Hebrews 3:7-4:2 NASB “Therefore, just as the Holy Spirit says, “Today if you hear His voice, 8 Do not harden your hearts as when they provoked Me, As in the day of trial in the wilderness, 9 Where your fathers tried Me by testing Me, And saw My works for forty years. 10 “Therefore I was angry with this generation, And said, ‘They always go astray in their heart, And they did not know My ways’; 11 As I swore in My wrath, ‘They shall not enter My rest.'” 12 Take care, brethren, that there not be in any one of you an evil, unbelieving heart that falls away from the living God. 13 But encourage one another day after day, as long as it is still called “Today,” so that none of you will be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin. 14 For we have become partakers of Christ, if we hold fast the beginning of our assurance firm until the end, 15 while it is said, “Today if you hear His voice, Do not harden your hearts, as when they provoked Me.” 16 For who provoked Him when they had heard? Indeed, did not all those who came out of Egypt led by Moses? 17 And with whom was He angry for forty years? Was it not with those who sinned, whose bodies fell in the wilderness? 18 And to whom did He swear that they would not enter His rest, but to those who were disobedient? 19 So we see that they were not able to enter because of unbelief. 4:1 Therefore, let us fear if, while a promise remains of entering His rest, any one of you may seem to have come short of it. 2 For indeed we have had good news preached to us, just as they also; but the word they heard did not profit them, because it was not united by faith in those who heard.”
AV is the fifth month on the Jewish calendar (God’s calendar). It is seen as a low month due to the destruction of both the First and Second Temples on the ninth of AV. However, the modern holiday, Tu b’Av, which celebrates love and healing, is the perfect picture of the character of God.
In verses eighteen and nineteen, we are reminded that two people had faith, Joshua and Caleb. If the other ten spies and all the people had agreed with the good report, they would have entered the Promise Land that day. Many other adverse events have occurred on the ninth of AV in Jewish history, but that was never God’s intention.
As Jews reflect and mourn the loss of both Temples, they also look forward to the day Messiah establishes His rule from the newly built third Temple. This is the hope amid loss, and I want to highlight this month (Sundown, June 18, 2023 – August 17, 2023).
Psalm 33:18-22 NASB “Behold, the eye of the Lord is on those who fear Him, On those who hope for His lovingkindness, 19 To deliver their soul from death And to keep them alive in famine. 20 Our soul waits for the Lord; He is our help and our shield. 21 For our heart rejoices in Him, Because we trust in His holy name. 22 Let Your lovingkindness, O Lord, be upon us, According as we have hoped in You.”
The enemy wants nothing more than for our focus to be taken from the Word of God and placed on the circumstances around us. One encouraging moment in the life of Jesus is when He is sleeping in the back of the boat during a storm1. This should have given the disciples comfort that they would survive, but fear was still able to grip their hearts. Fear also gripped the hearts of the spies, but Joshua and Caleb had taken hold of faith2. David was another man who had a spirit of faith to go against a giant. He understood Israel’s covenant with God, so an uncircumcised Philistine (someone without a covenant) did not bring fear in David3.
This month, put your eyes on the Word of God, believe the covenant promises, repent of unbelief, and move forward.
- Mark 4:35-41
- Numbers 13-14; Deut. 34:9; Jos. 1:1-9; Jos. 14:6-15
- 1 Samuel 17 (specifically verses 23-26, 37-47)
For more information on the Hebrew Calendar, visit chabad.org and consult A Time to Advance: Understanding the Significance of the Hebrew Tribes and Months by Chuck D. Pierce with Robert and Linda Heidler.
Casey D. Bell 
Leave a comment