Hebrews 4:11Meaning & Commentary from the Church Fathers

Therefore great diligence is necessary for us. Notice that the Apostle does not present only the danger that otherwise we shall not enter into rest. He did not merely say, “Let us strive to enter the rest,” lest we be deprived of such blessings. He added what especially moves men: “lest anyone fall according to the same example of disobedience.” That is, we must direct our mind, hope, and expectation there, lest we fall in the same way. The example of the Jews shows that we can fall. He says, “according to the same example.” Then, lest you hear the phrase “the same” and suppose that our punishment will be the same, hear what he adds. What does “fall according to the same example of disobedience” mean? Here he seems to explain why they did not see the land. They had received the pledge of the power of God. Yet when they ought to have believed, they yielded more to fear. They thought nothing lofty about God, fell into faintheartedness, and so perished. One may also say this: after completing the greater part of the way, and being already at the very gates and harbor, they suffered shipwreck. “I fear the same for you also,” says the Apostle. This is the meaning of the words, “lest anyone fall according to the same example of disobedience.” That they also suffered much he testifies later, when he says to them: “Remember the former days, when, after you were enlightened, you endured a great struggle with sufferings” (Heb 10:32). Therefore let no one give himself over to faintheartedness. Let no one despair at the end of the contest and fall. For there truly are such people. At first they rush into struggles with living zeal, but later, unwilling to add a little more, they lose everything. Your forefathers, he says, can sufficiently teach you not to fall into the same things, lest you suffer what they suffered. This is the meaning of the words, “lest anyone fall according to the same example of disobedience.” Therefore, he says, let us not grow weak, as he also says to them near the end: “Strengthen the hands that hang down and the feeble knees” (Heb 12:12). “Lest anyone,” he says, “fall according to the same example of disobedience.” This truly means to fall. Then, lest you hear “fall according to the same example of disobedience” and understand here the same death that befell those Jews, see what he says: “For the word of God is living and active, and sharper than any two-edged sword.”

Above all, it was fitting that by their song and ministry they should glorify the day of His resurrection. What day follows the Sabbath, if not the Lord’s Day? It is precisely the day that follows the Sabbath. In the order of days the Sabbath was the last day, though by the law it was first sanctified. But when the end of the law came, and this is Jesus Christ, for “Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes” (Rom 10:4), He sanctified the eighth day by His resurrection. Thus that day became first, though it was eighth. And the day that had been first became eighth, because the eighth day received preeminence in numerical order, and holiness through the resurrection of the Lord. Therefore in the Gospel we read of the δευτερόπρωτον Sabbath, which in our language means “second-first.” When the Lord’s Day, on which the Lord arose, surpasses the Sabbath day that had formerly been first, the Sabbath passes into second place. The first rest has ended, and a second succeeds it. Therefore the Apostle says in the Epistle to the Hebrews: “There remains, then, a Sabbath rest for the people of God... Let us therefore hasten to enter that rest” (Heb 4:9, 11). Consequently true rest consists not in the cessation of works, but in the time of the resurrection. Whoever kept the Sabbath observance according to the law spoke of the first day after the Sabbath, as though there were one Sabbath and no other. But we, clothed in the garments of spiritual worship, strive for our service to be ordered according to the likeness and to attain rest according to God. We desire to perform our ministry in that heavenly city where there is no image or shadow, but truth. We speak of “the first day of the Sabbath,” as it is written: “Now late on the Sabbath, as it began to dawn toward the first day of the week” (Mt 28:1). How beautiful and expressive are these words. Before the resurrection, the Sabbath is mentioned. After the resurrection, the first day of the Sabbath is mentioned. The Evangelist John also says: “On the first day of the Sabbath Mary Magdalene came early to the tomb, while it was still dark” (Jn 20:1). The time was still dim, yet it was already the morning of grace. The Evangelists could speak more clearly, as though the veil had already been removed. David, however, being under the authority of the law, preserved moderation and due caution, though he did not hide the mystery. He called the day following the Sabbath the Lord’s Day. In this way he preserved the numerical order for the Jews and perceived the revelation of the spiritual mystery. Let us now hear what he will say who sang psalms to God on the day after the Sabbath.

Revealing this, the Lord also said: “The kingdom of heaven is within you” (Lk 17:21). The Apostle said the same: “Faith is the assurance of things hoped for” (Heb 11:1). And again: “Examine yourselves, whether you are in the faith. Do you not know that Jesus Christ lives in you, unless indeed you are disqualified?” (2 Cor 13:5).

That is, He as it were entered again within Himself and began to delight in the contemplation of the blessedness of His newly created works. It is for this rest that the holy Apostle Paul invites his readers to be zealous. He warns them with fear, lest through lack of faith and devotion to Jesus Christ they be punished like the ancient Jews. Such punishment would be eternal death and deprivation of that blessed rest in heaven.

The Apostle strengthens his exhortation by pointing to the Word of God. It calls men to this rest and warns them against hardening. It is unlike a human word, which acts only upon the hearing. It is living and active, that is, it gives us the means to attain rest. Indeed, it has done even greater things, for it created the worlds. On the other hand, it also knows how to punish us if we do not obey it. It lays bare all our hidden thoughts, and by no excuses shall we escape its judgment. The word of God has this power because God Himself knows all things and judges all.