June 27, 2019 The Holy Ghost in David
Psalm 95
When I was working with students at Kansas University in the 1980s, there was a song we sang at our Friday night devotionals based on Psalm 95:6-7a. (Yes, our weekly devotionals were on Friday! That’s when the students wanted them.)
Come, let us worship and bow down;
let us kneel before the Lord, our God, our Maker!
For he is our God,
and we are the people of his pasture,
and the sheep of his hand.
– based on Psalm 95:6-7a
I can close my eyes and still hear the students singing this beautiful song, and I can see many of their faces as they do so. The song ends there, but the Psalm from which it comes, of course, does not.
For he is our God,
and we are the people of his pasture,
and the sheep of his hand.
Today, if you hear his voice,
do not harden your hearts, as at Meribah,
as on the day at Massah in the wilderness,
when your fathers put me to the test
and put me to the proof, though they had seen my work.
For forty years I loathed that generation
and said, “They are a people who go astray in their heart,
and they have not known my ways.”
Therefore I swore in my wrath,
“They shall not enter my rest.”
– Psalm 95:7-11, ESV
What began as a beautiful song suddenly turned into a stern warning. I don’t believe there is much doubt the psalmist is making reference to the forty years the Hebrew people wandered around the wilderness of the Sinai Peninsula. And while that is a fascinating shift in focus, there is another thing I find equally interesting about this segment of Psalm 95. The passage quoted above appears in the book of Hebrews. almost verbatim. And, as in Psalm 95, the quote in Hebrews 3 is also verses 7-11.
Psalm 95 in Hebrews
Therefore, as the Holy Spirit says,
“Today, if you hear his voice,
do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion,
on the day of testing in the wilderness,
where your fathers put me to the test
and saw my works for forty years.
Therefore I was provoked with that generation,
and said, ‘They always go astray in their heart;
they have not known my ways.’
As I swore in my wrath,
‘They shall not enter my rest.’”
– Hebrews 3:7-11, ESV
Closing the Psalm 95 quote there, the writer of Hebrews continuous the exhortation, urging the readers to take care that none of them would have an evil and unbelieving heart, encouraging each other daily throughout the day.1 And then, Psalm 95 is quoted again.
As it is said,
“Today, if you hear his voice,
do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion.”
– Hebrews 3:15, ESV
Testifying to Inspiration
Note the opening line to Hebrews 3:7, “…as the Holy Spirit says,” not as the psalmist says, or as David has said. The true author of that psalm is explicitly stated as being the Holy Spirit, making a strong statement regarding the inspiration of scripture. Then in verse 15, the idea is introduced with, “As it is said…”
But we are not done with Psalm 95. The Hebrews writer returns to the Psalm in the very next chapter.
As I swore in my wrath,
‘They shall not enter my rest,’
– Hebrews 4;3b, ESV
Then again:
They shall not enter my rest,
– Hebrews 4;5b, ESV
And a third time:
Today, if you hear his voice,
do not harden your hearts.
– Hebrews 4;7b, ESV
These quotes from Hebrews 4 are attributed to David. All this, coming from Psalm 95, has now been attributed to Holy Spirit (God), to David, and employing the idiom, “it has been said,” making that the equivalent of “God has said.” As if we even needed confirmation, all this combines saying to me, “The Old Testament scriptures are absolutely inspired of God.”
Heart Care
One last piece that is worth nothing is the repetition of the phrase, “do not harden your hearts.” We see that phrase three times in the span of just nineteen verses in Hebrews, all of them referring to Psalm 95:8. When God says something, and then he says it again, and then he says it yet a third time, we can say with certainty that it is something God takes seriously and something we should, likewise, take seriously.
The source exhortation begins in Psalm 95:7 with the phrase, “Today, if you hear his voice…” just as it does in Hebrews 3:8, 15, and 4:7. Do you hear his voice? Jesus said, “My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me.”2 Following Jesus requires acknowledging he is King, and submitting to his sovereignty. Do not harden your heart against the reign of Jesus.
If you love me, you will keep my commandments.
– John 14:15, ESV
Whoever has my commandments and keeps them, he it is who loves me. And he who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him and manifest myself to him.
– John 14:21, ESV
And this is a joy, not a burden!
For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments. And his commandments are not burdensome.
– 1 John 5:3, ESV
For the Christ-follower, it is pure joy to hear and obey the word of the Lord. It causes our heart to leap within us.
The statutes of the LORD are right, rejoicing the heart: the commandment of the LORD
is pure, enlightening the eyes.
– Luke 10:29, KJV
Blessings upon you, my friends.
Victoriously in Christ!
– damon
DamonJGray.org
X – @DamonJGray
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1. Hebrews 3:12-14
2. John 10:27
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