“Now with whom was He angry forty years? Was it not with those who sinned, whose corpses fell in the wilderness? And to whom did He swear that they would not enter His rest, but to those who did not obey?” (Hebrews 3:17-18).
The closing verses of Hebrews chapter three feature several questions and answers that are admittedly difficult to confront. Nevertheless, we would do well to pay close attention to these verses if we wish to escape the fate described within them.
You see, this portion of Scripture presents us with several national characteristics that defined the people of Israel following their departure from ancient Egypt. For instance, verses sixteen and seventeen focus on the qualities of sin and rebellion. The final two verses identify disobedience (Hebrews 3:18) and unbelief (Hebrews 3:19) as distinguishing features that reflected the attitudes of the people of that era. With this in mind, the following commentator provides us with an important reminder…
“Here is a solemn warning against trusting in a majority or what is popular. The author pointedly reminds his readers that the wilderness failure of Israel was on a national scale, supported by the overwhelming majority, and popularly led and advocated by the great princes of Israel” (Num. 13:3-16).” (1)
Another source adds, “Is the majority always right? In this chapter of Israel’s history, only two were right and over half a million were wrong!” (2)
Finally, one Pastoral author directs us to some challenging (but inescapable) conclusions based on Israel’s example from this period in their history…
“The test came when for the first time they were asked to come to grips with the thing that could destroy their life in the land, the giants, and their failure to do so revealed the bitter truth that they never had any faith. They had never really believed God. They were only acting as they did to escape the damage, death, and danger of Egypt. But they had no intention of coming into conflict with the giants in the land…
Yet, when it comes to the test, when God asks us to lay hold of the giants in our life which are destroying us, those giants of anxiety, fear, bitterness, jealousy, envy, and impatience and all the other things that keep us in turmoil and fret and make us to be a constant trouble to our neighbors and friends — when we are asked to lay hold of these by the principle of faith, and we refuse to do so, the writer says we are in danger of remaining in the wilderness and never [entering] the promised rest.” (3)
(1) Coffman, James Burton. “Commentary on Hebrews 3”. “Coffman’s Commentaries on the Bible”. https://www.studylight.org/commentaries/eng/bcc/hebrews-3.html. Abilene Christian University Press, Abilene, Texas, USA. 1983-1999.
(2) William Macdonald, Believer’s Bible Commentary Edited by Arthur Farstad Thomas Nelson Publishers p.2166
(3) Excerpted with permission from Living out of Rest © 1965 by Ray Stedman Ministries. All rights reserved. Visit www.RayStedman.org for the complete library of Ray Stedman material. Please direct any questions to webmaster@RayStedman.org https://www.raystedman.org/new-testament/hebrews/living-out-of-rest