1. Sabbath (4):
Our Future Rest
by Timothy Chan
(November 2012)

2. The Effect of Death
Q: Why do so many people attend church after
September 11? Why do teens flock to the youth
group when a youth is killed in a car accident?
Death is an ultimate wakeup call. It causes us to
admit that life is short, and we can’t control it.

3. The Fear of Death
(Hebrews 2:14-15 ESV) ... through death he
[Christ] might destroy the one who has the
power of death, that is, the devil, and deliver all
those who through fear of death were subject to
lifelong slavery.
Q: How does the fear of death subject people
under “lifelong slavery”? Are you under it?
Fear of death haunts our choices, fuels our
obsessions, and propels us to a self-centered,
self-preserving way of life.

4. The Fear of Death
“One thing that causes all our hearts to be
restless and disturbed, one thing that robs
everybody of peace, is the thought of
death.” (Martin Lloyd-Jones)
Q: Do you agree that many people are affected
by fear of death, that it makes us “restless”?

5. The Trivialization of Life and Death
(1 Cor 15:32b ESV) If the dead are not raised,
“Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die.”
Q: Do you believe in (or know someone who
believes in) “Life is short, eat dessert first”?

6. The Trivialization of Life and Death
It has been popular for booted contestants on
“American Idols” to say:
“Well, at least I
had a good time”
Q: Would you appear before God the Judge and
say “Well, at least I had fun in my life”?

7. Worthwhile Hope
“Financial planners tell us, “When it comes to
your money, don’t think just three months or
three years ahead. Think thirty years ahead.”
Christ, the ultimate investment counselor, takes
it further. He says, “Don’t ask how your
investment will be paying off in just thirty
years. Ask how it will be paying off in thirty
million years.”” (Randy Alcorn)
(1 Cor 15:19 ESV) If in Christ we have hope in
this life only, we are of all people most to be
pitied.

8. Worthwhile Hope
(2 Cor 4:16-18 ESV) So we do not lose heart.
Though our outer self is wasting away, our
inner self is being renewed day by day. For this
light momentary affliction is preparing for us an
eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison,
as we look not to the things that are seen but to
the things that are unseen. For the things that
are seen are transient, but the things that are
unseen are eternal.
In other words, “what will happen matters more
than what has happened.” (Mark Buchanan)

9. Hope & Foretaste
So what is it that we hope for?
Q: What is heaven like? Playing on harps and
floating on clouds? Having jobs and ministry?
(Rev 14:13b ESV) “Blessed are the dead who die
in the Lord from now on. Blessed indeed,” says
the Spirit, “that they may rest from their labors,
for their deeds follow them!”
(Rev 7:17 ESV) For the Lamb in the midst of the
throne will be their shepherd, and he will guide
them to springs of living water, and God will
wipe away every tear from their eyes.
Our hope is for a perpetual Sabbath rest.

10. Eschatological Reading of Psalm 23
The well-known Psalm 23 could in fact be seen as a
glimpse of our future rest.
(Ps 23 ESV) The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not
want. He makes me lie down in green pastures. He
leads me beside still waters. He restores my soul. He
leads me in paths of righteousness for his name's sake.
Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow
of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your
rod and your staff, they comfort me. You prepare a
table before me in the presence of my enemies; you
anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows. Surely
goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my
life, and I shall dwell in the house of the LORD forever.

11. Foretaste of Eternal Rest
Abraham Heschel says that our earthly Sabbath
is a preview and a foretaste of our eternal rest
— it helps us rehearse heaven.
“Part of our inability to appreciate Heaven as a
place of rest relates to our failure to enter into a
weekly day of rest now. By rarely turning
attention from our responsibilities, we fail to
anticipate our coming deliverance from the
Curse to a full rest.” (Randy Alcorn)

12. Foretaste of Eternal Rest
There was another thing that foreshadows our
future rest — the “Promised Land” in the OT.
(Joshua 1:13 ESV) Remember the word that
Moses the servant of the LORD commanded
you, saying, “The LORD your God is providing
you a place of rest and will give you this land.”
Yet a whole generation of Israelites died in the
wilderness without entering the Promised
Land. This is the subject of Hebrews 3:7-4:13 ...

13. Our Future Sabbath Rest in Hebrews 4
(Hebrews 4:1-2 ESV) Therefore, while the promise
of entering his rest still stands, let us fear lest any
of you should seem to have failed to reach it. For
good news came to us just as to them, but the
message they heard did not benefit them, because
they were not united by faith with those who
listened.
Q: Who do “them” or “they” refer to?
Those failed to enter Promised Land “rest”
Q: Why were they unable to enter?
What they heard didn’t connect with faith
Q: What’ve we heard? Is it connected w/ faith?

14. Our Future Sabbath Rest in Hebrews 4
(Hebrews 4:3-4 ESV) For we who have believed
enter that rest, as he has said, “As I swore in my
wrath, ‘They shall not enter my rest,’” although
his works were finished from the foundation of
the world. For he has somewhere spoken of the
seventh day in this way: “And God rested on
the seventh day from all his works.””
Belief in God’s rest is the kind of faith that relies
on God’s finished work (as evidenced when he
rested on the seventh day), so that we can have
complete trust and rest in Him.

