Hebrews 3 - Today If You Hear God's Voice Do Not Harden Your Hearts!

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Jesus Greater Than Moses

3 Therefore, holy brothers and sisters, who share in the heavenly calling, fix your thoughts on Jesus, whom we acknowledge as our apostle and high priest. 2 He was faithful to the one who appointed him, just as Moses was faithful in all God’s house. 3 Jesus has been found worthy of greater honor than Moses, just as the builder of a house has greater honor than the house itself. 4 For every house is built by someone, but God is the builder of everything. 5 “Moses was faithful as a servant in all God’s house,” bearing witness to what would be spoken by God in the future. 6 But Christ is faithful as the Son over God’s house. And we are his house, if indeed we hold firmly to our confidence and the hope in which we glory.

It is unusual to see Jesus called an "apostle", but the word "apostle" means ambassador. Jesus was and is the greatest ambassador of God the Father. Jesus brought the greatest message ever given to the world.  The words, "Fix your thoughts on Jesus" is important, especially what the mean word, "fix" means. 

The word means to fix the attention on something in such a way that its inner meaning, the lesson it is designed to teach, may be learned.” (Barclay) The same word is used in Luke 12:24 (Consider the ravens). It is an earnest appeal to look, to learn, and to understand.

Moses was faithful to God, but certainly had his own perfections, but Jesus was perfectly faith to His Father. Moses was a member of the house of God, but Jesus created that house. Importantly the author says that we are also his house. He doesn't say we are servants of the house but part of that house. We are inheritors of that house as God's sons and daughters. 

1 Peter 2:4-5 says we are being built up a spiritual house. God has a work to build through His people, even as one might build a house. - Guzik

Warning Against Unbelief

7 So, as the Holy Spirit says: “Today, if you hear his voice, 8 do not harden your hearts as you did in the rebellion, during the time of testing in the wilderness, 9 where your ancestors tested and tried me, though for forty years they saw what I did 10 That is why I was angry with that generation; I said, ‘Their hearts are always going astray, and they have not known my ways.’ 11 So I declared on oath in my anger, ‘They shall never enter my rest.’ ”

Notice the role of the Holy Spirit in this communication.  

The Spirit of God (speaking through His Word) told us that Jesus the Messiah is much greater than Moses. - Guzik

The author recalls the story of the Israelites when they wandered in the wilderness for 40 years under Moses' leadership. Though God had led them through the Red Sea, they still continued to doubt that God cared about them. It says, "They hardened their hearts". What does this mean? 

The Spirit of God (speaking through His Word) told us that Jesus the Messiah is much greater than Moses. Just as the Spirit speaks in many ways, there are also several ways we can harden our heart.

· Some harden their hearts by relapsing into their old indifference.

· Some harden their hearts by unbelief.

· Some harden their hearts by asking for more signs.

· Some harden their hearts by presuming upon the mercy of God. - Guzik

The consequence of Israel's hardened hearts, which led them to rebellion, was they never were able to enter the Promised Land, which the writer calls "rest".  The Promised Land was birthplace of the Promised Messiah, who gave us the ultimate rest. Also, the writer says, "Today if you hear his voice".  Notice the urgency in his voice. Many people say they are not ready to follow God, or they will get around to it some day. 

The Holy Spirit tells us today because it is a genuine invitation. We know that the Holy Spirit really wants us to come to Jesus because He says, “today.” If someone asks me to come over their house for dinner but they give no day or time, I know it isn’t a firm invitation yet. But when they say, “Come over on this day at this time,” I know it is a firm invitation, that they want me to come, that they are ready for me to come, and that it will be prepared for my coming. The Holy Spirit gives you a time for His invitation – today. - Guzik

12 See to it, brothers and sisters, that none of you has a sinful, unbelieving heart that turns away from the living God. 13 But encourage one another daily, as long as it is called “Today,” so that none of you may be hardened by sin’s deceitfulness. 14 We have come to share in Christ, if indeed we hold our original conviction firmly to the very end. 15 As has just been said: “Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts as you did in the rebellion.”

Though the Israelites exhibited hardened and rebellious hearts toward God, the author does not want it to be lost on us that we are every bit as prone to do the same today. Again, he emphasizes the importance of seizing the day. He notes the importance of the community of Christ encouraging each other daily, "As long as it is called Today!" Note it is daily not weekly. Though we are taught to worship God weekly, we are called to encourage each other daily. 

Why? Because it is so easy to fall back into sin. The longer we allow sin to reign in our lives, the more our hearts get hardened until we no longer want to walk with God. It is kind of like an addiction. What starts out as a few drinks leads to a few too many drinks. The, instead over getting drunk once in a while it happens on a weekly basis.  Soon it can becomes a daily ritual needed to cope with one's life. 

A little sin here, a little sin there no problem. After all, I am forgiven. But this does not take into account that every time we turn away from God, a hardening occurs. When we sin, which we surely will, we should find a brother or sister in Christ and confess our sin to them and they to us. Today if you hear God's voice through the Holy Spirit pay attention to it and don't blow it off.   

Though I don't believe we can "lose" our salvation, the author issues a stern warning, 

"We have come to share in Christ, if indeed we hold our original conviction firmly to the very end."

Importantly we can't blame others for developing a hardened heart. We are responsible for our own heart condition, just as we are responsible for our own physical heart's condition. This is why we need to be vigilant not only to keep a tender and sensitive to the Holy Spirit, but be careful to not let sin get a hold of our hearts. 

16 Who were they who heard and rebelled? Were they not all those Moses led out of Egypt? 17 And with whom was he angry for forty years? Was it not with those who sinned, whose bodies perished in the wilderness? 18 And to whom did God swear that they would never enter his rest if not to those who disobeyed? 19 So we see that they were not able to enter, because of their unbelief.

Though Israel made a good start in being faithful and trusting in God's promises, eventually they did not enter into rest because of the hardening of their hearts due to the deceitfulness of sin. The author uses this example from Israel's history to warn the Jewish Christians not to go back on their commitment to Christ. 

Obviously this meant this was happening frequently in this young church. The author does not want this to destroy or weaken the good work Jesus had done in them and would be faithful to finish. Although the devil is not mentioned here, we know the devil will do anything to get us to turn away from God and distrust His plan for our lives. He sole mission is to shipwreck our faith.  

C.S. Lewis in his classic book The Screwtape Letters speaks in this excerpt from the perspective of a demon who is trying to wear down a believer so they will at some point give in and as he says, "Unravel their souls from salvation!" 

“The Enemy has guarded him from you through the first great wave of temptations. But, if only he can be kept alive, you have time itself for you ally. The long, dull monotonous years of middle-aged prosperity or middle-aged adversity are excellent campaigning weather. You see, it is so hard for these creatures to persevere. The routine of adversity, the gradual decay of youthful loves and youthful hopes, the quiet despair (hardly felt as pain) of ever overcoming the chronic temptations with which we have again and again defeated them, the drabness which we create in their lives and inarticulate resentment with which we teach them to respond to it — all this provides admirable opportunities of wearing out a soul by attrition. If, on the other hand, the middle years from prosperous, our position is even stronger. Prosperity knits a man to the World. He fells that he is ‘finding his place in it’ while really it is finding its place in him… That is why we must often wish long life to our patients; seventy years is not a day too much for the difficult task of unraveling their souls from Heaven and building up a firm attachment to the earth.” (The Screwtape Letters)