Hebrews 3:1-6 - Jesus is Better than Moses

Pray

Father, thank you for your Word.

Thank you for speaking to us through your Son, Jesus, and through those like Moses who wrote down your words in Scripture so that we can read it and know what you are like and what you would have us do.

Please speak to us now through the preaching of your Word.

Use me to reach into all of our hearts to change us into the likeness of your Son, Jesus.

We all need you to do this work in us because I certainly don’t have the power to do that.

Lord, we humbly ask that you would do a work among us this morning, that you would glorify your name by making us more like Christ.

It’s in his name we pray. Amen.

Intro

We’re plugging away at our series through the book of Hebrews.

We’ve already seen how Jesus is a better messenger than the angels because of who he is and what he’s done.

He became a human being to save humanity by dying in our place and rising from the dead.

And in doing that he’s better than Adam, the first human being because he has a better headship, a better example, and he fixed what Adam broke.

Now the argument for how Jesus is the best prophet, the best messenger of God, turns to Moses, how Jesus is better than Moses, arguably the best human messenger of God in all the history of the nation of Israel.

The Jews held on to Moses and his writing as a matter of tradition.

Like the movie “Fiddler on the Roof.”

TRADITION!!!

In that movie a Jewish community is forced to shift away from their traditions because their traditions were becoming outdated and incompatible with the progress of the surrounding culture.

When something is so different from the way things have been for so long, we tend to doubt or dismiss it as false or made up banking on our understanding of the way things have been or the comfortability of our traditions.

But the Jews also held on to Moses and his writing as a matter of honoring a man who was so powerful and instrumental in the creation and formation of their way of life in Israel.

No one else was as powerful or influential as Moses, and they thought of him as their hero.

When someone claims to be or to be able to do something beyond what our heroes have done, we tend to doubt or dismiss them as bluffing and we refuse to believe unless they prove it.

This tendency to doubt or dismiss because of our traditions and our heroes applies to our view of Jesus and his message more than we might like to admit.

But God wants us to believe in Jesus, and he wants us to believe the message Jesus brought.

So he’s given us a three step argument for why Jesus and his message, the gospel, can and should be considered and believed.

The best prophet of all the Old Testament was Moses, who was the most faithful, had the most glory, and had the most honor of anyone in the history of Israel.

But our text, in Hebrews 3:1-6, argues that Jesus has similar faithfulness, but more glory, and more honor than even Moses.

His faithfulness as the best messenger with the best message…

His glory as the sovereign creator of everything…

And his honor as the Son of God and heir of all things…

These prove that he and his message can and should be considered and believed and held fast in our hearts and minds.

Now, we’re going to work our way through each of the points of this argument so that we can understand the weight of each point to the original audience, and so that we’ll also be convinced to hold fast to Jesus.

So, let’s dive into our first point about Jesus’ similarity to Moses in his faithfulness.

Hebrews 3:1–2 ESV

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.

Here we see how…

Jesus has a similar faithfulness to Moses (1-2)

But before we get into how Jesus’ faithfulness is similar to Moses, our passage starts out by addressing the original audience as “holy brothers who share in a heavenly calling.”

It’s important to remember that these words of warning and encouragement are meant for people who already have faith in Jesus.

Holy brothers, fellow believers, those who have been sanctified or set apart for God’s purposes through faith in Jesus Christ.

Those who share in a heavenly calling.

All of us who have put our faith in Jesus were called or drawn to do so.

The Father draws us to faith in Jesus as he said in John 6:44 “No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him. And I will raise him up on the last day.”

And Paul wrote in 2 Timothy 1:8–9 “Therefore do not be ashamed of the testimony about our Lord, nor of me his prisoner, but share in suffering for the gospel by the power of God (the Father), who saved us and called us to a holy calling, not because of our works but because of his own purpose and grace, which he gave us in Christ Jesus before the ages began.”

The Holy Spirit draws us to faith in Jesus by giving us spiritual life as Jesus said in John 6:63 “It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh is no help at all. The words that I have spoken to you are spirit and life.”

And both the Holy Spirit and the rest of the church call us to faith in Jesus as John mentioned in Revelation 22:17 “The Spirit and the Bride say, “Come.” And let the one who hears say, “Come.” And let the one who is thirsty come; let the one who desires take the water of life without price.”

When we are saved we are called or drawn to faith in Jesus, and we are called toward heaven rather than repelled by heaven.

By our faith in Jesus and what he did in his incarnation, death, and resurrection we are set apart as brothers and sisters in Christ, fellow heirs with Christ because all of us share the same call toward God, toward heaven and eternal life with him.

