Hebrews 3:7–19

Israel's past history was to teach lessons for their children. In the original, the Psalm would remind everyone of two events. The word translated provocation recalls Meribah, described in Numbers 20:1-13. The word translated temptation recalls Massah, told in Exodus 17:1-7. God among them, God's power and care for them — they doubted on these two occasions, but with no reason at all. So let the Hebrews take care not to act in the same way.

When the apostle in Hebrews refers to the wilful obstinacy of the Israelites in the wilderness he uses a different word: "Harden not your hearts, as in the provocation, in the day of temptation in the wilderness." Its finer shades of meaning are not settled here. But this word and its forms seem to describe a definite resistance in man. It deliberately blocks up the heart to shut out the light of God. As the Lord said, "You refuse to come to me that you may have life."

It was easy to hear with the outward ear only, and to harden the heart. Stephen warned: "You stiff-necked people, uncircumcised in heart and ears, you always resist the Holy Spirit. As your fathers did, so do you." Sin is measured by the truth heard and despised. What testimony can God present to those who refused the voice of Christ? He was not only humbled but glorified, and He died for sinners.

For forty years they saw God's works of power and mercy. He provided for their needs and kept them from every danger. Yet despite every sign of His presence, they tested God by saying, "Is the LORD among us or not?" In this they showed the hardness of hearts untouched by God's goodness. They sought only their own desires and did not know God's ways. So they made it plain that, whatever profession they had made, they had no real confidence in God.

Someone who has merely made a profession without reality may easily harden his heart. The wilderness history of Israel served to bring out what was actually in their hearts. In the same way, a person may be only a rocky-ground hearer. The seed may spring up fast. Then persecution or trouble comes because of the Word, and the truth of the Word is given up just as fast. The heart hardens against what the conscience had once approved.

Notice the change when the psalm speaks of the Shepherd, and of them as the sheep of His hand. Praise is simple and happy work while we are occupied with the Shepherd. When we turn to the sheep, we need warning... As long as God in His love and grace fills the soul, there can only be praise. But when the eye turns from God to man, we need the warning not to harden the heart. It is not enough for a man to say, "I was converted ten years ago." How is it today? ... There is no sadder sight than a heart hardened by grace neglected or despised.

When Israel was delivered out of Egypt, they provoked God in the wilderness — and this has been true of Christians in this world too — because they were not at once, and without difficulty, in Canaan, the land God had promised... This word "today" is the expression of the patient activity of God's grace. It may be that only a few will listen. But the word "today" still sounds out for everyone who has ears to hear, until the Lord appears in judgment.

Israel's past history was to teach lessons for their children. In the original, the word translated provocation would remind everyone of what happened at Meribah, told in Numbers 20:1-13. The word translated temptation would remind them of what happened at Massah, told in Exodus 17:1-7. God among them, God's power and care for them — they doubted on these two occasions, but with no reason at all. So let the Hebrews take care that none of them acts in a similar way.

To test the LORD in the desert was to say, "Is the LORD among us or not?" Unbelievers may think this a small offence. In the eyes of God and of faith it is serious. Had He not broken the pride and power of Egypt for His poor unworthy people? Had He not brought them out of the house of slavery in triumph? He was their Guide and their Rearguard, come to live among them and be their God. They put Him to the proof while the signs of His faithful presence never stopped. The least such a people owed such a God was to judge themselves and go forward, sure of His gracious power.

They tested God: He bore long with them. They tried Him: countless times He proved faithful and gracious in spite of their self-will. They saw His works of grace and power for forty years. But they treated all this with contempt, and His patient forbearance too. Time proved their hearts false and ignorant of God's ways.

The sin here is independence from God. They wanted to test how fruitful the land was and how strong its inhabitants were. Little did they think that God was testing them. He had already tested them by law. Now He tested them after declaring Himself "merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness." Hebrews 3 refers to this very time. It is the day of testing, when their fathers put God to the test. The Holy Spirit adds another word — provocation — to show how evil their sin was.

