Jesus Is Superior to Moses, Let's Be Better than the Children of Isreal (Hebrews 3:1-19)
The writer of Hebrews reminds his readers that Moses was faithful and great, but Jesus is superior. Where Moses brought us the revelation of God in the law, Jesus is. The revelation of God incarnate. Where Moses set up the tabernacle, where God dwelt amongst His people, Jesus IS God amongst His people.
And, as we think about Israel and their privilege of having. God amongst them, we need to guard against the errors that Israel committed that lost them their privilege. And here we get a second admonition: 2. We need to endure and guard against hardening our hearts against God’s revelation.
The writer here extensively quotes from Psalm 95. I remember portions of this psalm very well from my childhood as it was a praise song often sung:
“Come let us worship and bow down,
Let us kneel before the Lord our God our maker,
For He is our God,
And we are the people of his pasture.
And the sheep of his hand.”
What I don’t remember by heart, is the following part that the praise song left out. The Psalm goes on to warn its readers to not harden their hearts and forget the Lord, an error that sent Israel into exile. The Psalm ends abruptly with the bad outcome!
As followers of Jesus, we need to endure in our faith. Verses 13 and 14 are an ominous admonition that we should daily spur each other on to faithfulness. And there is a big “if” here. The writer tells us we are in Christ IF we stay faithful to the end. There is some debate about that “if.” Does this verse imply that someone can lose their salvation? The rest of the New Testament teaches that we can’t, so many indicate that what is seen here is not someone losing their salvation, but rather someone who never truly believed in the first place.
Whatever the case, the outcome is the same. We need to have an enduring faith unlike the Israelites. And what we need to help us endure is a community of faith that helps us daily remember what we have believed.
And, as we think about Israel and their privilege of having. God amongst them, we need to guard against the errors that Israel committed that lost them their privilege. And here we get a second admonition: 2. We need to endure and guard against hardening our hearts against God’s revelation.
The writer here extensively quotes from Psalm 95. I remember portions of this psalm very well from my childhood as it was a praise song often sung:
“Come let us worship and bow down,
Let us kneel before the Lord our God our maker,
For He is our God,
And we are the people of his pasture.
And the sheep of his hand.”
What I don’t remember by heart, is the following part that the praise song left out. The Psalm goes on to warn its readers to not harden their hearts and forget the Lord, an error that sent Israel into exile. The Psalm ends abruptly with the bad outcome!
As followers of Jesus, we need to endure in our faith. Verses 13 and 14 are an ominous admonition that we should daily spur each other on to faithfulness. And there is a big “if” here. The writer tells us we are in Christ IF we stay faithful to the end. There is some debate about that “if.” Does this verse imply that someone can lose their salvation? The rest of the New Testament teaches that we can’t, so many indicate that what is seen here is not someone losing their salvation, but rather someone who never truly believed in the first place.
Whatever the case, the outcome is the same. We need to have an enduring faith unlike the Israelites. And what we need to help us endure is a community of faith that helps us daily remember what we have believed.
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