Hebrews 3:7-19, The Penalty of Disbelief

Hebrews 3:7-4:13 Part 1: The Penalty of Disbelief

Here, the preacher of Hebrews compares Moses and Jesus indirectly, by comparing their followers.  Jesus is superior to Moses because Moses' people followed in unbelief, and the true followers of Jesus are those that cling to belief and exhort others to do the same.  Video, below, is followed by my notes. 

A.    Exodus 17:1-7

1.    People come grumbling to Moses about a lack of water. 

2.    Ask “Is God among us or not?”

3.    Ridiculous, when you consider:

a.    Ten plagues of deliverance

b.    Parting of the Red Sea

c.    Pillar of cloud and fire.

d.    Making bitter water sweet

e.    Just received manna at the end of the last chapter.

f.     What do you think?

4.    The miracle of the water from the rock is a picture of Christ:

a.    Struck by Moses’ rod: The rod of judgment (as opposed to Aarons, a rod of blessing)

b.    Water flowed from the “wound”

c.    Living water

d.    Struck once.

e.    God (Jesus) stands on the rock as it is struck

5.    Moses names the place Massah (testing) and Meribah (quarreling). 

6.    The people expressed a complete lack of faith (Unbelief) in God when faced with a difficult situation, despite what they had seen Him do just a few days or weeks prior.

B.    Numbers 14:1-38

1.     They had been journeying now for several months (years?).

a.    Now, they have the law, they have seen numerous miracles, and they have suffered judgment for unbelief several times.  Have they learned?

b.    They have the promise of God that they will enter the land, but faced with difficult odds, they retreat to fear and disbelief.

c.    God threatens to destroy all the people and start over with Moses (for the second time!) Vs. 11

d.    Moses intercedes, appealing to the glory of God, and God relents.

e.    Then, He swears that nobody but Caleb and Joshua will enter the land (vs 20ff)

f.     He kills the 10 spies as an object lesson (Vs 36-38)

C.   Numbers 20:2-13

1.    Nearly a complete repeat of the first scene, but this is now years into the wanderings.  Still, they have not learned. 

2.    Same rock? 1 Cor 10:4.  Perhaps metaphorically.

3.    Subtle Differences:

a.    Aaron’s staff, staff of blessing

b.    Speak to the rock

c.    Jesus was struck only once.  Afterward, we need only ask him, and he pours out forgiveness, life, and blessing.

d.    Moses is angry,

e.    Struck it twice with HIS staff.  Ruined the type.

4.    Moses’ sin was not anger, but unbelief.

5.    Moses is barred from the promised land because of unbelief.

D.   Psalm 95:7-11

1.    In context, this psalm is one that rejoices over the greatness of God as displayed in his works, calls people to worship him, and warns them not to continue, despite the evidence of His works, in disbelief.  This is the central theme of our passage in Hebrews.

2.    “Today,” don’t harden your hearts.  It was too late for the Exodus generation, but it is not too late for you.

3.    Vs 9: Put me to the proof, though they had seen my work.

a.    No further proof should have been needed then, nor should there be now!

b.    We have seen even greater works.  Let us not look for more proof that God is who he says he is.

1.    John 10:38; 14:11

2.    Rom 1:18ff; 2:12ff

c.    Miracles don’t necessarily lead to belief. Mat 24:24; Luke 16:19-31

4.    Huge statement: vs 10: For forty years I loathed that generation.

a.    Don’t let that be said about us!

b.    God is longsuffering but he won’t quit the guilty.  Ex 34

c.    Waited a long time for them, giving opportunity for repentance.  It never came, because “they go astray in their heart and do not know [God’s] ways”.

d.    Long-term hardening of heart.

e.    Continuous exposure to the things of God, if not coupled with belief and repentance, is dangerous.

f.     Clay and wax.

5.    Vs 11: Verdict.  Final judgment.  There is no return for them.

a.    Blasphemy against the Holy Spirit is continued refusal to repent after seeing the work of God in your life for your salvation.

1.    Matt 12:31

2.    A saved person cannot commit blasphemy against the Holy Spirit, because they have responded to the saving work of God.