But does man ever really profit by light graciously given by his Creator? Israel watched the mighty works God did in Egypt and in the wilderness, in full view, by His mighty hand. What effect did they have? Divine and sovereign grace worked in the hearts of men like Joshua and Caleb. Beyond them, the works produced no lasting good effect at all, and might just as well never have been done. And what does the Spirit of God say about the descendants of that people? The Saviour had been among them, doing works no man had ever done before. Only this: "Though he had done so many signs before them, they still did not believe in him" (John 12:37).

Israel made the profession of leaving Egypt and following the LORD. Their road ran through a wilderness full of dangers, where confidence in God alone could carry them to the end. For forty years they saw God's works of power and mercy providing for their needs and preserving them from every danger. Yet He gave them sign after sign of His presence. Despite that, they tested God and put Him to the proof by asking, "Is the LORD among us or not?" They showed the hardness of hearts untouched by God's goodness.

God is just and true. That is exactly why He felt so deeply the stubborn and deceitful rising up of Israel against His will. Their error was not in their understanding but in their heart. So they never learned God's ways; they ignored them.

We read of divine grief in the Old Testament in the days before the flood. "The LORD saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intention of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. And the LORD regretted that He had made man on the earth, and it grieved Him to His heart" (Gen. 6:5-6).

There may be more wickedness in a sin of the heart than of the hand. The more of the heart and spirit that goes into a sinful act, the more evil there is in it... So to go astray in the heart is worse than to have an error in the head. That is why God makes Israel's sin heavier with this: "They always go astray in their heart" (Heb. 3:10). Their hearts run them into the error. They liked idolatry, so they soon believed what pleased them best.

They tested God: He bore long with them. They tried Him: countless times He proved faithful and gracious despite their self-will. They saw His works of grace and power for forty years. But they treated all this, and His patience too, with contempt. In this way time proved their hearts false and ignorant of God's ways.

One reason, I do not doubt, was that they were unable to view such acts in connection with the ways of the Lord. To them these were only separate acts of divine power to help them. Each act simply met some hard circumstance that rose up against them from time to time. They could always sing the Lord's praises when such acts came to rescue them from the enemy's efforts to crush them. But once the occasion had passed, their rebellion always broke out again.

Israel did not understand His ways. So they never knew His heart, and they went astray in their own. As Scripture says, "They always go astray in their heart; they have not known my ways." Moses, on the other hand, did value the heart of God. Of him Scripture says, "The LORD made known His ways to Moses."

So it is good for us, on our own or together, to weigh well the Lord's way with us, which surely leads to the Lord's end. Of Israel it was said that they were "a people who go astray in their heart, and they have not known my ways." In this way the state of the heart before God becomes important. Then God disciplines the soul, and it reaches His end. Nothing happens without His hand in it.

Israel's past history was to teach lessons for their children. In the original, the word translated provocation would remind everyone of the incidents at Meribah, described in Numbers 20:1-13. The word translated temptation would remind them of those at Massah, recorded in Exodus 17:1-7. God was among them, with power and care for them. Yet on these two occasions they doubted Him, and with no reason at all.

The sin here is independence from God. They would test the fruitfulness of the land and the strength of the inhabitants. They never thought that God was testing them… For forty years they saw His works, and they kept provoking Him. But Hebrews 3 has special reference to this time… This despising of the land was the provocation.

"As I swore in My wrath if they shall enter into My rest" (that is, they shall not). A solemn sentence of exclusion. In a man's mouth it is incomplete: God do so to me and more, if —! On God's lips the condition of man's entering is the moral certainty that it is all over with him. Good is only and wholly of grace. There is no entrance into the rest of God if it depends on man's deserts. If they shall enter means, for unbelievers, that they shall not enter.

It is not the present rest of conscience that faith in the Person and work of Christ gives the believer. The Lord spoke of that rest when He said, "Come to Me, all you who labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest." Nor is it the rest of heart that is the daily portion of the one who walks in obedience to Christ… Nor is it the temporary rest of a tired worker.

