3 ῞Οθεν, ἀδελϕοὶ ἅγιοι, κλήσεως ἐπουρανίου μέτοχοι, κατανοήσατε τὸν ἀπόστολον καὶ ἀρχιερέα τῆς ὁμολογίας ἡμῶν ᾽Ιησοῦν, 2 πιστὸν ὄντα τῷ ποιήσαντι αὐτὸν ὡς καὶ Μωϋσῆς ἐν ὅλῳ τῷ οἴκῳ αὐτοῦ.
3 Therefore, holy brothers, who share in the heavenly calling, fix your thoughts on Jesus, the apostle and high priest whom we confess. 2 He was faithful to the one who appointed him, just as Moses was faithful in all God’s house. (NIV)
There is a moment in Genesis 31 where Jacob is leaving Laban with his wives and children and all of the herds and flocks he had obtained. As they were leaving, Jacob's wife Rachel stole her father's household gods, the teraphim. Even though she could conceal them by hiding them under her camel's saddle (31:34), their powerlessness and inadequacy didn't occur to her. She wanted to hang onto them.
If we can be patient with Rachel (should we?), then we can understand why the author to the Hebrews makes his case the way he does. But we can also see why the message is so critical; why the references are beginning to build up, one on top of another. Now we are moving from the old point into a new one: Christ is superior to the angels, and Christ is superior to both Moses and priesthood, too.
Notice that Christ is called "the apostle" here as well as high priest. The word apostle is Greek, from a verb meaning "to send out with authority." The difference between a disciple and an apostle is that a disciple follows and learns, but an apostle is sent out on a mission with the authority of the one who sent him. Now it becomes clear why Jesus can be called an apostle. He himself said that he was sent out from the Father into the world. This occurs in every Gospel:
Matthew 10:40, "The one who receives me receives the one who sent (Greek ἀποστείλαντά) me."Just as Moses led the people out of bondage in Egypt, gave the people God's word on the mountain, and brought them into the promised land, Jesus also freed mankind from the bondage of sin, gave us God's word in mountains, in valleys, in houses and on the roads, and finally brings us into the perfect promised rest of eternal life in heaven.
Mark 9:37, "Whoever welcomes me does not welcome me but the one who sent (Greek ἀποστείλαντά) me."
Luke 9:48, "..the one who sent (Greek ἀποστείλαντά) me."
John 5:36, "For the very work that the Father has given me to finish, and which I am doing, testifies that the Father has sent (Greek ἀπέσταλκεν) me."
HEBREWS 3:3-6
3 πλείονος γὰρ οὗτος δόξης παρὰ Μωϋσῆν ἠξίωται καθ' ὅσον πλείονα τιμὴν ἔχει τοῦ οἴκου ὁ κατασκευάσας αὐτόν. 4 πᾶς γὰρ οἶκος κατασκευάζεται ὑπό τινος, ὁ δὲ πάντα κατασκευάσας θεός. 5 καὶ Μωϋσῆσμὲν πιστὸς ἐν ὅλῳ τῷ οἴκῳ αὐτοῦὡς θεράπωνεἰς μαρτύριον τῶν λαληθησομένων, 6 Χριστὸς δὲ ὡς υἱὸς ἐπὶ τὸν οἶκον αὐτοῦ· οὗ οἶκός ἐσμεν ἡμεῖς, ἐὰν τὴν παρρησίαν καὶ τὸ καύχημα τῆς ἐλπίδος κατάσχωμεν.
3 Jesus has been found worthy of greater honor than Moses, just as the builder of a house has greater honor than the house itself. 4 For every house is built by someone, but God is the builder of everything. 5 Moses was faithful as a servant in all God’s house, testifying to what would be said in the future. 6 But Christ is faithful as a son over God’s house. And we are his house, if we hold on to our courage and the hope of which we boast.
Christ is the builder of the house of faith; Moses is simply part of the house itself: Christ the creator; Moses one of the creation. Christ the Lord; Moses the servant. Christ over the house; Moses within the house. Christ the fulfillment; Moses only a preliminary message. And in Christ, the message is complete. There is no more revelation from God; there will be no additional testaments. The claims of the Mormons and others that they have "another testament of Jesus Christ" or some other divinely revealed document are silenced by words like these, but especially by the opening words of Hebrews: "In the past...God spoke" (the action of the past is completed and finished; the Greek tense indicates a fact completed in the past--the Old Testament scriptures) "and in these last days...he has spoken" (the action of the recent past--the ministry of Christ, completing the Divine message of forgiveness through faith in Christ alone--is now completed as well). Revelation is final. The words of Paul to Timothy also tell us that everything that we have in Scripture is adequate, complete, and final: we need nothing more (2 Timothy 3:15-17).
HEBREWS 3:7-11
Moses, one of the authors of the Scriptures through the Holy Spirit, is not greater than the supreme Author, not only of Scripture but also the author of our Salvation. Jesus stands alone, and Jesus reigns forever and ever.
