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Bringing Many Sons to Glory
Hebrews 2:18 For in that He Himself has suffered, being tempted, He is able to aid those who are tempted.
The fourth blessing is help for the tempted. Because He Himself has suffered and has been tempted, He is able to aid those who are going through temptation. He can help others going through it because He has been there Himself.
The Lord Jesus was tempted from without, but never from within. The temptation in the wilderness shows Him being tempted from without. Satan appeared to Him and sought to appeal to Him by external stimuli. But the Savior could never be tempted to sin by lusts and passions within, for there was no sin in Him and nothing to respond to sin. He suffered, being tempted. Whereas it pains us to resist temptation, it pained Him to be tempted.
Jesus is Greater Than Moses
Hebrews 3:1 Therefore, holy brethren, partakers of the heavenly calling, consider the Apostle and High Priest of our confession, Christ Jesus,
Moses was one of Israel’s greatest national heroes. Therefore the third main step in the writer’s strategy is to demonstrate Christ’s infinite superiority to Moses.
The message is addressed to holy brethren, partakers of the heavenly calling. All true believers are holy as to their position, and they should be holy as to their practice. In Christ they are holy; in themselves they ought to be holy.
Their heavenly calling is in contrast to the earthly call of Israel. Old Testament saints were called to material blessings in the land of promise (though they did have a heavenly hope as well). In the Church Age, believers are called to spiritual blessings in the heavenlies now and to a heavenly inheritance in the future.
Consider Jesus. He is eminently worthy of our consideration as the Apostle and High Priest of our confession. In confessing Him as Apostle, we mean that He represents God to us. In confessing Him as High Priest, we mean that He represents us before God.
Hebrews 3:2 who was faithful to Him who appointed Him, as Moses also was faithful in all His house.
There is one aspect in which He was admittedly similar to Moses. He was faithful to God, just as Moses also was faithful in God’s house.
The house here does not mean only the tabernacle but also the entire sphere in which Moses represented God’s interests. It is the house of Israel, God’s ancient earthly people. There is one aspect in which He was admittedly similar to Moses. He was faithful to God, just as Moses also was faithful in God’s house.
Hebrews 3:3 For this One has been counted worthy of more glory than Moses, inasmuch as He who built the house has more honor than the house.
In every other respect there is undisputed superiority. First the Lord Jesus is worthy of more glory than Moses because the builder of a house has more honor than the house itself. The Lord Jesus was the Builder of God’s house; Moses was only a part of the house.
Hebrews 3:4 For every house is built by someone, but He who built all things is God.
Second, Jesus is greater because He is God. Every house must have a builder. The One who built all things is God. The Lord Jesus was the active Agent in creation. The conclusion is unavoidable—Jesus Christ is God.
John 1:3 All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made.
Colossians 1:16 For by Him all things were created that are in heaven and that are on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers. All things were created through Him and for Him.
Hebrews 1:2 has in these last days spoken to us by His Son, whom He has appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the worlds;
Hebrews 1:10 And: “You, Lord, in the beginning laid the foundation of the earth, And the heavens are the work of Your hands.
Hebrews 3:5 And Moses indeed was faithful in all His house as a servant, for a testimony of those things which would be spoken afterward,
The third point is that Christ is greater as a Son. Moses was a faithful … servant in all God’s house (Num. 12:7), pointing men forward to the coming Messiah.
He testified of those things which would be spoken afterward, that is, the good news of salvation in Christ. That is why Jesus said on one occasion, “If you believed Moses, you would believe Me; for he wrote about Me” (John 5:46).
In His discourse with the disciples on the road to Emmaus, Jesus began at Moses and all the prophets, and “expounded to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning Himself” (Luke 24:27).
Hebrews 3:6 but Christ as a Son over His own house, whose house we are if we hold fast the confidence and the rejoicing of the hope firm to the end.
But Christ was faithful over God’s house as a Son, not as a servant, and in His case, sonship means equality with God. God’s house is His own house.
Here the writer explains what is meant by God’s house today. It is composed of all true believers in the Lord Jesus: whose house we are if we hold fast the confidence and the rejoicing of the hope firm to the end. The true meaning is that we prove we are God’s house if we hold fast.
Endurance is a proof of reality. Those who lose confidence in Christ and in His promises and return to rituals and ceremonies show that they were never born again. It is against such apostasy that the following warning is directed.
A Rest for God’s People
Hebrews 3:7 Therefore, as the Holy Spirit says: “Today, if you will hear His voice,
At this point the writer interjects the second warning of the Epistle—a warning against hardening the heart. It had happened to Israel in the wilderness and it could happen again. So the Holy Spirit is still speaking through Psalm 95:7–11, as He did when He first inspired it, “Today, if you will hear His voice.”
Hindson, E. E., & Kroll, W. M. (Eds.). (1994). KJV Bible Commentary (p. 121). Nashville: Thomas Nelson. MacArthur, J. F., Jr., MacDonald, Farstad, Believers Bible; Hindson, E. E., & Kroll, W. M. (Eds.). (1994). KJV Bible Commentary (p. 2195). Nashville: Thomas Nelson.
