Hebrews: Unbelief Prevents Us From Rest in Him
Hebrews 3:16-19 - Disobedience and disbelief are the same things.
“For who provoked Him when they had heard? Indeed, did not all those who came out of Egypt led by Moses? And with whom was He angry for forty years? Was it not with those who sinned, whose bodies fell in the wilderness? And to whom did He swear that they would not enter His rest, but to those who were disobedient? So we see that they were not able to enter because of unbelief.”
Hebrews 3:16-19 NASB1995
The last four verses of Hebrews 3 contain five questions. This hearkens back again to the stubborn and unbelieving people of Israel and how they provoked God over and over again during their long journey in the wilderness. Let’s do a word study!
Provoked comes from the Greek verb παραπικραίνω or parapikraínō (Strong’s G3893) with the following Biblical usages:
to provoke, exasperate
to rouse to indignation
Provoke can also be used in an opposite sense, as in being rebellious. The people of Israel saw one miracle after another yet they persisted in their disobedience and unbelief.
Enduring Word has good commentary on this passage (David Guzik uses the New King James Version):
a. For who, having heard, rebelled? As a nation, Israel made a good beginning. After all, it took a lot of faith to cross the Red Sea. Yet all of that first generation perished in the wilderness, except for the two men of faith – Joshua and Caleb.
i. Think of their great privilege:
· They saw the ten plagues come upon Egypt.
· They had great revelation from God.
· They had received great patience from God.
· They received great mercy.
b. They would not enter His rest: 11 times in Hebrews chapters 3 and 4, the Book of Hebrews speaks of entering rest. That rest will be deeply detailed in the next chapter. But here, the key to entering rest is revealed: belief.
c. So we see that they could not enter in because of unbelief: One might be tempted to think the key to entering rest is obedience, especially from Hebrews 3:18: to whom did He swear that they would not enter His rest, but to those who did not obey? But the disobedience mentioned in Hebrews 3:18 is an outgrowth of the unbelief mentioned in Hebrews 3:19. The unbelief came first, then the disobedience.
i. It was unbelief and not something else that kept them out of Canaan:
· Their sin did not keep them out of Canaan.
· Lack of evidence did not keep them out of Canaan.
· Lack of encouragement did not keep them out of Canaan.
· Difficult circumstances did not keep them out of Canaan.
ii. In a New Testament context, our belief centers on the superiority of Jesus Christ, the truth of who He is (fully God and fully man) and His atoning work for us as a faithful High Priest (as in Hebrews 2:17). When we trust in these things, making them the “food” of our souls, we enter into God’s rest.
d. They could not enter in: Israel’s great failure was to not persevere in faith. After crossing much of the wilderness trusting in God, and after seeing so many reasons to trust in Him, they end up falling short – because they did not persevere in faith in God and His promise.
i. Jesus reminded us in the parable of the soils with the seeds cast on stony ground and among thorns that it is not enough to make a good beginning, real belief perseveres to the end. It is wonderful to make a good start, but how we finish is even more important than how we start.
ii. C.S. Lewis speaks to the difficulty of persistence (from a tempting demon’s fictional perspective): “The Enemy has guarded him from you through the first great wave of temptations. But, if only he can be kept alive, you have time itself for your ally. The long, dull monotonous years of middle-aged prosperity or middle-aged adversity are excellent campaigning weather. You see, it is so hard for these creatures to persevere. The routine of adversity, the gradual decay of youthful loves and youthful hopes, the quiet despair (hardly felt as pain) of ever overcoming the chronic temptations with which we have again and again defeated them, the drabness which we create in their lives and inarticulate resentment with which we teach them to respond to it — all this provides admirable opportunities of wearing out a soul by attrition. If, on the other hand, the middle years prove prosperous, our position is even stronger. Prosperity knits a man to the World. He feels that he is ‘finding his place in it’ while really it is finding its place in him… That is why we must often wish long life to our patients; seventy years is not a day too much for the difficult task of unraveling their souls from Heaven and building up a firm attachment to the earth.” (The Screwtape Letters)
iii. If we enter in to God’s rest then the coming years will only increase our trust and reliance on Jesus. If by unbelief we fail to enter in, then the coming years will only gradually draw us away from a passionate, trusting relationship with Jesus.
