Thoughts on Hebrews: God's Rest, Part 6

I want to spend a little more time thinking through hardening of the heart. Since God’s admonitions is “harden not your hearts,” it’s worth consideration of a few examples.

Before we do, let’s review the examples of Adam and Peter. Last time we looked at the various decisions Adam made, which preceded the actions he takes. He exercised judgment, and ate the fruit. He exercised judgment and attempted to cover himself. He exercised judgment and hid himself. He exercised judgment and did not directly answer God’s first question (“Adam, where are you”). He exercised judgment and did not directly answer God’s second question (“who told you you were naked”).

I count 5 successive instances where the man chose to walk further and further away from God. In addition to the man’s decision chain, he rejected God’s advances and refused to confess and repent. So we see that the hardening of the man’s heart has two elements, both providing the two legs necessary to walk away from God.

The man had zero faith in God. He didn’t trust God’s love for him, which God had showered upon him in many ways. He didn’t trust God’s goodness, which was plainly evident by all the things that God had made for him.

We also see that unbelief includes both noun and verb. Thought and deed. Word and action. Unbelief is not merely a mental action as in “I don’t believe in God.” While that may be a true statement, it’s only a half truth. The fruit of the life of the declarant will show the truth of the statement, “I don’t believe.” You will recognize them by their fruits, Jesus said.

The opposite is true. You can’t say, “I believe in God,” but your life doesn’t show it. Thoughts favorable toward Him without corresponding action reflecting that affection means very little, if anything.

Let’s revisit Peter then since, as you recall, Jesus asked him, are you fond of me?

In John 21, we find Peter and some of the disciples, after the resurrection, fishing. They had fished all night, catching nothing. Peter is in a bad way. He had denied knowing Jesus; and he had run away into the night, in sharp contrast to his previous bravado.

All of the disciples were struggling with unbelief—and that after seeing the Risen Lord:

Afterward he appeared to the eleven themselves as they were reclining at table, and he rebuked them for their unbelief and hardness of heart, because they had not believed those who saw him after he had risen. See Mark 16:14.

“Moreover, some women of our company amazed us. They were at the tomb early in the morning, and when they did not find his body, they came back saying that they had even seen a vision of angels, who said that he was alive. Some of those who were with us went to the tomb and found it just as the women had said, but him they did not see.” And he said to them, “O foolish ones, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken! Was it not necessary that the Christ should suffer these things and enter into his glory?” And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he interpreted to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning himself. See Luke 24:22-27.

And he said to them, “Why are you troubled, and why do doubts arise in your hearts? 39 See my hands and my feet, that it is I myself. Touch me, and see. For a spirit does not have flesh and bones as you see that I have.” And when he had said this, he showed them his hands and his feet. And while they still disbelieved for joy and were marveling, he said to them, “Have you anything here to eat?” See Luke 24:38-41

But John highlights the exchange between Peter and Jesus at the end of his good news. If he thinks it important to consider, then we should. He would know, wouldn’t he?

Peter’s reaction to the presence of the Lord is vastly different than the man’s reaction to the sound of God walking in the garden:

Then the disciple whom Jesus loved said to Peter, “It is the Lord!” As soon as Simon Peter heard him say, “It is the Lord,” he wrapped his outer garment around him (for he had taken it off) and jumped into the water.

Peter did not hide himself. He jumped in and swam. If he had been on land, he would have run to the Lord. That his heart was towards the Lord is obvious. He wanted to come back; he simply didn’t know how. When the Lord presented himself to disciples—i.e., when Jesus began to close the distance between Peter and Jesus (because of Peter’s heart not the Lord’s)—Peter responded fully and immediately.

His unbelief is very different than the man’s. He trusts Jesus. He is overwhelmed—overwhelmed by the death, burial, and now resurrection of Jesus, and overwhelmed by his own failures in the garden when he ran away, and at the high priest’s home:

 “You aren’t one of this man’s disciples too, are you?” she asked Peter. He replied, “I am not.” It was cold, and the servants and officials stood around a fire they had made to keep warm. Peter also was standing with them, warming himself.

. . . .

Meanwhile, Simon Peter was still standing there warming himself. So they asked him, “You aren’t one of his disciples too, are you?” He denied it, saying, “I am not.” One of the high priest’s servants, a relative of the man whose ear Peter had cut off, challenged him, “Didn’t I see you with him in the garden?” Again Peter denied it, and at that moment a rooster began to crow.

See John 18.

But his trust in the person of Jesus is so immediate, his reaction so committed, that we can clearly see what’s truly in Peter’s heart. He loves Jesus, but Peter knows he failed Jesus—didn’t love him back in the way Jesus deserved, and didn’t love him as much as he thought.

Jesus is so kind. He brings Peter back to the fullest expression of his unbelief—the coal fire where Peter denied Jesus three times:

When they landed, they saw a fire of burning coals there with fish on it, and some bread.

Those coals had to make Peter uncomfortable (credit: John Wright Follette). But Jesus knows this is the place Peter can come to himself, and be restored into right relationship. I will set it out for you but highlight the verbs—three questions from Jesus soliciting three affirmations in place of Peter’s prior three denials:

When they had finished eating, Jesus said to Simon Peter, “Simon son of John, do you love me more than these?” “Yes, Lord,” he said, “you know that I have personal affection for you.” Jesus said, “Feed my lambs.” Again Jesus said, “Simon son of John, do you love me?” He answered, “Yes, Lord, you know that I have personal affection for you.” Jesus said, “Take care of my sheep.” The third time he said to him, “Simon son of John, do you have personal affection for me?” Peter was hurt because Jesus asked him the third time, “Do you love me?” He said, “Lord, you know all things; you know that I have personal affection for you.” Jesus said, “Feed my sheep.”

Those three questions on the shore of the Galilee, like God’s two questions in the garden, are the same in character; they issue from the same heart. A heart for redemption and restoration and reconciliation.

Peter did not lie in response to Jesus’ question, as the man did. He didn’t misdirect, cast any blame, as the man did. He does the opposite of the man. His faith in who Jesus is as a person is strengthened by every true answer to Jesus’ question. With every answer, he is walking closer and closer to God.

This is the same faith Caleb had. He understood something about God and he acted on it. Peter understood quite bit about Jesus and he acted on it in a series of decisions towards Him. His heart is soft, malleable, and in a position to be commissioned to Feed, Take Care of, and Feed.

In the end, the man hardened his heart after hearing the voice of God while Peter softened his. One man lost the authority to exercise dominion over the earth while Peter was called to shepherd the people of God’s pasture.

I hope this contrast helps in your understanding of what hardening your heart means. But before we leave off, I want to point out a similarity that isn’t necessarily obvious.

In the garden and on the shore we see God and the Risen Lord acting in the same way—asking pointed questions to bring a man back to himself so that the relationship with God can be repaired. I highlight because folks often claim the God of the Old Testament and the God of the New Testament are different such that they believe in the God of the New Testament not the Old. That’s just naked ignorance of His word and of His character. Same Person in Genesis, same Person in John 21. Same wisdom, same compassion, same desire for reconciliation.

Image courtesy of Unsplash and Alen Rojnic