耶稣超越摩西

因此,同蒙天召的圣洁的弟兄姊妹,你们应当仔细思想那位我们公认为特使和大祭司的耶稣。 祂向委任祂的上帝尽忠,就好像摩西向上帝的全家尽忠一样。 然而祂却比摩西配得更大的荣耀,因为建造房子的人当然比房子更尊贵。 所有的房子都有建造者,但建造万物的是上帝。 摩西以仆人的身份向上帝的全家尽忠,为将来要宣告的事做见证。 但基督是以儿子的身份忠心治理上帝的家。我们若坚强勇敢,持定引以为荣的盼望,我们就是祂的家了。

不可存刚硬的心

因此,正如圣灵说:

“你们今天若听见祂的声音,
不可心里顽固,
像从前在旷野试探祂、悖逆祂一样。
当时,你们的祖先试我、探我,
观看我的作为达四十年之久。
10 所以,我向那世代的人发怒,
说,‘他们总是执迷不悟,
不认识我的道路。’
11 我就在愤怒中起誓说,
‘他们绝不可进入我的安息。’”

12 弟兄姊妹,要谨慎,免得你们当中有人心存恶念,不肯相信,背弃了永活的上帝。 13 趁着还有今日,要天天互相劝勉,免得有人被罪迷惑,心里变得刚硬。 14 如果我们将起初的信念坚持到底,便在基督里有份了。

15 圣经上说:

“你们今日若听见祂的声音,
不可像从前那样硬着心悖逆祂。”

16 听见祂的声音却又悖逆祂的是谁呢?不就是摩西从埃及领出来的那些人吗? 17 四十年之久惹上帝发怒的是谁呢?不就是那些犯罪作恶并倒毙在旷野的人吗? 18 上帝起誓不准谁进入祂的安息呢?不就是那些不肯信从的人吗? 19 可见,他们不能进入上帝的安息是因为不信的缘故。

The Son Was Faithful

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 (A)Moses also was faithful in all His house. For this One has been counted worthy of more glory than Moses, inasmuch as (B)He who built the house has more honor than the house. For every house is built by someone, but (C)He who built all things is God. (D)And Moses indeed was faithful in all His house as (E)a servant, (F)for a testimony of those things which would be spoken afterward, but Christ as (G)a Son over His own house, (H)whose house we are (I)if we hold fast the confidence and the rejoicing of the hope [a]firm to the end.

Be Faithful(J)

Therefore, as (K)the Holy Spirit says:

(L)“Today, if you will hear His voice,
Do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion,
In the day of trial in the wilderness,
Where your fathers tested Me, tried Me,
And saw My works forty years.
10 Therefore I was angry with that generation,
And said, ‘They always go astray in their heart,
And they have not known My ways.’
11 So I swore in My wrath,
‘They shall not enter My rest.’ ”

12 Beware, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief in departing from the living God; 13 but [b]exhort one another daily, while it is called “Today,” lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin. 14 For we have become partakers of Christ if we hold the beginning of our confidence steadfast to the end, 15 while it is said:

(M)“Today, if you will hear His voice,
Do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion.”

Failure of the Wilderness Wanderers

16 (N)For who, having heard, rebelled? Indeed, was it not all who came out of Egypt, led by Moses? 17 Now with whom was He angry forty years? Was it not with those who sinned, (O)whose corpses fell in the wilderness? 18 And (P)to whom did He swear that they would not enter His rest, but to those who did not obey? 19 So we see that they could not enter in because of (Q)unbelief.

Footnotes

  1. Hebrews 3:6 NU omits firm to the end
  2. Hebrews 3:13 encourage

Therefore, holy brothers, partakers of a heavenly calling, consider the Apostle and High Priest of our confession: Jesus, who was faithful to him who appointed him, as also Moses was in all his house. For he has been counted worthy of more glory than Moses, because 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 indeed was faithful in all his house as a servant, for a testimony of those things which were afterward to be spoken, but Christ[a] is faithful as a Son over his house. We are his house, if we hold fast our confidence and the glorying of our hope firm to the end. Therefore, even as the Holy Spirit says,