God can only rest in what satisfies His love and holiness. God's rest will come when God's love has fulfilled all His mind for those He loves. When righteousness is established, and sorrow and sighing flee away, God will "rest in His love" (Zephaniah 3:17). "Holiness cannot rest where sin is; love cannot rest where sorrow is."

This was the case with Israel in the wilderness. God swore to them that they should not enter into His rest (Numbers 14:21-23). And why? They had given up their confidence in Him. They had heard how beautiful and excellent the land was, yet their unbelief robbed them of the promised rest.

Of course, it does not raise the question whether they were lost as to their soul's salvation. It takes them as figures of those who never enter into God's rest… They are figures of those who make a profession in this day. They hear a gospel preached to them — not about Canaan, but about a heavenly calling and a place in Christ. But they refuse that gospel and turn back from Christ, their appointed Leader, as Israel did from Moses their appointed leader.

He is not warning against falling into some outward sin. When this letter speaks of sin, it does not mean immorality or open acts of wickedness. It means the root sin that produces every other sin. It is that evil heart of unbelief that departs from the living God. Unbelief is the source from which every form of sin flows. So when he speaks to people who profess faith, what he warns them against is turning away from the living God and giving up Christ.

No wonder it is condemned as "a wicked heart" of unbelief. What else can distrust of such a God be? The more He reveals His love, the more wicked the heart is proved to be when it refuses His grace — or, worse still, gives it up. Nothing is more false than to treat faith as a mere process of the mind, with nothing moral in it.

It is really a departure from a living God, back to forms that He once used for service before Christ came and died to make atonement — the death that accomplished redemption from under the law... It is a deceptive form of unbelief, a going away from the living God to dead forms.

To put the church or anything else in the place of Christ is a sure sign of departure from the living God, and evil consequences will follow.

He is not speaking of weak faith, or of failure in the details of conduct. He is speaking of an evil heart of unbelief, where faith is not present at all. This is the cause of falling away... So a profession made only with the lips, without this vital root, may very soon turn into a hard, deliberate abandoning of the faith, from which there is no recovery.

Christians, by the grace of God, reach a measure of blessing, and then stop pressing on to know the Lord. The heart secretly turns back to the world — the world Christ rescued us from by giving Himself for our sins. The difficulties of the way look larger than the rest and glory God Himself has set before us. When that happens, we may be sure that the evil heart of unbelief is at work, and that there has been departure from the living God.

We speak in this practical way. We are not speaking about the faithfulness of God, who certainly will not allow any of His own to perish. We are speaking about the practical danger — about what would draw us away from God, as far as our responsibility goes, and for ever, if God did not step in.

And what is the warning — what must be the warning — after such teaching as this? "Take care, brothers, lest there be in any of you an evil, unbelieving heart, leading you to fall away from the living God." How simple, how needed, and yet how blessed! In Christ Jesus, none less than the living God has become ours. So it is easy to say that our all depends on holding to Him.

"As long as it is called 'today.'" It is "today" while God's word is still preached and God is still calling. The judgment will close this call.

For those truly born again, this call would stir up and strengthen their faith. For anyone who lacked faith, it might also wake them up and bring them in reality to the Lord Himself, and so prevent such a dreadful fall. Sin will harden, however innocent its face may look at first... The words "as long as it is called 'today'" insist that the present is the time of testing, and it may end suddenly at any moment.

The word parakaleo means calling on a person to stir him to something. It may be to comfort, but it often refers to other things — to exhortation in general... and in some places it may well be translated 'encourage,' as in Heb. 3:13, "Encourage one another daily."

So the call is to encourage, not quite "one another," though that is included, but "yourselves," which seems more pointed than the other phrase... A little evil allowed is the beginning of very great evil. The heart hardens as we look away from Jesus, and pleasing ourselves takes the place of doing God's will.

Each one, though, should have no doubt about his own salvation, and so be free to watch over his brothers' interests in that way. Clearly this duty was given to no special class among them. There were elders at Jerusalem (Acts 15:6, 21:18), but this charge was not theirs. Saints, brothers in Christ, children of the Father, sons of God — these were to care for one another and to encourage one another day by day.

