Hebrews 3:15 Commentary - Dr Peter Masters

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Hebrews 3:15

Comments

When is this said, and what bearing does the timing of this statement have on the meaning of the verse? Though written long ago in the Psalms, the Scriptures are given to the people of God and will not pass away until all is accomplished. These words therefore continue to be said to us at the present day, and they apply to us until Christ returns. How closely we should study every word of God! How we should hang on his words and search diligently to find every possible implication and encouragement that we can from them. When a poor man is spoken to by a king, the poor man looks carefully to find any sign of favour in what has been said to him. This warning not to harden our hearts includes within it an implied hope of mercy to those who heed it. While God speaks to us and teaches us and does not immediately judge us then we may read his favour towards us, for what we deserve is not a moment’s delay in the execution of our eternal condemnation. If he deals with us otherwise then we dare to hope that he has intentions of kindness towards us. But this will not always be said, and the time will come when the door is closed and hard human hearts are sealed in their hardness. At that point God will never again say anything that justifies the expectation of mercy.

Application

The point about the passage quoted here from Psalm 95 and the historic events it describes in Numbers is that this process of provocation of God, of hardening of the heart, and of God’s patience being exhausted, has already been lived out in the case of Old Testament Israel. In their case what God offered was the typical blessing of rest in the land of Canaan and they were denied that rest because of their unbelief. But the warning is to us, the New Testament people of God, that if we harden our hearts in unbelief, we too may be denied his blessing and fall short of the salvation that is held out to us in the promise. We may have stood for a time among the professing people of God, but we may prove ourselves to lack the faith which identifies us as true children of God.

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Hebrews 3:15 Commentary and Bible Study