Jesus and Moses, 1-6
3:1 Therefore, holy brothers and sisters, partners in a heavenly calling, take note of Jesus, the apostle and high priest whom we confess, 3:2 who is faithful to the one who appointed him, as Moses was also in God’s house. 3:3 For he has come to deserve greater glory than Moses, just as the builder of a house deserves greater honor than the house itself! 3:4 For every house is built by someone, but the builder of all things is God. 3:5 Now Moses was faithful in all God’s house as a servant, to testify to the things that would be spoken. 3:6 But Christ is faithful as a son over God’s house. We are of his house, if in fact we hold firmly to our confidence and the hope we take pride in.
Holy brothers and sisters – Men and women alike have a family relationship in Christ. They have been set apart for service to God.
How does the realisation that you are ‘holy’ affect how you react to sin in your life?
Consider our identity, according to these verses. We are:
- holy, v1
- brothers and sisters, v1
- partners in a heavenly calling, v1
- God’s house, v6 (cf. Eph 2:22)
The heavenly calling – refers to reigning with Christ in the world to come, Heb 2:5. Through his death, Jesus has secured our future.
Take note of Jesus – NIV ‘Fix your thoughts on Jesus’. Since you have this relationship with Jesus, stick with him through thick and thin.
What things distracts away from fixing our thoughts on Jesus? What things do we tend to fix our thoughts on instead?
Barnes invites to reflection on all that is said of Christ:
‘Think of his rank; his dignity; his holiness; his sufferings; his death; his resurrection, ascension, intercession. Think of him that you may see the claims to a holy life; that you may learn to bear trials; that you may be kept from apostasy. The character and work of the Son of God are worthy of the profound and prayerful consideration of every man; and especially every Christian should reflect much on him. Of the friend that we love we think much; but what friend have we like the Lord Jesus?’
Apostle – One who is sent. This is the only place in the NT where this term is applied to Jesus. But see Jn 20:21 – ‘As the Father sent me, so I am sending you.’
In Jewish terminology the word was used to describe an envoy of the Sanhedrin. In the Greco-Roman world it was used of an ambassador. As Barclay explains:
‘On one occasion the king of Syria, Antiochus Epiphanes, invaded Egypt. Rome desired to stop him and sent an envoy called Popillius to tell him to abandon his projected invasion. Popillius caught up with Antiochus on the borders of Egypt and they talked of this and that for they had known each other in Rome. Popillius had not the vestige of an army with him, not even a guard. Finally Antiochus asked him why he had come. Quietly Popillius told him that he had come to tell him that Rome wished him to abandon the invasion and go home. “I will consider it,” said Antiochus. Popillius smiled a little grimly; he took his stall and drew a circle in the earth round Antiochus. “Consider it,” he said, “and come to your decision before you leave that circle.” Antiochus thought for a few seconds and then said: “Very well. I will go home.” Popillius himself had not the slightest force available–but behind him was all the power of Rome. So Jesus came from God and all God’s grace and mercy and love and power were in his apostolos.’
High priest – Jesus as apostle has been sent from God to represent God to us, and as high priest represents us to God and secures our eternal relationship with him.
Barclay comments on the word ‘priest’:
‘The Latin for a priest is pontifex, which means a bridge-builder. The priest is the person who builds a bridge between man and God. To do that he must know both man and God. He must be able to speak to God for men and to speak to men for God. Jesus is the perfect High Priest because he is perfectly man and perfectly God; He can represent man to God and God to man. He is the one person through whom man comes to God and God comes to man.’
House – or ‘household’.
The builder of all things is God –
Moses was faithful in all God’s house – See Num 12:7.
‘The point of the argument in Numbers is that Moses differs from all the prophets. To them God makes himself known in a vision; to Moses he speaks “mouth to mouth.” To the Jew it would have been impossible to conceive that anyone ever stood closer to God than Moses did, and yet that is precisely what the writer of the Hebrews sets out to prove.’ (DSB)
Moses was faithful in all God’s house as a servant…But Christ is faithful as a son over God’s house – Moses was a servant in the house, but Jesus is the Son over the house. The Son is worthy of greater honour than the servant.
Moses is worthy of honour, but Jesus is worthy of greater honour because he is the builder of the house in which Moses served.
Note the continuity: it is one house, not two. God has one people, not many. The church (consisting of Jewish and Gentile believers together) is a continuation of Israel.
Even the worship which Moses inaugurated was preparatory to the one sacrifice offered by Jesus. We see that the message of Moses and that of Jesus are complementary, not contradictory.
We are his house – consisting as it does of the body of true believers from every age.
Our confidence and the hope we take pride in – In other words, our ‘great salvation’, as set out in the previous chapter. It is the message that Jesus, as God incarnate, has defeated sin and will bring us to glory.
