The letter to the Hebrews proclaims that God has spoken, and spoken in a way unlike any ever before. God has come to this earth and actually spoken himself. We know this God-become-man as “Jesus.”
And this God has not just spoken.
He has provided purification for sins, announced salvation to the world, made it possible for us to become God’s family, and has opened the way into God’s glory for us. He has tasted of death and provided the antidote to its poison, and has become our High Priest, walking with us every step of the way into God’s glory.
In chapter three comes an extended warning: “fix your thoughts on Jesus . . . hold on to your courage and hope . . . do not harden your hearts . . . see to it none of you turns from the living God.”
Why?
Because God has something he’s been wanting to give his people for a very long time, something he calls his “rest.” It belongs to his people by virtue of the fact that we are his people. We can’t earn it or merit it. God will never owe it to us. It is ours as a gift. But we can lose it by turning away from God.