Category Archives: Symbolism

Prophecy is NOT Rigidly Chronological, 2Sam 7:12-16

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Sometimes it can hardly be chronological at all.

This prophecy in 2 Samuel 7 has two subjects in mind. The general subject is the building of the“house” of David, the family line of David. David had wanted to build “the house of God,” the temple of God. God told David that He would not allow David to build Him a house, because he had been a man of war, not a man of peace.

Instead, God tells David, that God will build a house of David, a family of David, which will last forever. Then He tells David that his son will “build a house for my name,” 2Sam 7:13.

“12 When your days are fulfilled, and you shall sleep with your fathers, I will set up your seed after you, who shall proceed out of your bowels, and I will establish his kingdom. 13 He shall build a house for my name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever. 14 I will be his father, and he shall be my son: if he commit iniquity, I will chasten him with the rod of men, and with the stripes of the children of men; 15 but my loving kindness shall not depart from him, as I took it from Saul, whom I put away before you. 16 Your house and your kingdom shall be made sure for ever before you: your throne shall be established forever.”
2Sam 7:12-16 WEB

The issue is that Scripture says that this prophecy is fulfilled by Solomon (for instance in 1Kgs 8:17-20), but it also says that Jesus is the fulfillment of this prophecy. Hebrews 1:5 is a quotation from 2Sam 7:14 and applies it to Jesus the Christ!

“ … and again,
“I will be to him a Father,
And he will be to me a Son?””
Heb 1:5 WEB

Both Solomon and Jesus are “sons” (descendants) of David. Solomon built a literal temple, a literal house of God. Jesus, beginning in the first century of our age is building spiritual temple, a spiritual house of God, the church.

“But if I tarry long, that thou mayest know how thou oughtest to behave thyself in the house of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and ground of the truth. ”
1Tim 3:15 KJV

How much time separate Solomon and Jesus?

Well, as a minimum, about 1,000 years. Notice that evidently Solomon is symbolic of Jesus, that is to say, Solomon is a “type” of Jesus. We might say in modern English that Solomon is a “prototype” of Jesus.

Notice that part of this does not fit Solomon at all.

Solomon’s kingdom was not “established forever,” 2Sam 7:16. Solomon’s kingdom ended in 586 BC when Jerusalem fell and the city was destroyed.

Notice that part of this does not fit Jesus at all.

Jesus was not a disobedient son of His Father, so the part, “if he commit iniquity, I will chasten him with the rod of men, and with the stripes of the children of men;” (2Sam 7:14) does not apply to Jesus at all. The two subjects, Solomon and Jesus are intertwined, with no clear line of division.

You CANNOT divide up this prophecy by either subject
(Solomon and Jesus), or by time.

It just cannot be done. A full discussion of this prophecy and its fulfillment is in Prophecy Principles.

KJV is the King James Version, 1611

WEB is the World English Bible, a copyright free revision
of the original ASV American Standard Version 1901

Joseph, Never Referenced as a Type, Part III of III

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Joseph went to a far country to receive a crown.

Then Joseph was shipped off to a far country, where he became a leader of Egypt. Jesus also went to a far country to receive a crown. ““A certain nobleman went into a far country to receive for himself a kingdom, and to return.” Lk 19:12 WEB. It was the far country of heaven.

“9 Now this, “He ascended,” what is it but that he also first descended into the lower parts of the earth? 10 He who descended is the one who also ascended far above all the heavens, that he might fill all things.”
Eph 4:9-10 WEB

Near age 30, Joseph became second in command to all.

“Pharaoh said to Joseph, “I am Pharaoh, and without you shall no man lift up his hand or his foot in all the land of Egypt.””
Gen 41:44 WEB

Joseph became the Vice-President of Egypt. Likewise Jesus became second in command. All authority is given Him in heaven and on earth, Mtt 28:18.

“ … But when he says, “All things are put in subjection,” it is evident that he is excepted who subjected all things to him.”
1Cor 15:27 WEB

There is more than can be told here.

Joseph had a revealing to his brothers, and he told them who he really was in Genesis chapter 45. Jesus had a revealing to this world in the first century, and will yet be revealed as the True Christ of God to the Jews, and He will yet save the Jews as a nation, as all the prophets and Paul in Romans chapters 9 through 11 reveal.

Joseph did not take personal revenge, and indeed saved his brothers from death. So will Jesus, yet to come in history.