So, don’t hear this message and think it was meant for unbelievers.

If you have put your faith in Christ, then this message is for you.

It’s important that we remember this because the only command in this whole passage is to consider Jesus.

We may think, “That’s weird, I already believe in him, so why would I need to be told to consider him? I’ve already considered him and given him my life, what more is there to consider?”

What more is there to consider about Jesus?

If you think you’ve already considered everything there is to consider about Jesus, then think again.

You will never exhaust all there is to consider about Jesus.

And as soon as you stop considering him, you will replace him with other things to consider.

Things that are less satisfying, less healthy, and less worthy.

Even if you can’t think of anything new to consider about Jesus, keep considering the same wonderful truths about him.

We’re going to consider some core truths about Jesus this morning that you’ve probably already heard and know.

But we’re still going to consider them because Jesus is satisfying, and sufficient, and worthy of our every thought.

A couple of aspects about Jesus to consider are how he was sent by God the Father for a particular mission and how he intercedes between us and God the Father.

Our passage calls Jesus an apostle.

Now, this is the only place in the whole Bible where Jesus is called an apostle.

I thought Jesus’ twelve disciples were later called apostles, so why is Jesus called an apostle here?

The word “apostle” is just a transliteration of the Greek noun a-POST-a-los, which gets its meaning from the verb form a-post-ELL-o, meaning “to send.”

So, an apostle is simply one who is sent on a particular mission.

And the connotation that came with the use of this word as a title for Jesus’ disciples was that the ones sent on a particular mission were sent by Jesus directly and authoritatively.

But Jesus was also sent on a particular mission by God the Father, and then he turned around and sent his disciples to continue the mission he accomplished at the manger, the cross, and the empty tomb.

Jesus said as much in John 20:21 “Jesus said to them again, “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, even so I am sending you.””

So, Jesus is the first apostle sent from God the Father, and the other apostles are then sent by him to continue his mission.

Jesus was sent on a mission to save humanity, and we looked at that in depth earlier in Hebrews chapter 2.

Keep considering Jesus’ mission, even if you’ve already heard it all before.

Don’t consider it as something new, consider it as something vital to remember.

Our passage also calls Jesus a high priest, specifically a high priest of our confession.

He was also called a high priest back at the end of chapter 2, and his identity and actions as our great high priest will be examined more in depth in later chapters.

But for now, it’s enough to know that Jesus intercedes between us and God, and that he is merciful and faithful in that role.

And here in our passage this morning, he is described as a high priest of our confession.

Now, the word confession might have some connotations with it in our minds.

We might hear the word confession and immediately think of confessing our sins to the Lord as John wrote in 1 John 1:9 “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”

Or confessing our sins to each other as James wrote in James 5:16 “Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working.”

But the word translated as “confess” or “confession” is from the Greek verb homo-lo-GE-o, which is a compound word combining homo, meaning same, and lo-GE-o, meaning to speak or say.

It’s to say the same thing.

To confess to God is to say the same thing as what God said.

To confess to each other is to say the same thing as each other.

So, when we confess our sins to God, we are saying the same thing about our sins as God says.

And when we confess our sins to each other, we are saying the same thing about our sins as we all say about them.

Our sins are terrible, and they drive a wedge between us and God and between each other when we sin against each other.

And we can’t repent of something we don’t agree is a sin or we don’t agree is a terrible thing or something to run away from.

So, confession is a prerequisite to repentance.

But saying the same thing as what God has said or what other believers have said doesn’t always have to be about our sins.

In fact, more often than confessing our sins, we ought to be confessing our faith in Jesus.

Saying the same thing that God has said about who Jesus is and what he’s done.

Saying the same thing as other believers who are also saying that Jesus is Lord and believing in our heart that God raised him from the dead.

Romans 10:9 “because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.”

That is how Jesus is the high priest of our confession.

He’s our high priest because of our confession that he is Lord.

So, consider Jesus who was sent by God the Father to save humanity, and who is interceding with God the Father on your behalf because of your confession of faith in him.

In verse 2 we are to consider Jesus’ faithfulness in these aspects (sent by God and interceding before God) in comparison to Moses, who was also faithful in these same ways.

Jesus was faithful to God the Father to be sent into the world to save humanity and to intercede on behalf of those who have faith in him.

Moses was also faithful to God to be sent into Egypt to save God’s people, Israel, and to intercede on behalf of the people at Sinai when God gave them his Law and throughout the wilderness wandering.

It’s important to get a good look at Moses’ faithfulness because the original audience of the book of Hebrews would have readily understood it.

