What do you fear? Did you know that the most repeated commandment in the Bible is “do not fear”? According to some theologians, the commandment appears as much as 365 times. No other commandment comes close. The main reason God commands us not to fear is because he has promised to be with us. If God is for you, who can be against you? That is why the following command in the Bible may be puzzling to you.

Therefore, since a promise remains of entering His rest, let us fear lest any of you seem to have come short of it. – Hebrews 4:2 NKJ

 Prior to and following the resurrection of Jesus, many of the Hebrew people were in search of something better. They were however struggling with moving from Judaism to Christianity. They knew and understood Moses and the law, but were struggling with Christianity and the concept of grace. The author of the book is writing to them to explain to them that yes Moses was good, but Jesus is better. The author reminds the reader what happened to their ancestors under Moses.

Under Moses, God liberated the Hebrew people from 400 years of slavery in Egypt and promised them something better not just freedom but also their own plentiful land. So in a powerful and miraculous way, God through Moses led the people out of Egypt into the desert for a forty-day journey to the Promised Land. The journey however turned into a year, a year into a decade, and a decade into forty years. The entire generation passed away in the desert never entering the Promised Land.

We learn through Scripture that the reason they did not enter was because they hardened their hearts towards God. The author of the Book however, explains that God has extended the promise of something better to us. But this time we are not being led by Moses instead we are led by Jesus. So God commands us to be afraid, fearful, terrified… that what happened to the people of Israel in the desert would not happen to us.  That after being saved and walking this far, we too would fall short of the promise of something better.