If believers are to encourage one another daily, it means they seek one another's company daily. So this verse takes for granted that we find our friends and company among the people of God, as the apostles did when, after they were let go, they "went to their own company" (Acts 4:23)... The general spiritual health of Christians would be much better if that were true of us all. We are far more influenced by the company we keep than many of us like to admit.

The point is not open evil. It is the slow, unnoticed cooling of the soul's affections toward the living God. It is the gradual hardening of hearts that were once soft and tender, fed by the sure milk of the word and enjoying the sweet love of Christ. They were to care for one another's souls in this way, as they had already shown how ready they were to meet their brothers' outward needs.

The deceit here is not the deceit of committing sins, serious as that is, for one sin leads to another. The writer is speaking of the principle of sin, which is lawlessness. We little think how we harden our hearts by doing our own will. So we are to watch ourselves and care for one another. Love should not be indifferent to a brother slipping away by doing his own will.

Notice that word "hardened." Sin hardens — the heart and conscience become callous, less sensitive. In the joy of first love, Christ fills the heart, and any thought of giving Him up is torture to the soul... The sin of unbelief is a deceitful thing. Without your noticing, it pulls you away from the One your faith rests on, and before you know it, the result is serious dishonour to Christ.

"Companion" would be more modern English. But the translation here keeps the same word used in the Psalm this verse points back to. "Partakers" breaks that link, and it can also mislead. There is no lowering of Christ's glory in applying the word to those who confess Him. When the word is first used, the Holy Spirit recalls how God owns the Messiah as God. Even when grace adds companions from among His people, He is anointed as man above them all.

We are made "companions," associates with Christ who has gone on before and is leading many sons to glory. The thought here is not the one the usual translation suggests. We are not speaking here of our blessings in Christ exactly, but of our place with Him.

Instead of the word "confidence," we may read "substance," "assurance." It is a figure of speech. The thing is so certain that we might think we could take hold of it with our hands.

This is not assurance founded on anything in ourselves, which would only be self-righteousness. The assurance in view rests on the Lord Jesus, on His propitiatory sacrifice, and on the value of His work, which God has accepted. No one blames us for having such assurance. On the contrary, we are urged to hold it fast.

As in verse 6, the emphasis falls on continuance. It proves whether a person's first profession really made him a partaker of Christ. If a grafted branch has truly taken hold of the stock and draws the sap of the tree, it will keep living and flourishing. If the "beginning" was not a vital, real connection, the branch will wither and die.

Here it is not the body of Christ, whose members are united to the Head by the Holy Spirit, where nothing unreal can come. Profession is still in view. It is assumed to be real, but it leaves room for what is unreal.

There are two sides to every truth. Believers are saved and saved for ever. We are the sheep of Christ, and we have our Lord's own word that we shall never perish. On the other hand, we are still in this world. We are pilgrims on a heavenly journey, and this is where responsibility comes in... This is where the "if" comes in as a healthy challenge, since continuance in the faith is the most conclusive proof of the reality of conversion.

The companions of Christ have the privilege of nearness to Him and a share in His joy. They also have the responsibility of being faithful to Him in the world where He is still rejected. The Lord does not ask us to be faithful in our own strength. He has given us the grace that enables us to hold fast, as we depend on Him. What we hold fast is the assurance the gospel has brought us, and that we have accepted by faith.

Israel's past history was to teach lessons for their children. In the original, the word translated provocation would remind everyone of what happened at Meribah (Numbers 20:1-13). The word translated temptation would remind them of Massah (Exodus 17:1-7). On those two occasions they doubted God's presence among them, and His power and care for them — and without any reason at all. So let the Hebrews take care that none of them does the same.

Until power comes in to judgment, while it is still called today — for in that great tomorrow no evil and no rebellious person will be allowed — they are called not to harden their hearts as they did long ago in the wilderness, when God swore that they should not enter into His rest. But now, after all, grace says Today, and invites them to come before His presence — He is the rock of their salvation.

