Chapter Two

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Major Warning #3 Interpreted

Hebrews draws heavily on Psalm 95. Actually, Major Warning #3 is based upon Psalms 95. In this Psalm, David compared the people to whom he was writing to the people who came out of the wilderness wanderings. Likewise, our Author compares his own audience to David’s illustration of those people.

 The key words David used in the comparison of his audience with those of the wilderness experience are “Today, hear, harden not,” and “unbelief.” In using these key words, David pleads with them for three things:

1. He pleads for them to Hear the voice of God, Today.
2. He pleads for them to Harden not their hearts when they hear His voice, Today.
3. He pleads for them to believe the word of God and act upon what He said, Today.
   

Unfortunately, they did not believe God (unbelief) when He told them that they could take the Abrahamic land away from the heathen. Because they did not believe what He said (unbelief), they did not act upon what He said. They did not even attempt to take the land and remove the heathen from it.

Ps 95:7-11

7            For he is our God; and we are the people of his pasture, and the sheep of his hand. To day if ye will hear his voice,

8            Harden not your heart, as in the provocation, and as in the day of temptation in the wilderness:

9            When your fathers tempted me, proved me, and saw my work.

10            Forty years long was I grieved with this generation, and said, It is a people that do err in their heart, and they have not known my ways:

11            Unto whom I sware in my wrath that they should not enter into my rest. (KJV)

In Hebrews, our Author quotes this Psalm once and paraphrases it once to completely capture the meaning of it. Through these two uses of the same Psalm, like David of old, he gravely warns the Hebrews to whom he is writing. He warns them that the calamity of those in the wilderness is about to happen to them for the very same identical reason. In the wilderness, they did not believe what God said about their ability to take the land. In Hebrews, they do not believe God’s message that Jesus is His final sacrifice for their sins. Here is his quote.

Heb 3:7-11

7            Wherefore (as the Holy Ghost saith, To day if ye will hear his voice,

8            Harden not your hearts, as in the provocation, in the day of temptation in the wilderness:

9            When your fathers tempted me, proved me, and saw my works forty years.

10            Wherefore I was grieved with that generation, and said, They do alway err in their heart; and they have not known my ways.

11            So I sware in my wrath, They shall not enter into my rest.) (KJV)

Here is his paraphrase:

Heb 3:15-19

15            While it is said, To day if ye will hear his voice, harden not your hearts, as in the provocation.

16            For some, when they had heard, did provoke: howbeit not all that came out of Egypt by Moses.

17            But with whom was he grieved forty years? was it not with them that had sinned, whose carcases fell in the wilderness?

18            And to whom sware he that they should not enter into his rest, but to them that believed not?

19                So we see that they could not enter in because of unbelief. (KJV)

In other words, in the wilderness wanderings, God had promised them a rest. (The rest in Moses’ day consisted of peacefully dwelling in the land promised to them in the Abrahamic covenant.)

When the time came for them to possess the land, seven heathen nations occupied it and trespassed upon it. Because of unbelief, these Hebrews perceived these seven nations to be giants. God said they could overthrow them and take the land. They did not, however, believe what He said. Instead, they believed the opposite. They believed they could not overthrow the giants and take the land.

 Even in the face of Joshua and Caleb, these Hebrews did not believe God. They just did not believe that they could overthrow the present occupants (giants) of the land. Consequently, they refused to act upon God’s message that they could conquer the giants and occupy their promised inheritance of a restful land. 

Because of their unbelief, they were forced to wander forty years in the wilderness until that entire generation of doubters died off. What a tragedy. God said it. They did not believe him. Consequently, they were forced to forfeit the rest God promised to them.

Two amazing historic events

1. This was an amazing, historic event. In the Abrahamic covenant, God promised them a land. In Psalm 95, He attempted to lead them into it. They were about to see one of the most important pieces of the Abrahamic covenant fulfilled before their very eyes. But because they did not believe God and “partner with him” by following him into the land, their entire generation lost this promise.

