26th September, 2010

BRUCE C. WEARNE

Read Hebrews 4: 3-9

So how did, or how is, anyone to enter God's rest? If Moses and Aaron, along with their generation, failed to enter the Promised Land because of unbelief and an inherent disobedient disposition, how can anyone expect to enter God's rest? Would not the same observation be made about ourselves? Are the people of God immune from personal failure? Can they avoid that distrust that provokes the Lord to say, "As if they could ever enter into my rest! ?"

HARD HEARTS: It is our unbelief which prevents us from entering into God's rest...PICTURE: © Adrian, Canada (www.sxc.hu) "It was their unbelief by which they decisively disconnected themselves from the Lord who had up to that point led them step-by-step. And consider what happened when they were confronted with their own faithlessness? They presumed once more and sought to establish their own obedience, this time by disobeying the Lord's explicit commands."

These seem to be the logical questions that arise when we hear what this letter presents to us. The inability of the Project Exodus generation to undertake the next step - after all wasn't Operation Entry the purpose of the Exodus? - is explained in terms of David's interpretation in Psalm 95.

It was their unbelief that rendered them incapable of entering...they approached the Promised Land as if they were capable, under their own stream, of entering God's rest. We know that the children of Israel did eventually enter the Promised Land. The judgment however was that the Lord God saw that they lacked trust in Him. It was their unbelief which led them to presume that they could take the Promised Land just as, we can add, they assumed they were capable of entering God's rest.

Therefore, it is not a matter of: "When we get there, the day after tomorrow, then having proved we truly believe we can then expect that the Lord will bless us in our nation-building. God helps those who help themselves, doesn't He?"

Nor is it a matter of: "When we have achieved our goal of doing God's will then the Lord will be in a position to bless us."

Such attitudes are simply the stubborn presumptions of hardened hearts (Deuteronomy 8: 19). Unlike the faithful Caleb - whose hearing of God's word was thoroughly imbued with his faith (4: 2; Deuteronomy 1: 36), the people of Israel suffered a 40 year punishment in the wilderness because they still trusted in themselves and in their own efforts. Their prevarication was not just a "one off"; it rendered them constitutionally incapable of taking possession in the way the Lord had wanted them to go.

It was their unbelief by which they decisively disconnected themselves from the Lord who had up to that point led them step-by-step. And consider what happened when they were confronted with their own faithlessness? They presumed once more and sought to establish their own obedience, this time by disobeying the Lord's explicit commands. They were completely and thoroughly routed (Deuteronomy 1: 34-45). Implicit trust in the Lord, every step of the way, was, and remains, the only way in which the Lord goes with His people, by a trust that it is He who opens the way.

Our attention is drawn to the warning in Psalm 95, "so when today you hear His voice harden not your hearts".

The point is that when God's word is heard then hearts are indeed being prised open in order that we may go on and enter God's rest. Hardening our hearts can only be resisting that work of God with His creatures. As the Lord gave His people due warning of His judgment on them should they turn to idols, so He had warned Adam at the dawn of his time on earth about the consequences of turning aside from His command.

The Lord is perpetually at the side of His chosen image bearers to assist them in their walk - and David in Psalm 95 reminds us that when His voice comes to us "Today", we are not going to live with Him if we have hardened our hearts as we are all too prone to do. It had all been clearly spelled out. The Lord's judgment that Moses and Aaron would not enter the Promised Land did not come as a great surprise, however much it may have been a matter of deep disappointment and regret to them personally: "Know this then that the Lord your God is not giving you this good land to occupy because of your righteousness; indeed you are a stubborn people. Remember and do not forget how you provoked the Lord your God to wrath in the wilderness; you have been rebellious against the Lord from the day you came out of the land of Egypt until you came to this place." (Deuteronomy 9: 6-7).

Psalm 95 presupposes this teaching about the inner stubbornness of God's specially chosen people. The reference to "Today", redirects these Christians of Old Testamental (ethnic) background away from the presumption that the Davidic Kingdom of Israel was anything more than a decisive signpost "on the way" to the Kingdom of the Messiah. That comprehensive rule in which all the princes of the earth will find their place as servants of the Most High has now dawned. And those who believe in Him are to live accordingly.

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