Hebrews Chapter 3

Becoming Faithful and Obedient

THEREFORE! NOW THAT WE KNOW THESE TRUTHS… (from Chapters One and Two) WHAT EXACTLY HAVE WE LEARNED? We’ve learned, and been reminded, of the wonderful Truth that Jesus, our Messiah, is much greater than angels or even the greatest of all apostles or prophets. Jesus, is the very Son of God ~ God Himself! Jesus created us, the universe and everything in existence. Not only did He create everything, He holds everything in existence by His Power and Might. He also knows everything, past, present and future. Even more than this, he controls everything now and forever. More than all this, He created us for His own special children, to bring honor and glory to Himself; even the angels were created to minister to us! Wow! God has even been so gracious as to carefully remind us about “drifting away” from His Truth and divine guidance. We can hardly take all this in, it staggers our imagination and comprehension to even begin to understand the implications of these Truths. Yet, because we KNOW and understand, by His Word, that all of this is true and accurate, we now must chose how we will respond. So, will we seek to know Him through our Bible study and obedience to the Holy Spirit, or will we seek our own selfish agendas?

3:1

“Therefore, brothers whom God has set apart”, This opening statement clearly shows that the writer is addressing true Believers, as they are called “brothers” and noted as ones “whom God has set apart”. This would mean they are special believers, actually consecrated and called for a special purpose. “Who share in the call from Heaven”, We now know that ALL Believers are set apart and called to become like Jesus. That is also OUR call from Heaven. We are to share the Truth of God’s Gospel with everyone. We are to disciple all those whom God has called to be His children. We ourselves were discipled by others, now we, in turn, must take up the call from God and disciple those who come after us. This is our life calling, our privilege as children of God, and the only way we will bring glory, honor and praise to our Savior and Lord. This “fruit of discipleship” is how we respond to God’s Love for us. Now we are told to “think carefully about Yeshua, whom we acknowledge publicly as God’s emissary and cohen gadol” (which in Hebrew is High Priest). This means that we also are to carefully and thoughtfully consider Jesus as OUR High Priest. Remember, we have already confessed and embraced Jesus as our Savior and Lord when we became ‘born again’ Believers.

3:2

Jesus was faithful to God in every area and aspect of His life. That is why He stated that He did only that which God willed. He did nothing of Himself, only that directed by His Father. Only when we do exactly what God directs us, are we completely in His Will. What a wonderful, privileged, safe place to be, in God’s Will. Think about it, Jesus never sinned because He was NEVER out of God’s Will. The writer reminds them that Moses was faithful in all God’s house. He is quoting from Numbers 12:7. Yet, Moses did not do everything exactly to God’s Will. Yet, of all the old testament Saints, Moses was the most revered to the Jews.

3:3

Yet, or But; it’s like saying Now hear this! Jesus deserves far more honor than Moses. Jesus is not even on the same level with Moses! Just as Jesus was not even on the same level with angels. Then the writer uses a simple, yet poetic play of the word “house”, to give an analogy for a comparison to Jesus and Moses. The architect, or builder, of a house deserves more honor than the house itself. We know that ‘His house’ was the ‘house of Israel’ which was a reference to the redeemed people of Israel. Remember, that the Jews were well aware of the miraculous hand of God on Moses from the very beginning. As a baby he was preserved from certain death by a miracle of God; protected from his enemies by miracle after miracle of God; all the way to his death, and then God personally digging his grave and burying Moses. So no other man was more revered by the Jews than Moses. Note that Moses also honors God more than any other man. Moses led the Israelites to the promised land; Jesus leads us to Eternal Glory in Heaven. All Moses did pointed to Jesus; Who brings us to the Eternal promised land.

3:4

Why? Because all houses are built by someone. The beauty, design and function of the house is because the designer gave it all those attributes. So it is with God, He built and designed everything (and all of us). Remember, even the abilities and creativeness of the human designer of the house all came from God! God is our Creator and our Designer! Never take credit for the talents and gifts you have; as ALL came from your Creator!

3:5

Now the writer reminds them, and us, that Moses was a servant of God, faithful in all his house. Moses was a servant witness to things that God would reveal in the future through Jesus. We know that Jesus is the very Son of God. If you want a comparison between son and servant, see Gal. 4:1-7; and John 15:15. Also note that a servant, or steward of the house, must be found faithful. (1 Cor. 4:2) The Jews would have been familiar with all the Jewish writings that identified the coming Messiah as having the “Spirit of Adonai” from Isaiah 11:2. Even Genesis 1:2 alludes to the spirit of the Messiah by saying that the “Spirit of God (Adonai) hovered over the face of the waters.” Note that the outpouring of the Holy Spirit is likened to water, which is often used to denote repentance. Baptism is just an outward sign of the inward repentance; washing ones sins away, etc. We see the clear ties of Spirit ~ Water and repentance ~ and forgiveness ~ all bringing us to a personal relationship with our Savior, Jesus.

