Sermon Tone Analysis

Introduction: Now after having seen the supremacy of Jesus, who is better than prophets and angels, we now see that he is better than Moses, the one through whom the Old Covenant came.

The first six verses of sets the stage for the rest of the chapter and so in order to understand the rest of the chapter we must understand verses 1-6.

Let’s start by asking this question: why is it important to understand that Jesus is better than Moses?

Well, in order to understand the importance of the argument we must understand what the Jews of that time thought of Moses.

First, the Jews considered Moses to be far above any other Jew who ever lived.

God had miraculously spared Moses from death and personally oversaw his burial and in between these points Moses experienced miracle after miracle after miracle.

Not to mention the fact that Moses was the one to whom God spoke directly and had seen the very glory of God, and for a brief time literally reflected the glory of God from his face.

Moses is also the one who led the Jews out of Egypt which was the greatest picture of salvation in the Old Testament.

As we see by the actions of the Pharisees (the more popular religious group of Jesus’ day) the Old Testament commands were the highest priorities for the Jews and Moses became synonymous with those priorities as they referred to the commands in the Old Testament as they “law of Moses.”

Moses not only delivered to them the Ten Commandments but he also wrote the entire Pentateuch which governed every aspect of Jewish life.

In addition to this, Moses gave them the plans for the Tabernacle as well as the Ark of the Covenant.

Remember how highly the Jews considered angels to be?

Well, some Jews considered Moses to be even greater than angels.

Above anyone who had ever lived, surely Moses was God’s man.

Of course Moses was great, but the author of Hebrews wants to make abundantly clear that Jesus if far greater.

Superior in His Office

The passage starts off with the word “therefore.”

Therefore always calls our attention back to what has been previously stated.

So, on the basis of the fact that Jesus has the power to recover man’s lost destiny as man’s substitute, as the Author of salvation, our Sanctifier, the conqueror of Satan, and our Sympathizer we ought to consider Him.

The word consider (κατανοέω) carries with it the idea that the author wants us to place our thoughts on Jesus and let them remain there.

In other words, drop everything in your life that you think has given your life any meaning and let your thoughts be fixed on the absolute completeness of Christ.

Jesus is the new Apostle (sent one) and the the Priest (intercessor) from God and He is all that anyone will ever need.

*Note: This is true of and written to fellow believers who are called to a superior and heavenly calling.

Those who are partakers of the heavenly calling look to Christ as the supreme One.

Those who are partakers of the heavenly calling disregard any other means of salvation that man’s wisdom might teach.

Those who are partakers of the heavenly calling gaze on Christ and Christ alone.

Believers, by faith, consider Him in everything they do, for without faith it is impossible to please God.

So, by faith, we consider Christ.

When life gets tough and we face problems that we do not have the answer to - consider Christ.

When disappointment becomes normal and temptations seem impossible to resist - consider Christ.

After all this is the life that we have been called to.

So, we ought to consider Christ who is the Apostle and High priest of our confession.

Although the Old Testament never uses this word, Moses can be considered an apostle of the Old Testament.

He was, after all, sent from God as God’s official representative (that is the meaning of the word apostle).

Jesus, however, was both apostle and priest.

This is the first way that Jesus is superior to Moses.

Moses was not a priest at all.

Moses held only one office while Jesus held two.

Yet, even in the office of apostle, Jesus was better because He both brought a better covenant as well as made that better covenant effective with His own blood.

Superior in His Work

As the author continues in verse 2 he continues by pointing out a similarity between Moses and Jesus.

You see, most of us are Gentiles, and it is difficult for us to understand how highly the Jewish mind regarded Moses.

In the Jewish mind, pretty much everything connected with God was in some way connected to Moses (God’s great prophet).

So, the author deals with the situation delicately by pointing out the validity of Moses in stating that, like Jesus, he was faithful.

This is true and is verified in the Old Testament.

Faithfulness characterized Moses’ life.

Just as Moses was faithful to the One who appointed Him so was Jesus - only Jesus was even more faithful.

While Moses seldom faltered Jesus never did.

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And, although Moses was faithful, he was still a part of the house while Jesus is the builder of the house.

What do you think house refers to?

Jesus is the builder of the church and is, therefore, greater than any of it’s leaders.

Superior in His Person

Here is the climax of this passage.

Indeed, Moses was faithful in the house of God as a servant, but Christ is over the house as a Son.

There is a huge difference between sons and servants.

Interestingly the word used for servant here is θεράπων which is used only this one time in the New Testament.

It refers to a servant that serves with dignity and freedom.

Moses was faithful as the highest ranking servant of the Old Testament and yet he is a servant and not a son.

The faithfulness of Moses was great and had a special purpose.

The faithfulness of Moses was a testimony of the things that would one day be found in Christ.

The ministry of Moses and the Old Testament as a whole was a shadow of things to come.

A shadow without substance is useless.

Jesus is the substance that the shadow was an image of.

Anyone who truly accepted the Old Testament and truly believed Moses would also accept Jesus.

Jesus is the substance and Son of the house.

What is the house of God?

Moses was a servant in someone else’s house while Jesus is the Son over His own house.

Confidence for the Believer

Remember how we said at the beginning that this passage was addressed to believers.

The author closes this passage with an evidence for the validity of a believer.

How can we know that we are really a part of God’s house?

We can know that we are valid believers if we hold fast to the confidence and rejoicing of our hope firm until the end.

This does not mean that we must earn our salvation, but it indicates that one who falls away was never a believer in the first place.

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Conclusion: So, what does this passage mean for us today?

This passage communicates two things to us: 1).

We should carefully examine whether we are part of the church.

If we continue as a functioning member of the body of Christ then we know that we are of His household.

2).

When we know that we are in his household, we should keep our eyes on Him.

He is all we need.