#DailyDevotion Don’t Be Like Unbelieving Israelites. In Faith Enter The Promised Land.
Hebrews 3:12–19 12 Take care, brothers, lest there be in any of you an evil, unbelieving heart, leading you to fall away from the living God. 13 But exhort one another every day, as long as it is called “today,” that none of you may be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin. 14 For we share in Christ, if indeed we hold our original confidence firm to the end. 15 As it is said, “Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion.” 16 For who were those who heard and yet rebelled? Was it not all those who left Egypt led by Moses? 17 And with whom was he provoked for forty years? Was it not with those who sinned, whose bodies fell in the wilderness? 18 And to whom did he swear that they would not enter his rest, but to those who were disobedient? 19 So we see that they were unable to enter because of unbelief.
Sometimes people wonder why look at the Old Testament if it has been abrogated by the New Testament. Well besides it from which we preach Jesus Christ (which is its most important aspect) it also teaches us how the Lord operated with his people of old and we can be certain that he has not changed.
Hebrews warns us not to have an evil unbelieving heart that would lead us to fall away from the Living God. He tells us to exhort one another daily as long as each day is called today to stay away from sin lest it lead us astray and harden our hearts against our Lord Jesus Christ. We are called to correct one another’s sins and encourage one another with the good news of Jesus Christ, the free gift of eternal life.
As an example he reminds us of the rebellion by the Israelites in Numbers 14. The Lord had brought them to the edge of the Promise Land and told them to go in. The Israelites sent in spies and all but two came back and spread fear among the Israelites because the greatness of the people there God had commanded them to conquer. Only Caleb and Joshua were faithful to the Lord. They reported the same things but encouraged the people of the Lord’s promise to give them the land but they were overwhelmed by the witness of the other ten. Because of this, the Israelites had to wander the wilderness forty years until that generation, who had seen all the wonders of the Lord in Egypt and up to that place died away.
Those rebellious people who would not believe the Lord’s promise would not enter the rest of the Promised Land. They could not enter because of their unbelief. The same Lord who brought their children into the Promised Land is the very same Lord Jesus Christ. He has come and promised us he was going to make a place for us. He has promised us a new heavens and a new earth where righteousness reigns. He has promised us a new creation where there is no more sin or results of sin, no more death, no more grief or pain, no more sorrow. It is the land Abraham saw when the Lord promised it to him and his descendents. You are his descendent, his seed, if you trust Jesus Christ and his word. If you hold fast to his promise that he is the propitiation for your sin before your heavenly Father you will enter that rest. Just as Jesus was faithful to bring the Israelites into Canaan, he will bring you into the kingdom of God.
Almighty God and Father, ever surround us with people of your word who will exhort us to holy lives and faith in your Son Jesus Christ that we may not be like those in the rebellion but their children who entered into the Promise Land and we your place of rest. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.