Well Pleased, Beloved Son

[1] [C]onsider Jesus, the apostle and high priest of our confession, [2] who was faithful to him who appointed him, just as Moses also was faithful in all God’s house. [3] For Jesus has been counted worthy of more glory than Moses—as much more glory as the builder of a house has more honor than the house itself. [4] (For every house is built by someone, but the builder of all things is God.) [5] Now Moses was faithful in all God’s house as a servant, to testify to the things that were to be spoken later, [6] but Christ is faithful over God’s house as a son. (Hebrews 3:1b–6a, ESV)

I love online house tours. Seeing how people arrange their homes is one of my guilty pleasures. Frequently, when I read the text that accompanies the photos of a home, I find out that the family who lived there when the photos were shot has since moved to another home—one that is bigger, or more conveniently located, or more desirable in another way. The house tour is their tribute to their former home—a house they loved but left behind for something better.

When I wrote about the faithfulness of Moses a couple of weeks ago, I did something similar. I was honoring someone who was truly great, but who was replaced by someone even better. The people to whom Hebrews was written were familiar with Moses, the Old Testament leader of the Israelites, so all the author had to do was mention Moses’s faithfulness “in all God’s house” and the readers remembered all of Moses’s work on behalf of God’s people. Most of us don’t know as much about Moses as they did, so we need the house tour, so to speak. We need to be reminded of the ways in which Moses was a faithful servant of God.

But the main point of the passage from Hebrews quoted above is not Moses’s greatness. These verses are an appeal to consider Jesus. Like Moses, Jesus was faithful to his calling as apostle and priest, but the two leaders are not equal. As good as Moses was, Jesus is better.

Jesus is worthy of more glory than Moses because he is the one who builds God’s house. He fulfills God’s promise in Zechariah 6:12-13:

And say to him, ‘Thus says the LORD of hosts, “Behold, the man whose name is the Branch: for he shall branch out from his place, and he shall build the temple of the LORD. It is he who shall build the temple of the LORD and shall bear royal honor, and shall sit and rule on his throne. And there shall be a priest on his throne, and the counsel of peace shall be between them both.”’ (ESV)

Jesus is the promised king and priest who builds God’s truest temple, because he establishes the people of God (1 Corinthians 3:16-17; 2 Corinthians 6:16; Ephesians 2:19-22). He is the divine agent of creation, the one who built everything there is (Hebrews 1:2), including the house of God.

As God’s faithful servant and one of the prophets through whom God spoke in the previous era (Hebrews 1:1), Moses anticipated a future prophet (Deuteronomy 18:15-19). He foretold and foreshadowed Jesus, God’s ultimate last days revelation (Hebrews 1:2). And for faithfully fulfilling the role God gave him, Moses deserves great honor. 

Still, as a faithful servant within the household, he was a member of God’s people. He may have been God’s chosen representative, but underneath everything, he was just a human being like every other Israelite. 

But Jesus, as the divine Son who reigns at God’s right hand, is inherently superior to those he leads. He rules the world and he rules God’s house. He is worthy of the highest glory because he “is faithful over God’s house as a son.”

Some of the original readers of Hebrews were tempted to return to Judaism, so the author compared Jesus to Moses to encourage them to not turn back, but to keep on following Jesus. Jesus, after all, is not just a faithful servant, but God’s faithful and beloved Son. He is not just a member of the people of God, but the creator of the people of God. He is not just a witness to better things to come, but is himself the better thing to come. Yes, Moses was great, but Jesus is greater. 

Why would anyone who carefully considered Jesus turn back from him? Who would leave the son to go back to the servant?

We may not be tempted to go turn from Jesus to return to Moses, but there are other things that can draw us away from him: loyalty to our families, for instance, or love of the finer things in life, or a desire for the approval of our community. And this is just the short list. 

For both the first readers of Hebrews and for us, the secret to staying true to Jesus is understanding who he is and what he has done. When we know for certain he is better than anyone or anything else, we can “hold fast our confidence and our boasting in our hope” (Hebrews 3:6b).

The key to faithfulness is to consider Jesus, the faithful Son.

Well Done, Good and Faithful Servant

[C]onsider Jesus, the apostle and high priest of our confession who was faithful to him who appointed him, just as Moses also was faithful in all God’s house. (Hebrews 3:1b-2 ESV)

Who was the greatest leader in Old Testament history? Was it David? After all, he is described as “a man after [God’s] own heart” (1 Samuel 13:14)? Is there a better commendation than this?

Before I studied the passage of scripture from which the above text comes, David would have been my answer. I don’t think I would have even considered Moses.

But Moses is definitely a contender in the great Old Testament leader category. Because he steadfastly served God among his people, God commended him as “my servant Moses,” who is “faithful in all my house” (Numbers 12:7). That’s pretty high praise.

Jesus, according to these verses, was an apostle and a high priest. The author of Hebrews can call Jesus an apostle because Jesus was sent by God to be God’s representative on earth. He was God’s emissary and spokesman. He came from God to reveal God to humanity. Jesus was also a high priest, offering himself as a propitiatory sacrifice for his people and interceding for them before God.

Moses is one of the few Old Testament leaders who, like Jesus, was both an apostle and priest.¹ As God’s emissary, Moses was sent to bring God’s people out of Egypt (Exodus 3:10). He served as God’s spokesman when, for instance, God gave him a message to deliver to Pharaoh (Exodus 9:1). Moses represented God to his people by giving God’s law to them (Exodus 19:3ff; Exodus 24:3). In the work God sent him to do, he revealed God to both the children of Israel and the nations around them. As Moses fulfilled the mission God appointed him to do, he served as an apostle.

And yes, Moses’s brother Aaron was Israel’s official High Priest, but who do we see pleading with God on behalf of the people? Who was their best intercessor? It was Moses! Do you remember when Aaron led the people in worship of the golden calf? It was Moses who petitioned God to forgive them for all for their sin (Exodus 32:30-32). When the people of Israel grumbled and rebelled against Moses and Aaron after the spies returned from the land of Canaan with a bad report, once again, it was Moses who interceded for them. He pleaded for God to pardon them, and God did (Numbers 14:19-20). “It was Moses, not Aaron, who was Israel’s true advocate with God,” writes F. F. Bruce.² As Moses interceded for the people, he served them as a priest (Psalm 99:6).

What’s more, Moses was unique among Old Testament leaders because he had more direct access to God. When we read the story that the author of Hebrews referred back to when he wrote that Moses was faithful in all God’s house, we see that God himself stepped in to defend Moses when Aaron and Miriam challenged his authority. God said to them, 

Hear my words: If there is a prophet among you, I the LORD make myself known to him in a vision; I speak with him in a dream. [7] Not so with my servant Moses. He is faithful in all my house. [8] With him I speak mouth to mouth, clearly, and not in riddles, and he beholds the form of the LORD. Why then were you not afraid to speak against my servant Moses?  (Numbers 12:6–8 ESV)

God communicated to other prophets with visions and dreams, but with Moses, he spoke “mouth to mouth” and “not in riddles.” God spoke to him clearly and directly, and Moses actually saw the form of the Lord. Miriam and Aaron should have been scared to bad mouth him, because he was greater than all the other prophets.³ 

Let’s not minimize Moses. He’s a bright star in Old Testament history. As God’s good and faithful servant, I’d say he’s a bright star in all of human history.  

Who was the greatest leader in Old Testament history? It may well have been Moses.

This is the first piece in a two-part series. Part two is here.

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¹ F.F. Bruce, The Epistle to the Hebrews, page 91.

² Bruce, page 92.

³ Tom Schreiner, Commentary on Hebrews, page 117.