The Letter to the Hebrews , Lesson 4
Christ is Faithful and Superior to Moses
I. We must remember, we are dealing with those who want to return to Judaism. We might think that Jesus being superior to Moses was a given to these readers since we have already determined that Jesus is superior to the angels. But, there is evidence that to the 1st century Jew, Moses held the highest place. Philo, the great first century writer continually refers to Moses as the Great High Priest. Even apocryphal books like the Assumption of Moses have this theme. The book of Sirach claims that Moses was a god (44:22-45:5 and especially 45:2a). One form of first century Messianic hope was the expectation of a second Moses. There is no doubt that Moses to these readers of Hebrews was the most important person in salvation history to that point of time. One of the more interesting developments in this text is the reference to God's people as a structure (A house) or a Temple (1:5b), i.e. God's house was the Temple. So here we have the church alluded to as the Temple of God.
Excrusis One
The Church as the Family of God
'We are His household' (oikos) this section of Hebrews (3:2-6). The writer is referring to Numbers 12:7, where the term refers to the people of Israel as the household of God with Moses as chief steward. The "house of God" was commonly referred to as the Temple in Jerusalem but occasionally it is used as a reference to the entirety of the people of Israel. (See Jer. 12:7; Hos. 8:1; Mic. 9:15; Mic. 4:2). The background to this metaphor comes from the actual nature of the Israelite family. The family was the place of worship and teaching and the family unit was important for maintaining continuity in religious thinking. Second, the family was the place of inclusion, belonging, and protection for the individual.
In the NT, the Christian Church saw itself as the inheritor of the title "House of Israel" the family of God. This terminology could be applied to the whole church (e.g. Lk. 1:33Eph. 2:19; Heb. 3:3-6; 8:8---10; Gal. 6:10) or to a smaller unit the local church. The second of these is of great interest. The use of the terminology "the household of God" comes in part from early Christian worship where many congregations were in the family home (Acts. 11:14; 16:15,31,34 and many more). If we pay close attention we see that the model just given was operative in those homes. First, it was the place of worship and teaching. Homes were used for the preaching of the gospel (Acts 5:42; 20:22). The Lord's supper was celebrated there (Acts 2:46) and baptism was administered (1st Cor. 1:16; Acts 16:15). In fact, the apostle uses this model in the qualifications for an elder. If a man cannot manage his own household, he cannot manage the house hold of God (1 Tim. 3:4-5, cf. 3:15).
Secondly, the local house church was the place of inclusion and belonging. Perhaps this is a point that ought to be emphasized. People are born into (Rom. 6:3-4) and then belong to the family of God. So, those members of the family all share joint responsibility.
Finally, another important function of the church family was seen to be the provision of a kind of spiritual or even physical compensation. There were cases where the natural family ties were disrupted because of an individuals response to the gospel. This was foreseen the the OT. In Mic. 7:6, the predictions are that there would be disruption in the family when the Gospel was preached (Matt. 19:35f; Luke 12:53). Those who take on themselves the gospel are promised "now in this time" new "houses and brothers and sisters and mothers and children" (Mk. 10:29f; Matt. 19:29; Lk, 18:28f). That is, the house of God is to replace the disrupted family.
The Text
1Therefore, holy brethren, partakers of a heavenly calling, consider Jesus, the Apostle and High Priest of our confession;
A. The Apostle in this verse is Jesus. There is also a word play involved here. Notice they are called "holy brethren." This recalls 2:11 where Christ is one of the brethren. Brethren in this context is not fellow Jews but fellow Christians (e.g. Romans 11:25; 12:1).
Christ then is named as High Priest.
B. It is Christ to whom we owe allegiance. There is no other High Priest.
2He was faithful to Him who appointed Him, as Moses also was in all His house.
A. Both Moses and Jesus were Faithful to God
B. But, we are still looking back to verse one where Jesus is the Apostle and High Priest, thereby making Moses inferior in his position.
3For He has been counted worthy of more glory than Moses, by just so much as the builder of the house has more honor than the house.
A. Now we have the argument that Jesus is better than Moses.
B. Jesus was the builder of the house and Moses was the House. Is not the builder worth more honor than the house he built?
