Hebrews 3:1-6 Greater than Moses

 

Next to Abraham, Moses was undoubtedly the man most greatly revered by Jewish people. To go back to the Law meant to go back to Moses, and the recipients of this letter to the Hebrews were sorely tempted to do just that. It was important that the writer convince his readers that Jesus Christ is greater than Moses, for the entire system of Jewish religion came through Moses. In the next few studies we will learn in what ways Jesus Christ is superior to Moses.

In verse 1, “holy brethren” could only be applied to people in the family of God, set apart by the grace of God. That the writer was referring to people in the church, the Body of Christ, is clear from his use of the phrase “Partakers of the heavenly calling.” No unconverted Jew or Gentile could ever claim that blessing. The word translated “partakers” here is translated “partners” in Luke 5:7, where it describes the relationship of four men in the fishing business: they were in it together. True Christians not only share in a heavenly calling, but they also share in Jesus Christ. Through the Holy Spirit, we are “members of His body, of His flesh, and of His bones (Eph. 5:30). True believers are also “partakers of the Holy Spirit” (Rom.8:9). Because we are God’s children, we also partake in God’s loving chastening. Not to be chastened is evidence that a person is not one of God’s children.

Because these people were holy brothers and sisters, and partakers of a heavenly calling, they were able to give a “confession” of their faith in Jesus Christ. It was this same confession that they were “strangers and pilgrims” on the earth that characterized men and women of faith in the ages past. It was not Moses who did all of this for the people addressed in this epistle; it was Jesus Christ! The writer did not exhort them to consider Moses, but to consider Christ.

That Christ is superior to Moses in His person is an obvious fact. Moses was a mere man, called to be a prophet and leader, while Jesus Christ is the Son of God sent by the Father into the world. The title apostle in verse 1 means “one sent with a commission.” Moses was called and commissioned by God, but Jesus Christ was sent as God’s “last Word” to sinful man. Jesus Christ is not only the Apostle, but He is also the High Priest. Moses was a prophet who on occasion served as a priest, but he was never a high priest. That title belonged to his brother Aaron. In fact, Jesus Christ has the title “great High Priest (Heb. 4:14). As the Apostle, Jesus represented God to men; and as the High Priest, He now represents men to God in heaven. Moses of course, fulfilled similar ministries, for he taught Israel God’s truth and he prayed for Israel when he met God on the mount. Moses was primarily the prophet of Law, while Jesus Christ is the Messenger of God’s grace. Moses helped prepare the way for the coming of the Savior to the earth.

The word “house” is used six times in verses 3-6. It refers to the people of God, not to a material building. Moses ministered to Israel, the people of God under the Old Covenant. Today, Christ ministers to His church, the people of God under the New Covenant (“whose house are we,” Heb. 3:6). The contrast between Moses and Christ is clear: Moses was a servant in the house, while Jesus Christ is a Son over the house. Moses was a member of the household, but Jesus built the house! By the way, the truth in these verses is a powerful argument for the deity of Jesus Christ. If God built all things, and Jesus Christ built God’s house, then Jesus Christ must be God.

There is another factor in Christ’s superiority over Moses: the Prophet Moses spoke about things to come, but Jesus Christ brought the fulfillment of these things (v. 6). Moses ministered “in the shadows,” as it were (see Heb. 8:5, 10:1), while Jesus brought the full and final light of the Gospel of grace of God.

The word “confidence” in verse 6 literally means “freedom of speech, openness.” When you are free to speak, then there is no fear and you have confidence. A believer can come with boldness to the throne of grace with openness and freedom and not be afraid. We have this boldness because of the shed blood of Jesus. Therefore we should not cast away our confidence, no matter what the circumstances might be. We should not have confidence in ourselves, because we are too prone to fail; but we should have confidence in Jesus Christ who never fails.

Because of this confidence in Christ and this confession of Christ, we can experience joy and hope (v. 6). The writer exhorted these suffering saints to enjoy their spiritual experience and not simply endure it. Jesus is the beloved Son over His house, and He will care for each member of the family. He is the faithful High Priest who provides all the grace we need for each demand of life. As the Good Shepherd of the sheep, Jesus is using the experiences in His people’s lives to equip them for service that will glorify His name. In other words, those who have trusted Christ prove this confession by their steadfastness, confidence, and joyful hope. They are not burdened by the past or threatened by the present, but are “living in the future tense” as they await the “blessed hope” of their Lord’s return. It is this “heavenly calling” that motivates the believers to keep on living for the Savior even when the going is tough.

