Beautiful singing. I love that song.
So I have not met you. My name is Aaron, and I’m the preaching pastor here. We’re really happy that you’re with us on this very, very beautiful spring morning. If you have a Bible with you, open up to the book of Hebrews, chapter three. Our text of study will be verses one through six. And if you don’t have a Bible with you, good news! There are Bibles on the pews. If you want to find one of those, it’s on page 550 or 581, I think. That’s right, 581.
As you open up your Bibles, please keep them open, because after I read it, we’re just going to walk through the passage this morning. I want to make sure that you see where these words are coming from in God’s Word. So Hebrews 3:1 is mentioned. I’ll read through verse six, and then I will pray and ask for the Lord’s blessing on our time.
This is what the Bible says:
“Therefore, holy brothers, you who share in a heavenly calling, consider Jesus the apostle and high priest of our confession, who is faithful to him who appointed him, just as Moses also was faithful in all God’s house. 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. For a house is built by someone, but the builder of all things is God. And Moses was faithful in all God’s house as a servant to testify to the things that are to be spoken later. But Christ is faithful over God’s house as a son. And we are his house, if indeed we hold fast our confidence and our boasting in our hope.”
So that’s God’s Word for us this morning. Would you please pray with me?
Lord, it is good to be together. It’s good to be together because we’re here to hear from you, from your Word, through even the folly of preaching. So, Lord, please help me to be a good communicator of this sacred text. Please help me to speak clearly. Please also help the congregation to hear your voice from your Word. May your Holy Spirit be very active in this time. And, Lord, we want to see Jesus through your Word. We pray this all in Jesus’ name. Amen.
Okay, so there’s a simple phrase that I’m sure many of us are familiar with: “par excellence,” which carries the meaning of the quintessential example or the truest example of its kind. For example, you could say, “Michael Jordan is par excellence when it comes to basketball,” or “Susan Cain is par excellence when it comes to film,” or “Shakespeare is par excellence when it comes to being a playwright.”
If we go back in time to the period around Christ, if we were to ask the Jewish people who is par excellence of the Jewish faith, a name that would no doubt come up time and time again is the name Moses, as the par excellence of what it looks like to live out the Jewish tradition. In his commentary on Hebrews, Hughes picks up on this great appreciation, this admiration that many had for Moses around the time of Christ. In his commentary, he gives several reasons why Moses would have been held in such high regard as the par excellence.
Let me just quickly share some of these with you.
First, Hughes wrote that Moses was divinely chosen by God. If you know the story of Moses, or perhaps you’ve watched the classic movie “The Ten Commandments,” you remember how God uniquely preserved Moses’ life by saving him as a baby from genocide, putting him in a basket that floated down the Nile River right into the arms of Pharaoh’s daughter, who raised Moses as her own son. Then God uniquely came to Moses and commissioned him with the task of leading God’s people out of the bondage of slavery in Egypt, which he did by speaking to Moses through the burning bush, where God even told Moses his divine name, Yahweh, or in our English translations, “I am.”
Second, Moses was used by God to deliver the Jewish people from the bonds of slavery in Egypt, which he did by performing incredible miracles, like the series of plagues that God did through Moses. Because Moses was the great deliverer of the slaves, there’s no doubt that throughout church history, Moses would have been seen as an incredible hero.
Third, Moses was a great prophet. He was even referred to as the greatest of the Old Testament prophets, namely because he was able to communicate with God in unique ways. God delivered his message to his people through Moses, uniquely not only in the scene of the burning bush but also on Mount Sinai, where Moses received the law of God.
This leads us to the fourth reason Hughes mentioned: Moses was held in such high regard because he was the giver of the Old Testament law, which includes the Ten Commandments. The law served as a guide for all the various practices expected of a Jewish person, whether they be religious, ceremonial, judicial, or moral practices.
Fifth, Moses was a great Jewish historian. He was used by God to write the Torah, or the first five books of the Bible, which share important historical events and details, starting with creation and how history began. This began with the words of Moses that simply say, “In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.”
