Verses 1-6, “Therefore, holy brethren, partakers of the heavenly calling, consider the Apostle and High Priest of our confession, Christ Jesus, who was faithful to Him who appointed Him, as Moses also was faithful in all His house. For this One has been counted worthy of more glory than Moses, inasmuch as He who built the house has more honor than the house. For every house is built by someone, but He who built all things is God. And Moses indeed was faithful in all His house as a servant, for a testimony of those things which would be spoken afterward, but Christ as a Son over His own house, whose house we are if we hold fast the confidence and the rejoicing of the hope firm to the end.”
Moses was a faithful man and used mightily by God, but Jesus far surpassed Moses in all ways. We need to consider that God loves us so much that He was willing to send His Son to us, who was perfectly faithful and obedient to the will of the Father...For this One has been counted worthy of more glory than Moses, inasmuch as He who built the house has more honor than the house. Moses may have been a member of God's household, but Jesus was a Creator of the house. We have access to this same household, but only IF we endure until the end, holding fast the confidence and rejoicing of our hope in Him. Therefore doubting and complaining have no place in our walks, because they display our lack of faith. This faith should increase the longer we are alive, not deteriorate over the years too. It is not good enough that we just start strong, we need to also finish strong. It is possible to have run the race and still fall short. Philippians 2:16, “...holding fast the word of life, so that I may rejoice in the day of Christ that I have not run in vain or labored in vain.”
Verses 7-11, “Therefore, as the Holy Spirit says: “Today, if you will hear His voice, Do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion, In the day of trial in the wilderness, Where your fathers tested Me, tried Me, And saw My works forty years. Therefore I was angry with that generation, And said, ‘They always go astray in their heart, And they have not known My ways.’ So I swore in My wrath, ‘They shall not enter My rest.’ ” Here is a great example of people who fell short and did not finish the race ny persevering in faith. Even though the Israelites were God's people, He rejected them for their hard hearts and failure to obey Him. Hebrews 3:7-11, “Therefore, as the Holy Spirit says: “Today, if you will hear His voice, Do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion, In the day of trial in the wilderness, Where your fathers tested Me, tried Me, And saw My works forty years. Therefore I was angry with that generation, And said, ‘They always go astray in their heart, And they have not known My ways.’ So I swore in My wrath, ‘They shall not enter My rest.’ ” All of the events that happened to them was perfectly recorded for us and written as a strong warning of what can also happen to us. 1 Corinthians 10:11-12, “Now all these things happened to them as examples, and they were written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the ages have come. Therefore let him who thinks he stands take heed lest he fall.”
Verses 12-15, “Beware, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief in departing from the living God; but exhort one another daily, while it is called “Today,” lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin. For we have become partakers of Christ if we hold the beginning of our confidence steadfast to the end, while it is said: “Today, if you will hear His voice, Do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion.” Sin deceives us and makes us think we can have what our flesh desires and still have God. Unfortunately, that is not the case, and choosing your flesh will harden you over time so that you depart from your faith and from God. We can convince ourselves that we are special, and not like the rest, but we are only fooling ourselves. The Jews all experienced multiple miracles of God, proving Himself faithful time after time. It wasn't just a few who rebelled. Verses 16-19, “For who, having heard, rebelled? Indeed, was it not all who came out of Egypt, led by Moses? 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? So we see that they could not enter in because of unbelief.”
If God is dealing with you on something, you would be best off to obey quickly and submit to Him. Continuing to ignore His correction will only result in the hardening of your heart over time, and you are only deceiving yourself into thinking that you are all set or that He will accept you as you are, in your sin. Why would you even want to try God's patience? Eventually He will have enough, just as with the Jews, and they never made it out of the wilderness. Walking in the wilderness for prolonged periods and angering God without fear is not good...but even worse than that is not entering into eternal rest.
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