12
3:74:16. In 3:7a the author exhorts the readers not to harden their hearts when they hear
God's voice. This exhortation is followed by the negative example of unbelief of the wilderness
generation in the Old Testament (3:7b11) (cf. Psa 95:711; Exod 15:23; 17:7; Deut 6:6; Num
14:2123). This passage indicates that the wilderness generation was not able to enter the rest
because they did not hearken to the voice of God (3:11). One may notice that the idea of not
listening to God's voice is equated with "an unbelieving heart," "falling away from the living
God" (3:12), "deceitfulness of sin" (3:13), and "unbelief" (3:19). For the author of Hebrews, "not
listening to the word of God" is analogous to "not having faith in God." Putting it differently,
obedience to the word of God has to do with entering into God's rest. It is in this context that the
reference to the word of God in 4:12 needs to be interpreted. This verse is further support of the
potentially destructive power of God's word which the author emphasized in 3:74:11.
40
Then what is the evidence which may indicate that the reference to the word of God is related
to faith in Christ? A detailed analysis of the context reveals that it has to do with the Christian
message. For example, the word of God is expressed in terms of "hearing his voice" (3:7) and
"good news came to us" (ej
smen euj
hggeliosmev
noi
, literally we have been evangelized) (4:2).
Moreover, 1:12 clearly supports the idea that the word of God is the message which God has
spoken by his Son. Furthermore, in 2:14 the author maintains that the word of God is the very
Christian message which the readers encountered when they first believed. Here, taking heed to
the word of God is described in terms of "paying closer attention to what we have heard" (2:1).
More specifically, the message of God's word is closely related to the message of salvation which
was first spoken by the Lord and then attested to the readers by those who heard him (i.e., Jesus)
(2:3). Thus it may be said that disobeying the voice (or the word) of God is equivalent to not
receiving the message of salvation which they heard when it was proclaimed to them. In this
sense, one can see that the exhortation to take heed to God's word is another way of encouraging
40 Ellingworth, The Epistle to the Hebrews, 260.