While it is said, To day if ye will hear his voice, harden not your hearts, as in the provocation.
Today means the present moment while His voice is being heard, and it calls for immediate response without delay or postponement. To harden the heart is to resist, refuse, and defer what is heard, through an evil heart of unbelief made deceitful by sin that departs from the living God. The provocation was Israel's wilderness rebellion after coming out of Egypt under Moses, when those who heard provoked Him, tempted and proved Him forty years while seeing His works, yet erred in heart and knew not His ways, so He was grieved and swore in unbelief they should not enter His rest. The same good news is preached now and the promise of entering His rest remains, but the word heard does not profit unless mixed with faith, so partaking of Christ depends on holding the beginning of confidence and the rejoicing of hope firm unto the end, with daily mutual exhortation while it is called Today lest any be hardened. Probationary time to prepare for eternity is limited with no promise of tomorrow, so each sinner and each family member must decide at once to give the heart to Jesus, repent and forsake sin, and follow Him in faith and obedience, because continued disobedience hardens and may make the present invitation the last call of mercy.
Today's Urgent Voice
Today means the present moment while His voice is being heard, and it makes the call urgent, requiring response now without delay while opportunity remains. The time to yield is today, not later, and each family member is to decide promptly to follow Christ and become a child of God. The present day is the time to hear and turn to the Lord, so that the path does not leave desolation behind.
To harden the heart is to resist, refuse, defer, or postpone responding to what is heard. Postponement because of objection to the restraints of religious life or because of comparison with professed Christians is itself hardening. Excusing faults and delaying reform hardens the heart, and the present opportunity to accept mercy and forgiveness must not be delayed or lost.
Hearing His voice includes hearing God and Christ calling, with Christ standing at the door of the heart knocking for admission and seeking not to knock in vain. It includes accepting His correction and reproof with humbling of self before Him, and hearing Jesus calling to serve and work for Him and to take hold of the work in earnest. The response required is to cry to God with heart and soul and voice for courage to receive Jesus, to enter vital connection, transforming power, and partnership with God through consecration and diligent use of God-given powers. Hearing rightly is to receive the truth, believe it, and practice it, with repentance, forsaking of sin, and doing works of righteousness, for hearing the call alone is not enough.
The opportunity is limited probationary time to prepare for eternity, and there is no promise of tomorrow. Delaying obedience hardens the heart and wastes precious time that should bear fruits of righteousness in purity, holiness, and a deep work of grace. Continued disobedience may make the present invitation the last invitation of mercy, with no second probation after it is refused and with the invitation not coming again. If His voice is heard with full turning to Him, He will have mercy and abundantly pardon, but life may end soon and character will not be changed when Christ comes suddenly and finds His people unready.
Israel's Wilderness Provocation
The provocation is the rebellion in the wilderness after coming out of Egypt under Moses, when those who heard the voice provoked God, though not all who came out provoked Him. It is the pattern held up by the call to hear today without hardening the heart as they hardened then.
God was grieved forty years with those who sinned, whose bodies and carcasses fell in the wilderness. He swore that those who did not believe should not enter into His rest, so they could not enter in because of unbelief. Only the two who wholly followed Him were excepted from that sentence, for He would have led the people promptly into the promised land if they had submitted to Him and welcomed His guidance.
They tempted and proved God and saw His works forty years, yet they always erred in heart and did not know His ways. Truth was kept before them again and again, so they might have known His ways, but they did not follow its teachings. They divorced themselves from God and followed the wisdom of men not under His direction, and the ancient people to whom the sacred oracles were committed misinterpreted and misapplied His revealed Word, despised the Word of the Holy One of Israel, and rejected its instruction. Repeated exposure to truth did not help them because they refused to heed it, and their persistent backsliding, unbelief, and idolatry led to the destruction of nearly all the adults who left Egypt, whose children were warned not to repeat that course. They heard Christ's words through the pillar of cloud, but unbelief kept the message from benefiting them because they would not receive, believe, and practise the truth.