 2. In like manner, the generation of Hebrews, to whom our Author wrote, faced another momentous event. This event was the fulfillment of the most important piece of the Abrahamic covenant to that time in history.

 In the wilderness saga, the time to receive their Abrahamic land loomed in their face. But here they faced another historic event that was even more extra-ordinary.  The Seed to whom the Abrahamic promises were made was upon the scene. He was Jesus, the Seed of the Sixtieth Promise God made to Abraham. This Promise #60 is stated in Gen. 22:18 below.

Gen 22:18

18            And in thy Seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed; because thou hast obeyed my voice. (KJV)

 The Author of Hebrews drew a parallel, just as David in Psalm 95, between the people in the wilderness and the people to whom he wrote. In the wilderness, they were at a crossroads. They were about to receive the fulfillment of that stunning promise of the Abrahamic land. Here, they experienced an even more important crossroads than they did in the wilderness. Here, they stared right into the face of the fulfillment of the Seed promise. Here they looked squarely at God’s final sacrifice for sin under Moses’ law. Here they faced the supreme Seed of Abraham. Here they looked directly at the Person who, by His death, both terminated Moses’ law and confirmed the Abrahamic promises made to the fathers.

 Dear Reader, see the heartbreak here. The Author saw the Hebrews to whom he wrote, about to do the very same thing they did to the Land promise in the wilderness. Here, they were about to forfeit the realization and fulfillment of the Seed promise for the very same reason, unbelief. They had a promise from God, and they did not believe it. They did not “partner with God” and act upon his promise that Jesus was the Seed. They did not “partner with God” and act upon his promise that Jesus was the final sacrifice for their sins. Therefore, they must forfeit the Seed promise, here, just as they forfeited the Land promise in the wilderness.

 This forfeiture, however, carried far, far greater consequences. In the wilderness, they lost the historic fulfillment of their Land promise for a generation. Here, however, those who reject Jesus lost the spectacular fulfillment of their Seed promise for all eternity. They forfeited it for all eternity because they did not believe God. They just did not believe God’s word. They did not “partner with Him” and act upon Jesus as the fulfillment of his Seed promise. They did not “partner with God” and act upon his promise that Jesus was His final sacrifice for their sins.

Lest Warning #2 Interpreted

Next, we interpret the second of the eleven Lest Warnings for you. See verse 12 below. Our Author commands (Greek imperative) them to “Take heed.” “Heed” translates the Greek word blepo  (to see). Here, it means to “give something an intense look,” hence, to take heed.

 Notice, also, that our Author calls them “brethren.” “Brethren” was one of nearly one hundred names, terms and phrases that the Hebrews were called in the Old Testament. Since they are the same people in the New Testament, it was sensible and fitting that they be called by the same names, terms and phrases in the New Testament also. See our book, The Unbroken Force of Abraham’s Blessings. It is free on the Internet--www.jaysnell.org.

 Heb 3:12

12                Take heed, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief, in departing from the living God. (KJV) (Italics mine)

 This second Lest Warning warned them against an evil heart of unbelief. The Author saw unbelief in the wilderness experience as the reason they forfeited the land rest. He saw the same unbelieving heart as the reason his readers must forfeit their great salvation also. An evil heart of unbelief caused their rejection of Jesus as their final sacrifice for sin under Moses’ law. Consequently, this rejection of Jesus also caused them to depart from the living God.

How did a Hebrew “depart from the living God”?

This evil heart of unbelief resulted in their rejection of Jesus, and this rejection caused them to “depart from the living God.” Did this “departing from the living God,” mean that these were Christian Jews who lost their salvation? If not, how can it be said they departed from God unless they were first with him?

 No! This Scripture did not say that these Hebrews were Christians. Absolutely not! It said the very opposite! Nowhere did this Lest Warning even hint that they were Christians. Had they been, they could not have departed from God--in this manner--to the point of being irrevocably lost (unsaved.) We shall see this as we progress in this commentary.

