Better Than Moses

Therefore, holy brothers, you who share in a heavenly calling, consider Jesus, the apostle and high priest of our confession, who was faithful to him who appointed him, just as Moses also was faithful in all God's house. For Jesus has been counted worthy of more glory than Moses—as much more glory as the builder of a house has more honor than the house itself. (For every house is built by someone, but the builder of all things is God.) Now Moses was faithful in all God's house as a servant, to testify to the things that were to be spoken later, but Christ is faithful over God's house as a son. And we are his house if indeed we hold fast our confidence and our boasting in our hope. Hebrews 3:1-6

 

So far in Hebrews we’ve seen the writer’s assurance that with the incarnation of God’s unique Son, God’s plan of grace has advanced beyond the foretelling of the Old Testament Prophets, beyond the realm of angels’ ministry, and now to those who for generations have revered Moses as God’s highest representative, the Son of God is declared to be even better than Moses!

This is not really difficult for us in this latter part of the Church Age to grasp, since Jesus and Him crucified is all we’ve ever really identified with. We know Jesus is God and that whatever He is is better than anything else in the universe. Not so with those first century Hebrew believers. Their lives had been centered in the Law of Moses with its commandments and temple rituals ever since they had become a nation. To those Jews, there was no one higher or better than Moses. Until now.

“holy brothers” fellow believers. Those being addressed here were Jews who had believed in Jesus and were learning to orient to His truth as they endured persecution and severe adversities in Jerusalem. There was intense temptation to just walk away from the Church and back into the religion of the Pharisees. Maintaining one’s Christian testimony could be burdensome, at times, especially for a Jew.  

“you who share” are partakers, participants, companions; “ in a heavenly calling.”  We’re in this together, brethren. If you’ve received His salvation, you are part of the household of God. Your destiny is IN CHRIST. Whatever is His is ours, now and forever. The fact is, you really can’t go back, even though in moments of weakness you may think about it. Once you’ve been sealed by the Spirit of God, you are a new creation (I Corinthians 5:17), who really cannot function fully as an unbeliever anymore. You can act like one, but that carries discomfort and discipline, and you can never again be relaxed in that world.
 

“consider Jesus” (katanoeo): observe Him. Behold Him. Perceive Him. It means to study about Who and What He is; examine all the Holy Spirit has revealed to us about Him; understand the uniqueness of His person and His one-and-only sacrifice to purchase our salvation.

“the apostle” is the one sent into the earth on a specific mission.

“high priest” is the one qualified to understand our sufferings and temptations as He intercedes for us with the Father.

“confession” (homolegia): acknowledgment. Profession of faith. By openly identifying ourselves with Jesus, we confess Him in the world. That is our profession.

This Jesus, our apostle and high priest, was faithful to Him Who sent Him. Faithful (pistos) means trustworthy, sure and true. He never wavered from the plan of the Father. That mission, our salvation, was what He came to accomplish.

Moses was faithful, also, in his execution of the work God had given him to do “in God’s house,” meaning within the structure of the law that had been entrusted to Moses as Israel became a priest nation to God. Jesus was the builder (creator) of this house. The builder is superior to the house. The ultimate builder is God, Who designed and brought into being all things.

Moses, therefore, was a servant in the house of God; a faithful servant, whose life and work contributed mightily to the finished structure. Jesus, though, is the faithful Son over the house. In the culture in which this epistle was written, the Son carries the Father’s authority over the household, and exercises the Father’s responsibilities and privileges. The servant faithfully carries out the instructions of the Father, as ordered by the Son.

The law contained a code of attitudes and behaviors that God expected of His people. Jesus embodied that code. The law also contained ritual which represented God’s righteousness and justice and which provided for the atonement of the sins of mankind. That ritual depicted the person and work of the Lamb of God, Who takes away the sin of the world; Jesus Christ.

So, in learning the superiority of the Son, we learn our own privileged position IN HIM, and in “holding fast” what we know about His superiority, we insure our steadfastness in the face of oppression and hardships, which are sure to come to those who have broken with tradition and have embraced truth.

The subject of Hebrews is the BETTER THINGS of JESUS.

What we have with Jesus is always BETTER THAN anything else the universe has to offer…past, present and future. What we will see as we move on through Hebrews is the Sabbath rest we can have IN HIM, not just certain days but every day, every moment, as we learn to place our complete trust in the perfect provision He has made for us, and has expressed to us in His perfect Word of Truth.