Hebrews 3:1-19 · Numbers 12:6-8 · Numbers 14 · Exodus 34 — Hebrews
Living Life with Jesus in View
Jesus is superior to Moses, and faith in him demands unwavering trust and courage. Believers must check their motives, encourage one another, and choose Jesus over all competing allegiances.
Introduction
From almost the beginning of time, human beings have been in rebellion against God and against each other. People who envision a time where there is great harmony underestimate the evil that is in the heart of human beings. All we have to do is go back to the Garden and we discover that in a place where things were very good, humans believed it wasn’t enough. For those who do not believe in God and reject the Bible, find one person who hasn’t been dissatisfied with life and rebelled against parents or voiced opposition to authority and I will change my view. Every human being rebels. Every human being is selfish. Every human being thinks at some point that they know more than a person in authority. Thus, those with the greater power tell others what to do and the cycle of rebellion continues. This is one of the proofs that God exists. With no moral authority then we are left with nothing but human power to make decisions.
Even those who believe in God rebel against him. Every human being has rebelled against God. No human being who is of sound mind listens to God fully, completely, and perfectly. This is sin. The consequence of rebellion moves in one of two directions. Either rebellion reveals greater choice and power to push away from authority and establish one’s own rule or rebellion reveals that the authority has greater power and one’s choices are further limited. In human relationships, our rebellion against others results in broken relationships and wars. In spiritual relationships, our rebellion results in significant consequences as well.
The difference in spiritual rebellion is the way God handles it. Adam and Eve rebelled. How would you describe the way God handled that? Certainly there were consequences. Chapter 3 describes curses that have plagued the human race ever since; there were personal consequences for Adam and Eve in that they were forced to live outside of the garden; but there was also something else. Grace. Extended life; a chance to have children; opportunity to learn from rebellion and to choose submission.
In human rebellion, it has to be dealt with in perceived finality. In spiritual rebellion, God does something very different—he puts his reputation at stake to bring about reconciliation and healing. A child rebels against the parent, the parent demands obedience. We rebel against God, he sacrifices himself to provide another opportunity. I am overwhelmed at that very non-human response. Grace amazes and cannot be explained fully and completely because it is so counter to the way we think. Such grace demands our praise.
Jesus vs. Moses
Turn to Numbers 12:6-8. Miriam and Aaron rebel against Moses (and ultimately God). This is what God declares about Moses. He is faithful in all my house. When Jews thought about their history, Moses is right at the top of those who represented faith and trust. Abraham, David, Elijah, Moses—all were people who demonstrated the quality of faith that all Jews aspired to have.
The Hebrew writer takes Numbers 12 and the person of Moses and extols Moses’ position with God and among his people. Then he contrasts that position with the position of Jesus in God’s house. The writer freely admits that both were faithful to God. But Moses was a servant in God’s house and Jesus is the son of the builder of the house. And according to 2:8, the builder has put everything under the authority of Jesus.
These initial readers are struggling to remain faithful to God. They are thinking of returning to their practices of Judaism to avoid the persecution that they experience. So the writer calls them to courage and the writer reminds them of the faithlessness of the Jews when Moses was the man of great faith. The people rejected God and his plan. They rebelled against God and his plan in Numbers 14. Ready to take them into the promised land, the people believed what they saw rather than trusted God. They envisioned losing; they envisioned being made slaves again based on what they could see. They saw the vast armies; they saw the larger than most people enemies; they saw well fortified cities. What they saw convinced them that they needed to rebel against the promise of God.
If you read Numbers 14, God wants to destroy them. Faithful Moses asks God to forgive and he does. Moses uses the words of Exodus 34 to make his case. God doesn’t need to be persuaded. The consequences of their rebellion is to wander in the desert for 40 years and for all the people over the age of 20 to die. They will not get to experience what they did not see. They hardened their hearts against God and they were lost. But then God brought the next generation into the land of promise. Grace. Their disobedience was a choice and God allowed their choice to determine their consequence—no rest, no land, lost, without a home, separated from what God wanted to give.
The writer then says if Jews were willing to be rebellious against God’s servant Moses with significant consequence then what do you think will happen to those who rebel against the Son of the builder of the house? What consequence will occur for a rebellion against the superior person of Jesus? Since God has revealed his final word in Jesus; since God built the house and put everything under the authority of Jesus; since Jesus in his death destroyed anything that could separate us from God, what would be the outcome if we rebel against Jesus?
Application
From the beginning of time, people have rebelled against authority. People rebel for a variety of reasons. So what is the remedy for this rebellion? Look at 3:12-14. First, check your motives. From the outside we see people’s actions and make determinations about motives. Sometimes we guess rightly. But inside your own mind, you know what your motives are. I have no doubt what David’s motives were when he sinned against one of his most loyal and trusted mighty men. But when given the opportunity to think about his motives, David knew. You know your own motives. You can sugar coat it; you can lie about it; you can deceive yourself, but my assumption is that you are here and listening because somewhere deep inside you are a person of faith. Struggling faith; small faith; imperfect faith is still faith. Check your motives. What is it that you really want? Then if your motive is to be a person of faith, do not turn away from the living God. 3:1, fix your thoughts on Jesus.
Second, mutual encouragement is needed. Every person needs to be reminded of their courage. At the core of encouragement is a recognition that you are capable of something that you do not see. When life is hard for you, you need someone to remind you of not only what is true in general but what is true about you in that specific situation. This is what the call to courage does. Encouragement is a call to courage. To continue; to move forward; to trust that something is there that you do not see. We do this for each other. We find the words and the actions to speak courage when it is limited. We speak courage when a person isn’t sure. We speak courage when we see faith waver.
Third, this is a marathon not a sprint. When our faith wavers, we want things to get easier quickly. We believe that if life was easier our faith would get stronger. That lie leads us to rebellion; to giving up; to rejecting Jesus. We start with confidence and then when obstacles appear we consider if the pain is worth the faith. Believe the lie that life is supposed to be easy and then you fix your thoughts on your comfort rather than on Jesus. So what does that look like? There is an election on Tuesday. The outcome may not be known for days afterwards. What do you think would happen on Tuesday if your social media posts were about Jesus and not politics? What if you on Tuesday and maybe especially after the results are known that your social media posts were about who your Lord is rather than focusing on who won or lost? What if you fixed our thoughts on Jesus and confessed him rather than your allegiance to a candidate?
I choose Jesus over politics. I choose Jesus over my fear. I choose Jesus because all authority belongs to him. I choose Jesus because all things are under him. I choose Jesus because in him God is seen. I choose Jesus because he is the one who has saved me. I choose Jesus over what I see. I choose Jesus.
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