Don’t Miss Out On God’s Rest Like The Israelites of Old
4 God’s promise of entering his rest still stands, so we ought to tremble with fear that some of you might fail to experience it. For this good news—that God has prepared this rest—has been announced to us just as it was to them. But it did them no good because they didn’t share the faith of those who listened to God. For only we who believe can enter his rest. As for the others, God said, “In my anger I took an oath: ‘They will never enter my place of rest,’” even though this rest has been ready since he made the world.
We know it is ready because of the place in the Scriptures where it mentions the seventh day:
“ON THE SEVENTH DAY GOD RESTED FROM ALL HIS WORK.” Genesis 2:2
But in the other passage God said, “THEY WILL NEVER ENTER MY PLACE OF REST.” Psalm 95:11
So God’s rest is there for people to enter, but those who first heard this good news failed to enter because they disobeyed God. So God set another time for entering his rest, and that time is today. God announced this through David much later in the words already quoted:
“TODAY WHEN YOU HEAR HIS VOICE, DON’T HARDEN YOUR HEARTS.” Psalm 95:7-8
Now if Joshua had succeeded in giving them this rest, God would not have spoken about another day of rest still to come. So there is a special rest still waiting for the people of God. For all who have entered into God’s rest have rested from their labours, just as God did after creating the world. So let us do our best to enter that rest. But if we disobey God, as the people of Israel did, we will fall.
For the word of God is alive and powerful. It is sharper than the sharpest two-edged sword, cutting between soul and spirit, between joint and marrow. It exposes our innermost thoughts and desires. Nothing in all creation is hidden from God. Everything is naked and exposed before his eyes, and he is the one to whom we are accountable.
Hebrews 4:1-13
I am thinking that the astute ones among you will recognise having seen this before. Indeed you have because I gave it to you in Gem 2055. I know that seems a long time ago but that is because I paused to spell out the places of rebellion in greater detail. I knew I needed to do that to capture the importance of what was happening at those places. Given a greater understanding of the influence of the rebellious nature of the Israelites and God’s reaction to it, is the leading factor in the passage we have before us today. Just consider how many times the writer of the letter has quoted the passage from Psalm 95 and you will begin to understand even more the tone of this part of the letter which is heavily influenced by the Israelites of old hardening their hearts toward God. How many times now have you had to read the words of Psalm 95:7-8 “TODAY WHEN YOU HEAR HIS VOICE, DON’T HARDEN YOUR HEARTS.”?
Or perhaps consider the opposite end of the tension between God and His people – how many times did God have to deal with the rebellion of His chosen people for 40 years? It is with that thought in mind that we come to these words we find in the passage we have before us today. Once again I will write:
Today if you hear His voice, don’t harden your hearts.
But now when I quote the same passage we have read multiple times, it comes with a greater understanding as to why the writer keeps quoting the same passage. Needless to say, it comes from a very important Psalm written about a very important time in Israel’s history which has been played out over centuries again and again. I have also made you aware that the passage before us today comes from the longer related passage of Hebrews 3:7-4:13. I won’t give the longer passage to you in this Gem as you have been served it up day after day through 19 Gems.
Have a read of Deuteronomy 9 to gain the right perspective of God’s choice and the difficulties He had with the Israelites, the people He chose to be His own people. Here are some selected verses but it would be worth your while to read the whole chapter.
“After the LORD your God has done this for you, don’t say in your hearts, ‘The LORD has given us this land because we are such good people!’ No, it is because of the wickedness of the other nations that he is pushing them out of your way. It is not because you are so good or have such integrity that you are about to occupy their land. The LORD your God will drive these nations out ahead of you only because of their wickedness, and to fulfil the oath he swore to your ancestors Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. You must recognise that the LORD your God is not giving you this good land because you are good, for you are not—you are a stubborn people.
“Remember and never forget how angry you made the LORD your God out in the wilderness. From the day you left Egypt until now, you have been constantly rebelling against him. Even at Mount Sinai you made the LORD so angry he was ready to destroy you.
