Reflections on the Book of Hebrews: Christ is Superior
As children, we all have those moments where we brag about stuff to our friends. Oftentimes, it goes something like this. “My dad is stronger than your dad. No, he is not. Yes, he is.” This idea may seem funny, but it is true. We are people that like to compare one thing to the other. Everyone wants the best and the toughest, the one that will be the hero. As we look at the book of Hebrews, one of the topics is the superiority of Christ. The author explains this through a few examples. We will look at two of them in this article.
Christ is superior to the angels
The book of Hebrews starts off by talking about God’s son (Jesus) and how he is the exact imprint of the divine nature of God. It then goes onto say that Jesus is superior to the angels because he is the son of God (a name that the angels do not have). Throughout the Bible, the angels are seen as terrifying heavenly beings that should be feared. In Hebrews we see that Christ is greater than the angels. The writer is encouraging the recipients to pay careful attention (2:1) to the words of the Son. The warning is to not forsake the salvation that Jesus has brought.
Christ is superior to Moses
Another character in the book of Hebrews is Moses. Moses is a man in the Bible. He wrote the first four books of the Bible commonly known as the Torah. He is the one through whom The Ten Commandments came into being. Though Moses the Israelite law and sacrificial system was inaugurated. For the Jews that the book of Hebrews was addressed to, Moses was a big deal. The author of Hebrews knows this all too well. Hebrews states that Jesus is superior to Moses. This is described with the image of a house. (Hebrews 3:3) Moses was a faithful servant in the house of the Lord. Jesus is greater in the fact that he is the Son over the house and God is the builder of everything. My dad built large portions of my family’s house. When something goes wrong, he is the one that know how to fix it. Someone who did not build the house would not have easily know how to fix it. The author of Hebrews is not stating that Moses was a bad man. What he is saying is that Moses was not perfect, and thus did not know how to properly care for God’s house in the way that the Son can. Jesus is the fulfillment of the whole law and the prophets.
What does this mean for us?
Though we are not living under the law like the Israelites, it is still important for us to recognize the significance of the law and why Jesus had to become flesh to fulfill the requirements of the law.
In the next article, we will take a look at how Jesus is the Great High Priest and Eternal Sacrifice.