7 Διό, καθὼς λέγει τὸ πνεῦμα τὸ ἅγιον,
Σήμερον ἐὰν τῆς ϕωνῆς αὐτοῦ ἀκούσητε,
8 μὴ σκληρύνητε τὰς καρδίας ὑμῶν
ὡς ἐν τῷ παραπικρασμῷ,
κατὰ τὴν ἡμέραν τοῦ πειρασμοῦ ἐν τῇ ἐρήμῳ,
9 οὗ ἐπείρασαν οἱ πατέρες ὑμῶν
ἐν δοκιμασίᾳ καὶ εἶδον τὰ ἔργα μου
10 τεσσαράκοντα ἔτη· διὸ προσώχθισα τῇ γενεᾷ ταύτῃ
καὶ εἶπον, ᾽Αεὶ πλανῶνται τῇ καρδίᾳ·
αὐτοὶ δὲ οὐκ ἔγνωσαν τὰς ὁδούς μου·
11 ὡς ὤμοσα ἐν τῇ ὀργῇ μου,
Εἰ εἰσελεύσονται εἰς τὴν κατάπαυσίν μου.
7 So, as the Holy Spirit says:
“Today, if you hear his voice,
8 do not harden your hearts
as you did in the rebellion,
during the time of testing in the desert,
9 where your fathers tested and tried me
and for forty years saw what I did.
10 That is why I was angry with that generation,
and I said, ‘Their hearts are always going astray,
and they have not known my ways.’
11 So I declared on oath in my anger,
‘They shall never enter my rest.’” (cf. Psalm 95:7b-11, NIV)
In these verses, the author turns to Psalm 95, a poetic commentary of Exodus 17:1-17 and the rebellion at Rephidim. It is a warning against hardening the heart against God. Despite everything God did for them, forty years (a lifetime) of miracles and constant reminders in the wilderness, they still did not know God's ways.
Greek has two basic words for "knowing" a thing. One is oἶδα, to know something in your head, like knowing a mathematical fact. It's book learning. The other is γινώσκω (our word know is a descendant of this word), to know something because you've lived it or experienced it. That's the word here in verse 10, "they have not known my ways." Even though they had lived through God's grace and lived under his mercy for a lifetime, they didn't get it. How is that possible? I wonder that until I look in the mirror, and then I think of the mercy and patience God has shown with me--and of the rebellion of sin that's still there. But God shows us patience, and God shows us even more grace.
That grace and mercy of God urges us to sing his praises. The writer to the Hebrews already quoted the end of Psalm 95. For many of us, music will appear in our heads and our hearts if I just quote the first half of the psalm. In worship, we call this the Venite, the "O Come" song:
Oh come, let us sing to the Lord.
Let us make a joyful noise to the rock of our salvation.
Let us come into his presence with thanksgiving,
let us make a joyful noise to him with songs of praise.
For the Lord is a great God,
and a great king above all gods.
The deep places of the earth are in his hands:
the heights of the hills are also his.
The sea is his, for he made it,
and his hand formed the dry land.
Oh come, let us worship and bow down,
let us kneel before the Lord our Maker.
For he is our God,
and we are the people of his pasture,
and the sheep of his hand.
HEBREWS 3:12
12 Βλέπετε, ἀδελϕοί, μήποτε ἔσται ἔν τινι ὑμῶν καρδία πονηρὰ ἀπιστίας ἐν τῷ ἀποστῆναι ἀπὸ θεοῦ ζῶντος,
12 See to it, brothers, that none of you has a sinful, unbelieving heart that turns away from the living God.
Although we can apply this verse to any kind of sin, it won't hurt to remind ourselves of the theme of the chapter: Do not let go of Christ as the sacrifice for all of our sins. The word for "turn away" here is the Greek word ἀποστῆναι, which in the form of a noun becomes our word apostasy, "falling away from faith." When the Hebrew believers seemed on the brink of returning to the Old Testament sacrifices in place of Christ, the direness of the situation became evident: Anything we do that turns away from Christ--even going back to the Law of Moses which prefigured Christ--actually rejects Christ. Or, as Paul told the Romans, everything that does not proceed from faith is sin. For us, to observe an Old Testament law but reject Christ would still be a sin.
We turn our hearts toward our living God, because of what Christ did for us. The glory of the birth of Jesus at Christmastime is the glory of God given to mankind. God gave us his Son because he loves us (John 3:16), but he also did it for his own sake. The Holy Spirit said through Micah, "But you, Bethlehem Ephratha, though you are small among the clans of Judah, out of you will come for me one who will be ruler over Israel..." God gave us his Son for our sake, but also for the sake of his own name. God keeps every one of his promises, and he had promised the Messiah since the beginning of time to Adam and Eve, to Abraham and his descendants, to Judah, to David and Solomon, and finally to Joseph and Mary. And his Son came, for us.
