Hebrews 3

 ¹Therefore, holy brethren, partakers of a heavenly calling, consider Jesus, the Apostle and High Priest of our confession;

 ²He was faithful to Him who appointed Him, as Moses also was in all His house.

 ³For He has been counted worthy of more glory than Moses, by just so much as the builder of the house has more honor than the house.

 ⁴For every house is built by someone, but the builder of all things is God.

Those who have received Christ as Savior are holy unto God because of the blood of Christ.  He is our Apostle and High Priest because He was sent of God and able to make atonement for our sins.  No man could do what Jesus has done.  Jesus was faithful to do what God had asked of Him to do.  The author now contrasts Christ with Moses.  We already know that He is higher than the angels, but now we see that He is also higher than Moses, somebody whom the Jews really respected.  Though Moses was faithful to do what God had asked of him, He wasn’t perfect like Christ.  Christ’s obedience was perfect, and thus He deserves more glory and honor.  Jesus is also God, which makes Him higher than any man.  Just as the builder of a house deserves more honor than the house itself, so Jesus deserves more honor than a man whom He created. 

 ⁵Now Moses was faithful in all His house as a servant, for a testimony of those things which were to be spoken later;

 ⁶but Christ was faithful as a Son over His house--whose house we are, if we hold fast our confidence and the boast of our hope firm until the end.

Moses was by and large faithful in what he did as a servant in God’s house, that is, the Old Testament tabernacle.  These things were symbols of that which was to come in Christ.  Indeed, Christ is faithful as High Priest over us as His house, in whom He lives if we are truly of Him.  This we will know if we hold fast our confidence and hope until the end.  This is not to say that we won’t stumble, for all believers stumble in many ways (James 3:2).  Rather, it affirms that those who truly love God will be kept by Him, even if they struggle with the flesh more than others (Philippians 1:6). 

 ⁷Therefore, just as the Holy Spirit says,
         "TODAY IF YOU HEAR HIS VOICE,
    ⁸DO NOT HARDEN YOUR HEARTS AS WHEN THEY PROVOKED ME,
         AS IN THE DAY OF TRIAL IN THE WILDERNESS,
    ⁹WHERE YOUR FATHERS TRIED Me BY TESTING Me,
         AND SAW MY WORKS FOR FORTY YEARS.
    ¹⁰"THEREFORE I WAS ANGRY WITH THIS GENERATION,
         AND SAID, 'THEY ALWAYS GO ASTRAY IN THEIR HEART,
         AND THEY DID NOT KNOW MY WAYS';
    ¹¹AS I SWORE IN MY WRATH,
         'THEY SHALL NOT ENTER MY REST.'"

Just as the unbelieving Jews did not get to enter the promised land because of their unbelief, mankind must choose whether they will receive Christ and enter the promised land of heaven or die in the wilderness of their own sin as Psalm 95:7-11 indicates.   

 ¹²Take care, brethren, that there not be in any one of you an evil, unbelieving heart that falls away from the living God.

 ¹³But encourage one another day after day, as long as it is still called "Today," so that none of you will be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin.

The author wants his readers, many of whom profess to know Christ, to be sure that none of them still possesses an evil, unbelieving heart that rejects Christ just as their forefathers had done.  He commands them to encourage one another each day in the truth of God’s Word so that sin doesn’t creep in and lead them astray.  Sin by nature is deceiving, leading to a false sense of calm and security and a temporary pleasure thereby hardening our hearts to the eternal truths of God.  We need to be reminded and encouraged in our walks concerning the eternal truths of Christ in His Word.  There will be a day of judgment.  Some will fall away from the grace of God by blaspheming the Holy Spirit (Luke 12:10), while others will enter His rest because of their faith.  We need to be careful that we are on the right path. 

 ¹⁴For we have become partakers of Christ, if we hold fast the beginning of our assurance firm until the end,

 ¹⁵while it is said,
         "TODAY IF YOU HEAR HIS VOICE,
         DO NOT HARDEN YOUR HEARTS, AS WHEN THEY PROVOKED ME."

 ¹⁶For who provoked Him when they had heard? Indeed, did not all those who came out of Egypt led by Moses?

 ¹⁷And with whom was He angry for forty years? Was it not with those who sinned, whose bodies fell in the wilderness?

 ¹⁸And to whom did He swear that they would not enter His rest, but to those who were disobedient?

 ¹⁹So we see that they were not able to enter because of unbelief.

The eternal rest of God is heaven, and faith is the access key.  As Psalm 95:7 says, the unbelieving Jews in the Old Testament were left to die in the wilderness as God made them wander for forty years so that the wicked unbelieving generation would die off.  Unbelievers can be sure that they will not enter God’s rest in heaven.  Believers have hope of the promised rest, leading even now to the Spirit’s peace and joy in our hearts if we do not let sin sap our strength and steal our joy.  Our assurance is rooted in its beginning point, the moment we chose to place our trust in Jesus Christ.  The confession of our faith in Him is what we must never stop believing, for it is our assurance of our eternal life.   

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