3.    The Exodus generation, most Jews since, and most people in the world today, do.

b.    After hardening your heart against the saving entreaties of God for so long, there remains no opportunity for salvation. 

1.    Heb 10:26

2.    Not God’s fault.  Yours.

 E.    Hebrews 3:7-4:13

1.    Attributed to the Holy Spirit, not David.  Ultimate authorship.

2.    Quote has subtle differences.

a.    Place names translated into their meanings: testing and provoked.

b.    It’s the works that happened for forty years, not the anger of God.

c.    Same spirit of the text.  Same result.

3.    Take care: your will is involved. Also “hearts” in vs 10.

4.    Lest there be an evil, unbelieving heart.

a.    We all have an evil heart before God regenerates it (Rom 1-6).

b.    The natural heart of man is drawn, like gravity, toward hell and damnation.  Only God interrupts that progression.

c.    Yet here, we are told to participate with our minds in restraining our hearts.

5.    “Fall Away” G: ἀφίστημι aphistēmi

a.    Apo: away from, apart.

b.    Histēmi: A prolonged sense of Stato, to stand unmoving.

c.    To remain unchanged, standing at a distance, looking away.

d.    Not “Turning away,” ἀποστρέφω apostrephō

1.    Luke 23:14

2.    Acts 3:26

e.    This is not the action of a believer.

1.    “Fall away” sounds like the person was once with Christ, and now is not.

2.    This person has never come to Christ. They are staying away.

6.    “As long as it is called today” vs “hardened.”

a.    We don’t know the point at which someone crosses the line in their heart or in the mind of God from resisting to hardened.

b.    If they are still alive, keep trying.  Perhaps the Holy Spirit will still save them!

7.    Hardened by the deceitfulness of sin. 

a.    Sin seems good for a while, but then death comes. 

b.    James 1:13-16

8.    If we hold our original confidence firm to the end.

a.    This is to the believer (we know). Still an “if.”

b.    Heb. 3:14 For we have come to share in Christ. The evidence of the Christian truly partaking of Christ’s salvation involves endurance to the end. The condition (if indeed) has been understood in various ways. Some have argued that the condition (“if”) indicates that true Christians can lose their salvation. Scripture is clear, however, that true believers cannot lose their salvation, as evidenced, e.g., by John 10:27–29 (“no one is able to snatch them out of the Father’s hand”), Eph. 1:4 (“he chose us in him before the foundation of the world”), and many other Scripture passages (e.g., John 6:39–40; Rom. 8:35, 38–39; Phil. 1:6; 1 Pet. 1:3–5).Hebrews 3:14 should be understood in connection with v. 13, as is indicated by the linking word “for” (Gk. gar). That is, v. 14 is linked to the exhortation not to become hardened (in unbelief and sin). Thus, the logic of the argument is that those who are hardened or who become hardened (v. 13) give outward evidence that they are not (and never have been) genuine believers who “share in Christ,” because genuine believers do not become hardened; instead, they persevere—that is, they hold on to their original confidence firm to the end. Of course, Scripture also encourages believers to pray for and seek to bring back any who have fallen away (James 5:20; 1 John 5:16), in the hope that they will turn back. Still, this passage should be viewed as a sober warning—intended as a means that God uses to keep Christians resolved in faith and obedient until the end. The ongoing experience of perseverance results in “confidence” and assurance that one does in fact “share in Christ.” This verse then provides a grave warning to everyone who claims to be saved—that is, to examine oneself carefully to be sure that one is, in fact, a genuine believer, because if there is no evidence of perseverance in faith and obedience, then there is real reason to doubt that such a person has ever been saved.  --ESV Study Bible

c.    Preservation & Perseverance! (John Piper)

1.    We are saved by Grace alone through Faith alone Apart from works.

a.    Eph 2:8-9

b.    Rom 3:28

2.    Those who are justified will certainly be glorified

a.    Rom 8:30

b.    John 10:27-29

3.    No one will be glorified/finally saved who does not persevere to the end.

a.    1 Cor 15:1-2

b.    Col 1:22-23

c.    Matt 10:22

d.    1 John 2:19

4.    God himself will keep his children from falling away

a.    Phil 1:6

b.    1 Cor 1:8-9

5.    God keeps his children by his children

a.    Heb 3:13-14

b.    James 5:19-20

6.    Eternal Security is a human project with divine orchestration and guarantee.

d.    Four soils:  Only the ones who yield their fruit demonstrate their salvation, but others start to grow. 

