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Then the Lord was jealous for his land
    and took pity on his people.

¹⁹ The Lord replied to them:

“I am sending you grain, new wine and olive oil,
    enough to satisfy you fully;
never again will I make you
    an object of scorn to the nations.

²⁰ “I will drive the northern horde far from you,
    pushing it into a parched and barren land;
its eastern ranks will drown in the Dead Sea
    and its western ranks in the Mediterranean Sea.
And its stench will go up;
    its smell will rise.”

“The greatest tragedy of life is not unanswered prayer, buy unoffered prayer.” ~ F.B. Meyer

“My life is one long daily, hourly record of answered prayer. For physical health, for mental overstrain, for guidance given marvelously, for errors and dangers averted, for enmity to the Gospel subdued, for food provided at the exact hour needed, for everything that goes to make up life and my poor service. I can testify, with a full and often wonder-stricken awe, that I believe God answers prayer.” ~ Mary Slessor

See what happens when God’s people return to Him with all their hearts; when they seek Him whole-heartedly: He answers their prayers with words and deeds, with provision and deliverance. He speaks and He acts (Do we catch resonances of what happened at the Red Sea in verse 20? I think so).

“Four things let us ever keep in mind: God hears prayer, God heeds prayer, God answers prayer, and God delivers by prayer.” ~ Edward McKendree Bounds.

It seems to me that this is God’s ‘normal’ work: when we walk humbly and repentantly before Him, striving to live with clean consciences, and seeking to keep ‘short accounts’. There will always be mysteries we cannot explain, but God’s usual way with His own is to bless us with answered prayer.

Then the Lord was jealous for his land
    and took pity on his people.

¹⁹ The Lord replied to them:

I have one question today: When exactly was then?

Looking back through this chapter, we remember that it opens with a vision of an invading army. In the light of the threat, the people are called to genuine repentance (sincere, not superficial). They are to gather in a nationwide prayer meeting and call on the Lord together.

Jesus taught: ”Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted” (Matt.5:3). Generally this is taken to mean those who mourn for their sins (i.e. the genuinely repentant).

Following such mourning in chapter 2 there comes this ”Then”: there is a great turnaround. God intervenes. He acts and He speaks.

So we are once more exposed to the power of prayer.

In his excellent book, ‘Praying like monks, living like fools’. Tyler Staton argues that if Christians took the words of Jesus about prayer seriously, pastors would have a hard time getting their people to do anything but pray! But manifestly this is not the case.

¹³⁷ You are righteous, Lord,
    and your laws are right.
¹³⁸ The statutes you have laid down are righteous;
    they are fully trustworthy.
¹³⁹ My zeal wears me out,
    for my enemies ignore your words.
¹⁴⁰ Your promises have been thoroughly tested,
    and your servant loves them.
¹⁴¹ Though I am lowly and despised,
    I do not forget your precepts.
¹⁴² Your righteousness is everlasting
    and your law is true.
¹⁴³ Trouble and distress have come upon me,
    but your commands give me delight.
¹⁴⁴ Your statutes are always righteous;
    give me understanding that I may live.

‘The peculiar worth of the word as stated in this section is that it mirrors God (137a,144a).’ New Bible Commentary.’

It is:

• A righteous Word (137,138a, 144a): revealing the character of the God who is always righteous; teaching us to do the right in a world full of wrong;
• A fully reliable Word (138b): Rock beneath our feet;
• An ignored Word (139): by and large (and even among professing believers oftentimes);
• A beloved Word (140,143): full of proven promises, and especially precious in times of trial;
• A remembered Word (141b): here is someone holding on to the truth he knows and loves through wind and rain;
• A prayed over Word (144b): This day, may He open our eyes that we may see, wonderful things from out of His law (119:18).

 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.

When the Bible repeats something we need to give it extra close attention. Again we hear the call for soft, responsive hearts towards God and His Word. If we ask who these people were who missed out on God’s best, the answer comes, ‘They were His saved and rescued people; those delivered from bondage in Egypt: the Old Testament ‘church’ in other words.

The warning is stark and real and worthy of our full attention. Let’s not miss out.

‘With a series of compelling questions, the implications of Ps.95:7-11 are further drawn out. Those who heard and rebelled were the ones who experienced firsthand the goodness of God in bringing them out of Egypt. They had every every encouragement to persevere in faith during their journey to the promised land. But they disqualified themselves from entering his rest because they persistently disobeyed him. That disobedience was because of their unbelief.‘ David Peterson: New Bible Commentary, p.1330.

Warren Wiersbe, helpfully, I believe, makes the comment that the warning is not about potentially losing one’s salvation, but failing to enter fully into our inheritance in Christ.

There’s such a lot at stake!

⁷ So, as the Holy Spirit says:

“Today, if you hear his voice,
⁸     do not harden your hearts
as you did in the rebellion,
    during the time of testing in the wilderness,
⁹ where your ancestors tested and tried me,
    though for forty years they saw what I did.
¹⁰ That is why I was angry with that generation;
    I said, ‘Their hearts are always going astray,
    and they have not known my ways.’
¹¹ So I declared on oath in my anger,
    ‘They shall never enter my rest.’ ”

¹² See to it, brothers and sisters, that none of you has a sinful, unbelieving heart that turns away from the living God. ¹³ But encourage one another daily, as long as it is called “Today,” so that none of you may be hardened by sin’s deceitfulness. ¹⁴ We have come to share in Christ, if indeed we hold our original conviction firmly to the very end. 

