JESUS AS THE APOSTLE
(Suggested Reading: Heb. 3 and 4)
In the structure of Hebrews Chapter 3 is linked to Chapter 1 where Christ is the Apostle the Word of God being spoken in the Person of His Son, and Chapter 4:14-16 to Chapter 2 since He must be a man to be a priest. In Chapters 3 and 4 Paul is digressing from his main flow of thought to warn the real and professing Hebrew Christians of the dangers of slipping away from Christianity of giving up revealed truth. In Chapter 3 he points out that their fathers had hardened their hearts against God in the desert. In Chapter 4 he points up the impediments to their progress toward God's rest Canaan for the Jews heaven for us. We might say that Chapter 4 then is loosely cross-indexed to Chapter 2 and Chapter 3 to Chapter 1.
Chapter 3 opens with an appeal to the holy brethren, partakers of the heavenly calling. The "heavenly calling" here is an invitation to all the Hebrews to respond not just those born again. This was because of their privileged position at the time. They lived when their Messiah walked the earth. He is now in heaven. Let them as individuals choose the path which leads to where the rejected Messiah now is heaven. This is not church position but rather a call to individual professing Hebrew Christians some of whom were saved others not. The latter could at least acknowledge that the Messiah had come and gone and was now in heaven (the minimum confession, incidentally, of many people in once Christian lands today). The appeal presented the Jews with a hard choice, for they were earthly men who looked for a Messiah on earth, not in heaven. Their links with earth are recorded in the Old Testament. What a history of unholiness! So Paul puts them in the new position God would have them in even though the temple was still standing and the nation not yet scattered. As holy brethren and partakers of the heavenly calling they were to consider the Apostle and High Priest of their confession, Jesus. This is their new position the consideration of Jesus in these two ways Apostle and High Priest. This is the fulcrum on which most of the epistle rests. As Apostle Christ is like Moses both were sent by God to the people as High Priest like Aaron in some respects. We are to weigh the similarities and differences then that is the thought in considering Christ as both Moses and Aaron the Apostle and the High Priest.
Since we are told to consider the Apostle and High Priest of our confession, Jesus, the third chapter begins the comparison in the order given Moses first and then Aaron. Moses had an apostolic character since he gave the Word of God to the people. Aaron needless to say was the High Priest. Christ unites both these offices in His own Person. He is both Moses and Aaron. These two things are needed to take the Christian through this world the Word of God and the High Priesthood of Christ. But the High Priesthood of Christ compared to Aaron's is a major subject commencing with Chapter 5. Paul therefore just touches upon it and puts the greater emphasis on the Word of God how it takes a rebellious people through the wilderness of this world. Moses revealed the mind of God to the extent that it could be revealed in his day Christ as the full expression of God's mind revealed God perfectly. So we commence with a contrast of Moses and Christ.
Two Views of the House of God in Relation to Christ and Moses
The third chapter features seven mentions of "house." Three of these are general and four specific. The general references are "as he who has built the house has more honor than the house" 3:3 and "every house is built by some man" 3:4. The specific references are designed to contrast Moses and Christ in relation to God's House. Moses, coming first historically, is considered first. Moses was "faithful in all his house" 3:2 and then, to emphasize this fact "Moses truly was faithful in all his house" a statement which is qualified with "as a servant, for a testimony of those things which were to be spoken after" 3:5. Christ is then brought in. He is "a Son over His own house" 3:6 not a servant like Moses. Then we are told that we are "His own house" provided we hold fast our confidence and the boast of our hope firm until the end" 3:6. There are two thoughts respecting the house dwelling in it and administration of it, as we shall see.
