Hebrews 3 notifies believers that they share the same calling as Jesus Christ, our faithful Apostle and High Priest.
We should break this down.
In the previous section, we were told that Jesus shared in the same things that we partake. This is the message of the identification of Christ with our humanity. He identified with our weaknesses and death. He identified with our sorrows and grief. He identified with our sin and shame. He did this so that we might identify with His resurrection life and liberty. He was made like us so that He might be a merciful and faithful High Priest in things pertaining to God, to make atonement and propitiation for people’s sins, (Hebrews 2:17).
Atonement is the act by which God and man are brought together.
In the Old Covenant, this took place specifically on the Day of Atonement. On that specific day, the sacrifice was made and the blood was spilled and applied to the mercy seat in the Holy of Holies. As a result, believers were cleansed and covered from their sins.
The atonement was the means of propitiation.
Propitiation means “appeasing the wrath of God against sins.”
Since sin is primarily a transgression against God, it is necessary that the offense be recompensed and appeased.
1 John 2:2 NKJV He Himself is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the whole world.
- RSV – He is the expiation for our sins
- NIV – He is the atoning sacrifice for our sins
- NLT – He is the sacrifice that atones for our sins
1 John 4:10 NKJV In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins.
Christ’s action brings believers into God’s favor and takes away the handwriting of requirements that was against us, having nailed it to the cross, (Colossians 2:14)
Hebrews 2:17 NKJV Therefore, in all things He had to be made like His brethren, that He might be a merciful and faithful High Priest in things pertaining to God, to make propitiation for the sins of the people.
Now through the atonement of the blood of Jesus Christ, we receive mercy and not judgment. Through the atonement of Jesus Christ, we have favor and peace with God. He has made propitiation for the sins of the whole world so that we can have entrance into God’s grace, mercy, and favor.
Hebrews 3:1-2 NKJV Therefore, holy brethren, partakers of the heavenly calling, consider the Apostle and High Priest of our confession, Christ Jesus, who was faithful to Him who appointed Him, as Moses also was faithful in all His house.
- “Therefore” gives the basis for our standing with God.
- “Therefore” since we have received atonement and propitiation with God, we have been made “holy brothers and sisters.”
- Therefore, since Jesus Christ humbled Himself and shared in the same, He has made it possible for believers to become “holy brethren and partakers of the heavenly calling.”
We should consider the word “holy” brothers and sisters.
Holy is the word ἅγιος [hagios]. It means “set apart as God’s own people.” “Set apart” implies separation to God from the world.
Holy brethren does not mean sinless perfection, but it means belonging to God.
Since we belong to God, we should “pursue holiness without which no one shall see God,” (Hebrews 12:14). Through the faithful work of Jesus Christ, we have the hope that we shall see God and be found by Him in peace, without spot and blameless, (2 Peter 3:13-14). The Father has qualified us to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints, (Colossians 1:12). Through the successful and completed work of Jesus Christ we have received atonement and propitiation. Thus, we have been set apart for God, made His people, and are made partakers of the heavenly calling. God has not left to chance His own special people.
1 Peter 2:9-10 NKJV But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light; who once were not a people but are now the people of God, who had not obtained mercy but now have obtained mercy.
This is what God has done for us through Jesus Christ, Who is our Atonement and Propitiation. Through Christ Jesus, we have obtained mercy and access. Through Jesus Christ, we have become a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people.
Hebrews 3:1-2 NKJV Therefore, holy brethren, partakers of the heavenly calling, consider the Apostle and High Priest of our confession, Christ Jesus, who was faithful to Him who appointed Him, as Moses also was faithful in all His house.
Since we have been made to share in Christ’s liberty and victory and have been made heirs and joint-heirs with Christ, we are partners together in a heavenly calling.
We are “partners,” “companions,” “partakers,” or “co-sharers.” We are sharing in that heavenly calling.
What is the “heavenly calling?”
We are called to salvation. We are called to share in Christ’s victory.
“Heavenly” represents the nature of our calling.
It comes from God and calls us to God. It calls us out of the world, sin and death into a heavenly reward and home. This is the high calling of God to service as citizens of heaven. You have been called out by God. God has chosen and set us apart to partake in the same as Christ Jesus.
The “partakers of the heavenly calling” are told to “consider the Apostle and High Priest of our confession.”
- Apostle, ἀπόστολος [apostolos], means messenger, one who is sent with a specific assignment, a delegate of another.
- High Priest refers to the representative to God.
Consider the Apostle Jesus Christ, Who came to this earth with God’s message and ministry for us.
