A Study on the Book of Hebrews

“Now who were they who heard and yet were rebellious? Was it not all those who left Egypt under the leadership of Moses? But with whom was he angry forty years? Was it not those who sinned, whose bodies fell in the wilderness? And to whom did he swear that they would not enter his rest, if not to those who were disobedient? So we see that they were unable to enter because of unbelief.” Hebrews 3:16-19

Why would the author ask this rhetorical question? What point is he trying to hammer home? Perhaps it is to highlight the reality that it was not just a few who were rebellious — but an entire generation of followers. These were the people who escaped slavery in Egypt — to then go on to have contempt for G-d in the next phase of their delivery. 

The point is that this generation, which had firsthand experience of the G-d’s goodness, bringing them from slavery to freedom, comprised the very last group of persons one would have expected to rebel against their Savior G-d. Still more unthinkable is the prospect of hard-hearted rebellion by Christians against the Lord who at the price of his own life-blood has rescued them from sin, death and the devil. Yet this was precisely the danger threatening the community to whom this letter was addressed.

We need to be careful at the thought of rebelling against G-d — either overtly or covertly. Just recently a friend of mine passed away after a short battle with cancer. There are people who will look at his death as an excuse to blame G-d and abandon G-d’s graciousness and goodness because they believe G-d turned away from my friend and his family. It is not at this time, at the loss of a family member or friend that we blame G-d and lose our faith. It is just at the times of loss that we need to see in G-d the ultimate hope of eternity. Paul will say that the losses we experience now can in no way compare to the eternal weight of glory that is to come, to be revealed to those who believe.

My friends, G-d never promised us a rose garden. But G-d did promise us eternal life with G-d — at the party that is to come.

Pastor Dave

A Study on the Book of Hebrews

Therefore, as the Holy Spirit says, “Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion, as on the day of testing in the wilderness, where your ancestors put me to the test, though they had seen my works for forty years. Therefore I was angry with that generation, and I said, ‘They always go astray in their hearts, and they have not known my ways.’ As in my anger I swore, ‘They will not enter my rest.’ ”

Take care, brothers and sisters, that none of you may have an evil, unbelieving heart that turns away from the living God. But exhort one another every day, as long as it is called “today,” so that none of you may be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin. For we have become partners of Christ, if only we hold our first confidence firm to the end. As it is said, “Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion.” Hebrews 3:7-15

“The point that Christ is superior to Moses made in Hebrews 3:6 is followed by an extended Scripture quotation from Psalm 95 in verses 7-11, a warning and admonition in verses 12-15, and a series of questions in verses 16-19 that complete the interpretation of Psalm 95 and make the author’s concluding application..

Almost all of Hebrews 3:7-11 is a quotation from Psalm 95:7b-11. In the following verses the author of Hebrews will select key words and phrases to use in his exhortation and warning to his readers. But the words of introduction in Hebrews 3:7a show how the author intended the Old Testament passage to function in his own message.

The first word is “therefore.” It is designed to connect the conditional statement in verse 6 with the command in verse 8. Verse 6 had proclaimed that we are the household of Christ if we hold fast to the confidence and pride of our hope. The word “if” raises the question of whether the readers of Hebrews (and we) will be faithful to Christ in the midst of pressure being faced. Because there is some question about that faithfulness – therefore – the scripture from Psalm 95 is quoted to warn and exhort the readers (and us) of the importance of trusting obedience of God.

The quotation formula used by the author reflects his high view of Scripture. “Therefore, just as the Holy Spirit says” is similar to expressions found in other Jewish writings as introductions to Old Testament quotations. It reveals the Jewish understanding that not only is Scripture the Word of God, it is especially the work of the Holy Spirit to inspire Scripture. Judaism understood the Scriptures to be the product of prophets and prophetic kinds of people. Prophesy was the product of the Holy Spirit in Jewish thinking. Thus there was a direct connection between the Holy Spirit and the inspiration of Scripture in Jewish thought.”  (The Voice, Roger Hahn, Commentary on Hebrews 3)

When all heck is breaking around you, how do you respond? Some people freeze — the shock of a situation paralyzes them. In some tragedies, when people are confronted suddenly with the option to fight or flee — there will be those who do neither — they will freeze. Now, one way that we can “freeze” is to turn away from our training. In some of the school shootings that our country has witnessed over the last few years, there have been instances of police officers who are serving as “resource officers” at the high school in which, when they were suddenly confronted with a “threat” — they completely forgot their training, and they froze. Their mind froze — their feet froze — their bodies froze — because the shock was too great. This is what their training is supposed to prevent — but none of us will know how we might react to a situation, until the evil is upon us.

We need to train ourselves to fight evil — and one of those ways is to study our field guide — which is the “Word of G-d”. The author of Hebrews will continue to exhort his followers to refer back to the word of G-d — because it is in arming ourselves with G-d’s Word that we will know our path, as people of G-d, and hopefully remain on that path.  The people of the community know the word of G-d — but they apparently have either forgotten their training — or have chosen to ignore it.

Don’t wait for all heck to break in on you to begin to study the word of G-d — it might be too late. Your training should take you from hearing the word, to consuming the word, to living the word of G-d every day.

Pastor Dave