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'A Tale of Two Cities'
At the end of Charles Dickens' "A Tale of Two Cities," Sydney Carton, taking the place Charles Darnay of the Evermonde family, is about to be executed in the bloody wrath of the French Revolution. He is next to a girl, a seamstress who was also condemned to death. The girl asks if Sydney will hold her hand, and he consents. The guillotine awaits. Dickens writes:
The supposed Evermonde descends, and the seamstress is lifted out next after him. He has not relinquished her patient hand in getting out, but still holds it as he promised. He gently places her with her back to the crashing engine that constantly whirrs up and falls, and she looks into his face and thanks him.
"But for you, dear stranger, I should not be so composed, for I am naturally a poor little thing, faint of heart; nor should I have been able to raise my thought to Him who was put to death, that we might have hope and comfort here today. I think you were sent to me by heaven."
Sydney Carton, by simply caring for the girl, encouraged her
to turn her attention to Jesus. We too can be like Sydney Carton,
encouraging one another so that we might hear and believe God,
particularly as his voice concerns the value of the gospel. Heaven
has sent us so that others might be able to hear God.
In Hebrews 3:1-6, the writer encouraged us to strongly consider
the faithfulness of Jesus. That theme naturally leads into the
section before us, which concerns our faith. In making the appeal
of faith, the writer first quotes from Psalm 95 (verses 7 through
11) and then renders commentary, applying it to his readers (verses
12 through 19). The commentary is bracketed by verses 12 and 19,
which both contain the words "see" (in verse 12, translated
"take care") and "unbelief" (in verse 12,
translated "unbelieving").
Absurdity of faith (3:7-11)
Hebrews 3:7-11:
(7) Therefore, just as the Holy Spirit says,
"Today if you hear His voice,
(8) Do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion,
As in the day of trial in the wilderness,
(9) Where your fathers tried me by testing me,
And saw my works for 40 years.
(10)Therefore I was angry with this generation,
And said, 'They always go astray in their heart;
And they did not know my ways';
(11) As I swore in my wrath,
'They shall not enter my rest.'"
The writer ties this section with his previous section by use
of the word "therefore." In Hebrews 3:1-6, he exhorted
his readers to strongly consider the faithfulness of Jesus. He
expects the faithfulness of Jesus to inspire our faith. In other
words, if Jesus is faithful to God and for us so that he endures
the cross, shouldn't we follow him? No one and nothing else can
be trusted to this degree.
The writer quotes from Psalm 95 and attributes it to the Holy
Spirit, which shows that the scriptures were inspired by the Holy
Spirit. The verb "says" appears in the present tense,
which means the Holy Spirit is still speaking through the scriptures.
Psalm 95:7-11, which the writer quotes from, recalls two scenes
from Israel's history in the wilderness. The original Hebrew text
in Psalm 95 concerns the episode at Rephidim, where Israel grumbled
because there was no water to drink. But the text also contains
echoes from the episode at Kadesh, where the people rebelled against
the Lord (Numbers 14:9), did not listen to his voice (Numbers
14:22) and were not able to enter the promised land (Numbers 14:30).
Thus, the psalm recounts scenes from both ends of the wilderness.
The writer is using examples from Israel's history, and the psalm
that comments on them, as a warning to his contemporaries. He
recalls what the "fathers" did (verses 7b through 9)
and the Lord's response (verses 10 through 11).
The implication, which becomes more clear in the commentary that
follows, is that we shouldn't be like "the fathers."
The fathers heard the Lord's voice but hardened their hearts,
resisting his words. They rebelled against the Lord and tested
him, demanding proof of his good intentions. Because they resisted
him, because they have resisted what they were made for, the Lord
became angry with them, noting that they always go astray in their
hearts, wandering into self-destruction, not knowing the ways
of the Lord, which they have rejected along with him. The Lord,
expressing his wrath at the people's perpetual tendency to destroy
themselves, gives them what they want. If they don't want to go
into the promised land, the place of rest in the presence of the
Lord, they don't have to. In fact, they never will enter it.
Let's consider the two scenes to which Psalm 95 refers to see
how we can learn from Israel's history.
The Israelites, after leaving Egypt, soon made their way to Rephidim
"according to the command of the Lord." Yet they could
find no water to drink. So they quarreled with Moses, demanding
that he give them water, no doubt remembering that Moses, following
the Lord's instructions, turned bitter water into drinkable water
at Marah (Exodus 15:22-26). At Rephidim, the people expected to
die of thirst, but Moses said they were testing the Lord, which
is defined as not believing that the Lord was present with them
(Exodus 17:1-7).
