Hebrews 3:1–2: “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.”

July 24th, 2022 by Pastor Ed in devotional

The Book of Hebrews was a letter written to a decidedly Jewish group that had accepted Jesus as Messiah. It is difficult for those of us from a Gentile background to understand this chapter if we don’t grasp just who Moses was to the Jewish mind. Jews revered Moses as the greatest of all Hebrews, perhaps even the greatest man in all of history. When we begin to understand that fact, then the comparison of Moses to God the Son, Jesus Christ, is a little easier to accept. When the writer says, “as Moses also was faithful,” we must add that for the most part Moses was faithful. He was by no means perfect, and acted several times like any other human being, no better or worse. There was that glaring time when Moses lost his temper and hit the rock, but the writer doesn’t bring that up. His point is to remind the reader that many Jews expected the Messiah to be a “new Moses,” and that not only is Jesus like Moses but He in fact surpasses Moses.

The word confession here literally means, “to say the same and so to agree in one’s statement.” All true believers “say the same thing” when it comes to their experience of salvation. These Hebrew believers had already confessed Jesus as their High Priest. But they must not have fully understood just who Jesus is if they were now being tempted to give Him up.

When Salvation Army founder William Booth was dying, there were some legal matters to tend to. The lawyer said to Mrs. Booth, “If you can get him to sign these papers, the will can be executed much more smoothly.” The problem was that Booth, who was drifting in and out of consciousness, was often delirious. But they were able to wake him long enough to get his signature on several pages. Though scribbled somewhat roughly, the lawyer said it was good enough. Then Booth died. Upon later examination of the signature, it was discovered that instead of signing his name, Booth had written the name “Jesus” on every one of the papers. Jesus was the only name on his mind, and His should be the name most on our minds as well.

“LORD, help us to keep You in the center of our minds and hearts this day.”