Better than Moses Heb 3:2-6
It is a bit difficult for us to understand why so much space is devoted to Moses, but no one else was more revered in Judaism, and this was written to Hebrew Christians. Why was that? Consider what we know of Moses:
• His life was remarkable from beginning to end. The hand of God preserved him as a baby, and dug his grave at the end.
• He had a great revelation of God, probably greater than any man before or since – eg the burning bush, Sinai
Ex 33 20"You cannot see My face; for no man shall see Me, and live." 23 "Then I will take away My hand, and you shall see My back; but My face shall not be seen." 34:5 Now the LORD descended in the cloud and stood with him there, and proclaimed the name of the LORD. 6 And the LORD passed before him
Nu 12:6 Then He said, "Hear now My words: If there is a prophet among you, I, the LORD, make Myself known to him in a vision; I speak to him in a dream. 7 Not so with My servant Moses; He is faithful in all My house. 8 I speak with him face to face, Even plainly, and not in dark sayings; And he sees the form of the LORD.
• He was chosen to deliver God’s people from Egypt. This was done with an unparalleled display of God’s majestic power (eg plagues, red sea, manna, water, judgement).
• He became the lawgiver, declaring the Ten Commandments and all the Levitical laws.
• He built the Tabernacle with its hints of the coming gospel revelation
• He was Israel’s great historian, traditionally writing the Pentateuch.
• He was devoted to Israel and so a great intercessor eg after the golden calf Ex 32:32 if You will, forgive their sin—but if not, I pray, blot me out of Your book which You have written.
• In spite of all these wonders and great events that were associated with him he was very humble, more than all men who were on the face of the earth Numbers 12:3.
We’ll look further at Moses later on in our studies of Hebrews but, in summary, according to v2 Moses was faithful. This follows the description in Nu 12:7My servant Moses; He is faithful in all My house.
Before we move on to the main theme of this passage let’s just pause for a moment to ask ourselves how we measure up to the standard that Moses sets. We may not be able to part the Thames and lead the Church across it safely, but we can glimpse God in His glory and goodness. We may not be able to design and build a beautiful tabernacle, but we can have a hand in the building of His Church by loving, teaching and praying for our brothers and sisters. We may not call down plagues on an ungodly world, but we can be meek and faithful in all our dealings with God and man.
Too hard?
If we think that this is all too hard for us to achieve, then remember that Moses began his life of service reluctantly at the age of 80. Five times he tried to evade God’s call to service eg Ex 4: 13 But Moses said, "O Lord, please send someone else to do it." (NIV) 14 So the anger of the LORD was kindled against Moses. From this unpromising beginning Moses went on to achieve so much.
What was the secret of Moses’ success? Ex 33:13 "Now therefore, I pray, if I have found grace in Your sight, show me now Your way, that I may know You and that I may find grace in Your sight. And consider that this nation is Your people." 14 And He said, "My Presence will go with you, and I will give you rest." 15 Then he said to Him, "If Your Presence does not go with us, do not bring us up from here.
If then the secret of Moses’ success was God’s presence and power, what is the secret of our lack of success?... How we need God’s presence and power today. Moses is dead, but Moses’ God lives on! Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever. Heb 13:8
"If God were to take the Holy Spirit out of our midst today, about 95 per cent of what we are doing in our churches would go on, and we would not know the difference." (Dr. Carl Bates)
Jesus Christ
Why labour the point that Jesus is better than Moses? Haven’t the graphic descriptions of Him as the pinnacle of God’s revelation, the Creator who is greater than the angles made His infinite superiority abundantly clear? Obviously not, but then some Jews even though that Moses was greater than the angels. Even Moses knew that he was not the ultimate prophet, he told them "The LORD your God will raise up for you a Prophet like me from your midst, from your brethren. Him you shall hear. Deut 18:15
Moses would have been horrified to think that anyone thought that he was greater than the Messiah, after all meekness was one of his greatest characteristics. Yet Peter made a similar error when Moses and Elijah appeared and talked with Jesus in the transfiguration story because he wanted to treat them all as being on the same level. Let’s see how Jesus excels when compared with Moses.
Faithful
No one can doubt the faithfulness of Moses, but Jesus totally surpassed Moses in faithfulness: 5 And Moses indeed was faithful in all His house as a servant, …6 but Christ as a Son over His own house. The writer does not put Moses down – he obviously held him in great regard. But while Moses was a faithful servant, he was only a servant. Jesus was the eternal Son and knew exactly how to please His Father. He accomplished everything the Father wanted — something that Moses would never have tried to claim.
