Jesus is Greater than Moses

Let me remind you where we were and where we are going. We’ve spent some time apart from the book of Hebrews…back in August I beleive. Significant time away, so let me give you a breif overview of where we are at in this epistle.

We move from the end of the dicussion of Jesus being greater than the angels because of his role as the Great High Priest, the Pathfinder, Way-maker...(which we will come back to) and now, we look forward in this chapter to Jesus being greater than Moses.

So we could see in our modern culture why Jesus might need to be seen as greater than the angels…as angelic beings, as beings made to minister to God and who are constantly in the sight of God…this makes sense to us. They were beings which are described with great power. They strike fear into every man that they meet. We can think of the words said when all in Scripture first meet the angels, “Fear not…don’t be afraid...” We can sympathize with the author as to why he has to make the argument that Jesus is greater than the angels.

But why does he have to make this argument about Moses. Moses is just a man. He is a prominent figure in the Jewish Scriptures and in our OT, but he is not God. Well, He is about to spend an entire chapter explaining his reason so it is probably important that we put ourselves in the mindset of the readers of this letter.

Remember that we the writer of Hebrews is writing to a congregation that is likely deciding whether it would be easier to go back to Judaism. If they do, they would not be separated from the synanagogue, their earthly family. They wouldn’t be persecuted. They would be able to practice their religion freely without much interference. There would be no fear of being caught. Arguments were clearly being made among this group of people that they should worship angels rather than Jesus. And so the author has already addressed this, showing them that Jesus is greater than the angels they sought to worship. Here, we see the purpose of the letter shining brightly toward us once again. It woud make sense for these people to make the move from Christ to Moses. And so, once again, the author is going to show how much more glorious Jesus is than Moses.

But why worship and extol Moses?

So some of this, you would be able to answer:

Why would there even be an argument as to whether Jesus was better than Moses?

To the Greco-Roman world, he was associated with magic, divine wisdom, astrology, charms, alchemy, amulets, and phylacteries. Some described him a magician (greater than Jannes and Jambres).

God’s chosen lawgiver. God gave the law to Moses who saw God and then orally gave the law to the people of God. He is a mediator between God and man in the wilderness and on Mount Sianai.

This is the biggest reason.

He is a prophet, speaking for God to the people which he led.

He lead the Israelites out of the hand of Pharaoh and into the wilderness. He was involved in the greatest salvific act of the OT.

Author of the Pentatuch, the first five books of the Bible.

Two of these individuals who built up the prominance of Mose were Philo of Alexandria and Flavius Josephus, both who were contemporaries of Christ.

Philo of Alexandria - Extraordinary philosopher, sage, lawgiver, and man of virtue. Belief that greek philosophy was developed by from philosophical truths God taught Moses. He uses Greek ideas to promote Moses as a physically, mentally, psychologically, and spiritually supreme leader.

Flavius Josephus - Portrays Moses as a “man of God.” Claims that Moses established the ideal society and attributes Moses’ favor with God to his ability to control his passions. He also states that Moses’ understanding suprassed all mean that ever lived and he put to noblest use the fruit of his reflections. He was thought to have secret knowledge that God gave him and that no other had posessed.

Haggadah - Entertaining and often instructive story which expands and embelishes previous traditions. These are a lot like the Chuck Norris jokes we have today. You possibly remember some of these.

Chuck Norris once shot down a German fighter plane with his finger. By yelling "Bang!"

Chuck Norris once ate an entire bottle of sleeping pills. They made him blink.

Chuck Norris doesn't actually write books, the words assemble themselves out of fear.

Chuck Norris can divide by zero.

Rabbi’s came up with similar stories over the years about Moses as well.

There is one haggadah for every major event in the life of Moses. Here are just a couple:

• Moses is born circumcised (Soṭah 12a), refuses the unclean milk of an Egyptian wet-nurse (Soṭah 12b), kills the Egyptian at the command of angels, and is saved from beheading when his neck transforms into a pillar of ivory (Exod Rab. 1:28–31).

• Satan was responsible for the golden calf episode (Shabb. 89a), so Moses broke the tablets to make it appear as though the commandments had not been given so that the people could not be judged by them (‘Abot R. Nat. 2:5–6). When Moses realizes his responsibility for Israel’s fate, he defends the people (Berakhot 32a).

