Study Desk

Everything belongs to God, and all things were created by his power. So God did the right thing when he made Jesus perfect by suffering, as Jesus led many of God's children to be saved and to share in his glory.

He even said to God, "I will tell them your name and sing your praises when they come together to worship."

He also said, "I will trust God." Then he said, "Here I am with the children God has given me."

He had to be one of us, so that he could serve God as our merciful and faithful high priest and sacrifice himself for the forgiveness of our sins.

My friends, God has chosen you to be his holy people. So think about Jesus, the one we call our apostle and high priest!

Jesus was faithful to God, who appointed him, just as Moses was faithful in serving all of God's people.

Of course, every house is built by someone, and God is really the one who built everything.

For forty years your ancestors tested God and saw the things he did.

"Then God got tired of them and said, ‘You people never show good sense, and you don't understand what I want you to do.'

God became angry and told the people, ‘You will never enter my place of rest!'"

My friends, watch out! Don't let evil thoughts or doubts make any of you turn from the living God.

Who were the people that made God angry for forty years? Weren't they the ones that sinned and died in the desert?

And who did God say would never enter his place of rest? Weren't they the ones that disobeyed him?

Only people who have faith will enter the place of rest. It is just as the Scriptures say, "God became angry and told the people, ‘You will never enter my place of rest!'" God said this, even though everything has been ready from the time of creation.

In fact, somewhere the Scriptures say that by the seventh day, God had finished his work, and so he rested.

Much later God told David to make the promise again, just as I have already said, "If you hear his voice today, don't be stubborn!"

If Joshua had really given the people rest, there would not be any need for God to talk about another day of rest.

But God has promised us a Sabbath when we will rest, even though it has not yet come.

On that day God's people will rest from their work, just as God rested from his work.

What God has said isn't only alive and active! It is sharper than any double-edged sword. His word can cut through our spirits and souls and through our joints and marrow, until it discovers the desires and thoughts of our hearts.