No, absolutely not! It is so easy to take a Scripture out of context if you
fail to read the surrounding Bible Verses. By simply including Hebrews 3:12
we learn immediately that this Scripture passage speaks about “an evil heart
of unbelief,” i.e., the unsaved ...
Hebrews 3:12, “Take heed, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief, in departing from the living God.”
The phrase in Verse 14, “hold the beginning of our confidence stedfast unto the end,” simply means to follow through with faith in the Gospel; rather than merely listening to, and not obeying, the Gospel. This truth is evidenced by Hebrews 13:16-19...
Hebrews 3:16-19, “For some, when they had heard, did provoke: howbeit not all that came out of Egypt by Moses. But with whom was he grieved forty years? was it not with them that had sinned, whose carcases fell in the wilderness? And to whom sware he that they should not enter into his rest, but to them that believed not? So we see that they could not enter in because of unbelief.”
These Scriptures teach that many of the Jews who exited Egypt under Moses were not saved, did not get saved, and sadly went to Hell in their unbelief in the Wilderness. Although the parting of the Red Sea is often used as a picture of God's salvation, the fact of the matter is that many of the Jews who crossed the Red Sea were not saved (nor were any Jews saved by crossing the red Sea). The Bible plainly teaches in Hebrews 4:2 that many of the Jews in the Wilderness heard Moses preach the Gospel, but still went to Hell because they had no faith...
Hebrews 4:2, “For unto us was the gospel preached, as well as unto them: but the word preached did not profit them, not being mixed with faith in them that heard it.”
So when were the Jew's saved? Pastor E.L. Bynum makes the following excellent statement...
...Yet, we know they were not baptized into or for Moses, nor were they saved at the Red Sea. Their salvation is to be found in Exodus 12:7,12,13, where the blood on the door posts was the only means of safety. It is even so today, for only the blood of Christ can cleanse from sin. Baptism has no meaning until the blood of Christ is applied by faith. Indeed baptism cannot take place until the soul is saved. One may be immersed, but only a saved person can be baptized. Unsaved people may go through the motions, but it is not real, but only an act or pretense until one is saved.
SOURCE: Pastor E.L. Bynum; from the sermon, SALVATION NOT IN BAPTISM.
Amen! It is the precious literal blood of Jesus Christ that washes our sins away!
Interpreting Hebrews 3:14 by itself will almost assuredly lead to false doctrine. By examining the entire passage of Scripture, it is abundantly clear that the Bible is talking about the unsaved Jews who repeatedly heard the Gospel, but to no avail because of their lack of faith.
