Single lesson
Hebrews 3: Jesus Our Apostle and High Priest
Hebrews 3:1–6; Hebrews 3:7–11; Hebrews 3:12–19
Hebrews 3 calls children to look carefully at Jesus and to take God’s warning seriously. The passage shows that Jesus is faithful, warns against hardened hearts and unbelief, and tells believers to encourage one another today.
Before you teach
In Hebrews 3:1-6, the readers are called “holy brothers” who share a heavenly calling and are told to consider Jesus. In Hebrews 3:7-11, the Holy Spirit says, “Today” and warns against the rebellion. In Hebrews 3:12-19, the passage applies that warning by speaking about unbelief, sin, disobedience and encouragement.
Students will be able to explain that Hebrews 3 presents Jesus as faithful over God’s house and warns believers to hold their confidence firm, without hardening their hearts through unbelief.
Welcome: Consider Jesus carefully
4 minOpen by saying this lesson has two linked parts: who Jesus is, and how people should respond. Read Hebrews 3:1 aloud and ask children to listen for what the verse says about Jesus. Help them notice his two titles and the command to “consider” him carefully as the one named in “our confession”.
Hebrews 3:1
Read and explain: Faithful servant and faithful Son
7 minRead Hebrews 3:2-6. Show that Moses was faithful “in all his house” and that Jesus also was faithful. Then notice the difference the passage makes: Jesus is counted worthy of more glory, Moses is called a servant, and Christ is called a Son over his house. The passage also says, “We are his house”, if we hold fast our confidence and the glorying of our hope firm to the end.
Hebrews 3:2, Hebrews 3:3, Hebrews 3:5, Hebrews 3:6
Discuss: Today if you will hear his voice
6 minRead Hebrews 3:7-11 and then Hebrews 3:15. Point out the repeated word “Today” and the matching warning, “don’t harden your hearts”. The passage remembers rebellion, testing, hearts that went astray and people who did not enter God’s rest. Keep the discussion close to the warning these verses repeat.
Hebrews 3:7, Hebrews 3:8, Hebrews 3:9, Hebrews 3:10, Hebrews 3:11, Hebrews 3:15
Make and respond: Encourage one another day by day
8 minRead Hebrews 3:12-14. Explain that the passage warns against an evil heart of unbelief and says believers should exhort one another day by day, while it is called “today”. Ask for examples of encouraging words that would help someone keep their confidence in Christ. Then make the reminder card as a response activity based on these verses.
Hebrews 3:12, Hebrews 3:13, Hebrews 3:14
Closing: The passage’s own conclusion
5 minFinish with Hebrews 3:16-19. Ask the class what answer the passage itself gives about why those people did not enter. Review by completing two sentences together: “Jesus is faithful...” and “Today, if you hear his voice...”. As an application from Hebrews 3:6 and Hebrews 3:14, invite children to remember the call to hold their confidence firm to the end.
Hebrews 3:16, Hebrews 3:17, Hebrews 3:18, Hebrews 3:19, Hebrews 3:6, Hebrews 3:14
Questions to explore
In Hebrews 3:1, what two titles are given to Jesus, and what are the readers told to do?
Look for the names used for Jesus first, then the instruction that follows them in the same verse.
Hebrews 3:1
According to Hebrews 3:5-6, how does the passage describe Moses, and how does it describe Christ?
Notice the different words “servant” and “Son”, and pay attention to whether each one is in the house or over the house.
Hebrews 3:5, Hebrews 3:6
What reason does Hebrews 3:19 give for why they were not able to enter in?
Answer with the exact final phrase of the verse if you can.
Hebrews 3:19
Make, think or respond
Today Reminder Card
What you’ll need
- card or paper
- pencils or pens
- crayons or coloured pencils
- Bible
Try it together
- Choose one short line from the passage, such as “consider... Jesus”, “Today if you will hear his voice”, or “hold... firm to the end”.
- Write the chosen words neatly on a small card and add a simple drawing or border that matches the verse.
- On the back, write one suggested response for today based on the passage, such as one way to encourage another person or one way to remember to hold your confidence firm.
- Invite each child to read their card aloud or explain why they chose that verse.
The card helps children remember the passage’s call to consider Jesus, to avoid unbelief, and to encourage one another day by day.
Adapt for your group
- For younger children, offer two short verse choices and let them copy only a few key words from the verse.
- For older or more confident children, ask them to explain how Hebrews 3:12-13 connects the warning about unbelief with the command to exhort one another day by day.
An optional closing prayer
You may pray: “Lord Jesus, help us to consider you carefully, to hear your voice today, and to encourage one another to hold our confidence firm. Amen.”
Read the Bible passage World English Bible Classic
Hebrews 3
1 Therefore, holy brothers, partakers of a heavenly calling, consider the Apostle and High Priest of our confession: Jesus,
2 who was faithful to him who appointed him, as also Moses was in all his house.
3 For he has been counted worthy of more glory than Moses, because he who built the house has more honor than the house.
4 For every house is built by someone; but he who built all things is God.
5 Moses indeed was faithful in all his house as a servant, for a testimony of those things which were afterward to be spoken,
6 but Christ is faithful as a Son over his house. We are his house, if we hold fast our confidence and the glorying of our hope firm to the end.
7 Therefore, even as the Holy Spirit says, “Today if you will hear his voice,
8 don’t harden your hearts as in the rebellion, in the day of the trial in the wilderness,
9 where your fathers tested me and tried me, and saw my deeds for forty years.
10 Therefore I was displeased with that generation, and said, ‘They always err in their heart, but they didn’t know my ways.’
11 As I swore in my wrath, ‘They will not enter into my rest.’ ”
12 Beware, brothers, lest perhaps there might be in any one of you an evil heart of unbelief, in falling away from the living God;
13 but exhort one another day by day, so long as it is called “today”, lest any one of you be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin.
14 For we have become partakers of Christ, if we hold the beginning of our confidence firm to the end,
15 while it is said, “Today if you will hear his voice, don’t harden your hearts, as in the rebellion.”
16 For who, when they heard, rebelled? Wasn’t it all those who came out of Egypt led by Moses?
17 With whom was he displeased forty years? Wasn’t it with those who sinned, whose bodies fell in the wilderness?
18 To whom did he swear that they wouldn’t enter into his rest, but to those who were disobedient?
19 We see that they weren’t able to enter in because of unbelief.
World English Bible Classic. Public domain.