Hebrews Chapter 3
By
Jim Bomkamp
1. VS 3:1 - “3:1 Therefore, holy brethren, partakers of a heavenly calling,
consider Jesus, the Apostle and High Priest of our confession.” - The author
of the book admonishes us to “consider Jesus”
1.1.
The author was very
concerned that these Hebrew Christians would simply fall away and go back to
Judaism, to their eternal destruction.
1.2.
Chapter 2 dealt with the
superiority of Jesus to angels, however the subject before us in this chapter
is the superiority of Jesus to Moses.
1.2.1. Jews in the day when the author wrote this book would have a hard time
conceiving of the fact that Jesus could be superior to Moses. Moses their main patriarch was bigger than
life itself to them.
1.3.
In the book of Hebrews we
find perhaps more than in any other New Testament book, both the deity as well
as the humanity of Jesus Christi fully explained and explored. Having dwelt upon the deity of Christ in the
first two chapters of the book, this chapter begins to explore the humanity of
Christ, as the author explains how Christ’s humanity affects our lives.
1.4.
The first word of the verse,
"Therefore," can either be looked at as being retrospective of what
was spoken of before in the superiority of Jesus to angels and His incarnation
and sufferings as so closely associated with His exaltation and our salvation,
or it can be looked at as looking forward to what he shall write concerning
Jesus being superior to Moses.
1.5.
In either case the author
says to ‘consider Jesus,’ to look long at His life, words, and accomplishments
and unto the throne where He is seated.
1.6.
The word
"consider" is from the root of the Latin word for “Star” and originally
meant to contemplate the stars. It
suggests the idea of the astronomer, and the quiet, patient, persevering,
concentrated gaze with which the astronomer seeks to discover all that can be
known of the stars which are the object of his study.
1.7.
We are called "holy
brethren" due to our common relation to our great Elder brother and our
common bond of holiness and being separate to God ("But you are a chosen
generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a peculiar people," 1Pet.
2:9).
1.8.
Jesus said whoever does the
will of the Father is His brother, Matt. 12:46-50.
1.9.
Being a partaker of a
"heavenly calling" people on earth have been invited and induced by
the Lord to accept the invitation to participate in the blessing of the
Christian salvation.
1.10.
Jesus is called the
"apostle and High Priest of our confession" almost in the sense of a
title. An "apostle" means “one
who is sent out in behalf on another.”
1.11.
As "high priest"
Jesus’ duty is to bring us into the favorable presence of God as an intermediary. Jesus has made atonement for our sins and
appears in heaven on our behalf.
1.12.
When "Christ
Jesus" is used instead of the reverse order the meaning is “the Messiah
who is Jesus.”
1.13.
"Our confession"
is our profession of Jesus Christ as our personal Lord and Savior.
1.14.
The Apostle knew that if he
could but get the Hebrew Christians to 'consider the Apostle and High Priest of
their profession,' his object of keeping them steady in their attachment to Him
would be gained.
1.15.
We need to ‘consider Jesus’, as one writer has
written: "It is because we think
so little, and to so little purpose, on Christ, that we know so little about
Him, that we love Him so little, trust in Him so little, so often neglect our
duty, are so much influenced by 'things seen and temporal,' and so little by
`things unseen and eternal.”
1.15.1.
A business man is devoted to
and studies business carefully, and a professional athlete is dedicated and
studies his sport carefully, and any person in their professional career is
devoted to and studies carefully their field, so also a Christian should be
devoted to and study carefully about His Savior and the things of the Christian
faith.
1.15.2.
“It is because we do not
know Christ that we do not love Him; it
is because we know Him so imperfectly that we love Him so imperfectly. The truth about Him as the Great Prophet and
the Great High Priest well deserves consideration- it is 'the manifold wisdom
of God.' It requires it; it cannot be understood by a careless,
occasional glance. Angels feel that even
their faculties are overmatched with this subject. They are but 'desiring to look into' it, as
they do not yet fully understand it,"
John Brown.
1.15.3.
The more we know God’s Word,
the more we will love Him, therefore we must teach people God’s Word- from Genesis
to Revelation.
2. VS 3:2 - “2 He was
faithful to Him who appointed Him, as Moses also was in all His house.” - Like Moses, Jesus was
faithful to the One who appointed Him
2.1.
In the Old Testament Moses was
testified to by God as being faithful in all his house. He was appointed by God over the whole of
God's family. He truly was a faithful
man of God and in almost all respects was a type of Christ, especially in His
office of prophet of God (or one who speaks in behalf of God).
