WORTHY OF MORE GLORY
Hebrews 3:1 Wherefore, holy brethren, partakers of the heavenly calling, consider the Apostle and High Priest of our profession, Christ Jesus; 2 Who was faithful to him that appointed him, as also Moses was faithful in all his house. 3 For this man was counted worthy of more glory than Moses, inasmuch as he who hath builded the house hath more honour than the house. 4 For every house is builded by some man; but he that built all things is God. 5 And Moses verily was faithful in all his house, as a servant, for a testimony of those things which were to be spoken after; 6 But Christ as a son over his own house; whose house are we, if we hold fast the confidence and the rejoicing of the hope firm unto the end.
Our subject is set forth in verse three, and is based on the Lord’s and Moses’ relation to “the house.” But this is not referring to a physical building. This word is more clearly translated, “household” in Acts 16:15. For if we were speaking of, “the house of David,” we would not be speaking of the edifice in which David lived, but the family of David. Therefore we understand that the Lord Jesus Christ, who ‘built’ the church is worthy of more glory than Moses, who is but one of those whom Peter refers to as, “lively stones.” 1 Peter 2:5 Ye also, as lively stones, are built up a spiritual house, an holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God by Jesus Christ.
The Apostle Paul more clearly reveals the body of born again believers to be the “building” in which the Lord dwells! 1 Corinthians 3:9 For we are labourers together with God: ye are God’s husbandry, ye are God’s building. Ephesians 2:21 In whom all the building fitly framed together groweth unto an holy temple in the Lord: 22 In whom ye also are builded together for an habitation of God through the Spirit.
And the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ is essential to our entire scope of spiritual life and well-being. For it was the glory of God which we lost as we sinned against him! Romans 3:23 For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God;
And he is the only hope we have of recovery of the glory among us. For it must exclusively come from God! John 1:14 And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.
The manifestation of his glory is our justification and belief. John 2:11 This beginning of miracles did Jesus in Cana of Galilee, and manifested forth his glory; and his disciples believed on him.
The growth into a more sanctified life of holiness is dependent upon a continuous revelation to our hearts of his glory! 2 Corinthians 3:18 But we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord. And that revealed glory is received as his person is revealed to us by the Holy Spirit. 2 Corinthians 4:6 For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, (that is, in the natural creation), hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.
And our being eternally changed into the final state of glory depends entirely upon his glory reveal both to and in us! 1 John 3:2 Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is. Colossians 3:4 When Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall ye also appear with him in glory.
Therefore sin being the cause of the loss of the glory, that glory restored providing all these spiritual and eternal benefits, it behoves us to have that glory recovered. But since we are all sinners and not acceptable to God, we need one separate from us and our sin, who is undefiled to recover it on our behalf! And the only One who fits that description is the one worthy of all glory – the eternal Son of God, our Lord Jesus Christ! And speaking of Him, the apostle writes: “Wherefore he is able also to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by him, seeing he ever liveth to make intercession for them. For such an high priest became us, who is holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners, and made higher than the heavens;” (Hebrews 7:25, 26).
In centuries gone by it was prophesied that he would recover the glory for human kind. Zechariah 6:12 And speak unto him, saying, Thus speaketh the LORD of hosts, saying, Behold the man whose name is The BRANCH; and he shall grow up out of his place, and he shall build the temple of the LORD: 13 Even he shall build the temple of the LORD; and he shall bear the glory, and shall sit and rule upon his throne; and he shall be a priest upon his throne: and the counsel of peace shall be between them both.
And so He did! He brought to us the glory of God! John 11:40 Jesus saith unto her, Said I not unto thee, that, if thou wouldest believe, thou shouldest see the glory of God?
At the time of Judas’ betrayal, at the finishing of his earthly ministry, and at the event of his perfect sacrifice, the glory was recovered! John 13:30 He then having received the sop went immediately out: and it was night. 31 Therefore, when he was gone out, Jesus said, Now is the Son of man glorified, and God is glorified in him. 32 If God be glorified in him, God shall also glorify him in himself, and shall straightway glorify him.
John 17:1 ¶ These words spake Jesus, and lifted up his eyes to heaven, and said, Father, the hour is come; glorify thy Son, that thy Son also may glorify thee: 2 As thou hast given him power over all flesh, that he should give eternal life to as many as thou hast given him. 3 And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent. 4 I have glorified thee on the earth: I have finished the work which thou gavest me to do. 5 And now, O Father, glorify thou me with thine own self with the glory which I had with thee before the world was.
And in that hour of his recovering the lost glory, he prayed that the Father would allow all those chosen in him from the foundation be allowed to see his glory! John 17:24 Father, I will that they also, whom thou hast given me, be with me where I am; that they may behold my glory, which thou hast given me: for thou lovedst me before the foundation of the world.
The Prophet Daniel had that scene revealed to him also. This passage actually reveals the arrival of the Son of God into the presence of the Father, upon his ascension after he goes out of sight of the disciples into the clouds, as recorded in Acts 1:9 And when he had spoken these things, while they beheld, he was taken up; and a cloud received him out of their sight.