• Moses dies by the kiss of God (Deut. Rab. 11:10; b. Bava Batra 17a) on his 120th birthday, the seventh of the month of Adar (Sop. 11:2), and is buried in a place that cannot be discovered (Soṭah 14a).

So we have all of this information and myth swirling around the figure who is Moses. It is no wonder that Moses was looked upon favorably, even revered by some as equal or greater than Christ.

(vs. 1) - “Therefore, holy brothers...” - Because of what was just written about. Jesus being high priest, a representative of man to God, interceding for us...

And then he calls us holy brothers - This will be a theme of this section as the author is going to spend extensive amount of time relating these figures, Moses and Jesus, to a family.

-“share in a heavenly calling”

You and I share in a calling which is higher than our own. What is this calling?

- “I therefore, a prisoner of for the Lord, urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling ot which you have been called...”

- “I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.”

This calling is a life in obedience to the Christ. It is living in a manner “worthy of the Gospel to which we have been called.” It is the life which is lived “for upard call of God in Christ.”

For those who want to live towards this calling…who do we turn to?

Jesus

Why do we even need to ask this question?

Well, we’ve already seen this a little. These individuals were looking to angels in the previous two chapters. They were considering angels as these glorious creatures that they should turn to. Here, it is apparent they were looking to Moses. And the author says, no…consider Jesus when you press forward towards this calling you have received.

“the apostle and high priest of our confession”- Why does the text here call Christ an apostle? What does this mean in this context?

The Greek word here is apostolon. It typically means messenger or ambasador of the Gospel; officially a commissioner of Christ.

Jesus in not like the apostles in the same way that the disciples and Paul were apostles. Those men received the message of the Gospel from Jesus. Jesus did not receive the message of the Gospel from another. So how then is the author using this term?

Jesus is our representative from God. Remember back to - “He is the radiance of th eglory of God and the exact imprint of his nature...”

So Jesus is an apostle as he represents God, perfectly to us. He perfectly emulates the call that has been made to us as Christians.

But he is also the high priest. We have already seen in chapter 2, how this is the case.

- “Therefore he had to be made like his brothers in every respect, so that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in the service of God, to make propitiation for the sins of the people. 18 For because he himself has suffered when tempted, he is able to help those who are being tempted.”

Therefore, Jesus is also our representative to God. He intercedes for us in God’s presence.

“Of our confession” - That is the confession of the Gospel.

Jesus is the perfect embodiement of both of these things!

(vs. 2) - “who was faithful to him who appointed him” - Jesus was perfectly faithful to the calling which God gave Him. Jesus never acts independently of God’s will.

-  “I glorified you on earth, having accomplished the work that you gave me to do.”

“just like Moses also was faithful in all God’s house” - here begins the comparision of Moses to Jesus.

Is this comparison just? Should this comparison even be made between Moses and Jesus?

This comparison is a fair one. Think through Moses as we have desribed him and then compare Jesus. Jesus, as described by verse 1 is an apostle. Moses also held that position, did he not? He spoke to God and then relayed that message to the people. He gave God’s law to the Israelites, God’s people. Did Moses intercede for the people like Christ? Yes, there are a couple of instances in the OT that God wants to wipe out Israel and Moses pleads with God that He would not. Two occasions:

The Golden Calf (Exdodus 32:11-14)

Unfavorable report of the spies returning from Canaan ()

The similarities between Moses and Christ are significant. We can easily forget what Moses did in light of the greatness of what Christ did. And what Christ does is clearly greater, but in order to understand this argument, we need to think hard about how great the greatest salvific act in the OT was as well.

Moses truly oversees the house of God through direct word from God. God speaks directly to Moses:

- “And he said, “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?”  And the anger of the Lord was kindled against them, and he departed.”

We will start to see this illustration used of God’s house or God’s household. We can understand this as we think about our own households. How are we to understand this? The house is not the tabernacle or a temply. In verse 2, the house represents God’s people. It is Israel. We will see this also in verse 5. Both Jesus and Moses are stewards and overseers of this “house,” that is, the people of God.