1.    Hangers on

2.    Cultural Christians

3.    Unconverted churchgoers (and Pastors!)

9.    Who where…

a.    All those who left Egypt left in unbelief.  They escaped out of a desire for self-preservation, but ultimately, their failure to arrive demonstrated their failure to believe.

b.    They witnessed miracles, made professions, and even followed instructions, but they did not ultimately have faith.

c.    Only a small handful who left did so believing, and they were permitted to enter the land. 

F.    Application to us:

1.    Turn and Embrace Christ! Do not “stand permanently far off.”  If you have not embraced the gospel, you need to!  

2.    Cultural Christianity is Hazardous to Spiritual Health! The more someone is exposed to the gospel and rejects it the harder their heart becomes and the less likely that they will one day turn and be saved.

3.    Participate in the Preservation of Saints!  Be a tool of the Lord in the ongoing salvation of your brethren. 

Fifth Saturday of Omer: The Living Water

In the Winter of 1999, just before I graduated from college, I went on a short-term field research class with Biola to Baja and stayed, for most of our trip, in a small fishing village on the sea of Cortez, called Bahia de Los Angeles.  Behind the field station, there was a mountain that rose several thousand feet into the desert sky.  We called it "Mike's Mountain," in honor of an old hermit who once lived there and was friendly to our professor.  It was once the tradition for the men on this trip to hike up with Mike and enjoy the views of the Sea of Cortez from his cave.  It was called "Hike with Mike."  Mike had died before the year I went, so the traditional hike had come to be known as "Hike Like Mike."

"Mike's Mountain" rising up over the Sea of Cortez

I was not a complete stranger to hiking when I went, but I was not ready for that steep trail that rose four thousand feet in six miles. I didn't bring anywhere enough water for the journey.  When I reached Mike's cave, I realized that I was in real trouble.  My bottle was almost completely empty, and I still had to get home.  My canteen was empty completely when I was still a long ways from camp, and the cramps set in.  My hiking buddy poured some of his precious water into my bottle, but it wasn't enough.  My head was pounding.  Every step was torture.  I'm not one to swear, but I think every few steps came with a curse out of my mouth for the last mile's hike back to camp.  When I got there, I laid down in the shade and guzzled nearly a gallon of water, sweating profusely, and kicking myself for my lack of planning.  

In Exodus 17, the people of Israel are having a "Mike's Mountain" experience of their own.  Once again, they are away from natural resources, and they again cry out against Moses and Aaron.  This time, they aren't hungry.  They're thirsty. The Bible tells us that they are hiking through "Rephidim," which doesn't mean anything to those of us not native to that land, but it's very inhospitable.  This is Rephidim, in what is today known as "Wadi Reyfayid."

There's not a lot of water here.  In fact, there's not much of anything here.  God is providing for their food, but they have run out of water, and they're thirsty.  In fact, they're in pain, and they're angry.  Their uproar against Moses is to such a level of hostility that he is in fear of his life.  When he turns to God for relief, he confesses, "They are almost ready to stone me!" (Ex 17:4).  

God instructs Moses to gather the elders of the people and go ahead of the multitude to meet the presence of the Lord at "the rock at Horeb."  There, he is to strike the rock with the staff that God has used many times to perform miracles thus far, and water will spring from the rock.  So Moses obeys.  Just a short walk (but agonizing if you're dehydrated, I'm sure) from the camp at Rephidim is a rock that multiple "experts" claim to be the rock Moses struck, and it looks the part.  

It's easy to imagine water flowing down from this imposing rock, and the people of Israel leaning down to drink as it pooled at their feet.  In fact, one artist has helped us with the image.

God again provides for his people in an astounding way, so that the people's question in verse 7, "Is the Lord among us or not?" was answered in a resounding "Yes!".  God is among His people, inviting them into a relationship with Him where they rely entirely on His provision for their needs!

