Book of Common Prayer

Getting through to the sabbath rest

4 So we are naturally afraid that some of you might seem to have missed out on God’s promise of entering his rest, the promise which is still open before us. ² For we certainly had the good news announced to us, just as they did; but the word which they heard didn’t do them any good, because they were not united in faith with those who heard it. ³ For it is we who believe who enter into the rest; as it has been said,

—even though God’s works had been complete since the foundation of the world. ⁴ For it says this somewhere about the seventh day,

⁵ and again, in the present passage,

⁶ Therefore, since some failed to enter into it, and those who received the good news earlier on didn’t enter because of unbelief, ⁷ he once again appoints a day, “Today,” saying through David—after such a long interval of time!—in the words already quoted,

⁸ If Joshua had given them rest, you see, he wouldn’t be speaking about another subsequent “rest.” ⁹ Thus we conclude: there is still a future sabbath “rest” for God’s people. ¹⁰ Anyone who enters that “rest” will take a rest from their works, as God did from his.

Danger! God’s word at work

¹¹ So, then, let’s make every effort to enter that “rest,” so that nobody should trip and fall through the same pattern of unbelief. ¹² God’s word is alive, you see! It’s powerful, and it’s sharper than any double-edged sword. It can pierce right in between soul and spirit, or joints and marrow; it can go straight to the point of what the human heart is thinking, or intends to do. ¹³ No creature remains hidden before God. All are naked, laid bare before the eyes of the one to whom we must present an account.

Jesus in the Temple

¹³ It was nearly time for the Judaean Passover, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem.

¹⁴ In the Temple he found people selling cows, sheep and doves, and the money-changers sitting there. ¹⁵ He made a whip out of cords and drove them all out of the Temple—sheep, cows and all. He spilt the money-changers’ coins onto the ground, and knocked over their tables.

¹⁶ “Take these things away!” he said to the people selling doves. “You mustn’t turn my father’s house into a market!”

¹⁷ His disciples remembered that it was written, “The zeal of your house has eaten me up.”

¹⁸ The Judaeans had this response for him. “What sign are you going to show us,” they said, “to explain why you’re doing this?”

¹⁹ “Destroy this Temple,” replied Jesus, “and I’ll raise it up in three days.”

²⁰ “It’s taken forty-six years to build this Temple,” responded the Judaeans, “and are you going to raise it up in three days?” ²¹ But he was speaking about the “temple” of his body. ²² So when he was raised from the dead, his disciples remembered that he had said this, and they believed the Bible and the word which Jesus had spoken.