Is there a more perfect type of Jesus than Joseph?

There is much more to tell of the parallels between Joseph and Jesus. One of the most important things to notice is that, despite all of these parallels between Joseph and Jesus, Joseph is NEVER mentioned in the New Testament as a type of the Christ!

NOTICE: Not ALL types and shadows are IDENTIFIED.

If we study types and shadows, can we make mistakes, and perhaps “see” things which are really not there? Yes, that is possible.

“… In those are some things hard to be understood, which the ignorant and unsettled twist, as they also do to the other Scriptures, to their own destruction.”
2Pe 3:16 WEB

Even so, not everything is spelled out. We are supposed to use our heads and think and learn from the many Biblical examples of both good and evil. We must read and think and learn!

To not use the Bible examples/types of both good and evil is like playing with half a deck of cards.

We are warned, “Don’t despise prophesies.” 1Thes 5:20 WEB.

If we make a point of avoiding prophecy and the symbolism/typology of prophecy, then we also avoid the many warnings and admonitions we should heed, and will never come close to having or delivering “the whole counsel of God,” Acts 20:27 WEB.

WEB is the World English Bible, a copyright free revision
of the original ASV American Standard Version 1901

Joseph, Never Referenced as a Type, Part II of III

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Joseph had many trials, had much unjust treatment

First he is sold into slavery for no just reason. Later he is falsely accused of sexual immorality because he will not engage in immorality, and is thrown into prison.

Jesus likewise will not be a part of misconduct, and denounces it, and becomes a political target.

“Then the Pharisees went and took counsel how they might entrap him in his talk.”
Mtt 22:15 WEB

“They took counsel together that they might take Jesus by deceit, and kill him.”
MTT 26:4 WEB

Joseph was symbolically killed

He was committed to a pit with plans to kill him. “Come now therefore, and let’s kill him, and cast him into one of the pits …” Gen 37:20 WEB. It was a pit with no water in it, Gen 37:24.

Hades (Greek) or Sheol (Hebrew) is the world of the dead. It also is associated with a pit.

“Yahweh, you have brought up my soul from Sheol.
You have kept me alive, that I should not go down to the pit.”
Psa 30:3 WEB

“For Sheol can’t praise you, death can’t celebrate you:
Those who go down into the pit can’t hope for your truth.”
Isa 38:18 WEB

It is called in Greek abussos, the abyss, or bottomless, Rev 9:1, Rom 10:7. Further, as a prison it is a place without water.

“… I have set free your prisoners from the pit in which is no water.”
Zech 9:11 WEB

The rich man in hades, in anguish in the flames, pleads for Lazarus to be sent with a drop of cool water to cool his tongue, Lk 16:24

Both Joseph and Jesus were sold for silver

Then Joseph was sold out by his brothers for silver. He was at least symbolically killed, and to at least his dad, he was sincerely counted as dead.

Jesus was sold out by His brother Jews, opposed and targeted because he will not turn a blind eye toward their abuses of others, or their abuses of Scripture. Jesus was also betrayed for silver, a mere thrity pieces, Mtt 26:15. He was quite literally murdered in a rigged trial, when it was known that He was innocent of all of the charges.

Joseph was rescued from the pit

“and they drew and lifted up Joseph out of the pit, and sold Joseph to the Ishmaelites for twenty pieces of silver. ”
Gen 37:28 WEB

Symbolically Joseph is rescued from death. Jesus told ahead of time that He would spend three days and three nights in the heart of the earth, Mtt 12:40.

“or, ‘Who will descend into the abyss?’ (that is, to bring Christ up from the dead.)”
Rom 10:7 WEB

During that time Jesus preached to the spirits in prison to those who died in the flood.

“19 in which he also went and preached to the spirits in prison, 20 who before were disobedient, when God waited patiently in the days of Noah, …”
1Pe 3:19-20

And of course, Jesus was rescued from death, never to die again.

WEB is the World English Bible, a copyright free revision
of the original ASV American Standard Version 1901

Joseph, Never Referenced as a Type, Part I of III

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The purpose here is to show how Joseph son of Jacob was such an excellent type or shadow, symbolic of Jesus the Christ. The fidelity with which he foreshadowed Jesus is astonishing. However, he is never cited in the New Testament as a type of the Christ.

Joseph reported on the bad conduct of his brothers

Joseph as a mere boy of seventeen was pasturing the sheep with his brothers, and he brought back to his father a bad report of the conduct of his brothers, Gen 37:2. Also Jesus reported on the bad conduct of his brothers to His Father.