2.2.
"House" here does
not signify a building, but a family or household (see verse 6) in the sense
used in the scriptures of "the house of
2.3.
Just as Moses was faithful
over all the family of God, Jesus was likewise faithful in all the discharge of
the trust committed to Him.
2.4.
Moses was a man who was
faithful to the Lord:
2.4.1. Moses kept back no part of the divine revelation with which He was
entrusted.
2.4.2. He made no additions to the revelation from God given to him.
2.4.3. In everything Moses said and did, as the prophet and chief human
magistrate of Israel, he conformed himself exactly to the instructions he
received from God: Exod. 40:16, “16 Thus Moses did; according to all that the Lord
had commanded him, so he did.”
2.4.4. The author here makes a strong statement respecting the dignity and
faithfulness of Moses which should have satisfied the greatest Jewish zealot.
2.5.
In the New Testament, we
read of Jesus’ faithfulness:
2.5.1. Jesus spoke only the words the Father gave Him (John 5:30; 8:38; 12:49;
14:10).
2.5.2. Jesus did nothing of His own initiative but that which the Father would
have Him to do (John 5:30).
2.5.3. Jesus fulfilled every Old Testament prophesy concerning Himself as
Messiah, as is seen in His last words, “It is finished!”
2.5.4. Jesus sought not His own glory but rather the glory His who sent Him
(John 5:41; 7:18; 8:50).
2.5.5. Jesus came not in His own name, but in the Father's (John 5:43).
2.5.6. Jesus said, "The words which Thou have given Me, I have given
them" (John 17:8).
2.5.7. Jesus said, “Heaven and earth shall pass away but My words shall never
pass away” (Matt. 24:35).
3. VS 3:3 - “3 For He has
been counted worthy of more glory than Moses, by just so much as the builder of
the house has more honor than the house.” - Jesus has been counted more worthy than Moses
because Jesus is the builder of the house
3.1.
Having stated the
similarities between Moses and Christ, the author now begins to state the
differences:
3.1.1. Jesus is described as being the builder of all things, even the
Israelite family of God under Moses charge.
3.1.2. Moses was just a member of the family of God, Jesus was the builder of
that family.
3.1.3. Moses was a servant of Jesus in His duties.
3.2.
We are "God's
workmanship, created in," or by, "Christ Jesus to good works,"
the New Testament says.
4. VS 3:4 - “4 For every
house is built by someone, but the builder of all things is God.” - Houses require a builder, God
is the builder of all
4.1.
Jesus is the creator or
builder of "all things" as we have already read in the epistle. Here it says that God is the builder of all
things. This is another proof of Jesus’
deity.
4.2.
In a sense to be a builder
means to be a founder as well as the one who contracts all of the work to be
done in the building. Jesus is the
founder of both the Jewish and Christian families.
4.3.
Whatever, however, God does
in reference to the salvation of man, He does through the intervention of and
with a reference to, Jesus Christ: Eph. 2:10,
3:9, Heb. 1:10, 2:15, 4:15,16, 2 Cor. 5:18,19, Col. 1:20.
5. VS 3:5 - “5 Now Moses
was faithful in all His house as a servant, for a testimony of those things
which were to be spoken later;” - Moses was faithful in all His house as a
servant
5.1.
Moses, was just a servant in
the household of God. He was a highly
honored servant, but only a servant.
Moses was just a servant of God just as any of us may be counted as
servants to the Lord.
5.2.
There are two primary
interpretations of what the phrase "the testimony" refers to
here:
5.2.1. Moses' work in the giving of the Old economy of Law was preparatory to
the New Economy of grace in Jesus Christ, and this was "the
testimony."
5.2.2. "The testimony" is simply spoken of as the ministry of Moses
himself in testifying or revealing those things which it was the will of God
for Moses to speak to God's people.
6. VS 3:6 - “6 but Christ
was faithful as a Son over His house whose house we are, if we hold fast our
confidence and the boast of our hope firm until the end.” - Christ was faithful as a son
over His house, and we are that house
6.1.
A son, especially the
first-born, is not only superior to a servant, from his near relation to the
family, but also as being heir and lord of all.
Likewise, the scriptures reveal that this is the dignity and prerogative
of Jesus Christ as God’s only unique Son:
"The Father loveth the Son, and hath given all things into His
hand" (John 3:35), and "For the Father judgeth no man, but
hath committed all judgment unto the Son" (John 5:22).
6.2.
Moses is a faithful servant
in God's house, but Jesus Christ is a faithful Son over it.
