Or, Enter His Rest 3...
Six times in two chapters [Hebrews 3,4] the Holy Spirit, writing through Paul, repeats the same scripture. Six times!
I think there might be a clue here...
''Therefore, just as the Holy Spirit says, "Today if you hear His voice, do not harden your hearts as when they provoked Me, as in the day of trial in the wilderness, where your fathers tried Me by testing Me, and saw My works for forty years. Therefore I was angry with this generation, and said, 'They always go astray in their heart, and they did not know My ways;' As I swore in My wrath, 'They shall not enter My rest.'" [Hebrews 3:7-11]
'But encourage one another day after day, as long as it is still called "Today," so that none of you will be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin. For we have become partakers of Christ, if we hold fast the beginning of our assurance firm until the end, while it is said, "Today if you hear His voice, do not harden your hearts, as when they provoked Me.
"For who provoked Him when they had heard? Indeed, did not all those who came out of Egypt led by Moses? And with whom was He angry for forty years? Was it not with those who sinned, whose bodies fell in the wilderness? And to whom did He swear that they would not enter His rest, but to those who were disobedient?So we see that they were not able to enter because of unbelief.' [Hebrews 3:13-19]
''Therefore, just as the Holy Spirit says, "Today if you hear His voice, do not harden your hearts as when they provoked Me, as in the day of trial in the wilderness, where your fathers tried Me by testing Me, and saw My works for forty years. Therefore I was angry with this generation, and said, 'They always go astray in their heart, and they did not know My ways;' As I swore in My wrath, 'They shall not enter My rest.'" [Hebrews 3:7-11]
'But encourage one another day after day, as long as it is still called "Today," so that none of you will be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin. For we have become partakers of Christ, if we hold fast the beginning of our assurance firm until the end, while it is said, "Today if you hear His voice, do not harden your hearts, as when they provoked Me."
'For who provoked Him when they had heard? Indeed, did not all those who came out of Egypt led by Moses? And with whom was He angry for forty years? Was it not with those who sinned, whose bodies fell in the wilderness? And to whom did He swear that they would not enter His rest, but to those who were disobedient?
'So we see that they were not able to enter because of unbelief.' [Hebrews 3:13-19]
To properly understand what the Spirit of God is saying, we need to look back at the passages He's quoting.
'For He is our God, And we are the people of His pasture and the sheep of His hand. Today, if you would hear His voice, do not harden your hearts, as at Meribah, as in the day of Massah in the wilderness, "When your fathers tested Me, They tried Me, though they had seen My work. For forty years I loathed that generation, and said they are a people who err in their heart, and they do not know My ways. Therefore I swore in My anger, truly they shall not enter into My rest." [Psalm 95:7-11]
'Then all the congregation of the sons of Israel journeyed by stages from the wilderness of Sin, according to the command of the LORD, and camped at Rephidim, and there was no water for the people to drink. Therefore the people quarreled with Moses and said, "Give us water that we may drink."And Moses said to them, "Why do you quarrel with me? Why do you test the LORD?" But the people thirsted there for water; and they grumbled against Moses and said, "Why, now, have you brought us up from Egypt, to kill us and our children and our livestock with thirst?"So Moses cried out to the LORD, saying, "What shall I do to this people ? A little more and they will stone me."Then the LORD said to Moses, "Pass before the people and take with you some of the elders of Israel ; and take in your hand your staff with which you struck the Nile, and go. "Behold, I will stand before you there on the rock at Horeb; and you shall strike the rock, and water will come out of it, that the people may drink."And Moses did so in the sight of the elders of Israel. He named the place Massah and Meribah because of the quarrel of the sons of Israel, and because they tested the LORD, saying, "Is the LORD among us, or not?" [Exodus 17:1-7]
I can hear you out there. You're saying "But there was no water, and they were thirsty. Why was God so mad?"
He was angry because they did not trust Him to provide. They had seen miracle after miracle, including their protection from the plagues of Egypt, the parting of the Red Sea and the destruction of their enemies. They had seen the pillar of cloud by day and the pillar of fire by night, guiding and protecting them. He had given them manna when there was no food.
More importantly, He had given them His promises—His Word, and had demonstrated His power to perform it.
Yes, there was no water. But He was Jehovah Jireh—The Lord Will Provide [Genesis 22:14] and He had demonstrated it again and again.
He expected them to remember His goodness, His provision, His Word. But they did not unite it with faith! [Hebrews 4:2]
Hebrews 3:19 says they were not able to enter the Promised Land because of unbelief! So much for sermons on The Wilderness Experience! It was NOT God's will for them to stay there for 40 years! His will was the Land of Milk and Honey!
Enter His Rest
So what is God saying to us in these chapters? Remember, the topic of these passages is entering His rest...and He is contrasting the Israelites' inability to enter the Promised Land to His desire for us to enter His rest.
What is interesting is that He repeated this reference so many times in this passage. He is trying desperately to get through to us...the way to enter into His rest is to trust Him! Unite His Word with faith! Enter His rest!
