Hebrews Chapter 3
1 Therefore, holy brethren, partakers of a heavenly calling, consider Jesus, the Apostle and High Priest of our confession;
The audience consisted of believers because the writer addresses them as ‘holy brethren, partakers of a heavenly calling’.
In the first two chapters, the writer showed how Jesus was superior to the angels. Now he is asking his audience to consider Jesus as an apostle (one who is sent by God to them) and a high priest (one who mediates between God and them).
2 He was faithful to Him who appointed Him, as Moses also was in all His house. 3 For He has been counted worthy of more glory than Moses, by just so much as the builder of the house has more honor than the house. 4 For every house is built by someone, but the builder of all things is God. 5 Now Moses was faithful in all His house as a servant, for a testimony of those things which were to be spoken later;
Both Jesus and Moses were faithful to God, but Jesus was the builder of the house, and Moses was the house. Further, Jesus was the owner of the house whereas Moses was a servant – therefore, Jesus is more important than Moses.
6 but Christ was faithful as a Son over His house – whose house we are, if we hold fast our confidence and the boast of our hope firm until the end.
We are God’s house (or temple) if we hold fast our confidence and boast of our hope until the end (i.e. until we die).
The hope mentioned here is the hope that we will be raised from the dead without a flesh i.e. our resurrected body will not be temptable. We must be longing for this and confident that God will do that for us.
Let us take a moment to understand our sin problem and its solution...
Sin offends God. Those who love God want to be with Him forever. Those who fear God don’t want to offend Him. Therefore, we want to get rid of sin in our lives. But we have a flesh through which we are tempted to sin, and we have already sinned, and will have to continue to fight temptation as long as we have a flesh. And after we die and are raised from the dead, if we continue to have a flesh then we will have to fight temptation for eternity – not a enticing prospect for those who love and fear God.
God understands this dilemma, and so He fixed it as follows: He had Jesus come as man and pay for our sins, taking care of past sin. He gave us the His Holy Spirit so that we have power to overcome sin while we are still alive. Lastly, He promised that He will raise us in a body that doesn’t have a flesh. As a result, we will not be tempted in our new body, and thus we will be able to be with God forever, without the possibility of offending Him.
While we live on earth, we cling to this promise and hope for it (eagerly wait for it to materialize). This is the hope that the writer is talking about. The writer says that we need to continue in hope, and have confidence that God will keep Him promise, until we die.
7 Therefore, just as the Holy Spirit says, "TODAY IF YOU HEAR HIS VOICE, 8 DO NOT HARDEN YOUR HEARTS AS WHEN THEY PROVOKED ME, AS IN THE DAY OF TRIAL IN THE WILDERNESS, 9 WHERE YOUR FATHERS TRIED Me BY TESTING Me, AND SAW MY WORKS FOR FORTY YEARS. 10 THEREFORE I WAS ANGRY WITH THIS GENERATION, AND SAID, ‘THEY ALWAYS GO ASTRAY IN THEIR HEART, AND THEY DID NOT KNOW MY WAYS’; 11 AS I SWORE IN MY WRATH, ‘THEY SHALL NOT ENTER MY REST.’"
How we handle trials is important. This is because, if we don’t handle it correctly we can provoke God to anger – just like the Israelites did in the wilderness, and just like the Hebrew audience was doing.
Every time the Israelites encountered a trial, they grumbled and complained – even though they saw so many miracles by which God saved them from sure destruction. The root cause of this was that they didn’t understand God’s ways. That is, they didn’t realize that God was showing them that He can take care of them, and that He was trying to guide them in the right path through the trial. But they just couldn’t believe that God cared for them sufficiently that He would deliver them, and all they had to do was ask.
As a result, God stopped working with them, and they didn’t fulfill His plan for them in their generation.
After God created the universe, He rested. This is the Sabbath rest – a rest that comes after doing what God wants done.
The Sabbath was meant for man to spend time listening to God speak, and internalize what God wanted man to do. Then man had to go and do what God wanted. God would send trials to man to guide man in getting the job done properly. Upon doing what God wanted man would enter the Sabbath rest.
The Israelites of Moses’ time didn’t enter into God’s rest. And these Hebrews were repeating their mistake – which is why the writer was writing to them.
We too can make the same mistake if we don’t take the time to understand what God wants of us, and then set about doing it, and as we are doing it interpret the trials God sends us so that we can make corrections along the way. When we encounter a trial we must not grumble or complain but understand why God sent the trial and what He is trying to tell us through the trial.
We should not be afraid to die physically while we are doing what God wants us to do. Instead, we should focus on pleasing God and getting His job done well.
12 Take care, brethren, that there not be in any one of you an evil, unbelieving heart that falls away from the living God. 13 But encourage one another day after day, as long as it is still called "Today," so that none of you will be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin.
We need to believe that God will cause all things to work for our good.
It is possible to fall away from God.
Sin (not doing what God wants done, or doing what God doesn't want done) is deceitful – that is, it leads us into believing that God doesn’t care if we sin. If we sin and nothing bad happens to us we can get hardened (i.e. lose our sensitivity to sin and stop fighting against temptation). To prevent this, we need to remind one another of the seriousness of sin day after day.
14 For we have become partakers of Christ, if we hold fast the beginning of our assurance firm until the end, 15 while it is said, "TODAY IF YOU HEAR HIS VOICE, DO NOT HARDEN YOUR HEARTS, AS WHEN THEY PROVOKED ME."
We must desire the resurrection in a body that cannot be tempted until the end if we want to partake of Christ (i.e. if we want to be saved). This desire is expressed by purifying ourselves (i.e. continuing to fight against temptation) as long as we live. The next chapter tells us how to do that.
16 For who provoked Him when they had heard? Indeed, did not all those who came out of Egypt led by Moses? 17 And with whom was He angry for forty years? Was it not with those who sinned, whose bodies fell in the wilderness? 18 And to whom did He swear that they would not enter His rest, but to those who were disobedient? 19 So we see that they were not able to enter because of unbelief.
God chose the Jews. He brought them out of Egypt using amazing displays of His power. He promised them a land of milk and honey. But when they didn’t work with Him He abandoned them and didn’t keep His promises (because they didn’t keep their part). The writer warns the Hebrews that God will deal with them in the same way that He dealt with the Israelites in Moses’ time.
This is a warning to us too – if we don’t keep our part of the New Covenant, God will not give us a body that cannot be tempted. Instead, He will send us to Hell.
Here is something to think about…
These Hebrews loved something more than God, and when God took it away, they lost their mind and rebelled against God and decided to stop pleasing Him.
Are you in that state? Did you lose a child, or a spouse or lover, or a job, or some property, or a reputation, or your health? Did that trip you so much that you fell away from God?
You may be still going through the motions of attending church, helping out in church, being part of a small group, but if you have stopped loving God and desiring to please Him then all the other things are in vain.
Come back. Repent. Ask God to forgive you (He will), and desire to please Him again.
So much – your eternal destiny – is at stake here. Satan would love for you to lose your salvation. Don’t let him take your soul. Nothing temporal is worth your eternal destiny.
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