Surely, we can identify with the people. On the face of it, things
looked pretty bleak. They blamed Moses for their plight, but they
blamed the Lord, too. The text in Exodus plainly says that their
plight was the Lord's responsibility. He led them to this place.
He led them to a dry, barren place that exacerbated their thirst
but did not satisfy it, at least not immediately.
Surely, we have been to Rephidim. At times it seems to us that
the Lord has likewise led us to a sort of spiritual Rephidim -
a place where all our internal hopes and dreams and desires, which
earlier we were able to keep under control, make their way to
the surface and break loose. Worse still, they break loose in
a place where satisfaction is nowhere in sight. And like the Israelites
in the wilderness, we feel the anguish of our unquenched thirst,
and we feel betrayed by the Lord for brining us to this place.
Kadesh was a different place. Rephidim was near Egypt, the place
the Israelites came from. Kadesh was near Canaan, the place the
Israelites were going to. Moses sent spies into the land, most
of whom reported that its inhabitants were too strong. The Lord
wanted the people to depend on him, enter the land and conquer
its inhabitants, but the people, terrified by the report, refused
to move forward (Numbers 13:17-14:25).
Surely, we have been to Kadesh as well, the place where the Lord
asks us to move forward in dependence on him into circumstances
that terrify us - expressing our true feelings, exposing ourselves
to rejection, leaving the known for the unknown. Like the Israelites,
we feel the terror of moving forward into a new place, and we
feel the Lord is nuts for asking the impossible of us.
We have been to both Rephidim and Kadesh, believing that the Lord
has led us to the place of death or that he will lead us to the
place of death. We conclude that he leads us not to green pastures
or quiet waters but to places of deprivation and destruction.
At Rephidim and Kadesh, we harden our hearts against the Lord,
we rebel against him, we test him, we go astray in our hearts
and we dismiss his ways. At these places, faith in God seems absurd,
and thoughts of his goodness and power seem preposterous. Perhaps
we are at one or both of those places right now.
In 1956, C.S. Lewis, a confirmed bachelor, married Joy Davidman,
but after four intensely happy years, Joy died, and Lewis was
alone again. Inconsolable, he faced a crisis of faith. He wrote:
"Not that I am (I think) in much danger of ceasing to believe
in God. The real danger is of coming to believe such dreadful
things about him. The conclusion I dread is not, 'So there's no
God after all,' but, 'So this is what God's really like. Deceive
yourself no longer.'"
Deceive yourself no longer! The circumstances at Rephidim and
Kadesh make such a thought seem irresistible. Yet, the Lord still
seems to expect faith. Otherwise, he would not say, "Do not
harden your hearts." Otherwise, he wouldn't get angry. Otherwise,
he wouldn't swear in his wrath. Faith, though seemingly absurd,
is somehow expected.
How can this be? The answer is in verse 7, in the words, "Today
if you hear his voice ... " This is God's voice. What is
God saying? He "has spoken to us in his Son" (Hebrews
1:2), who embodies the "good news preached to us," which
offers us eternal rest in the presence of God (Hebrews 4:2-3).
We hear God's voice in the "good news" of the gospel.
The gospel tells us that God will take us to the heavenly place
where he will lavish his blessings on us. But at Rephidim and
Kadesh, good news is hard to believe. That's why we need each
other.
Encouragement for faith (3:12-19)
Hebrews 3:12-19:
(12) Take care, brethren, lest there should be in any one of you an evil, unbelieving heart, in falling away from the living God. (13) But encourage one another day after day, as long as it is still called "Today," lest any one of you be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin. (14) For we have become partakers of Christ, if we hold fast the beginning of our assurance firm until the end; (15) while it is said,
"Today if you hear his voice,
Do not harden your hearts, as in the rebellion."
(16) For who rebelled when they had heard? Indeed, did not all those who came out of Egypt led by Moses? (17) And with whom was he angry for 40 years? Was it not with those who sinned, whose bodies fell in the wilderness? (18) And to whom did he swear that they should not enter his rest, but to those who were disobedient? (19) And so we see that they were not able to enter because of unbelief.
Having quoted Psalm 95, the writer begins his exhortation based
on it. Care should be exercised among the community so that none
of them has an "evil, unbelieving heart," or, literally,
"an evil heart of unbelief." This condition describes
the root of sin. Many different terms are used to describe sin
in this passage: hardening the heart (verses 8, 13, 15), rebellion
against God (verses 8, 15, 16), testing God (verses 8, 9), going
astray in the heart (verse 10), not knowing God's ways (verse
10), an evil heart of unbelief (verse 12), falling away from God
(verse 12), sinning (verse 17), disobedience (verse 18) and unbelief
(verse 19). Most are descriptions of actions, but the root of
those actions is "an evil heart of unbelief." We don't
usually connect evil with unbelief. Evil is more commonly associated
with murder, rape, genocide and the like. But murder, rape and
genocide stem from unbelief. The root of all evil, then, is the
evil disposition of the human heart not to believe in God or believe
him. Insofar as the writer of Hebrews is concerned at this point,
it is the evil disposition of the human heart to not believe in
the value of the gospel. Such unbelief gives rise to hardening
of the heart, rebellion against God, testing God and the like.
