AS I SWORE IN MY WRATH: hos hos omosa (1SAAI)
en te orge mou: (Heb
3:18,19;
4:3;
Nu 14:20-23,25,27-30,35;
32:10-13;
Deut 1:34,35;
2:14)
As - according as, in
conformity with which fact
The Greek rendering conveys the meaning: "If they go into the land I am not
God"
Swore (3660)
(Omnuo) means to affirm the truth of a statement by
calling on a divine being to execute sanctions against a person if the
statement in question is not true (in the case of a deity taking an oath,
his divine being is regarded as validating the statement). In this case
God's Own Divine being is regarded as validating the statement.
Omnuo is repeated in this middle section of Hebrews...
Hebrews 3:11 (note)
As I swore in My wrath, 'They shall not enter My rest.'"
Hebrews 3:18 (note)
And to whom did He swear that they should not enter His rest, but to those
who were disobedient?
Hebrews 4:3 (note)
For we who have believed enter that rest, just 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.
Hebrews 6:13 (note)
For when God made the promise to Abraham, since He could swear by no one
greater, He swore by Himself,
Hebrews 6:16 (note)
For men swear by one greater than themselves, and with them an oath given as
confirmation is an end of every dispute.
Hebrews 7:21 (note)
(for they indeed became priests without an oath, but He with an oath through
the One who said to Him, "The Lord has sworn And will not change His mind,
'Thou art a priest forever' ")
This verb omnuo is
used in the
Septuagint (LXX)
of God swearing to keep His covenant to bring Israel into the
land (Dt 1:8, 35, 2:14, 4:21, 31, 6:10, 18, 23, 7:8, 12, 13, 8:1, 18, etc >
30x in Deut.)
Wrath (3709)
(orge
from orgaô = to teem,
to swell) refers to to an inner,
deep resentment that seethes and smolders. Orge as used of God refers to His
constant and controlled indignation toward sin, while thumos (which
originally referred to violent movements of air, water, etc., and
consequently came to mean “well up” or “boil up”) refers more to a
passionate outburst of rage. Thumos type anger represents an
agitated, vehement anger that rushes along relentlessly. The root meaning
has to do with moving rapidly and was used of a man’s breathing violently
while pursuing an enemy in great rage!
Orge is derived from the idea
of a swelling which eventually bursts, and applies more to an anger that
proceeds from one’s settled nature. Orge is used primarily of God's
holy, righteous wrath but occasionally refers to the wrath of men (see
notes
Ephesians 4:31)
Orge is...
God’s settled
opposition to
and displeasure with sin
Orge does not
refer to uncontrollable anger to which men are so prone but to God's
settled indignation and controlled passionate hostile feeling toward sin
in all its various manifestations. "Settled" indignation means that God’s
holiness cannot and will not coexist with sin in any form whatsoever. Orge
is not the momentary, emotional, and often uncontrolled anger (thumos) to
which human beings are prone.
God’s wrath is his
holy hatred of all that is unholy. It is His righteous indignation at
everything that is unrighteous. It is the temper of God towards sin. It is
not God's uncontrollable rage, vindictive bitterness or a losing of His
temper, but the wrath of righteous reason and holy law.
John MacArthur writes that
orge...
"signifies the strongest kind of anger,
that which reaches fever pitch, when God’s mercy and grace are fully
exhausted. It will mark the end of God’s patience and tolerance with
unregenerate, unrepentant mankind in the swelling of His final, furious
anger which He will vent on those whose works evidence their persistent and
unswerving rebellion against Him." (MacArthur,
J: Romans 1-8. Chicago: Moody Press
or
Logos)
Larry Richards in describing
God's anger writes that...
"The OT clearly specifies what human
actions provoke God to anger. The NT treats wrath as a basic relational
state, showing that the unsaved are under God's wrath. But God never acts
capriciously in his anger. He always acts in full harmony with his character
as a loving, forgiving, compassionate, and just person." (Richards,
L O: Expository Dictionary of Bible Words: Regency)
Arthur Pink defined God’s wrath
as...
“His eternal detestation of all
unrighteousness. It is the displeasure and indignation of Divine equity
against evil. It is the holiness of God stirred into activity against sin”
(Arthur W. Pink, The Attributes of God, p83).
Bishop Trench defines orge
=
“a wrath of God who would not love good
unless He hated evil, the two being inseparable, that He must do both or
neither.” Trench adds that orge
is an anger “which righteous men not merely may, but as they are righteous,
must feel; nor can there be a surer and sadder token of an utterly prostrate
moral condition than the not being able to be angry with sin—and sinners”
Orge
is used of our Lord when, after healing the man with the withered hand, He
observed the hardness of heart of the Pharisees, and looked upon them with
anger (Mk3:5).
