
Greater Than Moses
The supremacy of Jesus Christ over all things is a truth confirmed by Scripture. It is also a truth that assures us He can and will grant the spiritual rest He has promised when we trust and follow Him.
Transcript
We are used to hearing advertisements proclaiming the superiority of some product—it is the best tasting, highest quality, longest lasting, and so on. Usually, one aspect of the product that supposedly sets it apart from competing brands is emphasized. Well, that’s advertising—plenty of claims but seldom any real evidence to back them up.
The first two chapters of the book of Hebrews have made some impressive claims about Jesus Christ: He is the Creator and sovereign Lord of the universe. He is far superior to the prophets of the Old Testament, as well as the mighty angels. And those claims are backed by the evidence of God’s revelation, the Bible. All of this would have been amazing revelation to the Jewish believers to whom the letter of Hebrews was written.
Now as we come to chapter 3, the writer makes an even more stunning claim—that Jesus is superior to the great Moses himself. But again, the evidence backs up this claim.
The first piece of evidence is this: Jesus is superior to Moses in His person. The fact that Jesus is greater than Moses might seem obvious to us, but to a first-century Jewish person, this was an incredibly bold statement. But for the Jewish people who have come to faith in Christ, this was an important truth to emphasize. They were being persecuted and under constant pressure to turn back to the law that Moses had delivered to the nation.
The author begins in chapter 3 and verse 1 by telling them to “consider Jesus, the apostle and high priest of our confession.” He is simply reminding them that they have confessed Jesus as the supreme “apostle”—that word simply means “messenger.” Jesus was the supreme messenger from heaven.
Jesus’ high priesthood will become a major emphasis a little later in the book of Hebrews, and we will discuss it then.
But for now, these two terms elevate Jesus over Moses. Yes, verse 2 says that Moses was faithful to God, but he was just a man, whereas the book of Hebrews has already revealed that Jesus is the Son of God.
Here is the second piece of evidence the author presents: Jesus is superior to Moses in His performance. Verse 5 says, “Moses was faithful in all God’s house as a servant,” but Christ, verse 6 says, “is faithful over God’s house as a son.”
The “house” refers to the people, or household, of God. In the Old Testament that was Israel; in the New Testament, that is the church. Jesus is builder of both.
The writer points out that we, the people of God today, “are [God’s] house” (verse 6). We are the church Jesus is building. He adds, “if indeed we hold fast our confidence and our boasting in our hope.” Now that does not mean we are going to be saved if we hang on; it means that those who are saved will not want to let go.
The performance of Moses in faithfully leading the nation of Israel was impressive. But it was temporary. The performance of Jesus in building all the redeemed is superior because it will last forever.
The third piece of evidence is this: Jesus is superior to Moses in His promise. At this point, some of the events that took place during the leadership of Moses are brought forward.
Verses 8 through 11 quote from Psalm 95, which recounts Israel’s rebellion. The quote starts with the word “today,” emphasizing the urgency of heeding the warning. “Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion, on the day of testing in the wilderness.”
Though the Israelites who left Egypt under Moses saw God’s miraculous “works for forty years,” they rebelled against God and His leader Moses. As a result, God declared, “They shall not enter my rest.”
“Rest” here refers to Israel’s rest in Canaan, the promised land. That land was promised to them if they obeyed the Lord. Sadly, the nation as a whole did not and that whole generation of the people of Israel—all those twenty years old and above, with the exception of Joshua and Caleb—died in the wilderness (Numbers 14:26-31).
This warning against hardening the heart is then extended directly to the Christian readers of Hebrews in verse 12:
Take care, brothers, lest there be in any of you an evil, unbelieving heart, leading you to fall away from the living God.
In other words, “Let’s follow the Lord.” The writer then adds, “Exhort one another . . . that none of you may be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin” (verse 13). He is saying, “Let’s encourage each other in Christ to resist sinful backsliding that takes us off the path of blessing and spiritual rest.” The author is connecting this promised rest for Israel in Canaan to the joy of our rest in Christ today.
He then begins chapter 4 with this:
Therefore, while the promise of entering his rest still stands, let us fear lest any of you should seem to have failed to reach it. (verse 1)
The writer thus affirms that while the Israelites of Moses’ generation failed to enter God’s rest, there is still a place of rest available to believers.
Now here is something we need to keep in mind—and it is something that confuses many people today as they read this text. Canaan, the place of rest, is not a picture of heaven. I know we sing a lot of hymns that consider Canaan, the promised land, as symbolic of heaven. But that is simply not a true analogy.
Canaan was a place of rest and joy that came from following the Lord. It was also a place of danger and battles and steps of faith. The Israelites needed to trust and follow the Lord in order to enter into and enjoy this place of rest.
One Bible teacher put it this way—and I could not agree more:
Canaan is not a picture of heaven, but of the believer’s present spiritual inheritance in Christ. Believers who doubt God’s Word and rebel against Him do not miss heaven, but they do miss out on the blessings of their inheritance today.[1]
We can miss out on the joy of obedience due to hardness of heart and sinful decisions. Like the Israelites of old, we can forfeit the blessings of peace and contentment if we choose to stray off the path in disobedience to Christ.
This is a warning for Christians to walk with Christ and experience victory in battle against sin and the temptations of the world. In fact, the writer says here in verse 3, “We who have believed enter that rest.” And the verb “enter” here is in the present tense—it means, we “are daily entering.” This place of rest is a present reality available to believers. And we don’t want to miss it because we have hardened hearts.
So, there was a Canaan rest promised for Israel in the past—through Moses. There is a present and ongoing rest for believers—through Christ.
Now in verse 10 the writer tells us, “Whoever has entered God’s rest has also rested from his works as God did from his.” This is a reference to that moment when we finally enter a future, eternal rest—a rest in God’s presence in heaven, where there are no more battles, no more temptations. All the labors of this life will cease, and we will enjoy Him forever.
Moses cannot offer that kind of promise—that kind of eternal rest—beloved. It comes only through Christ, our Lord.
The central point in these chapters is clear from the repeated appeal, which we see again in verse 7: “Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts.” In other words, “Let’s trust Him. Let’s follow Him. Let’s believe His promises—they will last forever.”
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