In spite of these similarities the author is about to explain why Jesus is greater...

(vs. 3) - “Jesus has been counted worthy of more glory than Moses” - This would have been a shocking statement for the Hebrews to have heard, but the author is going to give his reasoning.

“as much more glory as the builder of the house has more honor than the house itself” - Moses is still in the house of God. We see that in verse 2, “Moses also was faithful in all God’s house. He’s faithful but he is still a part of the house that God has built (see verse 4).

Then he says, Jesus is the builder of that house. Therefore, connect that with verse 4…He is God, the builder of the house. He is reminding the readers here of what he said back in the first chapter. He is God.

- “in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appinted the heir of all things, through whom also he created the world.”

Jesus is not in the household, he is the founder and the inheritor of all the household. God has built the house, and Christ is going to be given it.

(vs. 5) - “Moses was faithful in all God’s house as a servant” - Moses is faithful…the author admits that. We looked at where God claims that Aaron and Miriam should fear Moses because God speaks directly to him. But he is still a servant.

“to testify the things that were to be spoken later” - Moses was as - “a shadow of the good things to come...”

He was doing what all created things were meant to do…to point to and to serve the true heir of all things…but he’s just a servant.

(vs. 6) - but Christ is faithful over God’s house as a son” - Christ is the heir of this house that God has built. He has been given the people of God by the Father…

And who is in this house? Anyone who claims Christ as Lord

(vs. 6b) - And we are his house…

- “6I have manifested your name to the people whom you gave me out of the world. Yours they were, and you gave them to me, and they have kept your word. 7 Now they know that everything that you have given me is from you. 8 For I have given them the words that you gave me, and they have received them and have come to know in truth that I came from you; and they have believed that you sent me. 9 I am praying for them. I am not praying for the world but for those whom you have given me, for they are yours. 10 All mine are yours, and yours are mine, and I am glorified in them. 11 And I am no longer in the world, but they are in the world, and I am coming to you. Holy Father, keep them in your name, which you have given me, that they may be one, even as we are one. 12 While I was with them, I kept them in your name, which you have given me. I have guarded them, and not one of them has been lost except the son of destruction, that the Scripture might be fulfilled.”

The author is going to end with this section with a warning which will segway us into the next, but it is important for us to take note of this:

(vs. 6b) - “And we are his house, if...” - this is a conditional statement. We are of his house if we do this...

“if we hold fast our confidence and our boasiting in our hope.” - Some manuscripts enter in here “firm to the end.” Either way we get the message of what is being spoken here:

Hold fast to our confidence and our hope which is Christ.

I said this near the beginning of this bible study this morning that it would be easy for these readers of this letter to just go back to Judaism. It’s comfortable. It’s familiar. It doesn’t have the baggage.

Maybe you see the similarities in your life.

For us, its not returning to Judaism, to the law of Moses. But there are things in your life and in my life which are our Moses’s. What is it?

It would be so much easier to turn back and live for something else…someone else.

The American ideal, I just make money and store up riches here to live the best life I possibly can. Buy a big house, take care of my family. Avoid giving my money to anyone or anything that doesn’t lead to my personal gain.

Become a hedonist, pursue my pleasure at any cost…let nothing get in the way of that. Why marry when I can just move from one partner to the next? Why have commitment when I can look at what is on my phone and find what I need there?

Why be an examplary person in the eyes of God, when I can gain all the fame and accolades from my peers? Because I’ll feel better about myself if I am praised by them.

These are just a couple of things that can capture our heart. But what we need is to do exactly what this text says:

Find Christ most appealing, most glorious, most satisfying and place our confidence and hope in what is to come by remaining in Him! He has what we need…not the things of this world. They cannot satisfy. Only Christ can.

People are leaving the church in droves because they don’t find Christ most satisfying. They are unwilling to persevere. We’ve already seen one warning in this epistle. My fear for myself and for many Christians today is that Christ isn’t an identity. He is a hobby…that we throw on the shelf when we are done with or until we find something better. May this not be true of us. May we not ever find something better than Christ. May we not believe that anything can fulfill us more than Christ can.

Let’s pray.