What is the result of their respective faithfulness? Those that Moses lead out from Egypt, with a few notable exceptions, died in the wilderness. Even Moses died without reaching the Promised Land, because he lost his temper and disobeyed God. Their children inherited the land, eventually, but they limped from one crisis to the next because of their unfaithfulness and eventually they even killed the very prophet that Moses had looked forward to.
In complete contrast Jesus Christ finished faithfully, completely and for ever what the Father sent him to do and in so doing won Himself a perfect, spotless, eternal bride the Church.
Christ’s house
In v6 the people of God are described as Christ’s house. Individually we are each the temple of the Holy Spirit and Christ dwells in us by faith. Together, united by God’s grace, the Church is Christ’s building.
1 Peter 2:4 Coming to Him as to a living stone, rejected indeed by men, but chosen by God and precious, 5 you also, as living stones, are being built up a spiritual house, a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.
1 Corinthians 3: 16 Do you not know that you are the temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you? 17 If anyone defiles the temple of God, God will destroy him. For the temple of God is holy, which temple you are.
Buildings are expensive; we know that because we live in London! If you have ever had any building work done for you then you also know that it can turn out much more expensive than you expected! I see another cost in my work; too often construction costs men their lives – usually because of poor planning or foolishness. Jesus Christ built His house at the cost of His own life, but His was a willing sacrifice. It was not the result poor management or control, but the outworking of a perfect plan, perfectly executed.
Some buildings bring great honour to their designers and builders. Others are monstrous carbuncles as Prince Charles once elegantly put it! What reaction do we provoke when people look at Christ’s building in London? Is it a WOW! or a laugh of derision? Do we bring honour to our Saviour?
Worthy
The only sensible conclusion from all of this is that Jesus Christ is worthy of infinitely more honour than was Moses. After all Moses was only the servant – Jesus is the designer, builder and owner of the house. Who were these believers to trust? A great man who though undoubtedly faithful and mightily used, but only ever a servant? Or the One who gave Moses his orders, the source of power behind Moses’ miracles; the one who made our redemption possible? Moses pointed his people to the living God; Christ declared that salvation was only to be found in Himself. Indeed He declared that salvation was to know Him and His Father. Were they to trust a dead servant or a living, risen, glorified Saviour?
Hold fast to Jesus Christ
But there is one qualifier that the writer warned them of. The question was, and remains were they, and by implication are we, holding fast with confidence and pride in our hope (v6 JB Phillips). We need to hold on firm to Christ until the very end, but evidently some of the readers were considering abandoning the faith for the old ways.
We have much to rejoice about. We have the present sympathetic understanding and guidance of our Lord and Saviour; the power of the indwelling Holy Spirit and the secure hope of heaven and everlasting joy. Although there is nothing, in and of ourselves, to be proud of, shouldn’t we be immensely proud of our beloved Saviour and all that He has achieved on our behalf?
The confidence the word used here originally meant the liberty of speaking boldly and without restraint; then it grew to cover boldness or confidence in general. It is not the vague or timid hope of a nominal Christian, nor does it give way in the face of opposition. Is our faith bold?
Pr 28:1 The wicked flee when no one pursues, But the righteous are bold as a lion.
Acts 4:13 Now when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, and perceived that they were uneducated and untrained men, they marvelled. And they realized that they had been with Jesus…. 29 "Now, Lord, look on their threats, and grant to Your servants that with all boldness they may speak Your word, 31 And when they had prayed, the place where they were assembled together was shaken; and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit, and they spoke the word of God with boldness.
Fear comes from a lack of confidence. Boldness comes from a faith that rejoices in our beloved Saviour. How we need God to take away our fear and make us bold in His service. May He make us bold in His service.
We are saved and kept not because we have hold of God, but because God has hold of us! Christ not only gives us shoes with which to walk that never wear out, but He holds our hands in His and we shall never perish, neither shall anyone pluck us out from His hand. This is why we can be confident and bold because he holds us far more firmly than we could ever hold Him. And He will never let us go!
Are we faithful to Him?
Given this pride and joy can we do anything less than hang on to the end? It is not enough to start well in the Christian life. We must steadfastly persevere to the end. But how can we be sure to walk closely, consistently, courageously, and constantly, in the faith and practice of the gospel, until our Master comes or calls? The obvious answer is that we can’t, but then we don’t have to. He who saved us by his grace is able to keep us day by day by that same grace. For if when we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life. Rom 5:10
As William Carey put it we should: “Expect great things from God and attempt great things for God.”
Jude 24 Now to Him who is able to keep you from stumbling, And to present you faultless Before the presence of His glory with exceeding joy, 25 To God our Saviour, Who alone is wise, Be glory and majesty, Dominion and power, Both now and forever. Amen.
