Question:,What is the interpretation of Hebrews 4:3 ?,Answer:,Heb 4:3 Now we how have believed enter that rest, just as God has said, “So I declared on oath in my anger, They will never enter my rest.”,The context of Hebrews 4:3 is that the Hebrew writer is discussing the possibility of us turning back to Egypt and therefore falling in the desert. The author is warning Christians that they must keep moving forward in their faith. If we give up our faith, we will lose our salvation. Metaphorically, we will “fall in the desert,” and not enter the promised land, which is a foreshadow for heaven. I discuss this fairly thoroughly in chapter one of my book From Shadow to Reality (www.ipibooks.com).,Given this context, the Hebrew writer is telling his hearers that as Christians there is a sense in which we have already entered that rest (heaven) when we believed and were baptized (as were the people of God under Moses, see 1 Cor 10:1-5). However, we can still lose this salvation. We can “fall short” of the Sabbath-rest (ie of heaven) if we pull back from the faith and no longer follow Jesus.,This is why the Hebrew writer continues by quoting Psalm 95:11 “Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts.” If we turn back from our faith in God, we “shall never enter my rest.” That is, we will not enter heaven. Even though we have salvation now, and therefore in a sense we have heaven already, we can still fall short and not make it to heaven. It is not time to rest yet. We need to keep striving to the goal. Like the Hebrew writer says, (v. 9) There remains, then, a Sabbath-rest for the people of God….. let us, therefore, make every effort to enter that rest, so that no one will fall by following their example of disobedience.”,I hope this helps. It goes against a very common false doctrine which is the persevenence of the saints, also known as “once saved, always saved.” We can lose our salvation if we fall into disobedience.,John Oakes, PhD