Hebrews 4:3-5

For we who have believed enter that rest, just as He has said, “AS I SWORE IN MY WRATH, THEY SHALL NOT ENTER MY REST,” although His works were finished from the foundation of the world. For He has said somewhere concerning the seventh day: “AND GOD RESTED ON THE SEVENTH DAY FROM ALL HIS WORKS”; and again in this passage, “THEY SHALL NOT ENTER MY REST.”


vs 3-4 -  Only believers enter into salvation rest.

"God found His rest, in regard to creation, in that in which true rest lies, namely, in the completion and perfection of His work.  See Genesis 1:31; 2:1, 2; and Exodus 31:17, "and on the seventh day He rested and was refreshed."  The seventh day was declared in this last passage to be a sign between God and Israel forever, not between Himself and the Gentiles, nor between Himself and the church.  The phrase connected with the church is not "from foundation..." but "before the foundation of the world" (Eph 1:4).  God's appointment of the day of rest for Israel was a reversal of their slavery under Pharaoh." (Vine)

"The meaning is, that we who have believed have entered into rest in accordance with God's declaration to the effect that those who did not believe should not enter into rest.  The point the writer makes is that faith is the condition of entering into the rest.  The words "although the works were finished from the foundation of the earth," assume the reader's acquaintance with the account of creation in Genesis.  The providing of a rest is implied in the completion of God's works.  The  unbelieving generation which came out of Egypt did not enter into Canaan rest, although God had provided that rest into which they might have entered." (Wuest)

"Four "rest" are presented in quick succession, the first being the kingdom rest (Hebrews 3:11) which is likened to the day of rest during the creation week (Hebrews 4:4).  Those first two rests prepare the Hebrew reader to address the millennial rest (Hebrews 4:9) which is for the Hebrew believers (Hebrews 4:19) who perform the required labours (Hebrews 4:11)." (McLean)

"God's three "rests" are now presented.  His creation rest (v. 4); His Canaan rest (v. 6) and His redemption rest (v. 1).  The first two are fore-pictures of the third.  It is emphatically "His rest" (v. 1), and they who believe enter into it (v. 3).  It is Christ — the True Sabbath — God's rest; and that repose can never fail nor be disturbed.  Into that rest — His own rest — God invites sinners to enter.  Unbelief shuts out from that rest (v. 6) and belief admits to it (v. 3).  The Apostle besought these Messsianic Hebrews to be on their guard lest through unbelief they should come short of entering it (v. 1), just as, through unbelief, their fore-fathers came short of the promised Canaan rest.  They went a certain distance and then perished.  They did not continue to the end (3:6 and 14).  The great Sabbath rest of this chapter that "remains," i.e., that is now provided for the people of God, i.e., for the Hebrew people — is not heaven, nor the Millennium, as is popularly understood, but is the great redemption rest of Luke 7:50.  This is the argument of verses 1-11.  These Hebrews were urged to give all diligence ("labour" v. 11) to enter into that rest.  That rest intends real conversion, the New Birth, conscious salvation and peace with God through the Lord Jesus Christ, as set out in Rom. 3-8.  Just as their forefathers did not, through unbelief, enter into God's Canaan rest, so these Hebrews were warned that they also would surely perish if they did not enter into God's redemption rest in Christ.  To accept Jesus as the promised Messiah did not necessarily mean the great moral change of the New Birth; but that birth, typified by the passage of the Jordan, was necessary, and it only followed faith in Christ as an atoning Saviour (1:3)." (Williams)

v 4 - He...said in Gen 2:2 - "After the work of creation was finished, God rested; i.e., He enjoyed the sense of satisfaction and repose that comes with the completion of a task.  It is in this sense that rest issued in verses 1 and 3." (Ryrie)