If you have not read “The Screwtape Letters” by C.S. Lewis, I advise you to rush out and get a copy of this essential work. Told from the perspective of the enemy (a fictional demon named Screwtape), it describes how the lukewarm believer can be undone from his belief because of the temptations of the world and prosperity. I feel extremely grateful to the Lord for making my senior years really count by persuading me to do these in-depth Bible studies as devotionals because it puts His word before me every day and also keeps me prayerful so that I can reflect on what I read. Many seniors retire and start living the fun life (I admit I enjoy that, too) and that can lead them to unbelief, even if they go through the motions of going to church.
So the people of Israel provoked God in ever-increasing disobedience (disbelief) and only two were allowed to enter the promised land at the end of the forty years (Joshua and Caleb). Moses himself did not enter the promised land even though he is one of the greatest of God’s prophets! Here’s the story behind why Moses was not allowed to walk into the promised land at the end, from Gotquestions.org, for those who may not remember the OT story:
In Deuteronomy 32:51–52 God gives the reason that Moses was not permitted to enter the Promised Land: “This is because . . . you broke faith with me in the presence of the Israelites at the waters of Meribah Kadesh in the Desert of Zin and because you did not uphold my holiness among the Israelites. Therefore, you will see the land only from a distance; you will not enter the land I am giving to the people of Israel.” God was true to His promise. He showed Moses the Promised Land, but did not let him enter in.
The incident at the waters of Meribah Kadesh is recorded in Numbers 20. Nearing the end of their forty years of wandering, the Israelites came to the Desert of Zin. There was no water, and the community turned against Moses and Aaron. Moses and Aaron went to the tent of meeting and prostrated themselves before God. God told Moses and Aaron to gather the assembly and speak to the rock. Water would come forth. Moses took the staff and gathered the men. Then, seemingly in anger, Moses said to them, “Listen, you rebels, must we bring you water out of this rock?” Then Moses struck the rock twice with his staff (Numbers 20:10–11). Water came from the rock, as God had promised. But God immediately told Moses and Aaron that, because they failed to trust Him enough to honor Him as holy, they would not bring the children of Israel into the Promised Land (verse 12).
The punishment may seem harsh to us, but, when we look closely at Moses’ actions, we see several mistakes. Most obviously, Moses disobeyed a direct command from God. God had commanded Moses to speak to the rock. Instead, Moses struck the rock with his staff. Earlier, when God had brought water from a rock, He instructed Moses to strike it with a staff (Exodus 17). But God’s instructions were different here. God wanted Moses to trust Him, especially after they had been in such close relationship for so many years. Moses didn’t need to use force; he simply needed to obey God and know that God would be true to His promise.
Also, Moses took the credit for bringing forth the water. He asks the people gathered at the rock, “Must we bring you water out of this rock?” (Numbers 20:10, emphasis added). Moses seemed to be taking credit for the miracle himself (and Aaron), instead of attributing it to God. Moses did this publicly. God could not let it go unpunished and expect the Israelites to understand His holiness.
I also want to share a couple of commentaries from Precept Austin. The first is from Ray Stedman:
The rhetorical questions of Heb 3:16–18 show how an outward facade of belief can be maintained while the heart is still unrepentant, and therefore unredeemed. It is possible to participate in and benefit from the great miracles of God, as the Israelites did who came out of Egypt with Moses (Heb 3:16). Yet, despite such evidence, the heart can remain unchanged for a lifetime. God sees that inner hardness and warns continually against it until he is forced to judge it (He 3:17). Note the growing stages of unbelief: general rebellion (He 3:16); sin, punished by physical death (He 3:17); and disobedience (Gk “being unpersuadable”—He 3:18). The cause of this recalcitrance lies deeper than a wrong attitude or wrong behavior; it lies in a disobedient will. Therefore, the loss of promised blessing is traceable only and solely to long-continued unbelief (He 3:19). This word (apistian, “disbelief”) is the platform upon which the writer’s more positive explanation of rest is founded. He gives us the other side of disbelief in Hebrews 4. (Don’t Miss Your Opportunity) (Bolding added by Precept Austin).
The second is from a sermon from Steven Cole:
Conclusion - I had a neighbor in California who could be described as an all-out macho man. His face and tattooed arms were tanned from working on a road crew and from riding his motorcycle in the California sun. He had a quick temper. I once heard him from over 100 yards away cussing out the snowplow driver for plowing a berm in front of his driveway. He had copies of Penthouse magazine lying around his house. He never went to church.