Sixth, which is the final marker that Hughes pointed out, Moses was just a humble man. In fact, the book of Numbers refers to him as being very meek, more than all the people on the face of the earth. This is impressive in the context when you think about Moses being humble before God. He was a hero; he was able to do some of the most incredible and unique things in all of history, like the burning bush, the plagues, freeing God’s people from slavery. Remember how he was used by the Lord to part the Red Sea and receive the law? He was able to see God in unique ways, ways that made his face shine so brightly that Moses had to put a veil over it because it was so blinding for others to see.
So he really was the hero of heroes, yet he was humble. There’s a famous quote that says, “Listen to our heroes. Don’t meet your heroes,” because if you meet your heroes, you always go away disappointed. I think this is commonly the case because of how prideful and obnoxious some of our heroes can be in real life. But this is very different with Moses. To meet Moses would have meant to meet the most humble of people on the earth.
With all these reasons that Hughes gave, it’s easy to see why many would say Moses is par excellence when it comes to the faith. This morning, as we gather together and come to our next study in Hebrews, we see that the writer of Hebrews reminds his readers that as great as Moses was—and he was great—there is one who is greater than Moses. In fact, he is so much greater than Moses that he is the one Moses was always pointing us to as the true par excellence: the Lord Jesus Christ.
Now, before we walk back through the text, let me give you some quick reminders of where we’ve been in our study of Hebrews, which we started just a few weeks back. This book was written probably sometime in the early sixties A.D., before the destruction of the Jewish temple in Jerusalem in 70 A.D. This was a time of increased persecution towards early Christians, primarily coming from the Roman Empire. However, there was also persecution on the rise from those in the Jewish faith who rejected Jesus as being the Christ, the Messiah.
As this persecution started to increase, naturally, these early Christians—who, based on the context, were very likely Jewish Christians—were beginning to entertain the idea of walking away from the faith, walking away from the Lord Jesus Christ by returning to their Old Testament Jewish faith. For these early Jewish Christians, the suffering, the persecution, as well as the threat of more to come, was becoming too much. They were beginning to doubt if following Jesus was actually worth it.
Throughout the letter, the writer of Hebrews encouraged and warned his readers against that idea they were entertaining, doing so in ways that reminded them that Jesus was worth suffering for because compared to all things, he simply is better. He is the par excellence of all things, particularly in the context of the Old Testament Jewish faith.
As mentioned, the first readers were entertaining the idea of going back to Moses, as if he were the best. But for the writer of Hebrews, as great as Moses was, as great an example as he was, Jesus is still greater. Because in the end, as mentioned, even Moses wrote about him. Moses pointed us to him, the one who is greater than all things and worth suffering for.
Okay, with that as your introduction, if you want to look back with me, starting in verse one of our passage, we read these words:
“Therefore, holy brothers, you who share in a heavenly calling, consider Jesus.”
Let me just stop here to walk us through what I just read. First, let’s think through the word “therefore” that starts out verse one. I mentioned this a few weeks back; the word “therefore” is kind of like a hinge word that brings together specific information on the front side that is meant to drive us to some type of application on the backside.
So for us, it requires us to remember the information we got last week on the front end of that hinge. I think that information specifically refers to verse 18 of chapter two, where we left off last week. In our text last week, we had a lot of information concerning the nature and person of Jesus Christ—fully God, fully man. As fully God and fully man, Jesus is able to save us from our sins and save us into eternal life.
In addition, as fully God and fully man, Jesus also proves to be our great high priest, who is able to identify with us in all of our weakness, yet without sin. As he identifies with us in our weakness, he actually ministers to us in our weakness with his mercy and grace. Specifically, verse 18 from last week tells us that Jesus is our great high priest who suffered when tempted and is able to help those who are being tempted.
Let’s go back to the introduction for the original readers. Their suffering, the increase of persecution, was tempting them to walk away from the faith. Because of all that information on the front side of the hinge—right?—Jesus helping those in need, our text says, “Therefore, holy brothers, you who share in a heavenly calling.”
The application of all that information we looked at last week is this: you ought to consider Jesus; consider him in your suffering, in all of your temptation.
Second, let me point out the phrase “holy brothers” or “holy brothers and sisters.” This seems to be the author continuing on one of the thoughts we looked at in our passage last week as it relates to sanctification, where God is growing his people to be holy like he is holy. This is part of God’s saving work in our lives.
