Who did God swear would not enter His rest?
God swore that those who did not believe would not enter His rest. Hebrews 3:18 asks whom He swore they should not enter, answering: those who believed not. The issue was unbelief, not merely immoral behavior, as the passage clarifies.
Les explains that Hebrews 3:18 identifies those who did not believe as the ones God swore would not enter His rest. The passage first asks if it was the immoral, then corrects: no, it was those who believed not. Les notes this addresses the hang-up people have today—thinking they must clean up their act or change their ways before becoming a Christian. Scripture says you come as you are, while yet ungodly, as Romans 5 will later show.
And to whom sware he that they should not enter into his rest, but to them that believed not?
More Questions
Why could the Israelites not enter into God's rest?
They could not enter into God's rest because of unbelief.
Why were the Israelites who came out of Egypt forbidden to enter God's rest in Hebrews 3?
The Israelites who were forbidden to enter God's rest were not the golden-calf worshipers but the generation that turned back in unbelief at Kadesh Barnea and said, "We can't take it."