Jesus the Faithful Son

Christ is faithful over God’s house as a son. And we are his house if indeed we hold fast our confidence and our boasting in our hope. (Hebrews 3.6)

There is a special bond between fathers and sons. Growing young men have a deep desire to hear their fathers say they are proud of them, and even the strongest father can be moved to tears when that sentiment is returned. We have been made for relationship. We have been made to live within love and supportive families. Not spread out across the emotional globe of fractured bonds and dislocated alliances, but together, united, sharing one life as if we all lived in one house. Sadly, many fathers and sons do not experience the full strength of that relationship because of sin. They may live in the same home, the same neighborhood, the same town, but they are worlds apart.

And into our brokenness our triune God speaks to us. He models for us within Himself how He wants us to live in unity. Jesus is the perfect model of the faithful son. God the Father does not exasperate his son or provoke Him to anger, but He does challenge Him, encourage Him, support Him, gives His son’s life purpose. Jesus the faithful son endures human life, fully God yet fully man. He endured temptation. Jesus knew the Father’s plan to redeem humanity. Jesus heard the Father speak His pleasure over Him before His friends and followers. Jesus gave His life for our salvation willingly because of His love for the Father.

And we are his house. Jesus is the faithful son on whom all our confidence and hope rest. We can taste the perfect relationship and experience it through Jesus.

Jesus, I have an unshakable hope and immovable confidence that I am yours and you brought me into relationship with the Father.

Jesus the High Priest of Our Confession

Therefore, holy brothers, you who share in a heavenly calling, consider Jesus, the apostle and high priest of our confession (Hebrews 3.1)

Jesus is the high priest of our confession. What is it then that we confess? What is the substance and character of our verbal and living confession in Jesus? How does He function in a liturgical rite within our confession?

We begin with our calling. We believe that we have been called into relationship. This is not a mundane drawing from one lifestyle or proclivity but a heavenly calling, a calling from God Himself who formed us and created us with intentional purpose. We believe that we are being made holy in the sacrifice of Christ on the cross. Through the blood of Jesus we are made clean, purified from all unrighteousness and are being continuously sanctified in His Spirit as we draw closer to Him. We believe that we are not alone, orphans of moral conviction, but brothers and sisters in Christ. We share life in the community of the faithful across the globe and throughout time. We are living stones joined together that make the Temple of the living God.

And in this temple, Jesus the great high priest confirms our confession. He takes our affirming words of His Lordship for what they are: worship. As the apostle of God the Father, sent to seek and save lost humanity, He has returned with men, women and children in His train of glorious praise. Our allegiance cannot fall to any other, be they prophets, apostles or angels. Our allegiance is in Christ alone, Jesus the high priest of our confession.

Jesus, I confess once again your Lordship over my life. I worship you, shoulder to shoulder with the family of holy brothers and sisters exalting your name.

Jesus the Lord of Our Open Confession

For we have come to share in Christ, if indeed we hold our original confidence firm to the end. (Hebrews 3.14)

What is the substance of our confession? This is something we must ask ourselves from time to time as followers of Jesus, as confessors of Christ before the world. What is the substance, the core assurances, upon which we build our faith and life? Do we believe that God is triune? Do we believe that the Father foresaw our sinful falling and, before creation, set in place a means of atonement for which He Himself would pay? Do we believe that through the death and resurrection of Jesus we find redemption of sin and restoration of relationship with God? Do we believe?

If we believe these things and their substance affirms our questions above then we must ask ourselves if we are holding firm in them. Are we acting upon the substance of our confession? Are we confessing before the lost and dying world our abiding faith in Jesus? Is Jesus truly the Lord of our open confession?

We may find ourselves in places of persecution, places where assent to the exclusive salvation found in Jesus the Messiah is dangerous. How will we respond? Our confession must be more than just one of private intellectual affirmation, but also of public expression. Jesus Himself had to stand and confess Himself before the men who beat Him, crowned Him with thorns and crucified Him on the cross. Yet, He remained steadfast, not only for Himself, but for us. We must speak the brilliant glory of Christ into the darkness of this world. We must boast of our hope in Jesus, the Lord of our open confession.

Jesus, build up my faith and give my shoulders strength and my mouth voice as I confess you, my hope and joy, before the hostile lost.

Jesus the One Greater than Moses

For Jesus has been counted worthy of more glory than Moses— as much more glory as the builder of a house has more honor than the house itself. (Hebrews 3.3)

The Old Testament is filled with incredible men and women, one by one these heroes brave and true emerge from the distant past, revealing the greatness of God. Women like Deborah and Ruth. Men like David and Abraham. In all their obedience and failure, repentance and wrestling with reality, we see the fingerprints of God’s call and faithfulness on their lives. Of all of them, who cuts as large a figure as Moses? The third culture kid, survivor of childhood trauma (literally raised by the people most responsible for the wonton slaughter and oppression of his people); the runaway murderer who was chosen to lead his people out of Egypt, the giver of God’s law and conveyor of God’s design for the tabernacle.

Every Jewish man, woman and child in Israel and across the globe would know his name and celebrate the ritual heritage God gave them through his life and ministry. Is it any wonder then that the writer of the letter to the Hebrews would use Moses as another example to show us Jesus’ greatness and glory? As important as leading God’s enslaved people to freedom was, as integral as the formation of the spiritual practices His people would use to drawn near to God for millennia was, the task given to Moses pales in comparison to the task given to Jesus. Moses was a mediator of the law, Jesus fulfilled it. Moses was a member of that great and honorable house built together, Jesus is the builder.

What a great and awesome, terrifying and humbling truth: we share in the same holy calling as that great cloud of witnesses who stands alongside Moses! With these men and women deserving of glory and honor we hold fast to the same bold resolve as we boast of the greatness and grandeur of Jesus Christ, the one greater than Moses.

Jesus, thank you for building me into your Kingdom. I fix my eyes on you and rejoice in your love. You are worthy of all praise, all glory, all honor.