Messiah, Moses and Me
Notes
Transcript
introduction
Although the Bible is God -breathed, the chapter and verse is not. They are man-made insertions to make studying easier. Could you imagine instead of reading “John 3:16” at sporting events, you would see “About 1/7 of the way through the book of John”?
Although they are very helpful, don’t let them give you the impression that the author intended a hard break from one chapter to the next.
As we go into Chapter 3, don’t imagine a door separating the passages that we just went through. Rather, the author connects the two with a therefore. We are taking a step from one thought to another while carrying everything we’ve learned so far.
In the previous chapters we learned that Jesus is superior to angels, prophets and having persevered through temptation, pain and death, he is also superior to temptation sin and suffering.
With this basic understanding of Christ as the superior prophet, priest and king, the author of Hebrews is ready to hit the Jewish Christian readers where this truth would hurt the most: the ministry of Moses.
Hebrews 3:1 (CSB)
Therefore, holy brothers and sisters, who share in a heavenly calling, consider Jesus, the apostle and high priest of our confession.
The author of Hebrews refers to the readers as “holy brethren”. These are those who have been cleansed by the blood of Christ, forgiven, set apart and indwelled by the Holy Spirit. They are part of the family of God and are brothers and sisters of one another.
Brothers and sister who share in a heavenly calling. God didn’t just save us so we can go to heaven. This was also done so that we could partner with Him in sharing this heavenly calling to others. We share this gift with each other but also with unbelievers as well.
It starts with “Therefore” continuing the discussion from the previous chapters. Jesus is superior to prophets and angels, faithful to God, merciful to us and both willing and able to help us, therefore we ought to “consider Jesus.”
The word consider in the english sense seems a little weak. When I think of the word consider, I think of a waiter asking me to consider different items on a menu. This is a word used for pondering, thinking about or reflecting on.
In the greek, it is the word katanoeo. It means to observe carefully or pay attention to. This isn’t a momentary thing but a deep contemplation.
Another thing we need to see is that He’s the “apostle and high priest of our confession”.
In the greek, apostle is translated “one sent forth”. This is the only place in the NT where apostle is applied to Christ. We know that this term is used for the ones Jesus sent out. But in John 17:18, what does it say?
As you sent me into the world, I also have sent them into the world.
The author was probably on the fact that Jesus is superior to prophets and angels, both of whom were sent by God to carry his message.
In addition to being the supreme apostle, he is also the supreme high priest. He is the perfect mediator between God and mankind.
For there is one God and one mediator between God and mankind, the man Christ Jesus,
As our great high priest, Jesus satisfies the great spiritual need for a bridge-builder between God and humanity and between heaven and earth.
This position was longed for all the way back to the book of Job (Job 9:32-33).
Job 9:32–33 (CSB)
For he is not a man like me, that I can answer him, that we can take each other to court. There is no mediator between us, to lay his hand on both of us.
He alone is the mediator. He is the priest who can stand between us and God and the divine apostle who was sent to take that position.
He was faithful to the one who appointed him, just as Moses was in all God’s household. For Jesus is considered worthy of more glory than Moses, just as the builder has more honor than the house. Now every house is built by someone, but the one who built everything is God. Moses was faithful as a servant in all God’s household, as a testimony to what would be said in the future. But Christ was faithful as a Son over his household. And we are that household if we hold on to our confidence and the hope in which we boast.
Up to this point prophets, angels, high priests and kings have been addressed by the author of Hebrews, but one very important person in the lives of the Jews has yet to be compared...Moses.
Moses was also sent by God and stood between him and the nation of Israel as their mediator. No one else in the OT would have had the clout Moses carried.
If the writer only wanted to flatter his readers rather than exalting Christ, he would have avoided the topic of Moses. Instead he decided to address the delicate matter of the superiority of Jesus even to Moses.
Moses had spoken to God face to face (Deut. 34:10).
No prophet has arisen again in Israel like Moses, whom the Lord knew face to face.
Moses received the law from God and passed it on to the Israelites. He lead them from bondage of slavery in Egypt and through the Red Sea. He supervised the construction of the tabernacle-the forerunner of the temple-where sacrifices and offerings took place.
The Jews could not find anyone equal to the great Moses. Any thought of someone actually being superior would have shocked the senses but that is what the author of Hebrews asserted. Jesus is superior to Moses.
Now, Moses and Jesus were mediators before God. They both served faithfully and were deserving of honor and glory. The author does not disrespect Moses in any way. He does say, however, that Jesus is worthy of even more glory than Moses. Why is this?
#1, the Messiah is more glorious than Moses because He is the builder of God’s house. “Oikos” is the word used here which is used metaphorically 7 times in these verses. They don’t refer to a physical structure but the people of God. This word could be used to refer figuratively to a family or household.
Before the birth of the church at pentecost, house could refer to Israel (Hos. 1:4, Matt. 10:6).
Hosea 1:4 (CSB)
Then the Lord said to him: Name him Jezreel, for in a little while I will bring the bloodshed of Jezreel on the house of Jehu and put an end to the kingdom of the house of Israel.
Instead, go to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.
Afterward it would be used to refer to the church (1 Tim. 3:15).
But if I should be delayed, I have written so that you will know how people ought to conduct themselves in God’s household, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and foundation of the truth.
Moses was a member of the OT household, the people of Israel. He was the member, but Jesus was the builder of the house (Hebrews 3:3).
For Jesus is considered worthy of more glory than Moses, just as the builder has more honor than the house.
This spells out the reason why Christ, as the builder of God’s house, deserves greater honor than Moses: “The builder of all things is God.” We should also remember what John said concerning Jesus (John 1:3).