3:6

Yeshua, the Messiah, was faithful over God’s house; and we are that house, IF…. There are three ‘houses’ which are mentioned seven times. House of Israel; a redeemed people (Ex. 14;31; 15:13) Household (or family) of God; House of God (as the Holy Spirit indwells us). IF we hold firmly to the confidence of faith, rejoicing courageously and inspired (by the Holy Spirit) of the Hope until the end. The role of a true servant is faithfulness. The apostle must be faithful. The true Believer must be faithful. IF we really believe what we claim to believe, WE WILL BE FAITHFUL TO THE END. Do we stumble and fall? Yes, but we immediately confess and repent and seek God’s forgiveness, healing and restoration, and then seek to obey Him.

A brief comparison of Moses and Jesus:
Moses Jesus
An Apostle The Apostle
Sinful Sinless
A Prophet of God’s Truth Truth Himself
Member of his house The House (Temple)
involved in a single house All Houses
Man of God God Himself

A servant God’s Son
Built Earthly Tabernacle Eternal dwelling
Testified of God The Word of God
Led through wilderness Leads to Glory
Delivered Israel from Egypt Delivered Man from Hell

3:7

THEREFORE, (Again the writer is building on the Truth’s that we just heard and learned) “As the Holy Spirit says, Today, IF you hear God’s voice”, In order to hear His Voice, we must be listening. How do we “listen” for God’s Voice? Several ways: We pray; we read His Word, seeking to hear Him speak to our hearts and minds. We strive diligently to hear the Holy Spirit speak to our spirit and soul; then we obey. Notice that there is no secret ‘formula’ or ‘trick’ to hearing God’s voice. There is only prayer and faithful study of His Word; always seeking to hear the Holy Spirit leading us, guiding us, urging us to do God’s Will. Not sure what God’s Will is for you? Then go back to the basics of praying, studying His Word and obeying what He reveals to you. Why should we read God’s Word as IF God were speaking to us? Because the writer just told us “As the HOLY SPIRIT says”. It was not Moses, or the author of Moses, who was doing the speaking, it was God Himself! As we read and study God’s Word, we must remember it is God who is speaking to us! Pray God’s Word, out loud, into your life, and the lives of your loved ones. So, IF YOU chose to ignore God’s clear warnings to you, or ignore His directives, He will withdraw Himself from revealing Himself any further. We ABSOLUTELY MUST OBEY. When we feel God has abandoned us, we must be honest and search our hearts and souls; are we praying His Word, studying His Word, and obeying Him?

Now the writer quotes directly from Psalm 95:8-11. This Psalm makes reference to two earlier situations: Exodus 17:1-7 and Numbers 20:1-13.

3:8

Don’t harden your hearts. How do we do that? We harden our hearts by refusing to hear and obey God’s Word. We actually quench the Holy Spirit within us. We actually reject God. We turn from God to Satan. Do we realize what we are doing? We turn away from Goodness and Light and embrace and welcome darkness and evil. We chose Satan over Jesus. We support all that is hurtful, painful, degrading, murderous, vicious, all the characteristics of evil flesh mentioned in Galatians 5:19-21. We join in the rebellion against God and provoke and cause God grief and suffering. Can we really grieve the God of the Universe? Unfortunately, we can, and we do. Each time we disobey God we bring Him sorrow and grief. Each time we obey Him we bring Him joy and praise. We have free will, God did not make us robots. So our choices to obey God or reject Him brings God either joy or sorrow.

3:9

Now the writer goes on to recall exactly what happened. He calls the Jews of long ago ‘your fathers’ causing them to identify with their ancestors. He reminds them that they challenged God and put Him to the Test, and yet they saw His works and miracles for forty years. We think “how foolish, after being delivered from Egypt and seeing miracle after miracle.” Yet think for a moment, don’t we know about ALL God’s miracles; from Genesis to Revelation? And yet what do we do, how do we respond to God’s Goodness, Grace, Mercy and Love? By disobedience! We are no better than they were; we harden our hearts. Now is the time to do some serious soul searching.
10. Next we are told what God’s response was. That He was provoked, grieved and sorrowed over their disobedience and disbelief. He said they always made the wrong choices and were led astray in their hearts. They did not perceive or recognize the value and Truth of God’s ways; nor did they learn from their mistakes; repent, and become better people by obeying God’s commands. We also learn to be obedient by obeying. Each time we make a choice to do the right thing, to reject the temptation, God causes us to become more like Him. Our character and integrity of soul and spirit slowly become more and more like Jesus. We develop good character traits by obeying God and making godly choices. We do not instantly become like Jesus, it is a slow process of obedience. Step by step, prayer after prayer, Bible study after Bible study. One choice at a time. As we make steady progress in obeying God, those daily choices become good habits of obedience rather than bad habits of disobedience and sin. Each time we face temptation we can say in our hearts: ‘Do I want to grieve my Lord and Savior, or do I want to please Him?’ Today, right now, commit in your heart to obey Jesus, and bring Him joy. Remember, choose Jesus, NOT Satan!

