God’s people have had a rich historical record of God speaking with His people.
During their history, God spoke to individuals and to the whole house of Israel. In this study, God’s voice is any direction from the Lord that is delivered through Scripture, the Holy Spirit’s working, or by the mouth of God. God’s covenant blessings were promised to people who would hear His voice and walk in obedience to faith in what God said.
- Continuance and blessing depended upon Noah hearing God’s voice and obeying His command to build an ark.
- Abraham and Sarah entered into a covenant relationship with God when they heard His voice and walked by faith.
Many of the covenant blessings are summed up in the word “rest.”
- God provided rest from their labors on the seventh day.
- He provided rest in the seventieth year.
- Throughout their journey in the wilderness, God gave periodic periods of rest.
- God promised to go with them into the heritage He prepared and He said, “My Presence will go with you, and I will give you rest,” (Exodus 33:14).
- God promised a specific rest and inheritance in the land of promise, (Deuteronomy 12:9-10).
In Genesis 12:7, the Lord appeared to Abram and said, “To your descendants I will give this land.”
God promised the land would be an everlasting possession and He would be their God. Later when God made the covenant with Abram, He promised to give them a land, (Genesis 15:18-21). God’s plan was for His people to enter into a Promised Land, His rest, and blessing. If they would hear His voice and walk in obedience, no enemy would be able to stand against them.
God repeated this promise to Isaac, Jacob, Moses, and Joshua and to the whole nation of Israel, (Genesis 17:19; Genesis 26:1-5; Genesis 35:12-15; Exodus 6:1-8; Joshua 1:1-9, 13; etc.).
In Deuteronomy 1:6-7, Moses told the people, “The Lord our God spoke to us in Horeb, saying: “You have dwelt long enough at this mountain… Take and turn your journey, and go…
Deuteronomy 1:8 See, I have set the land before you; go in and possess the land which the Lord swore to you your fathers — to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob — to give to them and their descendants after them.”
After they were given God’s commandments, God gave His people a list of blessings and curses.
If they listened to the voice of God and obeyed, God would bless them above all people and give them His rest. If they rebelled against God, all of the curses would come upon them. Many of the people did not gain the blessing and promise when they heard the voice of God.
Deuteronomy 28:1-2 NKJV “Now it shall come to pass, if you diligently obey the voice of the Lord your God, to observe carefully all His commandments which I command you today, that the Lord your God will set you high above all nations of the earth. And all these blessings shall come upon you and overtake you, because you obey the voice of the Lord your God:
Deuteronomy 28:3-6
- “Blessed shall you be in the city, and …in the country.
- “Blessed shall be the fruit of your body, …your ground …your herds, …cattle and …your flocks.
- “Blessed shall be your basket and your kneading bowl.
- “Blessed shall you be when you come in, and blessed shall you be when you go out.
Deuteronomy 28:7-8
- “The Lord will cause your enemies …to be defeated… they will come against you one way and flee from you seven ways.”
- “The Lord will guarantee a blessing on everything you do, and He will bless you in the land He is giving you.”
Deuteronomy 28:9-10 “If you keep His commands and walk in His ways, the Lord will establish you as His holy people as He swore He would do. All the nations of the world will see that you are a people claimed by Lord, and they will fear you.”
Deuteronomy 28:11-12 “The Lord will grant you abundant prosperity, in the fruit of your body, the increase of your livestock, and produce in the land which the Lord swore to give to your fathers. The Lord will open to you the heavens and the storehouse of His bounty, to send rain on your land in its season and to bless all the work of your hand. You shall lend to many nations, but you shall not borrow.”
Deuteronomy 28:13 NKJV And the Lord will make you the head and not the tail; you shall be above only, and not be beneath, if you heed the commandments of the Lord your God, which I command you today, and are careful to observe them.
Deuteronomy 28:14 NIV84 Do not turn aside from any of the commands I give you today, to the right or to the left, following other gods and serving them.
This brings us to our current location in Hebrews 3:7.
When the Exodus generation approached the Promised Land, they refused to obey God’s command to enter. God’s promise was sure, but the people did not believe that God was able to do what He said. Twelve (12) spies were sent into the land that God had prepared for them and all but two of them lost faith in God.
Only Joshua and Caleb believed God.
Most of us do not know the names of the other 10 spies who rebelled against God. God’s promise and blessing is only for those who walk in obedience to His voice. Forty years passed and God spoke again, this time to Joshua.
After Moses died, the Lord spoke to Joshua at the Jordan River and renewed His covenant of blessing and rest.