“Today if you will hear his voice,
    don’t harden your hearts as in the rebellion,
    in the day of the trial in the wilderness,
    where your fathers tested me and tried me,
    and saw my deeds for forty years.
10 Therefore I was displeased with that generation,
    and said, ‘They always err in their heart,
    but they didn’t know my ways.’
11 As I swore in my wrath,
    ‘They will not enter into my rest.’”(A)

12 Beware, brothers, lest perhaps there might be in any one of you an evil heart of unbelief, in falling away from the living God; 13 but exhort one another day by day, so long as it is called “today”, lest any one of you be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin. 14 For we have become partakers of Christ, if we hold the beginning of our confidence firm to the end, 15 while it is said,

“Today if you will hear his voice,
    don’t harden your hearts, as in the rebellion.”(B)

16 For who, when they heard, rebelled? Wasn’t it all those who came out of Egypt led by Moses? 17 With whom was he displeased forty years? Wasn’t it with those who sinned, whose bodies fell in the wilderness? 18 To whom did he swear that they wouldn’t enter into his rest, but to those who were disobedient? 19 We see that they weren’t able to enter in because of unbelief.

Footnotes

  1. 3:6 “Christ” means “Anointed One”.

Jesus is greater than Moses

So, Christian friends, think carefully about who Jesus is. Like us, God has chosen you to belong to him. We tell people that we believe in Jesus as the messenger that God has sent. He helps us as God's most important priest. That is what God sent Jesus to do. Jesus did everything that God wanted, just like Moses. Moses served God well when he was the leader of God's people long ago. We know that someone who builds a house is more important than the house itself. In the same way, we should praise Jesus more than we praise Moses, because Jesus is greater. Every house has someone who built it. But God is the one who has built all things. We say that Moses served God well, like a servant in God's house. He took care of all God's people. In this way, Moses showed clearly the message that God would speak later. But Christ serves in God's house as a son, not as a servant. He is the leader of God's people today. And we are God's people. We belong to his house if we continue to believe in Christ. We must be brave. We must continue to show people clearly that we trust God. He will do what he has promised to do.

A place where God's people can rest

God's Holy Spirit says this:

‘You must listen when you hear God speak today.
Do not refuse to obey him.
Do not be like God's people many years ago.
When they travelled in the wilderness, they turned against me.
They wanted to see if I would punish them.
For 40 years your ancestors saw the great things that I did.
But still they did not obey me.
10 That is why I became angry with them.
I said, “They always want to do what is wrong.
They refuse to understand my message.”
11 Because of that, I promised to punish them.
Because I was angry with them, I said,
“They will never arrive in my special place of rest.” ’[a]

12 So be careful, my Christian friends. Do not refuse to trust God. That would be a very bad thing to do. Do not turn away from the God who lives for ever. 13 Instead, help each other to be strong every day. Today, you can still hear God's message. While that is still true, do not refuse to obey God. Do not think that sin will not hurt you. That is a lie. 14 We must continue to trust Christ very well, as we did when we first believed in him. We must continue to trust him until the end of our lives. Then we will share in everything that is his. 15 We have seen what the Bible says:

‘You must listen when you hear God speak today.
Do not refuse to obey him.
Do not be like God's people many years ago,
when they turned against God.’

16 Who were those people who heard God speak? All of them were the people that Moses led away from Egypt. They heard God's message, but they refused to obey him. 17 Who was God angry with for 40 years? He was angry with those same people. They did what was wrong. So they died and their bodies remained in the wilderness. 18 God promised to punish them, because they refused to obey him. He said, ‘They will never arrive in my special place of rest.’

19 So we must be careful ourselves! Those people did not trust God. As a result, they never arrived in God's special place.

Footnotes

  1. 3:11 Many years before, Moses led Israel's people away from Egypt, where they had been slaves. God wanted to bring the people to their own country, where they could make new homes. He wanted them to rest there. He wanted them to be happy. But they had to walk a long way through a wilderness to get there. The people were often angry with God. Many times, they would neither believe God nor obey him. See Exodus 17:1-7; Numbers 14:1-35. So God did not let those people go into the country that he had promised them. He waited 40 years, until all of them were dead. Only their children arrived in the new country.