Hebrews 3

Don’t Repeat the Past

Christ Is Better Than Moses and Joshua (3:1-4:13)

Christ’s Leadership Superior to Moses’ Leadership (1-6)

The author moved on to explain that not only was Christ better than the heavenly representatives who brought the Old Covenant, but He was also superior to the earthly representative through which the covenant was introduced. The first six verses present Moses as a faithful servant placed over God’s house, contrasted with Jesus the faithful Son and builder of God’s house. In God’s perspective, the builder of the house has more glory than the house or those who serve it (1-5). Then the author gave his second warning: to be His house, followers must possess hope in what God had promised with great confidence (6).

Christ’s Rest Superior to Wilderness Death (7-18)

Failure to Listen (7-11)

Moses had led the children of Israel to Kadesh-Barnea, and they were poised to enter the Promised Land. Instead of trusting in God’s promise and power to take them in and displace the giant enemy occupying the land, they feared for their lives at the report of how difficult it would have been to enter. Instead of entering the rest of obedience, they determined to enter the wandering state of death. The author’s third warning: hearts hardened to God’s voice would not enter the new promised land of Jesus and the new Heaven and Earth to come (7-11).

Failure to Encourage (12-15)

The author then deepened his appeal by warning them to care for themselves and not to allow unbelief to seep in, leading them to fall away from the promise they hold in Christ (12). He further prompted them to give each other courage every day. Being deceived into thinking one believed when one didn’t was more common than imagined. Once deceived, a hardness of heart would set in, making one resistant to hearing God's voice. Once one no longer heard God’s voice, one was robbed of a confident hope God would do what He had promised (13). The author repeated his basic concept of what was needed in times of hardship—firm confidence in the hope of what would ultimately happen as the Lord restored humanity to their place of rule with Him (14). For impact, he quoted again the Old Testament plea, “Do not harden your hearts” (15).

Failure to Remember (16-18)

The author reminded readers of how easy deception was for those who left Egypt and saw all the wonders and miracles of God; the sea itself opened so they could cross on dry land, and yet they came to utter unbelief and died (16-17). Then, the stinger: unbelief was the great act of disobedience leading to death (18).

Hebrews 4

The Rest and Message of Christ 

Christ Is Better Than Moses and Joshua  (3:1-4:13)

Failure to Enter (1-10)

The author encouraged a healthy fear of failing to enter into the rest God had for Christ-followers (1). He reminded readers that promises were, and always had been, futile if not mixed with faith (2). It was impossible to enter God’s promised rest apart from faith, although the place of rest had existed from the conception of the world (3). Then, the author gave a bit of insight into that rest, using, as an example, God’s resting from His work on the seventh day instead of continuing in His creative work and then enjoying what He had created (4-5).

The author cleared up any misunderstanding: that day, the day of rest and of enjoying God’s finished work of redemption, was a present invitation. The exodus from slavery to death, the entering into rest-life, was yet a day followers could enter now (6). The author mentioned that if Joshua had given them rest, then it would not have been promised again by David (7-8). So, by inference, the day being talked about by Moses and Joshua was not the ultimate day and neither was the one offered by David, but the ultimate day they were all referring to was the one offered in Christ. This ultimate day was when followers would cease trying to live and not die and let Jesus lead in His way out of slavery to death into the promised land in Him (9-10). The author's fourth warning: don't fail to hear and miss the hope of the promised rest still available (1).

Christ’s Message Superior to All Others (11-13)

The author described the word being preached concerning the gospel of Jesus Christ in four ways:

• First, it was not like past spoken words; the preached word had a living aspect to it. As it was spoken and heard, it was dynamic and created power. 

• Second, it was active; meaning those who heard could not ignore but must do something with what they heard—they could believe or reject—either way, God’s word created action. 

• Third, it was piercing; meaning it could penetrate the impenetrable. It got into the spirit and created a reaction.

• Fourth, it was discerning; it passed judgment on everything internal—feelings, motives, attitudes, decisions, secrets—nothing was hidden. The word of Christ by nature was unlike any other message; it laid people out naked and forced them into accountability, whether they resisted it or not (11-13).

Christ Is Better Than Aaron and the Levitical Priesthood (4:14-10:18) 

A Perfect High Priest (14-16)

The author first described Jesus as the High Priest God had promised to send, Jesus being both the Son of God and human. Jesus did pass through the heavens as Jesus, all human, and as the Son of God, all God. We hold fast to our confession of allegiance to Jesus our King, but He is also our High Priest. He described Jesus as not only the sinless One but also the One who endured temptation. Jesus was intensely baited, just like we are, to focus and center His life around “self” and self-desires. Jesus, unlike us, resisted all temptation and kept faith in God. This meant the center of His life never slipped into “self-obsession”; instead, He remained faithful to God, Father-centered. 

The One who passed through into the heavens was the Son of God, God's King with all power and rule, but He is also all human, our High Priest. Jesus was tempted so He could empathize with the enormity of our struggles. This is what gives us confidence and assurance to approach Him boldly. He is not only God's eternal Son-King; He is our High Priest and is acquainted with our struggle and temptation. We have trembling fear when we come before our King, but we also have boldness when we come before our High Priest, who is our mercy and grace (14-16).