Do Not Harden Your Hearts

Therefore, while the promise of entering his rest still stands, let us fear lest any of you should seem to have failed to reach it. For good news came to us just as to them, but the message they heard did not benefit them, because they were not united by faith with those who listened. For we who have believed enter that rest, as he has said, “As I swore in my wrath, ‘They shall not enter my rest,’” although his works were finished from the foundation of the world. For he has somewhere spoken of the seventh day in this way: “And God rested on the seventh day from all his works.” And again in this passage he said, “They shall not enter my rest.” Since therefore it remains for some to enter it, and those who formerly received the good news failed to enter because of disobedience, again he appoints a certain day, “Today,” saying through David so long afterward, in the words already quoted, “Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts.” (Hebrews 4:1-7 ESV).

 

In our previous devotionals we have seen the superiority of Jesus clearly presented. At the end of this part of the epistle the writer ends ended with the warning that it was unbelief that kept the people of Israel from entering into the promised land and the rest God had promised there (cf. Hebrews 3:19). The point we can draw from this is that we must care enough about each other that every day we get in each other’s lives and exhort each other not to let distrust in God creep in and destroy our lives. Certainly this is the meaning of Hebrews 3:12–13:

 

“Take care, brethren, lest there should be in any one of you an evil, unbelieving heart, in falling away from the living God. But encourage one another day after day, as long as it is called ‘Today,’ lest any one of you be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin.”

 

So, one conclusion to draw from the warning of Hebrews 3:19 is that unbelief is such a constant and dangerous temptation that we must help each other fight it off. Persevering in faith to the end is a community project. This may be accomplished in smaller groups of like-minded believers. The “small group” or “home group” of our present practice can have a tremendous seriousness about them, if we believe what this says. They should meet and form relationships of mutual accountability and love because our faith depends on it. And our entering into God’s rest depends on our faith. No wonder the writer will later say:

 

And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and ball the more as you see the Day drawing near. (Hebrews 10:4-25 EAV).

 

This is one of ways we help one another to stretch out to Jesus! That keeps us from hardening our hearts!

  

Consider Jesus

 

Therefore, holy brothers, you who share in a heavenly calling, consider Jesus, the apostle and high priest of our confession, who was faithful to him who appointed him, just as Moses also was faithful in all God’s house. For Jesus has been counted worthy of more glory than Moses—as much more glory as the builder of a house has more honor than the house itself. (For every house is built by someone, but the builder of all things is God.)  Now Moses was faithful in all God’s house was a servant, to testify to the things that were to be spoken later, but Christ is faithful over God’s house as a son. And we are his house, if indeed we ahold fast our confidence and our boasting in our hope. (Hebrews 3:1-6 ESV).

 

The verb κατανοέω (katanoeó), and translated here as “consider”, is used in the New Testament to denote a deep, attentive observation or consideration. It implies more than a casual glance, suggesting a thorough and careful examination or contemplation. This term is often used to encourage believers to pay close attention to spiritual truths or to the example set by others. In the Greco-Roman world, the act of careful observation and contemplation was highly valued, especially in philosophical and educational contexts. The use of κατανοέω in the New Testament reflects this cultural emphasis on thoughtful consideration, urging believers to engage their minds fully in understanding spiritual matters. This aligns with the Jewish tradition of meditation on the Scriptures, where deep reflection on God's word was seen as a path to wisdom and understanding.

 

This whole book of Hebrews is written to help us do just that. There is more to consider about Jesus than you could ever exhaust in this life. In chapter 1 the point was that Jesus is superior to angels. Jesus made and sustains the world (1:1–2, 10), but the angels run errands in it (1:14). In chapter 2 Jesus takes on human flesh and fulfills the hope of Psalm 8 for all his people (2:7–8): "You [O God] have made him for a little while lower than the angels; you have crowned him with glory and honor, and have appointed him over the works of your hands; you have put all things in subjection under his feet."

 

And the point at every stage of this book is: Consider this Jesus! Ponder him. Fix your eyes on him. If your mind is like a compass moving through a world of magnets, making it spin this way and that, make Jesus the North Pole of your mental life that your mind comes back to again and again through the day.

 

Partners in the Heavenly Calling

 

Therefore, holy brothers, you who share in a heavenly calling, consider Jesus, the apostle and high priest of our confession, who was faithful to him who appointed him, just as Moses also was faithful in all God’s house. For Jesus has been counted worthy of more glory than Moses—as much more glory as the builder of a house has more honor than the house itself. (For every house is built by someone, but the builder of all things is God.)  Now Moses was faithful in all God’s house was a servant, to testify to the things that were to be spoken later, but Christ is faithful over God’s house as a son. And we are his house, if indeed we ahold fast our confidence and our boasting in our hope. (Hebrews 3:1-6 ESV).

