In chapter 1 the focus was on Jesus being a better messenger than the angels. This was because He was a Son and not just a servant like the angels. Then in chapter 2 we read that Jesus became a true human when He came to earth and that to ignore Him was to ignore the salvation God was bringing in Him. Now in chapter 3 the writer goes on to describe Jesus as being greater or better than Moses. Heb 3:1 “Therefore, holy brothers, 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 house.”
The writer addresses the readers as being “holy brothers”, and sharers of a “heavenly calling.” We saw in the previous chapter that Jesus called believers His brothers. They had responded to the call from heaven to trust in the message from heaven and God became their Heavenly Father.
*“Consider” is from [katanoeō; κατανοέω] to consider attentively, to fix one’s eyes or mind upon. They were to focus their attention on Jesus.
* “Apostle” is [apostolos; ἀπόστολος] one sent as a messenger or agent. Jesus was sent into the world to reveal the Father through His words and actions.
* “High Priest” is [archiereus; ἀρχιερεύς] a high or chief priest. Jesus became the high priest by making purification for sins [1:3 “after He had made purification for sins” and 2:17, “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.”
* “Confession” is from [homologia; ὁμολογία] meaning “saying the same as.” It may have referred to a simple statement such as “Jesus is Lord!” as they confessed their faith in Christ.
IN WHAT WAYS IS JESUS GREATER [OR BETTER] THAN MOSES?
i]. Jesus Is the Creator Of All Things. Moses Was A Created Being.
Heb 3:3 “For Jesus has been counted worthy of more glory than Moses—as much more glory as the builder of a house has more honour than the house itself. 4 (For every house is built by someone, but the builder of all things is God.”) Jesus was God’s agent in creation and even Moses owed his origin to Him.
ii]. Jesus Was A Son. Moses Was Only A Servant.
Heb 3:5 “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.”
A SECOND WARNING. 3:7-12. THE DANGER OF HARDENED HEARTS
Heb 3:7 “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 fathers put me to the test and saw my works for forty years. 10 Therefore I was provoked with that generation, and said, ‘They always go astray in their heart; they have not known my ways.’ 11 As I swore in my wrath, ‘They shall not enter my rest.’”
A Second Warning Repeated. 3:12-13
The second warning in the epistle becomes more personal indicating the individual responsibility of believers, in the use of the words “any of you” in verse 12 and “none of you” in verse 13, “Take care, brothers, lest there be in any of you an evil, unbelieving heart, leading you to fall away from the living God. 13 But exhort one another every day, as long as it is called “today,” that none of you may be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin.” Hebrews 3:12-13.
“Fall away” is [aphistēmi; ἀφίστημι] to put away, separate; to draw off or away, withdraw. There was the danger of falling away or separating from their allegiance to Christ.
“Hardened” is [sklērynō σκληρύνω] to harden; to harden morally, to make stubborn. This is the basis of our word scelerosis, meaning the hardening of tissue in the body. The hardening of our hearts makes us less sensitive to the voice of God.
“Deceitfulness” is [apatē; ἀπάτη] means deception, delusion. Satan is seen as the deceiver of humankind as St John affirmed in Rev 12:9 “And the great dragon was thrown down, that ancient serpent, who is called the devil and Satan, the deceiver of the whole world.” The danger of deceit is that the deceived person does not realise that they are deceived and thus trusts and acts on a lie.
TRUSTING IN CHRIST IS THE ANSWER. 3:14
Heb 3:14 “For we have come to share in Christ, if indeed we hold our original confidence firm to the end.” There was no need for anyone to fall away if they maintained their trust in Christ. If they did remain faithful they would continue to share in Christ. “Share” is [metochos; μέτοχος] and denotes the unity between the believer and Christ. The word is used 6 times in the New Testament but 5 of them are in Hebrews [1:9, 3:1, 3:14, 6:4 and 12:8.] The believers had put their confidence in Jesus but they needed to maintain confidence in Him to the very end.
THE DANGER OF LOSING CONFIDENCE IN JESUS. 3:15.