Hebrews 3:1-6 Reflection Questions:

When the going gets tough where do you turn: yourself, the world, or to Jesus?

Do you have total 100 percent confidence in Jesus as the Good Shepherd?

Journal on a recent time you relied on Jesus.

Isaiah 32:1-33:24 The True Solution – Divine Government

 

These two chapters are unified by their sustained focus on the theme of good government – government which is grounded ultimately in the presence of the Lord among His people and the recognition by them of His kingship. This theme is introduced at once in the opening line of chapter 32 and the climax is reached towards the end of chapter 33. For the most part Isaiah is looking forward in these chapters to a future, ideal situation – the dawning of a new age. But the context from which he speaks is anything but ideal. It’s a situation in which the complacent have to come to terms with stern reality when a destroyer is on the move and when diplomacy has failed and the nation’s leaders are distraught. It’s against this background that Isaiah pointed to the only alternative that could secure the nation’s future: government grounded in the kingship of God.

Isaiah develops his theme in four main movements. The first (32:1-8) sets out the nature of good government and the results that flow from it. The results of such government are spelled out in verses 2-5 of chapter 32. One result is security, conveyed by four images from the natural world in verse 2. Another result is the restoration of sight, hearing, good judgment and clear speech (vv. 3-4). Since Isaiah is apparently speaking here about the reversal of the conditions that prevailed in Judah in his own day, it’s best to take the blindness and deafness of verse 3 as the unresponsiveness to the Word of God, especially among the nation’s leaders. The fool and scoundrel of verse 5 are each described in turn in verses 6 and 7 before the contrast with the noble man is drawn in verse 8. This little discourse undoubtedly reflects what is happening all too often in Judah in Isaiah’s day. But good government will put an end to that.

The second (32:9-20) shows that there is no shortcut to this ideal; it can only come through judgment and the outpouring of God’s Spirit. It’s the men not women who bore the main brunt of Isaiah’s stern preaching. However here, he focuses on women, partly because of their shared responsibility as wives and partly because their demeanor was an indicator of prevailing attitudes. There is another reason also, Isaiah was going to issue a call to mourn and lament and such calls were customarily addressed to women as those who would be touched most deeply by the suffering that was anticipated. In little more than a year harvests would fail (v. 10), once cultivated land would be overgrown with thorns and briers (v. 13a) and Jerusalem would become a joyless city (v. 13b). In short Judah and Jerusalem would experience the full impact of the Assyrian invasion (v. 14). The new age of God’s blessing will be an age of material prosperity (vv. 15, 20) and true and lasting security (vv. 17-18) grounded in justice and righteousness (v. 16 which, as we have seen, are the foundational characteristics of good government. This new age of the Spirit was inaugurated at Pentecost and will be here in its fullness when Jesus the Messiah – who is both Spirit-endowed and the One who bestows the Spirit – returns in power to reign.

The third movement (33:1-6) summarizes in more specific terms the steps by which the new age will be ushered in: the Lord will arise, destroy the destroyer, and establish His rule. There is much in chapter 33 which reflects the last-minute turning to the Lord which took place in Jerusalem, led by Hezekiah, when Sennacherib’s envoys were at the gates. The treachery of the destroyer in verses 1-3 probably refers to Sennacherib’s treachery in accepting Hezekiah’s tribute and then preparing to attack. Isaiah speaks in this chapter of both the immediate blessing of deliverance from the Assyrians and of the final blessedness of Zion when all His purposes for her will be fulfilled.

The fourth and final movement (33:7-24) then fills out this summary by repeating each of its elements, but in a more expansive fashion. In this final movement the theme of divine government receives its most elaborate treatment. The lament in verses 7-9 shows the need for divine government by expressing the total bankruptcy of the human alternative. The answering oracle of verses 10-13 proclaims the Lord’s total adequacy (and intention) to deal with all who challenge His own authority and the welfare of His people. Here is the negative aspect of divine rule: Judgment. But this causes some anxious heart-searching among the people of Jerusalem themselves. Verses 15-16 respond to this by calling for the amendment of life which is the necessary accompaniment of repentance, for ultimately only those who reflect God’s own character can dwell with Him. Verses 17-24 then present the positive aspect of divine rule: the blessings that will flow from God reigning in the midst of His people.

