Verse of the Day Devotion.  Hebrews 3:1

“Therefore, holy brothers, you who share in a heavenly calling, consider Jesus, the apostle and high priest of our confession,” – Hebrews 3:1   

As Moses especially was the prophet by whom, as seen in Hebrews 1:1, “Long ago, at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets,” being the mediator of the law, the writer of Hebrews deems it necessary now to show that, great as Moses was, the Son of God is greater. He first notes the feature of resemblance between Moses and Christ, in order to conciliate the Hebrew Christians whom He is addressing, and who still entertained a very high opinion of Moses. “who was faithful to him who appointed him, just as Moses also was faithful in all God’s house.” Hebrews 3:2. Jesus was faithful as was Moses was, so in this way they are alike. We see here what God spoke about Moses. “And he said, 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. Not so with my servant Moses. He is faithful in all my house. 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 12:5-8. We see here difference of degree God saw between Moses and His other prophets.  As we can see here, God held Moses more highly than any of the others. And lastly here, the phrase “He is faithful in all my house” refers to Israel, and with Jesus, the Church.

Now, in verse two we see a comparison of equality in their faithfulness, in verse 3 we see Jesus seen as greater than Moses. “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 every house is built by someone, but the builder of all things is God.)” Hebrews 3:3-4. The thought may well be, that Moses, as servant, is only a member or a part of the house of which Christ is the founder. Remember, Moses did not create Israel, God did. Moses was put over them to guide them where they were to go.

Then in the next two verses, the writer sums up his thoughts. “Now Moses was faithful in all God’s house as a servant, to testify to the things that were 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.” Hebrews 3:5-6. This, I believe, helped the Hebrew Christians understand why Christ is worthy of more glory then Moses, and of everyone for that matter. They always held Moses up as someone who deserved great acknowledgement. But what the writer was helping them understand was that ultimately, it is God who built the house, not Moses. And just as Moses was a servant, we are as well.

And Paul lays out our role as Christians, where he wrote, “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come. All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation; that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation. Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.” 2 Corinthians 5:17-21. The Church belongs to God, and we are a part of that house, and servants, meant to go out and fill the house with as many believers as possible. For we are His ambassadors, to go out and spread the word and living the lives God desires all to live.

William Funkhouser MDiv, ThD, Founder and President of True Devotion Ministries.