If you have a Windows computer, you’re probably familiar enough with how it works to where you know what to do to get it to do what you want. I, on the other hand, am the owner of a Mac—in fact, I bought my first Mac when I was in seminary and have been using one ever since … my entire adult life.
Obviously, the fact I’ve used a Mac for 40 years and never switched systems is because I think it’s a superior product. But how would I go about trying to convince a Windows user of that fact? Chances are I’d remind them of the various attributes of their machine and then, by doing a bit of compare and contrast, point out how the Mac is better. I’d talk about the key features of their machine and then try to make the case for why mine is superior.
This simple and perhaps silly illustration helps us understand the book of Hebrews. It is written by an author whose primary goal was to convince people who were well-versed in Judaism that Jesus is better … that they needed to step away from this belief system that had been a foundational part of their lives and embrace this emerging new movement … that He was the consummation and fulfillment of everything the Jewish belief system pointed to. Whether the people to whom he was writing had initially embraced Christianity and were considering drifting back into Judaism, or whether a variety of life difficulties were causing them to doubt, the bottom line is something was going on that was causing many of these folks who had made a commitment to Jesus to hark back and wax nostalgic about the belief system they’d left behind.
So the writer sets out to convince them of the superiority of Jesus—that’s the purpose of Hebrews in a nutshell. Jesus is better! Jesus is superior! And quite often, as the auth9r is laying out his argument, he transitions from passing along information to encouraging application … shifts focus from “here’s what you need to know” to “here’s what you need to do.” And he does that, typically, by making a statement that begins with the words “Let us …”—i.e., “Don’t just hold on to this info and file it away in your brain. Apply it! Act on it! Do something in light of what I’ve been talking about!”
The author begins by talking, in chapters one and two, about how Jesus was superior to the angels. But in chapter three, he shifts gears and talks about Jesus’ superiority to Moses, who was “the guy” when it came to status and importance in the Jewish faith. And his argument comes to a head in Hebrews 4:1 where he says ...
Therefore, since the promise of entering his rest still stands, let us be careful that none of you be found to have fallen short of it.
To understand what he’s asking the people to be careful about, we need to look at what he says about Moses in chapter three. For this statement is really the climax of a very reasoned argument he’s been building.
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. He was faithful to the one who appointed him, just as Moses was faithful in all God’s house. Jesus has been found worthy of greater honor than Moses, just as the builder of a house has greater honor than the house itself. For every house is built by someone, but God is the builder of everything. “Moses was faithful as a servant in all God’s house,”bearing witness to what would be spoken by God in the future. 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. (v. 1-6)
He begins to make his case by encouraging them to remember who they are, referring to them in v. 1 as “holy brothers and sisters” and reminding them that they “share in the heavenly calling.” As people who were struggling to persevere in their newfound faith, he calls on them to embrace their identity in Jesus … to remember what God has made them by His grace—they are now family and, therefore, spiritually related to each other. And he calls on them to fix their thoughts on the one who is “our apostle and high priest” (v. 1) and “faithful to the one who appointed him” (v. 2).
Then he locks down on the “Jesus is superior” line of reasoning. He asks them to focus on His supremacy over Moses—not that Moses was unfaithful or lacking in any way, for he embraced and took upon Himself the call that God asked of Him … to be the leader of Israel and guide the people of Israel out of bondage. But his argument is that while Moses was a faithful and loyal servant in the house, Jesus was the one who created and established the house. Moses was a chief administrator in the house, but Jesus was its architect. He was its builder and owner. For that reason, he was superior. And because of that, they should persevere! In v. 6 he stresses the importance of them continuing to focus their faith on Christ … to not get started and then turn their backs, but to persist … keep going … press on. In many ways, he sounds a challenge for those who are more settled and established in their faith to be a support those who are more ambivalent and teetering on the brink. Those that are stable and steady need to take it upon themselves to be a source of strength for those that are shaky and waffling.
