A Better Moses
There’s a moment in every long journey when the excitement fades and weariness sets in.
Tomorrow morning my alarm will go off around 3:30 a.m. for a flight to Los Angeles. I already know what’s coming—security lines, customs in Vancouver, crowded terminals, and the low-grade anxiety of international travel in a complicated moment of history. Yes, I’ll trade January cold for a week in Anaheim, but getting there won’t be easy.
It could be worse. I could be driving the 32 hours like my brother did this week in a U-Haul. I’ve made that drive before. I can picture the long, empty stretches—and I’m grateful I’m not taking that route this time.
Have you ever started a journey only to discover the road was harder than you expected? A breakdown. A detour. A delay that changes everything.
I remember taking a group of teenagers to serve at the Dream Center years ago. Somewhere in the desert outside Vegas—after nearly 24 hours of driving—the van overheated and died on the interstate. We limped into a place called Hollaran Summit. Population: fifteen. That included the dogs. The only mechanic told us the engine was done. We towed the van back to Vegas, rented another, and kept going—but the last few hours of that drive were filled with caution and fatigue.
Hebrews was written to people in that exact frame of mind.
When the Journey Gets Hard
These believers had followed Jesus with hope and expectation. Freedom. Life. Redemption. And all of that was still true—but the road had become harder than they imagined. They were tired. Discouraged. Marginalized.
They weren’t ready to abandon Jesus—but they were tempted to drift back into something safer, more familiar, more socially acceptable.
So Hebrews doesn’t begin with rebuke. It begins with revelation.
“In the past God spoke through the prophets… but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son.” (Hebrews 1:1–2)
When everything feels uncertain, the author says, look again at Jesus. The radiance of God’s glory. The exact representation of His being. The One who has done the work and now reigns.
And when the world feels out of control—when “we do not yet see everything subject to humanity”—the response is simple:
“But we do see Jesus.” (Hebrews 2:9)
Consider Jesus
That invitation grows louder in Hebrews 3:
“Therefore, holy brothers and sisters… fix your thoughts on Jesus.” (Hebrews 3:1)
This isn’t casual attention. The language implies sustained focus—intentional, repeated reflection. Why? Because pressure clouds clarity. Fatigue distorts perspective.
Jesus is named as both apostle (God’s Word to us) and high priest (our faithful representative before God). He is God reaching toward us and humanity faithfully responding to God.
And then comes a startling comparison:
“Jesus has been found worthy of greater honor than Moses.” (Hebrews 3:3)
For Jewish believers, this was seismic. Moses was the liberator, the lawgiver, the one who met God face to face. But Hebrews doesn’t diminish Moses—it fulfills him.
Moses was faithful in God’s house.
Jesus is faithful over God’s house.
Moses points the way.
Jesus is the way.
A Warning from the Wilderness
The tone shifts as Hebrews recalls Israel’s wilderness story—a people delivered from slavery who failed to trust God along the way. They saw miracles. They heard God’s voice. And still, their hearts hardened.
Their problem wasn’t lack of information.
It was unbelief expressed as disobedience.
And Hebrews makes it present tense:
“Today, if you hear His voice, do not harden your hearts.”
Hard hearts don’t form overnight. They form through slow neglect.
That’s why the call is communal:
“Encourage one another daily.” (Hebrews 3:13)
Faith is personal—but never private. We need each other to keep going, to stay soft-hearted, to remember why we started.
Press On Together
I remember a long, brutal day on the Camino. Rain. Wind. Soaked shoes. A massive climb at the end of an already exhausting stretch. If I’d known how far it was at the start, I might not have begun. But I had friends beside me—and a place to rest at the end.
Hebrews reminds us that faith works the same way.
Fix your eyes on Jesus.
Encourage one another daily.
Don’t drift. Don’t harden your heart.
The journey may be long—but the destination is sure.
And the Better Moses doesn’t just point the way.
He leads us all the way home.