These mentions of the house bring before us the differences between the character of God's dwelling then and now, and the contrasting administrations of God's House by Moses and Christ. First, Moses. We connect him at once with the tabernacle in the desert God's House. Moses was not the architect of that building. He received the plans from God and was warned not to deviate from them. So he was a servant in this house, which was only a witness of divine oracular revelations at a later date. Now that we have God fully made known in His Son we can look at the Tabernacle and interpret the things in it. In the larger view of it the Tabernacle is a picture of the universe which God created and of God over and above His creation. The universe was created by God's Son He did not receive the plans as Moses did and so Christ is rightfully Son over His own house. The universe is our word for the creation but in Scripture language the creation is called "the heavens and the earth" Gen. 1:11In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. (Genesis 1:1). So in the Tabernacle the brazen altar and the laver are figures of things on earth physically separated from the tent proper but connected to it in the services of the priests. The tent itself was divided into the Holy Place and the Holy of Holies the latter cut off from the Holy Place by a separating veil. Access to it was severely restricted under the law, telling us that God was unapproachable until Christ died, when the veil was torn by God Himself. Since the Holy Place speaks of the heavens and the altar of burnt offering and the laver outside speak of the earth, these two figures brought together give us God's creation the universe, viewed as God's House, over which God presides, dwelling in unapproachable light, as typified by the Holy of Holies.
The larger view of God's House as the universe, administered by God's Son is given us in verses 3 and 4 "for this Man was counted worthy of more glory than Moses, inasmuch as He who has built the house has more honor than the house. For every house is built by some man, but He who built all things is God." "All things" means the created universe and what is in it, which is why Moses was cautioned to make "all things" according to the pattern showed him in the Mount see 8:5, for the pattern must be in harmony with what God Himself had created. The universe, in a broad sense, is the Father's house. True, Stephen and Paul insist that God cannot be confined in buildings made by men's hands, though in grace God has dwelt in them. But God is omnipresent. Solomon said that the heaven of heavens could not contain Him 2 Chron. 6:1818But will God in very deed dwell with men on the earth? behold, heaven and the heaven of heavens cannot contain thee; how much less this house which I have built! (2 Chronicles 6:18). However let us return to the theme of Christ being Son over God's House. It was first necessary to understand what was meant by God's House. The next step is realizing that the great thought in Christ being Son over God's House is not so much His dwelling there as the character of His administration in it for God. It is based on a work which Christ has finished to God's satisfaction not this time the creation of the house but rather the greater work of redemption. This is pointedly illustrated by a missing feature in God's House on earth there were no seats for the priests. Their work was never done, for the law which was given by Moses made nothing perfect. This missing feature in the Tabernacle Moses erected helps us to compare the administration of Moses, in which there was no provision for rest, to that of Christ. Faithful as Moses was he was but a servant and the office of a servant is to stand and serve in a house. Christ sits down because He is not a servant but a Son and a Son who has finished the work His Father gave Him to do. This makes God the Son pre-eminent in the administration of God's House. When we are in glory we are seated. We are given an advance picture of this in Rev. 4 where the 24 elders who represent the 24 courses of priesthood and so the Old and New Testament saints are seated round the throne of God.
A man's house reveals much about his character, lifestyle, etc. That is why rich men have their houses designed by architects so that they can incorporate their own thoughts in them. So with God. He drew up the plans of God's house and as already mentioned revealed them to Moses, warning him that he must not deviate from them in the slightest degree. So God's house comes from the Word of God. In its first and larger sense the universe the Word of God brought that house into being Gen. 1. "He spoke and it was done He commanded and it stood fast" Psa. 33:99For he spake, and it was done; he commanded, and it stood fast. (Psalm 33:9). Its later form the Tabernacle was a pattern of the first house the universe. It was a testimony too of those things which were to be spoken after the things of Christ. Briefly then the Word of God testifies to Christ and His glory. This is God's provision for us as we pass through a world which has become a desert because it crucified God's Son. When our passage ends we will have reached our goal heavenly glory.