The miracle is repeated again later in the story of the exodus, in Numbers 20.  This happens in a different location with similar limitations in natural resources.  Again, the people cry out to God, and again, Moses brings the problem to the Lord, who tells him to go to a rock, with the staff in his hand, and speak to it, commanding it to yield water.  God promises that it will.  

Moses almost obeys.  He takes the staff from before the presence of the Lord, gathers the congregation, and approaches a rock.  He fails in one detail, though.  He does not speak to the rock.  He strikes it.  Twice. We get the sense that Moses is angry at the people, and it felt a lot better to whack the rock twice than to ask it to produce water.  

No big deal, though, right?  The water came out.  People drank.  Cattle were saved, and everyone goes home happy--especially Moses, who feels a lot better after bashing the rock twice with his miracle-working staff. Actually, there's a big problem here.  God had a definite picture in mind that He wanted played out before the eyes of His people, and Moses ruined the picture with his anger.  God pulls Moses aside (we might say that He 'brought Moses behind the barn') and conveys a sentence on Moses for his disobedience.  

"Because you did not believe in me, to uphold me as holy in the eyes of the people of Israel, therefore you shall not bring this assembly into the land that I have given them" (Num 20:12).  Wait.  Really?  You worked through me to do the 10 plagues, cross the red sea, give the law, and set up government, but whacking a rock with a stick disqualifies me from finishing the Exodus? What's going on here?  The Apostle Paul, writing thousands of years later, explains in 1 Cor 10:1-5: 

"For I do not want you to be unaware, brothers, that our fathers were all under the cloud, and all passed through the sea, and all were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea, and all ate the same spiritual food, and all drank the same spiritual drink. For they drank from the spiritual Rock that followed them, and the Rock was Christ. Nevertheless, with most of them God was not pleased, for they were overthrown in the wilderness."

The rock was Christ.  How does that help us understand why Moses wasn't allowed into the promised land? Jesus was struck once for our provision.  The flood that poured forth from his body does so much more than satisfy our thirst.  His blood does not only restore our physical strength.  It regenerates our souls!  Jesus said so himself, In John 4:13-14, when speaking of the offering of his life to the woman at the well: 

"Jesus said to her, 'Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never be thirsty again.The water that I will give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.'”

Jesus was struck once.  He died once, and that was sufficient to provide atonement for all who would come to Him.  See Romans 6:10: "For the death he died he died to sin, once for all, but the life he lives he lives to God."  He is not crucified again for the continued forgiveness of our sin.  He has been crucified once, and that is sufficient. Now, those of us who live after His death do not need to wait for him to come and die again for our sins, as if salvation is dispersed in batches.  The riches of Christ's forgiveness are accomplished and are waiting to be dispensed liberally on all who call upon Him--all who will speak to Him. 

Moses was to paint the picture of the striking of Christ and the flow of grace the first time and then to paint the picture of the church speaking to Him in confession of sin and receiving the grace that was in store for them, as we are promised in 1Jn 1:9: "If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness."

Instead, Moses fell into a rut that felt good in the context of his anger and struck the rock a second time, ruining God's picture that He had meant to paint for our benefit. It is as if he would strike Christ a second time--crucify Him again. We are warned in scripture that this is a bad idea: 

"For it is impossible, in the case of those who have once been enlightened, who have tasted the heavenly gift, and have shared in the Holy Spirit, and have tasted the goodness of the word of God and the powers of the age to come, and then have fallen away, to restore them again to repentance, since they are crucifying once again the Son of God to their own harm and holding him up to contempt." (Heb 6:4-6)

You see, God has invited us into a relationship with Him, and he provides all that we need to live and grow in the journey of faith with Him.  He provides spiritual food (as we saw last week) and spiritual drink, but in both cases He demands that we do it His way.  "Come and See," He calls to us, but do not think that you can enjoy the benefits of life while you live according to your own plan.  

God invites.  

God provides.  

God makes the rules. 

Jesus has died once for all. 

"But he was pierced for our transgressions;

    he was crushed for our iniquities;

upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace,

    and with his wounds we are healed"  (Isa 53:5).

He has worked salvation once.  You cannot work it any other way.  

All that is left for you is to speak to the rock and be saved. 

"If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved" (Rom 10:9).

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