ance of the Spirit which . is here quoted is found in Psalm 95, and is the record from the divine point of view of what happened during Israel’s forty years in the wilderness. They tempted God (Exodus 17 : 7 ) ; they p rov ok ed Him (Numbers 1 4 :1 1 ); they grieved Him (Psalm 7 8 :4 0 ); and the ultimate results of their re bellion and unbelief were that they limited the Holy One of Israel (Psalm 78 :41 ), forfeited the land into which He would have led them (Hebrews 3 :1 1 ), and perished in the solitudes of the desert (verse 17). Out of the vast multitude that left Egypt, only two entered Canaan. “Take heed, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbe lief, in departing from the living God” (3 :1 2 ). If we fail to take heed and to hold fast the inevitable dan gers are pointed out — backsliding, obduracy, provocation and disobedi ence. There are two “hearts” spoken of in Hebrews: the evil heart of unbelief which leads away from the living God ( 3 :1 2 ) ; and the true heart, which in faith draws near. The practical ef fects in the daily lives of those who thus depart are similar to those which happen to the stream when it is cut off from the fountain, to the branch when it is severed from the tree, to the planet when it is de tached from the sun. Hardening of the heart is induced by repeated acts of sin (verse 8) and by the working of natural law (verse 13). “It is thus a process and a con sequence; for, on the one hand char acter is ever tending to permanence, and on the other, by refusing to listen to the voice of God we come ulti mately to the place where we lose the power to recognize it. ‘Harden not your hearts’ ; there is no need, they are hard enough already.” “For who, when they heard, did provoke? Nay, did not all they that came out of Egypt by Moses?” This general statement does not invalidate the faith of Joshua and Caleb; for these two faithful men were among the speakers on that memorable occa- 33
Biola Board of Directors members Dr. Foster Bens (left) and Dr. George Peek (right), with Mr. Paul Schwepker, Biola Controller and joyously the assurance of our per fect acceptance and peace, and of the unchanging love of God in Christ, let us with the Apostle consider also our sins and dangers from the lower, yet most real earthly and time point of view. “The earnest counsel of the Apostle in this chapter, ‘Let us fear,’ may seem to be incompatible with his fre quent and emphatic teaching, that we have not received the spirit of bond age again to fear; that he is persuad ed that nothing shall be able to sep arate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus; that we are to re joice in the Lord,' and that alway. Yet a most superficial glance at the epistles, and at the Scriptures in gen eral, will show that fear is an essen tial feature of the Christian.” Hen derson; “As we pass from the con sideration of the faithfulness of the mediator of the old covenant to the faithlessness of the- people with whom it was made, we are met with some of the most solemn warnings to be found within the covers of the Bible; warnings which, while they will lead us to magnify the grace of God in Christ will, if listened to, make us cleave to our God with purpose of heart and serve Him acceptably with reverence and godly fear.” The first generation of Israelites failed and verses 7-19 point out that unbelief was the cause of failure and also solemnly warns the first genera tion of Christians so they will not follow their evil example. The utter
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