The book of Hebrews was written to those who’d “stood their ground in the face of suffering,” Hebrews 10:32 – but like their Israelite ancestors, suffering had become hard to take, and they were losing heart, which brought on a reminder from the author of Hebrews to watch out “that none of you (like those ancient Israelites) has a sinful, unbelieving heart that turns away from the living God” (3:7-12).
But if suffering carries that risk, what is the purpose of it? And why should suffering exist at all, now that Jesus is king of the world? Instead, evil remains and it’s wrecking the lives of so many of Jesus’ followers. Which got those in Hebrews thinking that maybe following Jesus was a mistake, and following Moses was better, because under Moses’ administration life was structured and predictable, with its standardized system of laws, sabbaths and sacrifices, and suffering only happened when straying from that pattern, but that wasn’t the case when following Jesus, because even the best behaving Christians could suffer too.
So how did the author of Hebrews answer that? Well, since it was Moses they were wishfully thinking of returning to, then why did Moses “choose to be mistreated along with the people of God” in Hebrews 11:25? Rather than hang on to his life of no suffering as a privileged prince in Egypt, Moses chose suffering instead, by deciding to side with his own people and risk the anger and deadly danger of some very powerful people in Egypt. He’d deeply hurt his Egyptian stepmother too, totally lose out on financial security, miss the fun, friendship and respect of his peers, and deny himself a very promising career, maybe even a legacy of note in the history of Egypt, as well as a splendid tomb to preserve his reputation and fame.
So why on earth would Moses have made that choice? And it was by thoughtful choice too, because in verse 26, “He regarded” – meaning he weighed up the consequences, just like Jesus telling people to “count the cost” – and to Moses the cost of “disgrace for the sake of Christ was of greater value than the treasures (and pleasures, verse 25) of Egypt, because he was looking ahead to his reward.”
To those in Hebrews 10:35, then, who were losing heart because of their suffering and needed a boost to their confidence, the author of Hebrews reminds them of why Moses made the choice he did: it’s because of “The God who richly rewards”….(next blog)
Buck To Basics 