Hebrews 3
1And so, dear brothers and sisters who belong to God and are bound for heaven, think about this Jesus whom we declare to be God’s Messenger and High Priest. 2For he was faithful to God, who appointed him, just as Moses served faithfully and was entrusted with God’s entire house. 3But Jesus deserves far more glory than Moses, just as a person who builds a fine house deserves more praise than the house itself. 4For every house has a builder, but God is the one who made everything.
5Moses was certainly faithful in God’s house, but only as a servant. His work was an illustration of the truths God would reveal later. 6But Christ, the faithful Son, was in charge of the entire household. And we are God’s household, if we keep up our courage and remain confident in our hope in Christ. 7That is why the Holy Spirit says,
“Today you must listen to his voice.
8Don’t harden your hearts against him as Israel did when they rebelled, when they tested God’s patience in the wilderness.
9There your ancestors tried my patience, even though they saw my miracles for forty years.
10So I was angry with them, and I said, ‘Their hearts always turn away from me. They refuse to do what I tell them.’
11So in my anger I made a vow: ‘They will never enter my place of rest.’”
12Be careful then, dear brothers and sisters. Make sure that your own hearts are not evil and unbelieving, turning you away from the living God. 13You must warn each other every day, as long as it is called “today,” so that none of you will be deceived by sin and hardened against God. 14For if we are faithful to the end, trusting God just as firmly as when we first believed, we will share in all that belongs to Christ. 15But never forget the warning:
“Today you must listen to his voice. Don’t harden your hearts against him as Israel did when they rebelled.”
16And who were those people who rebelled against God, even though they heard his voice? Weren’t they the ones Moses led out of Egypt? 17And who made God angry for forty years? Wasn’t it the people who sinned, whose bodies fell in the wilderness? 18And to whom was God speaking when he vowed that they would never enter his place of rest? He was speaking to those who disobeyed him. 19So we see that they were not allowed to enter his rest because of their unbelief. (Hebrews 3:1-19, NLT)
The Daily DAVEotional
A few days ago, I wrote my thoughts about a warning that was included in Psalm 95. You can read my thoughts here.
Just two days later, I came to this passage in Hebrews 3, in which the author quotes the very text I had read from Psalm 95 and highlights the same warning that I mentioned a few days ago.
Coincidence?
Actually, these kinds of random biblical cross-references happen more often than you might think when you’re following the Grant Horner Bible reading plan.
So what is happening in this passage and why is the author referencing Psalm 95 to issue this warning?
The theme of the letter to the Hebrews could be labeled as “Jesus is Better than…”
The audience, as the name of the letter implies, is Hebrew Christians. These believers were in danger of reverting back to their Jewish rituals and customs as a means of appeasing God and gaining His favor.
So the author erects an outline, detailing in point by point fashion that Jesus is better than everything associated with the Old Testament religious system.
In chapter 1, the author demonstrates that Jesus is better than the angels, and now in this chapter, the author takes on the greatest icon within the Jewish religious system, Moses himself.
The author states that Jesus is better than Moses in the same way a builder of a house is better than the house.
The author then develops their argument by stating that Moses was faithful in God’s house but only as a servant. Jesus, on the other hand, is in charge of the household because he is a son, not a servant. I wrote about the implications of slaves/servants as opposed to sons here, in a blog post which referenced a passage from Galatians.
The point is that in the household of God, Moses was a servant. Yes, he was important and he played a key role and he was faithful in his duties. But Jesus is a SON in the household and therefore deserves more glory because as a son, He is the heir to the household. He is the owner!
The author then says that we (people) ARE God’s household. Our choice is that we can follow Moses who is a servant in God’s household, or we can follow Jesus, who is a son in God’s household. Which person makes more sense to follow?
It’s at this point that the author references the warnings from Psalm 95.
The warning can be paraphrased as follows:
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- We must listen to God’s voice today
- Don’t harden your hearts as the Israelites did when they rebelled (see the Psalm 95 blog post here to read about the incident in which the Israelites rebelled against God)
- The consequence for their rebellion was that they were not allowed to enter into God’s rest – they were not allowed to enter the promised land.
Starting in verse 12, the author of Hebrews begins to unpack the warning of Psalm 95 a bit more, demonstrating the implications of how the warning applies to his readers.
Remember, the recipients of this letter were being tempted to forsake Jesus as the object of their faith and trust for salvation and revert back to the Old Testament legal system, with its many rules and regulations as a means of achieving a righteous standing before God.
The author then elaborates on the warning, saying:
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- Make sure your hearts are not evil and unbelieving
- This results in turning away from God
- You must warn each other so that you won’t be deceived by sin and hardened against God
- This hardening results in a lack of trust in God (unbelief)
- Unbelief is characterized by disobedience
So the pattern is as follows: sin, hardening (lack of openness to God), distrust, disobedience.
When this pattern fully develops into disobedience, we will no longer experience the benefits of God’s rest. All of the benefits Jesus wants us to experience now as His beloved children and followers will fail to materialize.
How do we avoid the hardening, distrust, disobedience cycle?
It starts with listening to His voice, a command the author reiterates again in verse 15. When we listen to His voice, we learn who He is and we learn to trust Him. We also learn what He wants from us and we learn how to follow Him.
When we don’t listen to His voice, it means that we’re listening to another voice, whether it’s our own or that of the culture or someone else. At that point, we’re no longer following God but we’re following ourselves.
How then do we listen to God’s voice?
It’s possible God may audibly speak to you but I would say that is not typical. The primary way in which God speaks to us today is through His word, the Scriptures. If you want to listen to God’s voice, to know Him and understand what He expects, then read the Scriptures. It’s through God’s word that we understand what is sin and what isn’t. It’s through His word that we understand who He is and who He isn’t.
If we fail to appeal to God’s word as our means of listening to His voice, it is quite likely we will be deceived by sin. We will begin to follow our own ideas about what we think is right and wrong. We may even attribute our new moral values to God Himself. Indeed, it’s quite common today for people to reject certain moral standards from the bible and replace them with more updated, contemporary values that speak to today’s cultural norms.
It is also common for these same people to claim to be God worshipers and Christ-followers. But if they are creating their own morality while rejecting what God explicitly says, they are in effect, creating their own version of God. This is the modern day equivalent of idol worship. I wrote about this in a previous post here.
This is deception, which leads to a hardening of the heart, which is characterized by not listening to God. This results in unbelief which is characterized by disobedience.
This cycle is alluring and it’s easy to fall into, which is why the author exhorts the audience to “warn each other every day”.
We are ALL susceptible to deceiving ourselves and falling into this religious trap.
Hence, the author says again in verse 15, “Never forget the warning”!
Reflection
In what ways are you tempted to harden your heart towards God?
What are some examples in today’s culture where you see people forsaking biblical moral values and substituting them for something that seems to fit our current culture better?
The author says that those who reject God because of their unbelief will not enter God’s rest? What do you think that means? What would it look like to not enter God’s rest?
What are some ways you could heed the author’s warning and ensure that you are listening to His voice today?
What can you do to ensure that you don’t harden your heart towards God?
Photo by Matthew T Rader on Unsplash
The Lowedown 