Hebrews 3:5-6 “Moses was faithful as a servant in all God’s house,” bearing witness to what would be spoken by God in the future. 6 But Christ is faithful as the Son over God’s house. And we are his house, if indeed we hold firmly to our confidence and the hope in which we glory.
Even though Jesus is greater than Moses, Moses was a pretty good guy. He was faithful to the task God gave him. He had some bumps and bruises as he learned the cost of commitment, just like all of us must have on our journeys. Verse 5 shows the greatness of Moses as a faithful servant who carried out the task given him by God, and he was a prophet who was able to see into the future. God gave Moses insight into the future. We do not know the total of their conversations on the mountain. If he spent 40 days there, a lot must have happened. Possibly Moses saw glimpses of God’s plan of salvation, and that is what our author is imagining in this verse. God’s “house” is figurative for God’s people, Israel, those who believed in the Lord God of Abraham and faithfully followed his commands. Moses helped establish the freed slaves into a holy nation (Exodus 19:5-6).
Verse 6 is the comparison, with Christ being even greater than Moses and has built a new people, a new Israel (1 Peter 2:9-10). Christ was faith as Son because he did not give in to temptation but obediently went to the cross even though it cost him his life. He completed his mission of becoming the perfect high priest who opened the way to relationship with the Holy God. We can join his house, but according to this verse, there is a condition we must meet given in the form of an “if” clause. We must do our part and remain faithful by holding “firmly to our confidence and the hope in which we glory.” Our “confidence” is our courage and boldness that will not give in in the face of hardship and temptation, which was a problem facing the readers of Hebrews. Our “hope” is faith that there is indeed eternal life through faith in Jesus Christ. Our hope gives us confidence. The author is stressing two things in these verses. First, we can be confident that what Jesus has done is part of the plan of the one eternal and almighty God. This is not theory or a myth. Moses, the prophets, the angels, the Bible, and logic itself all point to the validity of the claims of Christianity. Second, we must do our part in believing in this message and living it out with boldness that comes from this hope.
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