“He came to his own, and those who were his own didn’t receive him.”
Jn 1:11 WEB

In chapter after chapter Jesus testified against all the bad conduct of the Jews, but only some of the poor would repent. The leaders tried to prevent the repentance and change of anyone!

Joseph was loved above all of his brothers

“Now Israel loved Joseph more than all his children, because he was the son of his old age, …”
Gen 37:3 WEB

We all know the story of the colored robe which his father made him. Similarly, Jesus was a special son of His Father, and who especially loved by Him. “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased.”Mtt 3:17 WEB

And God emphasized the same thing before the apostles in Mtt 17:5. And of the Son He says,

“You have loved righteousness, and hated iniquity;
Therefore God, your God, has anointed you with the oil of gladness above your fellows.”
Heb 1:9 WEB

Josephs brothers were jealous of him.

“And the patriarchs, moved with envy, sold Joseph into Egypt: but God was with him,”
Acts 7:9 KJV

So it was also with Jesus. Pilate “knew that because of envy they had delivered him up.” Mtt 27:18 WEB

Joseph brothers hated him.

“Joseph dreamed a dream, and he told it to his brothers, and they hated him all the more.”
Gen 37:5 WEB

And the Jews hated Jesus.

“The world can’t hate you, but it hates me, because I testify about it, that its works are evil.”
Jn 7:7

“If I hadn’t done among them the works which no one else did, they wouldn’t have had sin. But now have they seen and also hated both me and my Father.”
Jn 15:24

Joseph was committed to the pit

His own brothers were going to kill Joseph. “Come now therefore, and let’s kill him, …” Gen 37:20 WEB. They did cast him into a pit, to let him suffer there.

Jesus in fact was murdered, and was put to suffer in what Rev 9:1 WEB calls “the pit of the abyss.” The KJV translates the Greek word abussos as bottomless in Rev 9:1, and as “deep” in Rom 10:7. This is the pit where Jesus went for you and me.

“Or, Who shall descend into the abyss? (that is to bring up Christ again from the dead.”
Rom 10:7 nf

KJV is the King James Version, 1611

WEB is the World English Bible, a copyright free revision
of the original ASV American Standard Version 1901

nf is my own translation based on the WEB

The Wilderness Wanderings as a Type: Part III of III

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If the wilderness represents the Christian life after being separated from this world …

What corresponds to this present world?

Clearly Egypt corresponds to this present world of sin and death. Egypt is a place where we are born in bondage in this world. If we are deceived and bound here, who is it to?

“in whom the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelieving, that the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God, should not dawn on them.”
2Cor 4:4 WEB

Who then corresponds to the god of this world?

The Pharaoh then represents the god of this world, the beast, the monster, who holds God’s own people in bondage, and will not let them go to be separated from this present world to pursue a course that leads to the eternal promised land!

What will convince the Pharaoh to let God’s people go?

Only a series of horrible disasters will convince him as described in Exodus chapters 7 through 12. Water is turned to blood. Frogs overcome the land of Egypt. Then plagues of insects, and the death of livestock comes. Then come plagues of boils on the wicked, and a place of hail big enough to kill both men and beasts. Then comes a plague of locusts, and then darkness covers the land, day and night. Lastly comes the death of the firstborn of man and beast. And Pharaoh relents.

Then in the last days, one called a “beast,” makes “war with the saints”
and overcomes them, Rev 13:7.

The beast’s accomplice in overcoming the saints is “Mystery Babylon the Great,” represented by a great prostitute who is,

“… drunken with the blood of the saints, and with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus. When I saw her, I wondered with great amazement.”
Rev 17:6 WEB

What will bring the saints release?
The seven last plagues!

“the seven last plagues, for in them God’s wrath is finished.”
Rev 15:1 WEB

The seven last ever plagues of God’s wrath on an evil world begins in Revelation 15, and they are amazingly like the plagues on ancient Egypt in the book of Exodus.

The first of the last seven plagues is severe sores on all who had worshipped the beast or his image, Rev 16:2. Then the oceans are turned to blood, and all the fish die, Rev 16:3-7. Then the sun scorches the people of the earth, Rev 16:8-9. Then darkness covers the earth, Rev 16:10. And it goes on. There are hailstones that weigh about 75 pounds each, Rev 17:21.

