Jesus is Greater than Moses

v. 1 “Therefore” Pointing us back to the fact that Jesus is our Great High Priest (2:17-18).

As we read these next verses he wants that to be on our minds.

“Holy brothers” speaking to the people of God. We have a description of believers.

“Holy” Set apart by God, saved.

“brothers” part of the family of God

“share in a heavenly calling” Let’s expound on this a little more.

“Heavenly” our calling comes from God.

“calling” it was initiated by God. God has called us to Himself.

We all share in this calling. We have ben called and will be delivered to heaven. We belong to a family whose home is beyond the skies.

What are believers called to do?

Consider Jesus.

“consider” means to think about Him. To observe Him. Implied that we are to meditate on the greatness of Jesus. We are given a few things to think about:

Jesus- His earthly name. his humanity.

The Apostle- One who is sent. He was sent with a mission to accomplish, and He accomplished it.

High Priest – Makes intercession, is our sacrifice

He is the High Priest of our “confession”

We have confessed Christ as Lord. We have publicly identified with Him. We recognize Him as our Lord.

We should think about Him often. What helps with this?

Scripture reading

Prayers of thanksgiving

Meditation on His Person and goodness

v. 2 “Who was faithful to Him who appointed Him”

Christ was faithful to the Father.

He always did the Father’s will

He always spoke the Father’s words

He was obedient to the death of the cross

This begins a comparison of Christ and Moses.

“Just as Moses was faithful in all God’s house”

“God’s house” = God’s people. The Jewish nation.

The writer could have recognized all the failures of Moses. Moses was far from perfect. In fact the Lord would not even allow him to enter the Promised land after he got angry with the people and disobeyed God. Listen to what God said to him in Deut. 32:51-52

because you broke faith with me in the midst of the people of Israel at the waters of Meribah-kadesh, in the wilderness of Zin, and because you did not treat me as holy in the midst of the people of Israel. For you shall see the land before you, but you shall not go there, into the land that I am giving to the people of Israel.”

Yet Moses was a faithful servant. The writer is going to show how much greater Jesus is than Moses without mentioning Moses failures.

How was Moses faithful?

He left the Pharaohs palace.

He led the people out of Egypt.

He delivered the Law to the people.

v. 3 Now we see the comparison of Jesus and Moses

Jesus is worthy of more glory than Moses is. That would be quite a statement for faithful Jews to hear. Moses was the greatest of men to them.

Why is Jesus worthy of more glory?

Jesus built the house, Moses is merely a part of the house.

The house= the people of God.

Moses was a person who is a part of the people of God. Jesus is the creator of the people of God.

Jesus said “I will build my church…”

1:2 Jesus created the world

There could be a people of God without Moses. There could not be a people of God without Jesus.

Jesus is greater than every member of the household of God. Moses is chosen as a comparison because to the Hebrews he was the greatest of men.

Jesus doesn’t need any of us. Not even the best of us. He is more glorious than us because without Him we wouldn’t even exist.

v. 4 An argument for the existence of God. The existence of a house proves there is a builder of the house. This is called the teleological argument for the existence of God.

A point for us to remember:

When you accomplish something great, like building a house, remember the builder of all things is God.

We could not build anything without God because we would have nothing to build with without Him.

Back to the point- Jesus is the builder of the house, God builds all things, therefore Jesus is God. The writer makes another argument for the Deity of Jesus.

v. 5 Moses was faithful among God’s people but He was merely a servant.

He spoke for God. He “testified to the things that were spoken of later”

He wrote the first five books of the Bible.

He preached to the people.

Moses gave us:

The sacrificial system

The Law

The Tabernacle

All of this pointed toward Jesus. We still speak of these things but only in their relation to Christ.

v. 6 Again we see the argument set forth again that Jesus is greater than Moses.

Christ is faithful over God’s house as a son. Moses was faithful as a servant (5). Jesus is more than a servant. He is the Son.

Moses was a servant in his Master’s house.

Jesus is a Son in his own house.

In a beautiful way the writer describes believers as those whom Christ indwells.

“We are His house” What a blessing that is!

Christ dwells in us.

We speak of Christ in our heart. I think that’s too narrow. Christ is in us! The full Christ in us, not pushed off into one chamber. He doesn’t have a room in our life. He has the entire house.

He ends the verse with a clarification:

“if indeed we old fast our confidence”

Salvation has always been proven by perseverance not profession.

Note he doesn’t say “We will be Gd’s house if we hold fast. He says, “We are God’s house if we hold fast.” Perseverance proves we belong to God.

“boasting in our hope” Who is our hope? It’s Christ! We boast in Him!

Jesus saved me! If you are saved, you think much of Jesus. You boast in Him.

The doctrine of perseverance is perhaps one of the most overlooked in the Baptist church. The book of Hebrews deals extensively with it. I’ll mention a few things concerning it.

1. God’s salvation is not static. It is active, ongoing, powerful. It involves far more than the will of man. It involves the will of God. When God saves a person, he recreates them with purpose.

2. The Holy Spirit is more powerful than our own will. The Christian cannot escape Him. If you are saved, you will know He is at work in your life.

Love for Christ

Interest in the Word of God

Hatred of sin

3. Perseverance includes both belief and practice.

You continue to believe the truth

You continue to live the faith

If you abandon the tenants of the faith or the practice of the faith you are no longer persevering.

4. Those who do not persevere did not lose their salvation, they never had it.

This is another way Jesus is greater than Moses. The indwelling Jesus will make sure all His people make it to the Promised Land. Moses could not do that.