For if Joshua had given them rest, God would not have spoken later about another day. There remains, then, a Sabbath-rest for the people of God; for anyone who enters God’s rest also rests from their works, just as God did from his.
Hebrews 4:8-10 NIV
https://bible.com/bible/111/heb.4.8-10.NIV
The NASB translation has a footnote on the name “Joshua”, pointing out that – in Greek – this name is “Jesus”.
- Joshua brought the Israelites into the Promised Land, where they could find rest. However, the Israelites didn’t all settle into comfortable homes on day one of crossing the Jordan River, or even when the walls of Jericho fell. They did receive much of God’s promised rest eventually (except where they still disobeyed), but it took time.
- However, the earlier quote from Psalm 95 indicates that the “rest” that God’s people found in the Promised Land wasn’t the final rest that could be obtained through belief.
- Jesus brought the Kingdom of God to earth, and He offers sinful human beings salvation and rest even in this life, with even more rest waiting in eternity. However, there is a timeframe when we must believe in that salvation, trust Jesus as our Savior, and remain faithful to that gospel.
[Girdwood & Verkruyse, p. 139-140, connect v.10 with future rest, rather than completion of salvation.]
I think that we look forward to our eternal rest, where trials that result from our faith and obedience will cease and our work will stop feeling like a burden (which it sometimes does in these mortal bodies). The rest that we find in Jesus while we still walk this earth is not something to gloss over, though. As God rested from His works on the first Sabbath, with Creation having been completed; so we, too, can rest from certain kinds of works here on this earth, like:
- All of the works that kept the Jewish rituals going, including regular sacrifices.
- All of the works that we tried to do to earn our salvation.
- All of the works that we might try to do to keep our salvation.
Why can we set aside those works? Because our salvation is not from our works! Jesus did all of that work for us already. When it comes to salvation, all we have to do is to believe the good news.
Now, we established earlier that true belief / faith / trust in the good news about Jesus Christ has some natural results. Real, complete, trusting belief in Jesus naturally results in living for Him. Obedience to Jesus is the result of ongoing belief in the Source of our salvation, and not the source of our salvation.
When it comes to our salvation, we can literally rest. The sacrifice for our sins has been paid, and we can rest in that confidence that – as the hymn says – “Jesus paid it all”.
From Sunday School lesson prepared for February 1, 2026
References:
- Scripture taken from the Holy Bible, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®, NIV® Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.
- Scripture quotations taken from the NASB. Copyright by The Lockman Foundation.
- The College Press NIV Commentary – Hebrews, by Jim Girdwood and Peter Verkruyse. © 1997 College Press Publishing Co.
Those Who Sin Differently 