Yeshua’s Rest Is Superior To That of Moshe and Y’Hoshua ~ Part 1

Messianic Jews 3:7-11
Letter to the Messianic Jews

In my last post, we explored Messianic Jews 3:1-6. That passage relates to Yeshua as Lord is better than Moshe as a servant. In this post, we begin to explore that concept that Yeshua Rest Is Superior To That of Moshe and Y’Hoshua.  This post deals with an introduction to this topic.

“⁷ Therefore, as the Ruach HaKodesh says,  ‘Today, if you hear God’s voice, ⁸ don’t harden your hearts, as you did in the Bitter Quarrel on that day in the Wilderness when you put God to the test. ⁹ Yes, your fathers put me to the test; they challenged me, and they saw my work for forty years! ¹⁰ therefore, I was disgusted with that generation ~ I said, ‘Their hearts are always going astray, they have not understood how I do things’; ¹¹ in my anger, I swore that they would not enter my rest.” ~ Messianic Jews 3:7-11 (CJB)

The writer of Messianic Jews has just been striving to prove the unique supremacy of Yeshua, and now he leaves argument for exhortation. He presses upon his hearers the inevitable consequence of this exclusive supremacy. If Yeshua is so uniquely great, it follows that complete trust and complete obedience must be given to him. If they harden their hearts and refuse to provide Him with their obedient faith the consequences are bound to be terrible.

Today, if you hear God’s voice is a quote from Psalm 95:7 which is also used in a famous midrash about when the Messiah is to come:

“Rabbi Joshua ben-Lʾvi met Elijah and asked him, ‘When will the Messiah come?’ ‘Go and ask him!’ ‘Where is he?’ ‘At the entrance [to Rome], sitting among the lepers.’ So he went, greeted him, and asked, ‘Master, when will you come?’ ‘Today,’ he answered. Upon returning to Elijah, Rabbi Joshua said, ‘He lied to me. He told me he would come today, but he has not come.’ Elijah replied, ‘What he said to you was: “Today if you will hear his voice.”‘” (Condensed from Sanhedrin 98a) [1]

So it is with the real Messiah and with all the greater poignancy. Yeshua will come today to anyone who will hear His voice and not rebel as the Israelites in the wilderness did.

Don’t harden your hearts, as you did in the Bitter Quarrel on that day in the Wilderness when you put God to the test. This is a reference to two stories told in Sh’mot 17:1-7 and B’midbar 20:1-13. These passages tell of a rebellious incident in the pilgrimage of the children of Israel. They were thirsty in the desert and railed against Moshe, regretting that they had ever left Egypt and forswearing their trust in God. In the B’midbar passage God told Moshe to speak to the limestone rock and water would gush forth. But Moshe in his anger did not speak to the rock; he struck it. The water came forth, but for this act of distrust and disobedience, God declared that Moshe would never be allowed to lead the people into the promised land.

My take away from this passage is that you must put all your trust and confidence in Yeshua. But you must do it now because the Lord may return at any time.

In my next post, we’ll explore Messianic Jews 3:12-19 where we begin to examine the necessity of persevering faith to enter Yeshua’s rest.

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[1] Jewish New Testament Commentary by David Stern.