The Architect and the Heir Text: Hebrews 3:1-6
Introduction: Upgrading the House
The book of Hebrews is written to a group of Christians who were feeling the immense pressure to go back. The old ways were comfortable, familiar. The temple was still standing, the sacrifices were still being offered, and the sheer weight of tradition was pulling them back to the shadows of the old covenant. They were tempted to trade the reality of Christ for the nostalgia of Moses. The author of Hebrews is having none of it. His argument throughout this entire letter is relentless: Jesus is better. He is better than the angels, better than the priests, better than the sacrifices, and as we see in our text today, He is monumentally, categorically, and infinitely better than Moses.
This is not to denigrate Moses. Far from it. To argue that a skyscraper is taller than a fine two-story house is not to insult the house. Moses was a giant of the faith, a man God spoke with face to face, the great lawgiver of Israel. The author of Hebrews readily grants his faithfulness. But the central point is one of category. Moses, for all his greatness, was a resident in the house. Jesus Christ designed and built the house. Moses was a faithful servant in the house. Jesus Christ is the Son and heir over the house. To go back to Moses from Christ is to abandon the architect for one of the bricks. It is to prefer the servant to the Son who owns the entire estate.
The temptation our original audience faced is a perennial one. We are always tempted to shrink back from the radical claims of Christ and settle for something less. We are tempted to manage a religion of rules instead of embracing a relationship with the risen Son. We are tempted to become curators in the Moses museum instead of living stones in the house of Christ. This passage forces us to consider the blueprints of God's household and to recognize the supreme and unrivaled glory of the One who built it all.
The Text
Therefore, holy brothers, partakers of a heavenly calling, consider the Apostle and High Priest of our confession, Jesus, who was faithful to Him who appointed Him, as Moses also was in all His house. For He has been counted worthy of more glory than Moses, in so much as the builder of thehouse has more honor than the house. For every house is built by someone, but the builder of all things is God. Now MOSES WAS FAITHFUL IN ALL HIS HOUSE AS A SERVANT, for a testimony of those things which were to be spoken later, but 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.
(Hebrews 3:1-6 LSB)
Consider Jesus (v. 1-2)
The argument begins with a summons to fix our attention in the right place.
"Therefore, holy brothers, partakers of a heavenly calling, consider the Apostle and High Priest of our confession, Jesus, who was faithful to Him who appointed Him, as Moses also was in all His house." (Hebrews 3:1-2)
The "therefore" links us back to everything that came before. Because Jesus is the Son of God, superior to angels, the captain of our salvation who became a man to destroy death, therefore, consider Him. The word for "consider" is not a casual glance. It means to fix your mind on, to concentrate, to study. We are to be Christian thinkers, and the central object of our thought must be Jesus.
Notice who we are. We are "holy brothers," set apart by God, and "partakers of a heavenly calling." Our citizenship is not here. Our ultimate destination is not earthly. We have been summoned by the king of heaven, and our whole lives are now to be oriented toward that reality. This heavenly calling is what gives us the stability to withstand the pull of earthly traditions.
And who is this Jesus we are to consider? He is the "Apostle and High Priest of our confession." An apostle is one who is sent with a message. A high priest is one who represents men to God. Jesus is both, perfectly. As the Apostle, He is God's final Word sent to us (Heb. 1:2). As the High Priest, He is our perfect representative sent to God. He is the ultimate ambassador in both directions. Our "confession" is this public declaration that Jesus is Lord. It is the flag we fly. He is the substance of everything we believe and say.
The author then introduces the comparison to Moses, but he begins on a point of similarity: faithfulness. Both Jesus and Moses were faithful to their respective callings. Moses was faithful in God's house. The text from Numbers 12:7 is cited, where God Himself commends Moses as faithful in all His house. The author grants the premise. Moses was a paragon of faithfulness. But this is the setup for the great contrast that is to follow. He is not comparing two men of equal status; he is comparing two different kinds of faithfulness in two entirely different roles.
The Builder and the Building (v. 3-4)
Here the author lays down a self-evident principle to demonstrate Christ's superior glory.
