Lesson Six: Hebrews 3:7-19
In the Wilderness with Israel
Therefore, as the Holy Spirit says,
“Today, if you hear his voice,
do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion,
as on the day of testing in the wilderness,
where your ancestors put me to the test,
though they had seen my works for forty years.
Therefore I was angry with that generation,
and I said, ‘They always go astray in their hearts,
and they have not known my ways.’
As in my anger I swore,
‘They will not enter my rest.’”
Take care, brothers and sisters, that none of you may have an evil, unbelieving heart that turns away from the living God. But exhort one another every day, as long as it is called “today,” so that none of you may be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin. For we have become partners of Christ, if only we hold our first confidence firm to the end. As it is said,
“Today, if you hear his voice,
do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion.”
Now who were they who heard and yet were rebellious? Was it not all those who left Egypt under the leadership of Moses? But with whom was he angry forty years? Was it not those who sinned, whose bodies fell in the wilderness? And to whom did he swear that they would not enter his rest, if not to those who were disobedient?
“Today,” and it still is “today,” the invitation to God’s rest remains open. Liberated from Egyptian enslavement, Israel was invited to enter God’s rest, but that wilderness generation hardened their hearts in unbelief. But it is still “today” for the generation the preacher in Hebrews addresses, a generation struggling to persevere in faith. Though journeying through their own wilderness, the readers are encouraged to hear God’s voice and follow God’s Messiah into the promised land which is God’s own rest, while it is still “today.”
The first few chapters have emphasized God’s speech. God spoke through the prophets, through angels in the delivering of the law, through Moses, and through the Son. That speech continues in the quotation of Psalm 95:7b-11 as the voice of the Holy Spirit. Divine speech comes to us through the incarnate Son and through the words inscripturated in what we call the Bible. God speaks through the Son, and God also continues to speak through the Holy Spirit in Scripture. The Holy Spirit speaks not only in the past but in the present through Psalm 95 (as well as the rest of Scripture). The Spirit continues to say “today,” and the message still rings out with meaning and purpose.
Psalm 95 begins with shouts of praise as the people of God enter God’s presence with thanksgiving. It extols the work of God as creator, in terms of the sea and dry land as well as Israel’s relationship to God as God’s flock. As their shepherd God warns the people about testing God and going astray. The Psalmist remembers the ordeal in the wilderness when Israel tested God at Meribah and Massah (Exodus 17:7; Numbers 20:13, 24; Deuteronomy 6:16; 9:22; 33:8; Psalms 106:32) and concludes the Psalm with the withdrawal of God’s offer of rest. In his own setting, the Psalmist calls the worshipping assembly of Israel to reject the path of their ancestors and embrace the promise of God’s rest through faith. The preacher in Hebrews is doing the same thing.
Israel’s wilderness experience serves as a warning to not only the assembly of Israel whenever this Psalm was written and later sung, but it also serves as a warning to the generation of Messianic believers who hear this sermon we call Hebrews. It is still “today,” and the voice of the Spirit through the Psalm still speaks.
When quoting the Psalm, the preacher adds a word at the beginning of verse 11, “therefore.” This does not appear in either the Hebrew text or the Septuagint (LXX), which the preacher often quotes (including here). Apparently, the preacher wants to make clear that when Israel tested God in the wilderness, that testing had severe consequences. That generation did not enter God’s rest, that is, the promised land. That generation neither embraced God with their hearts nor followed God’s ways, even though they had seen God’s work in Egypt (liberation) and the wilderness (manna, water, etc.). This resulted in their exclusion from God’s rest, a consequence of their unbelief.
The Psalm is the basis for the preacher’s exhortation in Hebrews 4:12-15. It is still “today,” and if one will hear the voice of God and obey it rather than hardening one’s heart, then the promise of God still remains: you may enter God’s rest.
What is the root problem? The obstruction is an “evil, unbelieving heart that turns away from God.” It is heart-based, not rule based. The problem is not an occasional slip, mistake, ignorance, or occasional sinful acts. The problem is an evil heart that does not believe or trust God’s promises, and this sort of heart leads one away from God. “Turn away” is the Greek term apostenai, which means to remove, depart, or even revolt. It is apostacy, and this is defined not by occasional sins but by unbelief—the unbelief of an evil heart. Whoever fears they have committed apostacy, if their heart is filled with repentance and faith, they have not committed apostacy since they do not have an evil, unbelieving heart.
What is an appropriate response to this problem? Pay attention (“take heed” or “take care”) and encourage (“exhort”) each other while it is still “today,” while the promise still remains in effect. We need community. We don’t walk through the wilderness alone. Rather, we gather together (assembling is assumed as well as the context of the sermon itself), exhort each other, and encourage each other. As a community we recognize the deceitfulness of sin and the danger of hardening hearts. Sin can suffocate us, delude us, and blind us. We need a community to help us, and when we journey together, we share each other’s burdens and remind each other that we are not alone.
Does the community do this alone? No, we are “partners of Christ” or “partakers of Christ.” We are people who share in who the Messiah is as Son and what the Messiah has done. We are partners and fellow heirs with the Messiah. He does not leave us alone to suffer and die but empowers and enables us to resist unbelief and persevere in faith. The Messiah is our help in times of testing. Just as he proved faithful in his testing, so he can help us in our wilderness testing. In this way, we—as in Hebrews 3:6—hold on to our confidence in Jesus, who is our Apostle and High Priest. We persevere in the boldness of our faith because we know whom we trust and we know what he has done for us.
The leadership of Moses did not prevent those who heard the voice of God in the wilderness from rebelling. The Exodus did not hinder their rebellion. The works of God in the wilderness did not keep them from unbelief. Their disobedience arose from their unbelief. Everyone, we might remember, disobeys throughout their lives in one way or another, perhaps every day of every year. But the problem with the wilderness generation was not simply occasional disobedience, it was a disobedience that arose out of unbelief. These are the people who sinned and fell in the wilderness. They were unbelievers; they did not believe or trust God’s promises.
However, the promise of God’s rest remains—it is still “today.” Yet, the danger also remains. The question is not whether we will occasionally sin or not, or whether we are ignorant of important doctrines or not—both of those conditions are universal among believers. Rather, the question is whether we will continue in faith. Will we maintain our allegiance to the Messiah? Will we persevere in our confidence? Will we follow the Messiah through the wilderness? Is our heart one of unbelief or faith? That is the question; it is about the perseverance of faith, not the perfection of our lives, theology, and works. It is more about direction (following the leadership of the Messiah) than it is perfection. The key is heart-felt faith that seeks the way of Jesus and follows his leadership.