The living God was born in a small town about five miles southwest of Jerusalem. Bethlehem means "house of bread." It lies on the main highway between Hebron and Egypt. It was also known as Ephratha to distinguish it from another Bethlehem in the north (in the tribal territory of Zebulun) about seven miles northwest of Nazareth. King David was born there, and anointed there as King of Israel. There was also a small caravan inn called Geruth Kimham in Bethlehem (Jeremiah 41:17) which was the starting place for many who journeyed to Egypt. Geruth Kimham was probably named for the man Kimham who crossed over the Jordan with King David after Absalom's rebellion (2 Sam. 19:31-40). Perhaps Kimham later set up an inn that still bore his name five hundred years later. It was probably the only inn in a town the size of Bethlehem, and so it is probably there that Joseph and Mary stopped to find a room.
There was no room in that inn for them, but we have made room for Christ in our hearts and our lives. Come, Lord Jesus.
HEBREWS 3:13
13 ἀλλὰ παρακαλεῖτε ἑαυτοὺς καθ' ἑκάστην ἡμέραν, ἄχρις οὗ τὸ Σήμερονκαλεῖται, ἵνα μὴ σκληρυνθῇ τις ἐξ ὑμῶν ἀπάτῃ τῆς ἁμαρτίας·
13 But encourage one another daily, as long as it is called Today, so that none of you may be hardened by sin’s deceitfulness.
The deceitfulness of sin. The Greek word ἀπάτῃ can have two different meanings, either of which could work here. First and maybe more commonly is "deceitfulness," as in Mark 4:19 ("the deceitfulness of wealth and the desires for other things"), but there is also "pleasure," especially "sinful pleasure" or the pleasure that comes to some with sinning, as in 2 Peter 2:13 ("They are blots and blemishes, reveling in their pleasures while they feast with you"). Christians keep in contact, encouraging one another with the gracious gospel so that sin never becomes a pleasure, and so that we constantly keep the grace of God before our eyes.
HEBREWS 3:14-15
14 μέτοχοι γὰρ τοῦ Χριστοῦ γεγόναμεν, ἐάνπερ τὴν ἀρχὴν τῆς ὑποστάσεως μέχρι τέλους βεβαίαν κατάσχωμεν, 15 ἐν τῷ λέγεσθαι, Σήμερον ἐὰν τῆς ϕωνῆς αὐτοῦ ἀκούσητε, Μὴ σκληρύνητε τὰς καρδίας ὑμῶν ὡς ἐν τῷ παραπικρασμῷ.
14 We have come to share in Christ if we hold firmly till the end the confidence we had at first. 15 As has just been said:
“Today, if you hear his voice,
do not harden your hearts
as you did in the rebellion.” (NIV)
Once again we hear the words of Psalm 95. The day that is "Today" will not last forever. While we are still here on the earth we have the moment to put our faith and trust in Christ. And by doing that we share in Christ.
What does it mean to share in Christ? It means to share in every one of his benefits: Eternal life, forgiveness, peace--all of these come to us because he has shared his holiness with us, he shared his life with us; he shared everything with us. He became a servant to serve us, and we give our service in return. We don't do it to earn salvation, but we do it to thank him. Thank him with your life.
HEBREWS 3:16-19
16 τίνες γὰρ ἀκούσαντες παρεπίκραναν; ἀλλ' οὐ πάντες οἱ ἐξελθόντες ἐξ Αἰγύπτου διὰ Μωϋσέως; 17 τίσιν δὲ προσώχθισεν τεσσαράκοντα ἔτη;οὐχὶ τοῖς ἁμαρτήσασιν, ὧν τὰ κῶλα ἔπεσεν ἐν τῇ ἐρήμῳ; 18 τίσιν δὲ ὤμοσεν μὴ εἰσελεύσεσθαι εἰς τὴν κατάπαυσιν αὐτοῦεἰ μὴ τοῖς ἀπειθήσασιν; 19 καὶ βλέπομεν ὅτι οὐκ ἠδυνήθησαν εἰσελθεῖν δι' ἀπιστίαν.
16 Now who were they who heard and yet were rebellious? Was it not all those who left Egypt under the leadership of Moses? 17 But with whom was he angry forty years? Was it not those who sinned, whose bodies fell in the wilderness? 18 And to whom did he swear that they would not enter his rest, if not to those who were disobedient? 19 So we see that they were unable to enter because of unbelief. (NRSV)
Once again turning to the idea of Hebrew believers who turned away, the author of Hebrews recalls one of the most blatant rebellions against God in Scripture. The emphasis here is that rebellion against God condemns. It's a general picture, really: this happened in the past to God's own people at the foot of Mount Sinai and still can happen. They had all the marvelous miracles. They had the manna. But their carcasses fell like wild animals in the wilderness. Some of them might have repented (Aaron and Miriam and Moses himself, for example), but they didn't get where God told them they would get to, because of unbelief and doubt.
Now, you are on a journey, too. The writer urges us: Learn from the mistakes of the past and encourage one another. Put your faith in Christ alone and let anything else fall to the side of the road.
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