Egypt and the Exodus are types, symbolic, of the end of this present world.

With the Pharaoh representing Satan and the beast of the last days, whom, “ALL who dwell on the earth will worship,” Rev 13:8 WEB, something that has never happened in history so far.

One more time the saints will flee into the wilderness. Then will be the grand Exodus out of this present world, to the Eternal Promised Land, 1Thes 4:16-18.

WEB is the World English Bible, a copyright free revision
of the original ASV American Standard Version 1901

The Wilderness Wanderings as a Type: Part II of III

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Paul talks the Wilderness wanderings as typifying
our trials and sins in this life.

Paul says that those Israelites ate the same spiritual food and drink which we as Christians eat and drink. That is to say that ancient Israel drank of the Christ which was to follow, 1Cor 10:4. However with many of them God was not well pleased, and so they died in wilderness without ever entering the promised land, 1Cor 10:5.

These things are examples for us, 1Cor 10:6.

These are warnings for us. The promised land symbolizes heaven.

We should not desire evil things as they did. Neither should we be idolaters, 1Cor 10:6-7. Of course Paul tells us that covetousness, strongly desiring something, is idolatry, Col 3:5. He says that we should not commit sexual immorality as ancient Israel did and 23,000 died in one day, 1Cor 10:7-8. We should not test God as many of them did, and were destroyed by snakes, 1Cor 10:9. Neither should we complain against the Lord, as many of them did, and were destroyed by the destroyer, 1Cor 10:10.

These are all easy things to fall into in any age, and Paul says,

“Now all these things happened to them by way of example, and they were written for our admonition, on whom the ends of the ages have come. ”
1Cor 10:11

So Paul’s conclusion is,

“Therefore let him who thinks he stands be careful that he doesn’t fall.”
1Cor 10:12 WEB

What a picture of our present life in this world, as a life in a desolate place with all sorts of enticements around to draw us to our own destruction!

This symbolism suggest we could enter heaven sooner.

But our weaknesses in the flesh cause us to fall short and then aimlessly wander around for years in nothing but desolation. Of course there is other imagery that many have picked up on. The last river they crossed before entering the promised land was the river Jordan. Ours is the river of death. So we have many songs in our churches picturing death as the river Jordan, a river that parts for us cross on dry ground, even as it did for ancient Israel in Joshua chapter 3, if we are those chosen to enter that wonderful land.

And there is ONE MORE TIME in the wilderness.

Revelation is talking about those things yet to come in the Christian age, and Revelation 12 pictures the church as being pursued by that old dragon Satan, trying to destroy her.

“The woman fled into the wilderness, where she has a place prepared by God, that there they may nourish her …”
Rev 12:6 WEB

The woman, the church, is pictured as being protected by God in the wilderness for a critical period of “one thousand two hundred sixty days.”

“Therefore, behold, I will allure her, and bring her into the wilderness, and speak comfortably unto her.”
Hos 2:14 KJV

There is to be one more time in the wilderness for God’s people, one more time for the ancient lessons to be pointedly relevant.

KJV is the King James Version, 1611

WEB is the World English Bible, a copyright free revision
of the original ASV American Standard Version 1901

The Wilderness Wanderings as a Type: Part I of III

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We are studying simple “types” and symbols, to see how types and symbols work in prophecy. A prophecy laboratory. A story of past and future things. Not a study any secret matter, but of things well known among many Christians.

Paul talks about symbolism in history.

In fact Paul talks about ancient Israel as being baptized into Moses, as symbolic of us being baptized into Christ.

“1 Now I would not have you ignorant, brothers, that our fathers were all under the cloud, and all passed through the sea; 2 and were all baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea;”
1Cor 10:1-2 WEB

So this pictures Moses as being symbolic of Christ, and indeed, Moses says that Yahweh, the LORD, said the Christ will be like him.

“17 Yahweh said to me, They have well said that which they have spoken. 18 I will raise them up a prophet from among their brothers, like you; and I will put my words in his mouth, and he shall speak to them all that I shall command him.”
Deut 18:17-18 WEB

There is more to tell there, but that is the core of the matter.

By the waters of baptism we are separated
from our old life of sin in the world.