"Today" is a serious and trying time (verse 15). We are in the wilderness, and without God there is nothing but difficulty and danger for His people, weak as spilt water in themselves. ... There is a difference now, since Christ accomplished redemption, took His seat at God's right hand, and sent down the Holy Spirit to be in us who believe. Yet it is still said, "Today if you will hear His voice, harden not your hearts as in the provocation." What He has done and revealed and made ours far surpasses all that was done of old in Egypt and the desert. That ought to be our strongest encouragement, and a firm foundation, as we heed His revealed will against our treacherous hearts — hearts sure to grow hard if we slight His word or tamper with sin.

When the apostle in Hebrews refers to the wilful stubbornness of the Israelites in the wilderness, he uses a different word (Hebrews 3:8, 15; 4:7). We cannot be certain about its finer shades of meaning. Still, the word skleruno and the words built from it seem to describe a definite resistance on man's part, which deliberately blocks up the heart to shut out the light of God. As the Lord said, "yet you refuse to come to me that you may have life" (John 5:40).

We are urged not only to take heed to ourselves but to "exhort one another" each day, while it is still a day of grace and salvation. The aim is that the deceitfulness of doing one's own will hardens no one. The danger here is not the deceitfulness of committing sins, serious as that is, since one sin leads to another. The writer is speaking of the principle of sin, which is lawlessness. We little think how we harden our hearts by doing our own will.

Thirdly, to whom did God swear that they should not enter into His rest? It was to those who did not believe. So we learn the root sin was unbelief. The unbelief left them exposed to their sins, and sins hardened their hearts.

The assurance urged here from first to last is proper, required and necessary. It rests on the glorified Lord Jesus, our propitiation and our high priest — on the divine dignity of His person and on the accepted effectiveness of His work for us... If assurance rests on anything in ourselves, the sooner we abandon it the better, for it was really self-righteous, unfitting and false.

Many souls go wrong on this point. They think they must change their ways, alter their course or improve their moral condition before they come to Christ. In fact, until they really do come to Christ they cannot change or improve anything... The word is, "Today, if you hear His voice, do not harden your hearts" (Hebrews 3:15). "Behold, now is the favorable time; behold, now is the day of salvation" (2 Corinthians 6:2).

The Authorised Version read the word as the indefinite pronoun "some." The Revised Version reads it as the question word, and so do we here. That way the appeal has all its force. It was not "some" only but the mass, as the next words state — a shameful answer to the LORD's favour toward Israel.

So we read of the widespread defection of Israel in the wilderness. By far the greater part of the people took part in that sin of unbelief. Joshua and Caleb were the exceptions. To them we should add the tribe of Levi, we believe, since that tribe had nothing to do with the sending of the spies. No one on that mission represented them.

What made the case so serious is that it was after they heard that they fell into the provocation. So sin is far worse in a baptised man than in a mere Jew or Gentile. "All that came out of Egypt by Moses!" What power, both judging and delivering, had they not witnessed! What continual goodness, and along with it solemn dealings with rebellion and irreverence! This warns all who profess Christ to beware of a similar departure.

Passing through the Red Sea and entering Canaan were not the same. At the Red Sea God did everything. The people only looked on and experienced His deliverance. The word to them was, "Stand firm, and see the salvation of the LORD." God acted for them without any question about their state — and their state showed little of the calmness of faith. Entering the land was different: it involved conflict.

First, who was it that provoked God when they heard the Word of God speak of a rest to come? Was it only a few of the people? It was the great mass, "all that came out of Egypt." Second, with whom was God grieved forty years? It was with those who, because their hearts were hard, chose their own sins. Third, to whom did God swear that they should not enter into His rest? It was to those who did not believe. So we learn that the root sin was unbelief. The unbelief left them exposed to their sins, and sins hardened their hearts.

