The Word Made Fresh
1So, my friends, you who are holy partners in a heavenly calling, consider that Jesus was the original apostle and high priest of the faith we confess, 2and was faithful to the One who appointed him just as Moses was faithful. 3But Jesus deserves more honor than Moses in the same way that the builder of a house is more honorable than the house itself. 4After all, every house was constructed by somebody, but God is the builder of everything.
5Now, Moses was a faithful servant in God’s house, and tells of things that would be revealed later. 6But Christ was a faithful son in God’s house, and we also are in his house if we can hold onto the confidence and pride that comes from hope. 7So, as the Holy Spirit has said, “Today, if you hear his voice, 8don’t rebel and become hard-hearted as was the case with your ancestors when they were tested in the wilderness 9where they put me to the test even though they had witnessed my actions 10for forty years. That is why I was so angry with that generation, and I said, ‘Their hearts constantly go astray, for they have not known my ways.’ 11Then in anger, I swore that they would never enter my rest.”
12Be careful, friends, not to have a wicked and unbelieving heart that turns away from the living God. 13But encourage one another every day to protect each other from hard-heartedness through sinful deceits. 14After all, we are only partners with Christ if we cling to the end with our first confidence. 15It has been said, “If you hear his voice today, do not harden your hearts as you did in the rebellion.”
16Who was it that heard and yet rebelled? Wasn’t it the very ones who followed Moses out of Egypt? 17And with whom was God angry for forty years? Wasn’t it the very ones who sinned, whose bodies fell in the wilderness? 18And whom did he tell they could never enter his rest if it wasn’t those who disobeyed? 19You see, they couldn’t enter because of their unbelief.
Commentary
1-6: Jesus is referred to as “apostle and high priest.” As apostle he was sent (“apostle” means “one who is sent”) to bring to humankind the message of God’s salvation. As high priest he made the sacrifice to atone for our sins. Christ was faithful as was Moses, but Christ is superior to Moses, he argues, because Moses was a servant, but Christ is the Son. “God’s house” in these verses means God’s heritage — first the people of Israel, then the church.
7-19: He quotes a lot of scripture, primarily from the Psalms. Verses 7-11 paraphrase Psalm 95:7-11, and the writer repeats selected phrases though the rest of the chapter. The author is using these passages to undergird the warning to his readers that they must stay on guard against evil, emphasizing that in the wilderness those who were disobedient were the ones punished.
Takeaway
Faith must be tended. It doesn’t maintain itself, but must be upheld through our constant vigilance with prayer and worship.