3:11

The writer reminds us that God swore in His wrath and indignation that those who were disobedient would not enter into His rest. In reality, those who originally left Egypt (except Joshua and Caleb) were doomed to wander in the wilderness for forty years. They all eventually died in the wilderness; only the ‘new generation’ entered into the Promised land with Joshua and Caleb. The disobedient never entered into the promised land, nor did they enter into God’s rest. This ‘rest’ is not ease, or physical rest, rather it is a complete Trust and confidence in God. No matter what situation we are in we can ‘rest in Christ Jesus’ knowing He has everything in control. We will more fully explore this ‘resting in Jesus’ as we continue our study of Hebrews.

3:12

So we, as Believers, are strongly warned to watch out and beware of having an unbelieving evil heart. A heart that refuses to trust in Jesus, to rely on Jesus, to seek after Jesus and obey Him. A heart that could lead us to apostatize from the Living God. We would be like deserters of the Faith, denying the Truth of the Gospel. This is a very serious matter, and we should take this warning to heart and pray that none of us would ever disobey the Holy Spirit and find ourselves denying our Lord and Savior. We hear the term ‘backslider’ and know that term refers to one who is disobeying God and acting as if Jesus didn’t die for them. We never know what is in a person’s heart, but we can see the result in their actions and lifestyle. Pray fervently for anyone you know who may appear to have an unbelieving heart.

3:13

Instead we are admonished to warn others, seeking to encourage and urge them to trust in Jesus. We are to encourage one another every day so that none of us would become discouraged and fall into disobedience and rebellion. The Temptation of sin deceives people into doing evil. The evil one uses trickery and lies to delude us into thinking that sin is glamorous or fun; when all it will bring in the end is pain and sorrow.

3:14

Remember, that we are to become inheritors with our Messiah, provided that we hold firmly to the unwavering conviction we began with when we trusted Jesus as our Lord and Savior. We must be steadfast, committed to following in Jesus’ footsteps right up to the end of our lives; only then will we reach the goal. God has a wonderful plan for your life; but it requires you to trust Him, to obey Him and seek Him with all your heart, soul and mind. When Jesus return to earth with His rewards, you want to hear Him say to you “Well done, good and faithful servant.” Keep Jesus’ Words in your heart and soul. Do this on a daily basis by praying God’s Words into your life. Fix your thoughts on what Jesus has commanded you. That saying “What would Jesus do?” is one to keep in your hearts and minds. Remember, Jesus clearly tells us that we can lose our rewards. We are being warned, right here, that we must be faithful.

3:15

Today, means right now, don’t delay, act immediately, this is urgent! The author again quotes the scripture not to harden our hearts. God is gracious and good, He knows we are weak and lazy, He knows we need repeated warnings and admonishings. He repeats these urgent warnings to us because He knows how weak and feeble our commitments are. We stumble easily, we give up without a fight, we cave in when a simple temptation is put before us. Yet, all the while we criticize others when they stumble and fall. We need to gird ourselves with God’s Truth, we need to take up all the armor God tells us to use; to Pray every single day; Pray His Word into your life; study His Word every single day; seek His guidance and direction through the Holy Spirit every single day. We need to use the shield of Faith every day. Just as we must eat every day, so we MUST pray and study His Word EVERY SINGLE DAY! No exceptions! We need to ask the Holy Spirit to keep our hearts soft and open to His voice. Galatians 6:10-13. We are like little children. We have to be told to do something over and over, we don’t easily obey God. What is wrong with us!?

3:16

We are warned that those who heard God’s Word were the very ones who rebelled and provoked God. These were the same people that God redeemed from Egypt. They were condemned to wander in the wilderness for forty years. The Hebrews who were hearing these words did not realize it, but between the first preaching of the Gospel and the destruction of their beloved Temple, would be forty years; exactly as Jesus had predicted. The exact same number of years their disobedient forefathers wandered in the desert. We must heed these warnings!

3:17-18

The writer again reminds them that those who had sinned and believed not; who had murmured and complained, not trusting Him, all had died in the wilderness and had not been allowed to enter into His rest. God was grieved by them for forty years. He again is grieved by the unbelief of His chosen people; not just for forty years, but right up to our present day. What about us, are we grieving Him? Time for more soul searching.

3:19

Because of their unbelief and disobedience, they lost their reward, and were not allowed into the Promised Land, nor to enter into God’s rest. The people were not sent back to Egypt, so they were still God’s people, yet they lost God’s Blessings and their reward.

God in His infinite Love and Mercy has warned us of the coming dangers that accompany apostasy. The loss of Rewards and Rest clearly apply to us. Believers are urged to stand fast and persevere to obtain all God has promised to the faithful Overcomer. Jesus will judge our motives and obedience to the call of the Holy Spirit on our lives. We know the Truth and we must act on His Word. May God grant us soft and obedient hearts. Begin right now, today, to memorize God’s Word and pray it into your life, and the life of others. Study His Word diligently, seeking to apply it to your life. You will please and honor your Lord, God and Savior! Shalom!