Wednesday Bible Study: Hebrews part 3

 

So the first two chapters, we overthrew the idol of the gnostic angels.  But things aren't always what they seem, and there were two more things they- and perhaps, we- fail to recognize always.  And one was an idol they didn't realize- the idol of Moses.

By the teachers of Judaism, Moses was the 'final authority'; and over time, his actual words began to supplant the Word that stood behind them.  The author would have to bring them TO Christ by bringing them PAST Moses:

Heb 3:1  Therefore, holy brothers, you who share in a heavenly calling, consider Jesus, the apostle and high priest of our confession, 

Heb 3:2  who was faithful to him who appointed him, just as Moses also was faithful in all God's house. 

Heb 3:3  For Jesus has been counted worthy of more glory than Moses--as much more glory as the builder of a house has more honor than the house itself. 

Heb 3:4  (For every house is built by someone, but the builder of all things is God.) 

Heb 3:5  Now Moses was faithful in all God's house as a servant, to testify to the things that were to be spoken later, 

Heb 3:6  but Christ is faithful over God's house as a son. And we are his house if indeed we hold fast our confidence and our boasting in our hope. 

So once again, without destroying the person behind the idol, the author begins to tear the idol around him down.  He admits to both Jesus and Moses being faithful, but- 

Heb 3:3  For Jesus has been counted worthy of more glory than Moses--as much more glory as the builder of a house has more honor than the house itself. 

Jesus- 'the Builder of the House"- gets the greater honor.  If they are going to understand Jesus, they will have to get it through their heads that He IS God- and they have got to get Moses out from in front of Him.  You see, they had always had an aversion to being one-on-one with God...

Exo 20:18  Now when all the people saw the thunder and the flashes of lightning and the sound of the trumpet and the mountain smoking, the people were afraid and trembled, and they stood far off 

Exo 20:19  and said to Moses, "You speak to us, and we will listen; but do not let God speak to us, lest we die." 

And so Moses gradually became the idol that 'represented' God- much as the Catholic concept of Mary has today.  Despite the fact that God- and Moses- said:

Exo 20:2  "I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery. 

Exo 20:3  "You shall have no other gods before me. 

Exo 20:4  "You shall not make for yourself a carved image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. 

Exo 20:5  You shall not bow down to them or serve them, for I the LORD your God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and the fourth generation of those who hate me, 

Exo 20:6  but showing steadfast love to thousands of those who love me and keep my commandments.

This command goes beyond physical idols to anything that stands between us and Christ.  And for many, Moses had become that.  In case they missed the first analogy, the author reinforces it...

 Heb 3:5  Now Moses was faithful in all God's house as a servant, to testify to the things that were to be spoken later, 

Heb 3:6  but Christ is faithful over God's house as a son. And we are his house if indeed we hold fast our confidence and our boasting in our hope. 

And that analogy they COULD grasp.  Now actually facing Jesus, they had a choice to make:

Heb 3:7  Therefore, as the Holy Spirit says, "Today, if you hear his voice, 

Heb 3:8  do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion, on the day of testing in the wilderness...

Once again, the author loops back to Scripture they knew well- Psalm 95- to show them what they needed to do.  In effect, he showed them the second thing Moses had in common with Jesus- they rebelled against both of them.  The simple message of the second part of our chapter.  But now, the author had to make it real to them.  They had to grasp WHY the people had rebelled- and the consequences thereof.

Before I started typing, I was led to read today's section of my 'afternoon reading'- I'm now going back through Deuteronomy.  And what I saw ties in perfectly.  Praise God, for a Bible that so elegantly backs itself up!  The final lesson for today involves the last word of our chapter today:

Heb 3:16  For who were those who heard and yet rebelled? Was it not all those who left Egypt led by Moses? 

Heb 3:17  And with whom was he provoked for forty years? Was it not with those who sinned, whose bodies fell in the wilderness? 

Heb 3:18  And to whom did he swear that they would not enter his rest, but to those who were disobedient? 

Heb 3:19  So we see that they were unable to enter because of unbelief. 

Unbelief.  We might see this as 'the opposite of belief'.  As in, "I don't believe you."  But it is MORE than that.  Think about it; why do atheists (many of them, anyway) fight us so hard over OUR belief? It is more than just I don't believe.  And Deuteronomy shows its true face:

Deu 7:9  Know therefore that the LORD your God is God, the faithful God who keeps covenant and steadfast love with those who love him and keep his commandments, to a thousand generations, 

Deu 7:10  and repays to their face those who hate him, by destroying them. He will not be slack with one who hates him. He will repay him to his face. 

And...

Deu 9:6  "Know, therefore, that the LORD your God is not giving you this good land to possess because of your righteousness, for you are a stubborn people. 

As well as what we've already read...

Heb 3:8  do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion, on the day of testing in the wilderness...

It's more than not believing- remember, these are people with whom Moses dealt, who had SEEN the Red Sea split, saw the manna fall, saw Korah and Dathan consumed.  These are people with whom Jesus dealt, who had seen the loaves multiplied, the dead raised, the blind given sight.  They could not be honest with themselves and say God wasn't real, that Jesus wasn't the Messiah.  They were stubborn, they hardened their hearts, and looked on God with HATE.

They would not just be unable to enter heaven.  They would be REPAID.