All things were created through him, and apart from him not one thing was created that has been created.
#2 The Messiah is more glorious than Moses because He is the fulfillment of Moses’ testimony (Hebrews 3:5).
Moses was faithful as a servant in all God’s household, as a testimony to what would be said in the future.
Moses’ ministry was a foreshadowing of Jesus’. It pointed to him and anticipated his coming. Jesus demonstrated this after his resurrection when he said in Luke, (Luke 24:44).
He told them, “These are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you—that everything written about me in the Law of Moses, the Prophets, and the Psalms must be fulfilled.”
Jesus also pointed out to some that the scriptures pointed to him (Luke 24:27).
Then beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he interpreted for them the things concerning himself in all the Scriptures.
Moses was pointing to someone, who was greater than himself.
#3 The Messiah is more glorious than Moses because He is the Ruler of God’s house. Not only is Jesus the builder of God’s people, he is also the head and ruler as the Son.
This means that Christ is the heir of the household of God. The author of Hebrews already used this imagery in Hebrews 1:6
Hebrews 1:6 (CSB)
Again, when he brings his firstborn into the world, he says, And let all God’s angels worship him.
, but Paul also used it in Col. 1:15.
He is the image of the invisible God,
the firstborn over all creation.
The difference between Colossians and Hebrews is that he is the recipient of authority over heaven and earth, but here he is the head of God’s people, the church.
And he subjected everything under his feet and appointed him as head over everything for the church,
Moses was never exalted to such a position of supreme authority as Christ-the son, firstborn and head of all things.
(TRY TO PUT THE CHART IN THE POWERPOINT)
By comparing Moses and Jesus, the author isn’t trying to discredit or disrespect Moses. He is demonstrating that Jesus is beyond comparison even against the greatest figure in biblical history.
But Christ was faithful as a Son over his household. And we are that household if we hold on to our confidence and the hope in which we boast.
None of this will do us any good though if we don’t place him as superior in our own lives. This was the big problem for these Jewish converts. They were tempted to go back to Moses. This would have been a step backwards to an inferior ministry.
The author reminds them that they are the household over which Christ rules as Son. When we look at the statement “If we hold fast our confidence and the boast of our hope firm until the end”, one might think that if we don’t, we will be kicked out of God’s household, disowned and disinherited. Does this mean our salvation is contingent on our subsequent faithfulness? No.
He is saying the continuance of faith and hope is proof of the reality of a person’s authentic membership in the family of God.
We shouldn’t obsess over a segment of a person’s life where they goo astray, have a lapse, or fall down and struggle too get up. We all have dips and rises on the bumpy road of spiritual life.
We can look at life as a whole and observe the evidences of true Christianity. But, if someone who claims to be Christian utterly falls away and fails to endure in faith and hope until the end of their life, then perhaps that person had never been a member of the family of God from the beginning.
We are not immune to stumbling. We all fall short but we have a God who picks us up when we fall. He catches us when we stumble and forgives us when we ask.
This message was something the readers really needed to hear. Some had fallen, others were teetering and others may have been looking for something to steady themselves on when they were stumbling. The author points them to Christ-superior to all others. They needed to reassert themselves through their faith and hope and confidence in him.
This can’t be done by good works, spiritual disciplines, not striving to make themselves worthy before God. It is warning them that if they didn’t endure and ran back to Moses, their claims to be members of God’s household would be suspect.
end (length)
Moses or Messiah?
Like the early Jews, we need to make this choice as well.
After reading this, you might ask, why would I choose Moses? John made the contrast equally clear: John 1:17).
for the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.
Christians tend to exchange the grace of Jesus for the Law of Moses. They give the 10 commandments priority in their lives as if avoiding the top 10 sins will keep them out of hell or at least on God’s good side.
Others make a list of do’s and don’ts-do eat this, don’t drink that, don’t shop here, don’t support that, vote for this person, don’t talk to that person. Sometimes the list of unwritten laws seems to rival the original.
As we go through Hebrews we need to remember this group of people who are wavering between Moses and the Messiah, the Law and grace. But let’s take a moment to consider some scripture that highlights the believer’s right relationship to the law, grace and faith. By committing these to memory, you will keep from straying from your own devotion to the new life of liberty in the Messiah and from falling back to the old life of bondage to the Law.
and yet because we know that a person is not justified by the works of the law but by faith in Jesus Christ, even we ourselves have believed in Christ Jesus. This was so that we might be justified by faith in Christ and not by the works of the law, because by the works of the law no human being will be justified. But if we ourselves are also found to be “sinners” while seeking to be justified by Christ, is Christ then a promoter of sin? Absolutely not! If I rebuild those things that I tore down, I show myself to be a lawbreaker. For through the law I died to the law, so that I might live for God. I have been crucified with Christ, and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. I do not set aside the grace of God, for if righteousness comes through the law, then Christ died for nothing.
For freedom, Christ set us free. Stand firm, then, and don’t submit again to a yoke of slavery. Take note! I, Paul, am telling you that if you get yourselves circumcised, Christ will not benefit you at all. Again I testify to every man who gets himself circumcised that he is obligated to do the entire law. You who are trying to be justified by the law are alienated from Christ; you have fallen from grace. For we eagerly await through the Spirit, by faith, the hope of righteousness. For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision accomplishes anything; what matters is faith working through love.
Galatians 5:18–23 (CSB)
But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law. Now the works of the flesh are obvious: sexual immorality, moral impurity, promiscuity, idolatry, sorcery, hatreds, strife, jealousy, outbursts of anger, selfish ambitions, dissensions, factions, envy, drunkenness, carousing, and anything similar. I am warning you about these things—as I warned you before—that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. The law is not against such things.