After the climax of verse 22, two final touches complete Isaiah’s vision of the coming age. The first is a reminder to his contemporaries that they are utterly unable of themselves to bring it about. They are like a stricken ship, totally at the mercy of forces beyond their control (v. 23). The second is closely related to this, namely the assertion that the fundamental truth about all who inhabit the ideal world to come is that they will be forgiven people (v. 24). Only grace can get us from where we are to where we need to be. The blessings of God’s rule are for those who know that they are sinners in need of God’s forgiveness more than anything else. That is just as true for us today as it was for Isaiah’s original audience.

Isaiah 32:1-33:24 Reflection Questions:

Who do you think is this king mentioned in chapter 32:1?

Have you come to the realization that you are a stricken ship?

What are some of God’s blessings you are experiencing now?

Have you ever experienced God waiting till the last minute to come to your aid?

What’s the message here?

Hebrews 2:5-18 Why Jesus Christ is not Inferior Because of His Humanity

 

The fact that angels are “ministering spirits” without human bodies would seem to give them an advantage over Jesus Christ who had a human body while He ministered on earth. (Today He has a glorified body that knows no limitations.) The writer gave four reasons that explain why our Lord’s humanity was neither a handicap nor a mark of inferiority.

His humanity enabled Him to regain man’s lost dominion (vv. 5-9). The quotation here is from Psalm 8:4-6, and you will want to read the entire psalm carefully. When God created the first man and woman, He gave them dominion over His Creation (Gen. 1:26-31). David marveled that God would share His power and glory with feeble man! Man was created “a little lower than the angels” (and therefore inferior to them), but man was given privileges far higher than the angels. God never promised the angels that they would reign in “the world to come” (v. 5). But we have a serious problem here, for it is obvious that man today is not exercising dominion over creation. In fact, man has a hard time controlling himself! “But now we see not yet all things put under him” (v. 8). “But we see Jesus!” (v. 9) He is God’s answer to man’s dilemma. Jesus Christ became man that He might suffer and die for man’s sin and restore the dominion that was lost because of sin. Today everything is under His feet (Eph. 1:20-23).

His humanity enabled Him to bring many sons to glory (vv. 10-13). Christ is not only the Last Adam; He is also the Captain of Salvation. The word “Captain” literally means “pioneer – one who opens the way for others to follow.” Christ gave up His glory to become a man. He regained His glory when He arose and ascended to heaven. Now He shares that glory with all who trust Him for salvation (John 17:22-24). He is bringing many sons and daughters to glory! Christ is united with us, and we are united to Him; we are spiritually one. In fact we are His “brethren” (v. 12). The writer quotes Psalm 22:22 – a messianic psalm – in which Christ refers to His church as His brethren. This means we and the Son of God share the same nature and belong to the same family! What a marvel of God’s grace! One phrase in Heb. 2:10 ought to be discussed before we move on: “Make the Captain of their salvation perfect through sufferings.” This statement does not suggest that Jesus Christ was imperfect when He was here on earth. The word translated “perfect” means “complete, effective, and adequate.” Jesus could not have become an adequate Savor and High Priest had He not become Man and suffered and died.

His humanity enabled Him to disarm Satan and deliver us from death (vv. 14-16). Angels cannot die. Jesus did not come to save angels (note v. 16); He came to save humans. This meant that He had to take on Himself flesh and blood and become a Man. Only then could He die and through His death defeat Satan. The word “destroy” does not mean “annihilate,” for it is obvious that Satan is still alive and busy. The word means “render inoperative, make of none effect.” Satan is not destroyed, but he is disarmed. The final authority of death is in the hands of God. Satan can do only that which is permitted by God. But because Satan is the author of sin (John 8:44), and sin brings death (Rom. 6:23), in this sense Satan exercises power in the realm of death. Satan uses the fear of death as a terrible weapon to gain control over the lives of people. His kingdom is one of darkness and death (Col 1:13). We who trust in Jesus Christ have once and for all been delivered from Satan’s authority and from the terrible fear of death. The death, burial, and resurrection of Christ have given us victory! (1Cor. 15:55-58)

