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Seventh-day Adventism Refuted: The Sabbath Rest of Hebrews 4      The rest in Hebrews 4 is said to be a “sabbatismós” (sabbath rest). It is not the Seventh-day Sabbath given to Israel alone. This is a “perpetual Sabbath rest to be enjoyed, uninterruptedly by believers in their fellowship with the Father and the Son in contrast to the weekly Sabbath rest under the Law. It is a divine rest into which the believers enter into their relationship with God - here on earth and in eternity.  The Complete Word Study Dictionary  Greek: “sabbatismós” σαββατισμός [See Stg: <G4520>] sabbatismós; gen. sabbatismoú, masc. noun from sabbatízō (n.f.), to keep the Sabbath (Sept.: Exodus 16:30; Leviticus 26:35). A keeping of a Sabbath, a rest as on the Sabbath. In the NT used only of an eternal rest with God (Hebrews 4:9). Therefore, the intimation is that the Sabbath was instituted as a symbol of that eternal rest at the completion of God's work. This rest remains with the people of God and is also called katápausis <G2663>, a cessation from work or causing to cease work, putting to rest, repose. The teaching of the Apostles as to the rest in its relation to the believer's life is confined to two passages, Hebrews 4:1-11 and Revelation 14:13. The basis of the idea is the Divine rest, the rest on which God entered at the completion of His work of creation. Participation in this rest is a divine gift to man. The natural tendency is to conceive rest as mere cessation of work.  In Hebrews 4:9 we have the word sabbatismós, referring to the rest which is going to be enjoyed by the people of God when their earthly work is finished.   However, the word katápausis is used in Hebrews 4:1, 3 (twice), Hebrews 4:5, 10, 11 and also Hebrews 3:11, 18. Since the Jews shared this misapprehension, it was corrected by our Lord in the discourse of John 5:17ff. beginning with the words, “My Father has been working until now, and I have been working." This idea of rest as freedom from further work finds expression in Revelation 14:13; "Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from now on.' " "Yes," says the Spirit, "that they may rest from their labors, and their works follow them."  The word for rest here is anapaúsōntai (TR), the aor. subjunctive of anapaúō <G373>, which means inner rest and refreshment, not due to the cessation of work but to the result of the right performance of work (Matthew 11:28; 1 Peter 4:14). The earthly labors of the Christian's life are ended at death; its "works," i.e., habits, methods, and results abide and remain in the new life.  Hebrews 4:1-11 gives the most exhaustive treatment of this theme. The whole passage may possibly be called a discourse, having for its text the words of Psalm 95:11. "Unto whom I sware in my wrath that they should not enter into my rest [katápausin]." The rest to which God refers, as quoted by the Psalmist, is the divine rest after creation of which Genesis 2:2 speaks: "And on the seventh day God ended his work which he had made; and he rested on the seventh day from all his work which he had made." This passage links the idea of divine rest indissolubly with the Sabbath. The writer's argument is briefly as follows: The inspired message in Psalm 95 speaks of a "rest" of God. The Psalmist tells how in the days of Moses this rest lay open to God's people, but they did not enter in through disobedience. Neither then nor at the entry into Canaan under Joshua was the divine idea of rest realized. The Psalmist, in fact, implies that the divine idea still remains unrealized and still awaits fulfillment; and the author of Hebrews, taking the Psalmist's word as the last utterance of the OT on the subject of rest, applies it with confidence to his hearers of the NT epoch. He draws the inference that "there remains therefore a rest [sabbatismós] to the people of God" (Hebrews 4:9).   The word sabbatismós is used here purposely in lieu of katápausis, the word employed throughout the remainder of the passage. It not only denotes the divine rest as a Sabbatic rest, but it links together, in a most suggestive way, the end with the beginning, the consummation with the creation. It implies that the rest which God gives is one which He also enjoys. Just as in the case of salvation, the Christian rest (anápausis [Matthew 11:28]) may be viewed both as a present possession and as a future blessing. On the one hand, we who have believed do enter into that rest (katápausin). Our life of sin has ended and we are enjoying the cessation of sin with the anápausin, the inner joy that we can have while in this life and work till our true katápausis, or cessation of this life, is realized. Therefore we as Christian believers enjoy the anápausin (inner rest) which the Lord gives us while we are here on earth, working and waiting for our katápausin. This is similar to the sabbatismós which the Lord enjoyed and which He promises for his people.    Hebrews 4: The noun sabbatismós, a Sabbath keeping, is used in Hebrews 4:9 to indicate the perpetual Sabbath rest to be enjoyed uninterruptedly by believers in their fellowship with the Father and the Son in contrast to the weekly Sabbath under the Law. It is a divine rest into which the believers enter in their relationship with God here on earth and in eternity.  [1] The Sabbath rest that God wants us to enter into is the “rest” of faith by trusting in His completed work of salvation.  An Expositional Study of Hebrews 4:1-12  1 “Therefore, while the promise of entering his rest (katápausin) still stands, let us fear lest any of you should seem to have failed to reach it.”  2 “For good news came to us just as to them, but the message they heard did not benefit them, because they were not united by faith with those who listened.”  [Israel failed to enter the divine “rest” of faith that God desired for them. Now Christ’s Church has had the Gospel preached to us and God wants us to “rest” in His completed work through faith.]  3 “For we who have believed enter that rest (katápausin) 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.”  4 “For he has somewhere spoken of the seventh day in this way: “And God rested (katápausin)  on the seventh day from all his works.”  [This is the “rest” God Himself entered into after He finished His work of creation. God stopped working. The “rest” that God desires for us is to “rest” in His completed work of our salvation.]  5 “And again in this passage he said, “They shall not enter my rest (katápausin).” 6 “Since therefore it remains for some to enter it, and those who formerly received the good news failed to enter because of disobedience,”  [The Israelites failed to enter into the true “rest” God wanted them to enter. It was not the Seventh-day weekly Sabbath “rest” but a life of complete trust and faith in Him.]  7 “again he appoints a certain day, “Today,” saying through David so long afterward, in the words already quoted, “Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts.”  [David was shown by God the “rest” God wanted for His people. They could enter that “rest” “Today”. Every day we can enter into the “rest” in God’s grace through faith alone.]  8 “For if Joshua had given them rest, (katápausin) God would not have spoken of another day later on.”  [Israel thought the Promised Land was to be a “rest” for them but again, God says they failed to “enter that promised “rest”. Why? Because it was not entered into by faith in God’s perfect salvation.]  9 “So then, there remains a Sabbath rest (σαββατισμός) for the people of God,”  [σαββατισμός - This is a “perpetual” Sabbath rest to be enjoyed uninterruptedly by believers in their fellowship with the Father and the Son in contrast to the weekly Sabbath rest under the Law. It is a divine rest into which the believers enter into through a relationship with God here on earth, and throughout eternity.”]  10 “for whoever has entered God’s rest (katápausin) has also rested (katápausen) from his works as God did from his.”  [This is a “rest” that is moment by moment. Day in and day out. This is a Sabbatical “rest” in full assurance that God has saved us from our sins. We must trust God completely through faith in His work in us, and not by trusting in our own failed works. Jesus, our “Joshua” is our true rest!]  11 “Let us therefore strive to enter that rest (katápausin), so that no one may fall by the same sort of disobedience.”  12 “For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart." References: 1. The Complete Word Study Dictionary: σαββατισμός / sabbatismós See Also: Hebrews  4 and the Seventh-day Adventist Church: Colossians 2:14-17 and the Sabbath The Book of Colossians and the Christian’s Record of Debt “Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are from the ESV® Bible" "Used by permission. 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