Hebrews 3:1-6 Jesus greater than Moses
Memory Verse Hebrews 3:1(KJV)
Wherefore, holy brethren, partakers of the heavenly calling, consider the Apostle and High Priest of our profession, Christ Jesus
In Chapter 1 and 2, we treated the supremacy of Jesus over the prophets and the angels, now we want to look at the supremacy of Jesus over Moses. Chapter 3 started with “Therefore” meaning it is a continuation of Chapter 2.
The Prophets, Angels and Moses were held in high regard by the Jews, some Jews were even paying them some form of earthly worship. The author of Hebrews wanted the Jews to know that although they respected Angels, Prophets and Moses, they are not as great as the Messiah who laid down his life to redeem the whole world.
The Chapter started by addressing the readers as Holy Brethren who share in his heavenly calling. Who are the Holy Brethren? They are people of God who are holy in their hearts as well as in their lives.
Initially, there was an earthly calling; all the promises to the Israelites in the Old Testament were earthly. The earthly calling made way for the heavenly calling through the death of Christ. Hebrews 11:9, 10 talks about the heavenly calling Abraham and the men of old lived for: “By faith he sojourned in the land of promise, as in a strange country, dwelling in tabernacles with Isaac and Jacob, the heirs with him of the same promise: For he looked for a city which hath foundations, whose builder and maker is God”
Now we do know that as the people of God we are partakers of his heavenly calling, and we have access to God through the death of Jesus. By the grace of God, He has given us a heavenly calling, but before we can access God we need to accept Jesus and go to Him for help. John 14:6: Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.
The author went ahead to tell us how we can achieve this heavenly calling, he knows we can’t do it on our own. We need the help of Jesus.We need to fix our thoughts on Jesus. And someone will ask, “What does fixing our thoughts on Jesus mean?” Fixing our thoughts on Jesus means giving him our full attention, giving Him a closer consideration.
Many people want to enjoy the benefits of salvation yet they haven’t given Jesus any consideration yet. They don’t have Christ in their thoughts. We, that are considered his holy brethren need to give Christ our full attention, focus our thoughts on him.
When we focus our thoughts on Jesus, our lifestyle begins to reflect Jesus, but if we choose not to fix our thoughts on Jesus, other thought comes into our minds and some of these thoughts can lead us farther away from our heavenly calling.
When I was little my parents told me about WWJD meaning “What Will Jesus Do”. It wasn't until my teenage years I fully understood the meaning. My dad gave me a book titled In His Steps by Charles Sheldon. Then I understood that Jesus is our perfect example. It went a great deal to improve my lifestyle and relationship with God, because I became conscious and I sometimes ask myself if Jesus were to be Grace Itegboje today, how would he live my life? He certainly won’t insult people like I use to do in the past or tell lies like I sometimes would do to get me out of a problem. He won’t do that.
When we find ourselves in compromising situations or any situation at all, we should always ask ourselves “What will Jesus do” To know more about Christ, we need to study his word. 2 Tim 2:15: Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.
Now let us look at the Story in Numbers 21. Remember our study today centres of Jesus being greater than Moses. This is an event that occurred when Moses was leading the Israelites to the Promised Land. The people rebelled against God and he sent serpents to kill them, but out of his mercies he told Moses to make a brazen serpent to deliver those stung by the fury serpent but all they needed to do was FIX their eyes on the serpent and they will be saved.
John 3:14-15: Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the desert, so the Son of Man must be lifted up, that everyone who believes in him may have eternal life. Jesus has already been lifted up and he is even greater than the bronze serpent Moses used; God exalted Him to the highest place. Philippians 1:19. God and Jesus have played their parts and we need to play ours by fixing our eyes on Jesus the Author and Perfecter of our faith. Hebrews 12:2
The Devil has held many captive, we need to fix our eyes and thoughts on Jesus to resist the devil and run this race to the end.
Another reason why we should fix our thoughts on Jesus is because he is our Apostle and High Priest. Apostle means God sent. Jesus is an Apostle sent from God. He did what no other person has ever done and what nobody will ever be able to do. He gave his life for the world and this made Him even more qualified to lead us back to God.
Christ is not only our Apostle, he is our High Priest. The High Priest of the Old and New covenant and the head of the Church. A Prophets speaks the mind of God to his people, the Angels carries God’s message to the people but a High Priest intercedes to God on behalf of the people. High priest represents the people and lead them back to God.
Moses is regarded as one of most faithful man that ever lived. The Jews holds Moses in higher regard than Jesus probably because they knew Moses before Jesus. According to Verse 5, Moses’greatness was as a result of his faithfulness to God. He was a servant in God’s house and Jesus is the son over the house Moses served. Therefore Jesus is greater than Moses. Although Moses was faithful to God yet he didn't enter the Promised Land. Faithfulness in our WALK with God is more important that faithfulness in our WORK for God.
House here means church of God, the people incorporated together under Christ who is the head.
Moses was a faithful servant for a testimony of those things that were to come afterwards. Jesus is the fulfilment of Moses’ Testimony. Moses was faithful in his Old Testament duties and so was Christ in the New. Jesus was even more faithful in bringing the New and better covenant. Moses brought the law and they had to do with conduct but Jesus Sermon on the Mount had to do with Character
When God spoke to Moses, the people were too frightened to come near but now Jesus gave us the grace we need to approach God boldly. Now that Jesus has given us the access to God that the Prophets, Angels and Moses couldn't provide, Let us therefore focus our attention on Jesus. Involve Jesus in every part of your life and trust me you will begin to notice the difference.
No comments:
Post a Comment