The Desert Setting of God's House the Tabernacle and the Waywardness of Israel
The subject now shifts from God's faithful servant Moses and the Tabernacle to the unfaithful people in the wilderness who surrounded that tabernacle yet turned away from God. Looking at their history we see God made His ways known to Moses, His acts to the children of Israel. The people did not know God's ways as Moses did. They rejected faith, tried and proved God for forty years and in all that time turned against Him rejecting the Word of God spoken to them through His servant Moses. The Word of God preached to them did not profit them because it was not mixed with faith 4:2. That was the origin of their difficulties. Next their unbelieving heart became evil 3:12. Notice how the Spirit of God is giving us a picture of their hearts not in chronological order but from the root of their trouble, working backwards. First their fathers heard the Word of God but through lack of faith it did not take root 4:2. The result was an evil heart of unbelief in departing from the living God (3:12). That development took place when the spies showed them the good fruit of the land the cluster of grapes, the pomegranates and the figs and told them that the land flowed with milk and honey. But when the spies also reported that the land was defended by giants they drew back. Through lack of faith they compared the inhabitants of the land to themselves rather than to God who had promised them the land. Thus they called God a liar. They had no faith that He could overcome the foes who made them tremble. God swore in His heart that their fathers should not enter into His rest 3:11. He said "and your children shall wander in the wilderness forty years... until your carcasses are wasted in the wilderness. After the number of days in which you searched the land, even forty days, each day for a year, even forty and you shall know My breach of promise" Num. 14:33, 3433And your children shall wander in the wilderness forty years, and bear your whoredoms, until your carcases be wasted in the wilderness. 34After the number of the days in which ye searched the land, even forty days, each day for a year, shall ye bear your iniquities, even forty years, and ye shall know my breach of promise. (Numbers 14:33‑34). But they also erred in their hearts 3:10. Koran, Dathan and Abiram rebelled against Moses charging him that he had not brought them up to a land flowing with milk and honey and since he had failed in his promise his leadership was in question Num. 16. They wanted the land on their own terms the good things of the land without conflict and a reversal of God's judgment that they must wander in the wilderness until consumed because of lack of faith. Finally they hardened their hearts they became stubborn in self will. This final process is the end result of what we have been considering the beginning of which was unbelief. No wonder Paul mentions it twice 3:8 and 3:15 and concludes that is why they could not enter the land 3:19. The hardening of their hearts is traced to "the provocation, in the day of temptation in the wilderness" 3:8. This was at the waters of Meribah Num. 20:1-131Then came the children of Israel, even the whole congregation, into the desert of Zin in the first month: and the people abode in Kadesh; and Miriam died there, and was buried there. 2And there was no water for the congregation: and they gathered themselves together against Moses and against Aaron. 3And the people chode with Moses, and spake, saying, Would God that we had died when our brethren died before the Lord! 4And why have ye brought up the congregation of the Lord into this wilderness, that we and our cattle should die there? 5And wherefore have ye made us to come up out of Egypt, to bring us in unto this evil place? it is no place of seed, or of figs, or of vines, or of pomegranates; neither is there any water to drink. 6And Moses and Aaron went from the presence of the assembly unto the door of the tabernacle of the congregation, and they fell upon their faces: and the glory of the Lord appeared unto them. 7And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, 8Take the rod, and gather thou the assembly together, thou, and Aaron thy brother, and speak ye unto the rock before their eyes; and it shall give forth his water, and thou shalt bring forth to them water out of the rock: so thou shalt give the congregation and their beasts drink. 9And Moses took the rod from before the Lord, as he commanded him. 10And Moses and Aaron gathered the congregation together before the rock, and he said unto them, Hear now, ye rebels; must we fetch you water out of this rock? 11And Moses lifted up his hand, and with his rod he smote the rock twice: and the water came out abundantly, and the congregation drank, and their beasts also. 12And the Lord spake unto Moses and Aaron, Because ye believed me not, to sanctify me in the eyes of the children of Israel, therefore ye shall not bring this congregation into the land which I have given them. 13This is the water of Meribah; because the children of Israel strove with the Lord, and he was sanctified in them. (Numbers 20:1‑13). Moses brought water out of the rock to the murmuring people who not only complained that they weren't in a fruitful land (due to their own unfaithfulness) but even challenged God (through Moses) for bringing them out of Egypt in the first place. Moses lost his temper and hit the rock twice calling the people rebels and letting them know that he and Aaron because of their complaints must bring water out of the rock. Thus he failed to sanctify God before the people. Because Aaron was associated with him in this act God decreed that both of them should die Aaron first Num. 20:23-2923And the Lord spake unto Moses and Aaron in mount Hor, by the coast of the land of Edom, saying, 24Aaron shall be gathered unto his people: for he shall not enter into the land which I have given unto the children of Israel, because ye rebelled against my word at the water of Meribah. 