Hebrews 3:1-15
The epistle to the Hebrews has been called "the epistle of the open heavens". And whom do we see in the heavens? The Lord Jesus, who is also the Apostle: that is to say, the mouthpiece of God to men, and the High Priest: the mouthpiece of men to God. Writing to the Hebrew Christians, the author will show by referring to their history how the Lord Jesus encompasses and surpasses in His person the glories which the Jews honoured: those of Moses (Hebrews 3:1-19), of Joshua (Hebrews 4:1-16), of Aaron (Hebrews 5:1-14) . . . But we cannot learn to know the Lord without discovering at the same time the wickedness of the natural heart. God calls it "an evil heart of unbelief" and reminds us that it is the root cause of all our woes. "They do alway err in their heart", v. 10 declares (cf. Mark 7:21). That is why whoever hears the Lord’s voice (and who would dare to say he has never heard it?) is solemnly exhorted on three occasions not to harden his heart (vv. 7, 15; Hebrews 4:7). Usually we limit this exhortation to the gospel of the cross. But we who are Christians have the opportunity daily of hearing the Lord’s voice in His Word. May we be kept from any form of hardness, whatever may be His requirements for us today!