he focus and aim of all Christian thought and work should be the person of Jesus Christ; He is Lord and He alone fulfills the cry of the human heart. Look to yourself or other men to meet your deepest needs and desires and you will discover only how woefully inadequate they are to do so, and how much they will fail. For we all stumble in many things (James 3:2). We are often faithless, but Jesus is ever faithful.
The faithfulness of Jesus is the message we discover as we turn to the third chapter of Hebrews. 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 (Heb. 3:1-2). In the previous chapter the author showed how Jesus became a man to rescue His brothers from the fear and power of death, His brothers being those who are being sanctified (2:11). Here the author includes his readers among those holy brethren. The phrase partakers of the heavenly calling describes how these brothers are made holy, or sanctified: by being called out the world with a heavenly calling. The call is a heavenly one in that it is from the Father who is in heaven, and its destination is heavenward.
The author encourages the brothers, who from heaven are called to heaven, to consider Jesus, their Apostle and High Priest. This is the only place in the Bible where Jesus is named Apostle. An apostle is an ambassador, one who is sent forth as a representative of the sender. The twelve apostles of Jesus were sent by Him to represent Him to the world, as Jesus was sent by the Father. Jesus said of Himself in His great prayer, As You sent Me into the world, I also have sent them into the world. And for their sakes I sanctify Myself, that they also may be sanctified by the truth (John 17:18-19).
The most important qualification of an apostle is that he be faithful to the one who sent him — the representative must represent well — both to speak only what the sender desires, and to carry through his task to the end. Jesus performed both of these perfectly as the Apostle of His Father. He said of Himself, My doctrine is not Mine, but His who sent Me (John 7:16. cf. 14:10,24). Jesus did not seek to glorify Himself but His Father, and spoke only what the Father commanded Him. Jesus also was faithful to complete the task given Him, for again He said, I have glorified You on the earth. I have finished the work which You have given Me to do (John 17:4). The work of Jesus was to lay Himself down as the cornerstone around which God's house was to be built.
The faithfulness of Jesus is then carried over into a comparison of Jesus with Moses, of whom God said, He is faithful in all My house (Numbers 12:7). Moses was a faithful servant who carried out the task to which God appointed Him, speaking to Israel all the words which God gave him (cf. Ex. 24:3-4). But faithful though he was, Jesus was greater. 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. 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 (Heb. 3:3-6).
Two comparisons are made here to show that Christ is worthy of more honor than Moses. First, Jesus is the builder of the house of God, of which Moses was just a part. Jesus did all that was required for the building of His house, the redeeming of His people. The Creator humbled Himself to become a creature. And though He earnestly desired the cup to pass from Him, He was faithful to His Father through the agony of Gethsemane, unwavering in His steadfast journey to the cross, that He might build His house in the earth.
Second, Jesus is faithful as a Son over His house, in which Moses was a servant. The testimony of Moses to Christ was indeed great; he faithfully transmitted the law of God recorded in the Scriptures, and ordered the service of the tabernacle and the priesthood (cf. Heb. 8:5). But what Moses only anticipated Jesus faithfully fulfilled.
So as we consider our faithful Apostle, we are given encouragement and assurance. Jesus has been faithful to do all that was required on earth to accomplish our salvation, and He will continue to be faithful to do what is needed in heaven to accomplish our sanctification and eventual glory. Our faithful High Priest will continue to intercede for us. The Son over His house will continue to order all things in the house to His good pleasure. The Carpenter of the house will continue to build it to completion, for you also, as living stones, are being built up a spiritual house (1 Pet. 2:4-5).
And the faithfulness of Jesus is an example for us to be faithful to Him who calls us. It is a great privilege to
be members of God's house, wherein His Spirit dwells. But with this great privilege comes responsibility. Husbands are to
be faithful to their wives, and wives to their husbands. Fathers are to be faithful in the raising of their children. Children are to
be faithful in obedience to their parents, and employees to their supervisors, as unto the Lord. And we are all to be
faithful stewards of the resources God has given — to the Lord Himself, for we are His house only
if we hold fast the confidence and rejoicing of the hope firm to the
end.