Last week, we talked about a few bigger theological words that communicate one’s salvation. The first word is “justification.” This is at the start of one’s salvation, where, by grace through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, a sinner is justified. By faith, the righteousness of Christ is counted as their righteousness, where their sins are forgiven before the courtroom of God because of Jesus. They’re justified.
But then, after one is justified, God’s saving work begins to sanctify them, growing them to be more and more like Christ, to be holy like he is holy. As mentioned last week, the end result of God’s saving work is glorification, where Christ returns to bring his people into glory, which is the heavenly calling that our passage speaks toward—the heavenly calling that they share as holy, sanctified brothers and sisters.
Third, let’s specifically talk about just this phrase “brothers” or “brothers and sisters.” This phrase here is actually one of my favorite pictures in the New Testament concerning the church, which is a picture of a family. This is something we touched on last week. As Christ saves his people, he then refers to them as his children, given to him by God the Father.
In the New Testament, this is how the Christian community was referred to: the church is a family, a family made up of brothers and sisters in Christ who share a common heavenly Father and a common heavenly calling. This week, as I was thinking through this passage, the theme of family and church community—the theme of Christ bringing his people together into this great saving work—is something I didn’t really think about or consider prior to studying this week.
In the past, as I thought through this passage, I almost exclusively focused on Jesus being greater than Moses, which certainly is at the heartbeat of this passage from the text. One of the reasons why Jesus is greater is because of the family, the community that he creates—a family, a community who share in a heavenly calling.
This works for the rest of the sermon. Today, we’re going to talk about this reality of community as it really does fill up our passage. For now, in our text, verse one is on the one side of the hinge: who Jesus is, the great faithful high priest who is there to help us when we’re tempted, who is there to help us in our time of need.
On this side of the hinge are those who are saved by God, who are holy and sanctified children of God, who share the promise of eternal life to come. As we face temptations, including suffering and persecution that might cause us to think about walking away, the author tells those first readers—and he tells us—consider Jesus. Consider him before you do that. This is the application.
On this side of the hinge, consider Jesus. Fix your eyes; fix your thoughts on him. Look to Jesus. Keep looking to Jesus in whatever temptation you’re facing. Look to him and see that he’s simply better, as he is there to help us in our times of need.
Continuing in our text, as we consider Jesus—the one who is better—we do so by recognizing that he is the apostle and high priest of our confession, who was faithful to him who appointed him, meaning God the Father, just as he appointed Moses, who also was faithful in all God’s house.
Now, this term “apostle” basically means “sent one.” In the New Testament, this most often refers to an authoritative office at the early start of the church, many of those who were uniquely sent from God to proclaim the gospel and establish the church, like the Apostle John, the Apostle Peter, the Apostle Paul, among a handful of other apostles.
But the term “apostle” is used here in our text in Hebrews, referring to God the Father sending God the Son to be the apostle par excellence. The Lord Jesus Christ, the sent one, has come to build a holy and heavenly community, which we just talked about in the text.
This is what we, as readers, are to consider as we consider Jesus: that he’s the apostle, the sent one. He’s the one who has come to build this community through his death and resurrection from the dead.
Likewise, readers are to consider Jesus as their high priest, which is something we’ve come across a few times in our study. I keep coming across this in our study of Hebrews: that Jesus is our faithful high priest who ministers to his people in mercy and grace.
In the weeks to come, we’re going to see the different ways that we can consider Jesus as our high priest in our text today. I think specifically the writer is pointing us to consider Jesus as our high priest to consider how he ministers on behalf of his community, which, as mentioned, he ultimately does by shedding his blood to cleanse his people from our sins.
He is our propitiation for our sins because on the cross, in the place of his people, our great high priest bore the wrath of God—the judgment of God—in our stead so that we could be forgiven. In our text last week, we saw that our great high priest is not ashamed of us because there is no more condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. This allows us, his people, to come—and to continue to come—to Jesus, the great high priest, to find mercy and help and healing in our times of need, because he actually lives to make intercession for his people.