6.3.
Here the meaning of the
"house" referred to in all of chapter 3 is revealed. Christians are God's "house," God's
family.
6.4.
This verse teaches the
doctrine that is called, “The Perseverance Of The Saints:”
6.4.1. The person who shall be of God's family and thus receive His eternal
salvation shall be the person who keeps holding fast his confidence and boast
of his hope firm unto the end, never giving up his faith in Christ's sacrifice
as his means of salvation, saved by grace through faith." That is the hope spoken of here.
6.4.2. The apostle is saying that open, unhesitating, fearless profession of
the Christian hope and the resultant glorying in God unto the end shall mark every
one who shall proceed unto eternity with Christ.
6.5.
We Christians ought to be
those who are "always ready to give an answer to every one who asks
them a reason of the hope that is in them," 1 Pet. 3:15. This is not to say we should ever be uncertain
of our eternal salvation, but to the contrary we are to have that confidence
and certainty to the degree that we continue to hold fast this confidence and
rejoicing of hope of our salvation.
6.5.1. The only sin that shall keep a person out of heaven is unbelief in
Christ as Savior and Lord.
6.5.2. We Christians are sternly warned in this epistle of coming short of
heaven if certain things are not kept in check in our Christian life, through
the deceitfulness of sin.
7. VS 3:7-11 - “7
Therefore, just as the Holy Spirit says, “Today if you hear His voice, 8 Do not harden your hearts as when they
provoked Me, As in the day of trial in the wilderness, 9 Where your fathers tried Me by testing Me,
And saw My works for forty years. 10
“Therefore I was angry with this generation, And said, ‘They always go astray
in their heart; And they did not know My ways’; 11 As I swore in My wrath, ‘They shall not
enter My rest.’”” - The author admonishes us that if we have
heard the voice of the Holy Spirit to not harden our hearts like the Israelites
did in the wilderness
7.1.
(Verse quoted: Psalm 95:7-11, “7 For He is our God, And we are the people of His pasture and the sheep of
His hand. Today, if you would hear His voice, 8 Do not harden your
hearts, as at Meribah, As in the day of Massah in the wilderness, 9 “When
your fathers tested Me, They tried Me, though they had seen My work. 10 “For
forty years I loathed that generation, And said they are a people who
err in their heart, And they do not know My ways. 11 “Therefore I
swore in My anger, Truly they shall not enter into My rest.””) .
7.2.
Having stated the necessity
of keeping our confidence and rejoicing of hope firm unto the end, the author
now points out the awful consequences which would result from disobedience and
rebellion against God and Jesus, whom God has appointed over His family.
7.3.
In verse 7 "today"
is used since the invitation from God is for all who will hear God's word at
any time.
7.4.
In saying that it is the
Holy Ghost that is speaking in Psalm 95, the author looks upon the scriptures
as being truly inspired by God:
7.4.1. The scripture itself testifies that it is God-breathed, because men
spoke from God, being moved by the Holy Spirit (see 2 Tim. 3:16, 2 Pet.
1:21).
7.4.2. The author regards the scripture as the very voice of God, and attaches
to the words all the weight of divine authority. On this ground and from divine inspiration
from the Holy Spirit Himself the author sees in these scriptures deeper meaning
than we would have looked for, and teaches us to find in the words, "enter
into my rest," the revelation of a deep spiritual mystery and a prophecy
of what Christ should bring.
7.5.
To the Israelites, “God’s
rest” for them in this life was the
7.6.
To understand the words of
the Holy Spirit I must have yielded myself to be led by the Spirit, I must be
living in the Spirit. Only the Spirit
can reveal the things of the Spirit, the natural mind cannot understand
them.
7.7.
The Holy Spirit cannot
possibly lead us into the power and the blessing of God's word unless with our
whole heart we hearken to His voice.
7.8.
In verse 8 Christians are
admonished to harden not their hearts.
The heart in scripture is equivalent to the mind, viewed as endowed both
with intelligence and affection. To harden
the heart is to become increasingly inattentive, unbelieving, impenitent,
disobedient.
7.9.
The experience at
"Meribah," the striving or provocation and "Massah," the
trial or temptation are intimated here, Exod. 17:2,7. After the Israelites crossed the Red Sea,
they were to go straight in and take possession of the land of Canaan, however
in the wilderness they were tempted to harden their hearts toward the Lord in
unbelief, and this temptation and resultant sin commenced until the awful
sentence was pronounced on the Israelites, that they should not enter God's
rest, i.e. that generation of men and women 20 years old and up could not enter
Canaan and would die in the wilderness.
