With Whom Did He Swear Should Not Enter His Rest? Those Who Were Disobedient.

 

ISRAEL

7 Wherefore (as the Holy Spirit says (Ps. 95:7–11), Today if you will hear His Voice (presents words which were originally a warning to Israel not to provoke God, lest they be excluded from the “rest” He had promised them; this same warning is now given to Christians),
8 Harden not your hearts (as Israel hardened their hearts against God in the wilderness, it is likewise possible for modern Christians to do the same), as in the provocation (Israel provoked God), in the day of temptation in the wilderness (the Lord didn’t tempt Israel, they tempted Him!):
9 When your fathers tempted Me (they tempted God through unbelief and rebellion), proved Me (registered unbelief toward God), and saw My works forty years. (The proof was all around them regarding the miracle-working Power of God that was exhibited daily, even for forty years, but they still wouldn’t believe.)
10 Wherefore I was grieved with that generation (and because of their unbelief), and said, They do always err in their heart (proclaims the seat of obedience or disobedience); and they have not known My Ways. (They could have known, but had no desire to know.)
11 So I swore in My wrath (is figurative, and denotes a determined purpose), They shall not enter into My rest.) (This refers here to a particular “rest,” which pertained to the land of Canaan, but was undoubtedly regarded as emblematic of the “rest” afforded by Salvation.)
12 Take heed, Brethren (proclaims Paul warning Believers by the examples of Israel’s failures in the wilderness), lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief (the Greek order of words is, “a heart evil with reference to unbelief”), in departing from the Living God. (As stated, the problem is unbelief, and in modern terminology it refers to unbelief in Christ and the Cross.)
13 But exhort one another daily (proclaims a constant frequency, which means the Preacher should preach the Cross, and do so constantly), while it is called Today (it must be done today; in other words, start now talking and speaking about the Cross, which is the only answer [1 Cor. 1:17; Gal. 6:14]); lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin. (This actually says, “the deceitfulness of the sin,” which refers to a rejection of the Sacrifice of Christ.)
14 For we are made partakers of Christ (refers to Rom. 6:3–5), if we hold the beginning of our confidence stedfast unto the end (if our confidence remains steadfast in Christ and the Cross);
15 While it is said, Today if you will hear His Voice, harden not your hearts, as in the provocation (Vss. 7–8).
16 For some, when they had heard, did provoke (should have been translated, “For who when they had heard did provoke”; all did except Joshua and Caleb [Num. 14:6–9]): howbeit not all who came out of Egypt by Moses. (This should have been translated, “Was it not all who came out of Egypt through Moses?”)
17 But with whom was He grieved forty years? (This refers to God’s wrath continuing simply because their unbelief continued.) was it not with them who had sinned, whose carcases fell in the wilderness? (Unbelief caused the deaths of approximately two million people.)
18 And to whom swore He that they should not enter into His rest, but to them who believed not? (They lost everything because of unbelief, and the modern Church is doing the same, which is the very reason that Paul wrote this Epistle.)
19 So we see that they could not enter in because of unbelief (and if the modern Believer registers unbelief toward Christ and the Cross, the results will be the same as it was with Israel of Old).

Swaggart, J. (2005). The Expositor’s Study Bible (p. 2122). Jimmy Swaggart Ministries.