`The Lord hath anointed Me to preach good tidings unto the meek; He hath sent Me to bind up the broken hearted' (Isa.

61:1; cf. Luke 4:18).

He spoke of Himself as One Whom the Father had `sanctified and sent' into the world (John 10:36), and in the

great prayer of John 17 He said:

`Sanctify them through Thy truth ... As thou hast sent Me into the world, even so have I also sent them' (John 17:17,18).

Over and over again in John's Gospel we meet this word `sent'.

`God sent not His Son into the world to condemn the world'.

`He Whom God hath sent speaketh the words of God'.

`The same works that I do, bear witness of Me, that the Father hath sent Me' (3:17,34; 5:36).

The reference here in Hebrews 3:1 to the office of apostle arises out of the superiority of Christ to the angels,

with which both chapters 1 and 2 are occupied, but the actual verbal link between these two passages may not be

perceived by the English reader.

Of the angels, the apostle said:

`Are they not all ministering spirits, SENT FORTH (Gk. apostello) to minister for them who shall be heirs of salvation?'

(Heb. 1:14).

Angels were `apostles', but we are not called upon to `consider' them; our eyes are turned away to consider Him. In

Hebrews 3:2-6, Christ the Apostle is also compared with Moses, even as in succeeding chapters, Christ the High

Priest is compared with Aaron and with Melchisedec.

It is evident that the apostle is pursuing his theme, namely, the superiority of Christ, the Son, above angels and

all other intermediaries, but the reader may not realize that, in the mind of any familiar with the LXX, the word

apostello, as used in Exodus, links angels and Moses together:

`The LORD God of your fathers ... hath sent me unto you' (Exod. 3:15).

This verb is used in verses 10 and 14 also. After the Exodus from Egypt and while Israel were in the wilderness, God said:

`Behold, I send (apostello) an Angel before thee ... if thou shalt indeed obey his voice' (Exod. 23:20-22).

Of all the names that were revered by Israel, none were more held in honour than Moses and Abraham. Paul,

who had intimate acquaintance with the traditional beliefs of his fathers, knew that any attempt by any teacher to

dethrone Moses from the place given to him would be resisted, and any doctrine thus introduced would be doomed

to failure. We need not turn to the writings of the Rabbis for this, for we read:

`Thou art his disciple; but we are Moses' disciples'.

`We know that God spake unto Moses: as for this fellow, we know not from whence he is' (John 9:28,29).

`We have heard him speak blasphemous words against Moses, and against God ... we have heard him say, that this Jesus

of Nazareth shall destroy this place, and shall change the customs which Moses delivered us' (Acts 6:11,14).

To which we add, from Hebrews itself:

`He that despised Moses' law died without mercy' (Heb. 10:28).

`Moses was faithful in all his house' (Heb. 3:2). This is the testimony of Numbers 12:7 `My servant Moses ... is faithful in

all Mine house'. The apostle now introduces a comparison that places Christ far above Moses:

`For this man was counted worthy of MORE GLORY than Moses' (Heb. 3:3).

We have but to turn to 2 Corinthians 3:6-11 to have the apostle's own comment on this comparison.

OLD COVENANT. MOSES. NEW COVENANT. CHRIST.