The lesson for us is to always keep the promises of the gospel before our eyes. We must be continuously reminded that Jesus is greater than Moses, and the mediator of a better covenant. Yes, Moses was faithful over God’s house, but he could not save Israel from its own unbelief. Yes, Christ is faithful. But he can truly save his people because he is a better priest and his promises are rendered certain by his death, resurrection, and ascension to the Father’s right hand. Therefore, we need to take seriously the warning about how unbelief can overtake us, if we slowly but steadily drift away from Christ and his people and lose sight of God’s promises. Losing sight of the gospel promises and then becoming indifferent to them, is the root of unbelief.

The Superiority of Jesus

In the first two chapters of this epistle, the author of Hebrews has built a very impressive case for the superiority of Jesus Christ to all things. Jesus, who is the radiance of the glory of God, is the creator of all. Yet the same Jesus who is God’s eternal son, now shares our flesh and blood by virtue of his incarnation. After dying for our sins and being raised from the dead, Jesus has been given the highest possible honor–he alone sits at God’s right hand. In the opening chapters of Hebrews, the author has demonstrated that Jesus is superior to angels as well as Israel’s priesthood. As we now move into chapter 3, the author begins to make his case that Jesus Christ is superior to Moses, and more importantly, he is the mediator of a far better covenant (the new covenant) than the covenant God made with Israel at Mount Sinai.

Writing to an unknown church in an unknown city, the unknown author of this epistle is addressing the difficult situation facing the congregation to which he is writing. Many in this church were Hellenistic Jews (Greek in culture, but Hebrew in theology) who had recently become Christians. In the face of opposition from their Jewish friends and family, and even perhaps from governing authorities, many in this church had given up on their faith in Jesus Christ and returned to Judaism. The epistle to the Hebrews is the author’s very pointed warning to those remaining in the church who were considering doing the same thing. He addresses head-on the gravity of the sin of apostasy, and will continue to do so throughout this letter.

But the author does more than just warn his readers or make veiled threats. In this letter he makes a very powerful case from the pages of the LXX (which Greek-speaking Jews regarded as authoritative), that even in their own Scriptures (the Old Testament) it is clear that Jesus is that one who created the angels, and that one whom the angels worship and serve. The author warns those reading or hearing this epistle not to neglect such a great salvation or “drift away” from Jesus Christ and the gospel. He also gives them a reason to continue in the Christian faith when he describes how Jesus Christ is God’s perfect priest who offers a perfect sacrifice for sin. This perfect priest has suffered just as we suffer, and he has been tempted in all things, just as we have been tempted. Therefore Jesus is not only superior to angels, and to the priests of Israel, Jesus is a faithful and merciful high priest who now sits at God’s right hand.

The New Covenant

As we move into chapter 3 of Hebrews, we find the author doing two things. First, he continues to argue for the superiority of Jesus Christ to Moses (in verses 1-6), before he begins an extended discussion (which runs all the way though chapter 10, verse 18) for the superiority of Jesus (and the new covenant) to that covenant which God made with Israel at Mount Sinai.

We have already taken note of the fact that Hellenistic Jews were fascinated with angels. They also believed that Moses (not Abraham) was the central figure in Old Testament history. In light of this, the author describes Moses’s role in redemptive history, fully acknowledging the great care which Moses exercised in performing his duties as covenant mediator. No question, Moses is a significant figure who is at the heart of Old Testament religion. But now the author contrasts Moses (as great as he was, yet with human limitations) with Jesus Christ, who is the perfect priest who offers a perfect sacrifice and serves as the mediator of a much better covenant with much better promises.

In verse 1 of chapter 3, the author writes, “Therefore, holy brothers, you who share in a heavenly calling, consider Jesus, the apostle and high priest of our confession.” The use of the conjunction “therefore” (hothen) ties the following discussion to the author’s previous mention of Jesus’s priestly office, and his redemptive work on behalf of sinners in chapter 2 verse 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.” What follows in verses 1-6 of chapter 3 is the author’s case as to why the priesthood of Jesus Christ is superior to that of Moses.

