Who was faithful to Him that appointed Him, as also Moses was faithful in all his house, for this Man was counted worthy of more honour than Moses. Hebrews 3:2,3
At the end of each Olympic Games, a lavish ceremony is held to mark the end of the games and the passing of the Olympic torch to the next city that will host the games four years later. Part of that ceremony is a grand march of all of the athletes who participated in the final week of the games. The delegation of athletes from each country is led by one athlete who carries the flag for that country. It is a great honour to be selected as flag bearer, and in most cases, the flag bearer is an athlete who has distinguished himself or herself during the games. During the march, many of the flag bearers wear medals that they have won in their particular events. They are given the honour of carrying the flag because they brought the most honour to their country. This honour is not a slam against the other athletes, most of whom do their best and deserve some level of praise. In the same way, the honour given to the Lord Jesus is not putting down Moses, who is also deserving of commendation for his faithfulness to God.
The epistle to Hebrews is written to Jewish Christians. Before their conversion, Moses was very important to them, perhaps the most important person other than God. Moses had written the Law that those Jewish folks had sought to follow in their devotion to God and to their religion. In their estimation, no other man stood as high as Moses, and they honoured him highly. But now Paul (yes, I believe Paul wrote the book of Hebrews) is pointing out to them that the Lord Jesus Christ, who they now profess to believe, deserves greater honour than Moses. Some of these folk are being tempted to return to their Jewish religion, and Paul is pointing out to them the folly of that idea. In essence, he is asking them why they would follow one who was worthy of lesser honour when they were now following One with the greatest honour.
Was Moses worthy of honour? Oh, yes he was! Consider the words of Deuteronomy 34:10: And there arose not a prophet since in Israel like unto Moses, whom the Lord knew face to face. That is high commendation, coming from God! Our text declares that Moses was faithful. In Hebrews 11 we find a description of this great man of faith, who forsook Egypt’s throne to lead a despised people to freedom and to God. In addition to his great leadership, Moses was faithful in recording God’s directions for worship and service, and the Law that he wrote served as the focal point for God’s earthly people. No other prophet, nor priest nor king, did as much as Moses to establish the only God-given religion in the world. So why don’t we give great honour to Moses today?
As much as we respect Moses, we focus our attention on One Who deserves greater honour. Although Moses wrote the Law, the Lord Jesus is the only One to ever keep it perfectly. Although Moses led the Israelites out of bondage in Egypt, the Lord Jesus led all those who trust him out of the bondage of sin and death. Although Moses led the Israelites to within sight of the promised land, the Lord Jesus has gone before us to prepare mansions for us in His Father’s house. Although Moses could tell people how to live, the Lord Jesus has given us life.
As great as Moses was, his doctrine has been replaced by a better. Religion (Moses) will tell you today that if you do enough good works, pay enough money, say enough prayers, and have enough faithfulness to your church, you might be good enough to go to Heaven. But the Lord Jesus assures us that, although we could never make ourselves good enough to go to Heaven, He has provided the way for us in His own worth and work. Why would we ever want to follow Moses when we can have Christ? -Jim MacIntosh