Hebrews 3

Hebrews 3 New International Version (NIV)

Jesus Greater Than Moses

3 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,”[a] 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.

Warning Against Unbelief

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.’ ”[b]

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.”[c]

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.

Footnotes:

1. Hebrews 3:5 Num. 12:7
2. Hebrews 3:11 Psalm 95:7-11
3. Hebrews 3:15 Psalm 95:7,8

Observation Questions

Jesus Greater Than Moses

Who are we to fix our thoughts on? (verse 1)

Who is our apostle and hight priest? (verse 1)

Who was Jesus faithful to? (verse 2)

Who was found worthy of greater honor than Moses? (verse 3)

Who is the builder of everything? (verse 4)

Who is over God's house? (verse 6)

How are we in his house? (verse 6)

Warning Against Unbelief

What are we to see to? (verse 12)

Why are we to encourage one another daily? (verse 13)

How long do we hold our original conviction firmly if we come to share in Christ? (verse 14)

Interpretation

What does it mean to fix our thoughts on Jesus? 

What does it mean that Jesus is our apostle?

What does it mean that Jesus is our high priest? 

Why was Jesus found worthy of greater honor than Moses?

How do we hold firmly to our confidence and the hope in which we glory?

What does it mean to hold our original conviction firmly to the very end?

Application

See to it, brothers and sisters, that none of you has a sinful, 

unbelieving heart that turns away from the living God. - verse 12

But encourage one another daily, as long as it is called “Today,” 

so that none of you may be hardened by sin’s deceitfulness. - verse 13

Thoughts

Who were they who heard and rebelled? 

Were they not all those Moses led out of Egypt?

And with whom was he angry for forty years? 

Was it not with those who sinned, whose bodies perished in the wilderness?

And to whom did God swear that they would never enter his rest if not to those who disobeyed?

So we see that they were not able to enter,

 because of their unbelief.

References

Numbers 12 

King James Version (KJV)

 And Miriam and Aaron spake against Moses because of the Ethiopian woman whom he had married: for he had married an Ethiopian woman.

 And they said, Hath the Lord indeed spoken only by Moses? hath he not spoken also by us? And the Lord heard it.

 (Now the man Moses was very meek, above all the men which were upon the face of the earth.)

 And the Lord spake suddenly unto Moses, and unto Aaron, and unto Miriam, Come out ye three unto the tabernacle of the congregation. And they three came out.

 And the Lord came down in the pillar of the cloud, and stood in the door of the tabernacle, and called Aaron and Miriam: and they both came forth.

 And he said, Hear now my words: If there be a prophet among you, I the Lord will make myself known unto him in a vision, and will speak unto him in a dream.

 My servant Moses is not so, who is faithful in all mine house.

 With him will I speak mouth to mouth, even apparently, and not in dark speeches; and the similitude of the Lord shall he behold: wherefore then were ye not afraid to speak against my servant Moses?

 And the anger of the Lord was kindled against them; and he departed.

 And the cloud departed from off the tabernacle; and, behold, Miriam became leprous, white as snow: and Aaron looked upon Miriam, and, behold, she was leprous.

 And Aaron said unto Moses, Alas, my lord, I beseech thee, lay not the sin upon us, wherein we have done foolishly, and wherein we have sinned.

 Let her not be as one dead, of whom the flesh is half consumed when he cometh out of his mother's womb.

 And Moses cried unto the Lord, saying, Heal her now, O God, I beseech thee.

 And the Lord said unto Moses, If her father had but spit in her face, should she not be ashamed seven days? let her be shut out from the camp seven days, and after that let her be received in again.

 And Miriam was shut out from the camp seven days: and the people journeyed not till Miriam was brought in again.

 And afterward the people removed from Hazeroth, and pitched in the wilderness of Paran.

Psalm 95 

King James Version (KJV)

 O come, let us sing unto the Lord: let us make a joyful noise to the rock of our salvation.

 Let us come before his presence with thanksgiving, and make a joyful noise unto him with psalms.

 For the Lord is a great God, and a great King above all gods.

 In his hand are the deep places of the earth: the strength of the hills is his also.

 The sea is his, and he made it: and his hands formed the dry land.

 O come, let us worship and bow down: let us kneel before the Lord our maker.

 For he is our God; and we are the people of his pasture, and the sheep of his hand. To day if ye will hear his voice,

 Harden not your heart, as in the provocation, and as in the day of temptation in the wilderness:

 When your fathers tempted me, proved me, and saw my work.

 Forty years long was I grieved with this generation, and said, It is a people that do err in their heart, and they have not known my ways:

 Unto whom I swear in my wrath that they should not enter into my rest.