⁶ Therefore, since it remains for some to enter it, and those who formerly had good news preached to them failed to enter because of disobedience …

When God repeats Himself, we should doubly listen! This verse is a virtual repeat of verse two earlier in the chapter, only now the thought has become the prodasis of a conditional sentence (the first part, beginning with “Therefore, since …”). The apodasis (the second part) is found in verse seven. In reality, the writer is returning to the thought he began in verse two, and now is ready to complete the thought. A minor grammatical point? Maybe. But the emphasis should not be missed.

The “rest” of God is not an automatic thing, there is something a person must do. And, in fact, some people never do what is needed to enter God’s rest. This is not the only place in Hebrews where repetition is used to bring home the point. The temptation to fall back into a legalistic approach to God is very compelling, as judged by the ubiquitous warnings in this letter.

Failure and disobedience, what a legacy to leave behind! Living an entire life and coming up short. For some, the “easy-believism” sort, there is never any rest, always the concern, the question, “Did I do enough? Did I really believe enough?” So they try harder to work the spiritual disciplines and resist temptation, doing their deeds of righteousness. They faithfully attend church whenever the doors are open, they never drink, smoke, go to dances, never take drugs, never get angry, never do anything wrong (or so they convince themselves). But they still come up short.

The Holy Spirit speaking through Paul writes: “If you have died with Christ to the elementary principles of the world, why, as if you were living in the world, do you submit yourself to decrees, such as, “Do not handle, do not taste, do not touch!” (which all refer to things destined to perish with use)—in accordance with the commandments and teachings of men? These are matters which have, to be sure, the appearance of wisdom in self-made religion and self-abasement and severe treatment of the body, but are of no value against fleshly indulgence” (Col 2:20-23). The person who lives that way is a spiritual failure, plain and simple. Just as “faith without works is dead,” (James 2:20), so also works without faith is useless (Rom 3:28, Heb 11:6).

At the heart of faith is obedience. Not to the Law, but to God who says to not “drift away” (2:1), to not neglect “so great a salvation” (2:3), to not harden our hearts (3:15, 4:7), but to “enter His rest” through faith (4:3).