25Take Aaron and Eleazar his son, and bring them up unto mount Hor: 26And strip Aaron of his garments, and put them upon Eleazar his son: and Aaron shall be gathered unto his people, and shall die there. 27And Moses did as the Lord commanded: and they went up into mount Hor in the sight of all the congregation. 28And Moses stripped Aaron of his garments, and put them upon Eleazar his son; and Aaron died there in the top of the mount: and Moses and Eleazar came down from the mount. 29And when all the congregation saw that Aaron was dead, they mourned for Aaron thirty days, even all the house of Israel. (Numbers 20:23‑29) Moses later Deut. 34:1-61And Moses went up from the plains of Moab unto the mountain of Nebo, to the top of Pisgah, that is over against Jericho. And the Lord showed him all the land of Gilead, unto Dan, 2And all Naphtali, and the land of Ephraim, and Manasseh, and all the land of Judah, unto the utmost sea, 3And the south, and the plain of the valley of Jericho, the city of palm trees, unto Zoar. 4And the Lord said unto him, This is the land which I sware unto Abraham, unto Isaac, and unto Jacob, saying, I will give it unto thy seed: I have caused thee to see it with thine eyes, but thou shalt not go over thither. 5So Moses the servant of the Lord died there in the land of Moab, according to the word of the Lord. 6And he buried him in a valley in the land of Moab, over against Beth-peor: but no man knoweth of his sepulchre unto this day. (Deuteronomy 34:1‑6). Faithful men that they were they failed. Their mission and priestly service ended in death. When Jesus' mission was completed He sat down triumphantly on the right hand of the Majesty on high 1:3. And as a Priest He lives forever to bless His people. This contrast is really something to think about.
The great lesson in this is unswerving obedience to the Word of God. The heart the seat of the emotions must be watched. If unbelief is found in it that is, the absence of faith it is a wicked heart, and will turn us away from the living God. We are to end as we started companions of Christ. This is qualified by the practical consideration of holding the beginning of our assurance firm to the end v.14. Their fathers didn't listen to the Word and perished due to unbelief the opposite of faith. Faith is the positive thing unbelief the negative. So we move on to the linkage of faith and the Word of God. This is what God looks for in His people.
The Rest of God
In Hebrews the subject of rest is confined to the verses ranging from 3:11 to 4:11. Furthermore it is God's rest not ours which is in question.
This is spelled out for us in the references to "MY REST" and "HIS REST." The emphasis here is that God barred entrance into "MY REST." This is emphasized by a threefold repetition "they shall not enter into MY REST" 3:11 "they shall not enter MY REST" 4:3 "they shall not enter MY REST" 4:5. This theme is continued in "HIS REST" "they should not enter into HIS REST" 3:18 but a ray of hope emerges here "let us therefore fear, lest a promise being left of entering into HIS REST, anyone of you might seem to have failed of it" 4:1.
Why did God bar Israel from His rest? Simply because they disregarded the Word of God spoken to them. They were unbelieving and so did not act on it. Moses was a man of faith faithful in all his house 3:5. Not so the people. "The Word...did not profit them, not being mixed with faith in those who heard" 4:2. "Without faith it is impossible to please Him" 11:6. The dreadful example of their fathers is held up to the Hebrew believers as a warning, for they too had had glad tidings presented to them just as they had 4:2. For Israel the glad tidings offered a promised land on earth for the Hebrew believers a better land in heaven. But they must act on the glad tidings the report of the Word of God by mingling faith with the message. Their fathers failed to do this and so perished in the desert instead of entering into God's rest. On the other hand "we who have believed" and believing is an act of faith enter into rest. Never confuse this rest with the rest of soul which Christ has promised when we come to Him Matt. 11:2828Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. (Matthew 11:28). The subject here is not our rest but God's rest. What does entering into it mean then? Perhaps an analogy might be helpful. Let us suppose the case of a man who, after a long walk, finally enters the road which leads to his home. He knows that at the end of that road is his home. So he has entered the pathway to rest. The point is God's rest is our rest His home ours too. We enter the pathway by believing then in Chapter 12 we come to the City of the living God and His rest becomes our rest. For the present that rest remains it is future. Paul was writing to readers skilled in the Old Testament Scriptures. Putting himself in their place he anticipates two possible challenges to what he has written. He answers these objections from the Old Testament Scriptures, thus silencing potential critics.