“3 Or don’t you know that all we who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? 4 We were buried therefore with him through baptism to death, that just like Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we also might walk in newness of life. ”
Rom 6:3-4 WEB

So as the waters of baptism separate us from our old life to enter a new life, so the waters of the Red Sea separated Israel away from their old life in Egypt. Also it separated them “unto” Moses. He was their leader in a new life, a life that was lived in a wilderness, in a desert, in the rough land of the desert of Sinai, before they enter the promised land of Canaan. So if Canaan represents heaven, as was discussed in the post on “Hebrews Identifies a Type,” Then what does the Wilderness Wanderings represent?

The Christian Life as a trek through a desolate place!

Certainly the Israelites had literally been slaves in Egypt. Now they they were separated from their oppressors in Egypt by the waters of the Red Sea.

“Moses said to the people, “Don’t be afraid. Stand still, and see the salvation of Yahweh, which he will work for you today: for the Egyptians whom you have seen today, you shall never see them again.””
Ex 14:13 WEB

Similarly, if the Christian has died with Jesus in baptism, then it is that,

“7 For he who has died has been freed from sin. 8 But if we died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him; 9 knowing that Christ, being raised from the dead, dies no more. Death no more has dominion over him!”
Rom 6:7-9

Simple but important imagery. All of which leads to the next part.

KJV is the King James Version, 1611

WEB is the World English Bible, a copyright free revision
of the original ASV American Standard Version 1901

Hebrews Identifies a Type: The Final Rest, Part III of III

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So what can we learn from the type of Canaan as being symbolic of the heavenly rest. A prophecy laboratory for us. A place to learn how types work.

Heaven is a real country, a real land.

God is telling us that this is a “real” country, a “real” land. One of our modern day problems is that we have been so conditioned by Gnostic foolishness about the after life, that many, perhaps most, do not think of heaven as anything that is real. Gnostic false teaching has caused us to think of this world as “real” and “heaven” as some sort of mist that is both there, and not there. Thus our views, or rather our apprehensions about the future life are not very satisfying.

Nothing could be further from the truth. Heaven, or rather what Scripture calls “the new heavens and the new earth” (Isa 65:17, Isa 66:22, 2Pe 3:13), is really a new universe, but one in which death and decay are NOT operating principles.

Heaven is a land of milk and honey.

It is a good land, a prosperous land. Some of the Old Testament parables of it are instructive. The Christ is described as “Shiloh” in Jacob’s prophecy in Genesis 49. It says of Him,

“11 Binding his foal to the vine,
His donkey’s colt to the choice vine;
He has washed his garments in wine,
His robes in the blood of grapes:
12 His eyes will be red with wine,
His teeth white with milk.”
Gen 49:11-12 WEB

How prosperous will He be? He can tie is donkey to the best vine in His vineyard and not worry about how much he will east. He has plenty of wine, and is the picture of health. His teeth are white as milk. A picture of abundant prosperity.

We will inherit houses we did not build.

No, not just houses.

“10 It shall be, when Yahweh your God shall bring you into the land which he swore to your fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give you, great and goodly cities, which you didn’t build, 11 and houses full of all good things, which you didn’t fill, and cisterns dug out, which you didn’t dig, vineyards and olive trees, which you didn’t plant, and you shall eat and be full;”
Deut 6:10-11 WEB

We will not plant but another get the fruit, or build and another take over what we have built, Isa 65:21-22. It will be an earth of peace and prosperity and safety, Isa 11:6-9. There is more to tell than there is space in this post, but it will be wonderful beyond what we can imagine. It will be heaven.

Heaven is won by conquest.

There is a war going on now. We put on the full armor of God and fight the good fight of faith. He that overcomes will inherit these blessing, Rev 3:5 and many more verses.

KJV is the King James Version of 1611

WEB is the World English Bible, is a copyright free revision of the original ASV American Standard Version 1901

Hebrews Identifies a Type: The Final Rest, Part II of III

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So God rested on the seventh day, Gen 2:2-3, & Heb 4:4

But in Psalm 95 God says “They will not enter my rest.”

So what is the conclusion that the Hebrews author comes to?

There is yet to come a “rest” of God.

“Seeing therefore it remains that some should enter therein, and they to whom the good news was before preached failed to enter in because of disobedience,”
Heb 4:6 WEB

Then through the mouth of David God again identifies a certain day as “today,” and says,

… “Today if you will hear his voice,
Don’t harden your hearts.” Heb 4:7

Then the author Hebrews makes his grand point.

You see, Joshua did give the children of Israel a rest of sorts in ancient times.

