HelpFinder Bible - Flipbook - Page 1481
HEB R EWS 4
page 1111
5 Moses was certainly faithful in God’s house
as a servant. His work was an illustration of the
truths God would reveal later. 6 But Christ, as the
Son, is in charge of God’s entire house. And we
are God’s house, if we keep our courage and remain confident in our hope in Christ.*
7 That is why the Holy Spirit says,
8
9
10
11
“Today when you hear his voice,
don’t harden your hearts
as Israel did when they rebelled,
when they tested me in the wilderness.
There your ancestors tested and tried my
patience,
even though they saw my miracles for
forty years.
So I was angry with them, and I said,
‘Their hearts always turn away from me.
They refuse to do what I tell them.’
So in my anger I took an oath:
‘They will never enter my place of rest.’”*
12 Be careful then, dear brothers and sisters.* Make
sure that your own hearts are not evil and unbelieving, turning you away from the living God.
13 You must warn each other every day, while it is
still “today,” so that none of you will be deceived
by sin and hardened against God. 14 For if we are
faithful to the end, trusting God just as firmly as
when we first believed, we will share in all that
belongs to Christ. 15 Remember what it says:
“Today when you hear his voice,
don’t harden your hearts
as Israel did when they rebelled.”*
16 And who was it who rebelled against God,
even though they heard his voice? Wasn’t it the
people Moses led out of Egypt? 17 And who made
God angry for forty years? Wasn’t it the people
who sinned, whose corpses lay in the wilderness? 18 And to whom was God speaking when
he took an oath that they would never enter his
rest? Wasn’t it the people who disobeyed him?
19 So we see that because of their unbelief they
were not able to enter his rest.
Promised Rest for God’s People
God’s promise of entering his rest still
stands, so we ought to tremble with fear
that some of you might fail to experience it.
2 For this good news—that God has prepared
this rest—has been announced to us just as it
was to them. But it did them no good because
they didn’t share the faith of those who listened
to God.* 3 For only we who believe can enter his
rest. As for the others, God said,
4
“In my anger I took an oath:
‘They will never enter my place of rest,’”*
3:6 Some manuscripts add faithful to the end. 3:7-11 Ps
95:7-11. 3:12 Greek brothers. 3:15 Ps 95:7-8. 4:2 Some
manuscripts read they didn’t combine what they heard with
faith. 4:3 Ps 95:11. 4:4 Gen 2:2. 4:5 Ps 95:11.
4:7 Ps 95:7-8. 4:9 Or a Sabbath rest.
even though this rest has been ready since he
made the world. 4 We know it is ready because
of the place in the Scriptures where it mentions the seventh day: “On the seventh day God
rested from all his work.”* 5 But in the other
passage God said, “They will never enter my
place of rest.”*
6 So God’s rest is there for people to enter, but
those who first heard this good news failed to
enter because they disobeyed God. 7 So God set
another time for entering his rest, and that time
is today. God announced this through David
much later in the words already quoted:
“Today when you hear his voice,
don’t harden your hearts.”*
8 Now if Joshua had succeeded in giving them
this rest, God would not have spoken about
another day of rest still to come. 9 So there is a
special rest* still waiting for the people of God.
10 For all who have entered into God’s rest have
rested from their labors, just as God did after
creating the world. 11 So let us do our best to
enter that rest. But if we disobey God, as the
people of Israel did, we will fall.
12 For the word of God is alive and powerful. It
is sharper than the sharpest two-edged sword,
cutting between soul and spirit, between joint
and marrow. It exposes our innermost thoughts
and desires. 13 Nothing in all creation is hidden
from God. Everything is naked and exposed before his eyes, and he is the one to whom we are
accountable.
Christ Is Our High Priest
14 So then, since we have a great High Priest who
has entered heaven, Jesus the Son of God, let
us hold firmly to what we believe. 15 This High
Priest of ours understands our weaknesses, for
he faced all of the same testings we do, yet he
• Temptation
HE B R E WS 4:15
We experience temptation every day. This
passage points out that Jesus himself
was tempted in every way (Matthew
4:1-11). Yet Jesus’ temptation did not
lead to sin. It is not a sin to be tempted,
but to prevent temptation from becoming
sin, we must use all the resources God
gives us to recognize, resist, and flee the
situation. Since Jesus knows what it is
like to be tempted, we can turn to him in
all honesty when we’re having a battle
with temptation. Have you talked with
him lately about potential situations that
would be difficult for you?