And we want to hear this message in the book of Hebrews as they would have heard it.

Moses’ faithfulness as God’s messenger was unparalleled.

He was faithful as God’s messenger speaking to the people what God spoke to him directly, face to face.

Moses would go into the tent of meeting at speak directly with the Lord while the people all stood and worshipped at the entrance to their tents.

Exodus 33:11 says that the Lord used to speak to Moses face to face, as a man speaks to his friend.

He was also faithful as an intercessor before God for the people of Israel.

After they made the golden calf idol while Moses was on Sinai to get the ten commandments, God told him that he was going to wipe them out.

Exodus 32:9–10 “And the Lord said to Moses, “I have seen this people, and behold, it is a stiff-necked people. Now therefore let me alone, that my wrath may burn hot against them and I may consume them, in order that I may make a great nation of you.””

But Moses interceded for them before the Lord.

Exodus 32:11–14 “But Moses implored the Lord his God and said, “O Lord, why does your wrath burn hot against your people, whom you have brought out of the land of Egypt with great power and with a mighty hand? Why should the Egyptians say, ‘With evil intent did he bring them out, to kill them in the mountains and to consume them from the face of the earth’? Turn from your burning anger and relent from this disaster against your people. Remember Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, your servants, to whom you swore by your own self, and said to them, ‘I will multiply your offspring as the stars of heaven, and all this land that I have promised I will give to your offspring, and they shall inherit it forever.’ ” And the Lord relented from the disaster that he had spoken of bringing on his people.”

Again, when the people refused to enter the promised land because they doubted God’s power and goodness, God threatened to wipe them out, but Moses interceded.

Numbers 14:11–19 “And the Lord said to Moses, “How long will this people despise me? And how long will they not believe in me, in spite of all the signs that I have done among them? I will strike them with the pestilence and disinherit them, and I will make of you a nation greater and mightier than they.” But Moses said to the Lord, “Then the Egyptians will hear of it, for you brought up this people in your might from among them, and they will tell the inhabitants of this land. They have heard that you, O Lord, are in the midst of this people. For you, O Lord, are seen face to face, and your cloud stands over them and you go before them, in a pillar of cloud by day and in a pillar of fire by night. Now if you kill this people as one man, then the nations who have heard your fame will say, ‘It is because the Lord was not able to bring this people into the land that he swore to give to them that he has killed them in the wilderness.’ And now, please let the power of the Lord be great as you have promised, saying, ‘The Lord is slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love, forgiving iniquity and transgression, but he will by no means clear the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children, to the third and the fourth generation.’ Please pardon the iniquity of this people, according to the greatness of your steadfast love, just as you have forgiven this people, from Egypt until now.””

That time, though, the Lord did relent from destroying them, but he also didn’t allow them to enter the promised land, and gave that honor to the following generation.

So, Moses was faithful in all God’s house.

In all the house of Israel, Moses was faithful to do what God specifically sent him to do, to rescue his people from slavery in Egypt.

And in all the house of Israel he was faithful to intercede for the people before God multiple times to avoid their destruction and to uphold God’s glory.

And Jesus is just as faithful.

This is the commonality between Moses and Jesus, but as we will see, Jesus’ faithfulness, while similar to Moses, far exceeds him in glory and honor.

So, we saw how Jesus has a similar faithfulness to Moses.

Now let’s briefly look at the next two verses to see how Jesus compares to Moses in his glory.

Hebrews 3:3–4 ESV

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.)

Here we see how…

Jesus has a greater glory than Moses (3-4)

Verse 3 very succinctly states this.

Jesus has been counted worthy of more glory than Moses.

Glory can be either inherent or ascribed.

Inherent glory is the weightiness and significance a person or thing has in and of itself.

God is inherently the most glorious because he is the sovereign creator of everything.

Ascribed glory is the weightiness or significance of a person or thing that others point out with their words and actions.

We ascribe glory to God when we speak about his inherent glory to him and to others and when we submit to him and serve him in worship because of his inherent glory.

The glory in our passage here is ascribed glory because its the glory Jesus is counted as worthy of in contrast to the glory Moses is counted as worthy of.

While Moses’ faithfulness to save Israel from Egypt and to intercede for the people is worthy of our words and actions ascribing to him the weightiness and significance of what he did…

Jesus’ faithfulness to save humanity from sin and death and to intercede for all who put their faith in him is much more worthy and his faithfulness is much more weighty and significant.

The author of Hebrews brings up the difference between a building and its architect to illustrate the difference in glory between Moses and Jesus.

A significant and impressive building might be something like the Empire State building, or the Golden Gate Bridge.