 

Yesterday I called your attention to the two great needs we have: we need a word from God and a way to God. Christians are people who have heard and believed a heavenly calling, and are therefore partakers of it, sharing in it—"holy brethren, partakers of a heavenly calling." It is a heavenly calling because it comes from heaven—from God. In the Greco-Roman world, a "calling" could refer to a summons to a banquet or a legal summons. In the Jewish context, the concept of being "called" by God was deeply rooted in the Old Testament, where God called individuals like Abraham, Moses, and the prophets for specific purposes. The New Testament expands this idea to include all believers, emphasizing the universal call to salvation and holiness. And it is a heavenly calling because it invites us and leads us to heaven, and, of course to God.

 

This "heavenly calling" means it is a word from heaven, a word from God. And it's a calling, which means it is meant to show us the way home to God. Christians are people who have been gripped by this calling. The word of God broke through our resistance and took hold of us with the truth and love of Christ, and reconciled us to God and is now leading us home to heaven. This means that Christians are people of great hope. God has spoken from heaven, and made a way to heaven, and we have believed, and our hope and confidence are firm.

 

And the reason our hope and confidence are firm is not because of ourselves. In every gathering of believers there are sinners of every kind. No one has escaped the temptation of sin. The hope of a heavenly calling does not depend on our righteousness. If it did, we would be hopeless. Our hope and confidence is completely dependent on Jesus.

 

We often think that considering Jesus is something that unbelievers should do. "Consider Jesus," we say to the seeker and the perplexed. And that's right. But this book of Hebrews is devoted to helping Christians consider Jesus. "Holy brethren, . . . consider Jesus." Remember the warning back in chapter 2, "We must pay much closer attention to what we have heard, lest we drift away from it." The danger is constantly in our way that we will stop considering Jesus and become more interested in other things and drift away from the Word and perhaps never return and prove that we were never truly partakers of the heavenly calling. So, Hebrews calls Christians again and again to "Consider Jesus."

 

Jesus, Greater than Moses

 

Therefore, holy brothers, you who share in a heavenly calling, consider Jesus, the apostle and high priest of our confession, who was faithful to him who appointed him, just as Moses also was faithful in all God’s house. For Jesus has been counted worthy of more glory than Moses—as much more glory as the builder of a house has more honor than the house itself. (For every house is built by someone, but the builder of all things is God.)  Now Moses was faithful in all God’s house was a servant, to testify to the things that were to be spoken later, but Christ is faithful over God’s house as a son. And we are his house, if indeed we ahold fast our confidence and our boasting in our hope. (Hebrews 3:1-6 ESV).

 

Our reading today goes a bit further in the declaration of the superiority of Jesus. The writer explains why Jesus is the ultimate example to follow, and not Moses. Jesus is superior. At first glance this is a simple declaration to accept. Remember the writer’s audience though. There was never a greater leader, or deliverer, for the Jews than Moses. However, the writer of this epistle calls his audience to dismiss the idea that Moses was either as good or better than Jesus. It is also a call to trust in Jesus and to give him the confidence, trust, and willingness to follow that only He deserves.

 

We need two things in life: we need to hear from God and we need to go to God. We need a word from God and we need a way to God. We need to hear from God so that we know what he is like and what his purposes are for the world and what he requires of us. And we need a way to God because to be cut off from God in death would be darkness and misery and torment forever. So, we have these two great needs: to hear from God and to go to God. We need revelation from him and reconciliation with him. As great a deliverer that Moses was, he failed at meeting these two basic needs. Jesus is the only One who can meet those two needs.

 

In the coming days we will look at this declaration from the writer in more depth. However, today begin to think how easily we “drift” to others to be our God. Politicians, preachers, powerful men and women in our lives will all fail in providing us with the basic need to hear God and be with Him. Only Jesus is sufficient. Others may be helpful in getting to Jesus, but they are not the answer. Jesus is the answer!

 

Who Is Man?

 

For it was not to angels that God subjected the world to come, of which we are speaking. It has been testified somewhere, “What is man, that you are mindful of him, or the son of man, that you care for him? You made him for a little while lower than the angels; you have crowned him with glory and honor, putting everything in subjection under his feet.” Now in putting everything in subjection to him, he left nothing outside his control. At present, we do not yet see everything in subjection to him. But we see him who for a little while was made lower than the angels, namely Jesus, crowned with glory and honor because of the suffering of death, so that by the grace of God he might taste death for everyone. (Hebrews 2:5-9 ESV).

 

It seems unnecessary to ask the question of who is really in charge of creation; however, the writer of Hebrews is facing a world that simply doesn’t understand the subtlety of accepting that anything, or anyone, other that Jesus is God and thus “in charge.” Before you roll your eyes at this thought, think of how many times you may have unintentionally given authority to something or someone other than Jesus. This surrender of authority can be as ignominious as believing in karma or chance. There can be no room for happenstance when we realize that Jesus is completely over all there is and all that takes place in His creation. He is sovereign over all that has been or will be.

 

When we think of this truth, we must question our beliefs like the psalmist when he wrote the following:

 

When I look at your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have set in place, what is man that you are mindful of him, and the son of man that you care for him? Yet you have made him a little lower than the heavenly beings and crowned him with glory and honor. You have given him dominion over the works of your hands; you have put all things under his feet, all sheep and oxen, and also the beasts of the field, the birds of the heavens, and the fish of the sea, whatever passes along the paths of the seas. (Psalm 8:3-8 ESV).

