Hebrews 3 | What's the connection?

One of the most important words in all of Scripture is therefore. The reason I am so emphatic of its importance is because it serves as a continual reminder that the text we are dealing with is not isolated. As good as we may pride ourselves on being good contextual readers, it is a learned skill to hold all of the study from the previous weeks with what we are going through now. We can often forget that many of these letters were written, not to be broken apart, but to be read all together as a whole. While we are zooming in on the text the way we are, it is essential to remember the context that surrounds what we read, and the therefore naturally takes us there.

Let us then consider that first therefore. A simple question we can ask is this, "What is the therefore there for?" The previous section was in reference to Jesus, the Captain of our salvation. He took upon flesh and released those who were subject to bondage. He was proven to be faithful to the end. And that is exactly the direction the writer of Hebrews takes it. He Himself has suffered, being tempted, and is able to aid those who are tempted. The author exhorts the believer to consider Jesus!

What does this consideration accomplish in light of the therefore? Once again we remember that the people were suffering through intense persecution and the temptation to give in was intense. But Jesus was continuously faithful to Him who appointed Him. And Jesus has appointed them. Notice the example given of how Moses was faithful as a servant, but the Jesus was faithful as the One who built the house. And then it immediately goes into how we are Jesus' house if we hold that confidence and rejoicing of hope firm to the end. What does that mean? Jesus will be faithful to us, but also, we get to be faithful to Him as a servant in His house.

From this we are faced with that second contextual therefore that quotes Psalm 95. What is that calling back to? Everything that we just covered! Moses was faithful as a servant. Jesus is faithful as the builder. We belong to Jesus and now we have the option to be faithful as well!

Just a little bit of contextual reading can provide great insights into the word of God. It can also provide great insights in the way we minister unto others. Do we see that Jesus addressed the context of people's lives? They were not simply the product of their current state. He saw beneath the surface. We can learn a lot about the importance of context if we would just apply the same rules we have in Bible reading to every day situations. Context matters. The humble therefore reminds us of this fact.

What connections are you making?