7.10.
In verse 9 the words
"tempt" and "test" or "prove" are used, and they
are nearly synonymous expressions. They
refer to men making experiments as to whether He be indeed the powerful, holy,
just, and faithful God He has declared Himself to be. Instead of believing God's word and acting
accordingly, the Israelites were “hell bent” to discover, though at the hazard
of their own destruction, whether the Lord really was able to or meant to
execute either His promises or threatenings.
7.11.
We see in verse 10, that
because of their attitude of unbelief, the Israelites "always go astray in
their heart" and are radically and habitually evil. They didn't understand His dispensations and
rebelled against the practical knowledge of His precepts. As such they deserved severe punishment and
received it.
7.12.
Verse 11 contains God's
oath. There are many threatenings of God
that are conditional upon men’s response to them (for instance, “if you don’t
do this then...”), however when God interposes with an oath, the sentence is
irreversible.
7.13.
Num. 26:64-65 describes the
fulfilment of God's judgment against the Israelites.
7.14.
The land is "His
rest" because it is of His preparing, rest like His, rest along with
Him.
7.15.
We are by no means warranted
to conclude that all who died in the wilderness came short of everlasting
happiness. It is to be feared most did
come short of it, but the curse denounced on them went only to their exclusion
from the earthly Canaan.
7.16.
To the degree that each of
us are inattentive, unbelieving, impenitent, and disobedient in our life, we
have hardened our hearts. As the soil
must be broken up by the plough and softened by the rain, so we must ask God to
give us a broken, tender spirit, which is the first requisite for receiving
blessing from God's Word, or being in truth made partakers of God's grace. Isaiah wrote in Is. 66:2, " 2 “For My
hand made all these things, Thus all these things came into being,” declares
the Lord. “But to this one I will look,
To him who is humble and contrite of spirit, and who trembles at My word.”
7.17.
We Christians must never be
so foolish as to put God to the test by walking oppositely of what His Word
says we should walk. This is a very
dangerous thing to do. The Israelites
were testing God to see if He really would judge them for the way that they
walked in disobedience and we should be wise and learn from their mistakes,
failures, and punishments.
7.18.
We Christians may make it to
heaven, but we can miss His blessing in this life if we are not careful to not
harden our hearts against the Lord and His Word.
8. VS 3:12 - “12 Take
care, brethren, lest there should be in any one of you an evil, unbelieving
heart, in falling away from the living God.” - The author admonishes us to be care that we
have not an evil unbelieving heart in falling away from the Lord
8.1.
On account of the
fulfillment of God's oath being carried out on the Israelites and the warning
to those who call themselves Christians, that they shall be judged accordingly
as the Israelites were judged if they fail due to unbelief in Jesus, the author
warns of what it is that will actually be the final downfall, the commencement
of which he sees already in progress in many supposed Christians: that of obtaining an "evil unbelieving
heart" and falling away from God unto eternal damnation.
8.2.
It is in the heart that God
speaks and where He longs to give His blessing.
But, it also the heart that goes wrong and thence cannot know God's
ways. So, here it is the evil heart that
cannot believe, that falls away from the living God.
8.3.
God is called here the ‘living
God,’ which is intended to convey the idea of power. To be dead is to be powerless and it is quite
safe to depart from dead gods. But,
"it is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God."
8.4.
We all as believers in
Christ tend to think that we have more faith than we actually have and that we
would be the last to fall away. But, in
scripture we are warned that if we think we stand that we need to take care
lest we fall. We should all pray that
the Lord increase our faith and protect and establish us in our faith.
8.5.
We must never speak or think
of unbelief merely as a weakness, but always as the sin of sins, the fruitful
mother of all sin. Paul wrote,
"whatever is not of faith is sin."
8.6.
The root of this “evil
heart” may be the love of sin, or thoughtlessness, which in the case of belief
in Jesus must be highly criminal, and possibly coming from pride, whether the
pride of wealth or status, or of intellect, or of self-righteousness.
8.7.
We Christians need to pray
for deliverance from even the smallest apostacies and sins, all of which will
eventually lead to our complete downfall if not uprooted in time. All unbelief naturally leads to disobedience,
and disobedience as naturally hardens the heart in unbelief.
9. VS 3:13 - “13 But
encourage one another day after day, as long as it is still called “Today,”
lest any one of you be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin.” - The author calls us to
encourage one another day after day
9.1.
