Hebrews 4:10,11 - Make every effort

4:10

There are two key points in this verse. First there is a resting from our own works, then their is resting as God did. The Hebrews were hankering back after the temple, the sacrifices and all the Old Testament stuff. All of this was a reliance on the works of man. We need to rest from our works, for they cannot bring us into the kingdom of God. In Lev 16:30,31 God declares that the day of atonement  is a day of Sabbath rest. Only God can cleanse us of our sin, and this He did on the cross.

Genesis 1 tells us that on the seventh day God rested. This does not mean that He stopped doing anything. Indeed the rest of the Bible is full of the things that God is doing! It meant it was complete. The cross completed the work of justification, and we need to enter into that rest.

4:11

So the record of what happened to the Israelites who came out of Egypt is a warning to us of what not to do. We are to make sure that we do not perish. Instead we are to make every effort to enter God’s rest, ie to enter His kingdom. Note that we are to make every effort. All the New Testament writers urge us put effort into following Christ. We are saved by grace, saved by the sovereign act of God, saved by His act of mercy, it is totally undeserved and we are totally unable to save ourselves. All this is true, but the Bible is absolutely clear that none of this means that we are not to put effort into the matter. Any (mis)understanding of the Bible that leads someone to think they don’t have to put effort in is completely wrong.