But if we were to hear the voice of God as it concerns the value
of the gospel, the stranglehold that unbelief has on our hearts
would be significantly weakened. So the writer exhorts us to "take
care" against an evil heart of unbelief, which would result
in "falling away from the living God." The writer has
in mind here someone who has received persistent exposure to the
gospel but is in danger of ultimately rejecting it. But it is
also applicable for those of us who have received the gospel but
are doubting its value, particularly in light of the circumstances
we encounter at places like Rephidim and Kadesh.
So how are we to "take care" to prevent people falling
away from God in our community because of an evil heart of unbelief?
The writer says to "encourage one another." This encouragement
is to take place "day after day, as long as it is still called
'Today'" - in other words, any time. What does it mean to
encourage one another? We can get an idea of what this means generally
by considering what it is designed to prevent. It is designed
to prevent being "hardened by the deceitfulness of sin."
The disposition toward sin is deceitful: Rejection of God and
his ways appears right and feels right. But it's wrong. How do
we know it's wrong? We know it's wrong insofar as someone tells
us it's wrong. God tells us. In his word, he speaks to us, and
we hear his voice. He gives us the gift of others to help us hear.
That's where encouragement comes in. Encouragement counteracts
the deceitfulness of sin. If sin is deceitful, encouragement is
true. Encouragement, then, in a general sense, is the expression
of truth, which counteracts the lie that rejection of God is good.
The word here for encourage (parakaleo) is related to the
word that Jesus uses in John 16:8 for the Holy Spirit (parakletos),
whom he later calls "the Spirit of truth" (John 16:13).
The Holy Spirit, the Encourager, encourages by means of the truth,
particularly truth about Jesus (John 16:13-14). We thus see encouragement
connected with truth.
What specifically does encouragement look like? It can take a
multitude of forms. Simply living out the truth and following
Jesus in the presence of others is encouragement to believe God.
Sharing our stories about God's faithfulness in our lives gives
others a chance to hear God's voice in a way that they hadn't
before. Spending time with people, seeking them out, praying for
them, remembering what they said and seeing the good in them all
convey the truth that Jesus loves them. Sometimes, hard words
of love are called for, if one friend observes another friend
straying from the truth.
All this encouragement presupposes community. We can't encourage
each other if we don't know anyone. We see here, once again, the
value of community. In isolation, we are prone to develop strange
ideas of what the truth is. In a community centered on the word
of God, there's feedback for both biblical and anti-biblical ideas,
and the truth is thereby strengthened. There's synergy as we study
the word together and learn from each other. All this means that
it behooves us as individuals to seek out a community centered
on the truth and make a commitment both to it and the people in
it. People who flit from place to place and never settle are usually
running from something in themselves that they don't want to face.
It's only when they stop running and face up to it that they begin
to grow. And then once in the community, we need to initiate within
it, not waiting for it to come to us.
Verse 14 begins with the word "for" and offers motivation
for encouraging one another on several levels. First, we should
encourage one another because we have become "partakers of
Christ." Because we have been given the gift of Christ and
entry into his kingdom, we share his concern for others and therefore
encourage them. Second, as partakers of Christ, we understand
that we have Christ in common with others, and this common bond
motivates us to encourage each other. Third, there is the possibility
that some have not become true partakers of Christ, which would
be evidenced by their ultimate rejection of Christ, and our encouragement
helps them hear the voice of God and move toward Christ.
The fact that encouragement helps others hear the voice of God
is confirmed by the writer's repetition, in verse 15, of the part
of the quote from Psalm 95 that concerns hearing God's voice.
Verse 15 is connected with verse 14, which offers motivation for
the encouragement spoken of in verse 13.
Those of us who last week heard the stories of Ross, Terry and
Mary were encouraged to hear the voice of God. We could see God
working in their lives, and it was a signal for us to take notice.
When Mary said that God has shown her, in the midst of her pain,
that he meets not so much her needs (plural) but her need (singular),
we were able to connect with that. We all have needs, but in that
she found that the need God wanted to meet most was her need for
him, we're encouraged to do the same.