Their hardening showed in murmuring and complaining, suspicion and distrust toward one another, and in weighing fellow men in human scales, conjecturing about their words and movements, and charging them with want of discernment. It showed in pride and selfishness, in persistent backsliding and idolatry, and in turning back toward Egypt instead of moving forward in faith and obedience under His leadership. It showed when they spoke heatedly, stamped their feet, and stubbornly pursued their own plans after hearing but provoking God. The same ground is walked again whenever appearances are not encouraging and judgment is taken into human hands, with evil surmising, evil thinking, and evil speaking weakening hearts and hands by planting seeds of doubt.
Unbelief and God's Rest
Hardening comes through the deceitfulness of sin working from an evil heart of unbelief that departs from the living God and follows a different leading. Unbelief and sin in this way can turn people away from God and shut them out of His rest.
The same gospel is preached now as then, and the promise of entering His rest remains, so there is reason to fear coming short of it. The word heard does not profit unless it is mixed with faith, and diligence is needed to enter that rest and not fall after the same example of unbelief.
Hearing rightly means soberly and meekly believing the Word, receiving and appropriating it, and using, practicing, and trusting it. This way of hearing brings precious experience and blessing, making believers complete in Him who is their righteousness and wise unto salvation, while lack of faith withholds blessings hanging over believers. Repeated exposure to truth does not help when its instruction is rejected, and unbelief joined with pride, selfishness, murmuring, persistent backsliding and idolatry kept the message from benefiting those who heard, as also seen when refusal to hear and receive warning brought destruction in Noah's generation.
God's living Word is quick and powerful and sharper than any two-edged sword, laying open the thoughts and intents of the heart, with all things naked before Him with whom we have to do. Jesus the Son of God is the great High Priest passed into the heavens, sympathetic and touched with infirmities yet tempted in all points without sin, who must be held fast by profession and approached boldly at the throne of grace to obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need.
Holding Confidence Together
Sharing in Christ and remaining His house depends on holding the beginning of confidence and the rejoicing of the hope firm and steadfast unto the end. Persevering faith is joined to partaking of Christ, for unbelief and sin can harden and turn away from the living God. The call to hear without hardening belongs to today and must be met without repeating Israel's wilderness provocation.
To prevent that hardening, heed must be taken to self, with daily exhorting and encouraging of one another while it is called Today. Today stresses urgency to respond while opportunity is present, since sin deceives and hardens the heart. An evil heart of unbelief departs from the living God, so believers guard against its deceit by mutual daily encouragement and by holding confidence in Christ firm to the end.
Guarding against unbelief means not walking over the same ground as Israel by murmuring and complaining, becoming suspicious, weighing fellow men in human scales, conjecturing about their words and movements, charging them with want of discernment, and taking judgment out of God's hands when appearances are not encouraging. It means not holding personal feelings, criticism, suspicion, and blame toward others for lack of prosperity, nor looking to men and the arm of flesh, to numbers, or to apparent capabilities. Satan seeks to harden through suspicion, distrust, evil surmising, evil thinking, and evil speaking, and no encouragement is given for unbelief since grace and power manifested over and over teach that it is always profitable to cherish, talk, and act faith rather than weaken hearts and hands by planting doubt and distrust. The remedy is cooperating with God now, letting character be molded after the divine similitude, living in hourly contact and conscious communion with God, with the deep moving of the Spirit, frankness instead of secretiveness, brotherly confidence, less of self and more of the spirit of Christ, and living faith in God.
The warning sounds down along the line to the present time and applies especially to those living in the time of the end. The same danger of failing through unbelief to enter God's rest is still set forth in connection with God's rest in Hebrews 4. Repeated exposure to truth does not help if its instruction is rejected and human wisdom is followed instead of God, as shown when nearly all the adults who left Egypt were destroyed through persistent backsliding, unbelief, and idolatry.
