Heb. 3:7-19 (Psalm 95), Do Not Harden Your Hearts

Heb. 3:1 calls the reader to consider Christ Jesus, our High Priest.  Heb. 4:14 says, “seeing we have such a great High Priest.”  In between is the “if” warning to hold fast (3:6) and the explanation of this warning in 3:7-4:13. 

The gist of this passage is seen in two commands:

Do not harden your hearts (3:8)

Be diligent to enter that rest (4:11).

The first command is part of a lengthy quote in 3:7-11 from Ps. 95:7-11.  Ps. 95 calls people to worship God as their Shepherd (95:6-7).  It is a picture of finding “rest” in the Lord, the “rest” of the soul. 

The land of Canaan was to be God’s resting place for Israel.  All 12 of the spies sent into the land agreed: “It truly flows with milk and honey” (Num. 13:27).  Joshua and Caleb said of the people in the land, “they are our bread” (Num. 14:6-9).  God promised this land and it would be so satisfying for them. 

But they had to trust God to enter the land and take the land from the current inhabitants.  Instead, they hardened their hearts.  They listened to the 10 spies rather than Caleb and Joshua.  They rebelled against the Lord in “the day of trial in the wilderness.”  Therefore, God swore, “They shall not enter My rest” (Heb. 3:11).  What God actually said was, “they certainly shall not see the land of which I swore to their fathers.”  Again, the land was their “rest.” 

For the “Hebrews” God’s rest was to be found in not returning to the temple worship in Jerusalem.  It was a matter of faith.  Jesus had warned about this coming judgment.  But the “Hebrews” were suffering terribly and thought that joining their kinfolk for Passover would be a way to reduce the persecution.  But in fact, returning to Jerusalem would be an act of unbelief (3:12-15).  This is the “deceitfulness of sin” (3:13): sin offers an escape from pain … that leads to death.

Hebrews 3:16-19 describes those who hardened their hearts with 4 terms.  They “rebelled” (v16, lit. provoked, exasperated and roused God to anger).  They “sinned” (v17, missed the mark, erred).  They “did not obey” (v18, lit. did not believe).  Thus, they did not enter the rest “because of unbelief” (v19). 

The Psalmist emphasized the word “today.”  The Psalmist was saying that in his day (David was 450 years after the event at Kadesh Barnea) they needed to enter God’s rest.  Unbelief would keep them from experiencing God’s blessing, even though they were in the land.  The writer to Hebrews speaks of “today” because there was an issue of “rest” in his day.  We should understand that there is an issue of “rest” for us today.  Will we trust God and His word and the leading of His Spirit and find daily rest?  Or will we harden our hearts.