The things that happened to them are not types of true believers. They are types of those who profess faith in Christ, and most of those today have no faith in His sacred Word. That is the sense of the warnings of Scripture — "afterward destroyed those who did not believe"; "they were unable to enter because of unbelief." Unbelief shows itself in unholy and unrighteous behaviour. Those things have to be dealt with, but the root evil is unbelief. The mere profession of faith in Christ saves no one.

It was not "some" only but the mass, as the next words say. That was a shameful answer to the Lord's favour toward Israel… "All that came out of Egypt by Moses!" What power they had seen, both in judgment and in deliverance! What continual goodness, and with it solemn dealings with rebellion and irreverence! The Christian profession must beware of the same departure… It was no mere sudden slip. It was the grave evil of a settled state, and it stirred His strong displeasure.

With whom was God grieved for forty years? It was with those who, because their hearts were hard, chose their own sins. And to whom did God swear that they should not enter into His rest? It was to those who did not believe. So we learn the root sin was unbelief. The unbelief left them exposed to their sins, and sins hardened their hearts.

God brought the Israelites out of Egypt by great signs and wonders. For forty years He fed them and tenderly cared for them on their wilderness journey. Yet they made no progress in the knowledge of God. They never showed the least sign of thankfulness for the deliverance He had granted them when they were slaves in Egypt, or for the countless mercies they received daily from His hand… Their forty years in the desert were one long day of provocation.

Scripture sets before us two kinds of wrath: wrath in God's government, and wrath that is eternal. It is good to be clear about this solemn subject. The wrath that fell on the Israelites in the wilderness did not have to reach beyond the death of the body. It would be foolish to think that everyone who came out of Egypt aged twenty and upward, and whose bodies fell in the wilderness, was lost forever. What about Moses the man of God, and Aaron the saint of the Lord?… This wrath was exclusion from the land of promise, and raised no question about their eternal relationship with God.

It is important to make clear, however, that what was at stake in the wilderness was only an earthly inheritance and blessings for this life. It did not touch the heavenly inheritance and eternal blessings. Falling away from Christ today is an immeasurably more dreadful evil than Israel's despising the pleasant land.

Of course, this does not raise the question of whether or not their souls were lost. It takes them as figures of those who never enter into God's rest… They are figures of people who make a profession today. They hear a gospel preached to them — not about Canaan, but about a heavenly calling and a place in Christ. Yet they refuse that gospel and turn back from Christ, their appointed Leader, as Israel turned back from Moses their appointed leader. Despite all that had been done for Israel, they fell in the wilderness.

They had got out of Egypt, and yet their bodies fell in the wilderness. There is, of course, a danger for us that matches that — a very real danger. No doubt God will keep His own to the end, but the danger is there; and if we are kept, it is through faith. What tends to make us fall in the wilderness is the flesh. The means God uses to keep us from falling is the word that is sharper than any two-edged sword.

Disobedience, and above all disobedience like this, God hates and judges. It is not meant of isolated acts, but of refusing to submit to Him. It is the exact opposite of what Romans 1 calls the obedience of faith, especially now that He has revealed Himself in grace in the Lord Jesus. It goes deeper than obedience to His commands, however important that is in its place… Those who refuse to submit to Him will certainly not enter into the rest of God, the heavenly glory at Christ's coming.

Then referring again to Israel in the wilderness, the writer asks three searching questions to bring out the hardness, sin and unbelief of Israel. First, who was it that provoked God when they heard the Word of God speak of a rest to come? Was it only a few of the people? Sadly, it was the great mass, "all that came out of Egypt". Second, with whom was God grieved forty years? It was with those who, because of the hardness of their hearts, chose their own sins. Third, to whom did God swear that they should not enter into His rest? It was to those who did not believe. So we learn the root sin was unbelief. The unbelief left them exposed to their sins, and sins hardened their hearts.

This was the case with Israel in the wilderness, and God swore to them that they should not enter into His rest (Num. 14:21-23). And why? They had given up their confidence in Him. Their unbelief — when the beauty and excellence of the land had been reported to them — deprived them of the promised rest.