 

What is man that you remember him? Or the son of man, that you are concerned about him? You have made him a little lower than the angels… All this refers to the seeming insignificance ("What is man?"), and at the same time the amazing majesty, of a Man ("You have made him a little less, or for a while less, than angels"). David in this psalm is celebrating the majesty of God by calling attention to the fact that man, who is created in God's image, is appointed to be the ruler over his creation—"You have put all things in subjection under his feet" (v. 8). However, God is also exalting the incredible miracle of the Incarnation. When God became flesh in Jesus, it was the ultimate completion of a critical phase of the redemption of creation itself. God redeems all in Him. Angels can’t do that. Saints can’t do that. No created thing can do that! Therefore, we must not neglect such a great salvation as has been provided in Him. We cannot give authority that only belongs to Jesus to anyone or anything else.

 

Now, think about that. Where is your hope? Where is your trust placed for the righting of this world’s fallen state?

 

The Great Banquet

 

For it was not to angels that God subjected the world to come, of which we are speaking. It has been testified somewhere, “What is man, that you are mindful of him, or the son of man, that you care for him? You made him for a little while lower than the angels; you have crowned him with glory and honor, putting everything in subjection under his feet.” Now in putting everything in subjection to him, he left nothing outside his control. At present, we do not yet see everything in subjection to him. But we see him who for a little while was made lower than the angels, namely Jesus, crowned with glory and honor because of the suffering of death, so that by the grace of God he might taste death for everyone. (Hebrews 2:5-9 ESV).

 

What is the answer to that question which makes our salvation so great we would be utter fools to neglect it for mere power plays in this life, or mere possessions, or mere family? Jesus told a parable one time about God's great salvation and how people neglected it (Luke 14:16–20):

 

[Jesus said] A certain man was giving a big dinner, and he invited many; and at the dinner hour he sent his slave to say to those who had been invited, "Come; for everything is ready now." But they all alike began to make excuses. The first one said to him, "I have bought a piece of land and I need to go out and look at it; please consider me excused." And another one said, "I have bought five yoke of oxen, and I am going to try them out; please consider me excused." And another one said, "I have married a wife, and for that reason I cannot come."

 

This is the classic picture from Jesus of what it means to "neglect so great a salvation." And notice they are all good things: a piece of land, a yoke of oxen, a wife. And for that, salvation is neglected and lost.

 

Now in our reading the writer is helping us not to do that. He is laboring with the means appointed by God to save us—namely, with words. He is saying, Don't neglect this great salvation. Don't neglect what Christ has purchased for you and what is coming to you in the world to come. For in the world to come it is not to angels that God subjected all things. It is a word of caution we should hear clearly, especially in our day.

 

Ruined and Restored

 

For it was not to angels that God subjected the world to come, of which we are speaking. It has been testified somewhere, “What is man, that you are mindful of him, or the son of man, that you care for him? You made him for a little while lower than the angels; you have crowned him with glory and honor, putting everything in subjection under his feet.” Now in putting everything in subjection to him, he left nothing outside his control. At present, we do not yet see everything in subjection to him. But we see him who for a little while was made lower than the angels, namely Jesus, crowned with glory and honor because of the suffering of death, so that by the grace of God he might taste death for everyone. (Hebrews 2:5-9 ESV).

 

Our focus this morning is on verses 5–9. Notice that this passage begins with the word "for." "For" or "because" means that he is giving a basis or defense of what he just said: "For He [God] did not subject to angels the world to come." What he had just said was that our salvation is so great and so well attested that it is dangerous to neglect it and drift into indifference. The clear reason for this is that "… God did not subject to angels the world to come concerning which we are speaking."

 

We might be tempted to shrug our shoulders in confusion at this statement. It is a bit obtuse on its face value. However, that would be a great mistake. Keep in mind here that when Hebrews 2:3 speaks of a "great salvation," it is referring not only to all that Christ did by his death and resurrection to purify us from our sins (cf. Hebrews 1:3), but also to all the effects of that in the age to come. We know this because in Hebrews 1:14b the writer says that we "will inherit salvation." In other words, we experience part of it now in the purification of our sins and reconciliation with God, but there is so much more that we are yet to inherit. And that is what our reading begins to explain. He shows us this great truth of how Jesus took the creation from ruin to restoration!

 

So, when the writer speaks of "the world to come," he means the world of our final salvation—the time and the place and the relationships of glory and perfection after Jesus comes a second time and establishes his everlasting kingdom of righteousness and joy. Let me paraphrase it like this: don't neglect your coming great salvation, because in the coming world it is not angels who will have everything in subjection to them—it is not angels who will rule, but Jesus. We’ll look more into this in the coming days. Today, recognize the greatness of Jesus. He is not a good teacher, though His teaching is great; He is not a good healer, though His healing is miraculously great; He is not a good deliverer, though He is the final and great Deliverer, ruler of all things, who will take us to where He is that we might be in His perfect presence for eternity, safe from all harm and victorious over death itself! That’s the restoration He has accomplished! That’s why He “tasted death for all men”!