Here is that which the Prophet Daniel foresaw. Daniel 7:9 I beheld till the thrones were cast down, and the Ancient of days did sit, whose garment was white as snow, and the hair of his head like the pure wool: his throne was like the fiery flame, and his wheels as burning fire. 10 A fiery stream issued and came forth from before him: thousand thousands ministered unto him, and ten thousand times ten thousand stood before him: the judgment was set, and the books were opened. 13 I saw in the night visions, and, behold, one like the Son of man came with the clouds of heaven, and came to the Ancient of days, and they brought him near before him. 14 And there was given him dominion, and glory, and a kingdom, that all people, nations, and languages, should serve him: his dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and his kingdom that which shall not be destroyed.
Take note of the phrase in verse fourteen which states, “And there was given him…glory!”
Moses’ law was a glorious thing in it’s purpose and it’s intended effect. But Moses could not recover the glory that sin lost. His glory was in the coming of the law to reveal how the glory was lost! His glory was in the ministration of death! But Christ’s glory highly excelled, as it recovered and returned the glory of God to fallen man!
2 Corinthians 3:7 But if the ministration of death, (that is, the law), written and engraven in stones, was glorious, so that the children of Israel could not stedfastly behold the face of Moses for the glory of his countenance; which glory was to be done away: 8 How shall not the ministration of the spirit (that is, the accomplished redemption of the Lord Jesus), be rather glorious? 9 For if the ministration of condemnation be glory, much more doth the ministration of righteousness exceed in glory. 10 For even that which was made glorious had no glory in this respect, by reason of the glory that excelleth. 11 For if that which is done away was glorious, much more that which remaineth is glorious.
Moses’ law was as a mirror which can only reveal the condition of the sinner to himself. It showed the sinner how a holy God saw him. But it could not take away one single sin! Hebrews 10:4 For it is not possible that the blood of bulls and of goats should take away sins. And it was never meant to! Almighty God never intended the law to take away sin! Hebrews 10:1 For the law having a shadow of good things to come, and not the very image of the things, can never with those sacrifices which they offered year by year continually make the comers thereunto perfect. 2 For then would they not have ceased to be offered? because that the worshippers once purged should have had no more conscience of sins. 3 But in those sacrifices there is a remembrance again made of sins every year. 5 Wherefore when he cometh into the world, he saith, Sacrifice and offering thou wouldest not, but a body hast thou prepared me: 6 In burnt offerings and sacrifices for sin thou hast had no pleasure.
The cleansing from sin required the sinless Son of God to come in our place to cleanse us from sin and recover the glory that sin lost to us. 2 Corinthians 5:21 For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him. Romans 8:3 For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh: 4 That the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.
James 1:22 But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves. 23 For if any be a hearer of the word, and not a doer, he is like unto a man beholding his natural face in a glass: 24 For he beholdeth himself, and goeth his way, and straightway forgetteth what manner of man he was. 25 But whoso looketh into the perfect law of liberty, and continueth therein, he being not a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work, this man shall be blessed in his deed.
And also as prophesied in that Zechariah 6:13 verse, he built the temple of God, which is the spiritual church! Hebrews 3:5 And Moses verily was faithful in all his house(hold), as a servant, for a testimony of those things which were to be spoken after; 6 But Christ as a son over his own house(hold); whose house(hold) are we, if we hold fast the confidence and the rejoicing of the hope firm unto the end.
1 Corinthians 3:9 For we are labourers together with God: ye are God’s husbandry, ye are God’s building. Ephesians 2:20 And are built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner stone; 21 In whom all the building fitly framed together groweth unto an holy temple in the Lord: 22 In whom ye also are builded together for an habitation of God through the Spirit.
Hebrews 3:6 But Christ as a son over his own house; whose house are we, if we hold fast the confidence and the rejoicing of the hope firm unto the end. And in this last verse of our text we read that we are the “house” of God, but under the condition which follows that word, “if.” But this is not something to do in order to become part of that house. It is an evidence we can observe within ourselves in order to show that Christ has incorporated us into that spiritual building. It involves maintaining “the hope firm unto the end.”
And there are two things mentioned which are required in order for us to do so. We are first told to “hold fast the confidence” of the hope. That Greek word here translated “confidence” is elsewhere translated, “plainness and boldness of speech.” (2 Cor. 3:12; 7:4). Therefore we see that only those are part of the house, or church who have a confessed faith! That is the ‘rock’ of which the Lord spoke upon which he would build his church! For he said Peter’s confession that Jesus was the Son of God did not come from his own logic, or deduction, but was a revelation of God. And it is upon the confession of God’s revelation to our hearts which proves us to be a part of the body of true believers. (See Matthew 16:15-19).
And the second thing mentioned for us is to “hold fast the rejoicing of the hope.”
The believers with physical lives, still on earth, must abide in the hope of the Lord’s calling, that it will bring them on unto a full and complete salvation in eternity. Therefore the Apostle Paul states, in Romans 8:24, For we are saved by hope: but hope that is seen is not hope: for what a man seeth, why doth he yet hope for?
And he prayed for them to attain this stedfast hope in the Lord. Ephesians 1:18 The eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that ye may know what is the hope of his calling, and what the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints, Therefore they confess and rejoice by faith, in their personal hope as members of his household!
Pastor Gene Breed
June 2, 2017