Unto whom I sware in my wrath that they should not enter into my rest.
The oath belongs to a call to worship and bow down and kneel before the Lord as maker, God and shepherd, hearing His voice today without hardening the heart as in the provocation and the day of temptation in the wilderness. The fathers there tempted and proved God and saw His work, and for forty years grieved Him by erring in heart and not knowing His ways, for which He swore in wrath to keep them out of His rest. Psalm 95 is to be read together with the woes against those who call evil good and good evil, put darkness for light and light for darkness, justify the wicked for reward, cast away the law of the Lord of hosts, and despise the word of the Holy One of Israel.
God swore in His wrath that the wilderness generation would not enter His rest because in the provocation and day of temptation in the wilderness they hardened their hearts, tempted and proved Him, saw His works for forty years, repeatedly tested Him, grieved Him, erred in heart, did not know His ways, and resisted His voice through persistent unbelief, disobedience and failure to trust Him. Their exclusion was the consequence of persistent unbelief and disobedience. The rest they were barred from was the promised land, meaning the blessings God designed to give Israel if they would obey His voice, which He could not give because the leaders yielded to the temptations of Satan and did not obey.
God would have brought Israel to the promised land sooner and promptly if they had submitted to His leading, trusted Him alone, and followed Him willingly. Their long wandering resulted from grieving God and refusing His leading. Only the two who wholly followed Him were excepted from the oath and entered the rest. They fell in the wilderness because they did not believe, and the warning applies to those who hear the gospel: God's promise of rest does not benefit hearers unless it is received with faith, so they must remain faithful rather than repeat Israel's example of unbelief.
The oath stands as a present and last-days warning to heed God today, take heed lest there be an evil heart of unbelief in departing from the living God, guard against unbelief and the deceitfulness of sin that hardens the heart until conscience loses sensitivity, and exhort and encourage one another daily while it is called Today so hearts are not hardened or turned away. Israel's experience will be repeated in the last years of the history of the people of God established by His grace and power, when even men greatly honored by God will pattern after ancient Israel. History will be repeated and the perils of past ages encountered again intensified, as Satan obtains influence even over men honored above all human intelligence as Solomon was honored.
The oath belongs to a call to worship and bow down and kneel before the Lord as maker, God and shepherd, hearing His voice today without hardening the heart as in the provocation and the day of temptation in the wilderness. The fathers there tempted and proved God and saw His work, and for forty years grieved Him by erring in heart and not knowing His ways, for which He swore in wrath to keep them out of His rest. Psalm 95 is to be read together with the woes against those who call evil good and good evil, put darkness for light and light for darkness, justify the wicked for reward, cast away the law of the Lord of hosts, and despise the word of the Holy One of Israel.
God swore in His wrath that the wilderness generation would not enter His rest because in the provocation and day of temptation in the wilderness they hardened their hearts, tempted and proved Him, saw His works for forty years, repeatedly tested Him, grieved Him, erred in heart, did not know His ways, and resisted His voice through persistent unbelief, disobedience and failure to trust Him. Their exclusion was the consequence of persistent unbelief and disobedience. The rest they were barred from was the promised land, meaning the blessings God designed to give Israel if they would obey His voice, which He could not give because the leaders yielded to the temptations of Satan and did not obey.
God would have brought Israel to the promised land sooner and promptly if they had submitted to His leading, trusted Him alone, and followed Him willingly. Their long wandering resulted from grieving God and refusing His leading. Only the two who wholly followed Him were excepted from the oath and entered the rest. They fell in the wilderness because they did not believe, and the warning applies to those who hear the gospel: God's promise of rest does not benefit hearers unless it is received with faith, so they must remain faithful rather than repeat Israel's example of unbelief.
The oath stands as a present and last-days warning to heed God today, take heed lest there be an evil heart of unbelief in departing from the living God, guard against unbelief and the deceitfulness of sin that hardens the heart until conscience loses sensitivity, and exhort and encourage one another daily while it is called Today so hearts are not hardened or turned away. Israel's experience will be repeated in the last years of the history of the people of God established by His grace and power, when even men greatly honored by God will pattern after ancient Israel. History will be repeated and the perils of past ages encountered again intensified, as Satan obtains influence even over men honored above all human intelligence as Solomon was honored.