In what ways might we ‘take pride in’ the message of Christ before our unbelieving friends, family members and workmates?
Jesus doesn’t just saves us from sin (Heb 2:17). He:
- died so that we don’t have to die (Heb 2:9)
- brings us to glory (Heb 2:10)
- makes us holy (Heb 2:11)
- calls us brothers and makes us children of God (Heb 2:11-14)
- destroyed the devil and released us from slavery to the fear of death (Heb 2:15)
- continues to help us (Heb 2:18)
- has made us his house and dwelling places (Heb 3:6)
(See Kruger, Hebrews: an Anchor for the Soul)
Exposition of Psalm 95: Hearing God’s Word in Faith, 7-19
3:7 Therefore, as the Holy Spirit says,
“Oh, that today you would listen as he speaks!
3:8 “Do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion, in the day of testing in the wilderness.
3:9 “There your fathers tested me and tried me, and they saw my works for forty years.
3:10 “Therefore, I became provoked at that generation and said, ‘Their hearts are always wandering and they have not known my ways.’
3:11 “As I swore in my anger, ‘They will never enter my rest!’ ”
3:12 See to it, brothers and sisters, that none of you has an evil, unbelieving heart that forsakes the living God. 3:13 But exhort one another each day, as long as it is called “Today,” that none of you may become hardened by sin’s deception. 3:14 For we have become partners with Christ, if in fact we hold our initial confidence firm until the end. 3:15 As it says, “Oh, that today you would listen as he speaks! Do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion.” 3:16 For which ones heard and rebelled? Was it not all who came out of Egypt under Moses’ leadership? 3:17 And against whom was God provoked for forty years? Was it not those who sinned, whose dead bodies fell in the wilderness? 3:18 And to whom did he swear they would never enter into his rest, except those who were disobedient? 3:19 So we see that they could not enter because of unbelief.
v7 The quote is from Ps 95:7-11, which itself alludes back to Ex 17:7.
v8 ‘The Hebrew version of Psalm 95:8 reads ‘as at Meribah, as on the day at Massah in the wilderness’, but the LXX replaces these names with terms describing what happened there (Meribah in Hebrew signifies ‘quarrelling, finding fault with’ and Massah means ‘testing’).’ (Peterson)
v9 ‘When the Israelites reached Kadesh Barnea, they refused to accept Joshua and Caleb’s report about the Promised Land, preferring to believe the fearful account of the spies who had gone in with them (Num. 13:26–33). They grumbled against Moses and Aaron and misrepresented God, suggesting that he had brought them to that place only to let them fall by the sword (14:1–4). They treated the LORD with contempt, refusing to believe his promise, which had been confirmed with an oath to their ancestors (14:16, 23, 30). Despite the many signs of his grace they had witnessed (14:11), such as the manna (Exod. 16:1–36), water from the rock (17:1–7) and deliverance from their enemies (17:8–16), they provoked God to destroy them and ‘make … a nation greater and stronger than they’ through Moses (Num. 14:12).’ (Peterson)
“They will never enter my rest!” – Psa 95 echoes Num 14:23 at this point.
In OT context, God’s people would not find rest in the Promised Land. In NT context, it means not resting from our labours and entering the New Heavens and the New Earth.
See to it, brothers and sisters, that none of you… – ‘Individuals need to be nurtured for their own sake, but also because their unbelief could harm the congregation as a whole (12:15–16; cf. Num. 14:36–38; 32:9; Gal. 5:9).’ (Peterson)
Don’t let history repeat itself!
…has an evil, unbelieving heart that forsakes the living God – such a heart may reflect a life full of Bible study and religious activity, but which has not been transformed by the power of the Holy Spirit working through the truth of the gospel.
God is ‘living’ in contrast to the dead idols of the nations.
‘Hebrews has in mind the example of the Israelites, who experienced both the grace and the judgment of God in their wilderness years, yet refused to know his ways (v. 10) and respond with faith and obedience (vv. 16–19; cf. Num. 14:11; Deut. 1:32). The challenge for people in every generation is to be aware of the condition of their hearts and to face each new situation with a genuine desire to trust God and obey him.’ (Peterson)
Peterson suggests that, in the context of the present letter, this ‘forsaking’ of the living God is to return to Judaism and thus to reject Jesus as the fulfilment of all the older religion pointed to.
Exhort one another – ‘Encourage’ (NIV) is probably a little weak. The word include a note of warning, as well as one of encouragement. Peterson suggests that, with this dual aspect (positive and negative) Hebrews provides a model for how Christian should minister to one another.