And then he reinforces what he’s saying by referencing Psalm 95—a passage with which a predominantly Jewish audience would have undoubtedly been quite familiar. But he sets it up interestingly, saying in v. 7, “So as the Holy Spirit says …” and then highlighting a portion of this psalm that recalled a time when Israel, during their journey from Egypt to the Promised Land, was disobedient and refused to move forward with God. Listen ...
So, as the Holy Spirit says: “Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts as you did in the rebellion, during the time of testing in the wilderness, where your ancestors tested and tried me, though for forty years they saw what I did. That is why I was angry with that generation; I said, ‘Their hearts are always going astray, and they have not known my ways.’ So I declared on oath in my anger, ‘They shall never enter my rest.’” (v. 7-11).
A couple of things: Not only does the author, by attributing authorship to the Holy Spirit, imply that God was trying to speak specifically to them through this passage, but he also issued a subtle warning. He warned them it’s possible to be a part of a community that professes belief in God and yet in your own heart be in rebellion against the God that’s the creator of that community. It’s something that happened repeatedly during the course of Israel’s journey from Egypt to Canaan and the author is essentially saying, “Don’t fall into that same trap. Don’t be hard-hearted. Don’t drift and stray from the trust you’ve placed in Jesus. Don’t turn back on the profession you’ve made and let it happen again!
And then, in the balance of the chapter, he warns his readers about the danger of unbelief. Listen to what he says ...
See to it, brothers and sisters, that none of you has a sinful, unbelieving heart that turns away from the living God. But encourage one another daily, as long as it is called “Today,” so that none of you may be hardened by sin’s deceitfulness. We have come to share in Christ, if indeed we hold our original conviction firmly to the very end. As has just been said: “Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts as you did in the rebellion.” Who were they who heard and rebelled? Were they not all those Moses led out of Egypt? And with whom was he angry for forty years? Was it not with those who sinned, whose bodies perished in the wilderness? And to whom did God swear that they would never enter his rest if not to those who disobeyed? So we see that they were not able to enter, because of their unbelief (v. 12-19).
What the writer is saying is that unbelief—not trusting God—always yields bad consequences … that distrust always leads us away from Him and the outcome is inevitably a fractured and compromised relationship. We see this all the time. If you don’t trust the character of someone you’re in business with, the relationship will eventually deteriorate and erode. If distrust creeps into a marriage or family relationship, the result is a diminished sense of connection. Unbelief always yields relational fallout. So what the author is saying is, “Be vigilant of that fact. As brothers and sisters in Christ, we need to do what we can to be a spiritual encouragement to each other and prevent each other from going down the road of mistrust and unbelief.”
And this sets the stage for the statement, as I mentioned, where he transitions from information to application and challenges his audience to do something. “Therefore, since the promise of entering his rest still stands, let us be careful that none of you be found to have fallen short of it (4:1). That word ‘rest’ speaks to the peace of mind and sense of well-being that comes from our connectedness to Jesus … the freedom from the chaos that comes from trying to make ourselves acceptable to God by jumping thru all the hoops that were part of the Jewish belief system. The word is the Greek equivalent of the Hebrew word “shalom”—a word that meant peace … harmony … wholeness … completeness—the idea of something incomplete and fragmented coming together and being made whole. What he’s saying is that through Jesus we can breathe easy; this grace-based arrangement he’s provided for us is truly game-changing. So “be careful that none of you be found to have fallen short of it.” Don’t let your brothers and sisters miss out on the incredible assets Jesus offers. Don’t let them reverse course and turn back because they encountered some momentary adversity and gave up too soon. Don’t let the folks you care about become discouraged and disheartened to where they miss out on all the good stuff that can come to them as a result of their faith in Him. Don’t let them become deceived and misled to where they devalue and disparage what Jesus brings to the table. Their salvation and well-being is so important we need to take it seriously.
