Hebrews 3:7-11 (HCSB)
Therefore, as the Holy Spirit says:
Today, if you hear His voice,
do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion,
on the day of testing in the wilderness,
where your fathers tested Me, tried Me,
and saw My works for 40 years.
Therefore I was provoked with that generation
and said, “They always go astray in their hearts,
and they have not known My ways.”
So I swore in My anger,
“They will not enter My rest.”
The writer of Hebrews turns to Psalms 95:7-11 to bring an appropriate warning to the Jewish Christians to whom he is writing: Do not harden your hearts. The warning points back to the Exodus, the forty years in which the Israelites were led in the wilderness between Egypt and the Promised Land. The whole journey was marred by nearly continuous grumbling and rebellion by the people.
The last straw was when the people refused to go into the Promised Land because of the large people who already lived there, whom they were tasked with eliminating. In spite of the amazing signs and wonders God had performed in their midst for more than twelve months, they rejected the idea that He could give them victory over the Canaanites, and they made plans to return to Egypt (Numbers 13:26-14:45).
In rejecting God, they were themselves rejected. God swore that none of those twenty years old or older who had left Egypt would enter the Promised Land (except Joshua and Caleb, who did not rebel against him). And, true to His word, every one of them died before the 40 years had elapsed. It was their children who entered and conquered the land in their place.
The warning is clear. Those who reject God by rejecting the salvation He provides for them will not reach the Promised Land. Those who decide that the path is too hard and the enemy too large and formidable, who decide to “go back to Egypt”, their former way of salvation by works instead of by faith in Jesus, will find themselves rejected, and will not be permitted into the rest of God’s kingdom
Father, many of us have been brought up in a very casual version of the faith, having been taught that we are loved by You no matter what we do, and that we can never lose our salvation once we “say the prayer”. Such a faith is found nowhere in the Scriptures, and this passage absolutely militates against such a view. In order to continue in our salvation all the way to the Promised Land, we must continue in obedience. We must stay firmly connected to the vine of Jesus, or we will indeed be cut off and cast into the fire as worthless (John 15-1-8). But in spite of the serious consequences of disobedience and rebellion, help us to remember that through simple faith we can stay connected to You, and be brought all the way home. Amen.