Heb 3:15 As it is said, “Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion.” The writer is looking back to the history of the nation and refers to the disobedience of the nation as they were being led from Egypt towards the promised land. The nation of Israel had hardened its heart against God and was punished for its disobedience.
The Danger Of Losing Confidence Exemplified In The Old Testament. 3:16-18.
God had set His people free from bondage in Egypt and had begun to lead them to the Promised Land under the leadership of Moses. But most never arrived there.
St Paul described this in 1 Corinthians 6:9-11, “We must not put Christ to the test, as some of them did and were destroyed by serpents, 10 nor grumble, as some of them did and were destroyed by the Destroyer. 11 Now these things happened to them as an example, but they were written down for our instruction, on whom the end of the ages has come.”
The Writer Gives The Reasons The People Under Moses Failed, As A Warning To The Readers
* Who heard and rebelled? Heb 3:16 “For who were those who heard and yet rebelled? Was it not all those who left Egypt led by Moses?”
* Who provoked the Lord for 40 years? The people under the leadership of Moses. Heb 3:17 “And with whom was he provoked for forty years? Was it not with those who sinned, whose bodies fell in the wilderness?”
* To whom did God swear that they would not enter His rest? Those who were disobedient. Heb 3:18 “And to whom did he swear that they would not enter his rest, but to those who were disobedient? 19 So we see that they were unable to enter because of unbelief.”
SUMMING UP
The chapter began with the writer stressing that Jesus is greater or better than Moses, because Jesus was a Son and creator of all things while Moses was simply a servant as a created being.
Then came the second warning in the epistle. A warning not to harden their hearts like the Israelites of old. After describing the disobedience of the Israelites, the writer goes on to stress the individual responsibility of every believer not to harden their hearts but to remain confident in their hope in Christ.
This is a warning for every believer in every age to take note of and then to re-commit themselves to Jesus.
Blog No.516 posted on Thursday 18 January 2024.
holbeck 
516. Hebrews chapter 3. Jesus Greater Than Moses. Why We Need To Keep Trusting In Him!
In chapter 1 the focus was on Jesus being a better messenger than the angels. This was because He was a Son and not just a servant like the angels. Then in chapter 2 we read that Jesus became a true human when He came to earth and that to ignore Him was to ignore the salvation God was bringing in Him. Now in chapter 3 the writer goes on to describe Jesus as being greater or better than Moses. Heb 3:1 “Therefore, holy brothers, 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 house.”
The writer addresses the readers as being “holy brothers”, and sharers of a “heavenly calling.” We saw in the previous chapter that Jesus called believers His brothers. They had responded to the call from heaven to trust in the message from heaven and God became their Heavenly Father.
*“Consider” is from [katanoeō; κατανοέω] to consider attentively, to fix one’s eyes or mind upon. They were to focus their attention on Jesus.
* “Apostle” is [apostolos; ἀπόστολος] one sent as a messenger or agent. Jesus was sent into the world to reveal the Father through His words and actions.
* “High Priest” is [archiereus; ἀρχιερεύς] a high or chief priest. Jesus became the high priest by making purification for sins [1:3 “after He had made purification for sins” and 2:17, “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.”
* “Confession” is from [homologia; ὁμολογία] meaning “saying the same as.” It may have referred to a simple statement such as “Jesus is Lord!” as they confessed their faith in Christ.
IN WHAT WAYS IS JESUS GREATER [OR BETTER] THAN MOSES?
i]. Jesus Is the Creator Of All Things. Moses Was A Created Being.
Heb 3:3 “For Jesus has been counted worthy of more glory than Moses—as much more glory as the builder of a house has more honour than the house itself. 4 (For every house is built by someone, but the builder of all things is God.”) Jesus was God’s agent in creation and even Moses owed his origin to Him.
ii]. Jesus Was A Son. Moses Was Only A Servant.
Heb 3:5 “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.”
A SECOND WARNING. 3:7-12. THE DANGER OF HARDENED HEARTS
Heb 3:7 “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 fathers put me to the test and saw my works for forty years. 10 Therefore I was provoked with that generation, and said, ‘They always go astray in their heart; they have not known my ways.’ 11 As I swore in my wrath, ‘They shall not enter my rest.’”
