Hebrews 3 - Jesus, the Better Builder
Notes
Transcript
Introduction
BibleProject video - Hebrews
1. Messiah vs Moses
1. Messiah vs Moses
1 Therefore, holy brothers and sisters, who share in a heavenly calling, consider Jesus, the apostle and high priest of our confession. 2 He was faithful to the one who appointed him, just as Moses was in all God’s household. 3 For Jesus is considered worthy of more glory than Moses, just as the builder has more honor than the house. 4 Now every house is built by someone, but the one who built everything is God. 5 Moses was faithful as a servant in all God’s household, as a testimony to what would be said in the future. 6 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.
v.1 “holy brothers and sisters” - who you are, who you should be (ideal); he could have used the word “saint” - holy or set-apart ones
Jesus “the apostle” - we don’t often think of Jesus using this terminology, but he was sent from God.
“apostle” is linked with “high priest”
We have seen this before in Hebrews - Hebrews 2:17 “17 Therefore, he had to be like his brothers and sisters in every way, so that he could become a merciful and faithful high priest in matters pertaining to God, to make atonement for the sins of the people.”
We have only seen this terminology in Hebrews, though there are allusions elsewhere: 1 Tim 2:5, “one mediator between God and man”; 1 John 2:1, “an advocate with the Father”; High Priestly prayer (John 17) (intercedes for and prays for the sanctification of His followers)
The Epistle to the Hebrews A. Jesus Greater Than Moses (3:1–6)
he is marked out as being both God’s representative among human beings and their representative in the presence of God
v.2 “He was faithful…just as Moses was”
The author of Hebrews does not “throw any shade” on Moses, though he could have. What were some of Moses’ failures?
1. Moses killed the Egyptian
2. Moses was reluctant to obey God at the burning bush
3. Moses failed initially to circumcise his son
4. Moses struck the rock at Meribah
In the time of Jesus’ and the early church, Moses was highly esteemed.
In the tradition of hellenistic Judaism attested by Philo, Moses is venerated as the high priest who enjoyed the immediacy of God’s presence:
“Moses was the first man who, having been instructed by God, made known to the world the doctrines of piety, justice, and virtue.”
The Book of Jubilees:
“The Lord revealed to Moses the Torah of the Children of Israel... and He revealed to him the entire history of the creation of the heavens and the earth.”
v.3 “The builder has more honor than the house” - does that give you pause?
This concept highlights the value of the creator’s effort, skill, and authority over the creation they produce.
Examples: Mona Lisa, The Last Supper (Leonardo da Vinci)
Significance: Leonardo da Vinci is celebrated not only for the masterpieces he created but also for his pioneering techniques and contributions to art and science. His reputation as a genius and innovator elevates the value of his artworks, as they are seen as products of his exceptional talent and intellect.
2. Beware of a Hard Heart!
2. Beware of a Hard Heart!
7 Therefore, as the Holy Spirit says: Today, if you hear his voice, 8 do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion, on the day of testing in the wilderness, 9 where your ancestors tested me, tried me, and saw my works 10 for forty years. Therefore I was provoked to anger with that generation and said, “They always go astray in their hearts, and they have not known my ways.” 11 So I swore in my anger, “They will not enter my rest.” 12 Watch out, brothers and sisters, so that there won’t be in any of you an evil, unbelieving heart that turns away from the living God. 13 But encourage each other daily, while it is still called today, so that none of you is hardened by sin’s deception. 14 For we have become participants in Christ if we hold firmly until the end the reality that we had at the start. 15 As it is said: Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion. 16 For who heard and rebelled? Wasn’t it all who came out of Egypt under Moses? 17 With whom was God angry for forty years? Wasn’t it with those who sinned, whose bodies fell in the wilderness? 18 And to whom did he swear that they would not enter his rest, if not to those who disobeyed? 19 So we see that they were unable to enter because of unbelief.
This is an interesting quote…from Ps 95. It starts out this way: Psalm 95:1–2 “1 Come, let’s shout joyfully to the Lord, shout triumphantly to the rock of our salvation! 2 Let’s enter his presence with thanksgiving; let’s shout triumphantly to him in song.”
But it ends this way: Psalm 95:7–9 “7 ...Today, if you hear his voice: 8 Do not harden your hearts as at Meribah, as on that day at Massah in the wilderness 9 where your ancestors tested me; they tried me, though they had seen what I did.”
Massah happened first (Exodus 17:1–7 “1 The entire Israelite community left the Wilderness of Sin, moving from one place to the next according to the Lord’s command. They camped at Rephidim, but there was no water for the people to drink. 2 So the people complained to Moses, “Give us water to drink.” “Why are you complaining to me?” Moses replied to them. “Why are you testing the Lord?” 3 But the people thirsted there for water and grumbled against Moses. They said, “Why did you ever bring us up from Egypt to kill us and our children and our livestock with thirst?” 4 Then Moses cried out to the Lord, “What should I do with these people? In a little while they will stone me!” 5 The Lord answered Moses, “Go on ahead of the people and take some of the elders of Israel with you. Take the staff you struck the Nile with in your hand and go. 6 I am going to stand there in front of you on the rock at Horeb; when you hit the rock, water will come out of it and the people will drink.” Moses did this in the sight of the elders of Israel. 7 He named the place Massah and Meribah, because the Israelites complained, and because they tested the LORD, saying, “Is the LORD among us or not?”)
Massah = “testing”
Meribah = “quarreling”
Numbers 20, at Kadesh. Again, no water
Christian Standard Bible Chapter 20
These are the Waters of Meribah,, where the Israelites quarreled with the LORD, and he demonstrated his holiness to them
The picture is of the Israelites who became hardened and refused to enter the promised land.
What is the exortation?
v. 13 - encourage each other daily
v. 14 (for we have become participants in Christ if we hold firmly until the end the reality that we had at the start )
A Commentary on the Epistle to the Hebrews III. Christ Superior to Moses (3:1–4:13)
Mutual concern and encouragement are of constant value in the church, not least in repelling the menace of false teaching; hence the writer’s desire that his readers should exhort one another not just occasionally, or in one particular situation, but every day. How different might have been the story of the Israelites in the wilderness if only they had daily fostered among themselves a constant faith in God instead of mutually inciting a spirit of rebellion and unbelief! Apostasy is a perennial danger for the church, and we, like those to whom this letter was addressed, should in our day heed the warning provided by the account of the mutual unconcern of the Israelites and the disastrous consequences it brought upon them
v. 15 do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion
v. 19 a synonym for hardening of hearts - “unbelief”
An Unshakeable Kingdom: The Letter to the Hebrews for Today What the Gospel Is
The gospel was that God had come down to redeem them; and redemption meant being delivered from the wrath of God through the blood of the Passover Lamb, being set free from the power of Pharaoh, being accepted as God’s own people, leaving Egypt, crossing the desert and entering their inheritance in the land of promise. It was all one indivisible package. They could not believe and accept the first part but reject the rest. It was all or nothing; and this was made clear to them from the very start (see Exod 6:6–8)
1. Temptation to Abandon the Faith due to pressure from Jewish Authorities and return to the old covenant
2. Temptation to Doubt Christ’s Sufficiency and seek security in the old ways
What is the temptation for believers today?
To return to the old way of life
To listen to the allure of the world, the flesh, the devil
Persevere - keep believing. This demonstrates the genuineness of our faith. Encourage others to do the same.
