Unbelief

I’ve been studying in the New Testament book of Hebrews lately. I often start off reading in my old New American Standard Bible. My wife gave me this Bible before we married; almost 41 years ago. I like this version the best, maybe because my wife gave it to me.☺ Anyway, I have found at times where I have to question why they interpreted certain scriptures the way they did. I have the Ultimate Bible Study Suite on my Kindle and this is where I go to try and get my questions answered and for deeper study.

At the end of chapter 3 of Hebrews is where I found something that I had to question. Here is the way it reads in the NASB version:

Hebrews 3:18-19New American Standard Bible (NASB)

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.

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Why did they use the word disobedient in verse 18 but used unbelief in 19 when this is talking about the same thing? The UBSS (Ultimate Bible Study Suite) uses the King James Version and here is the way it reads:

Hebrews 3:18-19King James Version (KJV)

¹⁸ And to whom sware he that they should not enter into his rest, but to them that believed not?
¹⁹ So we see that they could not enter in because of unbelief.
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I looked up the Greek words in both verses (so easy to do in the UBSS). In verse 18, the word translated disobedient in the NASB, is “apeitheo {ap-i-theh’-o}” – Definitions: to disbelieve (willfully and perversely): - not believe, disobedient, obey not, unbelieving.

In verse 19 the word is “apistia {ap-is-tee’-ah}” Definitions: faithlessness, i.e. (negative) disbelief (want of Christian faith), or (positive) unfaithfulness (disobedience): - unbelief.

What struck me about all this is that sin, disobedience, and unbelief are the same. I knew this but didn’t really know it until going deeper.

Thinking about my previous post where faith or believing is life and here, unbelief is death which God says that these will not enter His rest.

I will stop at this and leave you with some other verses from Hebrews.

Hebrews 3:6-14New American Standard Bible (NASB)

⁶ but Christ was faithful as a Son over His house—whose house we are, if we hold fast our confidence and the boast of our hope firm until the end.
⁷ Therefore, just as the Holy Spirit says,

“Today if you hear His voice,
⁸ Do not harden your hearts as ^[a]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.’”

The Peril of Unbelief

¹² Take care, brethren, that there not be in any one of you an evil, unbelieving heart ^[b]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,

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I thought of one more thing before I close. It has to do with God and His work. One day I was trying to describe what He does and came across the word orchestrate. One of the definitions is to arrange or combine so as to achieve a desired or maximum effect. I like thinking of it that way. Father God doesn’t like to punish us. He prefers to help us.

Faith

John 17:1-8New American Standard Bible (NASB)

The High Priestly Prayer

17 Jesus spoke these things; and lifting up His eyes to heaven, He said, “Father, the hour has come; glorify Your Son, that the Son may glorify You, ² even as You gave Him authority over all flesh, that to ^[a]all whom You have given Him, He may give eternal life. ³ This is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent. ⁴ I glorified You on the earth, ^[b]having accomplished the work which You have given Me to do. ⁵ Now, Father, glorify Me together with Yourself, with the glory which I had with You before the world was.

⁶ “I have manifested Your name to the men whom You gave Me out of the world; they were Yours and You gave them to Me, and they have kept Your word. ⁷ Now they have come to know that everything You have given Me is from You; ⁸ for the words which You gave Me I have given to them; and they received them and truly understood that I came forth from You, and they believed that You sent Me.

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Jeremiah 9:23-24New American Standard Bible (NASB)

²³ Thus says the Lord, “Let not a wise man boast of his wisdom, and let not the mighty man boast of his might, let not a rich man boast of his riches; ²⁴ but let him who boasts boast of this, that he understands and knows Me, that I am the Lord who exercises lovingkindness, justice and righteousness on earth; for I delight in these things,” declares the Lord.

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How else can you come to Father God and get to understand and know Him except through faith in His Word, Jesus (Yeshua)? Here is a story to demonstrate.

Let’s say that you and I are friends and we live next to a forest. One day I tell you that a huge tree fell last night down by the little pond out in the forest. At this point you have a number of things you can do. You can believe me right away; indeed if you walked out to the pond, you would see the huge fallen tree. You might, before deciding, think about how reliable I am; do I always tell the truth or not? Maybe you would want to question me further about how I know or maybe just want to check it out for yourself.

Let me ask you something. Say you decided not to believe me; after all, you didn’t see the tree fall nor did you hear anything that sounded like a tree falling and you don’t know of any reason to cause it to fall. Does that unbelief change the truth? Can you make that tree not fall by believing that it didn’t? 

These are puzzling thoughts that I believe has tripped up most all of us; believer as well as non-believer. A tree is something you probably don’t really care anything about but what if this was something that meant life or death to you?

I have thought a lot about this. There are scriptures in the Bible that seem to say that all I need to do is believe hard enough and it will be so. When I think about this belief, does not this eliminate God altogether or at least, our need of Him; all I have to do is believe hard enough.

I remember seeing an interview with Ebola survivor Dr. Kent Brantly. More than 90% of people who have contracted Ebola have died but Kent is one of the first few who lived. In this particular interview, I remember Dr. Kent being asked if it was his strong faith that saved him. The question was kind of vague at first and Kent had to ask the interviewer to expound on the question. When the question was re-worded, it seemed he was asking Kent if he thought he lived when so many others had not because of his strong faith that God would heal him? I remember Kent hesitating a long time before answering and at the time I thought Kent’s answer was not the best but now, I think he gave the very best answer he could. What I remember him saying is that he believed in God, the creator of all things and in our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. I tried to find that particular interview on the Internet but couldn’t. The ones that I found did not have that part of the interview.

I think about Yeshua (Jesus) saying that this life (eternal life) is to know the One True God and Himself, the One Father God has sent. I think about Adam and Eve before the fall walking with God in the garden. I think about God warning Adam that in the very day that he ate of the tree, he “shall surely die.”

Genesis 2:17New American Standard Bible (NASB)

¹⁷ but from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not ^[a]eat, for in the day that you eat from it you will surely die.”

 

Revelation 3:20-21New American Standard Bible (NASB)

²⁰ Behold, I stand at the door and knock; if anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and will dine with him, and he with Me. ²¹ He who overcomes, I will grant to him to sit down with Me on My throne, as I also overcame and sat down with My Father on His throne.

 

Psalm 95:7-8New American Standard Bible (NASB)

⁷ For He is our God,
And we are the people of His ^[a]pasture and the sheep of His hand.
Today, ^[b]if you would hear His voice,
⁸ Do not harden your hearts, as at ^[c]Meribah,
As in the day of ^[d]Massah in the wilderness,