Hebrews 3:7-12 (NKJV)
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.’ ”)
Beware, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief in departing from the living God;

Throughout the development of the theme in this epistle, the apostle exhorts, rebukes, warns and encourages. In this portion before us, we have the second interjected warning, which extends from 3:7 - 4:13. It is a warning against the sin of unbelief. The first interjected warning was found in 2:1-4. there the apostle had warned against the sin of neglect. They had been exhorted to take heed to the things they had heard lest they drift away from the truth. Here he exhorts them to take heed lest they harden their hearts in unbelief. As we look at verses seven to twelve, we notice after the word 'wherefore' a parenthesis which continues down to the end of verse eleven. It is marked off in brackets, and is a quotation from Psalm 95:7-11. The warning given in our text in the epistle is "Wherefore take heed, brethren, lest thereby in any of you an evil heart of unbelief, in departing from the living God." The apostle, in quoting from the Psalm refers to the wandering of Israel as an example of those who through unbelief lost out in the promises of God. They tempted God, provoked Him and grieved Him. (Ex 17:7, Num14:11, Psa 78:40) They had limited the Holy One of Israel in their rebellion and unbelief. Thus they forfeited the land of promise and perished in the wilderness, only two of the vast number who left Egypt entered the land of Canaan.

We must not lose sight of the parallel that the apostle uses in his argument in this third chapter. He had been speaking of Moses, faithful in all God's house. Then he refers to the wandering of Israel, who, in spite of the faithfulness of Moses, their leader, murmured and rebelled, bringing judgment upon themselves. Having proved that the Son is better than Moses, he now exhorts and warns his hearers to hold fast their confidence and the rejoicing of their hope firm unto the end. It is necessary that these Hebrews continue to embrace their Messiah and the new covenant. To give up their confidence, manifesting an evil heart of unbelief, is to depart from the living God. If Israel, in unbelief, rebelled under the leadership of Moses and died in the wilderness, forfeiting their earthly inheritance, will not these Hebrews of the early Christian era, who rebel in unbelief under the leadership of their Messiah, the Mediator of the new covenant, forfeit their heavenly in inheritance?

The apostle quotes Psalm 95:7-11 to give scriptural enforcement of the warning given in chapter three and verse twelve of the epistle. Let us look at the Psalm from which the quotation if taken. It begins with praise

These first seven verses of the Psalm are taken up with the Lord God of Israel. All is glorious. The eye is upon 'the Rock of our salvation." But how different is the rest of the Psalm. The Psalmist turns his eyes from the Shepherd to the sheep. He looks upon Israel and therefore exhorts.

God had graciously delivered Israel from the cruel hand of proud Pharaoh. He brought them through the Red Sea on dry land. He graced them with His presence, dwelling in their midst in Shekinah Glory. He guided them, protected and provided them with the supply for every need. Nevertheless, Israel constantly murmured and complained. They sided with Moses and grieved their God. In unbelief they lost their inheritance. The Psalmist, looking back over the history of Israel, rejoiced at the goodness of God; but when he looked upon Israel he was no longer filled with praise, but uttered a needed exhortation.

Throughout the Old Testament period, God had spoken. Israel had heard His voice in 'times past.' He spoke 'in the prophets.' But Israel would not hear and they would not heed the voice of God. Isaiah summed up the situation in a very bold way and said of God's long suffering with Israel:

"All the day long I have stretched forth my hands unto a disobedient and gainsaying people." (Romans 12:21) Israel failed to hear God's voice in the wilderness. They refused to hear all down through their history. When the Son appeared to Israel, God spoke from heaven saying, "this is my Son, hear Him" Now the apostle, writing to the Hebrews in the first century of Christianity exhorts them to take heed. David made reference to Israel's wanderings in unbelief when exhorting the people of his day. Likewise the apostle in the warning in his epistle, refers to the same incident by quoting the Psalmist. The apostle does not attribute the Psalm to David but to the Holy Ghost. " As the Holy Ghost saith' (Heb 3:7) The Holy Ghost spoke the words but David, the Man, was moved upon the the Spirit to write them down. If these Hebrews are to hear the voice of God, they must not harden their hearts. These Hebrews were leaning back to the old covenant. This was a heart hardening process. They are warned against unbelief. There is danger of those who had been brought to the knowledge of new covenant truth to draw back in unbelief. Therefore the exhortation. "Take heed."