 You remember what we have learned so far. When a Hebrew sinned in the Old Testament era during the time of Moses’ law, he just had to “partner with God” by making the proper sacrifice. By so doing, he maintained, even when he sinned, what he had by birth in the Abrahamic covenant. He maintained his salvation, healing, prosperity and family well being.

 Remember also that if he did not make the proper sacrifice in the proper manner, he lost it all. Dear Reader, get this down into the depths of your being! If the Hebrew did not sacrifice properly, according to Moses’ law, he lost his place in the Abrahamic covenant! Losing his place in the Abrahamic covenant was his “departing from the living God.” Apart from being in this covenant, no one had any part with God or in God! In this way, the Hebrew “departed from the living God.” This is how any and all Hebrews “departed from the living God.”

 Yes, these Hebrews were in fact with God by birth in the Abrahamic covenant. They had all the blessings going for them. They were his people and he was their God. They maintained this close relationship with God by sacrificing properly when they sinned. In this way, they stayed close with God. But they lost this position when they sinned and did not sacrifice properly.

 Now, in the context of Hebrews, our Author showed them that their rejection of Jesus, God’s final sacrifice for their sins, caused their departure from the living God. Their rejection of Jesus caused their departure from the living God because apart from Jesus, they can no longer sacrifice properly. They rejected Him because they did not believe that he was their final sacrifice. In other words, they refused to “partner with God” in this matter. God provided the sacrifice but they refused it. “To partner with” God in this matter, they must accept Jesus, his final sacrifice for their sins.   

 What a loss! What a tragedy! For these reasons, the Author isolates two more excerpts from Psalm 95. He uses these brief quotes to plead with the people to take advantage of “Today!” He challenges them, now (Today,) to exhort one another on a daily basis. He wants them to witness to one another, each and every day. Then he introduces Lest Warning #3

“Lest” Warning #3 Interpreted

Heb 3:13

13                But exhort one another daily, while it is called To day; lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin. (KJV) (Italics Mine)

 In Lest Warning #3, the Author warns each of them to encourage one another daily, lest any of them be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin. In what way did sin deceive these Hebrews that resulted in the hardening of their hearts? It deceived them in more ways than we can count. We shall only list three of the least obvious ways below.

 First, sin deceived them when it convinced them that it was socially acceptable to reject Jesus, their final sacrifice for sin. We see this effect of sin today. How many of our youth believe it is now socially acceptable to do things that the Bible plainly declares are wicked, heinous sins?

 Second, sin deceived them when it convinced them that their rejection of their final sacrifice was so very right that it did not affect their conscience at all. It does not bother a Hebrew’s conscience to reject Jesus to this very hour. Again, we have this with us in our churches today also. How many of our youth and adults can sin right in the face of God and Scripture and never have a twinge of conscience?

 Third, sin deceived them when it convinced them to adopt this rejection of Jesus as their very lifestyle. Now they walk it out and never look back. When they adopted this rejection as their lifestyle, they became comfortable with it. The entire process just adds to the hardness of their hearts that lasts to this day. The Author warned them against this very thing. History has shown that he was right in his warning.

 Finally, our Author pleads with them, again, to “harden not their hearts,” against Jesus. This hardening results in rejection of Jesus. When they rejected him, they can no longer sacrifice properly when they sin. Consequently, by rejecting Jesus, they departed from the living God since He is God’s last sacrifice for their sins. Therefore, no hope remains for them. They are lost. They without God and without hope in this world.

 Heb 4:7

7                    Again, he limiteth a certain day, saying in David, To day, after so long a time; as it is said, To day if ye will hear his voice, harden not your hearts. (KJV)

 In the next chapter, get ready to feel your heart swell with faith. You will see false, misleading and faith destroying views shattered. You will experience their total destruction. You will see Group 3C (those who professed Jesus but did not possess him) addressed. This will remove some faith paralyzing and faith destroying interpretations. Your faith will explode.

 

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