C. Notice here that praise of Jesus does not degrade Moses. Jesus is more honorable than Moses because Jesus has a higher office (v.1).
4For every house is built by someone, but the builder of all things is God.
A. If we remember chapter one, Jesus was the creator of the universe and here it is stated that God is the creator of the universe.
B. Thus, Jesus must be God.
5Now Moses was faithful in all His house as a servant,for a testimony of those things which were to be spoken later; 6but Christ was faithful as a Son over His house--whose house we are.
VS. 5-6a Christ is not only in, but over God's house!
A. Notice Numbers 12:7.
"Not so, with My servant Moses, He is faithful in all My household;
B. In Numbers, Moses is higher than the prophets and even the 70 Elders, but in Hebrews, Jesus is greater than Moses.
C. There is strong evidence that our writer was influenced not only by Numbers 12:7, but also by Deut. 18:15-19.
'I will raise up a prophet from among their countrymen like you, and I will put My words in his mouth, and he shall speak to them all that I command him.
D. Yes, now we know that God told Moses that He was going to raise up a prophet like Moses and that he was to be Jesus so then, it is Jesus not Moses who we look toward.
V.6b if we hold fast our confidence and the boast of our hope firm until the end.
A. This is the condition for salvation. Notice the "if." Two preaching points that ought to be emphasized here.
B. We are to hold fast our confidence
C. We are to boast of our hope firm to the end.
II. The Rejection of Jesus is more Serious than the Rejection of Moses
7Therefore, just as the Holy Spirit says,
"TODAY IF YOU HEAR HIS VOICE,
8DO NOT HARDEN YOUR HEARTS AS WHEN THEY PROVOKED ME,AS IN THE DAY OF TRIAL IN THE WILDERNESS, 9WHERE YOUR FATHERS TRIED Me BY TESTING Me,AND SAW MY WORKS FOR FORTY YEARS. THEREFORE I WAS ANGRY WITH THIS GENERATION,
AND SAID, 'THEY ALWAYS GO ASTRAY IN THEIR HEART,
AND THEY DID NOT KNOW MY WAYS'; 11AS I SWORE IN MY WRATH,THEY SHALL NOT ENTER MY REST.'"
II. There are a number of places in the NT where the work of Christ is interpreted as an Exodus. The death of Christ is also called the Exodus (Luke 9:31).
A. Jesus was the true Passover (1st Cor. 5:7).
B. A lamb without blemish and spot (1st Peter 1:19).
C. They like Israel in early days are the church in the wilderness (Acts 7:38).
D. Their baptism into Christ is an anti-type of passage through the Red (Reed) Sea (1st Cor. 10:1f).
E. Their feeding on Him by faith is a type of Israel's nourishment with manna and water from a rock (1st Cor. 10:3).
F. Christ is the living Rock and their guide through the wilderness (1st Cor. 10:4).
G. The Heavenly Rest that lies before them is the counterpart to the earthly Canaan which was the goal of ancient Israel. (This becomes the point of the author's argument (chapters 3:7-4:11). We will see this develop further in chapter 4:1ff).
H. The punishment and rebellion in the wilderness has been preserved "for our admonition" lest we ought imitate their disobedience and be overtaken by comparable judgment (1st Cor. 10:6).
I. Jesus, having saved a people out of the land of Egypt, afterward destroyed them that believed not (Jude 5).
Excrusis, Two
The writer of the Hebrew letter was writing to a predominantly Jewish congregation and making an effort to assure them that in Christ they had lost nothing. The sustained argument of Hebrews is that in Jesus was the real Israel. Later when we look at Hebrews 10:1ff we understand that the author was saying that those in Christ and in the church were the outcome or natural extension of the OT. We have the land, described as the rest which even Joshua did not finally achieve for Israel, but which we can enter in through Christ (Heb.3:12-4:11). We have a High Priest (Heb.4:14; 8:1; 10:21). We have an altar (Heb. 13:10). We have hope through the covenant (Heb. 6:19-20). We have confident access into the Holy Place, so we have the reality of the Temple and Tabernacle (Heb. 10:19). We have come to Mount Zion (Hebrews 12:22). We have a kingdom (Heb.12:28). Indeed, according to Hebrews, the only thing we do not have is an earthly territorial city (Heb.13:14).