A building or structure so big and impressive that you just marvel at it.

But when you talk about how glorious, how significant and impressive that building is, you can’t help but marvel at the mind of the architect and the abilities of the builders.

As impressive as the building is to look at, the architect is worthy of much more glory for designing and building that impressive structure in the first place.

In case we didn’t get the illustration, the author lays it out for us very simply in verse 4.

Every house has a builder, and arguably, Moses was very instrumental in building the nation of Israel.

But the builder of all things, including the nation of Israel, is God.

Moses didn’t build Israel, God did.

And Jesus is God, so He’s the one who built Israel, and he used Moses to do it.

Have you ever seen those lumberjack competitions?

The ones where they see who can saw through a log the fastest or who can chop down the most trees in a certain time with only an axe.

Nobody watches those and marvels at the impressiveness of the saw or the axe.

Those are the tools the lumberjacks are using.

No, we marvel at how well they use those tools.

We marvel at the ones wielding the tools, though the tools have to be able to hold up to their impressive strength.

Jesus is the architect, the builder of everything including Israel and everyone who is a part of his kingdom.

While Moses, as faithful and useful as he was, was only a part of the building Jesus built, or a tool in Jesus’ hands to build the nation of Israel.

So, we saw how Jesus has a similar faithfulness to Moses.

And we just looked at how Jesus has more glory than Moses because Jesus is the sovereign creator of everything and Moses was only a tool Jesus used to build the nation of Israel like a builder uses faithful tools to build a house.

Finally, in the last two verses of our passage, we’re going to see how Jesus compares to Moses in his honor.

Hebrews 3:5–6 ESV

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.

Here we see how…

Jesus has a greater honor than Moses (5-6)

Glory and honor are very similar.

You may have noticed, but back in verse 3 it said that Jesus has as much more glory than Moses as the builder of a house has more honor than the house itself.

What I want you to notice is not the difference between glory and honor, but the different ways that the author of Hebrews illustrates how Jesus is better than Moses.

We already looked at the illustration of a building and its architect.

Now we are going to look at the illustration of a household, specifically the difference between a servant and the son.

Moses is honored as a faithful servant in God’s household, Israel, more faithful than anyone else in Israel.

That’s what God said after Miriam and Aaron show their own unfaithfulness by grumbling against their brother, Moses.

God said in Numbers 12:6–8 “Hear my words: If there is a prophet among you, I the Lord make myself known to him in a vision; I speak with him in a dream. Not so with my servant Moses. He is faithful in all my house. With him I speak mouth to mouth, clearly, and not in riddles, and he beholds the form of the Lord. Why then were you not afraid to speak against my servant Moses?”

That’s impressive.

For God to come to his defense and claim that he is the only one truly faithful in all of Israel at that time.

Wow.

If that’s not worthy of honor, then I don’t know what is.

Moses was so honored in Israel even 1400 some-odd years after he served during the time of Jesus’ earthly ministry, and even among the Jews today.

Jesus accused the religious leaders of honoring Moses too highly by looking to what Moses wrote for eternal life instead of looking to him.

John 5:39–40 “You search the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; and it is they that bear witness about me, yet you refuse to come to me that you may have life.”

John 5:45–46 “Do not think that I will accuse you to the Father. There is one who accuses you: Moses, on whom you have set your hope. For if you believed Moses, you would believe me; for he wrote of me.”

In the book of Acts James made a statement in response to the Gentiles receiving the Holy Spirit about how the Scriptures agree with that development.

And his response is to extend a limited reminder of God’s rules to them, and the reason he says in Acts 15:21 “For from ancient generations Moses has had in every city those who proclaim him, for he is read every Sabbath in the synagogues.”

And that tradition continues, where the Torah, the writings of Moses are honored by being read every Sabbath in Jewish synagogues around the world.

But as honored as Moses is in his faithfulness in all God’s house, Jesus has a greater honor.

Jesus is honored as a faithful Son over all God’s house.

Notice there are two important differences between the honor of Moses and the honor of Jesus.

The different prepositions, in and over, and the different roles, servant and Son.

Moses being faithful in God’s house simply means that he’s a part of the household.

But Jesus being faithful over God’s house means that he’s in charge of it, all of it.

And those prepositions are related to their roles.

Moses is faithful as a servant, one of many servants in the household who do the bidding of the master of the house.

Jesus is faithful as a Son, the Son, the heir over the household who does the bidding of his Father.

