Consider
Intro:
3 Therefore, holy brothers and sisters, partakers of a heavenly calling, consider the Apostle and High Priest of our confession: Jesus; 2 He was faithful to Him who appointed Him, as Moses also was in all His house.
(Pray)
Notice the Pattern:
At this point, it’s probably noteworthy to notice this pattern of the author of Hebrews:
Let’s look at Hebrews 2:10 through 3:11
10 For it was fitting for Him, for whom are all things, and through whom are all things, in bringing many sons to glory, to perfect the [k]originator of their salvation through sufferings. 11 For both He who sanctifies and those who are [l]sanctified are all from one Father; for this reason He is not ashamed to call them brothers and sisters, 12 saying,
“I will proclaim Your name to My brothers,
In the midst of the assembly I will sing Your praise.”
13 And again,
“I will put My trust in Him.”
And again,
“Behold, I and the children whom God has given Me.
14 Therefore, since the children share in [m]flesh and blood, He Himself likewise also partook of the same, so that through death He might destroy the one who has the power of death, that is, the devil, 15 and free those who through fear of death were subject to slavery all their lives. 16 For clearly He does not [n]give help to angels, but He gives help to the [o]descendants of Abraham.
17 Therefore, in all things He [p]had to be made like His brothers so that He might become a merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining to God, to make [q]propitiation for the sins of the people. 18 For since He Himself was [r]tempted in that which He has suffered, He is able to come to the aid of those who are [s]tempted.
3 Therefore, holy brothers and sisters, partakers of a heavenly calling, consider the Apostle and High Priest of our confession: Jesus; 2 He was faithful to Him who appointed Him, as Moses also was in all His house.
He was faithful to Him who appointed Him, as Moses also was in all His house. 3 For 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. 4 For every house is built by someone, but the builder of all things is God. 5 Now Moses was faithful in all [b]God’s house as a servant, for a testimony of those things which were to be spoken later; 6 but Christ was faithful as a Son over His house—whose house we are, if we hold firmly to our confidence and the boast of our [c]hope.
7 Therefore, just as the Holy Spirit says,
“Today if you hear His voice,
8
Do not harden your hearts as [d]when they provoked Me,
As on the day of trial in the wilderness,
9
Where your fathers put Me to the test,
And saw My works for forty years.
10
Therefore I was angry with this generation,
And said, ‘They always go astray in their heart,
And they did not know My ways’;
11
As I swore in My anger,
‘They certainly shall not enter My rest.’”
Point: The author is using a building pattern of “Statement-Conclusion-Statement-Conclusion”
Today’s “Therefore”
This brings us all the way back to what we’re looking at with today’s two verses, and we see today’s “Therefore” is a callback to the previous verse (2:18), which we looked at last week:
18 For since He Himself was tempted in that which He has suffered, He is able to come to the aid of those who are tempted.
3:1 Therefore, holy brothers and sisters, partakers of a heavenly calling, consider the Apostle and High Priest of our confession: Jesus; 2 He was faithful to Him who appointed Him, as Moses also was in all His house.
To over-simplify the book of Hebrews to this point would be to say:
-Chapter one is about he superiority of Jesus over the Angels.
-Chapter two is about the humanity and sacrifice of Christ to that we can trust Him.
-Chapter three begins the HUGE argument: Consider that Jesus is superior to even Moses.
Now, to us, this may seem obvious, but put yourself in the sandals of this book’s original audience and ask yourselves, “Why is that such a big deal? Who was Moses and what did he represent to the Jews?”
(watch ME use the Statement-Conclusion pattern here)
- Moses was the Chief Patriarch through whom the LAW was given
- Therefore, the author is attempting to demonstrate Jesus’ fulfillment of that Law.
- Moses was faithful to God and gave the Law to the Jews that required blood for sin, over and over and over, but Jesus was faithful to God and gave blood ONCE at it was enough FOR ALL ETERNITY.
- Therefore, Jesus’ faithfulness to God and fulfillment of the law is SUPERIOR to Moses, making Jesus the once-for-all Great High Priest.
Consider the Titles of Jesus Here
Matthew Henry Notes:
(1.) As the apostle of our profession, the prime-minister of the gospel church, a messenger and a principal messenger sent of God to men, upon the most important errand, the great revealer of that faith which we profess to hold and of that hope which we profess to have.
(2.) Not only the apostle, but the high priest too, of our profession, the chief officer of the Old Testament as well as the New, the head of the church in every state, and under each dispensation, upon whose satisfaction and intercession we profess to depend for pardon of sin, and acceptance with God.
(3.) As Christ, the Messiah, anointed and every way qualified for the office both of apostle and high priest.
(4.) As Jesus, our Saviour, our healer, the great physician of souls, typified by the brazen serpent that Moses lifted up in the wilderness, that those who were stung by the fiery serpents might look to him, and be saved.
Conclusion:
To a first century Jew, it is one thing to argue that Jesus is superior the angels.
It is another thing to demonstrate the humanity, sacrifice, and relateablity of Jesus as Messiah.
But, to a Jew, to suggest that Jesus (and his work) and superior to Moses and the O.T. Law is shock to the foundation of the Jewish faith.
(The author of Hebrews has his work cut out for him.)
Jesus in Matthew 5:17
“Do not presume that I came to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I did not come to abolish, but to fulfill.”
Have you ever asked yourself WHY Jesus might have been led to make this statement?
Answer: Jesus knew he would be accused of trying to abolish the Law. That is why he was murdered by the “experts” in the Law. That is why so many first century Jews rejected the idea that Jesus could be the Messiah. That is why the author of Hebrews wrote this book.
Application: So What?
We are not first century Jews. We are not clinging to the O.T. Law instead of Jesus’s fulfillment of that Law, so why is this important today?
- IF we fail to see the clear and necessary relationship between the work of Jesus and the O.T. Law, we run the risk of thinking these are two separate Gods, or two separate religions, or two separate standards of holiness and salvation.
2. In an attempt to make sense of the word (i.e. developing a world-view) we MUST take into account the ENTIRETY of scripture if we are to adopt the Christian world-view. We must NOT “pick and choose” the parts of scripture that appeal to us (as so many Americans and Churches are happy to do.)
As Matthew Henry says in his commentary on Hebrews 3:
“We must consider Christ as he is described to us in the scriptures, and form our apprehensions of him thence, not from any vain conceptions and fancies of our own.”
3. Finally, we CANNOT know the Christ of Scripture without the O.T. Law.
4. Others?
Q/A