His humanity enables Him to be a sympathetic High Priest to His people (vv. 17-18). Being pure spirits who have never suffered, the angels cannot identify with us in our weakness and needs. But Jesus can! While He was here on earth, Jesus was “made like unto His brethren” in that He experienced the sinless infirmities of human nature. He knew what it was to be a helpless baby, a growing child, a maturing adolescent. He knew the experiences of weariness, hunger, and thirst (John 4:6-8). He knew what it was to be despised and rejected, to be lied about and falsely accused. He experienced physical suffering and death. All of this was a part of His “training” for His heavenly ministry as High Priest. Jesus Christ is both merciful and faithful: He is merciful toward people and faithful toward God. He can never fail in His priestly ministries. He made the necessary sacrifice for our sins so that we might be reconciled to God. He did not need to make a sacrifice for Himself, because He is sinless. So, what happens when we who have been saved are tempted to sin? Jesus stands ready to help us! Because He defeated every enemy, He is able to give us the grace that we need to overcome temptation. The word “succor” (v. 18) literally means “to run to the cry of a child.” It means “to bring help when it is needed.” Angels are able to serve us (Heb. 1:14), but they are not able to succor us in our times of temptation. Only Jesus Christ can do that, and He can do it because He became a man and suffered and died.

Hebrews 2:5-18 Reflection Questions:

Are you ashamed to call Jesus “Lord”? Can you express it openly? Do you?

After reading this study, are you amazed at the grace and wisdom of God?

What one part of this study really stands out for you? Why?

Isaiah 31:1-9 Reasons for Repentance and its Fruit

 

With the transition to chapter 31, Isaiah is approaching his climactic appeal. But in building to that climax, like a good preacher that he is, he reiterates his two main points: Egypt’s help is worthless and in any case unnecessary, for the Lord Himself will fight for Zion and overthrow the Assyrians. This latter point is then repeated in verses 8-9, after the appeal of verse 6, as if to underline the fact that while grace is promised before repentance, that the same grace can be fully experienced only when repentance has taken place.

The first reason for repentance is the threat of impending judgment. The Woe of verse 1 is the last pronounced on Judah in this part of the book, and may well have been sounded later than the others when Sennacherib was on his final approach to Jerusalem. By then the futility of looking to Egypt for help had become fully apparent and it was clear to all that disaster was imminent. It was no time for mincing words or pulling punches, and Isaiah certainly doesn’t do so by the hard-hitting verses 1-3. It’s clear in verse 3 that it is an unequal contest; human beings cannot fight against God and win. As verses 4-5 immediately makes clear, another possibility still exists; unless there is a radical change on Judah’s part, the Lord will fully implement His threat and nothing that people can do will stop Him. We have to know that God cannot be manipulated before we are ready to throw ourselves upon God’s mercy.

The second reason for repentance is the promise of salvation or more precisely, of a Savior – a true, effective one instead of the false, worthless one that Egypt had proved to be. That Savior is of course the Lord, pictured as a lion in verse 4 and as birds hovering in verse 5 and the two are complementary. As Savior the Lord is both strong and determined (like the lion) and solicitous and protective (like the birds). The logic of verses 1-5 as a whole seems to be as follows: Woe to those who go down to Egypt (vv. 1-3), for the Lord, and He alone, is Jerusalem’s true Savior. What the pictures of verses 4-5 amount to, is a promise that the Lord Himself will fight for and protect Jerusalem. That promise still stood when Sennacherib’s envoys were finally at the gates, and Hezekiah then had, at last, the wisdom and humility to claim it.

Repentance is radical. It is not just giving up this or that sin, but a complete turnabout in our stance towards God, and it goes right to the root of our sinfulness. As for the prodigal son, it is a recognition that we are rebels, and a return to the One we have so deeply offended (v. 6). Its consequences too, are radical: all other gods have to go (v.7) in order to clear the way for the full enjoyment of God’s blessing (vv. 8-9). For Isaiah, idolatry was the ultimate outward sign of rebellion against God. Idolatry had taken hold before the alliance with Egypt was conceived. It was, we may say, the cancer which lay at the root of all the nation’s ills, for it showed that the Lord no longer had His people’s undivided loyalty. Its natural, therefore, that in calling for radical repentance, Isaiah should again point to the casting away of idols as the evidence that will confirm it.

The final two verses (vv. 8-9) put the seal on this call to repentance by reiterating God’s promise to deal decisively with the Assyrians. But now a new element is added: the Assyrians shall be destroyed by a sword…not of man or of mortals (v. 8). That is, the people of Jerusalem will not even have to fight. The Lord will intervene miraculously, and they will receive His promised salvation as a gift. Such is His grace to those who repent.

