7 Wherefore, even as the Holy Spirit saith,
      To-day if ye shall hear his voice,
8     Harden not your hearts, as in the provocation,
      Like as in the day of the trial in the wilderness,
9     Where your fathers tried me by proving me,
      And saw my works forty years.
10   Wherefore I was displeased with this generation,
      And said, They do always err in their heart:
      But they did not know my ways;
11   As I sware in my wrath,
      They shall not enter into my rest.
12 Take heed, brethren, lest haply there shall be in any one of you an evil heart of unbelief, in falling away from the living God: 13 but exhort one another day by day, so long as it is called To-day; lest any one of you be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin: 14 for we are become partakers of Christ, if we hold fast the beginning of our confidence firm unto the end: 15 while it is said,
      To-day if ye shall hear his voice,
      Harden not your hearts, as in the provocation.
16 For who, when they heard, did provoke? nay, did not all they that came out of Egypt by Moses? 17 And with whom was he displeased forty years? was it not with them that sinned, whose bodies fell in the wilderness? 18 And to whom sware he that they should not enter into his rest, but to them that were disobedient? 19 And we see that they were not able to enter in because of unbelief.

      God's warning points us to the "now" as the good time. "Today" is God's counsel; "tomorrow" is the devil's suggestion. Satan does not care how many good resolutions you make, just so they are for tomorrow. Tomorrow never comes; today is all the time at our disposal. "Behold, now is the acceptable time; behold, now is the day of salvation." Whether for the sinner to come to Christ or for the erring Christian to return to him, today is the time, now is the opportunity. It has been pointed out that this call to come today is in itself a promise as well as a command and a solemn warning--a promise, because now, even now, God stands ready to receive you, heal and help you, and bestow upon you the blessings your soul yearns for, all the great promises of the gospel, be the obstacles what they may. If you were obliged to wait till you are better or your temptations fewer, your difficulties smaller, your strength greater, or till your feelings agreed with your will--if any of these changes must first occur, God would never have said "today." In saying "today," God proposed to take you just as you are, forgive your sins, help your weaknesses, give you grace according to all your needs in your present circumstances.

      With what an attitude of childlike openness of mind, readiness to hear, believe, obey; with what a sense of privilege and reverence and submission we should approach the word of God! If God speaks, how should man hear? Everything depends on our attitude of mind. The word is good and perfect, but it does not bring forth the same good results in every man. In some it bears a hundredfold; in some, sixty; in some, thirty; in some, none at all. To some it is light and life; in others it occasions deeper darkness and death. How often we have read it carelessly and heedlessly, or, like the rich young ruler, have turned sorrowfully away from it! It is easy for us to harden our hearts against God's word. We have the power and privilege of doing so. We do it when we procrastinate, disregard (Zechariah 7:11-13) or try to drown out the pangs of the awakened conscience by pleasure and diversion. But the Spirit pleads with us for our life's sake not to [19] harden our hearts. And if you have hitherto met God's word with less respect than it demands; if you have disregarded it and have listened carelessly and have procrastinated, the Holy Spirit says to you: "Change now." "Today if you shall hear his voice, harden not your hearts." Think of that when you pick up your Bible, "while it is called Today."

      The word "day" has a peculiar significance in this context. It is not a twenty-four-hour day. It may not be that long; it may be many twenty-four-hour days. It is simply the present time of opportunity, the day of grace toward us; it is our day of trial, like unto that of Israel when God led them out of the land of bondage. How long was that day? Not the forty years. The forty years of wandering was the punishment and curse consequent upon their failure to stand their test in the day of trial. Their day of trial lasted just about one year, during which they tempted God and disobeyed and disbelieved until he swore in his wrath: "They shall not enter into my rest." For which cause they wandered in the wilderness forty years, till all that generation had died (Numbers 14:20-35).

"Take heed, brethren, lest haply there shall be in any one of you an evil heart of unbelief, in falling away from the living God" (Hebrews 3:12).

      "Take heed" is the equivalent of the commoner expressions: "Watch!" "Take care!" "Look out!" It points to a danger of the unexpected kind, or a danger that slips in unawares and will work its mischief before it is recognized. So likewise the word "haply." It means in this connection "accidentally," "unexpectedly," something likely to "happen." See how that word is used in Hebrews 2:1 and in Luke 21:34 (A.R.V.) "Haply" comes of itself, by simple neglect. A man will not "haply" walk to the top of a hill; but he must watch, lest "haply" he slide down. No man "haply" raises a crop of corn; but if he is not diligent, his field may "haply" become a patch of weeds. Downward is the constant tendency. You cannot close your eyes a minute, lest "haply" you slip and fall; you cannot rest in secure idleness or give yourself up to the current of the world one day, lest "haply" you are sucked into the whirlpool of destruction. The constant downward tendency must be met by constant application of upward forces (Proverbs 1:32; 19:16).

      Now the thing they must "take heed" about, lest "haply" it befall them, is the "evil heart of unbelief." Unbelief is the natural downward tendency. Close your eyes and fold your hands, and unbelief creeps into your heart. Faith must be sustained just like a fire must be fed. And with what fuel? Romans 10:17--that and our exhorting of one another. Is sin deceitful? How? How are we hardened by the deceitfulness of sin? Now the opposite of slipping and sliding and drifting is "holding fast." So that condition must be fulfilled before we can be partakers with Christ. When is the "end" spoken of in verse 14?

      Jesus and Moses are compared at the outset of this chapter. While the writer proceeds to show the consequence of Israel's hardening their hearts against the message of Moses, the implication is throughout that as much more serious in proportion as our Leader is superior to Moses will be the results that shall follow for us if we turn a deaf ear to the message of the Son.

      Have you noticed how faith, not works, is here made the condition of acceptance? Not to the exclusion of works. But works are secondary. They follow faith and are inseparable from it. Make the tree good, and its fruit will be good. It is interesting and helpful to study the cause of Israel's rejection from the promised land. It was not because they were weak, nor because they were in numbers unable to cope with the Canaanites. Weak they were, few they were, and strong were their enemies; but they would have been conquerors for all that if they had only believed God and risked themselves over on his word and promise. But they looked at the things that were seen instead of the things that are not seen. Their eyes, not God's word, was their standard of measurement, and God swore in his wrath: "They shall not enter into my rest." So do we lose the chance of conquest because we have not the faith and courage to rely upon God when the odds seem against us. That is the evil heart of unbelief out of which comes only one fruit--disobedience. [20]

      O God, our Father, forgive us for the careless, indifferent, and irreverent way in which we have looked upon your word often in times past. Now we come to accept your gracious warning and invitation. Now, while it is called "today," we open our hearts to the searching, smiting, and healing power of your word. Now we would claim your promises and your help against our many difficulties and spiritual enemies. Preserve us from the curse of an evil heart of unbelief, and save us from the deceitfulness of sin. Give us an entrance into your rest through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

      Hebrews 4:1-13 is the next lesson.

      What is the connection with the foregoing lesson?

      What kind of rest was promised to them? What kind to us?

      Why did they fail to enter? Was it because they never started, or was it because they did not persevere?

      What does their experience mean to us?

      What shall we fear? In what shall we be bold?

      Should we, like Israel, be discouraged at our weakness or the strength of our enemies?

      By whose power shall we win the victory--our own or Christ's?

      How much power has Christ? How much can I do with him? (Philippians 4:13.) How much without him? (John 15:5.) [21]

[LOH3R 19-21]