Friends, this is something we must consider as we consider Jesus. This is something we must continue to consider as we fix our eyes upon him. In our text, this is what God the Father appointed the Lord Jesus, his eternal Son, to do: to be the apostle, to be the high priest for us and for our salvation.
As God appointed Jesus as our apostle and high priest, we’re reminded this was the first time that God made an appointment for the good of his people. Long before that, many years prior to the coming of Christ and his incarnation, God the Father also appointed Moses, who was faithful in all of God’s house.
As mentioned, Moses was one of the great heroes of the faith. He is an incredible picture of faithfulness. Moses was faithful in the face of a lot of challenges, a lot of difficulty, and a lot of harsh criticism. No doubt he faced a lot of stress, yet he was faithful. Our text tells us he was faithful in all of God’s house.
This phrase “faithful in all of God’s house” actually comes from a story revolving around Moses in Numbers twelve that uses that phrase. In Numbers twelve, we find a story of an incredibly difficult and stressful time for Moses, where he faced harsh criticism and ridicule from his own family. In this story, Moses’ siblings, his sister Miriam and his brother Aaron (different Aaron), were becoming increasingly jealous of Moses and the ministry and influence he had over God’s people.
They were particularly jealous of Moses being the prophet of God, who spoke God’s word to the people. Miriam and Aaron wanted that for themselves; they wanted the responsibilities that God had appointed to Moses.
In Numbers twelve, the Lord rebuked Miriam and Aaron for their jealousy by telling them that Moses is faithful in all my house. That’s why he was given the responsibility over them. This speaks to Moses’ trustworthiness in other places. He was so trustworthy that Moses was able to behold the form of God in this present life in ways that only others will see in eternal life to come.
At the end of verse two, we see the writer recognizing just the greatness that Moses had—so great, so trustworthy, so faithful—that God allowed Moses to see things and do things unlike any other. However, in verse three, as great as Moses was, he wasn’t the greatest.
Our text tells us that Jesus has been counted worthy of more glory than even the great Moses. Jesus is better; he is the par excellence—greater than even Moses, filled with an even greater glory. The text, in verse three, tells us the reason why Jesus was greater than even the great Moses: “As much more glory as the builder of a house has more honor than the house itself.”
Without the builder, there would be no house. Let me pause here just to mention a few things. I think this first seems to continue to pick up on one of the themes that we’ve circled a few times earlier in our study—namely, the theme concerning the eternal nature of the Son of God, who in chapter one created the world, who laid the foundation of the earth at its beginning. All things were created by the Son and for the Son.
In our text today, the eternal Son, Jesus, is better than Moses. Why? Because he is the builder of the house—making Jesus come before Moses, who lived thousands of years before the coming of Christ.
Second, we should point out that the house the Lord has built is, I think, once again the author picking up on the theme of the saving work of Jesus Christ. This work brings us not only into a relationship with God himself but also with each other as a family—a community, a spiritual house, a temple made up of living stones.
Third, let me also mention that according to New Testament scholar D.A. Carson, this illustration of a house perhaps was just pulled out of thin air by the author, and there’s actually nothing more to this illustration than what’s there at face value—a builder and a house. However, Carson points out that perhaps there’s actually more going on underneath the surface in this illustration.
Perhaps this is the author pointing his readers to an ancient phrase that simply states, “That which has made is superior to the things made,” perhaps making this a cultural illustration that would have been easier for the first readers to pick up on.
Or Carson mentioned that perhaps, as the author of Hebrews gave this illustration of a house, he’s actually reflecting upon the story of the great Old Testament King David and the promise that God made to David that through his lineage, God would build a house—a house from which the Christ would ultimately come.
I do think this is what the author wants his readers to pick up on in this illustration: that God has built a spiritual house that was promised to David, which has now come through the saving work of Christ—the one who was born in the lineage of David.
However, that being said, whatever the origins of the illustration, the point behind it is clear: Jesus is greater, even greater than Moses.
Verse four further speaks to this: “For every house is built by someone, but the builder of all things is God,” making the Lord supreme and superior as he is the builder of all things, including each of us here. As the builder of all things, the Lord is ultimately the one we must set our focus and attention upon.