III. The above text is Psalms 95 and it falls into two parts.
A. (Verses 1-7a). This is a call to worship God.
B. (Verses 7b-11) reproduced here is a warning not to disobey God and a reminder as to what happened to Israel when they disobeyed.
C. The two sections of the above text ought not be dissociated from each other. It is a good thing to worship God but acts of worship must be obedient acts to be acceptable.
THE EXODUS (A General Overview)
HEBREWS 3: 4-11
The Menace of Apostasy and the Return to Judaism.
To develop this subject requires look at the Exodus of Israel. God delivering Israel was an example for us (Heb. 3:4-11). But to the recipients of this letter, Pharaoh enslaved the people in a physical sense but returning to Judaism now, enslaves those who practice it to spiritual slavery. Gal. the 4th chapter sets forth this allegory. We are not of Hagar, not of Sinai, but of Jerusalem. The law did not bring freedom, so a new Exodus is required (Hosea 11:1).
(Lk. 9:31). The new Exodus will begin in Jerusalem. The call now is from heaven and not a place of physical Egypt.
The Apostle of verse 1 is Christ. He is the one sent forth. In John 17:18 and 20-21, Jesus was sent as a person. In verse 21, the writer uses the words Apectaken and pempo, or the sent Apostle. So, Moses was sent to Pharaoh as a messenger as Christ was sent to us.
Here are some other parallels between Christ and Moses.
Both sent from God. 2. They were both faithful to Him that appointed them. This presents us with a contrast. Moses was faithful, but according to Heb. 3:3ff, the builder is more glorious than the whole house. God is the builder and man is the house. Moses was faithful in all the house (verse 5). Moses was a witness to the Messiah and things to happen to Israel after the Mosaic age (Deut. 18:15-20). In John 5:40 the writer mentions “those who bore witness of me.” Moses in fact bore witness to the temporary nature of the first covenant.
In verse 6, the word servant (therapon), comes from the Hippocratic oath. It means a highly skilled assistant. As the son, it makes Jesus heir over the entire house.
Verse 6, Whose house is Jesus the heir over? The answer is the house that we are in if we hold to boldness, the privilege of approaching the most Holy of Holies.
In verse 7 the writer is speaking of his generation of people who are coming forth from Judaism to Christianity.
Today----he is telling them not to harden their hearts. David's generation was coming from paganism (Psalms 95:7), and the generation then was coming from Judaism. Just as the generation from the time of Moses was lost, so can the generation then be lost. (Deut. 1:35, Num. 14:23, 28, 30, 26:25). David looked at the failure of his generation and Moses writes to take heed to his generation. “Take heed lest there be a heart of unbelief" as in the generation of Moses.
Verse 13, Today---is the opportunity of salvation. We can become partakers if we hold fast (Psalms 95:7).
Verse 16, the generation of Moses received the offer but refused. In verse 19, it was because of their unbelief. In Heb. 4:1, "Let us therefore fear today, hear the promise so you can enter His rest so be afraid of coming short. The eternal rest has been preached to us just as it was to them (Acts 2:47). It is a process of growth. On the 7th day God rested forever, and that is the rest we now enter. Yet, we can still exit the rest. The Hebrew day began at Sunset. In Genesis, it started in the evening and went into the morning of the first day.
Verse 5, Heb. 4; and see Psalms 95:7.
Verse 7, the "after such a long time" is after the generation of David and Moses.
Verse 8, if Joshua had given the rest, then David could not be speaking to the people.
Verse 10, (see Rev. 13:14). We enter into God's rest and we rest.
Verse 11, it is possible to fall. The book of Hebrews is very plain on that. Hold fast means until death.
12Take care, brethren, that there not be in any one of you an evil, unbelieving heart that falls away from the living God.
I. The Peril of Unbelief
A. Israel was rejected in the wilderness because they rejected Moses. But Christ is greater than Moses (v.3) so how much more will judgment be on these? Those in the days of Moses missed the promised land (the earthly Canaan) and this latter-day rebellion might mean forfeiting even the greater blessings of the new age or heaven.
