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20. The foundation of the whole is laid down, verse 10, “ For he that hath entered into his rest, is ceased from his works, as God from his own.” Expositors generally apply these words unto believers, and their entering into the rest of God; whether satisfactorily to themselves and others, as to their design, coherence, scope, or signi- fication of particular expressions, I know not. The contrary appears with good evidence to me; for what are the works that believers should be said here to rest from? Their sins, say some; their labours, sorrows, and sufferings, say others. But how can they be said to rest from these works as God rested from his own? for God so rested from his as to take the greatest delight and satisfaction in them, —to be “refreshed” by them: “ In six days the LorD made heaven and earth, and on the seventh day he rested, and was refreshed,” Exod. xxxi. 17. He so rested from them as that he rested in them and blessed them, and blessed and sanctified the time wherein they were finished. We have showed before that the rest of God was not only a cessation from working, nor principally so, but the satisfaction and complacency that he had in his works. But now if those mentioned be the works here intended, men cannot so rest from them as God did from his; but. they cease from them with a detestation of them so far as they are sinful, and joy for their deliverance from them so far as they are sorrowful. This is not to rest as God rested. Again; when are believers supposed to rest from these works? It cannot be in this world: for here we rest not at all from temptations, suf- ferings, and sorrows; and in that mortification of sin which we attain unto, yet the conflict is still continued, and that with severity, unto death, Rom. vii. 24. It must therefore be in heaven that they thus rest; and so it is affirmed accordingly. But this excludes the rest in and of the gospel from the apostle’s discourse, which renders it altogether unsuitable to his purpose. This I have so fully demon- strated in the exposition of the chapter, as that I hope it will not be gainsaid. Thirdly, There is no comparison in the whole dis- course between the works of God and the works of men, but between the works of God in the creation and under the law on the one side, and those in and under the gospel on the other; and the whole comparison is summed up and closed in this verse.
21. It appears, therefore, that the subject of the apostle’s propo- sition in this place hath been mistaken. It is another who is in- tended, even Christ himself, the Son of God, and his rest from his works, which is here compared with the rest of God from his at the foundation of the world, to which end alone the mention of them was introduced, Heb. iv. 3, 4; for,—
(1.) The conjunction yap, “for,” whereby he brings in his asser- tion, manifests that the apostle in these words gives an account
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whence it is that there is a new sabbatism remaining for the people of God: “ There remaineth a Sabbath-keeping for the people of God ; for he that is entered into his rest is ceased from his works.” Had there not been a work laying the foundation of the gospel church- state, and a rest of God in it and ensuing thereon, there could have been no such sabbatism for believers, for these things are required unto a Sabbath. He had proved before that there could be no such rest but what was founded in the works of God, and his rest that ensued thereon; such a foundation, therefore, he saith, this new rest must have, and it hath it. This must be, and is, in the works and rest of him by whom the church was built; that is Christ, who is God, as it is expressly argued, chap. ili, 3, 4. For as that rest which all the world was to observe was founded in his works and rest who made the world and all things in it, so the rest of the church under the gospel is to be founded in his works and rest by whom the church was built,—that is Jesus Christ; for he, on the account of his works and rest, is also “Lord of the Sabbath,” to abrogate one day of rest, and to institute another.
(2.) The apostle here changeth the manner of his expression from the plural absolutely, “ We who believe,” or virtually in the name of a multitude, “The people of God,” into that which is abso- lutely singular, 'O ¢/seAddv, “He that is entered.” A single person is here expressed, with respect unto whom the things mentioned are asserted; and of this change of phrase there can be no other reason given.
(3.) The rest which this person is said to enter into is called “his rest” absolutely. As God, speaking of the former rest, calls it “ My rest,” so this is the “ My rest” of another,—namely, the rest of Christ: whereas when the entering of believers into rest is spoken of, it is called either God’s rest, “ They shall enter into my rest,” or rest absolutely, “ We that believe do enter into rest,” but not their rest, or our rest; for it isnot our own absolutely, but God’s rest where- into we enter and wherein we rest. But the rest here is the rest of him whose it is, and who is the author of ours.