God had declared His testimony. They had heard it, and they had seen public evidence that they could trust it. But through fear of present discomfort and the opposition of the Canaanites, they chose to disbelieve God. He told them to enter the land: they refused: only unbelief kept them out.

In due time the people under Joshua entered the land. They rested after the whole wilderness journey, and after their wars in Canaan too. In measure that was rest for the nation, but it is not the rest held out to us. Nor is it the rest held out to Israel in that Psalm. That Psalm came centuries after they had entered the land, and it spoke of the rest as still future… We think that "His rest" here, as elsewhere (3:18, 4:1), means God's rest, which God holds out to us in prospect.

Of course, it does not raise the question whether or not they were really lost as to their soul's salvation. It takes them as figures of those who never enter into God's rest. God swore in His wrath that they should not enter His rest. They are figures of those who make a profession in this day. They have a gospel preached to them — not about Canaan, but about a heavenly calling and a place in Christ. But they refuse that gospel and turn back from Christ, their appointed Leader, just as Israel turned back from Moses their appointed leader. Despite all that had been done for them, Israel fell in the wilderness.

The wrath that fell upon the Israelites in the wilderness did not necessarily reach beyond the death of the body. Think of all who came out of Egypt aged twenty and over, whose bodies fell in the wilderness. It would be foolish to suppose they were all lost for ever. What about Moses the man of God, and Aaron the saint of the Lord?… This wrath meant exclusion from the land of promise. It raised no question about their eternal relationships with God.

The writer turns again to Israel in the wilderness. He asks three searching questions to bring out their hardness, sin and unbelief. First, who was it that, when they heard the Word of God speaking of a rest to come, provoked Him? Was it only a few of the people? Sadly, it was the great mass of all who came out of Egypt. Second, with whom was God grieved forty years? It was with those who, because their hearts were hard, chose their own sins. Third, to whom did God swear that they should not enter into His rest? It was to those who did not believe. So we learn the root sin was unbelief. The unbelief left them exposed to their sins, and sins hardened their hearts.

The next verse closes this section with a word on the root of the evil the chapter has uncovered. "So we see that they were unable to enter because of unbelief" (verse 19). They disobeyed God: they would not listen to His word, and so would not submit to Him. That disobedience pointed to their inward unbelief. Present, obvious, visible things were their all. God had no real place in their thoughts. This is not a matter of idle, dreamy feeling, but of spiritual life. How could unbelief, or those marked by it, enter His blessed and glorious rest?

It is very important to notice here that it was unbelief that kept Israel out of Canaan on the occasion before us. The inspired commentary in Hebrews 3 puts this beyond all question... Someone might say the time had not come for Israel to enter the land of Canaan. The sin of the Amorites had not yet reached its peak. But this is not the reason why Israel refused to cross the Jordan. They knew nothing and thought nothing about the sin of the Amorites. Scripture is as plain as possible. They "were unable to enter" — not because of the sin of the Amorites, and not because the time had not come. It was simply "because of unbelief." They ought to have entered. They were responsible to do so, and God judged them for not doing so. The way was open. They were as able at that moment as they could ever be, because the One who had given them the land was the source of their power to enter it and possess it.

Instead of looking at the Lord's power to bring them into the land, they looked at the enemy's power to keep them out of it. So they failed... It was one thing to admire the grapes of Eshcol when the effort of others brought them to their tent doors. It was quite another to go forward with a faith of their own and pick those grapes for themselves.

It is necessary to note this. It shows that their case was not one of losing the blessing by falling back. They claimed a calling for which they never had faith at all. This is the point of the solemn warnings that fill so much of the letter to the Hebrews.

The work in us is just as necessary as the work God does for us. Israel's rescue from Egypt makes this plain. God's mighty work for them saved them out of the land of slavery. Yet despite all the wonders done on their behalf, most of them fell in the wilderness and never reached the land of promise. Why? Scripture answers, "because of unbelief" (Heb. 3:19). That is, they had no faith; no work of God took place within them.