B. It was "an evil heart of unbelief" that prevented that generation from entering the promised land or the rest (Deut.12:9). In the OT the promised land is Canaan but in the NT it is those In Christ.
C. To "Fall away from the living God" denotes rebellion. When the Israelites rejected Moses and Aaron at Kadesh-barnea, they rebelled against God since it was God who appointed them. Likewise, God appointed the Apostle and High Priest Christ, therefore to rebel against Christ is to rebel against God.
13But encourage one another day after day, as long as it is still called "Today," so that none of you will be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin.
A. We now address that current generation, those to whom the letter was written. Today and each day is a fresh today. Now is the time to hear the voice of the Psalmist.
B. This is a reference to the assembly and mutual edification. The reason they were to met together was for the purpose of helping each other meet the challenges of life. They were to help each other not to be hardened by sin.
14For we have become partakers of Christ, if we hold fast the beginning of our assurance firm until the end,
A. The point is stressed again. Only if they hold on to their original confidence to the end can they be called partakers in Christ.
B. This is not a reference to those "In Christ " but a reference those who will participate in the heavenly kingdom (12:28f). That is, any race that is started must be finished.
15while
it is said,
"TODAY IF YOU HEAR HIS VOICE,
DO NOT HARDEN
YOUR HEARTS, AS WHEN THEY PROVOKED ME." 16For who provoked Him
when they had heard? Indeed, did not all those who came out of Egypt
led by Moses? 17And with whom was He angry for forty years? Was it
not with those who sinned, whose bodies fell in the wilderness? 18And
to whom did He swear that they would not enter His rest, but to those
who were disobedient?
A. Do not harden your hearts and provoke God. You can be lost just as all of those who left Egypt were lost.
B. They were not allowed to go into God's rest and neither will this generation if they provoke me.
19So we see that they were not able to enter because of unbelief.
A. It was "unbelief" or faithlessness that kept them out of the rest.
B. They experienced the deliverance of God from Egypt.
C. The were given the Word of God at Sinai.
D. None of these experiences kept them from dying in the desert or falling short of the rest.
Verse 12 starts a new section. We have a living promise based on a living word, which as living, also judges. Personification of the word means it also has the qualities of God (Isa. 55:9). It is an active word. Dealing with the judicial powers of God.
Verse 13, All things will revert back to God. No creature will escape His sight. Our vitals are bare and expose to the judicial actions to which we are to give an account. John 5:23 speaks of these unfaithful.
In Hebrews 5:12 there should be some who ought to be teachers yet they became hard hearing just like Israel. They are not listening. The oracles mentioned are the Old Testament Scriptures. They are also the first principles of the Messiah in Acts 7:36. Oracles are what Moses received. The ABCs of God. These people had already been taught and came out of Judaism but now are trying to revert (Heb. 10:32).
They were going back to the basic principles. Israel's problem was earth bound teaching. Heb. 6:1, you ought to leave first principles and press on not laying again the foundation of Matt. 15:15. Divorce yourself from these things. The first principles of the Old Testament were washings, repetance, faith, laying of hands, the resurrection and judgment.
Now we have new ways and new avenues of repentance. Once enlightened and tasted the Heavenly gift we have made to partake of the Holy Spirit. The good word of God is His promise that we will taste the powers of the age to come. You are to leave the shadow and cleave to the substance (Heb. 10:14). The thorns in verse 8 are those who suffer from unbelief and the curse will come and they will suffer the ultimate death.
The Final Excrusis
It is common in our culture to have a rather gnostic view of the NT in that many believe that one can have faith without obeying. The NT makes no such distinction as shown below. Notice in verse 19, they were not able to enter the rest because of unbelief (apistan) that is lack of faith.
Now look at chapter 4:6. The writer tells us that they were not to enter in because of "disobedience". The point is of course that real faith requires obedience. Salvation is not just a matter of having a feeling in your heart but rather obeying God and being baptized. Correct faith moves one to obedience.
3:18And to whom did He swear that they would not enter His rest, but to those who were disobedient? 19So we see that they were not able to enter because of unbelief.
4:6Therefore, since it remains for some to enter it, and those who formerly had good news preached to them failed to enter because of disobedience,
by
Lane