A Second Warning Repeated. 3:12-13
The second warning in the epistle becomes more personal indicating the individual responsibility of believers, in the use of the words “any of you” in verse 12 and “none of you” in verse 13, “Take care, brothers, lest there be in any of you an evil, unbelieving heart, leading you to fall away from the living God. 13 But exhort one another every day, as long as it is called “today,” that none of you may be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin.” Hebrews 3:12-13.
“Fall away” is [aphistēmi; ἀφίστημι] to put away, separate; to draw off or away, withdraw. There was the danger of falling away or separating from their allegiance to Christ.
“Hardened” is [sklērynō σκληρύνω] to harden; to harden morally, to make stubborn. This is the basis of our word scelerosis, meaning the hardening of tissue in the body. The hardening of our hearts makes us less sensitive to the voice of God.
“Deceitfulness” is [apatē; ἀπάτη] means deception, delusion. Satan is seen as the deceiver of humankind as St John affirmed in Rev 12:9 “And the great dragon was thrown down, that ancient serpent, who is called the devil and Satan, the deceiver of the whole world.” The danger of deceit is that the deceived person does not realise that they are deceived and thus trusts and acts on a lie.
TRUSTING IN CHRIST IS THE ANSWER. 3:14
Heb 3:14 “For we have come to share in Christ, if indeed we hold our original confidence firm to the end.” There was no need for anyone to fall away if they maintained their trust in Christ. If they did remain faithful they would continue to share in Christ. “Share” is [metochos; μέτοχος] and denotes the unity between the believer and Christ. The word is used 6 times in the New Testament but 5 of them are in Hebrews [1:9, 3:1, 3:14, 6:4 and 12:8.] The believers had put their confidence in Jesus but they needed to maintain confidence in Him to the very end.
THE DANGER OF LOSING CONFIDENCE IN JESUS. 3:15.
Heb 3:15 As it is said, “Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion.” The writer is looking back to the history of the nation and refers to the disobedience of the nation as they were being led from Egypt towards the promised land. The nation of Israel had hardened its heart against God and was punished for its disobedience.
The Danger Of Losing Confidence Exemplified In The Old Testament. 3:16-18.
God had set His people free from bondage in Egypt and had begun to lead them to the Promised Land under the leadership of Moses. But most never arrived there.
St Paul described this in 1 Corinthians 6:9-11, “We must not put Christ to the test, as some of them did and were destroyed by serpents, 10 nor grumble, as some of them did and were destroyed by the Destroyer. 11 Now these things happened to them as an example, but they were written down for our instruction, on whom the end of the ages has come.”
The Writer Gives The Reasons The People Under Moses Failed, As A Warning To The Readers
* Who heard and rebelled? Heb 3:16 “For who were those who heard and yet rebelled? Was it not all those who left Egypt led by Moses?”
* Who provoked the Lord for 40 years? The people under the leadership of Moses. Heb 3:17 “And with whom was he provoked for forty years? Was it not with those who sinned, whose bodies fell in the wilderness?”
* To whom did God swear that they would not enter His rest? Those who were disobedient. Heb 3:18 “And to whom did he swear that they would not enter his rest, but to those who were disobedient? 19 So we see that they were unable to enter because of unbelief.”
SUMMING UP
The chapter began with the writer stressing that Jesus is greater or better than Moses, because Jesus was a Son and creator of all things while Moses was simply a servant as a created being.
Then came the second warning in the epistle. A warning not to harden their hearts like the Israelites of old. After describing the disobedience of the Israelites, the writer goes on to stress the individual responsibility of every believer not to harden their hearts but to remain confident in their hope in Christ.
This is a warning for every believer in every age to take note of and then to re-commit themselves to Jesus.
Blog No.516 posted on Thursday 18 January 2024.
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About Jim Holbeck
Once an Industrial Chemist working for the Queensland Government but later an Anglican minister in Brisbane, Armidale and Sydney. Last position for eighteen years before retirement in 2006 was as the Leader of the Healing Ministry at St Andrew's Cathedral Sydney.