See also -
http://www.christianforums.com/t7752117-64/#post64031603 :
Multifacet Question, in regards to this passage,
"For unto us was the gospel preached, as well as unto them: ..." [Hebrews 4:2], who is the
"them" that the same
"Gospel" [
"as well as"] was
"preached" unto and by whom was it preached and when and how?
...but moving back to the point, as seen that Paul is drawing from numerous OT texts to show that in Christ Jesus we may have rest from "sin" [which is transgression of His Law, the Ten Commandments]. To continue in sin, is to transgress any one of the Ten Commandments and is not to have rest, but to have bondage. It is a remaining in slavery/bondage in Egypt, rather than freedom in the promised land of Canaan. In Egypt, they were not allowed to rest [Sabbath, the 7th Day], as by Pharoah's and the Scriptures own words [Exodus 5,15,16,20 etc].
One such text we have here:
For he spake in a certain place of
the seventh [day] on this wise, And
God did rest the seventh day from all his works. Hebrews 4:4
Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them. Genesis 2:1
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. Genesis 2:2
And God blessed
the seventh day, and sanctified it: because that
in it he had rested from all his work which God created and made. Genesis 2:3
For [in] six days
the LORD made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them [is], and
rested the seventh day: wherefore the LORD blessed
the sabbath day, and hallowed it. Exodus 20:11
It [is] a sign between me and the children of Israel for ever: for [in] six days
the LORD made heaven and earth, and
on the seventh day he rested, and
was refreshed. Exodus 31:17
How did God rest?, What were His works?
Hebrews 4:5 speaks of God's rest, even as it is written,
"...my rest." It is this rest we are to enter into.
And in this [place] again, If they shall enter into
my rest. Hebrews 4:5
Paul picks up
Psalms 95, speaking of Israel [the peoples] experience in the wilderness, wherein they failed because of lack of faith in the Gospel preached unto them [
"...they to whom it was first preached entered not in because of unbelief:" Hebrews 4:6] that God would deliver then, bring them into the goodly land and cause them to keep the commandments of God, including the fourth, the 7th Day Sabbath, and because of failure to believe this promise of God [which is the New/Everlasting Covenant, even righteousness by faith], that whole adult generation [except two, Joshua [type of Christ] and Caleb [faithful remnant]] perished in the wilderness, even as it is written in
Ezekiel 20:12,13,16,20,21,24...
"...cause them to know the abominations of their fathers:" [Ezekiel 20:4] and
"In the day [that] I lifted up mine hand unto them, to bring them forth of the land of Egypt into a land that I had espied for them, flowing with milk and honey, which [is] the glory of all lands:" [Ezekiel 20:6] and
"...But they rebelled against me, and would not hearken unto me:..." [Ezekiel 20:8] and
"But the house of Israel rebelled against me in the wilderness..." [Ezekiel 20:13], and so in what ways did Israel rebel? What was one of the primary reasons listed over and over again in Ezekiel 20? Again,
"Notwithstanding the children rebelled against me..." [Ezekiel 20:21], but how so, what is specifically listed in the very same verse?
Like as I pleaded with your fathers in the wilderness of the land of Egypt, so will I plead with you, saith the Lord GOD. Ezekiel 20:36
Psalms 95 itself is a 7th Day Sabbath of the Lord thy God Psalm, speaking of both the Creator [God rested the 7th Day] and Saviour [Jesus rested the 7th Day], notice its language:
O come, let us
sing unto the LORD: let us make a joyful noise
to the rock of our salvation. Psalms 95:1
Who is that Rock, and where was it? It was
in the wilderness with them, and
that Rock was Christ ["And did all drink the same spiritual drink: for they drank of
that spiritual Rock that followed them: and that Rock was Christ." 1 Corinthians 10:4]. Notice that word "salvation" in the first verse, and we see parallels to it in
Exodus 20:2.
