“As has just been said: “Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts as you did in the rebellion.” Who were they who heard and rebelled? Were they not all those Moses led out of Egypt? And with whom was he angry for forty years? Was it not with those who sinned, whose bodies fell in the desert? And to whom did God swear that they would never enter his rest if not to those who disobeyed? So we see that they were not able to enter, because of their unbelief” (Hebrews 3:15-19)

Unbelief shut the Israelites out of the promise land. They saw the mighty works of God for many years in the desert and chose disobedience instead of trusting the one who provided for them. Because of their hardness of heart they were unwilling to rely on God and follow in the plan he had for them. The result was doing it their own way, causing them to wander through the wilderness for forty years. During that time they provoked and blatantly disobeyed God. The result was not entering into the land He promised their forefathers. This was His plan and desire for them but their unwillingness to believe kept them out.

“We have come to share in Christ if we hold firmly till the end the confidence we had at first” (Hebrews 3:14)

In Christ we are built on a firm foundation. This foundation built the heavens, the earth and everything we see around us. He is the sole expression of God’s glory and holds the eternal position as Savior seated in the heavenly realm at the right hand of God the Father. As believers, we too have come to partake in Christ and all that He has for us if we hold firm until the end, the confidence we had at first.