March 08, 2023 | Be On Mission
Jesus is Greater than Moses
Scripture: Hebrews 3 (NIV)
1 Therefore, holy brothers and sisters, who share in the heavenly calling, fix your thoughts on Jesus, whom we acknowledge as our apostle and high priest. 2 He was faithful to the one who appointed him, just as Moses was faithful in all God’s house. 3 Jesus has been found worthy of greater honor than Moses, just as the builder of a house has greater honor than the house itself. 4 For every house is built by someone, but God is the builder of everything. 5 “Moses was faithful as a servant in all God’s house,” bearing witness to what would be spoken by God in the future. 6 But Christ is faithful as the Son over God’s house. And we are his house, if indeed we hold firmly to our confidence and the hope in which we glory.
7 So, as the Holy Spirit says:
“Today, if you hear his voice,
8 do not harden your hearts
as you did in the rebellion,
during the time of testing in the wilderness,
9 where your ancestors tested and tried me,
though for forty years they saw what I did.
10 That is why I was angry with that generation;
I said, ‘Their hearts are always going astray,
and they have not known my ways.’
11 So I declared on oath in my anger,
‘They shall never enter my rest.’ ”
12 See to it, brothers and sisters, that none of you has a sinful, unbelieving heart that turns away from the living God. 13 But encourage one another daily, as long as it is called “Today,” so that none of you may be hardened by sin’s deceitfulness. 14 We have come to share in Christ, if indeed we hold our original conviction firmly to the very end. 15 As has just been said:
“Today, if you hear his voice,
do not harden your hearts
as you did in the rebellion.”
16 Who were they who heard and rebelled? Were they not all those Moses led out of Egypt? 17 And with whom was he angry for forty years? Was it not with those who sinned, whose bodies perished in the wilderness? 18 And to whom did God swear that they would never enter his rest if not to those who disobeyed? 19 So we see that they were not able to enter, because of their unbelief.
Devotional
To the Jews, Moses was the man! God used him to lead the chosen people out of Egyptian bondage, guide the people toward the Promised Land, and inscribe the Ten Commandments and the Biblical Law. These three concepts of liberty, land and Law guided the people of God through the centuries. Nobody was greater than Moses. Nobody except Jesus. Moses was a faithful servant in God’s house. Jesus is the faithful Son over God’s house. And we are that house! Let’s recall some of the ways Scripture uses the metaphor of a house to describe who we are in relation to God. What truth does each one convey?
But Christ is faithful as the Son over God’s house. And we are his house, if indeed we hold firmly to our confidence and the hope in which we glory (Hebrews 3:6).
Don’t you know that you yourselves are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells in your midst? If anyone destroys God’s temple, God will destroy that person; for God’s temple is sacred, and you together are that temple. (1 Corinthians 3:16-17).
As you come to him, the living Stone—rejected by humans but chosen by God and precious to him— you also, like living stones, are being built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood, offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. (1 Peter 2:4-5).
Flee from sexual immorality. All other sins a person commits are outside the body, but whoever sins sexually, sins against their own body. Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your bodies. (1 Corinthians 6:18-20).
Do not be yoked together with unbelievers. For what do righteousness and wickedness have in common? Or what fellowship can light have with darkness? What harmony is there between Christ and Belial? Or what does a believer have in common with an unbeliever? What agreement is there between the temple of God and idols? For we are the temple of the living God. (2 Corinthians 6:14-16).
Prayer
All praise to You, Lord God our Father. Your promises are true. You brought Your people out of physical slavery in Egypt using Your servant Moses. You gave the written law. Then You sent Your son, Jesus, to free us from slavery of sin; and to become Your children. “If the Son sets free, you are free indeed.” As Moses pled for the people’s sins, now Jesus pleads for our sin. Jesus is our intercessor and our faith in Him makes us Your children. Forgive my sins, Lord, in Jesus’ righteousness. Help me remember Your promises are true and I am Your saved child. Keep me in Your arms. Let us praise and worship You.
Poem
Best Advice I've Ever Heard
Hebrews 3:1b
If you strive to live the good life
If you’re wanting to be free
If you’re seeking great abundance
If it’s joyful you would be
I pass on to you this secret
Best advice I’ve ever heard
Listen closely to this wisdom
And attend to every word
Fix your eyes only on Jesus
Probe his faithfulness in depth
Go explore the House he’s building
All its width and height and breadth
Grasp your confidence, hold firmly
To the hope in glory planned
Pay attention to his truth words
Place your heart into his hand
Do not wander from the pathway
Christ has set you in his Way
Do not live in proud rebellion
Be not like others who stray
Turn away from all deceitful
Pray to enter God’s true rest
Do not put off ‘til tomorrow
Let ‘Today’ always be blessed
It is then you’ll live the good life
It is then you will be free
It is then you’ll find abundance
It is then you’ll joyful be
Pass on to all this secret
Best advice you’ll ever share
To these truths and Godly wisdom
Nothing in this world compare
