August 20
“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,”’” Hebrews 3:7-11.
The author of the Epistle to the Hebrews is quoting Psalm 95:7-11, and he ascribes the quoted words to the Holy Spirit, who is the divine Author of all of the Scriptures, as the apostle Peter writes: “Holy men of God spoke as they were moved by the Holy Spirit,” 2 Peter 1:21.
The quoted words take us back into the history of the children of Israel. After they left Egypt, God parted the waters of the Red Sea and enabled them to cross the sea on dry land. As they journeyed through the wilderness, they camped in Rephidim, where there was no water to drink. The people complained against Moses, and asked, “Why is it you have brought us up out of Egypt, to kill us and our children and our livestock with thirst?” Exodus 17:3. They also complained against the Lord, and asked, “Is the Lord among us or not?” Exodus 17:7. Moses called the place Massah and Meribah because the people tempted and argued with Moses and the Lord. The Lord miraculously provided water for them out of a rock.
The children of Israel had witnessed God’s almighty hand of deliverance out of bondage and slavery in the land of Egypt. It took ten plagues which God visited upon the Egyptians to persuade Pharaoh to let the people of Israel depart. The tenth plague was the slaying of the firstborn child in every Egyptian home in a given night. The children of Israel were spared from the horrible death by the blood of a lamb which they put above the door and on the doorposts of their homes. The Lord passed over their homes and death did not knock at their door. Annually thereafter, the children of Israel celebrated the Passover Festival in memory of God’s great deliverance.
However, their memories were short, as ours also often are. When things were going well, they forgot about the blessings of God. When things were not going so well, they complained against God and Moses. This sounds familiar to many events in our own lives.
Therefore, we need the same admonition that was given to the Israelites: “Today, if you will hear His voice, do not harden your hearts.” Today, not tomorrow! Spiritually, don’t put off until tomorrow what should be done today. Today, we should repent of our sins and pledge ourselves anew to God, who in His grace and mercy sent His Son, Jesus, to save us. Jesus suffered and died on Calvary’s cross and rose again from the grave to redeem us from our sins, death and the devil. By faith in Jesus, we are assured of God’s forgiveness and the promise of eternal life. People who reject Jesus as their Savior will face God’s eternal judgment.
The Israelites faced God’s judgment. God said, “I was angry with that generation, and said, ‘They always go astray in their hearts, and they have not known My ways.’ So I swore in My wrath, ‘They shall not enter my rest.’” All of the Israelites twenty years old and above who had witnessed God’s miracles and wonders, but who forgot Him, wandered in the wilderness for forty years, died in that wilderness and were not permitted to enter the promised land of Canaan. Israel’s history is written for our learning.
Today, God says to you and me, “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved,” Acts 16:31. He assures us, “He who believes and is baptized will be saved; but he who does not believe will be condemned,” Mark 16:16.
Today Thy mercy calls us, To wash away our sin.
However great our trespass, Whatever we have been,
However long from mercy, Our hearts have turned away,
Thy precious blood can cleanse us, And make us white today. Amen.