¹⁹ So we see that they were not able to enter because of unbelief.

Unbelief is the worst. The refusal to take God at His Word. Israel’s disobedience, was rooted in unbelief. That is the issue the author brought up a few verses earlier. “Take care, brethren, that there not be in any one of you an evil, unbelieving heart that falls away from the living God” (Heb 3:12). Old Testament Israel provides the warning for Christians today.

God had told Jews to go into the land and possess it, but they did not believe God was able to make it happen. Kedesh Barnea became the final straw. The people followed the unbelief of the 10 spies, and rejected the faith of Joshua and Caleb. What was God’s judgment on the matter? “Surely all the men who have seen My glory and My signs which I performed in Egypt and in the wilderness, yet have put Me to the test these ten times and have not listened to My voice, shall by no means see the land which I swore to their fathers, nor shall any of those who spurned Me see it” (Num 14:22–23).

They had seen the Lord rescue them out of Egypt, using 10 miraculous signs. Why would God not be able to bring them safely into the land? The truth is that they struggled with believing God all along. At a moment’s notice they grumbled and complained. In fact, they tested God an ironic 10 times with their faithlessness. At the least difficulty (Moses’ 40 day absence from them while up on Mt. Sinai) they reverted to Egyptian idolatry. What little faith they had in actually following Moses in leaving Egypt did not carry through. Because of their small view of God and His ability to give them the land, they ended up with a small view of themselves: “We became like grasshoppers in our own sight” (Num 13:33). In fact, Scripture affirms throughout that faith cannot be banked. Faith is an immediate thing and only benefits in the moment. Every other moment needs its own faith. We cannot rest on past experiences of faith. We must look forward in faith, resting on and in God’s promises.

Israel’s rest was not just their physical presence in the land. They are in the land today but there is still no “rest.” The writer of Hebrews asserts that true faith is a resting from the ceaseless stress of living under the Law. Notice that obedience does not come first. The prime cause of disobedience is lack of faith. Not the reverse. Obedience does not bring about faith. That is the danger for Christians, reverting to the primacy of the Law, keeping God’s commandments apart from faith. With this Paul agrees, “For we maintain that a man is justified by faith apart from works of the Law” (Rom 3:28). This is rest.