The
writer of Hebrews parenthetically referred to when the “Holy Ghost”
exhorted the children of Israel not to “harden” their hearts as
they wandered in the wilderness after leaving Egypt under Moses'
command. Because of this, God “swore in” His
“wrath”, they “shall not enter into”
His “rest”. In
chapter three and verse twelve of Hebrews the writer continued his
discussion about the superiority of Jesus over Moses as we learn
about them having “an evil heart of unbelief” where
we read:
Take
heed, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of
unbelief,
in
departing from the living God.
The
verse begins, “Take heed, brethren, lest there be in any
of you an evil heart of unbelief,...” The
writer began with the words, “Take heed”
which means “see, discern, perceive and discover”, “brethren”
which refers to “fellow believers who are united to another by the
bond of affection”, “lest there be in any of you”
or “whether or not, if haply and peradventure there might be within
certain readers” “an evil heart”
which means “a bad, diseased, blind or wicked center of all
physical and spiritual life” “of unbelief” or
“unfaithfulness, weakness of faith or disbelief”. The readers of
Hebrews were exhorted to “perceive and discover” whether they had
“evil hearts” that did not
believe the word and ways of God.
The
verse goes on to say, “ ...in departing from the living
God” The writer continued, “in
departing” which means
“fleeing away, withdrawing, falling away, shunning and ceasing to
vex one”, “from the living” or
“active, blessed, endless in the kingdom” “God”
which refers to “the Godhead bodily and trinity which is comprised
of God the Father, Christ the Son and the Holy Spirit”. If they did
have“evil hearts”,
they would be condemned as those who were apostate from Almighty God.
When
we think through these words in Hebrews, we note the Hebrew writer's
concern that his readers might have the same “evil heart”
as the unbelieving Israelites who wandered in the wilderness. Their
“apostate” minds kept them from having a relationship with God,
and those who reject Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord are of the same
ilk. Lest we be found with “evil hears of unbelief”, let
us “take heed” to the words of Hebrews and submit
ourselves to the Lordship of Jesus Christ today.
Next
time we see
the writer shares how we are to “exhort
one another daily”,
so read ahead, and we shall join together then.
Until tomorrow…there is more…
Look for the daily devotional book “Equipped for Battle – From Generation to Generation”, the marriage book “So, You Want to Be Married”, and the new devotional “One Year in the Sermon on the Mount” in all major bookstore sites, http://www.amazon.com ; http://www.barnesandnobles.com ; download to e-books, and find it locally at www.mrzlc.com/bookstore.
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