First the Jew might reason that God's rest was the Sabbath. "In a certain place" meaning Gen. 2:22And on the seventh day God ended his work which he had made; and he rested on the seventh day from all his work which he had made. (Genesis 2:2) we are told that God rested from His works. And hadn't God given Israel the Sabbath? True, but He did so as a sign of His future rest for how could God rest when man sinned with the law and without the law. And so God must break His rest by commencing a fresh work redemption "My Father worketh hitherto and I work" the Lord said. However Paul does not quote John to prove this as we have done. He goes farther back to David to show that though God's works were finished from the foundation of the world, they could not enter into God's rest on that ground Psa. 95:1111Unto whom I sware in my wrath that they should not enter into my rest. (Psalm 95:11). But the Jew might say very well, but didn't Joshua give our fathers rest when with Jehovah's help he drove our enemies out of the Promised Land? And aren't we, their children, enjoying rest in that Promised Land? Going back to the same 95th Psalm which showed they could not enter into God's rest on the ground of creation and the Sabbath, Paul proves that Joshua's victories also couldn't have brought them into the rest God had in mind. For David lived long after Joshua and Paul quotes him "and in this again, if they shall enter into My rest" Psa. 95:1111Unto whom I sware in my wrath that they should not enter into my rest. (Psalm 95:11). Paul also quotes the seventh verse of the same Psalm "He again fixes a certain day 'Today' saying through David after so long a time just as has been said before "today if you hear His voice, do not harden your hearts." This is the last of triple exhortations 3:8, 3:15, 4:7 not to harden their hearts. Pharaoh hardened his heart and the result was that he said "Who is the Lord, that I should obey His voice... I do not know the Lord" Ex. 5:22And Pharaoh said, Who is the Lord, that I should obey his voice to let Israel go? I know not the Lord, neither will I let Israel go. (Exodus 5:2). So the danger is there, which would not be true if God's rest had been entered by the Sabbath, or their residence in the land of promise.
The second exhortation in our Chapter follows “let us be diligent therefore to enter into that rest, lest any man fall after the same example of not hearkening to the Word." Israel's sorry conduct is before us, not to make us fear this time, as in 4:1 but rather to spur us on to press ahead to the rest not drop out like stragglers from a marching army. To go on we must listen to what the Word of God has to say to us for it is living and powerful and sharper than any two-edged sword. The sword in this passage is not to punish us for doing wrong but a deterrent to keep us from doing wrong. It is the same thought as "Thy word have I hid in my heart that I might not sin against Thee" Psa. 119:1111Thy word have I hid in mine heart, that I might not sin against thee. (Psalm 119:11). This sword pierces, divides and probes all that is going on inside us our real thoughts and hidden motives. No surgeon's scalpel ever reached a bodily disorder so quickly. Not only that, but every creature is exposed to that sword for "all things are naked and opened unto the eyes of Him with whom we have to do" v.13. Just as Christ is the living Word of God so the Bible is the written Word of God. In passing through this world where Christ is not, God has given us all the direction and warning we need by speaking to us in the written word.
The remaining three verses of our chapter, because of their uniqueness, are commented upon in a separate chapter of this book the chapter following this one. They are comparable to a bridge linking together 2:17 3:1 and Chapter 5:10-18. In 2:17 we are told that "it behooved Him in all things to be made like His brethren that He might be a merciful and faithful High Priest in things relating to God." In 3:1 we are to consider this High Priest a consideration which commences with verses 14 to 16 of Chapter 4. Then from Chapter 5 to 10:18 the doctrine of His High Priesthood is unfolded.
It is apparent then that more space is devoted to His High Priesthood in Hebrews than to His Apostleship though the separate offices are interconnected. This is because His work as Apostle ended at the cross. As Apostle then His work is finished as High Priest it is unfinished. As we shall see later on He is a High Priest forever.