The author warns us today about becoming hard hearted toward the Lord. This is a problem that starts out small and continues to grow. For example, suppose a person is tempted to commit what he considers a "big" sin. He knows what the Lord has said about it, so in order to willfully go ahead and commit the sin, he has to harden his heart. He has to try to build a tough shell around himself to fend off feelings of guilt. He has to close his mind off to the convicting power of the Holy Spirit so he can keep on committing this sin. Over time the heart becomes so hard that it's very difficult for anything to get through. He no longer feels guilty. He's no longer moved by the pleading of the Holy Spirit to repent. As time goes on, the tough shell around his heart becomes thicker and thicker while he drifts farther and farther away from the Lord.
Because the writer of the book of Hebrews is speaking to Jews, he uses the example of the Israelites who hardened their hearts against God in the wilderness. He urges his readers to be sensitive to the voice of the Holy Spirit. "So, as the Holy Spirit says: 'Today, if you hear His voice, do not harden your hearts as you did in the rebellion, during the time of testing in the wilderness, where your ancestors tested Me and tried Me, though for forty years they saw what I did. That is why I was angry with that generation; I said, 'Their hearts are always going astray, and they have not known My ways.' So I declared on oath in My anger, 'They shall never enter into My rest.'" (Hebrews 3:7-11)
The author is quoting from Numbers 13, 14, and 20. Though the people of Israel had witnessed God's power for forty years, some of them hardened their hearts against Him. Because of this, He did not allow those who had fallen into rebellion and unbelief to enter the promised land. Only the younger generation, which had been born during those forty years, were allowed to enter in. He had made the nation some wonderful promises, but some did not receive the promises because of their hard hearts. The promises of God are for those who believe in and honor Him, not for those who harden their hearts against him in rebellion. He has given us "great and precious promises" (2 Peter 1:4), but we can cheat ourselves out of those promises by not remaining faithful to our Lord. There are beautiful words of comfort in the Scriptures, but those can only be claimed by hearts that love and honor the Lord.
"See to it, brothers and sisters, that none of you has a sinful, unbelieving heart that turns away from the living God." (Hebrews 3:12) I suppose we don't often think of it in quite this way, but it's a sin not to believe the living God exists. The inability to believe is not something a person can't help. According to verse 12, it's a conscious deliberate choice. According to what the Apostle Paul says in his letter to the Romans, even if a person has never heard of the God of Israel, there is no excuse for not believing in a Creator. "For since the creation of the world God's invisible qualities---His eternal power and divine nature---have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that people are without excuse." (Romans 1:20) This beautiful world with its complex life forms, and this wondrous universe, are the proof that there is a Creator. The glory of the creation and the diversity of life within it testify to His great power. In order to reject the idea of God, a person has to close his mind off to all the evidence for God. In order to rebel against God, a person has to harden his heart against the laws and commands of the holy and righteous Creator and Judge.
"But encourage one another daily, as long as it is called 'Today', so that none of you may be hardened by sin's deceitfulness. We have come to share in Christ, if indeed we hold our original conviction firmly to the very end. As has just been said: 'Today, if you hear His voice, do not harden your hearts as you did in the rebellion.'" (Hebrews 3:12-15) We who believe in Christ have been granted a miraculous deliverance from the bondage of sin, so the author compares it to the miraculous deliverance of Israel from the bondage of slavery. We have accepted this deliverance, so now let us not harden our hearts against our Deliverer. The people of Israel were glad to be delivered from slavery in Egypt, but some of them later hardened their hearts against their Deliverer. As a result, those who rebelled did not enter into the promised land. They caused themselves to miss out on a great blessing. Let's learn from their example and keep our hearts soft and open toward the Lord who has delivered us from a greater bondage than that of slavery in Egypt. Let's stay in close communication with the One who has delivered us from sin and death.
"Who were they who heard and rebelled? Were they not all those Moses led out of Egypt? Was it not with those who sinned, whose bodies perished in the wilderness? And to whom did God swear they would never enter His rest if not to those who disobeyed? So we see that they were not able to enter, because of their unbelief." (Hebrews 3:16-19) There is a rest God has promised believers will enter into after this life is over, and there is a rest promised to believers during this life on earth. The Lord Jesus made this invitation: "Come to Me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest." (Matthew 11:28) I feel weary and burdened sometimes, don't you? Christ offers to carry our burdens for us. We don't have to carry them ourselves; we were never meant to carry them. But if we don't accept His invitation by honoring Him with our faith and obedience, we are left to carry our heavy burdens alone. To the faithful the Lord shows Himself faithful (Psalm 18:25), and the faithful have the right to claim the promise the Lord made through the prophet Isaiah: "You will keep in perfect peace those whose minds are steadfast, because they trust in You." (Isaiah 26:3)
Do we want peace in our hearts? Do we want help carrying our burdens? Then let's not harden our hearts against our Deliverer and Redeemer. He has done everything possible for us, giving all He had to rescue us. We owe Him our allegiance. The promises of the Scriptures are ours if we remain faithful to Him.
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