The writer recalls Israel's hardness of heart when there was no water at Rephidim and they murmured against Moses. (Ex 17:1-7) This was the provocation Israel caused God in the wilderness. The word 'temptation ' simply means to 'put to the test.' In time of adversity and trial, Israel did not trust God but in unbelief said, "Is the Lord among us or not?" It is the unbeliever who cries: "We'll see if there is a God" or "We'll see if God answers prayer." There was no faith, but unbelief. There was no confidence in God, but unbelief. Like the infidel today who says: "If there be a God why does He not do such and such." The unbelief of Israel in their wilderness journey is clearly brought out in verse nine. "When your fathers tempted me and proved me, and saw my works.' The word 'tempted' as the word 'temptation' in the preceding verse, means 'to put to the test to see what good or evil may be found." The word 'proved' means 'to put to the test for the purpose of approving should the test be met." In Malachi 3:10 God, speaking through the prophet, says, "Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be meat in mine house, and prove me now herewith, saith the Lord of hosts." Here the child of God is called upon 'to prove God.' However, there is a vast difference in proving God by tempting or putting to the test in unbelief, and proving God in faith and obedience. God's people, Israel, in their wilderness wanderings, were full of unbelief. In times of trial Israel said, "Is the Lord among us or not." (Ex 17:&) Thus Israel had hardened their hearts toward God. The recipients of the Hebrews epistle were being persecuted for their professed faith in the Messiah. I such time of trial they are warned against hardening their hearts. In spite of trial they are exhorted to continue in the faith, being confident that God will meet their every need.

How often professed Christians, today, in time of suffering, trial, or disappointment, question the goodness of the Lord? They harden their hearts against God, become bitter, and no longer rejoice in the God of their salvation. May we, believers, in our trials continue in faith and confidence, committing our way unto the Lord. Happy is the man whose faith does not waver in the trying circumstances of life, but whose faith brings glory to God.

In verse ten we see the terrible result of Israel hardening their hearts. "God was grieved with that generation," literally was, Wroth" or displeased." It incurred the displeasure of God. God was displeased because 'they do always err in their heart." The word 'err' means 'to wander.' The same thought is brought out in Isaiah 29:24; 35:8. Israel was prone to wander, to be lead astray. Had Israel submitted to God in their trials and gained experimental knowledge as they should have done, they would not have erred.

In His displeasure with Israel, God "sware," that is, He gave His oath, "They shall not enter into my rest." The thought is that Jehovah would no longer exist should Israel enter Canaan rest. So certain was it that Israel should not enter. Jehovah will never cease to exist. The word "rest' here does not mean relief from fatigue but 'cessation from work that has been well done." It refers to a cessation of activity. It is spoken of as God's rest in that He would give it to His people It was to be the Canaan rest which would be a contrast to the slavery of Israel In Egypt. Though a new generation, which was born in the wilderness wandering, entered Canaan under the leadership of Joshua, they enjoyed no permanent rest because of their sin in idolatrous practices.

Having concluded the quotation from Psalm 95, the apostle warns his hearers against committing the same sin of Unbelief. "Take Heed, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief in departing from the living God. These Hebrews are in danger of doing the same as Israel did in the wilderness. Their persecution may, if they do not submit to God, cause them to err or go astray. There is danger of 'an evil heart of unbelief' being manifested. We must here distinguish from an evil heart of unbelief and in the doubting heart of a believer. An evil heart of unbelief is not found in the child of God but the unbeliever's heart is controlled by unbelief. He is blind to the truth.

The child of God may doubt and at times fail to exercise faith, but his heart is not controlled by unbelief. The Hebrew, who hardened his heart in unbelief because of persecution, would go back from the new covenant to the old covenant with its Levitical sacrifices. He would either embrace the new covenant or the old covenant. The Hebrews are therefore warned to take heed lest there be an evil heart of unbelief in departing from the living God. They were in danger of departing from the Messiah and the new covenant and going back to the ld covenant with its typical sacrifices with were done away with at the cross.

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