15. Our Future Sabbath Rest in Hebrews 4
(Hebrews 4:7-8 ESV) Again he appoints a
certain day, “Today,” saying through David so
long afterward, in the words already quoted,
“Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden
your hearts.” For if Joshua had given them rest,
God would not have spoken of another day
later on.
Q: What are the significance of the key words/
phrases “today” and “hear his voice”
throughout this passage?

16. Our Future Sabbath Rest in Hebrews 4
(Hebrews 4:9 ESV) So then, there remains a
Sabbath rest for the people of God.
Both the rest of the Promised Land and of the
weekly Sabbath are just a shadow of a future
Sabbath.
To appreciate this better, it helps to know that
Sabbath is more than just resting on the 7th day.

17. Sabbath Expanded: Not Just the 7th Day
Sabbath is more than the seventh day of a week.
The 7th-year Sabbath for the land:
(Lev 25:2b-3 ESV) When you come into the
land that I give you, the land shall keep a
Sabbath to the LORD. For six years you shall
sow your field, and for six years you shall
prune your vineyard and gather in its fruits
(Lev 25:20-21 ESV) And if you say, ‘What shall
we eat in the seventh year, if we may not sow
or gather in our crop?’ I will command my
blessing on you in the sixth year, so that it will
produce a crop sufficient for three years.

18. Sabbath Expanded: Not Just the 7th Day
The 50th-year “super Sabbath”— Jubilee:
(Lev 25:10-11 ESV) And you shall consecrate the
fiftieth year, and proclaim liberty throughout the
land to all its inhabitants. It shall be a jubilee for
you, when each of you shall return to his
property and each of you shall return to his clan.
That fiftieth year shall be a jubilee for you; in it
you shall neither sow nor reap what grows of
itself nor gather the grapes from the undressed
vines.
So in the year of Jubilee, there’s rest, all the slaves
are set free, all debts are forgiven, and the land
ownerships are returned.

19. Jesus & Jubilee
(Luke 4:16-21 ESV) He went to the synagogue on
the Sabbath day, and he stood up to read. ... “The
Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has
anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives
and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at
liberty those who are oppressed, to proclaim the
year of the Lord's favor.” And he rolled up the
scroll and ... began to say to them, “Today this
Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.”
Q: What did Jesus mean that the passage about
Jubilee (Isaiah 61:1-2) was “fulfilled today”?

20. Jesus & Jubilee
Jesus is our Jubilee — in Him, we are set free
from slavery, and our sins (debts) are forgiven.
Bridge:
To be so completely guilty, given over to despair
To look into your Judge’s face and see a Savior there
Our hope and our rest are found in Christ.

21. Our Future Sabbath Rest in Hebrews 4
(Hebrews 4:10-11 NIV) For anyone who enters
God’s rest also rests from their works, just as
God did from his. Let us, therefore, make every
effort to enter that rest, so that no one will
perish by following their example of
disobedience.
Q: Is this a contradiction?
Q: What kind of “effort” is required here?
“By faith we make every effort to enter this rest,
not by striving, but by trusting. Not by works,
but by believing.” (Mark Buchanan)

22. Our Future Sabbath Rest in Hebrews 4
“I used to think that growing as a Christian
meant ... to get more joy, more patience, more
faithfulness, and so on … [but that] isn’t the
gospel. What the Bible teaches is that we mature
as we come to a greater realization of what we
already have in Christ. ... what we need most is
a substitute — someone who has done for us
and secured for us what we could never do and
secure for ourselves. The hard work of Christian
growth, therefore, is to think less of ourselves
and our performance and more of Jesus and his
performance for us.” (Tullian Tchividjian)

23. Our Future Sabbath Rest in Hebrews 4
“Thinking out the deep implications of the
gospel and applying its powerful reality to all
parts of my life is a daily challenge and a daily
adventure. … [For example:] How do the life,
death, and resurrection of Christ affect my
thirst for security, affection, protection,
meaning, and purpose? … I’m not saying the
Christian life is effortless; the real question is
Where are we focusing our efforts? Are we
working hard to perform? Or are we working
hard to rest in Christ’s performance for
us?” (Tullian Tchividjian)

24. Our Future Sabbath Rest in Hebrews 4
(Hebrews 4:12-13 ESV) For the word of God is
living and active, sharper than any two-edged
sword, piercing to the division of soul and of
spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning
the thoughts and intentions of the heart. And no
creature is hidden from his sight, but all are
naked and exposed to the eyes of him to whom
we must give account.
In order for us to enter God’s rest, we must
allow God’s word/voice to perform a surgery of
our hearts each day, to examine our motivations
as to why we are doing what we are doing.

25. References
The Rest of God (Mark Buchanan)
Jesus + Nothing = Everything (Tullian
Tchividjian)
Let Not Your Heart Be Troubled (Martyn Lloyd-
Jones)
“Time Fulfilled” (N.T. Wright)
“Enjoying Rest, Now and in the Life
to Come” (Randy Alcorn)
“Well, At Least I Had A Good Time...” (Trevin
Wax)