TUESDAY-THURSDAY
by Dr. Lloyd T. Anderson Pastor, Bethany B aptist Church West Covina, Calif. Both Moses and Jesus are described as “faithful.” Each of them had sol emn responsibilities committed to them directly by God; the fact of di vine appointment is evident. The writer then goes on in verses 3-6 to show the immeasurable superiority of Christ to Moses. The use of the word “house” in these verses should be carefully studied. According to West- cott, it means the organized society in which God dwells. Morgan: “It is im portant therefore that we should rec ognize that the word means fa r more than a building, even in a spiritual sense. Indeed there is a use of the word which is larger, such as when we speak of a tribe, or a clan; or as in our English history we speak of the House of Hanover. “Whose house are we, if we hold fast the confidence and the rejoicing of the hope firm unto the end” (verse 6 ). This is the first of a number of statements in Hebrews which at first sight seem to contradict the words of that we are saved by faith and not by works. Saphir: “The exhortations of the epistle may appear to some dif ficult to reconcile with the teaching of Scripture, that the grace of God, once received through the power of the Holy Ghost by faith, can never be lost ; and they who are born again, who are once in Christ, they are in Christ, forever. Let us not blunt the edge of earnest and piercing exhortations. Let us not pass them over, or treat them with inward apathy. ‘Again it is writ ten.’ We know this does not mean that there is any real contradiction in Scripture, but that various aspects of truth áre presented, each with the same fidelity, fulness and emphasis. Hence we must learn to move freely, and not to be cramped and fixed in one position. We must keep our eyes clear and open, and not look at all things through the light of a favorite doctrine. And while we receive fully 31
HEBREWS 3:1-4:13
T h e L aw was given by M o ses ; the land was conquered by Joshua; the priesthood was vested in Aaron. In his unfolding of the transcendant glory of Christianity, the writer of the Hebrews devotes the remainder of the expository section of the epistle to showing that the Lord Jesus is greater than Moses (chapter 3 ) ; than Joshua (chapter 4 ) ; than Aaron (chapters 5 -7 ); and that the worldly sanctuary and ineffective sacrifices of Judaism are displaced by the heavenly sanctuary and the all-sufficient sacri fices of Christ (chapters 8-10). The first of the three great names we will consider is Moses. The apostle has already demonstrated the supe riority of Christ to the angels who were the heavenly agents employed in the giving of the Law. He now pro ceeds to show our Lord’s superiority to Moses who was the human agent who received the Law. It was difficult for a Jew to contemplate a greater than Moses, and it was no small de mand to make upon a Jew to ask him to acknowledge Jesus as better than Moses. Henderson, “Before instituting the comparison, he directs the gaze of his readers to the heavens; and the lan guage which he uses in doing so, re veals how vitally their destiny is linked with that of the ascended Lord (3 :1 ). “Wherefore” — the deduction which he is about to make is based on what he has already taught them; ‘holy brethren’—these words sum up the two f o l d statement of chapter 2 : 11; ‘partakers of the heavenly call ing’—there is suggested the contrast which exists between their earthly calling as Jews and their heavenly one as Christians; ‘consider’—atten tively survey; for the look which brought them s a l v a t i o n (Isaiah 45:22) must now be perpetuated into the earnest and lifelong gaze (chapter 12 : 2 ) .
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