One day I got an opportunity to share Christ with him. But he quickly held up his hand to silence me and then said, “Steve, I’ve got that all fixed up with the Man Upstairs.” I’m always worried when someone refers to Almighty God as “the Man Upstairs.” I said, “What do you mean?” He proceeded to tell me that when he was a teenager, he attended a large Baptist church in the Los Angeles area. The youth pastor had told him that if he would accept Christ, he would be assured of going to heaven. He said, “I did that, and so you don’t need to worry about me.” Even though there was not a shred of evidence that he was persevering in the faith, and in spite of much evidence that he was not, he thought that because he had once believed, he had eternal life!
The author of Hebrews had a different view of things. He says that to enter God’s rest, we must persevere in obedient faith. To persevere, we must avoid the great sin of unbelief; we must practice the great service of mutual encouragement; we must hold fast our great salvation in Christ; and, we must personalize the great story of Israel in the wilderness. Take care, brethren! (Lesson 11- Persevering in Faith Hebrews 3:12-19) (Bolding added)
That’s a scary story! I have seen believers (including myself) indulge in behaviors that certainly don’t indicate obedience to His commandments and will. We might make it through to that heavenly rest by the skin of our teeth because we are honestly justified, but wouldn’t it be nice to avoid the judgment by fire that comes from ignoring the precepts of our sanctification? What is really troubling is that many mainstream denominations (like many churches in the ELCA) now preach universalism. We don’t even have to believe! They have perverted the words of John 3:16 to remove any responsibility or requirement for salvation, thus leading people down that wide, well-paved path to perdition. Here’s what Gotquestions.org says about universalism:
Many people believe that all roads—all religions and beliefs—lead to heaven, or they consider that God is so full of love and mercy that He will allow all people into heaven. God is certainly full of love and mercy; it was these qualities that led Him to send His Son, Jesus Christ, to earth to die on the cross for us. Jesus Christ is the exclusive door that leads to an eternity in heaven. Acts 4:12 says, “Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved.” “There is one God and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus” (1 Timothy 2:5). In John 14:6, Jesus says, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” John 3:16, “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.” If we choose to reject God’s Son, we do not meet the requirements for salvation (John 3:16, 18, 36).
With verses such as these, it becomes clear that universalism and universal salvation are unbiblical beliefs. Universalism directly contradicts what Scripture teaches. While many people accuse Christians of being intolerant and “exclusive,” it is important to remember that these are the words of Christ Himself. Christians did not develop these ideas on their own; Christians are simply stating what the Lord has already said. People choose to reject the message because they do not want to face up to their sin and admit that they need the Lord to save them. To say that those who reject God’s provision of salvation through His Son will be saved is to belittle the holiness and justice of God and negate the need of Jesus’ sacrifice on our behalf.
So chapter four of Hebrews will continue the exposition on having rest in Him. What does it mean to have “rest”? Let’s do another word study!
Rest comes from the Greek noun κατάπαυσις or katápausis (Strong’s G2663), with the following Biblical usages:
a putting to rest
calming of the winds
a resting place
metaph. the heavenly blessedness in which God dwells, and of which he has promised to make persevering believers in Christ partakers after the toils and trials of life on earth are ended
My next devotional examines Hebrews 4:1-2 - Don’t let unbelief keep you from God’s rest.
Heaven on Wheels Daily Prayer:
Dear Lord - Please help me to grow in sanctification and obedience, as the most important goal in my life is to reach the end in faith and be in Your rest. Amen.
Credits and citations:
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. www.Lockman.org
G3893 - parapikrainō - Strong’s Greek Lexicon (nasb95). Retrieved from https://www.blueletterbible.org/lexicon/g3893/nasb95/mgnt/0-1/
Commentary from Enduring Word by David Guzik is used with written permission (we obtained this permission several years ago). I will retain the original formatting in my excerpts after reading his revised terms and conditions for quoting. ©1996-present The Enduring Word Bible Commentary by David Guzik – enduringword.com
G2663 - katapausis - Strong’s Greek Lexicon (nasb95). Retrieved from https://www.blueletterbible.org/lexicon/g2663/nasb95/mgnt/0-1/
Gotquestions.org was accessed on 11/02/2025 to answer the questions, Why was Moses not allowed to enter the promised land? Is universalism biblical? COPYRIGHT 2002-2025 GOT QUESTIONS MINISTRIES. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED