In Hebrews 3:1-6 we see that Christ is the One better than Moses.
As the Apostle and High Priest, Christ is superior to both Moses and Aaron. We see these two titles of Christ in 3:1 where we are told to “consider the Apostle and High Priest of our confession, Jesus.” Jesus is our Apostle and our High Priest. As the Apostle, He is typified by Moses; as the High Priest, He is typified by Aaron. The Apostle is the One who was sent to us from God and with God (John 6:46; 8:16, 29). The High Priest is the One who went to God from and with us (Eph. 2:6). As the Apostle, Christ came to us with God to share God with us that we might partake of His life, nature, and fullness. As the High Priest, Christ went to God with us to present us to God that we and all our case might be fully cared for by Him. As the Apostle, He is typified by Moses who came from God to serve the house of God (Heb. 3:2-6), and as the High Priest, He is typified by Aaron, who went to God with the house of Israel and their cases (4:14—7:28). This refers to a marvelous traffic between God and us: as the Apostle, Christ came to us from God and with God; as the High Priest, He went back to God from us and with us. As such, Jesus is the Apostle and High Priest of our confession. Our confession is what we believe in and what we declare to the universe.
Jesus was the first Apostle in the New Testament. The word apostle in Greek means “a sent one, one who is sent by a higher authority.” In the Gospel of John, the Lord Jesus frequently spoke of Himself as the One who was sent by God (5:23-24, 30, 36; 6:57). For instance, He declared in 5:24, “Truly, truly, I say to you, He who hears My word and believes Him who sent Me has eternal life.” This verse indicates that we should believe the One who sent the Son. Since Christ is the Father’s sent One, He is the Father’s Apostle. God sent Him to us. He came from God with God to bring God to us and to minister God into us. Nothing and no one can be higher, greater, and more profound than such an Apostle.
The Lord Jesus is the unique Apostle of God. He was sent by God to bring God to man, to impart God into man, and to dispense all that the Triune God is into God’s chosen people. As the Apostle, God’s sent One and Ambassador, Christ speaks the word of God (3:34). The word Christ speaks is the rhema, the word that is spirit and life (6:63). By speaking the word of God, He imparts God’s essence into our being.
Hebrews 3:5 says, “Moses was faithful in all His house as a servant, for a testimony of the things to be spoken later.” Here the word testimony refers to Moses’ being a prefigure. This indicates that Moses is a type of the real and genuine Apostle sent from God.
Moses is a type of Jesus as the Apostle, the sent One. When the children of Israel were suffering persecution under the tyranny of Pharaoh, God appeared to Moses and charged him to go to the children of Israel and to Pharaoh. Thus, Moses was an Old Testament apostle. Moses was God’s sent one, the apostle who was to lead Israel out of Egypt and through the wilderness for the purpose that they might be constituted as God’s house and be formed into a habitation of God on earth. This habitation of God is symbolized by the tabernacle made by the children of Israel in the wilderness. The tabernacle, however, is only a symbol; it was not the real habitation of God. At that time, God’s real habitation on earth was the children of Israel themselves. The children of Israel were formed and constituted into a house of God by Moses, God’s apostle. Moses, the apostle sent by God to the children of Israel, is a type of Christ.
Verse 2 tells us that Jesus was faithful to God “who constituted Him, as also Moses was in all His house.” Moses, as God’s sent one to take care of God’s house, was faithful to God in all His house. This typifies Christ, as the Apostle from God, for God’s house, being faithful to God who constituted Him. Christ, typified by Moses, was faithful to God in taking care of God’s house. Hebrews 2:17 tells us that He is faithful as the High Priest, whereas 3:2 tells us that He is faithful as the Apostle sent from God to us.