Will You Enter God's Rest?

October 16th, 2025
by Lance Waldie

Hebrews 3:7-11 Therefore, just as the Holy Spirit says, “Today if you hear His voice, 8 Do not harden your hearts as when they provoked Me, as in the day of trial in the wilderness, 9 Where your fathers tried Me by testing Me, and saw My works for forty years. 10 Therefore I was angry with this generation, and said, ‘They always go astray in their heart, and they did not know My ways’; 11 as I swore in My wrath, ‘They shall not enter My rest.’ ”

Verses 7-11 are connected with 3:1-6 because “therefore” in v. 7 explains what was just said. These verses specifically explain the meaning of 3:6 which says, “…whose house we are, if we hold fast our confidence and the boast of our hope firm until the end.” This needs explanation because it appears on the surface that salvation is something to be lost and that it takes good works to maintain one’s salvation. Yet the explanation teaches just the opposite. Salvation isn’t something that is to be, or can be, lost. It is something, however, that can be measured, and the measurement of true salvation consists of faithfulness to Christ no matter the cost.

To prove his point, once again the writer refers to Jewish Scripture (the OT) by quoting from Psalm 95:7-11 which reflects on Numbers 13-14. The Hebrews epistle is speaking to Jews who had trusted in Jesus as their Christ but who were pondering turning back to Judaism—the Mosaic Law. In Numbers 14, Israel had been instructed, shortly after being miraculously delivered from slavery in Egypt, to advance upon the residents of Canaan (modern Palestine) and make war with them. Israel would then to move into that Promised Land and trust God to lead them in victory in spite of the physical odds against them. In light of this seeming impossibility, Israel cowered and refused to advance, being overwhelmed with the task of defeating the overpowering Canaanites. In essence, they failed to believe God even though they had witnessed His mighty powers in Egypt through the plagues, in the wilderness by His presence both day and night going before them, and on Mt. Sinai when God gave the Law to Moses over a 40-day period. They had seen the glory of the Lord, been delivered by Him, and fed by Him. Yet they doubted Him.

So Israel in the days of Moses fell away from the Lord—after initially trusting God during the Passover when He miraculously delivered them out of Egyptian bondage (Exod. 12). This was the same sin the Hebrews author warned his audience to avoid. Quoting from Psalm 95:7-11, and attributing these words to the “Holy Spirit,” he warned these Jewish converts that to go astray from the Lord after claiming to trust in Him would have disastrous consequences. In other words, if God disciplined the Israelites for falling away from Him after seeing His mighty works and caused them to die in the wilderness over the course of 40 years for their unbelief, He would do no less to the so-called Jewish Christians who might choose to return to Judaism.

The theme in all of this is “rest.” The Israelites who failed to trust God in the wilderness in 1450 BC all fell to their deaths without entering into the Promised Land where “rest” was promised. Likewise, professed Christians who fall away from their supposed faith will forfeit their eternal “rest” in heaven with Jesus Christ. This is the OT illustration in v. 6: “whose house we are, if we hold fast our confidence and the boast of our hope firm until the end” (italics mine). In short, Christians are true believers if they continue in faith, not if they abandon it.

Food For Thought
Isn’t it amazing how people today work hard to be able to rest and eventually relax in retirement? That is nice for them, but it always ends eventually in death. True rest—eternal rest, is only for believers in Christ who are characterized by faithful profession of Christ till the end of their days. They are bold with their words, secure in their faith, and assured of their ultimate salvation. So, if you profess faith in Christ, endure in your faith! Grow in it. Persevere in it.