Marvin Vincent describes
orge
as God’s personal emotion with regard to sin. It represents God’s abhorrence
and hatred of sin and His constant, invariable reaction to sin.
What does My wrath refer to in
Hebrews 3:11? The failure to correct a habit of
grumbling and murmuring against God led over a million Israelites to such a
hardened state of heart that they were unable to lay hold of the opportunity
to enter the land of promise when they came to its borders. They perished at
an average of almost ninety deaths a day, until the generation that left
Egypt (except for Joshua and Caleb) had died out.
THEY SHALL NOT ENTER
MY REST: Ei
eiseleusontai (3PFMI) eis ten katapausin mou:
Not enter My rest - A careful observation
of the term
rest in Hebrews 3-4 indicates that it is used in in at three
or four different senses. Consider the following nuances of rest:
(1) the land of Canaan (Hebrews 3:7-19)
(2) salvation as rest (Hebrews 4:1, 3, 8, 9)
(3) God's rest at the completion of creation (Hebrews 4:4)
(4) heaven, the Christian's ultimate rest (Hebrews 4:10, 11).
In all the uses the basic meaning of
rest is to desist from one form of activity in order to give oneself
to a wholly new enterprise. There is no reference whatsoever to sleep or
slumber. To enter God's eternal rest even in heaven will be to devote
oneself to the worship and work in that perfect environment, in which there
is neither frustration nor exhaustion.
Walter Kaiser in his article
entitled The Promise Theme and the Theology of Rest (Bibliotheca
Sacra, Vol 130, page 142, 1973) adds a note clarifying the theology of rest
in Hebrews 3-4 writing that...
It is common to observe in some
commentaries on this passage that there are three or four rests mentioned in
Heb3:7-4:11. The list generally highlights three or four of the following:
1. The Divine Rest (Heb 4:1-3, 10-11 ) or
Rest of Faith
2. The Creation Rest (Hebrews
4:4 )
3. The Sabbath Rest (Hebrews
4:4,
4:9)
or The Rest that Remains (6-9)
4. The Canaan Rest (Hebrews
4:8)
5. The Redemptive Rest (Hebrews
4:10)
6. The Eternal Rest (Hebrews
4:9)
Rest (2663)
(katapausis from katá = intensifies or
"down" conveying sense of permanency + paúo = make to cease)
describes literally a ceasing from one's work or activity. Thayer cites a
use in the active sense of a putting to rest as used in the sentence "a
calming of the winds". Metaphorically as used in the present verse,
katapausis speaks of the spiritual fulfillment God provides for His people.
Barclay has the following
analysis of katapausis noting that...
In a complicated passage like this it is
better to try to grasp the broad lines of the thought before we look at any
of the details. The writer is really using the word rest (katapausis) in
three different senses. (i) He is using it as we would use the peace
of God. It is the greatest thing in the world to enter into the peace of
God. (ii) He is using it, as he used it in
Hebrews 3:12,
to mean The Promised Land. To the children of Israel who had wandered so
long in the desert the Promised Land was indeed the rest of God. (iii) He is
using it of the rest of God after the sixth day of creation, when all God’s
work was completed. This way of using a word in two or three different ways,
of teasing at it until the last drop of meaning was extracted from it, was
typical of cultured, academic thought in the days when the writer to the
Hebrews wrote his letter. (Barclay,
W: The Daily Study Bible Series, Rev. ed. Philadelphia: The Westminster
Press or
Logos)
Katapausis is used 9 times in
the
Septuagint (LXX)
and refers to God's rest in several of the
contexts.
Exodus 35:2 "For six days work may
be done, but on the seventh day you shall have a holy day, a sabbath of
complete rest to the LORD; whoever does any work on it shall be put
to death.
Numbers 10:36 And when it (the Ark
of the Covenant) came to rest, he said, "Return Thou, O LORD, to the
myriad thousands of Israel." (Comment: The Israelites were ready to
leave Sinai under God's leadership. This prayer presents Moses'
understanding of God. With the presence of God resting in the center of the
tribes and His glory radiating outward from the camp, His enemies would
flee. On the other hand as the Ark rested in their midst the "Shekinah"
glory would be the manifestation of His presence among His people and they
would worship Him and rightly fear Him.)
Deuteronomy 12:9 for you have not
as yet come to the resting place and the inheritance which the LORD
your God is giving you.
1 Kings 8:56 "Blessed be the LORD,
who has given rest to His people Israel, according to all that He
promised; not one word has failed of all His good promise, which He promised
through Moses His servant.
1 Chronicles 6:31 Now these are
those whom David appointed over the service of song in the house of the
LORD, after the ark rested there.