To the “Holy Brothers”

The author of Hebrews addresses his readers/hearers as “holy brothers,” which is yet another indication that all those who trust in Jesus Christ (whether they be Jew or Gentile) are now members of the family of God (Christ’s adopted brothers and sister) and members of God’s ekkelsia (“church” or “congregation”). These dear ones are in God’s congregation because they have received a “heavenly calling.” That is, they have been called by God to faith in Jesus Christ through the preaching of the gospel. In this, we see the connection between those who are called by God, who are sanctified by Christ (set apart for God’s purposes), and who are now members of the family of God (which is his church). Church membership may be taken lightly by many of our contemporaries, but it is a major theme throughout the New Testament. From the author of Hebrews’s point of view, drifting away from Christ begins with indifference toward his church.

At this point, the author identifies Jesus as “the apostle and high priest” of our confession. An apostle is someone who is “sent.” In connecting the offices of “apostle” and “high priest” in a single person, the author is referring to the fact that God’s representative to us (Jesus) has been “sent” by God himself, and that Jesus in turn represents us before God as our high priest.[1] This is what Christians “confess,” about Jesus. He is eternal God and creator of all things who partakes of our flesh and blood. In his incarnation, Jesus both represents God to us and us to God.

Because this is what we confess as Christians (Jesus is sent by God as the final high priest and is the object of our faith), the author is reminding his audience that when they first became Christians this is the Jesus in whom they placed their trust (believed) and in whose name they were baptized. Nothing has changed since these people first made their confession. So, if Jesus is all of these things, and people in this church have already identified themselves with Jesus through faith, and died and rose again with him through baptism, what has changed? What reason do they have to drift away and neglect such a great salvation? There isn’t one!

Jesus Is Faithful

As that one sent by God (“the apostle”) and that one who represents us before God (high priest), Jesus has demonstrated that he is faithful, as the author tells us in verse 2. Jesus “who was faithful to him who appointed him, just as Moses also was faithful in all God’s house.” There are few people in the Old Testament who are both God’s representative to the people, and the people’s representative before God. One of them was Moses, and the author is recalling to mind the words of Numbers 12:7, “my servant Moses . . . is faithful in all my house.” Moses was not only sent by God, he served faithfully as the people of Israel’s covenant mediator and intercessor before God. No doubt, Moses is a key figure in Israel’s history, and no doubt, he was faithful as the chief steward of “God’s house,” which, by the way, is not a reference to the tabernacle (and later the temple), but to the people of God.[2]

But as great as Moses was, the reality is that Moses is inferior in both his person and his office to Jesus, the great high priest (who is fully God) who offered the perfect sacrifice (because he partakes of our flesh and blood). As we read in verses 3-4, “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. (For every house is built by someone, but the builder of all things is God.)” Jesus currently sits at God’s right hand and possesses a glory and honor greater than that of any human being. As that one who calls the people of God to faith, who has offered himself as a propitiation for the sins of God’s people (turning aside his wrath), and who is the sanctifier of God’s house (God’s people), Jesus is vastly superior to Moses, or anyone else, for that matter. Whereas Moses was covenant mediator for Israel, Jesus (who created all things) is covenant mediator over all the house of God (the multitude of those redeemed which cannot be numbered, and which includes both Jew and Gentile).

Moses Points Ahead to Christ

In making this point, the author is once again emphasizing the fact that the old covenant (in all of its aspects), while given by God, and suitable for his purposes (which is to foreshadow a new and better covenant), is necessarily inferior to that new covenant of which Jesus Christ is administrator. This can be seen in Moses’s relationship to Israel as spelled out in verses 5-6a. “Now Moses was faithful in all God’s house as a servant, to testify to the things that were to be spoken later, but Christ is faithful over God’s house as a son.” Yes, Moses was faithful–as faithful as humanly possibly given human sinfulness and limitations. Moses was a servant among the people of God (God’s house), and in exercising that prophetic aspect of his office, was pointing the people of Israel ahead to a greater mediator (Jesus), one who offered a perfect sacrifice for sin, and who himself was not a sinner as was Moses.

So, if Moses faithfully presided over the house of God (the people of Israel) as Jews believed, then it is clear that under the new covenant, the people of God include all those who are Christ’s and therefore, members of his church.

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