Jesus is better than Moses. Then he always gives a warning. "Therefore" - a connecting word.
Verses 1-6: He's going to pick up on the themes that were introduced in Chapter 2 of holiness, brotherhood (the familiar language) and of a heavenly calling.
He's lifting their eyes to something bigger than their immediate surroundings. "You share in a heavenly calling." "Consider Jesus" - |"fix your thoughts on" - NIV.
Do you know what your heavenly calling is? It's to fix our eyes on Jesus who is seated in the heavens at the Father's right hand.
Also means, continuous observation of the exact imprint of the nature of God. We should understand Jesus Christ's profound significance. It's not like our "consider" but much more broader.
Consider:
1. He is the High Priest - mediator
2. He is an apostle - authority to speak
3. Dual nature of Christ: fully man and fully God
We start with: this is how Jesus and Moses are the same = faithful to the one who appointed them.
Now, he will create the distance between Jesus and Moses in our thinking in verse 3. To the original audience of this writing, Moses looms as great significance to them.
Moses is:
1. Their deliverer from captivity
2. Their law-giver and judge
3. He writes the Pentateuch
4. He sees the face of God
Jesus - more glory than Moses. This audience would be dumbfounded. So in this analogy, who is the builder of the house? Jesus.
Verse 4 says the builder of all things is God. What is he saying? Jesus is God.
He will keep reminding them of this.
Verse 5 says Moses was a servant. "To testify of the things to be spoken later" - what does that mean? Moses was shadowing what would be true of Christ.
Christ is over the house as a Son not a servant. We see a couple of contrasts here:
1. Moses is not God Jesus is
2. Moses is not a Son Jesus is
3. Moses is a servant but Jesus is Lord over the house of God
"Hold fast our confidence" - a nautical term that will be repated.
Do you know what an indicator is that we are in the House of God? It's holding fast to our confidence and perseverance. He's admonishing them to persevere - hold fast to their hope!
Hope with expectation and confidence. He's going to now take them to the concept of rest.
Verses 7-11: Another 'therefore". Notice "therefore as the Holy Spirit says" - Psalm 95. Pay attention! What are we seeing there? It's Divine inspiration written into the text for us. The authorship is also attributed to the Holy Spirit itself. What did the Spirit say through the Psalmist? (95)
The nation of Israel did rebel against God. They did not believe the two spies and did not enter the promised land which meant rest.
What is rest? And what does it mean to the original audience? And to us?
Rest = security from disruption or enemy attack on land that has been given as an inheritance. Rest yes! But also there still remains "run the race." Free from adversarial attack s that you can go about building the kingdom. Complete and total rest from our enemies who are not flesh and blood but spiritual. As long as we have the enemy of sin warring against us, we will not have the rest that is necessary for us to advance the work of God.
Warning #2 = 12-15. Don't do what they did. "Today" - the message is "don't wait to repent." It's actually a timely message for the believer. "Repent and believe" we never outgrow. It's for the believer and non-believer alike.
Verse 13: Apparently, the antidote to an unbelieving heart or way is that we exhort one another every day.
Exhortation is two categories:
1. Strongly urge so to try to influence someone
2. It's not only cheerleading but also "hey, stop it."
The purpose of these warnings are for self-examination.
Verses 16-19: In verse 16, he develops his argument further.
What is the progression painted for us of Israelites who sinned in the desert?
1. They developed unbelief
2. Unbelief turned into disobedience
3. Disobedience was met with a consequence
We might think "why was God so hard on them?" But God was doing what God does: Jealous for His holiness. Jealous for His name. There is an unbelief that can creep into the life of the believer.
We need to day: "I believe but Lord help my unbelief." Call it out for what it is. God hears and has compassion.
Who did not enter into the promised land because of unbelief? Moses!
Jesus is the true and better Moses because He leads us into full rest.
Next: Chapter 4 Session 4
