Hebrews 3:7-15
And we are his house, if indeed we hold firmly to our confidence and the hope in which we glory.
7 So, as the Holy Spirit says:
“Today, if you hear his voice,
8 do not harden your hearts
as you did in the rebellion,
during the time of testing in the wilderness,
9 where your ancestors tested and tried me,
though for forty years they saw what I did.
10 That is why I was angry with that generation;
I said, ‘Their hearts are always going astray,
and they have not known my ways.’
11 So I declared on oath in my anger,
‘They shall never enter my rest.’ ”
8 do not harden your hearts
as you did in the rebellion,
during the time of testing in the wilderness,
9 where your ancestors tested and tried me,
though for forty years they saw what I did.
10 That is why I was angry with that generation;
I said, ‘Their hearts are always going astray,
and they have not known my ways.’
11 So I declared on oath in my anger,
‘They shall never enter my rest.’ ”
12 See to it, brothers and sisters, that none of you has a sinful, unbelieving heart that turns away from the living God. 13 But encourage one another daily, as long as it is called “Today,” so that none of you may be hardened by sin’s deceitfulness. 14 We have come to share in Christ, if indeed we hold our original conviction firmly to the very end. 15 As has just been said:
“Today, if you hear his voice,
do not harden your hearts
as you did in the rebellion.”
do not harden your hearts
as you did in the rebellion.”
Here we are, nearly 3 chapters into Hebrews and we already have 13 quotes from verses in the Old Testament. The verses quoted in verses 7-11 and 15 are from Psalms 95, which surprised me because I thought they would be from Moses in Deuteronomy. Anyway, they were attributed to the Holy Spirit which is fascinating because now the writer of Hebrews has attributed the scriptures to Jesus in Chapter 1, God the Father in Chapter 2, and the Holy Spirit in Chapter 3! Surely the Bible is the Word of God and surely there is a trinity. Here is what Psalms 95 says
1 Come, let us sing for joy to the Lord;
let us shout aloud to the Rock of our salvation.
2 Let us come before him with thanksgiving
and extol him with music and song.
1 Come, let us sing for joy to the Lord;
let us shout aloud to the Rock of our salvation.
2 Let us come before him with thanksgiving
and extol him with music and song.
3 For the Lord is the great God,
the great King above all gods.
4 In his hand are the depths of the earth,
and the mountain peaks belong to him.
5 The sea is his, for he made it,
and his hands formed the dry land.
the great King above all gods.
4 In his hand are the depths of the earth,
and the mountain peaks belong to him.
5 The sea is his, for he made it,
and his hands formed the dry land.
6 Come, let us bow down in worship,
let us kneel before the Lord our Maker;
7 for he is our God
and we are the people of his pasture,
the flock under his care.
let us kneel before the Lord our Maker;
7 for he is our God
and we are the people of his pasture,
the flock under his care.
Today, if only you would hear his voice,
8 “Do not harden your hearts as you did at Meribah,
as you did that day at Massah in the wilderness,
9 where your ancestors tested me;
they tried me, though they had seen what I did.
10 For forty years I was angry with that generation;
I said, ‘They are a people whose hearts go astray,
and they have not known my ways.’
11 So I declared on oath in my anger,
‘They shall never enter my rest.’”
8 “Do not harden your hearts as you did at Meribah,
as you did that day at Massah in the wilderness,
9 where your ancestors tested me;
they tried me, though they had seen what I did.
10 For forty years I was angry with that generation;
I said, ‘They are a people whose hearts go astray,
and they have not known my ways.’
11 So I declared on oath in my anger,
‘They shall never enter my rest.’”
The part I highlighted in blue is the part that the author of Hebrews is emphasizing when he is telling the readers that the Israelites saw the plagues, they crossed through the sea, they fed on Manna, drank water from a rock, were led by a pillar of fire and a cloud, saw the glory of God descend and heard His voice from Mt. Sinai - yet they fell away due to unbelief. He is saying, "Don't let that happen to you; only those holding firmly till the end will be saved." The author is warning them that they started out with Jesus and realized the wonders of Him and the salvation the New covenant offers, and now they were drifting back to the Old Covenant which doesn't save. Why would they do that? As I have been studying Exodus and now Hebrews I see some things to watch out for in our lives.
First, we have to avoid the "what have you done for me lately" mindset. The Israelites lived from trial to trial and each time when God was "slow" they forgot everything He had done in the past and doubted Him. We too can get so weighed down in trials that we forget what God has done for us in the past and doubt Him in the present. David would say,
"Come, let us sing for joy to the Lord;
let us shout aloud to the Rock of our salvation..."