Now please notice the Creator part of the Psalms 95, which hearken right back unto
Genesis 2:2-3, Exodus 20:8-11, Exodus 31:17, etc
"For
the LORD [is] a great God, and a great King above all gods." [Psalms 95:3]
"
In his hand [are] the deep places of the earth: the strength of the hills [is] his also." [Psalms 95:4]
"
The sea [is] his, and
he made it: and
his hands formed the dry [land]." [Psalms 95:5]
"O come,
let us worship and bow down: let us
kneel before the LORD our maker." [Psalms 95:6]
This langauge is speaking of the very same things we find in Exodus 20:11, wherein it is written:
For [in] six days the LORD made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them [is], and rested the seventh day: wherefore the LORD blessed the sabbath day, and hallowed it. Exodus 20:11
And again in
Revelation 14:7, amidst the Everlasting Gospel [Revelation 14:6],
"Saying with a loud voice, Fear God, and give glory to him; for the hour of his judgment is come: and worship him that made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and the fountains of waters." [Revelation 14:7], again see the same in
"And sware by him that liveth for ever and ever, who created heaven, and the things that therein are, and the earth, and the things that therein are, and the sea, and the things which are therein, that there should be time no longer:" [Revelation 10:6], which is directly quoting from Nehemiah:
"Thou, [even] thou, [art] LORD alone; thou hast made heaven, the heaven of heavens, with all their host, the earth, and all [things] that [are] therein, the seas, and all that [is] therein, and thou preservest them all; and the host of heaven worshippeth thee." [Nehemiah 9:6], and both Peter and Paul, call every man, Jew/Gentile back unto God in repentance, to the Creator God of the Sabbath, the 7th Day, in
Acts 4:24 and
Acts 14:15 [both passages which are directly citing Genesis 2:2-3, Exodus 20:11, etc].
For
Psalms 95 continues, for why Israel did not enter...
"For he [is] our God; and we [are] the people of his pasture, and the sheep of his hand. To day if ye will hear his voice," [Psalms 95:7]
"Harden not your heart, as in the provocation, [and] as [in] the day of temptation in the wilderness:" [Psalms 95:8]
"When your fathers tempted me, proved me, and saw my work." [Psalms 95:9]
"Forty years long was I grieved with [this] generation, and said, It [is] a people that do err in their heart, and they have not known my ways:" [Psalms 95:10]
"Unto whom I sware in my wrath that they should not enter into
my rest." [Psalms 95:11]
... for 40 long years God was grieved with that generation, and as we have seen in
Ezekiel 20:12,13,16,20,21,24, we have seen why.
In Numbers we even see a specific example of what Ezekiel mentions:
"And while the children of Israel were in the wilderness, they found a man that gathered sticks upon the sabbath day." [Numbers 15:32]
What was the judgment? By example, ensample, the wages for sin was?
"Because he hath despised the word of the LORD, and hath broken his commandment, that soul shall utterly be cut off; his iniquity [shall be] upon him." [Numbers 15:31]
Again, as it is written in Nehemiah:
"But they and our fathers dealt proudly, and hardened their necks, and hearkened not to thy commandments," [Nehemiah 9:16]
"And refused to obey, neither were mindful of thy wonders that thou didst among them; but hardened their necks, and in their rebellion..." [Nehemiah 9:17]
...and even when the children entered in, they did not continue...
"Nevertheless they were disobedient, and rebelled against thee, and cast thy law behind their backs, and slew thy prophets which testified against them to turn them to thee, and they wrought great provocations." [Nehemiah 9:26], and Nehemiah continues in the judgments and respites of Israel. Never truly having rest. They too had the 7th Day, knowing of it, but never really entering into it, and so it did not profit them, because they lacked faith.
Hebrews 4:8 speaking of Joshua [KJV Jesus, but speaking of the Oshea, the Son of Nun] was to lead them into the promised lang [Canaan], which was the type to Heaven. But they did not truly obtain the rest, seeing how they lacked faith in God to accomplish in them what was promised. Therefore the rest of God remains [the same rest, which they could have entered], we may also enter through the same Gospel, the Same Christ, and
the same Day [the 7th Day Sabbath of the Lord thy God]. For notice, Joshua
did not speak of another day.
There remaineth therefore a rest [sabbatismos, literal true sabbath-keeping] to the people of God. Hebrews 4:9
"For he that is entered into
his [God's] rest, he
also hath ceased from his own works,
as God [did] from his." Hebrews 4:10
How did God rest? and from what works?
Notice, that it still doesn't even end there:
"Let us labour therefore to
enter into that rest,
lest any man fall after the same example of unbelief." [Hebrews 4:11], which Hebrews 3, Ezekiel 20, Nehemiah 9, Numbers 15, all show why they failed when they had
the same Gospel,
the same Rock,
the same Law [Ten Commandments] and
the same 7th Day Sabbath of the Lord thy God, and
the same Saviour and
the same Creator, all with
the same chance to believe by Biblical faith [that faith which works, bears fruit, etc].