Disbelief

Step 2 of “Be Obedient” is based on Hebrews 3:16-19. Scripturally, this picks up immediately after last week’s lesson, so I think I will introduce this lesson using a summary from last week. That way we can get right into the Scripture. I understand the idea of “disobeyed” to mean they refused to believe God. They willfully chose not to believe.

Hebrews 3:16-19 is addressed to Jewish Christians. Now, there might have been people among them who had never experienced salvation, but I think the writer of Hebrews is addressing the believers and not a specific subset. Hence, it seems that a Christian can proclaim Jesus Christ as Lord, but also experience doubt, or unbelief. Thirty years had passed since Jesus ascended, and the Jewish Christians in Jerusalem had suffered greatly as a result of professing Jesus as the Messiah. They might have doubted His promised second coming? Or as some have suggested, they wanted to improve relations with their non-believing Jewish kinsmen, who no doubt had ostracized believers.

This reminds me of times as a parent when my kids would willing disobey me in order to go along with their friends on some matter. They didn’t deny that I was their father, but they didn’t believe me when I asked them to behave in a particular way either. My way would have put them in conflict with their friends. They just didn’t believe my plan for them was the better way. What did they lose as a result? They missed receiving my blessing in that instance because of their unbelief.

I’ll noodle more on an illustration of unbelief, but I’m thinking about using the example of a PC user who is experiencing problems with his PC, but he refuses to listen to the advice of the manufacturer's service technician. He still a customer, but will miss out on the blessing of a PC that works well.