Devotional 12 June 2025

June 12, 2025 • Steve Torres

Hebrews 4:11.jpg

"And again in this passage he said, “They shall not enter my rest.” Since therefore it remains for some to enter it, and those who formerly received the good news failed to enter because of disobedience, again he appoints a certain day, “Today,” saying through David so long afterward, in the words already quoted, “Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts.” For if Joshua had given them rest, God would not have spoken of another day later on. So then, there remains a Sabbath rest for the people of God, for whoever has entered God’s rest has also rested from his works as God did from his. Let us therefore strive to enter that rest, so that no one may fall by the same sort of disobedience. For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart. And no creature is hidden from his sight, but all are naked and exposed to the eyes of him to whom we must give account." (Hebrews 4:5-13, ESV)

Psalm 95 is more than a hymn of praise or historical reminder. The writer of Hebrews treats it as prophecy, a present-tense warning, and a living call to enter into God’s rest—Today. This Psalm does not merely recall Israel’s rebellion in the wilderness. It is God’s own voice, echoing across time, urging each generation: “Today, if you hear His voice, do not harden your hearts.”

The claim is radical: the promised rest under Joshua was incomplete. Hebrews 4:8 makes this clear—“For if Joshua had given them rest, God would not have spoken of another day later on.” The very fact that Psalm 95 was written after the conquest implies that the true rest was still future.

Here enters the greater Joshua—Jesus. His rest is not just geographical or circumstantial; it is eternal, spiritual, and redemptive. He invites us, “Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest” (Matthew 11:28). But this is not a rest of mere relief—it is the Sabbath rest (Greek: sabbatismos) of God Himself (Hebrews 4:9). It is the rest of completed purpose—just as “God rested on the seventh day from all his works” (Genesis 2:2; Exodus 20:11). Jesus now sits at the right hand of the Father not because He is weary, but because His redemptive work is finished (John 19:30; Hebrews 1:3).

And this is the burden of Hebrews: that we not miss it.

From the beginning of the letter, the writer builds this urgency. “We must pay much closer attention to what we have heard, lest we drift away from it” (Hebrews 2:1). If the covenant given through angels was binding, how much more binding is the Word spoken through the Son (Hebrews 1:1–2)? Psalm 95 thus becomes God’s legal testimony, brought forward as a witness—living, active, and able to discern our very thoughts and intentions (Hebrews 4:12).

The Word is no passive scripture—it is sharp, like a two-edged sword, cutting to the deepest part of who we are. It separates spirit from soul, joint from marrow, surface from secret. And it lays us bare before the eyes of Him “to whom we must give account” (Hebrews 4:13; cf. Romans 2:16).

This Word is not new. It has always pointed to Christ. “These are a shadow of the things to come, but the substance belongs to Christ” (Colossians 2:17). The rest, the tabernacle, the sacrifices, the manna, the promised land—they were all types and shadows, now fulfilled in Jesus. But the warning remains: we must not become hardened by familiarity. “You search the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; and it is they that bear witness about Me,” Jesus told the Pharisees. “Yet you refuse to come to Me that you may have life” (John 5:39–40).

So what shall we do?

We must respond while it is still Today. “Now these things happened to them as an example, but they were written down for our instruction” (1 Corinthians 10:11). Psalm 95 stands not only as song and memory—but as summons and sword.

Do not harden your heart. The Shepherd still speaks. Every time you hear His voice is an act of mercy—one more chance to enter His rest.