There can be no doubt that Jesus has become the great new Passover Lamb, by whose sacrifice his people have been brought out of bondage and through him to a new resurrected life. In Hebrews in particular, the theme of the new exodus is very plain, with Jesus being both the sacrifice by which we are freed and the Shepherd who continually leads and guards his redeemed flock. He is thus greater than Moses-faithful as this great man was over all the house of God-and he is the one who is currently leading us to the new resting place. We have been created to live in the eternal Sabbath rest of God, and Jesus has come to lead us to it (Matt. 11:25ff.), as the Good Shepherd of God Himself (Jn. 10:11, 14 cf. Ezk. 34:23; 37:24).

We would know well the story of the original generation's refusal to enter the land. The account in Numbers 13-14 lead us through the event step by step: the sending out of the spies from each of the tribes, thus representing the whole of the people; their scoping out of the land; the reports they bring down; the ‘minority report' of Caleb and Joshua; the rebellion of the whole assembly of Israel against the Lord, seen in the desire to appoint another leader who would take them back to Egypt; Moses' prayer and intercession; the Lord's pardon and rebuke; and the subsequent wilderness wanderings until the entire generation (save Caleb and Joshua) had perished. It is significant that this consummate rebellion takes place at the end of long line of murmurings and discontent.

Exodus 19:1 indicates that Israel received the Law 50 days after their exodus from Egypt (hence the separation of 50 days between Passover and Pentecost in the NT), but Numbers 10:11 indicates that they did not finally leave Sinai until about 11 months after their exodus. When Israel eventually moved from the encampment at Sinai (and even this period of encampment was marked by the dreadful rebellion associated with the worship of the golden calf), they were led on a journey from there through the wilderness of Paran to Kadesh-Barnea. The account of the journey given to us in Numbers 10:11-12:16, and it consists of a catalogue of murmurings, complaints and rebellions, ending with the murmurings of Miriam and Aaron themselves. In consistency with this attitude of disobedience, the Israelites refused to enter the land by faith, and were thus consigned to the wilderness for a generation.

When the writer to the Hebrews discusses these things he uses two terms. He speaks of ‘unbelief' (e.g. Heb. 3:12, 19 contrasting it with true belief in Heb. 4:2-3) and he speaks of ‘disobedience' (e.g. Heb. 3:18; 4:6, 11 by implication contrasting this with true obedience). In truth, unbelief and disobedience are biblically synonymous. To believe is to obey, and to obey is to believe. Israel's rebellion lay in its refusal to believe the word of God. They did not obey the command to enter, because they did not believe the promise of God to give them the land.

The writer of Hebrews quotes from Psalm 95 in order to emphasise the nature of their failure: they hardened their hearts when they heard His voice. Why? Because they had not learned His ways. What does this mean? Simply put, it means this: they had not learned anything from the amazing events of the exodus, the provision of manna and the other signs and wonders of the Lord. Indeed, one can see miracles close up and still be entirely unbelieving (cf. Mk. 3:5; 6:52; 8:14-21; etc.). Of what was Israel unbelieving? They were unbelieving of the word (i.e. the promises) of God. In other words, the Israelites had not learned that everything came to them by grace. An analysis of their complaints at the time of the report of the spies indicates that they were of the view that they had to gain the land themselves. They did not believe the promise of God, and thought that God was giving them a commandment too hard and demanding for them to fulfil. They looked immediately to themselves and their resources to accomplish that which the Lord Himself had said He would do. They had hard hearts toward the word of his grace and covenant faithfulness, and so rebelled against Him.

In Hebrews 4 the writer tells us that when God's Old Testament people finally entered the land that was promised to them, this was not the complete fulfilment of the promises God had made. Though Joshua eventually led a new generation of people into the land, this land was not, of itself, the fulfilment of the ‘rest' of God. The land was a resting place (as in Deut. 12:9) and in many ways its description was to indicate that for them it was a gracious reintroduction to Eden. The land is described in idyllic terms (e.g. Ex. 3:8, 17; 13:5; 33:3; etc.) and it was to be marked by the presence of God in the Temple: the place in which He caused His name to dwell (e.g. Deut. 12:10-12; 14:23f.; 16:2, 6, 11; etc.) The Temple was to be the permanent and fixed version of the Tabernacle, by which God bore witness to Himself (every element of the furnishings of the building and actions of the cultus was a testimony to His nature and His deeds on behalf of His people); and by which he graciously allowed Israel to participate in fellowship with Him, being their true King, abiding in the very centre of their national life. But the land, even with the Temple, was not the final revelation of the ‘rest' God has ordained for his people.

This greater rest, of which the Old Testament resting place was a type, is nothing other than heaven itself, to which we are now being led by the Shepherd of our souls. From one point of view believers have already entered it (Heb. 4:3), but from another it remains for us to enter. In the language of a new exodus, we are currently a new pilgrim people, following the Lord through the wilderness of this age to the city whose maker and builder is God. Here we do not have manna, but Christ himself as the bread of heaven; nor do we have physical water from a rock, but the fountain of the Spirit flowing from the Rock who is Christ.