sion, not th e h e a r e r s (Numbers 14:6-9). We learn that the evil heart of un belief issues in depa.rture from God; that the deceitfulness of sin gradually petrifies the feelings; that it leads to deliberate provocation of the Most High; and that it involves the loss of what is noblest and best (3 :1 9 ). Hen derson : “It should be noted that faith provides the antidotes to all these things. Instead of departing from the living God, faith draws near (He brews 1 0 :2 2 ); instead of hardening the heart it works by love (Gal. 5 :6 ) ; instead of provoking God it pleases Him (Heb. 1 1 :6 ); instead of disobey ing Him it instantly complies with His command (Romans 1 6 :2 6 ).” The condition of the Hebrews was so grave that instruction and exhorta tion are inter-blended throughout the epistle and in chapter 4 warnings and appeals are made again which are based on the historical facts recorded in chapter 3. He warns them that just as the Israelites who rebelled in the wilderness forfeited the rest of Ca naan by their unbelief, so there is the possibility of “unbelieving believers” losing the practical enjoyment of the rest of God today. “Let us fear lest we should miss it” (verse 1 ). Faith brings us into the possession of the enjoyment of the rest of God now (verse 3 ). While the rest which was secured by Joshua was partial, im perfect and temporary, that which is open to the believer in Christ is per fect, complete and final. Verses 4-10 speak of the rest of God. The first, Creation rest (verse 4 ), was marred by the entrance of sin; the second, Canaan rest (verse 8) was frequently interrupted by hostile powers; the third, Redemption rest (verse 9) — which God’s people may enter upon now—is eternal. The con sequences of sin described in Genesis 3 are threefold: man had an accusing conscience (verse 1 0 ); an anxious heart (verses 17-18); and a body subject to decay and death (verse 19). The Redemption rest secured by Christ provides the remedy for all three of these.
Mr. Men» Fishbach, executive administrator of Biota's affiliated school, the Arizona Bible College. Rest o f conscience: “The wicked are like the troubled sea when it can not rest . . . there is no peace saith my God to the wicked” (Isa. 57:20, 21). In Matthew 11:28 the Saviour offers relief from this intolerable bur den of guilt, where in response to our coming to Him, He promises us the g ift of rest. Rest o f h ea rt: In Matthew 11:28 Christ speaks of the rest which is a gift, “I will give you rest.” The deeper rest to which the Master refers in Matthew 1 1 :29 is spoken of as a dis covery—“ye shall find rest unto your souls.” Vine: “One is the g ift of par don, single, complete, and covering all the past; the other, constant, con tinuous and covering all the present.” This is the rest of God into which the writer of Hebrews would lead us now — that deep unbroken rest of spirit which outsoars and transcends the loftiest conceptions of the human mind (Phil. 4 :7 ). Rest fo r ev erm ore: This looks on to eternity where the wicked cease from troubling and where the weary are at rest (Job 3 :1 7 ). Saphir: “A Sab- batism, our author calls this rest. It felicitously connects the end of the world with the beginning, the con summation of all things with the primal state of the Creation. The 34
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