(Heb 4:3) “For we which have believed do enter into rest, as He said, As I have sworn in My wrath, if they shall enter into My rest: although the works were finished from the foundation of the world.”  Think of it: the atonement for Adam and Eve (animal skins removed from a sacrifice) was based on the completed work of Christ; as well as your forgiveness in mercy shown to you; and the judgment of both the saved and lost at the end of time; all known and acted upon by God because of that work. 

(Heb 4:3) “For we which have believed do enter into rest, as He said, As I have sworn in My wrath, if they shall enter into My rest: although the works were finished from the foundation of the world.”  The plan of the eternal, not locked in time and space God, was known, seen, and accomplished before God made this world, or man had ever sinned. The cross was not only determined and settled in God’s mind, but also accomplished in action in the eternity of God. Everything God did from Adam’s creation to the end of the ages was  and wil be based on the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ.

(Heb 4:2) “For unto us was the gospel preached, as well as unto them: but the word preached did not profit them, not being mixed with faith in them that heard it.”   “Faith” as used in the Bible is not “a mental acknowledgement of truth”. Bible “faith” is one that moves to action based upon that belief. In this case, to repentance accompanying a desire to be saved from judgment.

(Heb 4:2) “For unto us was the gospel preached, as well as unto them: but the word preached did not profit them, not being mixed with faith in them that heard it.”  “Us” and “them”: not the Children of the Wilderness and Believers today, but we who are sure of heart and those who “seem to come short of it” (v.1). 

(Heb 4:1) “Let us therefore fear, lest, a promise being left us of entering into his rest, any of you should seem to come short of it.”   I made the statement, “There is a difference between being religious and truly loving the Savior.”  You see, when one loves God for His Son, the Son for His suffering bearing one’s sin, they are willing to sacrifice self in order to live to please Him. Yet, so many have no history of doing so, yet will say “I am saved”.

(Heb 4:1) “Let us therefore fear, lest, a promise being left us of entering into his rest, any of you should seem to come short of it.”  There is a difference between being religious and truly loving the Savior; between professing and one’s life showing possession of Christ living in them. The Holy Spirit within the truly saved prompts them to certain actions. If one has not demonstrated such promptings, one probably is not saved.

(Heb 3:18) “And to whom sware He that they should not enter into His rest, but to them that believed not? (19)  So we see that they could not enter in because of unbelief.”  At the heart of every action was the sin of unbelief. They did not believe He cared enough to meet their every need. Moreover, they thought themselves better deserving than of that which God gave them.

(Heb 3:17) “But with whom was He grieved forty years? was it not with them that had sinned, whose carcases fell in the wilderness?”  Don’t be guilty of just seeing some and not the whole picture. Those moving through the desert awaiting the judgment of death were all the while shaded by day with a cloud and by night had light in appearance of a fire. Each day they were given bread to eat and time to time meat – all from the hand of God. Their clothes never wore out nor the shoes upon their feet. They had mercy and grace every day till their death.

(Heb 3:16) “For some, when they had heard, did provoke: howbeit not all that came out of Egypt by Moses.”  Notice the term,  “some….did provoke; howbeit not all…..” Not all were guilty of provoking God, yet some did and brought upon the nation much suffering. Take note: our sin “does” affect those around us indirectly as well as directly.

(Heb 3:15) “While it is said, To day if ye will hear His voice, harden not your hearts, as in the provocation.”The word “provocation” is to draw our attention to the serious consequences of the judgment that fell. God is not only loving, but worthy of faith and obedience. He will and does judge – and that harshly. It is foolish not to obey.