Christ’s ministry as Apostle is what He did in preaching good news, healing brokenhearted, proclaiming liberty to captives, opening prisons to those who are bound. As our Apostle, Jesus came to give beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness. He came to heal the sick and save the lost.
Consider Jesus Christ, our High Priest, who stands before the Father to make intercession for us.
As our High Priest, Jesus is continuing His ministry at the Father’s right hand. As our High Priest, Jesus is ministering before the Father for us. He stands before the Father as our faithful Advocate. “He is able to save to the uttermost those who come to the Father through Him, since He always makes intercession for them,” (Hebrews 7:25).
We are told to “consider” the One we have “confessed.”
Consider the One we have put our faith and trust in. He is God’s Messenger and our Advocate.
“He is faithful to God who appointed Him.”
Jesus faithfully carried out the task (ministry, assignment) that the Father sent and anointed Him to do. Now He has a continuing priesthood in the presence of the Father.
The Apostle Who came from God is now our High Priest.
As we continue, remember that we are being asked to consider Jesus Christ.
Now the writer compares Christ’s faithfulness to Moses’ faithfulness.
The Hebrews were familiar with Moses.
Hebrews 3:2 NKJV Who was faithful to Him who appointed Him, as Moses also was faithful in all His house.
Moses was faithful in all His house. Whose house? It was not Moses’ house or institution. Moses was a faithful steward in God’s house. Moses was called to do a specific thing, and he was obedient to the call and was found faithful. Moses made some mistakes, but he finished the ministry that God called and appointed him to do. The next words could be challenging to those who put their faith in Moses’ ministry.
Hebrews 3:3-4 NKJV For this One has been counted worthy of more glory than Moses, inasmuch as He who built the house has more honor than the house. For every house is built by someone, but He who built all things is God.
- Moses was faithful in God’s house, but Jesus is the builder of the House.
- Moses loved God, but Jesus is God.
- Moses faithfully ministered to God’s people.
Consider the fact that “the house” belongs to God.
Carefully watch this next section.
Hebrews 3:5-6 NKJV And Moses indeed was faithful in all His house as a servant, for a testimony of those things which would be spoken afterward, but Christ as a Son over His own house, whose house we are if we hold fast the confidence and the rejoicing of the hope firm to the end.
Moses was a faithful servant in God’s house. He responded to God’s call to go and minister deliverance to God’s people who were in bondage down in Egypt. When first called, Moses did not want to go and he offered many excuses to God for not going.
Jesus the Christ was anointed and appointed to come and He faithfully obeyed even though it involved the cross.
- He was appointed as a faithful apostle to God the Father.
- He did everything that God required of Him.
- He fully represented the Father’s word, work and will.
Moses was an important servant, but Jesus is the Son and the Heir. Moses spoke of what would happen, Jesus was the fulfillment of what Moses saw. Moses was a faithful member of the family of faith. Jesus Christ is the Architect who built the family of faith. Moses was faithful over an earthly house that was a type and shadow of heaven itself. Everything that Moses established in the Tabernacle was a figure of the true that is in heaven, (Hebrews 9:24).
Hebrews 9:24 NKJV For Christ has not entered the holy places made with hands, which are copies of the true, but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us;
This is the sphere where our exalted High Priest functions as a Son over God’s house.
Consider Jesus!
Hebrews 12:2 NKJV Looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.
Jesus Christ our High Priest is the ground and substance of our confidence.
All of our confidence comes from the Apostle and High Priest of our confession. We do not come to God based on our merit or work. Our complete spiritual confidence comes from what Jesus is.
Hebrews 3:5-6 NKJV And Moses indeed was faithful in all His house as a servant, for a testimony of those things which would be spoken afterward, but Christ as a Son over His own house, whose house we are if we hold fast the confidence and the rejoicing of the hope firm to the end.
God’s house is Christ’s own house. What is meant by “God’s house?” By faith we are God’s house.
1 Corinthians 3:16 NKJV Do you not know that you are the temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you?
God’s house is composed of believers in the Lord Jesus Christ.
1 Corinthians 12:27 NKJV Now you are the body of Christ, and members individually.
We are members of His house if we hold fast the confidence that we have in Him. We prove that we are His house by holding fast our confidence in Him. Paul said, we “rejoice in Christ Jesus, and have no confidence in the flesh,” (Philippians 3:3). True Christian confidence is unwavering faith in a trustworthy God. The flesh is deceitful and religion may fail, but Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever. He Who promised to keep us is eternally faithful. He will continue in His role as our Great High Priest. The reality of our being the “house of God” will continue to be more evident as we continue through Hebrews.
We are His house.
The redeemed of the Lord are the dwelling place of God, (1 Corinthians 6:19; Ephesians 2:22; Revelation 21:3).