Deut 9:4-8
“You also made the LORD angry at Taberah, Massah, and Kibroth-hattaavah. And at Kadesh-barnea the LORD sent you out with this command: ‘Go up and take over the land I have given you.’ But you rebelled against the command of the LORD your God and refused to put your trust in him or obey him. Yes, you have been rebelling against the LORD as long as I have known you.
Deut 9:22-24
“That is why I threw myself down before the LORD for forty days and nights—for the LORD said he would destroy you. I prayed to the LORD and said, ‘O Sovereign LORD, do not destroy them. They are your own people. They are your special possession, whom you redeemed from Egypt by your mighty power and your strong hand. Please overlook the stubbornness and the awful sin of these people, and remember instead your servants Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. If you destroy these people, the Egyptians will say, “The Israelites died because the LORD wasn’t able to bring them to the land he had promised to give them.” Or they might say, “He destroyed them because he hated them; he deliberately took them into the wilderness to slaughter them.” But they are your people and your special possession, whom you brought out of Egypt by your great strength and powerful arm.’
Deut 9:25-29
All day long I opened my arms to a rebellious people. But they follow their own evil paths and their own crooked schemes.
Isa 65:2
I once gave an Iranian man, who challenged me in a God’s Awesome Book seminar in Hamilton NZ, this reason for why God chose the Jews. He told me that I had almost persuaded him about Christianity with what I had said about fulfilled prophecy. But then he said with venom, “But then you said that ‘God chose the Jews.’ Any God who chooses the Jews I choose to turn my back on.” With that comment he pivoted and showed me the back of his neck. I knew I was talking with someone from the Middle East. To turn the nape of the neck to someone is a rude gesture of contempt. Like showing someone another unmentionable body part, it demonstrates the height of contempt. I asked him, “Ah but why did God choose the Jews?”
He said angrily, “I don’t know and I don’t care.
To which I replied, “He could have chosen the Jews because they were the smartest.”
To which he protested vehemently. I continued, “More Jews have won the Nobel Prize in various fields than any other race on earth. But He didn’t. He could have chosen the Jews because they were the best at business. But He didn’t. He could have chosen the Jews for a number of reasons but in Deuteronomy He tells us why he chose the Jews. Because they were the most stubborn.” He agreed with that reason.
I figure God chose the most stubborn of people to show how He works with all mankind. We human beings all have a tendency to be stubborn, especially when it comes to relating to God. So God went for the most contrary and told the rest of mankind to watch how He would deal with the Jewish race so we would all understand. Am I any different? No, I can be one stubborn hombre when I choose to be. I am no different. I can’t look down on the Jews because of their stubbornness; I am just like them. I figure God chose a hard bunch of stubborn people to show the world how He works with human kind. We can all be stubborn and obstinate when we want to.
Let us consider our part in this process when we think about Israel’s stubbornness and how they lost the chance to appropriate the rest of God. Am I, are you, any different? We humans have a tendency to evidence stubbornness and orneriness. I noticed Ross’s comment on Gem 2076 where he asked, “Was it poor spiritual preparation of the ancient Israelites that led to their hardened hearts against God and if so why?” I think I would ask, “Was it their poor spiritual preparation which led to their hardened hearts or was in their hardened hearts and stubborn nature which led to their poor spiritual preparation?”
Now the writer of the letter to the Hebrews is going to walk us through the matter of losing out on the rest. I have already drawn your attention to the fact that there are three kinds of rest which could be in focus here back in Gem 2074.
If we are too stubborn to ask for help when we need it, we have no right to get angry when no one helps us.
Joyce Meyer
So why did God choose the Jews? Why are they so special? Because they are so stubborn. They are an example of human kind. Are you and I any less stubborn?
Ian
I have never had to face anything that could overwhelm the native optimism and stubborn perseverance I was blessed with.
Sonia Sotomayor
To be a tennis champion, you have to be inflexible. You have to be stubborn. You have to be arrogant. You have to be selfish and self-absorbed, a kind of tunnel vision almost.
Chris Evert