“Remember the word which Moses the servant of Yahweh commanded you, saying, Yahweh your God gives you rest, and will give you this land.”
Josh 1:13 WEB

Joshua essentially repeats this again in his instructions in Josh 1:15. Then starting in Joshua 11 it speaks of this rest being accomplished.

“So Joshua took the whole land, according to all that Yahweh spoke to Moses; and Joshua gave it for an inheritance to Israel according to their divisions by their tribes. The land had rest from war. ”
Josh 11:23 WEB

That is emphasized in Joshua 21.

“Yahweh gave them rest round about, according to all that he swore to their fathers: and there stood not a man of all their enemies before them; Yahweh delivered all their enemies into their hand.”
Josh 21:44 WEB

Then it is spoken of as accomplished in Joshua 23.

“It happened after many days, when Yahweh had given rest to Israel from all their enemies round about, and Joshua was old and well stricken in years;”
Josh 23:1 WEB

But there is another “rest” to come.

Here is the clincher:

“For if Joshua had given them rest, he would not have spoken afterward of another day.”
Heb 4:8 WEB

But David writes over 400 years later and says, “Today if you hear His voice …” don’t treat God as ancient Israel did and were barred from entering God’s rest. But there is no need to tell us TODAY if there is no need for us to hear and obey, and yet enter. But David says

“ … Today, oh that you would hear his voice!” Psa 95:7

And the implication is that if you and I do not listen and obey God, then WE may never see God’s rest.

So Joshua’s “rest” was MEANT to be symbolic.

Joshua’s rest is symbolic of the ultimate rest of heaven.

“9 There remains therefore a Sabbath rest for the people of God. 10 For he who has entered into his rest has himself also rested from his works, as God did from his.”
Heb 4:9-10 WEB

So we need to pay attention so that we do not fail because we follow that ancient bad example of disobedience.

KJV is the King James Version of 1611

WEB is the World English Bible, is a copyright free revision
of the original ASV American Standard Version 1901

Hebrews Identifies a Type: The Final Rest, Part I of III

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Hebrews talks about a “rest” for God’s people.

Most of the discussion in Hebrews chapters 3 and 4 is centered around Psalm 95. Psalm 95 itself does not say who wrote it, either in English, or in the Hebrew text. In the Greek translation of the Old Testament it says it is a “Praise ode of David.” Is that an authentic original reading? The author of Hebrews says in Heb 3:7 that this is what the Holy Spirit says. Then in Heb 4:8 he says that David wrote it and bases part of his conclusion on this. The author of Psalm 95 pleads with us.

“7 … “Today if you will hear his voice,
8 Don’t harden your hearts, as in the provocation,
Like as in the day of the trial in the wilderness,
Heb 3:7-8 WEB

He tells how the ancestors of the Jews tried God’s patience in the wilderness. The Holy Spirit says in verse 10, ‘They always err in heart, But they didn’t know my ways;’ The author of Hebrews then says that we should be beware lest there be in any of us there be an evil heart of unbelief, unbelief in what God says, and fall away from the living God. He goes on to say we should encourage each other every day as long as it is called “today,” “ lest any of us be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin.” Heb 3:31 KJV.

We are partakers of Christ if we hold fast till the end.

For who was it who provoked God in the desert after they had heard? He says it was all of those who came out of Egypt with Moses. And who was it that God was displeased for forty years? It was all of those Israelites who died in the desert of Sinai. And to whom did He sware that they would never enter His rest? Well, of course it was those who were disobedient to God. Then the Hebrews author draws a conclusion.

“We see that they were not able to enter in because of unbelief.”
Heb 3:19 WEB

We need to be afraid lest we come up short!

The Hebrews author says in Hebrews 4 that we have had the good news preached to us just as ancient Israel had also. There was something lacking in ancient Israel, even as it is sometimes with us: the hearing was not mixed with faith in what was said, Heb 4:2.

Those who believe are able to enter God’s rest.

But it was said of ancient Israel,

“… “As I swore in my wrath, they will not enter into my rest;” ”
Heb 4:3WEB

Not enter God’s rest? But His works were finished (this is say, came into being) from the foundation of the world. For indeed it says,

“2 On the seventh day God finished his work which he had made; and he rested on the seventh day from all his work which he had made. 3 God blessed the seventh day, and made it holy, because he rested in it from all his work which he had created and made.” Gen 2:1-2 WEB

KJV is the King James Version of 1611

WEB is the World English Bible, is a copyright free revision of the original ASV American Standard Version 1901