W. Robert Godfrey

Joshua led them into the land of promise.

But if Joshua had given them the fullness of rest, God would not have spoken of another day later on.

So then, verse 9 is the crucial verse.

So then there remains a Sabbath rest for the people of God.

there remains a Sabbath rest for the people of God.

That sounds pretty clear, doesn't it?

There remains a Sabbath rest for the people of God.

Now, some of you will know the work of John Owen.

John Owen, great Puritan theologian and exegete of the 17th century, wrote a huge commentary on Hebrews.

It's a big, big commentary on Hebrews.

And he spends a lot of time on this verse,

laboring to show that this implies we are obligated to a weekly Sabbath in the new covenant.

I really wanted to believe that when I read John Owen, but I was not persuaded.

I don't think that's what Hebrews is talking about.

Hebrews is talking about heaven, about glory, about the new heaven and the new earth.

He's talking about the ultimate fulfillment of all that God intends on the last day.

That's the rest we long to enter into.

That's the fulfillment of the promised land and of the Sabbath day.

There yet remains a—it's a word that apparently Hebrews made up.

There yet remains a Sabbathing for the people of God.