Joshua 1:5-9 NKJV No man shall be able to stand before you all the days of your life; as I was with Moses, so I will be with you. I will not leave you nor forsake you. Be strong and of good courage, for to this people you shall divide as an inheritance the land which I swore to their fathers to give them. Only be strong and very courageous, that you may observe to do according to all the law which Moses My servant commanded you; do not turn from it to the right hand or to the left, that you may prosper wherever you go. This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate in it day and night, that you may observe to do according to all that is written in it. For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success. Have I not commanded you? Be strong and of good courage; do not be afraid, nor be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.”
Joshua 1:13 NKJV “Remember the word which Moses the servant of the Lord commanded you, saying, ‘The Lord your God is giving you rest and is giving you this land.’
This message of a prepared rest for His people is what God is giving to the Hebrews.
If we are going to enjoy His rest and blessing, we must be people who hear God’s voice and walk in obedience to Him.
Hebrews 3:7-11 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.’ ”
Hebrews 3:12-15 NKJV Beware, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief in departing from the living God; but exhort one another daily, while it is called “Today,” lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin. For we have become partakers of Christ if we hold the beginning of our confidence steadfast to the end, while it is said: “Today, if you will hear His voice, Do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion.”
Hebrews 3:16-19 NKJV For who, having heard, rebelled? Indeed, was it not all who came out of Egypt, led by Moses? Now with whom was He angry forty years? Was it not with those who sinned, whose corpses fell in the wilderness? And to whom did He swear that they would not enter His rest, but to those who did not obey? So we see that they could not enter in because of unbelief.
God is continuing to speak to His people.
We must remain sensitive to the Holy Spirit and the word of God.
There are two phrases in this reading we must not miss.
- “For we have become partakers of Christ if we hold the beginning of our confidence steadfast to the end,” (vs. 14).
- “So we see that they could not enter in because of unbelief,” (vs.19).
They were not able to enter God’s provided rest because they did not believe.
Hebrews 4:1-2 NKJV Therefore, since a promise remains of entering His rest, let us fear lest any of you seem to have come short of it. For indeed the gospel was preached to us as well as to them; but the word which they heard did not profit them, not being mixed with faith in those who heard it.
Entering God’s rest is not just entering a “Promised Land,” it is entering the completed work of God. That work is accomplished through the Lord Jesus Christ. It is the message of the Gospel of God’s grace. This rest is inner peace that comes from the assurance we have in Christ and the fulfillment of all of God’s promise.
Hebrews 4:3-7 NKJV For we who have believed do enter that rest, as He has said: “So I swore in My wrath, ‘They shall not enter My rest,’ ” although the works were finished from the foundation of the world. For He has spoken in a certain place of the seventh day in this way: “And God rested on the seventh day from all His works”; and again in this place: “They shall not enter My rest.” Since therefore it remains that some must enter it, and those to whom it was first preached did not enter because of disobedience, again He designates a certain day, saying in David, “Today,” after such a long time, as it has been said: “Today, if you will hear His voice, Do not harden your hearts.”
Hebrews 4:8-11 NKJV For if Joshua had given them rest, then He would not afterward have spoken of another day. There remains therefore a rest for the people of God. For he who has entered His rest has himself also ceased from his works as God did from His. Let us therefore be diligent to enter that rest, lest anyone fall according to the same example of disobedience.
What is this “rest that remains for the people of God?”
The text says, “When we enter His rest we cease from our own works as God did.” The writer is encouraging us to put our faith and trust in Christ’s finished work. This the Gospel of God’s grace and mercy. When the Lord prepared a Promised Land, He said He would give it to them. All they had to do was go in and possess the land. They did not believe that God was able to do what He said.
If we hear God’s voice telling us what He has prepared and do not trust Him, we will not be able to enter His rest.
Faith and obedience are linked throughout the Bible. True faith in God releases us from our fear and takes us into His promised inheritance. We need to know that God is faithful to His powerful word. What He has said, He will do.
Hebrews 4:12-13 NKJV For the word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. And there is no creature hidden from His sight, but all things are naked and open to the eyes of Him to whom we must give account.
God’s word is living and powerful. God knows when we have real faith and trust in His word. When we truly hear the voice of God and respond with true faith, God has promised that we will enter His rest and cease from our own labors.
What does that mean?
The result is in God’s hands, not ours. With Israel, it means they would enter God’s Promised Land. With Joshua, it means that no enemy would be able to stand. The walls of Jericho would fall. God’s people would surely enter the promised possession. God is telling believers today, “I am faithful to My Word.” We must have hearing ears and walk in obedience to the faith we have in God.
