CONSIDER JESUS . Hebrews 3:1. We who are believers in the Lord Jesus Christ are participants in the high calling of God in Christ Jesus. The people of God are set apart for Him as those who are united in Christ Jesus. Jewish believers would have had a unique connection to the writer of the Hebrews, who was likely a Jewish Christian and instructed them to fix their thoughts on Christ. In the Jewish culture, the high priest was the person of highest authority, and what he said and did affected what all the people said and did. We as believers, both Jews and Gentiles, are "built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief cornerstone." In the church, the basis of authority is the apostles. Our Lord Jesus Christ is "The Apostle," the ultimate, supreme, unequaled authority in the church of which He is "The Head." He is also "The High Priest," the link we have with divine Persons. It is by His high priestly ministry that we have continual access to God.
Our heavenly calling is a condition of existence in which the life and presence of God are revealed and experienced in the lives of His people. The power of our heavenly calling is to make our lives here heavenly. When our Lord was here, the kingdom of God drew near. Believers in Him were born into that kingdom and the kind of life that comes with it. Believers become spiritually alive to God with the power of heaven in them. Therefore, we are to consider Jesus, who was God with us. He has ascended to heaven as our Apostle and High Priest – our Savior who has opened heaven to us. We are to set our hearts on Him who can make us holy and heavenly. He is faithful.
Holy brethren are not holy only because of their holy walk, but because they are sanctified in Christ Jesus. We have already been made partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light. Holy brethren are those who have been set apart from God morally and spiritually. This is a personal address to the writer’s fellow believers who are participants in the invitation to enjoy the presence of God in heaven. When we fix our thoughts on the Lord Jesus Christ, we listen to what He says and obey what He tells us to do. To Christians, Jesus is the Apostle, the Sent One, with the highest authority over us. To Jews, the high priest had the highest human authority. To “holy brethren,” He is both: the One sent from God to be the Savior of the world, and the highest human authority. This calling is our present condition of being in Christ.
We are to focus our attention on Jesus as the Apostle who reveals God to us, and on Him as High Priest who is our Mediator with God. The first title compares Him to Moses, and the second to Aaron. The Lord Jesus Christ is the Mediator of the new covenant, higher than Moses, who was the mediator of the old one. The first six verses of this chapter serve as a doctrinal statement, with that in mind. The Hebrews as a people had an earthly calling, but the believers addressed in this epistle have been transferred from an earthly calling to a heavenly calling. Believers have been called to Jesus Christ, who was rejected by His earthly people, but are accepted as holy people.
When we "consider the Apostle and High Priest of our profession," or "consider Him who endured such contradiction of sinners against Himself," we focus our attention on Him; we "fix our thoughts" on who He is and all He has done and is doing on our behalf. When we “fix” our attention on the Lord, we do so in faith. We see Him as a model we are to imitate. Our “profession” (confession) is not a religious form, but rather the outward expression of an inward reality. Our profession is a fact we do not want to undervalue. We are to adorn the doctrine of God our Savior in everything we do.
God has taken away the difference between Jews and anyone else who comes to Him through the Lord Jesus Christ. Aaron’s priesthood is gone; Jesus is the High Priest of our confession. Moses, as the Jews' apostle, has disappeared, and the law has done its work. The scene is now heavenly, not earthly, and we have been made partakers of this new covenant.
We focused our attention on the one whose glory [ch.1] and suffering and death [ch.2] remind us of who we are and what He has done on our behalf. The attraction of the Jews had been angels, prophets, and people of old times, particularly of Moses, the law-giver. Next to him, the high priest was the most important man to them. The Hebrew believers needed to be reminded first of all of who they were. "Holy brethren" set them apart from all others in their culture as Jews. It was made clear to them that they were set apart and sanctified to God because of the Lord Jesus Christ. This went way beyond their nationality. This goes beyond being consecrated to an objective, to being those who have received a "calling" from heaven.
The One we are called upon to fix our attention on is Jesus. He is our Apostle who was sent by the Father to be the Savior. He is the High Priest forever. His name, “Jesus,” is the one to whom every knee will bow and every tongue confess as Lord. He is the same yesterday, today, and forever.--