Shabbat Shalom.
Psalm 95: 6 - 11 NIV* TODAY: Explained in Hebrews 4: 8 - 11 NIV
Come, let us bow down in worship,
let us kneel before YHWH our Maker;
for he is our God
and we are the people of his pasture,
the flock under his care.
TODAY*, if only you would hear his voice,
‘Do not harden your hearts as you did at Meribah,
as you did that day at Massah in the wilderness,
where your ancestors tested me;
they tried me, though they had seen what I did.
For forty years I was angry with that generation;
I said, “They are a people whose hearts go astray,
and they have not known my ways.”
So I declared on oath in my anger,
“They shall never enter my rest.”’
For if Joshua had given them rest, God would not have spoken later about another day. There remains, then, a Sabbath-rest for the people of God; for anyone who enters God’s rest also rests from their works, just as God did from his. Let us, therefore, make every effort to enter that rest, so that no one will perish by following their example of disobedience.
It is noteworthy that the first Joshua, called Yeshua ben Nun (or simply Joshua by most people) did not succeed in giving rest to Israel of old because of their hardened hearts and rebellious ways, so much so that YHWH had sworn in His wrath that they would never enter His rest.
In contrast, the second Joshua, called Yeshua ben Elohim (who is called "Jesus" today), by his death, resurrection and ascension to the right hand of God, has succeeded in becoming the eternal High Priest to intercede and mediate on behalf of all who repent and turn to God through him and become grafted into the vine of Israel.
Thus, TODAY, there remains a Sabbath rest for such people of God. Let us strive to enter this rest.