In verse five, we see that Moses was faithful. The author is stressing that reality: he was faithful in all God’s house. A great man of faith who provides for us an example to look toward. Moses was faithful as a servant—even in his leadership role, his role as a prophet, his role as the deliverer, his role as the giver of the law. All those roles were simply serving roles for Moses, serving in ways that our text tells us were there to testify to the things that were to be spoken of later.
This down the road, this future, this spoken of later, I think, is the author going back to his thesis statement that we’ve looked at a few times already in our study, which is found in the opening verse of Hebrews: “Long ago, at many times, and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets, including the great prophet Moses. But in these last days, he has spoken to us definitively by his Son.”
In the end, that’s where the prophets—including Moses—were always pointing us: to the eternal Son, the great God-man, the Lord Jesus Christ. He is the one whom Moses testified about; he is the one whom Moses wrote about; he is the one whom Moses served: the Lord Jesus Christ, the crucified and risen Savior. He is the one who proved to be the one who was to come down the road, the one who was spoken of later.
Finally, we’ll end this morning with verse six: “But unlike Moses, who is found faithful as a servant, Christ has been found faithful over God’s house as a Son.” This speaks to the position of privilege, authority, and honor. There’s no one greater than him, as Christ is the Son.
In our text, we—the holy brothers and sisters, who share in this heavenly calling—are his blood-bought house. That is, if indeed we hold fast our confession and our boasting in our hope, which is actually the next warning in this book filled with warnings for those who entertain the idea of walking away from the faith—walking away from Jesus Christ—walking away from their confession, walking away from the boasting and the hope that Christ offers.
If they walk away, they prove to actually never be part of his house, which is the house that he builds on the rock that is able to stand against all the storms of life that crash against it, including persecution and suffering. But for those who do not hold fast to their confession—the boasting of their hope—over time, their house has proved to be built upon the sand, which washes away with the rain and all the cares and challenges that this world may bring.
Now, I want to finish up our time here by going back to this side of the hinge of our text today and the application, which is to consider Jesus—to fix our eyes, to fix our thoughts upon him, to see him as indeed the par excellence over all things.
With that being said, let me just give you a few things to consider, and then we’ll be done.
First, consider Jesus by seeing that he is the apostle and the high priest of our confession. Indeed, he is the sent one of God—one sent to save his people from their sins—which he did by becoming sin, by dying in the place of his people on the cross, only to rise again from the dead on the third day.
Friends, this is something we must consider and continue to consider when it comes to Jesus Christ—what he has done for us as the apostle and high priest of our faith.
Now, my guess is that most of us here are Christians who testify that you have trusted in Jesus with your life. But can I ask, when’s the last time you actually really considered Jesus and what he has done for you as the truest apostle, or what he continues to do for you as your great high priest who ministers to you in mercy and grace?
I’ve been a Christian for a little over 20 years, and I know this to be a challenge. It’s easy to take Jesus for granted, to take the realities of what he’s done for me for granted, where these realities almost become lukewarm in my heart, where they don’t cause me to wonder in ways they once did.
Friend, if this sounds like you this morning, can I encourage you to intentionally set a time this week just to consider afresh Jesus Christ, your apostle and high priest?
Now, I know for some of you feel like your schedule is so full. But as good as it sounds to do, you just don’t feel like you have the margin in your life right now to take time to consider Jesus.
Friend, if that’s you, if I can speak directly to you: if you’re too busy to consider Jesus, there are some real adjustments that you need to make. Adjustments that you actually need to trust the Lord with—adjustments that you should be willing to make because you see and understand and believe that Jesus is simply better, and he’s worthy of whatever adjustments you might have to make.
Don’t get so caught up in the rat race of life chasing whatever you’re chasing that you might lose your soul as you’ve stopped considering Jesus. Friends, please slow down. Consider Jesus. Fix your heart and your eyes on him as he is revealed to us in his Word.
Now, for those of you here who are not Christians, I also want to invite you to consider Jesus as the apostle and high priest. I want you to consider Jesus in ways that are real and personal to you—where you start to consider Jesus as your apostle, your high priest—who died for you in your place to forgive you of your sin. He is worth you leaving all things behind in order to have him.