Answering Without Delay
The verse calls sinners to decide at once to give the heart to Jesus, cut the cords binding them to the world with its pleasures and attractions, leave the service of Satan, confess Christ, follow Him, and enter His school to learn of Him. Each family member is urged to decide promptly to follow Christ and become a child of God, to become Christians and serve God, including working in His vineyard, without hardening the heart or putting off deciding.
Workers who hear God's voice speaking must cooperate with God now and enter the work to which they are called without unnecessary delay. Students who feel Jesus calling them to serve must not let prolonged education keep them from service, for time and present opportunity are limited. Postponement because of dislike of restraint or because of comparison with professed Christians wastes probationary time, and there is no promise of tomorrow, so delay risks eternal loss.
When His voice is heard with full turning to Him, He will have mercy and abundantly pardon, for now while it is called today is the time to hear and turn fully, and there will be no second probation. That turning requires repentance, forsaking sin and wrong, not excusing faults or delaying reform, and doing works of righteousness, since hearing the call is not enough and the invitation may not come again. It means seeking purity and holiness and a deep work of grace, moving forward in faith and obedience rather than turning back, humbling self before Him, attending to today's spiritual need while trusting Him as helper and strength, and not letting distractions turn the heart from preparation to meet Christ at His sudden coming.
Hardening includes becoming depressed and murmuring and complaining in spite of the marvelous work wrought through Christ's humiliation, obedience unto death, even death of the cross, and exaltation by God. Israel heard Christ's words through the pillar of cloud, yet unbelief, pride, selfishness, and murmuring kept the message from benefiting them, and He would have led them promptly into the promised land if they had submitted and welcomed His guidance, excepting only the two who wholly followed Him. Persistent resistance leaves people to the results of their own choices, and as in Noah's day when people stubbornly rejected the Spirit until He ceased striving and preaching and hearing became vain, so repeated refusal of correction is perilous and can end in destruction without remedy, with character unchanged when Christ comes and life possibly ending soon. Therefore His people must wake from spiritual sleep, trust Him alone rather than seek help from those who do not serve Him, humble themselves and repent while it is still today, and not harden the heart against His voice or follow a hard, unbelieving heart away after a different leading.
Today means the present moment while His voice is being heard, and it calls for immediate response without delay or postponement. To harden the heart is to resist, refuse, and defer what is heard, through an evil heart of unbelief made deceitful by sin that departs from the living God. The provocation was Israel's wilderness rebellion after coming out of Egypt under Moses, when those who heard provoked Him, tempted and proved Him forty years while seeing His works, yet erred in heart and knew not His ways, so He was grieved and swore in unbelief they should not enter His rest. The same good news is preached now and the promise of entering His rest remains, but the word heard does not profit unless mixed with faith, so partaking of Christ depends on holding the beginning of confidence and the rejoicing of hope firm unto the end, with daily mutual exhortation while it is called Today lest any be hardened. Probationary time to prepare for eternity is limited with no promise of tomorrow, so each sinner and each family member must decide at once to give the heart to Jesus, repent and forsake sin, and follow Him in faith and obedience, because continued disobedience hardens and may make the present invitation the last call of mercy.
Today's Urgent Voice
Today means the present moment while His voice is being heard, and it makes the call urgent, requiring response now without delay while opportunity remains. The time to yield is today, not later, and each family member is to decide promptly to follow Christ and become a child of God. The present day is the time to hear and turn to the Lord, so that the path does not leave desolation behind.
To harden the heart is to resist, refuse, defer, or postpone responding to what is heard. Postponement because of objection to the restraints of religious life or because of comparison with professed Christians is itself hardening. Excusing faults and delaying reform hardens the heart, and the present opportunity to accept mercy and forgiveness must not be delayed or lost.
Hearing His voice includes hearing God and Christ calling, with Christ standing at the door of the heart knocking for admission and seeking not to knock in vain. It includes accepting His correction and reproof with humbling of self before Him, and hearing Jesus calling to serve and work for Him and to take hold of the work in earnest. The response required is to cry to God with heart and soul and voice for courage to receive Jesus, to enter vital connection, transforming power, and partnership with God through consecration and diligent use of God-given powers. Hearing rightly is to receive the truth, believe it, and practice it, with repentance, forsaking of sin, and doing works of righteousness, for hearing the call alone is not enough.
