Hebrews 3:1-19
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 appointeda 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.
7 Wherefore (as the Holy Ghost saith, To day if ye will hear his voice,
8 Harden not your hearts, as in the provocation, in the day of temptation in the wilderness:
9 When your fathers tempted me, proved me, and saw my works forty years.
10 Wherefore I was grieved with that generation, and said, They do alway err in their heart; and they have not known my ways.
11 So I sware in my wrath, They shall not enter into my rest.)
12 Take heed, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief, in departing from the living God.
13 But exhort one another daily, while it is called To day; lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin.
14 For we are made partakers of Christ, if we hold the beginning of our confidence stedfast unto the end;
15 While it is said, To day if ye will hear his voice, harden not your hearts, as in the provocation.
16 For some, when they had heard, did provoke: howbeit not all that came out of Egypt by Moses.
17 But with whom was he grieved forty years? was it not with them that had sinned, whose carcases fell in the wilderness?
18 And to whom sware he that they should not enter into his rest, but to them that believed not?
19 So we see that they could not enter in because of unbelief.
The argument now passed to the second claim of superiority, that over all human leaders. He is first seen as superior to Moses and Joshua. He is "the Apostle" completely fulfilling the function represented by the work of these two; He is also 'High Priest," thus realizing everything suggested in the position of Aaron.
The position of Moses was that of a servant in the house of God. His faithfulness was shown in that he made all things according to the pattern. The spiritual house of God consists of the "holy brethren" and the “partakers" of the divine calling, and over them Christ is the Head.
Then follows a second solemn exhortation and warning. The readers are reminded by another quotation from their Scriptures of what had happened in the wilderness. The heart was hardened by unbelief, and therefore they were shut out from rest. In view of this example these readers are warned against the peril of being "hardened by the deceitfulness of sin."
The argument of warning returned to the first illustration, and shows how many who came out of Egypt never entered the promised land. This was because they had sinned. The sin is described as disobedience, the disobedience of unbelief. If, then, because of unbelief in the servant Moses, men were excluded from rest, how much more will that be so in the case of those who are disobedient to the Son.