Let me share a personal story with you that maybe you might resonate with. As I mentioned, I’ve been a Christian for a little over 20 years. Before that time, I knew some of the stories of the Bible, and I definitely knew the story of Jesus dying on the cross and rising again from the dead.
But I consciously remember thinking to myself, “I really don’t believe these stories to be true,” because if they were true, they ought to have some bearing on my life. I lived my life trying a lot of different things to find meaning, purpose, and hope. Eventually, I found myself incredibly depressed because in my quest for meaning and purpose, I just kept hitting one dead end after another.
At the end of each dead end, I began to see how much of a failure I had become in my life—how much I was falling short at every step. In the sweet providence of God, in my lowest moment, I was invited to a Bible study.
Even though some of the stories we heard in the Bible study were ones I had heard before, particularly concerning the death and resurrection of Jesus, for the first time, I actually began to consider Jesus. I began to consider him in ways where I began to consider my sin and my failures, all that falling upon his shoulders for me.
I began to consider Jesus, out of great love, dying for me. For the first time, as I considered Jesus and the sweet providence of God, Jesus became incredibly real to me—where his wooden cross and empty tomb had such a bearing in my life.
At that point, I began to consciously see how they meant everything. Friend, I hope that’s true of you even today—that today you would consider Jesus in this way. Consider him as your apostle and high priest, who means everything to you, trusting that indeed he loves you and sees you as his precious child.
Second, consider Jesus by looking towards eternal life. Friends, this is really important as we go through life—that we see it in light of the eternal life that is to come, which in large part is why Jesus came as the apostle and high priest—to bring his people into eternal life with him.
In our text, we must remember, as we consider Jesus, our heavenly calling. We must consider in ways that we are holding fast to that calling as a real part of the confidence and the hope that we boast in—as we boast in Jesus and the life that he gives.
One of the ways we can get so sidetracked in this life is when we forget to consider the eternal life that is to come and forget to live our lives in light of the life that Jesus brings to us. We forget about this holy city that has true foundations, found in a better country, where its designer and builder is God.
Friends, this is something we are to consider as we consider the Lord Jesus Christ—the eternal life that he offers—eternal life filled with his love, his joy, and his peace. Eternal life that he promised to give to all who, by faith, come to him.
Let me also add here that while it’s always important for us to consider the holy calling that Jesus Christ has given to his people, it’s probably even more important to consider this holy calling during times of suffering and persecution.
This context of Hebrews is where they were tempted to think that maybe this life is it—perhaps maybe Jesus actually isn’t worth any of this. Somewhere along the lines, they started to forget that their present suffering, as weird and as painful as it was, was only slight and momentary compared to the eternal weight of glory that awaits God’s people.
Third, consider Jesus by looking to the house that he has built, which is a house that we see visibly in this life in the local church, which the New Testament refers to as the body of Christ.
As we consider Jesus, we must also consider each other—this community that he has built through the shedding of his own blood. This community is bound together as family. Friends, this is something I didn’t think a lot about in this text before studying for the sermon.
But this reality of community is really all over the passage, which means for us it’s actually part of the application. As we consider Jesus, we have to consider how we might serve one another in ways that hopefully mirror Moses. We can talk more about this in just a bit.
We serve in ways that we are making much of Jesus Christ—serving in ways where our heart is to be found faithful—faithful to whatever gifts and opportunities the Lord has laid before us.
Are we considering and serving the community in such a way that we model Hebrews 10, where we’re not neglecting to meet together (which perhaps is a habit of some), but we’re meeting together, serving one another in ways that we’re stirring one another up in love and good works?
We’re encouraging one another in our heavenly calling as the day of eternal life comes nearer and nearer. By the way, this is a reminder for us: this is why we’re not just a social club as a church, where our entire purpose exists just for social benefits—although we hope that’s happening.
This is also why, as a church, we’re not just looking to hunker down and keep ourselves safe as we wait for heaven to come. Rather, we are a community that is there to serve and build each other up, where we’re trying to multiply and grow to be like Moses, testifying to the glory of Christ.
If you’re here and not yet connected to a local church community, we’d love to talk to you about our church.
Last one: consider Jesus by looking to Moses. Now, Moses is not the par excellence, but he is one who was used by the Lord uniquely to point us to the par excellence. So, real quickly, as we close, let me just give you three ways that Moses points us to Christ.