Unbelief is what kept the generation that escaped Egypt from entering Canaan. It is what set them to wandering for 40 years and caused them to die in the desert without realizing the promise and inheritance of God. God had done some remarkable and amazing things. They witnessed the series of plagues which brought Egypt—the country which had enslaved and oppressed them for four centuries—to its knees. When Pharoah, after granting them permission to leave, changed his mind and his army pursued them and had them apparently trapped against the Red Sea, God parted the water and Israel walked across on dry ground while the Egyptian army, who tried to follow and were in hot pursuit, drowned when the wall of water came crashing down.
But in spite of these amazing happenings, their commitment to God was tepid and lukewarm at best. When God provided manna, they complained and wanted meat. When they found themselves at a place where they desperately needed water for themselves and their flocks, God produced it—but only after a whole lot of grumbling, complaining, and finding fault with Him for what had gone before. When they stood at the cusp of the Promised Land, the majority report of the team of spies and the prevailing will of the people prevented them from moving forward. They deemed the size of the perceived obstacles to be more significant than the size of their God! They didn’t believe! When God told them to charge, they chose to retreat—to avoid risk and play it safe.
“So, don’t repeat that pattern,” the writer says. Don’t let this type of thinking and behavior keep you or anyone you care about from falling short and not realizing the good things God has for them. Don’t let them become hardened by the deceitfulness of sin to where they begin to believe a lie. For what comes to us through Jesus, he says, is so extraordinary that it should gravely concern us when others seem to devalue it and risk coming up short. Do everything you can so everyone who’s made a profession of faith in Jesus stays true to that pledge and doesn’t fall away … that they maintain their trust in the power and love of God to where they can ultimately realize the many benefits and blessings that flow from their relationship with Him.
If nothing else, this passage serves as a reminder for us that, while we are centuries removed from the travails and trials of the ancient Hebrews, we still live in the wilderness. As long as we call this fallen planet home, we can expect to encounter hardships, difficulties, and problems. A life of connectedness to Jesus is not an effortless stroll along a primrose path; it is, rather, a venture that is laden with many impediments and obstructions. Just as the Jewish people of Moses’ day faced an array of obstacles that caused their journey from Egypt to the Promised Land to be uneven and difficult at times—and just as things in the first century were such that many of those who made a profession of faith in Jesus were tempted to reverse course and about face—so we live in a world where there are battles to face and the pressures associated with a commitment to Him can mount to where it will at times seem like the expedient thing to do is to turn around. But what the writer to the Hebrews is saying is, “Don’t give in to that—that is shortsighted. It is injudicious and unwise! Stay true to your commitment and realize the rest that’s been made available to you—a rest that not only infuses you with a sense of well-being and purpose but also offers you the assurance of heaven. This passage is an encouragement for us to hang in there and refrain from giving up prematurely … to so value and appreciate what Jesus brings to our lives that we don’t let our brothers and sisters turn their back on Him without doing all we can to prevent it.
So … what are some things we can do to encourage our brothers and sisters—some of whom may be sitting on the fence and grappling with a sense of spiritual gravity that causes them to lose focus on the things of Godand devalue that which is of ultimate importance? What are some things we can do to encourage them to hang in there and stay by the stuff? What are some ways we can motivate them to maintain a vital connection with Jesus and not become distracted and preoccupied by lesser things to where they end up following in the footsteps of the ancient Hebrews?
Here’s the bottom line: This Jesus thing is a much more collective and corporate endeavor than we sometimes want to acknowledge. While it is at its core a personal relationship, it’s not meant to be a solo undertaking. We are called to assist and help each other along the way. And doing so is not nearly as complicated as we often make it out to be. Maybe it’s nothing more than shooting someone a text that says, “I believe in you” or “I’m here for you” or “You’re in my prayers—let me know how I can help.” Maybe it’s a hug when we run into them at the grocery store or health club. Maybe it’s a phone call or personal invite—"Hey, we’re going to go to the movies on Friday night and would you guys like to meet us there?” Whatever it might be, lets be people who commit to doing the little things that can make such a big difference in their lives … the simple personal touches than can keep them from giving up and turning their backs and missing out on the sense of rest, peace, and well-being that accompanies a relationship with Jesus.