“Therefore, holy brothers, you who share in a heavenly calling, consider Jesus, the apostle and high priest of our confession.” — Hebrews 3:1

The apostle addresses the Hebrew believers as holy. All who have believed in and received Jesus are holy. We are made holy by the redemptive work and imputed righteousness of Jesus. Later in chapter 10 he says “we have been made holy through the sacrifice of the body of Jesus Christ once for all” (Hebrews 10:10). The apostle also speaks highly of the calling that believers receive – a heavenly calling.

He also speaks about Jesus, whom he describes as the apostle and high priest of our confession. Jesus is the apostle, the sent one, of God. There are apostles whom God sent, but Jesus is chief over them all. They are sent because God the Father sent Jesus. Jesus said, “As the Father has sent Me, I also send you” (John 20:21). It is through Jesus that grace and apostleship are received (Romans 1:5). Jesus is the high priest of our confession. He is the one who mediates on our behalf before God. The theologian and scholar, Bengel, comments that, “as Apostle Jesus pleads the cause of God with us; as High Priest He pleads our cause with God.

There are apostles whom God sent, but Jesus is chief over them all

”Interposed between who the believers are and Jesus who secures that faith is a calling by the writer of the book of Hebrews that forms the title of these meditations: “consider Jesus.” To consider is to think about (something) carefully, to gaze on steadily or reflectively. Why would these believers be asked to consider Jesus?

The book of Hebrews is perhaps the longest sermon in scripture about why and how Jesus Christ is superior to all things. It aims to expose and turn upside down those teachings that would steer away from Christ being completely supreme in all things. It is clear from reading this book that Judaism was threatening the faith and vitality of these Hebrew believers. By urging them to consider Christ Jesus in these characters (namely apostle and high priest), the apostle seems to suggest that the Hebrew believers had not sufficiently thought about the nature, quality, person and offices of Christ, and for that reason were kept in the entanglements of Judaism. Therefore, he exhorts them to fix their minds attentively on Jesus. Being fixed on Jesus is the antidote to distraction by lesser things.

Consider His Person

Whenever the Bible uses the name Jesus to describe our Lord, it almost always refers to his humanity. That life that the Lord lived here on earth is unveiled for us in the pages of scripture. He is the Father’s ultimate full and final revelation (Hebrews 1:1-4). We are told of his humble birth, who being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped but humbled himself and took on our form and was obedient to die a criminal’s death on our behalf (Philippians 2:5-8). While here on earth, he went about his Father’s business with unbending zeal; had compassion on the lowly (Matthew 9:36); no falsehood was found in him (1 Peter 2:22) and he did all things well (Mark 7:37). The Hebrews scripture under consideration says he was faithful to the one who appointed him just as Moses was. Moses was faithful as a servant and his faithfulness was only a type of Christ’s faithfulness. Jesus was the builder, owner and master of the house, the church. He supersedes Moses in all things. As people who are exposed to the wiles of the Devil, we must consider his response to temptation (Matthew 4:1-11). In a world of suffering and difficulty, consider his attitude to suffering (Isaiah 53:7; 1 Peter 2:23). Hebrews urges us to fix our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith who for the joy set before him he endured the cross, scorning its shame and today sits exalted at the Father’s side. We are to consider him who endured such opposition from sinners, so that we will not grow weary and lose heart (Hebrews 12:2-3). In an avaricious world, consider his attitude to the things of the world (Matthew 8:20). This all-rounded Person, who lived our life and died our death is the one we are to look to for light, for inspiration, for pattern and motive of service (Matthew 17:5).

Whenever the Bible uses the name Jesus to describe our Lord, it almost always refers to his humanity.

Consider His Supremacy and Power

In the beginning he was the Word, he was with God and was God. Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made (John 1:1-3). He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. In him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things have been created through him and for him. He is before all things, and in him all things hold together. Jesus is the head of the church; he is the beginning and the firstborn from among the dead; he is supreme over all things (Colossians 1:15-18). He is the mystery of God, in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge (Colossians 2:3); in him all the fullness of the Deity lives in bodily form and he is the head over every power and authority (Colossians 2:9-10). He sustains all things by his powerful word (Hebrews 1:3). If you consider him thus, all pseudo giants will take their rightful place in your life – beneath Christ.

If you consider him thus, all pseudo giants will take their rightful place in your life – beneath Christ.

Consider His Love

Jesus loves us unconditionally. He died for us when we were still powerless. The full demonstration of his love for us was in when he chose to die for us: God put his love on the line for us by offering his Son in sacrificial death while we were of no use whatever to him (Hebrews 5:6-8). He didn’t wait until we did anything deserving of his love to die for us; he put his love on the line with the risk that his love could be rejected and that is the case with multitudes today. Yet he did it and his arms remain open to welcome any penitent one. He has gone to prepare a place for us and when he is done, he will return to take us to be with him, the lover of our souls and that forever (John 14:3). In that city, all our tears will be wiped away and there will be more death or mourning or crying or pain (Revelation 21:4). When a man marries his beloved, it is common for her to take his name as hers forever. Our eternal groom will do no less; he will write on us the name of His God, the name of the city of his God and his own new name (Revelation 3:12). Considering him thus will light the flame of love in our hearts; we will love because he first loved us (1 John 4:19). This is what happened to the sinful woman who came and anointed Jesus at home of Simon the Pharisee. She loved the Lord much because she considered his love for her who forgave her many sins. The pharisees didn’t love him because they didn’t consider his love (Luke 7:36-50).

The full demonstration of his love for us was in when he chose to die for us: God put his love on the line for us by offering his Son in sacrificial death while we were of no use whatever to him

The Blessedness of Considering Jesus

I have highlighted only three facets of our Lord for your consideration. This no way near exhaustive of his magnificent person. My aim is to stimulate you to wholesome thinking about him. Like I mentioned earlier, the admonition to the Hebrew believers to consider Jesus indicates that Judaism still had a hold on them and they didn’t make much of Jesus because they didn’t hold him much in their thoughts. That applies to us too. We do not make much of Jesus because we do not much consider him. Let me ask: who is better to be the object of our thoughts than him?

Your relationship with him is not where it should be because he is not in your thoughts. If you will be vibrant, you must consider Jesus. As it is said, Christianity is Christ, and him, not the doctrines, should be the prime object of our thoughts. In a world of unrest, where foundations are shaken and things are falling apart, we need a fixed centre that doesn’t shift and change with the times, one that we can anchor our lives to – that centre is Jesus. Amidst the rat race that characterizes much of human life, what will bring calmness to our lives and give meaning to our existence is Christ and he must not be seldom in our thoughts but always. We must fix our gaze steadily and reflectively on Jesus. If those who looked at a bronze serpent though only a type of Christ, lived, how much more life is available for the one whose gaze is fixed on the only begotten? There is indeed life for a look at the crucified one.

May you be able to sing with the songwriter Philip Doddridge thus:

Now rest, my long-divided heart,

Fixed on this blissful centre, rest;

Here have I found a nobler part,

Here heavenly pleasures fill my breast.