In view of all this, the expression ‘in that day’ in verse 7 must be allowed to point beyond the events of 701BC (wonderful as they were) to something more distant and more perfect, as it so often does elsewhere in the book. There was no perfect repentance or perfect salvation in 701BC. But God’s gracious goodness to His people when they cried out to Him then was a foretaste of something far greater and more glorious which He has in store for all who turn to Him for salvation.

Isaiah 31:1-9 Reflection Questions:

What lessons do we learn from the timing of verses 1-5?

What is your “Egypt” in your life?

What “other gods” do you need to clear away?

What is in the way of giving God your undivided loyalty?

Hebrews 2:1-4 A Warning Against Drifting Away

 

One of the ancient symbols for the Church is a ship. The idea originated in the Gospel accounts, which tell how Jesus compelled His disciples to board a ship and sail to the other side of the Sea of Galilee (Matt. 14:22-33; John 6:16-21). That night, when they were some distance from shore, a perilous storm arose so that they tossed like a cork on the waves – until Jesus came walking across the water in the night. This is a most fitting picture of the Church sailing the contrary seas of this world. And it’s a particularly appropriate symbol of the church to which the book of Hebrews was written, for all agree it was under stormy siege. This tiny house-church was probably somewhere in Italy, possibly in or around Rome – then we can imagine the huge waves that were poised above their little boat in the imminent Neronian persecution. Some in the church were also in danger of being blown away from their moorings and drifting away from the truth of Christ and back into “the Dead Sea of Judaism.”

So now, with the superiority of Christ ringing in their ears, the writer explicitly sounds his warning to the harried church in 2:1-4. The vivid warning here uses nautical, sailing language, suggesting the image of a ship whose anchor has broken loose from the ocean floor and is dangerously drifting away. I have experienced this firsthand while fishing off the Southern California coast near Dana Point. My boat was having engine troubles and while trying to repair we ran the battery dead. We decided to fish where we were for a while before calling for help. However before we knew it the tide, wind and waves brought us very close to the rocky coast. Such dangerous drifting is not intentional but comes rather from inattention and carelessness – which was precisely the problem with the pressured little church. They had become carless about their moorings in Christ. At first, in calm waters, it wasn’t noticeable. But as the storms of opposition rose, some of them were drifting farther and farther away from Christ toward the shoals of shipwreck in their old world of Judaism.

Drifting is the besetting sin of our day today, and as the metaphor suggests, it’s not so much intentional as from unconcern. Christians neglect their anchor – Christ – and begin to quietly drift away. What brings drifting? For one thing, there is the tide of years. You have to live for some length to observe this, but the longer you live, the more you will see it. Many who were at one time professing, fine Christians drifted away from their earlier, better selves. They kept up appearances, but the years have carried them far away from their devotion.

There is also the tide of familiarity with the truth. It is natural for us to come to regard the familiar as commonplace. The initial venture into the mysteries of Christ will leave us exhilarated, but with the repeated journeys, some become bored tourists. Granted, some find joy in their familiarity with the mysteries of Christ. But familiarity has both danger and reward. It depends on us.

There is the danger of busyness too. In today’s world, the multiplicity of our cares and duties can overwhelm us. A snowflake is a tiny thing, but when the air is full of them, they can bury us. Just so, the thousand cares of each day can insulate us from the stupendous Excellencies of Christ, causing us to begin a deadly drift.

The drifting that comes through the combination of years, familiarity, and busyness often bares its existence when the storm of opposition comes. The anchor has long been loosed, and when the winds come, an eternal soul is suddenly on the rocks and shipwrecked. No wonder, then, that the warning is a powerfully phrased command that should be read with an exclamation point!

What to do? The answer brings us full circle in the warning to where it begins; we must pay the “greatest attention” to what we have heard. Two things are in view here. First, all our attention must be focused on the supremacy of Christ: prophetic, cosmic, Levitical, and angelic. We need to work at this – meditating on Him, asking questions, memorizing Scripture, and worshiping. Second, paying closest attention to what we have heard means living in revelation of God’s Word – and it always has. We all should be familiar with (and memorized) the great verses from Deuteronomy 6:4-9, they are crucial words and truths from which we must not drift!

Hebrews 2:1-4 Reflection Questions:

Have you ever found yourself drifting farther and farther away from Christ? Are you there now?

How is your prayer life, Bible studies, Church attendance and involvement going?

Are you putting God first in your life?