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Jesus and Moses

Well then, my brothers and sisters: you are God’s holy ones, and you share the call from heaven. So think carefully about Jesus, the apostle and high priest of our confession of faith. He was faithful to the one who appointed him, just as Moses was faithful in all God’s house. He deserves much more glory than Moses, you see, just as the one who builds a house deserves more glory than the house. For every house is built by someone, but the one who builds all things is God. And “Moses was faithful, as a servant, in all his house,” thereby bearing witness to the things that were yet to be spoken of; but the Messiah is over God’s house as a son. What is that house? It is us—those of us who hold on tightly to the boldness and confidence of our hope.

Today’s the time to listen!

So listen to what the holy spirit says:

Today, if you hear his voice,
don’t harden hearts, as in the great bitterness,
like the day in the desert when they faced the test,
when your fathers put me to the test, and challenged me,
and saw my works 10 for forty years.
And so I was angry with that generation,
and said, “They are always straying in their hearts,
they do not know my ways.” 11 As I swore
in my anger, “They’ll never enter my rest.”

12 Take care, my dear family, that none of you should possess an evil and unbelieving heart, leading you to withdraw from the living God. 13 But encourage one another every day, as long as it’s called “Today,” so that none of you may become hardened by the deceitfulness of sin.

Hold on tight!

14 We share the life of the Messiah, you see, only if we keep a firm, tight grip on our original confidence, right through to the end. 15 That’s what it means when it says, “Today, if you hear his voice, don’t make your hearts hard, as in the great bitterness.”

16 Who was it, after all, who heard and then became bitter? It was all those who went out of Egypt under Moses, wasn’t it? 17 And who was it that God was angry with for forty years? It was those who sinned, wasn’t it—those whose bodies fell in the desert? 18 And to whom did God swear that they would never enter his rest? Wasn’t it the people who didn’t believe? 19 So we can see that it was their unbelief that prevented them from entering.

Jesus Greater Than Moses

Therefore, holy brothers and sisters,(A) who share in the heavenly calling,(B) fix your thoughts on Jesus, whom we acknowledge(C) as our apostle and high priest.(D) He was faithful to the one who appointed him, just as Moses was faithful in all God’s house.(E) Jesus has been found worthy of greater honor than Moses,(F) just as the builder of a house has greater honor than the house itself. For every house is built by someone, but God is the builder of everything.(G) “Moses was faithful as a servant(H) in all God’s house,”[a](I) bearing witness to what would be spoken by God in the future. But Christ is faithful as the Son(J) over God’s house. And we are his house,(K) if indeed we hold firmly(L) to our confidence and the hope(M) in which we glory.

Warning Against Unbelief

So, as the Holy Spirit says:(N)

“Today, if you hear his voice,
    do not harden your hearts(O)
as you did in the rebellion,
    during the time of testing in the wilderness,
where your ancestors tested and tried me,
    though for forty years they saw what I did.(P)
10 That is why I was angry with that generation;
    I said, ‘Their hearts are always going astray,
    and they have not known my ways.’
11 So I declared on oath in my anger,(Q)
    ‘They shall never enter my rest.’ (R)[b](S)

12 See to it, brothers and sisters, that none of you has a sinful, unbelieving heart that turns away from the living God.(T) 13 But encourage one another daily,(U) as long as it is called “Today,” so that none of you may be hardened by sin’s deceitfulness.(V) 14 We have come to share in Christ, if indeed we hold(W) our original conviction firmly to the very end.(X) 15 As has just been said:

“Today, if you hear his voice,
    do not harden your hearts
    as you did in the rebellion.”[c](Y)

16 Who were they who heard and rebelled? Were they not all those Moses led out of Egypt?(Z) 17 And with whom was he angry for forty years? Was it not with those who sinned, whose bodies perished in the wilderness?(AA) 18 And to whom did God swear that they would never enter his rest(AB) if not to those who disobeyed?(AC) 19 So we see that they were not able to enter, because of their unbelief.(AD)

Footnotes

  1. Hebrews 3:5 Num. 12:7
  2. Hebrews 3:11 Psalm 95:7-11
  3. Hebrews 3:15 Psalm 95:7,8