Hebrews 3:17

Hebrews 3:17

Who is God angry with?

The argument that we can never lose our salvation seems to be under close scrutiny here in these verses. There is no question that the Lord God saved a vast number of Hebrew slaves from the tyranny of Egypt and that He led them through the Red Sea into the wilderness. The entire company, all its families, tribes and people assembled at Mount Sinai where they clearly saw God’s presence and received the Law in all its detail. Those same people then came within spitting distance of the Promised Land, but they never entered in! The reasons are multiple; from the human point of view, they rebelled (v16), they sinned (v17) and they disobeyed the Lord (v18). From God’s point of view, they prompted divine anger (v17) and caused Him to swear that these people would never enter His rest. A whole generation died before access was granted to Canaan and only Caleb and Joshua survived the 40 years of wilderness wandering. The majority of these people died as free Israelites, no longer under the bondage of the Egyptians, but neither had they entered into the fulness of God’s provision and His planned inheritance for them. 

Might it be suggested that many take a step of faith and believe in the saving work of Christ and thus they are freed from their slavery to sin, but only a few enter into the fulness of all that God has prepared for them. Thus, many millions call themselves Christians today and associate themselves with the church of Jesus Christ but very few know the true fellowship of the Holy Spirit and what it means to battle for the land and to rest in the full provision that the Lord offers to His people. Is it time to ask ourselves if rebellion, sin and disobedience are keeping us from the promised rest? 

 

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