If we are going to keep going into God’s tomorrow, ”Today” matters. Each day matters. What we do ”daily” matters.

It is clear from this passage, which draws from Israel’s negative example in the wilderness, that we must persevere to the end if we are to be saved. This perseverance is the fruit of salvation: it is how it manifests, not how we earn it.

Note some vital keys to help us keep going:

• Obey what God says to you ”Today”. Cultivate a soft, sensitive disposition to God and His Word. Be quick to respond (7,8). ‘An evil heart of unbelief (v.12) will rob you of what God has planned for you in your Christian life, so pay attention to God’s Word.’ Warren W. Wiersbe.
• Guard your heart (10,12). The heart of the human problem is the problem of the human heart. ‘People with hard hearts know the truth but resist it and refuse to obey it…They think they can sin and get away with it. The first step toward a hard heart is neglect of the Word of God (Heb.2:4), not taking it seriously.’ Warren W. Wiersbe.
• Daily encouragement (15). Who might you encourage this day? Who needs your encouragement to keep going? The ministry of encouragement is one open to us all.

So, as the Holy Spirit says:

“Today, if you hear his voice,
⁸     do not harden your hearts
as you did in the rebellion,
    during the time of testing in the wilderness,

If, as we saw yesterday, we are to keep going in the Christian race, and not drop out (vv.6,14), we must remain open to all God is saying to us. Give God’s Word a free pass to enter every zone of your life; the keys to every room. Allow it (Him) access to all areas.

If God speaks to you ‘Today’ what will you do with His Word?

‘People with hard hearts know the truth but resist it and refuse to obey it…The first step toward a hard heart is neglect of the Word of God (Heb.2:1-4), not taking it seriously. It is either ”hearing” or ”hardening”. Take your choice.’ Warren W. Wiersbe.

PRAYER: Lord, please help me today to hear what you are saying to me, believe it, and bring my life into line with it – in every detail.

And we are his house, if indeed we hold firmly to our confidence and the hope in which we glory.

As you read these words remember the context. These Hebrew Christians were in danger of going back to Judaism. They were being persecuted; they were under pressure for their faith. It probably felt like the safer option to return to the synagogue.

Whenever we read such words in the Bible (and we do find similar exhortations in other places), it is easy to get into a theologically academic debate as to whether it is possible to be saved and lost. But in the first place, I believe we should simply allow them to act as:

1. a spur to keep going;
2. a warning that things can and do come along to discourage us and make us want to give up. This is a reality of the spiritual battle.

Sadly, we probably all know people who ran well for a time, but we wonder, ‘Where are they now?’

Prayer: Lord, this is not an easy way, and you never said it would be. I know I am totally dependent upon your grace. Help me to keep going, without stopping, until I cross the finishing line.

 Therefore, holy brothers and sisters, who share in the heavenly calling, fix your thoughts on Jesus, whom we acknowledge as our apostle and high priest. ² He was faithful to the one who appointed him, just as Moses was faithful in all God’s house. ³ Jesus has been found worthy of greater honor than Moses, just as the builder of a house has greater honor than the house itself. ⁴ For every house is built by someone, but God is the builder of everything. ⁵ “Moses was faithful as a servant in all God’s house,” bearing witness to what would be spoken by God in the future. ⁶ But Christ is faithful as the Son over God’s house. And we are his house, if indeed we hold firmly to our confidence and the hope in which we glory.

‘Why does the writer compare Jesus with Moses? The reason is that these Hebrews to whom he was writing were about to turn away from Christ. Because they had originally been Jews, they were now about to turn back to their old Jewish religion. Therefore, the writer reminds them that Jesus is far greater than their old leader Moses. The writer is, in effect, asking these Hebrews: What advantage is there in turning from what is greater to what is lesser?’ Tom Hale: ‘The Applied New Testament Commentary,’ p.852.

Jesus is greater than Moses.

Here is one of the reasons why we can say this: Moses’ place was ‘in‘ God’s house; Jesus is ‘over’ the house. Moses was a ‘servant’; Jesus is God’s ‘Son.’ Moses was a part of the house (as are all true believers), but God is the great house-builder. (Note that the repeated reference to the ‘house’ here is about the people of God and not a physical structure).

There is a clear inference of the divinity of Jesus in verses 3,4. If God is the builder of all things, and Jesus builds God’s house, then surely He must be God.

Therefore, holy brothers and sisters, who share in the heavenly calling, fix your thoughts on Jesus, whom we acknowledge as our apostle and high priest. 

In this first verse we see:

• Heavenly calling: We have heard and answered the call from heaven, and we are called to heaven;
• Heavenly cogitation: We are to ”fix” our ”thoughts on Jesus” (see also. e.g. Hebrews 2:9;12:1,2; Col.3:1-3; Phil.4:8)
• Heavenly confession: An older edition of the NIV describes Jesus as ”the apostle and high priest whom we confess.”

The big emphasis we are going to see in this next section of the book is that Jesus is greater than Moses. (We have already been told that He is greater than the prophets and greater than the angels.) So a picture is building, showing Jesus to be greater than all those the Jews regarded as ‘greats’!

‘Whenever you are tempted to look at your circumstances or at yourself, look to Jesus by faith and rejoice in His faithfulness.’ Warren W. Wiersbe:’With the Word’, p.814.

PRAYER: As I walk through this year, dear Lord, make yourself known to me more and more, and draw me closer to you. I love you Lord, and I want to know and love you more. Help me to place my heart and mind where they truly need to be. Enable me to give my attention to heavenly realities.