2 Chronicles 6:41 "Now therefore
arise, O LORD God, to Thy resting place, Thou and the ark of
Thy might; let Thy priests, O LORD God, be clothed with salvation, and let
Thy godly ones rejoice in what is good.
Psalm 95:11 "Therefore I swore in
My anger, Truly they shall not enter into My rest."
Psalm 132:14 "This is My
resting place forever; Here I will dwell, for I have desired it.
Isaiah 66:1 Thus says the LORD,
"Heaven is My throne, and the earth is My footstool. Where then is a house
you could build for Me? And where is a place that I may rest?
Katapausis is used 8 times in
the NT, all but one in the epistle to the Hebrews...
Acts 7:49 'Heaven is My throne,
And earth is the footstool of My feet; What kind of house will you build for
Me?' says the Lord; 'Or what place is there for My repose?
Hebrews 3:11
As I swore in My wrath, 'They shall not enter My rest.'
Hebrews 3:18
And to whom did He swear that they should not enter His rest, but to those
who were disobedient?
Hebrews 4:1
Therefore, let us fear lest, while a promise remains of entering His rest,
any one of you should seem to have come short of it.
Hebrews 4:3
For we who have believed
enter that rest, just 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.
Hebrews 4:5
and again in this passage, "They shall not enter My rest."
Hebrews 4:10
For the one who has entered His rest has himself also rested from his works,
as God did from His.
Hebrews 4:11
Let us therefore be diligent to enter that rest, lest anyone fall through
following the same example of disobedience.
See also a more detailed discussion of
Rest in the Epistle of Hebrews
Peter Toon has an excellent
summary of rest in Hebrews 3-4 noting first that ...
the verb katapauo (2664)
occurs three times and the noun, katapausis (3709),
eight times. Also, the Greek text of Psalm 95:11 (“they shall never enter my
rest”) is cited eight times. Joshua was given the task by Yahweh of leading
the tribes of Israel into the promised land, into the rest promised them by
their God. This task was fulfilled in an earthly sense by Joshua, as the
Book of Joshua describes. However, the fuller meaning of the everlasting
rest of God promised to his people and related to the gift of rest of the
seventh day was not achieved by Joshua and the tribes under the old
covenant. Jesus the Christ, the greater Joshua, was sent by the Father to
bring into being the true nature and fullness of the gift of rest for the
people of God.
The rest is rightly called a “sabbath rest” because it is a participation in
God’s own rest. When God completed his work of creation, he rested; likewise
when his people complete their service to him on earth, they will enter into
God’s prepared rest. Now, in this age, the rest is before them as their
heritage and by faith they live in the light of it in this world. How this
is done is wonderfully illustrated with the wealth of biographical detail in
Hebrews 11. Here the rest is also portrayed as a city prepared for God’s
faithful people—a city whose builder is God himself. Whatever this rest
consists of it is not a state of complete inactivity, such as the rest of
the wicked (Job 3:17–19).
In Revelation 14:13–14 the heavenly voice speaks of the blessedness of those
who die in the Lord and the Spirit replies: “They will rest from their labor
for their deeds will follow them.” Here a different dimension of the meaning
of rest is being pointed to—a rest that is not inactivity but is certainly
free of the burdens of the flesh and of the present, evil age.
Finally, we note that as the Spirit of the Lord rests on the Messiah (Isa.
11:2), so in the new covenant, “If you [Christian believers] are insulted
for the name of Christ, you are blessed, for the Spirit of glory and of God
rests on you” (1 Peter 4:14). (See full article in
Baker's Evangelical Dictionary
of Biblical Theology )
Ray Stedman
explains that it is possible to interpret God's "rest" in at least three
ways and each has some merit. And so God's rest could refer to
(1) The rest associated with
placing one's faith in Christ (see Matthew 11:28-30 above). In context, this
appears to be the primary meaning, that is, of coming to Jesus by faith and
entering His salvation rest where self effort is to replaced (or at least
can and should be replaced) by Spirit initiated and empowered effort. Ray
Stedman speaking of those who have entered this salvation rest by faith
explains that many believers experience breakdown in their Christianity (not
referring to a loss of salvation but a loss of joy and sense of His presence
and power) under the pressures of stress or responsibility because they try
to work out their salvation in their power (see exposition of
Philippians 2:12-13 and Pound's discussion
Work out Your Salvation)
and have not learned to "operate out of rest". (Stedman,
Ray: The Rest Obtained Is New-Creation Rest)
(2).The rest that is promised to
Israel (and applies to all believers) in the 1000 year reign of Christ on
earth ("the Messianic Age"), the "rest" of which Isaiah records...
"Then it will come about in that day
(when Messiah takes His throne in Jerusalem after the "great tribulati
