Make time for God’s rest - part 2!

As noted in my last blog, the writer of Hebrews began his second of five warning passages in Hebrews 3:7. He warns of the danger of doubting and disbelieving God because of hardness of heart. His focus was on warning Jewish Christians not to miss God’s rest like their ancestors did.

He continues the issue of God’s rest in Hebrews 3:12-19. It is important to remember that Hebrews and the warning passages are written to believers. Zane Hodges, Neither here nor anywhere else in his letter did the writer betray the slightest suspicion that his audience might contain people who were not real Christians. It would be much easier to read Hebrews as a believer if the writer was addressing the warning passages to false professors and not true believers. As a believer, one must rightly understand what that means for those who have placed faith in Christ alone.

The point of this warning passage is the danger of moving from belief to disbelief. Concerning the warning from Numbers 14, Raymond Brown declares, This is a picture not of casual drifters, but deliberate deserters. And Leon Morris, The rebellion he warns against consists of departing from a living, dynamic person, not from some dead doctrine. William L. Lane emphasizes the point, The allusions to Num 14 are significant because they indicate that unbelief is not a lack of faith or trust. It is the refusal to believe God. It leads inevitably to a turning away from God in a deliberate act of rejection.

One might say, how does the Israelite’s rebellion relate to my confession of faith? Warren Wiersbe, No believer today, Jew or Gentile, could go back into the Mosaic legal system since the temple is gone and there is no priesthood. But every believer is tempted to give up his confession of Christ and go back into the world system’s life of compromise and bondage. We must consider whether our belief in God has diminished. Once, I trusted him for my very life, my daily needs, my hopes and dreams. Now, my belief may be turning to disbelief. I can’t trust Him. I can’t believe a God worth knowing would allow this or that to happen to me. There is a fine line between belief and unbelief. The Israelites crossed that line etched in the desert sand. They didn’t enter God’s rest.

We must determine the meaning of God’s rest and are we in danger of losing it. Consider the words of Warren Wiersbe, The emphasis in Hebrews is that true believers have an eternal salvation because they trust a living Saviour who constantly intercedes for them. But the writer is careful to point out that this confidence is no excuse for sin. God disciplines His children. Remember that Canaan is not a picture of heaven, but of the believer’s present spiritual inheritance in Christ. Believers who doubt God’s Word and rebel against Him do not miss heaven, but they do miss out on the blessings of their inheritance today, and they must suffer the chastening of God.

The value of this passage is not just the warning but the instruction on how not to turn belief into disbelief. Times of doubt will come to every believer. F. F. Bruce, To begin well is good, but it is not enough, it is only those who stay the course and finish the race that have any hope of gaining the prize. Of course, the prize for Christians is not salvation which is a gift but the reward of serving Christ as coheirs. The writer of Hebrews exhorts Christians to encourage one another. God made us interdependent, not independent. That is why we need each other to come alongside in time of need. W. H. Griffith Thomas, One of the best ways of keeping ourselves true is to help other people, and the duty is here set forth of exhorting one another. There is scarcely anything more striking in Christian experience than the fact that in helping others we often help ourselves. The best time to deal with disbelief is noted by the writer, today.

As noted, the issue of Hebrews 3 is not the possible loss of salvation but the loss of inheriting all God has for us as coheirs. Consider Thomas Constable, The apostate generation of Israelites failed to enter the Promised Land when they hardened their hearts and provoked God by their disbelief. Is the implication that Christians who do the same will not enter heaven? Many interpreters have taken this view. However, the New Testament elsewhere teaches that all who believe in Jesus Christ will go to heaven because simple faith in Christ is what saves us (e.g., Eph. 2:8–9). . . If our subsequent unbelief resulted in our loss of salvation, the condition for being saved would have to be faith plus faithfulness, which it is not. Remember, “rest” does not equal the Promised Land (or heaven) but obtaining all the inheritance that God wants to give believers in the Promised Land (or heaven).

Taking salvation off the table should not soften the sting of this warning passage. Those who have tasted the Lord should want more. I want all of what God has for me, today and into eternity! I choose the route expressed by Charles Spurgeon, You are to hold fast, to hold on, and to hold out to the end; and the grace you need in order to do this is waiting for you if you will but look for it, and daily live under the power of it.

May God’s rest remind us of what is in store for those who believe in Christ alone. Join the study of Hebrews 3:12-19 which may be found under the Books of the Bible tab. Rest in Him by faith.