ISB ~ Hebrews 4 v1 - 11

A theological explanation of rest, a term held in common by Ps 95:11 (3:11; 4:3-4) and Gen 2:2 (4:4).

• The interpretation of these passages is typological, i.e., the land of Canaan in the psalm and the Sabbath day in Genesis are interpreted as spatial and temporal representations of heaven. Life itself is like a wilderness journey toward a better land and like a week of labor that leads to a day of refreshment. Readers are urged to persevere in faith lest they fail to enter the rest prepared for them by God (4:11) (CCC 624, 1720).

• There are three rests of which he speaks:the first is the Sabbath, in which God rested from his works; the second is Palestine, in which the Jews found rest from their hardships; and the third is rest indeed—the kingdom of heaven— in which those who obtain it rest from their labors and troubles (St. John Chrysostom, Homilies on Hebrews 6).