"For He has been counted worthy of more glory than Moses, in so much as the builder of the house has more honor than the house. For every house is built by someone, but the builder of all things is God." (Hebrews 3:3-4 LSB)
The logic is simple and unassailable. Which is greater, the cathedral or the architect who designed it? The painting or the painter? The house or the one who built it? The answer is obvious. The honor belongs to the creator, not the thing created. Moses, as faithful and foundational as he was, was still a part of the house. He was a stone, a pillar, a resident. But Jesus is the builder.
This is a staggering claim. The "house" here is the people of God, the covenant community, first in its old covenant form as Israel, and now in its new covenant reality as the Church. Moses was a member of that community. Jesus brought that community into existence. He is its architect and its builder.
Verse 4 expands the argument to its ultimate conclusion. "For every house is built by someone, but the builder of all things is God." The logic moves from a specific house to all things. If Jesus is the builder of God's house, the covenant people, and God is the builder of all things, then the clear and necessary implication is that Jesus is God. This is the same argument John makes in his gospel: "All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made" (John 1:3). The author of Hebrews is not sneaking this in; he is making a direct, high-Christological claim. The glory of Jesus is greater than the glory of Moses because the glory of the Creator is infinitely greater than the glory of the creature.
The Son and the Servant (v. 5-6)
The author now sharpens the contrast from a different angle: the status of each within the house.
"Now MOSES WAS FAITHFUL IN ALL HIS HOUSE AS A SERVANT, for a testimony of those things which were to be spoken later, but 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." (Hebrews 3:5-6 LSB)
Moses was faithful, yes, but as a "servant." A servant, even a highly honored one, works in a house that is not his own. He carries out the orders of the master. His role, while crucial, is temporary and subordinate. And what was the purpose of his service? It was "for a testimony of those things which were to be spoken later." Moses' entire ministry was a signpost. The law, the tabernacle, the sacrifices, the priesthood, all of it was a magnificent shadow pointing forward to the reality that was to come. Moses was a faithful servant in the house, preparing the way for the Son over the house.
Christ, however, is faithful "as a Son over His house." The Son is not a servant in the house; He is the heir. He owns the house. He has authority over the house. His relationship to the Father is not one of a hired hand, but of intimate, eternal fellowship. The servant testifies to what is coming; the Son is what was coming. The servant administers the shadows; the Son embodies the substance.
Then comes the glorious application, the point where this high theology lands right in our laps: "whose house we are." We, the church, are this household of God. We are the dwelling place of God, the living temple built by Christ. This is not a static building, but a living, breathing community. But this identity comes with a condition, a responsibility. We are His house if we hold fast our confidence and the boast of our hope.
This is not to say that our holding on is what makes us the house. Rather, our perseverance is the evidence that we truly are the house. True faith endures. It is a confident faith, a bold faith that boasts, not in itself, but in the hope we have in Christ. This is a warning against drifting, against the temptation to let go. The Son is over the house, and those who belong to the house are marked by a tenacious, joyful, confident grip on the hope that He provides.
Conclusion: No Turning Back
The argument is decisive. To prefer Moses to Jesus is an act of profound theological confusion. It is to choose the house over the builder, the servant over the Son, the shadow over the reality. Moses was a great man, a faithful servant who pointed the way. But Jesus is the God-man, the faithful Son who is the Way.
The old covenant house, administered by Moses, was glorious. But it was a temporary structure, a construction trailer on the building site of redemption. The new covenant house, built and owned by the Son, is the permanent reality. We are that house. We are living stones being built into a spiritual house (1 Peter 2:5).
Therefore, we must not go back. Why would anyone who has met the owner of the mansion want to go back and live in the gatehouse? Why would anyone who has feasted with the Son prefer to eat scraps with the servants? Our calling is a heavenly one. Our Apostle and High Priest is Jesus. He is the builder of all things. He is the Son over the house.
So let us hold fast. Let us boast in our hope. Let us live as the people who belong to the household of the Son, not as those who are perpetually looking over their shoulders at the shadows that have passed away. The glory of Moses was real, but it was a reflected glory. The glory of Christ is inherent, the glory of God Himself. Let us fix our eyes on Him.