First, Moses points us to Christ as a type of Christ. There are things in Moses’ life that are pictures or types—like arrows, signs pointing us to Jesus—to help us to better see our Lord. There are many pictures or types in the life of Moses that point us to Christ. Let me just give you a few.
Moses was born during a time when Pharaoh was on a murderous rampage, killing baby boys—much like Christ was born during a similar murderous rampage of Herod. Moses brought God’s people out of Egypt, much like Christ came up out of Egypt after Herod’s death. Moses was a great prophet who spoke God’s word, yet as he spoke God’s word, he also foretold of a better prophet who was to come—who would be like him, but better. A prophet that we must listen to: Jesus.
Moses was the great redeemer who set his people free from the bondage of slavery and sets us up for the better and true Redeemer, who saves his people from the bondage of sin and death. Moses was used by God to mediate a covenant between God and his people, yet our Lord Jesus came with a new covenant—mediated and sealed with his blood.
Moses wandered in the wilderness for 40 years, facing many trials and temptations, while Christ was in the wilderness for 40 days, tempted and tried by Satan.
One more: Moses, in Exodus, offered to lay down his life for the people of God who were in sin, which is exactly what Jesus did for his people on the cross.
So, friends, yes, read Moses—see the example of Moses—but also see how his example is a picture, a type, pointing us to the par excellence.
Second, as we look to Moses, see that he points us to Christ because he actually wrote about Christ—testifying to the things that were spoken later. In the gospel of Luke, after the resurrection, Jesus sat down with two men where he opened up the Scriptures. He said to them, “These are the words I spoke to you while I was still with you, that everything written about me in the law of Moses and the prophets and the psalms must be fulfilled.”
In the gospel of John, Jesus told his religious opponents, “For if you believed Moses, you would believe me, for he wrote about me.” This means Moses didn’t write for us to see him or history or just the law. Rather, Moses wrote for us to see the Lord Jesus Christ, who is the great “yes” and “amen” of all God’s Word.
Third, Moses points us to Christ in how he lived for Christ—an example that he gave us of what that looks like. In our text, how did he live for Christ? He gave us an example of faithfulness—faithfulness in all God’s house—an example that should help us be faithful as we too set our hearts to live for Christ.
In addition, Hebrews 11 mentions so many other heroes of the faith, who, by the way, probably also would receive votes if we were able to poll the ancient Jewish people around the time of Christ as to who the par excellence was of the faith. Hebrews 11 says this about Moses: “By faith, Moses, when he had grown up, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter, choosing rather to be mistreated with the people of God than to enjoy the fleeting pleasures of sin. He considered the reproach of Christ greater wealth than the treasures of Egypt, for he was looking forward to the reward.”
This is the example that helps us live for Christ. As an example, this information I just read for you is on one side of a hinge, which leads us to chapter 12. As we look to Moses, we see his faith—how he lived for Christ and how he was willing to suffer for Christ.
The application is that, “Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses”—whether it be Moses or other Old Testament heroes of the faith, or perhaps it’s even people you see today who give an example of how to live for Jesus—this great cloud of witnesses is there.
Why? The application is so we would lay aside every weight and sin that clings so closely, so we can run with endurance the race set before us.
How? By looking to Jesus—by considering Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who, for the joy that was set before him, endured the cross, despised the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.
So, friends, yes, Moses was great, primarily because he was used by God to point others to the par excellence that is Jesus Christ.
Redbill Church, may that be true of us as well—that as we consider Jesus to be the one who is greater than all things, we too might live for him and point many others to him as well.
Let’s pray.
Lord, thank you for this passage. Thank you for Moses and so many others who’ve gone before us who pointed us to Jesus Christ. I do pray this morning that you would help us to consider Jesus—to consider him through the eyes of faith as he is revealed to us in the Scriptures.
Lord, I pray for those who may be feeling a little more lukewarm this morning towards Christ, that through the power of your Spirit, you would encourage them and fan the flame in their hearts.
And Lord, we also pray for those who do not yet know Christ this morning—that you would help them to consider you in ways that lead them to trust and believe. I pray this in Jesus’ name. Amen.