Like David, we should be so astounded by our salvation that it consumes our life with worship. At least 3 times in the New Testament when Jesus is asked for a sign that He is who He says He is, points to the sign of Jonah which is symbolic of His death, burial, and three days coming out. If God never did another thing for us, we should only say, "That's OK; He has already done too much." Why didn't the Israelites feel that way? After all they were taken out of Egypt where they were slaves, beaten, their children drowned in the Nile, and Exodus says this about their condition;
The Israelites groaned in their slavery and cried out, and their cry for help because of their slavery went up to God. 24 God heard their groaning ...and was concerned about them. The Lord said, “I have indeed seen the misery of my people in Egypt. I have heard them crying out because of their slave drivers, and I am concerned about their suffering. 8 So I have come down to rescue them from the hand of the Egyptians and to bring them up out of that land into a good and spacious land... 9 And now the cry of the Israelites has reached me, and I have seen the way the Egyptians are oppressing them. Moses and Aaron brought together all the elders of the Israelites.... And when they heard that the Lord was concerned about them and had seen their misery, they bowed down and worshiped.
It seems that over time they forgot how bad Egypt was. All they could remember is living by the water eating leeks and onions. Do we forget how miserable it was to be in the world, living without hope and being a slave to sin? Yes we do, and because of that we need to remind ourselves daily of our great salvation and remind fellow believers of it. My late brother in law used to say, "Marriage is like 2 flies on a window pane; the one on the inside wants to get out and the one on the outside wants to get in." Ha, human nature - and we need to be aware of it and fight it, not just alone but with fellow brothers and sisters.
The second thing to watch out for, if we want to continue to the end, is living off of someone else's relationship with God. Notice David says, "For He is OUR God..." Notice the ownership there. The Israelites talked about God as the God of Moses and had no relationship with Him. If you know someone and have a relationship with them and love them and know they care for you, you don't quickly give up on them. I think about our new president how quickly he is done with people. If they let him dow, they are fired. Why is that? Because his relationship with people is totally based on how they can help him - if they don't, they are gone. How many people have that kind of relationship with God - yah, He's great as long as my life is going good but if it isn't He's fired. David reminds us that He is the one who made us - our next breath is dependent on Him. We are dumb sheep and He is the shepherd leading us. David would say, "You have it all wrong; God doesn't exist for you but you exist for and because of Him."
Today, remind yourself and someone else of your great salvation and your home in Heaven awaiting and remember all the bad things about your previous life without Christ. Also come to grips with the areas in your life which aren't surrendered to the Lordship of Christ. He doesn't live to make you happy, You live to make Him happy. If you get that right, Joy is the result.
First, we have to avoid the "what have you done for me lately" mindset. The Israelites lived from trial to trial and each time when God was "slow" they forgot everything He had done in the past and doubted Him. We too can get so weighed down in trials that we forget what God has done for us in the past and doubt Him in the present. David would say,
"Come, let us sing for joy to the Lord;
let us shout aloud to the Rock of our salvation..."
Like David, we should be so astounded by our salvation that it consumes our life with worship. At least 3 times in the New Testament when Jesus is asked for a sign that He is who He says He is, points to the sign of Jonah which is symbolic of His death, burial, and three days coming out. If God never did another thing for us, we should only say, "That's OK; He has already done too much." Why didn't the Israelites feel that way? After all they were taken out of Egypt where they were slaves, beaten, their children drowned in the Nile, and Exodus says this about their condition;
The Israelites groaned in their slavery and cried out, and their cry for help because of their slavery went up to God. 24 God heard their groaning ...and was concerned about them. The Lord said, “I have indeed seen the misery of my people in Egypt. I have heard them crying out because of their slave drivers, and I am concerned about their suffering. 8 So I have come down to rescue them from the hand of the Egyptians and to bring them up out of that land into a good and spacious land... 9 And now the cry of the Israelites has reached me, and I have seen the way the Egyptians are oppressing them. Moses and Aaron brought together all the elders of the Israelites.... And when they heard that the Lord was concerned about them and had seen their misery, they bowed down and worshiped.
It seems that over time they forgot how bad Egypt was. All they could remember is living by the water eating leeks and onions. Do we forget how miserable it was to be in the world, living without hope and being a slave to sin? Yes we do, and because of that we need to remind ourselves daily of our great salvation and remind fellow believers of it. My late brother in law used to say, "Marriage is like 2 flies on a window pane; the one on the inside wants to get out and the one on the outside wants to get in." Ha, human nature - and we need to be aware of it and fight it, not just alone but with fellow brothers and sisters.
The second thing to watch out for, if we want to continue to the end, is living off of someone else's relationship with God. Notice David says, "For He is OUR God..." Notice the ownership there. The Israelites talked about God as the God of Moses and had no relationship with Him. If you know someone and have a relationship with them and love them and know they care for you, you don't quickly give up on them. I think about our new president how quickly he is done with people. If they let him dow, they are fired. Why is that? Because his relationship with people is totally based on how they can help him - if they don't, they are gone. How many people have that kind of relationship with God - yah, He's great as long as my life is going good but if it isn't He's fired. David reminds us that He is the one who made us - our next breath is dependent on Him. We are dumb sheep and He is the shepherd leading us. David would say, "You have it all wrong; God doesn't exist for you but you exist for and because of Him."
Today, remind yourself and someone else of your great salvation and your home in Heaven awaiting and remember all the bad things about your previous life without Christ. Also come to grips with the areas in your life which aren't surrendered to the Lordship of Christ. He doesn't live to make you happy, You live to make Him happy. If you get that right, Joy is the result.
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