Beginning with the word "for," verses 16 through 18
offer a reason to listen to the voice of God - that being, the
tragic consequences for not listening. In verses 16, 17 and 18,
the writer picks up on expressions used in Psalm 95 and explains
them. Verse 16 relates to verses 7 and 8; verse 17 relates to
verse 10; and verse 18 relates to verse 11. In each case, the
writer records an action and then particularizes the initiators
of the action (the Israelites) or the recipients of God's action
(also the Israelites). These verses move toward the conclusion
in verse 18 that the people were not able to enter into God's
rest. The use of the words "who" and "those"
help illumine the step-like structure:
For who rebelled when they had heard?
Indeed, did not all those who came out of Egypt led by Moses?
And with whom was he angry for 40 years?
Was it not with those who sinned, whose bodies fell in the wilderness?
And to whom did he swear that they should not enter his rest,
but to those who were disobedient?
The Israelites heard the voice of the Lord, as communicated
to them to Moses, but they rebelled against him. Instead of receiving
the words of the Lord, they hardened their hearts against them.
They refused to allow his voice to enter their ears and penetrate
their hearts. Their hearts were evil, hard, inpenetrable. Why
didn't they listen? They didn't listen because they didn't like
the information they were hearing, so they tuned it out. God's
voice, which spoke of his love for them, made no sense to them
in light of their current circumstances, so they refused to listen
and instead rebelled. It's the same thing we do, of course - closing
off our ears to information we don't want to hear.
The people's rebellion provoked the Lord's anger. He wanted to
take them into the promised land and bless them there, so it's
understandable that their refusal to be blessed engendered his
anger. As a result they died in the wilderness, never realizing
the Lord's hopes for them.
In the wilderness they heard the voice of the Lord again, this
time swearing that they would not enter into his rest. In the
promised land, the Lord wanted to give the people rest from their
enemies but more importantly rest in his presence. But they demonstrated,
by persistently hardening their hearts against the voice of the
Lord, that they didn't want to be in the Lord's presence. This
was the tragic consequence of their evil hearts.
The same is true today. The writer will expand on the contemporary
application of the concept of rest in the next chapter, but for
now, it's enough to point out its application to those who persist
in their rejection of the gospel and are thus excluded from eternal
rest in God's presence, and its application to those of us who
are unsatisfied with the eternal promises of the gospel and therefore
live lives of constant unrest.
In verses 16 through 19, however, the emphasis is not so much
on the meaning of rest as it is on the reason why rest is not
experienced. This is clear in verse 19, where the writer makes
his concluding observation regarding the plight of the Israelites.
The reason they failed to enter God's rest is unbelief. Here the
writer does not repeat the full phrase "evil heart of unbelief"
but simply refers to "unbelief" - probably because his
emphasis throughout has been hearing leading to believing. His
answer to an evil heart is belief based on hearing the voice of
God, which is helped along by encouragement.
As the entire passage unfolds before us, we can see the problem
of sin, its expression and the answer to it:
| Problem | Expression | Answer |
| Evil heart of unbelief |
Hardening heart | Hear voice of God |
| Rebellion against God | Encouragement (to hear voice) | |
| Testing God | ||
| Going astray in heart | ||
| Dismissing God's ways | ||
| Falling away from God | ||
| Sin | ||
| Disobedience |
We can't change our hearts. We can't even change what we believe.
But we can listen. We can listen to the voice of God, particularly
the gospel of our salvation in Jesus Christ. We can listen to
the lives of others, as they encourage us. And we can live lives
of encouragement ourselves, so that others might hear and believe
God.
Another place
So when we're faced with discouraging circumstances that seem to contradict God's goodness, he asks us to listen to his voice. And if we listen to his word, we'll hear him speak of the gospel. Yes, God leads us to Rephidim and leads us from Kadesh, to places where nothing seems to make sense. But he also led his Son to another place: Calvary. And there, we hear God speak in his Son. It is the true voice, the voice that speaks better than the internal voice of doom and destruction. It is the voice that speaks from the cross. And if you become very quiet and listen very carefully you can hear the Son, in a dying whisper speak: "Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do."
- SCG, 7-20-97
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Copyright © 1997 Discovery Publishing, a ministry of Peninsula Bible Church. This data file is the sole property of Discovery Publishing, a ministry of Peninsula Bible Church. It may be copied only in its entirety for circulation freely without charge. All copies of this data file must contain the above copyright notice. This data file may not be copied in part, edited, revised, copied for resale or incorporated in any commercial publications, recordings, broadcasts, performances, displays or other products offered for sale, without the written permission of Discovery Publishing. Requests for permission should be made in writing and addressed to Discovery Publishing, 3505 Middlefield Rd. Palo Alto, CA. 94306-3695.