In Jesus’ parable of the prodigal son, the son who left realized his shame and sin against his father and how he was in desperate need of mercy, so he returned, but he didn’t think he deserved the honor of returning as a son, so he said in Luke 15:19 “I am no longer worthy to be called your son. Treat me as one of your hired servants.”

A servant naturally has less honor than the heir over the household in which he serves.

So also Moses, as a faithful servant in God’s household of Israel, has less honor than Jesus who is the faithful Son of God, the heir over the household in which Moses served.

Conclusion

The Jews the book of Hebrews was written to looked up to Moses, a lot.

And this comparison could fly right over our heads if we don’t put ourselves in their shoes.

Think of someone from American history that you look up to, someone a lot of people look up to.

Someone like Abraham Lincoln or Benjamin Franklin or George Washington.

Someone who did a lot of good for this country.

Now, as much good as they did for our country, they are not as good or as faithful or as honored as Jesus, who used them to create and shape our nation just like he used Moses to create and shape the nation of Israel.

Our country is not the nation of Israel.

We do not share the same place as a nation that Israel has in God’s kingdom.

We do not have any stake in the promises God made to the nation of Israel.

But the United States of America belongs to Jesus just like all nations belong to him as the sovereign creator of everything.

And he puts our leaders in place and uses them to guide us and shape us as he sees fit because he’s the Son of God, the heir of all things.

Don’t put any leaders from our nation’s history or any of our current leaders on a pedestal higher than Jesus because he’s more faithful, more glorious, and more honored than any of them, just like he’s better than Moses, the best leader in the history of Israel.

So, let’s circle back to the command we were given in verse 1, consider Jesus.

As much thought as the Jews put in the person and writings of Moses, they were to consider Jesus even more.

Because Jesus is better than Moses; just as faithful, but more glorious and more honored because of the scope of his salvation and intercession on behalf of all humanity and his identity as the sovereign creator and heir of all things.

Consider Jesus; who he is and what he’s done.

Consider him because anything else that may occupy your mind pales in comparison.

What are some things that take up residence in your mind?

What are some things you end up thinking about more than anything else?

What are some things you consider all throughout the day?

If they are anything other than Jesus, then I encourage you to replace them with him because he’s way better, he’s way more satisfying, and he can actually help you rather than distract you or worry you.

I’ll admit that sometimes I think way too much about silly games.

Maybe you think way too much about money, or way too much about cars, or books, or a tv series, or a movie franchise, or food, or exercise, or your family and friends or social media or politics.

The list could go on and on.

The solution is not necessarily to think less about these things.

That’s kind of like if I told you not to think of pink elephants… what are you thinking about? Yeah, pink elephants, the very thing I told you not to think about.

No the solution is to consider Jesus in the midst of these things that you already think about.

When I think about those silly games, or any hobby for that matter, I can remember Jesus and how much more satisfying he is than those little dopamine hits.

When you think about your money, you can remember that Jesus provides everything you need.

When you thing about your family or your friends, you can remember that Jesus became a man and died and rose again to save them.

And if they haven’t put their faith in him, then you can strategize about how to talk about Jesus with them so that they might put their faith in him and be saved from sin and death.

Consider Jesus.

Now, if you haven’t put your faith in Jesus yet, then please do so right now, the sooner the better.

We’ve just seen how much better Jesus is than even the best person in all of Israel’s history because he’s the sovereign creator and heir of everything.

He became a man and died on a cross and rose from the dead all so that you and all of humanity could be saved from sin and death.

Make no mistake, you deserve eternal punishment in hell for your sin because you’ve sinned against almighty eternal God.

All of humanity deserves that punishment because all of us have sinned against God.

And all of us are trapped, enslaved to sin unless Jesus’ payment is applied to your account.

Jesus paid with his life, he paid the penalty for your sin and the price of your freedom from sin.

And all you have to do to apply that payment to your account is put your faith in him.

That faith is not just lip service, but a repentant faith that turns from loving yourself to loving the one who died for you and rose from the dead so you could be saved, and loving those he loves.

It’s a faith that submits to him as Lord of your life because he’s worthy.

So, if you put your repentant faith in him today and submit to him as Lord, then tell him and tell us so that we can rejoice with you.

Romans 10:9 “because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.”

Pray

Father, thank you for giving us your Son.

Thank you for his faithfulness to do what you sent him to do, his faithfulness to become a man and die on a cross and rise from the dead so that we could be saved.

Thank you for his glory and his honor higher than even the best person we could ever think of.

Please help us consider him in everything we think of in our lives.

And help us remind each other of how wonderful he is, how satisfying he is, how sufficient he is for every aspect of life.

It’s in his glorious name we pray. Amen.