¹ Therefore, let us fear if, while a promise remains of entering His rest, any one of you may seem to have come short of it.

Some things in life are worthy of fear. And one of those is to come short of the rest of God. So much is at stake. To miss this is nothing short of tragic. So what do we make of this?

First, the writer speaks in the collective first person—“we.” He includes himself. But then he switches to the second person singular – “you.” In any group of believers, any congregation of Christians, there is always the possibility that some will be non-believers. They may look like believers, act like believers and talk like believers. They may be married to a believer and may even hold positions in the church, yet not be believers. And 1 Corinthians 14:16 indicates there may even be some non-believers at the Lord’s Supper. Even the Lord Jesus spoke of tares among the wheat (see Matt 13:24-30).

That is a concern to the church, that all those participating in the life of the church are in fact true believers. When you think of the people you regularly fellowship with, those close to you, those whom you love, does that not strike fear in your heart that one of them might not be saved?

Now the writer speaks to the whole congregation, as it were, including himself in being warned. But when he turns to “you” it is clear he does not include himself as one who “may seem to have come short of it.” There are two possible ways of taking this. First, that the non-Christians among us come up short of salvation. The second is that there might be some Christians among who “seem” to come up short of the full enjoyment of their salvation. Both are to be feared. The later sense is found two chapters later, “But, beloved, we are convinced of better things concerning you, and things that accompany salvation, though we are speaking in this way” (Heb 6:9). Christians should not be living like non-believers, as though they had not yet entered the rest of God.

So much of the Christian life can be defined by this: do we really believe the promises of God and can His Word really be trusted? Much of our Christian life is wasted on efforts to gain God’s favor, or at least a favorable judgment from Him. We need to remember what Jesus said, “Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light” (Mt 11:28–30).