the flesh. But in the gospel we find an enlargement of each of these subjects:—

Abraham and his seed are heirs of the world. Rom. 4:13. Compare Ps. 37:11, Matt. 5:5, and others.
All the faithful in Christ are Abraham's seed, and heirs of the promised inheritance. Gal. 3:9, 29.
Circumcision is not outward, but of the Spirit, in the heart. Rom. 2:28, 29; Col. 2:11.

But as Abraham did not receive the promise, and will yet receive it, Acts 7:2-5; Heb. 11:8-16; and as the heirs, when they inherit the earth, will also "delight themselves in the abundance of peace," Ps. 37:11; it is clear that this promise will not, and cannot, be fulfilled in this present state. It will be after the resurrection of Abraham, and in the new earth, "wherein dwelleth righteousness." 2 Peter 3:13.

In connection with this take the words of our Saviour, the King, when he sits upon the throne of his glory, then will he say unto his people, the heirs, "Come ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world." The earth renewed is that inheritance; the earth when it was made, "very good," not yet under the curse, was the kingdom prepared. Gen. 1:26. Of this, the seventh day stands, not as a type, but as an enduring monument; a sufficient proof.

Is there anything given in the Scriptures bearing the relation of type to the rest which remains to the people of God? There is; but it is not the seventh-day Sabbath. It is the rest which Joshua gave to the children of Israel. Moses, Joshua, and Aaron, are the three personages presented in Paul's argument in his letter to the Hebrews; all bearing the same relation to Christ. Moses, a prophet and teacher; Joshua, a leader into the land of promise; and Aaron, a priest. The inheritance which Joshua gave them, was typical of the inheritance of all the faithful seed of Abraham; as much so as the sanctuary where Aaron ministered was a type of "the sanctuary and true tabernacle, which the Lord pitched, and not man," where our High Priest ministers, in Heaven. Heb. 8:1-5. Joshua in the Hebrew, is Jesus in the Greek. Hence the Jesus of the authorized version of Heb. 4:8, is Joshua. See margin. The following scriptures show that the inheritance given to Israel by Joshua, was called their rest:—

Deut. 3:18-20: "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."

Deut. 12:9, 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," etc.

Josh. 1:12-15: "And to the Reubenites, and to the Gadites, and to half the 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 . . . until the Lord have 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," etc.

Josh. 21:43, 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."

Josh. 22:4: "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."

But after the children of Israel had been in this rest or possession about four hundred years, David, in Psalm 95, or the Holy Ghost by David, see Heb. 3:7, exhorts them to hear the voice of the Lord, and not to harden their hearts, as did the children of Israel who fell in the wilderness, and to whom God sware that they should not enter into his rest. The record of this oath is given in Num. 14:26-35, from which we quote:—

"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; . . . doubtless ye shall not come into the land concerning which I sware to make you dwell therein," etc.

That possession which in Num. 14 is called the land, in Ps. 95 is called the rest. From these words of the Holy Ghost by David, Paul draws his conclusion that the rest given by Joshua was not the rest, the final rest, contemplated in God's promise, but that a rest remains to the people of God. A few points we will notice, which will confirm this argument, and satisfy all as to what was the type of the rest which remains to the faithful, and that it was not the Sabbath:—

It was a rest which they who fell in the wilderness did not receive. But they did all receive the seventh-day Sabbath.
It was a rest which Joshua gave to the children of Israel. But Joshua did not give them the Sabbath.
It was a rest which God sware they should not receive who rebelled against him. But God never sware that they should not keep the Sabbath; to the contrary, he had the rebellious put to death for not keeping the Sabbath. But he did sware that they should not enter into the land of Canaan.

Paul's argument is reasonable. Apply it alike to the three personages brought to view, and to their work:—

If Moses were sufficient as a prophet and teacher, why should there arise another prophet, whom all must hear under penalty of being cut off? Deut. 18:15-19.

If Aaron had truly made atonement for their sins, why should there arise another priest to mediate for the transgressions which were even under the first covenant? Heb. 9:15.

If the true rest were given to Israel by Joshua, why were they who possessed that rest exhorted in David, "after so long a time," not to follow the example of those who fell in the wilderness? and why are we, by Paul, warned against the same unbelief, lest we should likewise come short of the rest?

We fully believe that it is the duty of God's people to keep the weekly Sabbath of the Lord, which commemorates the work of God, "finished from the foundation of the world." We also believe that there is a "rest and an inheritance," which remains to the people of God, which is the peaceable possession of the land of promise, which, not Joshua, but "the captain of the Lord's host," will give to all the saints. Though prepared from the foundation of the world, it has a long time been groaning under the curse. But not much longer will it groan. Soon will our Joshua return; the purchased possession will be redeemed; Eph. 1:13, 14; all things will be made new; Rev. 21:1-5; righteousness shall dwell in the earth; 2 Peter 3:13; and the meek shall inherit the earth, and delight themselves in the abundance of peace. Ps. 37:11. And may we all "fear, lest a promise being left us of entering into his rest, any of you should seem to come short of it." Heb. 4:1.