¹⁰ For he who has entered His rest has himself also ceased from his works as God did from His.

Verse 10 explains the nature of God’s rest for His people today—that is, for both the first readers of Hebrews and for people in the church age.

¹⁰ For

The “for” here indicates that the grounds for God’s rest is equivalent to “Sabbath rest” in the previous verse.

he [the believer] who has entered His rest

The “rest” here is the believer entering the rest of the present Christian life, into the rest that God Himself provides. God’s “rest” is a life of faith based on God’s provisions, His promises, His grace. It is the opposite of a life of legalism, or the life that trusts in self by gaining God’s approbation by what we do.

has himself also ceased from his works

The person who enters this rest completely appropriates God’s rest to his life. He rests in God’s work fully. God’s true Sabbath is not about observing a special day but claiming the promises of God’s grace. It is not about what the Christian does but about what God does.

as God did from His.

The believer will complete his appointed work in accordance with God’s grace. God rested in His accomplishment/s and the believer is to rest in what He did as well.

PRINCIPLE:

Entering God’s rest is to trust God and cease from operation bootstraps.

APPLICATION:

God’s rest for the church means rest from its own work. God finished our task for us. Rest is God’s unadulterated grace to the believer (Ga 2:20-21). Believers today can enjoy God’s work on their behalf.

Believers can rest from legalism. They can rest in what God does rather than what they do. They can come to grips with God’s grace, His provision for them. They take it by faith and of no merit of their own. We can claim God’s promises of His provision by mixing the promises with faith, by appropriation of what God promised.

The rest that the believer can have today is not the temporary rest that Joshua gave to Israel, but a perpetual rest that God Himself bestows.