God’s people who had seen great miracles in the exodus from Egypt never entered God’s rest. Having great leaders like Moses, Joshua, and Caleb did not cover for the people’s unbelief and rebellion. Not only did the people’s sin keep them from possessing the land, it kept them from close fellowship with God. We must be careful that we don’t believe we are Christians just because we belong to a good church or have a good Christian family. The Israelites, God’s chosen people, failed to enter because they disobeyed God. But that doesn’t mean God’s place of rest no longer exists. It is still there for people to enter.
Humanity did not lose its chance for salvation with Israel’s failure, but the writer again warned his readers not to harden their hearts. The phrase, God set another time, means that the time of rest will come, indeed it has come, for the time is today. At the time of the writing of Psalm 95, partially quoted in this verse, no one had entered God’s complete rest. Many Jewish people may have believed that they had already received God’s rest by inhabiting the land of Canaan. But the writer argues that it cannot be so. Joshua and the Israelites did settle Canaan and did achieve periods of peace and prosperity. Yet, if this had been God’s promised rest, God would not have spoken later about another day of rest. In other words, there would have been no need for this renewal of the promise recorded here from the psalm written by David. If God only intended an earthly kingdom, God would not have promised “another day.” Therefore the rest was not in the land, but in God’s eternal Kingdom - Heaven.
SO WHAT? (what will I do with what I have read today?)
In 1 Corinthians 10:1-12 (NIV), we are given a warning to remember and learn from Israels past failures.
"For I do not want you to be ignorant of the fact, brothers, that our forefathers were all under the cloud and that they all passed through the sea. They were all baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea. They all ate the same spiritual food and drank the same spiritual drink; for they drank from the spiritual rock that accompanied them, and that rock was Christ. Nevertheless, God was not pleased with most of them; their bodies were scattered over the desert.
Now these things occurred as examples to keep us from setting our hearts on evil things as they did.
Do not be idolaters, as some of them were; as it is written: "The people sat down to eat and drink and got up to indulge in pagan revelry." We should not commit sexual immorality, as some of them did--and in one day twenty-three thousand of them died.
We should not test the Lord, as some of them did--and were killed by snakes. And do not grumble, as some of them did--and were killed by the destroying angel. These things happened to them as examples and were written down as warnings for us, on whom the fulfillment of the ages has come. So, if you think you are standing firm, be careful that you don't fall!"
What's the point? Don't harden your hearts to the things of God. Don't let pride have one inch of your heart. Every day, all throughout the day, fight the good fight. Stay the course. Finish the race. ENDURE. Persevere.
"So let's not allow ourselves to get fatigued doing good. At the right time we will harvest a good crop if we don't give up, or quit." Galatians 6:9 (MSG)
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