‘The importance of mutual ministry to sustain faith and obedience to God is emphasized again in Heb 4:1–2; 6:10–12; 10:24–25, 32–36; 12:12–17; 13:1–8, 16–19.’ (Peterson)
Each day – does not imply daily gatherings of the church, but rather taking advantage of informal (as well as formal) opportunities for mutual edification. We have many opportunities for such one-to-one and small group encounters. We should not willingly absent ourselves from such encounters without good reason.
As long as it is called “Today,” – Opportunities to listen and respond are not umlimited.
While this is the special duty of the ministers of the gospel, 1 Tim 6:2; 2 Tim 4:2; Tit 2:6,15, it is also the duty of all the members of the churches -and a most important, but much neglected duty. This does not refer to public exhortation, which more appropriately pertains to the ministers of the gospel, but to that private watch and care which the individual members of the church should have over one another. But in what cases is such exhortation proper? What rules should regulate it? I answer, It may be regarded as a duty, or is to be performed in such cases as the following:-
1. Intimate friends in the church should exhort and counsel one another; should admonish each other of their faults; and should aid one another in the divine life.
2. Parents should do the same thing to their children. They are placed particularly under their watch and care. A pastor cannot often see the members of his flock in private; and a parent may greatly aid him in his work by watching over the members of their families who are connected with the church.
3. Sabbath school teachers may aid much in this duty. They are to be assistants to parents and to pastors. They often have under their care youthful members of the churches. They have an opportunity of knowing their state of mind, their temptations, and their dangers, better than the pastor can have. It should be theirs, therefore, to exhort them to a holy life.
4. The aged should exhort the young. Every aged Christian may thus do much for the promotion of religion. His experience is the property of the church; and he is bound so to employ it, as to be useful in aiding the feeble, reclaiming the wandering, recovering the backslider, and directing the inquiring. There is a vast amount of spiritual capital of this kind in the church that is unemployed, and that might be made eminently useful in helping others to heaven.
5. Church members should exhort one another. There may not be the intimacy of personal friendship among all the members of a large church, but still the connexion between them should be regarded as sufficiently tender and confidential to make it proper for any one to admonish a brother who goes astray. They belong to the same communion. They sit down at the same Supper of the Lord. They express their assent to the same articles of faith. They are regarded by the community as united. Each member sustains a portion of the honour and the responsibility of the whole; and each member should feel that he has a right, and that it is his duty, to admonish a brother if he goes astray. Yet this duty is greatly neglected. In what church is it performed! How often do church-members see a fellow-member go astray, without any exhortation or admonition! How often do they hear reports of the inconsistent lives of other members, and perhaps contribute to the circulation of these reports themselves, without any pains taken to inquire whether they are true! How often do the poor fear the rich members of the church, or the rich despise the poor, and see each other live in sin, without any attempt to entreat or save them! I would not have the courtesies of life violated. I would not have any assume a dogmatical or dictatorial air. I would have no one step out of his proper sphere of life. But the principle which I would lay down is, that the fact of church-membership should inspire such confidence, as to make it proper for one member to exhort another whom he sees going astray. Belonging to the same family; having the same interest in religion; and all suffering when one suffers, why should they not be allowed tenderly and kindly to exhort one another to a holy life?’ (Barnes)
Encourage one another daily – ‘The present tense indicates repetition. If encouragement is only once a month, it will not help carry burdens. If encouragement is only once a week in the general assembly of believers, it will not meet the daily needs of living. The beginning church spent time together daily. (Ac 2:46) Besides daily food (Mt 6:11; Acts 6:1; Tit 3:14; Jas 2:15) there were daily struggles of cross-bearing (Lk 9:23; 1 Cor 15:31; 2 Cor 11:28) and need for daily renewal (2 Cor 4:16) when daily facing the unregenerate world. (1 Thess 4:12; 2 Pet 2:8) The work of evangelism was done daily. (Ac 2:47; 5:42; 16:5; 17:17; 19:9) one of the great weaknesses of the church today may be this general lack of daily interdependence with its accompanying openness in joy and sorrow, in sins and victories. Westcott reported Bengel’s insight that the Greek text properly says, “Encourage yourselves” rather than, “Encourage one another.” This “suggests the close unity of the Christian body.”‘ (College Press)
Hardened by sin’s deception – ‘Persistence in such behaviour leads to an insensitivity towards God and the possibility of missing out on his ‘rest’. Sin’s deception (apatē) is to make people believe that ignoring the will of God will have no consequences.’ (Peterson)
Our initial confidence – Peterson suggests that something more objective is meant – the ‘original foundation’ of our faith.
v15 ‘The requirements in the Psalm are applied directly to Christian readers. With this approach the OT is much more of a direct guide for Christians, than simply a record of God’s past dealings with his people.’ (College Press)