The Better Prophet Series

I am going to give you 5 true statements about a Bible character, and then I’ll ask you WHO I’m referring to.

When he was born – the people of Israel were under the control of a foreign nation. When he was a newborn, his life was in danger from a powerful King. He came to save his people. He went down to Egypt. And at one point in his life he fasted for 40 days and nights.

Who was I talking about? That’s right Jesus… AND Moses. All 5 of those statements applied to both Jesus and Moses! And that makes sense… because God had promised Moses: “I will raise up for them a prophet like you from among their brothers. And I will put my words in his mouth, and he shall speak to them all that I command him. And whoever will not listen to my words that he shall speak in my name, I myself will require it of him.” Deuteronomy 18:18-19

Jesus was the prophet that God had promised. A prophet LIKE Moses. But there was a significant difference between the two men. While Jesus was like Moses, He was also GREATER than Moses.

That’s what our passage today is saying: “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

All through the book of Hebrews we are repeatedly told that Jesus is better than anything else. Jesus offered a better hope (7:19); A better covenant (7:22; 8:6); A better resurrection (11:35); and a better sacrifice (9:22).

And He Himself was better than any angel; Better than any Old Testament Priest; and of course… He was better than Moses.

Now that last is quite a statement. To say Jesus was better than Moses would be hard for some Jewish believers to swallow, because Moses was a pillar in Jewish society. One man noted that “The Jews thought Moses was a far prophet and leader than anyone else And Moses had been protected by God from his birth through his death. And between those two dates Moses life, was filled with miracle upon miracle upon miracle. And while God spoke to the prophets in visions… God spoke to Moses face to face.

The Jews had great confidence in the Law of Moses. The Old Testament commandments and the rituals were their highest priorities. And for the Jews… Moses and the Law were one. In the New Testament (Luke 2:22, Acts 13:34, etc.) the commands of God were often referred to as the “Law of Moses.” Moses not only brought the Ten Commandments down from the Mountain, he also wrote the first 5 books of the Bible - which laid out all the laws that governed everything in Jewish life. Because of all this… some Jews believed Moses was even greater than the angels.

However, in Hebrews 3, the writer of Hebrews called the people to look to Jesus… not Moses because - while Moses was great - Jesus was far greater.” (Carl Allen)

Moses was great… but Jesus was GREATER? Think about it this way: Back in 1972, NASA launched a space probe called Pioneer 10. The satellite’s primary mission was to reach Jupiter, photograph the planet and its moons, and then beam all that data back to earth. It was a bold plan. At that time no earth satellite had ever gone beyond Mars, and they feared that the asteroid belt would destroy the satellite before it could reach its target. But Pioneer 10 not only reached Jupiter… it did a lot more than that! In November 1973, scientists used Jupiter’s immense gravity as a kind of slingshot and Pioneer 10 was hurled toward the edge of the solar system. At one billion miles from the sun, Pioneer 10 passed Saturn. At some two billion miles, it hurtled past Uranus; At nearly three billion miles, Neptune; and at almost four billion miles, Pluto. By 1997, twenty-five years after it was launched, Pioneer 10 had traveled more than six billion miles from the sun and it continued to beam back radio signals to scientists on Earth. Someone called it “The Little Satellite That Could.” Perhaps the most remarkable fact was that those signals were sent from the space craft’s 8-watt transmitter. That’s roughly the power of your bedroom night light. (Steven Dow)

And Pioneer’s computing power? Your personal cellphone has one million times more power than Pioneer 10 did back when it was launched. My point is: Pioneer 10 accomplished a phenomenal task. It was the 1st of only 5 man-made space craft to ever leave our solar system. But as much as that “little Satellite that could” – did, today’s spacecraft are built far better and far more powerful. In the same way, Moses was good and he did mighty things for God. But Moses couldn’t even compare to the power and might of Jesus.