We as Christians are not
only to look out for ourselves and our faith, we also need to look out for all
of our brothers and sisters and exhort them in the Lord when needed.
9.2.
Concerning the phrase here of, "hardening
by the deceitfulness of sin," all sin is deceit, for its promised
pleasures are all a lie. While some sins
are open and unmistakable, others are especially deceptive.
9.3.
When the sanction of the
Christian world, or the force of habit and custom, or the apparent
insignificance of what we do, makes us think little of our sins, this has a
terrible power to deceive us who profess to be Christians.
9.4.
This deceitfulness of sin,
which comes about because of worldliness, or unlovingness, or pride, or lack of
integrity, etc., causes our hearts to be hardened, and soon they can become
incapable of hearing the voice of God.
9.5.
Romans 10:17 states that
"faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God." The Word is the food of faith and we need to
encourage each other by sharing God's Word with each other so that all may be kept
from falling away through unbelief.
9.6.
While it is still called
"today" means daily till' Christ's return, i.e. frequently and
without delay. We need to keep a careful
watch and speak the truth in love with one another when we see the beginning of
a harmful trend. This is one of the
hardest things to do, but Jesus said that when our brother sins we need to go
to him and rebuke him.
9.7.
Too often our exhortation to
brothers and sisters who are struggling in their faith comes too little too
late. Each step in the direction they
are heading makes their recovery more difficult, so we much catch people early
when we see the slightest trace of apostasy in them.
10.
VS 3:14-15 - “14 For we have become partakers
of Christ, if we hold fast the beginning of our assurance firm until the
end; 15 while it is said,
“Today if you hear His voice, Do not harden your hearts, as when they provoked Me.”” - The author admonishes us that those who truly
are partakers of Christ will also hold fast the beginning of their assurance
firm until the end
10.1.
Holding the beginning of
their confidence steadfast unto the end, does not express the means of
attaining the fellowship of Christ as something of the future, but the evidence
of having already attained that fellowship.
10.1.1.
QUESTION: If a Christian ends up abiding in Christ and
serving him all of the way until he dies, is this the means for him to attain
to salvation or the result of him already having attained salvation?
10.1.1.1. ANSWER: It is the result of his
having truly been saved.
10.2.
“Christian confidence”
refers just to the faith of the Gospel - the knowing and being sure that
"God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever
believeth in Him might not perish, but have everlasting life." It is just the first, or our original,
confidence or persuasion of faith in Jesus as Lord and Savior a person has.
10.3.
In verse 15, the author
quotes Psalm 95:7 again (see Heb. 3:7-8) pleading with us not to harden our
hearts if we have heard His voice.
11.
VS 3:16-19 - “16 For who provoked Him when
they had heard? Indeed, did not all those who came out of Egypt led by Moses?
17 And with whom was He angry for forty years? Was it not with those who
sinned, whose bodies fell in the wilderness? 18 And to whom did He swear that
they should not enter His rest, but to those who were disobedient? 19 And so we
see that they were not able to enter because of unbelief.” - To reinforce his points, the
author asks his readers the rhetorical question as to whom the Old Testament
referred to when it spoke of those who rebelled in the wilderness
11.1.
These verses say that the
Israelites provoked God ‘when they had heard.’
11.2.
Their hearing could be the
hearing of the commands of God as given through Moses from God, or more likely
it is the command of God to go up and take possession of the land of Canaan, of
which they disobeyed in unbelief.
11.3.
Verse 16 seems to say that
every single person disobeyed, however this is just a generalization since we
know that Joshua and Caleb were allowed to enter the land since they believed
God.
11.4.
Moses sin in hitting the
rock kept him from entering the land.
11.5.
In verses 18 and 19 we see
that their provocation of God is revealed as their disobedience and unbelief in
God's word.
11.6.
This solemn warning to not
be able to enter into His rest (receive salvation) should be accepted by us
Christians today in an even greater measure than to the Israelites to whom this
letter was originally written, since we are just as human as they were but have
more of God’s Word available for us to study today than they had.
11.7.
We Christians need to be
careful to daily have our quiet times in God’s word, and we also need to be
sure to assemble with the corporate body of Christ when it comes together to
worship the Lord.
11.8.
Whenever we hear God’s Word
we must be sure that we meet it with faith, so as to be obedient to it. If we do not do this, we could fall away into
perdition just as many of the Israelites in the wilderness did.
11.8.1.
Heb. 4:2 says, “For
indeed we have had good news preached to us, just as they also; but the word they heard did not profit them,
because it was not united by faith in those who heard.”