Jesus is greater than Moses. For us, hearing those words don’t mean much because not one us understands the weight that this statement carries. Moses was probably the most respected Old Testament figure, for the law was delivered to Moses by the angels. With that said, welcome back to our study of the book of Hebrews. Last week we ended chapter two and looked at the reasons why the writer of the book is inviting us his readers to not neglect the salvation Jesus has wrought for mankind. We specifically looked at the importance of Jesus taking on a human nature in order to the be the perfect and adequate representative for humanity, in that He came to not only atone for the sins of those whom God had chosen out of the world, but also to live the perfect life that God desires. He was not only a faithful high priest in the service of God but also a merciful one to mankind because He understood the human experience, for He became one. Today we’re going to look at chapter 3 verses 1 through 6 and talk about the supremacy of Jesus over Moses and the implications.
Reasons Why Jesus Is Greater Than Moses
The Passage: Hebrews 3:1-6
3 Therefore, holy brothers,[a] you who share in a heavenly calling, consider Jesus, the apostle and high priest of our confession, 2 who was faithful to him who appointed him, just as Moses also was faithful in all God’s[b] house. 3 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. 4 (For every house is built by someone, but the builder of all things is God.) 5 Now Moses was faithful in all God’s house as a servant, to testify to the things that were to be spoken later, 6 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.[c]
Notes
verse 1
The writer says that in light of everything that he has been saying since the beginning- and what are those things? We’ve looked at them thoroughly. Jesus is greater than the prophets and the angels. Jesus atoned for our sins and because of His work , God glorified His humanity by bestowing upon Him the name that is above every name , the name Son. He is now seated at the right hand of God the Father. And not only has He died for our sins but He also restored the mandate God has given to mankind and one day humans shall reign with Him. He isn’t ashamed to call humans his brothers and He became one so that He could be a faithful and merciful high priest in the service of God. He isn’t oblivious to the suffering of humans because He was made like them in every respect and can identify with their infirmities . His sacrifice on the cross was pleasing to God and the resurrection authenticated it. Because of all these reasons and more particularly because Jesus understands the human experience, the writer is about to declare some very important truths to his readers. And we need to know who they are , he refers to them as holy brothers, those are followers of Christ who have been set apart by God. They are the ones who share in the heavenly calling of God. He is telling them and ultimately us as well to consider attentively and to fix our minds on Jesus who He defines as God’s chief messenger and His priest of what they and we confess ( that which they believe and have put their trust in , that which they embrace with hope ) Jesus as we saw in chapter 2 was a faithful and merciful High priest in the service of God. Jesus was sent by God , see John 3:17.34, John 5:36, 38, John 6:29, 57, John 7:29.
verse 2
The writer had just told his readers to consider Jesus very carefully . And he begins with a light comparison of Moses and Jesus. We’ve already mentioned that Moses is revered in the Jewish religion because he represents the law. He gives more reasons why his readers ( which include us ultimately ) should fix their eyes on Jesus. Jesus was as faithful as Moses was in all God’s house ( the house of God is the people of God). He is basically comparing Jesus’ ministry to Moses’s , because the Jews held Moses in the highest esteem. But he is going to show later that Jesus is greater than Moses( he already made mention of it in general in chapter 1). But how faithful was Moses? Let’s see in Numbers 12.1-9. The passage shows us the kind of honor Moses received from God. He spoke with Moses mouth to mouth , clearly not in riddles and he beheld the form of God.. But Jesus doesn’t just behold the form of God He is God incarnate. Now so you see the weight this carries if we neglect such a great salvation. The writer is going to expand on that in verse 3.
verse 3
Jesus has been counted worthy of more glory than Moses, in the sense that the builder of a house has more honor than the house itself. Moses was part of the house ( he was a man of God but not sinless). He was commissioned by God and faithful in his ministry but he didn’t die for the sins of the World, he couldn’t atone for the sins of the world. He couldn’t fulfill that. As a matter of fact Moses was commissioned by Jesus as we see in Exodus 3 ( at the burning bush). Moses was part of the house but Jesus is the builder of the house as we see in verse 4.
verses 4-6
We already established that Jesus Christ is the radiance of the glory of God , in other words God himself hence He is greater than Moses. Moses was faithful as a servant , and came to be a messenger of the things that were to come. His job was to point to the coming Messiah. Jesus was faithful as a Son , not a servant. He is the firstborn of all creation , one with God in essence and He has infinitely greater glory than the angels and Moses. And the author finishes this verse by saying that those who hold fast ( hang on ) to the teachings he is handing them are considered part of the house as long as they hold on to the hope he is preaching to them. This isn’t suggesting that we are the ones in charge of our Salvation, but this is showing that holding on to these truths to the end proves that God has truly given us a new birth. Those who remain faithful are the ones that are truly born again.
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My name is Tayib Salami and I started Tayibs.com for the sole purpose of exploring difficult questions about the Christian faith that most of us shy away from. In 2017, I entered a very dark time in my life and it’s only by the grace of the Living God that I’m still alive today. It led me to really go deeper in my faith and consider a myriad of questions that I never thought about asking myself or others before. Welcome and enjoy the ride with me.