The last installment brought us to the exhortation found in Hebrews 3:12. In that discussion we saw that the quotation from Psalm 95 was an appeal which David, who was granted a vision of the days of Messiah, made to the Jews of the first century, urging them to accept Jesus of Nazareth as their long looked for Redeemer. The Apostle Paul by this quotation strengthened his appeal found in 3:1 to the Jewish nation to accept "the Apostle and High Priest of our confession, even Jesus" as Lord, Messiah, and Deliverer. Seeing the connection, we shall proceed with the further exposition of the rest of this chapter.

"Take heed, brethren, lest haply there shall be in any one of you an evil heart of unbelief, in falling away from the living God: but exhort one another day by day, so long as it is called To-day; lest any one of you be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin: for we are become partakers of Christ, if we hold fast the beginning of our confidence firm unto the end: while it is said, To-day if ye shall hear his voice, Harden not your hearts, as in the provocation" (Heb. 3:12-15).

Verse 12 contains a warning to the Jewish people against apostatizing from the living God. The word rendered "falling away" in this verse is the regular term in the original Greek which means to apostatize or forsake—to leave one side and go to another. As has been pointed out in these studies, the real believer may backslide but he never apostatizes. There was a danger that those to whom this portion of the epistle was addressed might apostatize from the living God. This same word occurs in Luke 8:13, in that portion of the parable of the sower which speaks about those who are represented by the seed falling on stony ground. They hear the Word, with joy receive it for the time being, but in time of testing they fall away—apostatize.

Luke, in speaking of John Mark's having left Paul and Barnabas and returned to Jerusalem, said that Paul did not consider it expedient to take him who forsook them from Pamphylia and did not go with them unto the work. Mark had started out with Paul and Barnabas but in the face of danger turned around and returned to Jerusalem. This action is expressed by the word which Paul used in Hebrews 3:12. Of course, no one thinks that Mark apostatized in the spiritual sense. It is clear from the context that the word under consideration means fundamentally to leave one group and go to another place.

These Jews who had heard about Christ but who would not consider Him and His claims would by their refusal to accept Jesus be falling away or apostatizing from the living God. They had had the light but had refused to accept it. Thus in turning away from Jesus Christ as their Messiah and Saviour they would be apostatizing from the living God.

Paul, in verse 13, urged his Jewish brethren to exhort one another day by day during the period that is called "To-day" (Heb. 3:13-15). His urging them individually to exhort one another shows that he was very eager for the entire nation to reconsider the claims of Jesus and, as a body of people, to accept Him.

He was eager for them as a race to come to Jesus during the period that is, in Psalm 95, called "To-day." According to verses 14 and 15 they would become partakers of Christ if they would hold fast the beginning of their confidence firm unto the end while it was being said, "To-day" if ye shall hear his voice, Harden not your hearts, as in the provocation." A thorough knowledge of Psalm 95 and of Paul's use of it in Hebrews 3 and 4 show that he was drawing a parallel between the generation of Hebrews of Moses' day and the generation of contemporary Jewry of his time. The Hebrews of Moses' day had been evangelized, had been delivered from their bondage, had been given the law of God, had been led during the wilderness wanderings for forty years, and those who had refused to enter Canaan at Kadesh Barnea had perished in the wilderness. In the language of the older theologians, we would say that the Israelites of Moses' day had "sinned away their day of grace."

The generation of Hebrews of Paul's day had heard the gospel because it was first preached at Jerusalem, then in Judea, next in Samaria, and finally unto the uttermost part of the earth. All the Jews, therefore, had heard the message which had come to them not in word only but in power and in demonstration of the Holy Spirit (See Heb. 2:1-4). The nation as a group of people had been indifferent toward the claims of Christ. The period designated by the Psalmist David when Jehovah the God of Israel would speak to them was called "To-day." Paul urged his contemporaries to put aside their indifference, to consider Jesus as the Apostle from heaven and as High Priest of the Jewish nation and to accept Him then while it was being called "To-day."

This language implied that this period of opportunity would not continue always and that, after it passed, dire consequences would come upon those who did not accept Him. When we read the history of the Jewish nation from 30 A.D., when Christ was crucified, to 70 A.D.—just forty years later—when Jerusalem fell and Israel was carried captive among all the nations, we conclude naturally that the period designated "To-day" by the Psalmist was the forty years from the crucifixion to the fall of Jerusalem. We likewise come to the conviction that the Lord extended to Israel the opportunity of accepting Him nationally during this time.

In the second recorded sermon preached after the ascension of our Lord and recorded in Acts 3, the Apostle Peter pleaded with his brethren to repent of their rejection of Christ and to turn to Him personally in order that God might send seasons of refreshing—a heaven sent revival to the nation—and that He might send the Lord Jesus, the Messiah appointed for them, who would usher in the days of the restoration of all things spoken of by Moses and the prophets. This sermon of the Apostle Peter was indeed God's first call to Israel of the first century to accept Jesus as Messiah.

The Book of Hebrews, written probably 68 or 69 A.D., was His final appeal to the nation to accept Him during the period designated "To-day" by the Psalmist David. Since they did not heed the admonition, the year 70 A.D. came when, by Divine Providence, the stroke of judgment fell upon Israel, her national life became extinct, and she was taken captive among all the nations. This judgment without question was God's punishment upon her for not having accepted her Messiah and Lord.

A second warning given to Israel in these verses is found in these words: "Lest anyone of you be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin" (vs. 13). Sin has a hardening, deadening effect upon any one who embraces it. One must respond to every good impulse which comes to one's own heart; otherwise one receives a positive injury by suppressing a good and holy desire, or by refusing to heed its call. The effect of the hardening of the heart is spoken of as producing the deceitfulness of sin. Whenever sin and disobedience come into the life, it is impossible for one to see things as they really are. Hence he becomes deceived. Knowing the inworking of sin and disobedience, the Apostle urged his brethren not to lay themselves open to such an influence. On the contrary, he exhorted his brethren, promising them, "... we are become partakers of Christ, if we hold fast the beginning of our confidence firm unto the end" (vs. 14). Here again the Apostle used a third class conditional sentence which expressed uncertainty—grave doubt—concerning their accepting Jesus nationally. But he declared that they would become partakers of Christ if they would hold on to the boldness which they had exhibited through the centuries. Unfortunately they did not hold on to that and did not earnestly desire the truth; they therefore did not become partakers of Christ. On the contrary, the wrath of God fell upon them as a nation because of their rejection of Him.

In the last four verses of this chapter the Apostle called attention to Israel's experiences and showed that those who did not believe died in the wilderness, not being permitted to enter into the Promised Land. The reason of their being rejected was that they refused to believe. These people upon whom the judgment of God fell are held up by the Apostle as a warning, which fact shows the dire results that come from unbelief and the rejection of the truth.

May you and I, dear friends, have open hearts to receive any and all truth that God has spoken. May He give us strength to take our stand upon that which we believe to be His will and to stand for the same—to His glory and honor.