The opportunity is limited probationary time to prepare for eternity, and there is no promise of tomorrow. Delaying obedience hardens the heart and wastes precious time that should bear fruits of righteousness in purity, holiness, and a deep work of grace. Continued disobedience may make the present invitation the last invitation of mercy, with no second probation after it is refused and with the invitation not coming again. If His voice is heard with full turning to Him, He will have mercy and abundantly pardon, but life may end soon and character will not be changed when Christ comes suddenly and finds His people unready.
Israel's Wilderness Provocation
The provocation is the rebellion in the wilderness after coming out of Egypt under Moses, when those who heard the voice provoked God, though not all who came out provoked Him. It is the pattern held up by the call to hear today without hardening the heart as they hardened then.
God was grieved forty years with those who sinned, whose bodies and carcasses fell in the wilderness. He swore that those who did not believe should not enter into His rest, so they could not enter in because of unbelief. Only the two who wholly followed Him were excepted from that sentence, for He would have led the people promptly into the promised land if they had submitted to Him and welcomed His guidance.
They tempted and proved God and saw His works forty years, yet they always erred in heart and did not know His ways. Truth was kept before them again and again, so they might have known His ways, but they did not follow its teachings. They divorced themselves from God and followed the wisdom of men not under His direction, and the ancient people to whom the sacred oracles were committed misinterpreted and misapplied His revealed Word, despised the Word of the Holy One of Israel, and rejected its instruction. Repeated exposure to truth did not help them because they refused to heed it, and their persistent backsliding, unbelief, and idolatry led to the destruction of nearly all the adults who left Egypt, whose children were warned not to repeat that course. They heard Christ's words through the pillar of cloud, but unbelief kept the message from benefiting them because they would not receive, believe, and practise the truth.
Their hardening showed in murmuring and complaining, suspicion and distrust toward one another, and in weighing fellow men in human scales, conjecturing about their words and movements, and charging them with want of discernment. It showed in pride and selfishness, in persistent backsliding and idolatry, and in turning back toward Egypt instead of moving forward in faith and obedience under His leadership. It showed when they spoke heatedly, stamped their feet, and stubbornly pursued their own plans after hearing but provoking God. The same ground is walked again whenever appearances are not encouraging and judgment is taken into human hands, with evil surmising, evil thinking, and evil speaking weakening hearts and hands by planting seeds of doubt.
Unbelief and God's Rest
Hardening comes through the deceitfulness of sin working from an evil heart of unbelief that departs from the living God and follows a different leading. Unbelief and sin in this way can turn people away from God and shut them out of His rest.
The same gospel is preached now as then, and the promise of entering His rest remains, so there is reason to fear coming short of it. The word heard does not profit unless it is mixed with faith, and diligence is needed to enter that rest and not fall after the same example of unbelief.
Hearing rightly means soberly and meekly believing the Word, receiving and appropriating it, and using, practicing, and trusting it. This way of hearing brings precious experience and blessing, making believers complete in Him who is their righteousness and wise unto salvation, while lack of faith withholds blessings hanging over believers. Repeated exposure to truth does not help when its instruction is rejected, and unbelief joined with pride, selfishness, murmuring, persistent backsliding and idolatry kept the message from benefiting those who heard, as also seen when refusal to hear and receive warning brought destruction in Noah's generation.
God's living Word is quick and powerful and sharper than any two-edged sword, laying open the thoughts and intents of the heart, with all things naked before Him with whom we have to do. Jesus the Son of God is the great High Priest passed into the heavens, sympathetic and touched with infirmities yet tempted in all points without sin, who must be held fast by profession and approached boldly at the throne of grace to obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need.
Holding Confidence Together
Sharing in Christ and remaining His house depends on holding the beginning of confidence and the rejoicing of the hope firm and steadfast unto the end. Persevering faith is joined to partaking of Christ, for unbelief and sin can harden and turn away from the living God. The call to hear without hardening belongs to today and must be met without repeating Israel's wilderness provocation.
To prevent that hardening, heed must be taken to self, with daily exhorting and encouraging of one another while it is called Today. Today stresses urgency to respond while opportunity is present, since sin deceives and hardens the heart. An evil heart of unbelief departs from the living God, so believers guard against its deceit by mutual daily encouragement and by holding confidence in Christ firm to the end.
Guarding against unbelief means not walking over the same ground as Israel by murmuring and complaining, becoming suspicious, weighing fellow men in human scales, conjecturing about their words and movements, charging them with want of discernment, and taking judgment out of God's hands when appearances are not encouraging. It means not holding personal feelings, criticism, suspicion, and blame toward others for lack of prosperity, nor looking to men and the arm of flesh, to numbers, or to apparent capabilities. Satan seeks to harden through suspicion, distrust, evil surmising, evil thinking, and evil speaking, and no encouragement is given for unbelief since grace and power manifested over and over teach that it is always profitable to cherish, talk, and act faith rather than weaken hearts and hands by planting doubt and distrust. The remedy is cooperating with God now, letting character be molded after the divine similitude, living in hourly contact and conscious communion with God, with the deep moving of the Spirit, frankness instead of secretiveness, brotherly confidence, less of self and more of the spirit of Christ, and living faith in God.
The warning sounds down along the line to the present time and applies especially to those living in the time of the end. The same danger of failing through unbelief to enter God's rest is still set forth in connection with God's rest in Hebrews 4. Repeated exposure to truth does not help if its instruction is rejected and human wisdom is followed instead of God, as shown when nearly all the adults who left Egypt were destroyed through persistent backsliding, unbelief, and idolatry.
Answering Without Delay
The verse calls sinners to decide at once to give the heart to Jesus, cut the cords binding them to the world with its pleasures and attractions, leave the service of Satan, confess Christ, follow Him, and enter His school to learn of Him. Each family member is urged to decide promptly to follow Christ and become a child of God, to become Christians and serve God, including working in His vineyard, without hardening the heart or putting off deciding.
Workers who hear God's voice speaking must cooperate with God now and enter the work to which they are called without unnecessary delay. Students who feel Jesus calling them to serve must not let prolonged education keep them from service, for time and present opportunity are limited. Postponement because of dislike of restraint or because of comparison with professed Christians wastes probationary time, and there is no promise of tomorrow, so delay risks eternal loss.
When His voice is heard with full turning to Him, He will have mercy and abundantly pardon, for now while it is called today is the time to hear and turn fully, and there will be no second probation. That turning requires repentance, forsaking sin and wrong, not excusing faults or delaying reform, and doing works of righteousness, since hearing the call is not enough and the invitation may not come again. It means seeking purity and holiness and a deep work of grace, moving forward in faith and obedience rather than turning back, humbling self before Him, attending to today's spiritual need while trusting Him as helper and strength, and not letting distractions turn the heart from preparation to meet Christ at His sudden coming.
Hardening includes becoming depressed and murmuring and complaining in spite of the marvelous work wrought through Christ's humiliation, obedience unto death, even death of the cross, and exaltation by God. Israel heard Christ's words through the pillar of cloud, yet unbelief, pride, selfishness, and murmuring kept the message from benefiting them, and He would have led them promptly into the promised land if they had submitted and welcomed His guidance, excepting only the two who wholly followed Him. Persistent resistance leaves people to the results of their own choices, and as in Noah's day when people stubbornly rejected the Spirit until He ceased striving and preaching and hearing became vain, so repeated refusal of correction is perilous and can end in destruction without remedy, with character unchanged when Christ comes and life possibly ending soon. Therefore His people must wake from spiritual sleep, trust Him alone rather than seek help from those who do not serve Him, humble themselves and repent while it is still today, and not harden the heart against His voice or follow a hard, unbelieving heart away after a different leading.