The book of Hebrews was written to a specific group of people facing a specific pressure: Jewish Christians who were being urged to abandon their faith in Christ and return to the temple system. The pressure was real. The temple was still standing. The priesthood was still functioning. The sacrifices were still being offered. And following Jesus meant leaving behind something visible, culturally respected, and deeply familiar for something that looked, from the outside, like less.
The writer's response to that pressure is the entire book of Hebrews. And the argument is simple: you cannot go back, because going back would be going backward. Everything in the old system was pointing forward to Christ. He is not a departure from what God was doing — He is the fulfillment of it. And He is better. Better than the prophets. Better than the angels. Better than Moses. Better than the priesthood. Better than the sacrifices. Better than anything you would be returning to.
The argument of Hebrews is the argument we still need. Because we still face the pressure to treat Jesus as one good thing among many — to add Him to our lives rather than center our lives on Him, to hedge our bets, to keep our backup plans. And the answer is still the same: He is better. Supremely, incomparably, infinitely better.
The Cosmic Supremacy of Christ
Colossians 1:15–20 is the most comprehensive statement of Christ's supremacy in the New Testament. Paul piles claim upon claim, each one more staggering than the last.
He is the image of the invisible God — the exact representation of who God is, in visible, human form. He is the firstborn over all creation — not the first thing created, but the one who holds the position of supreme authority over everything that exists. All things were created through Him and for Him — not just the spiritual things, not just the religious things, but all things. The physical universe. The laws of nature. The structure of reality itself. Created through Him and for Him.
He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together. The universe does not run on its own momentum. It is held together, moment by moment, by the sustaining power of Christ. And He is the head of the body, the church, the firstborn from the dead, so that in everything He might be preeminent.
Preeminent. First in everything. Not first among equals. Not the most important item on a list of important things. First. In everything. That's the claim. And it changes everything about how we relate to Him.
Better Than Religion
The original audience of Hebrews was tempted to return to a religious system that felt more substantial — more visible, more structured, more culturally legitimate. The writer's response is to show them that what they had in Christ was not less than what they were leaving. It was more. Infinitely more.
Jesus is a better priest — not one who offers sacrifices for his own sins before offering them for the people's, but one who is holy, innocent, unstained, separated from sinners, and exalted above the heavens. (Hebrews 7:26–27) He offers a better covenant, enacted on better promises. (Hebrews 8:6) He provides the sacrifice that the entire old system was pointing toward — not the blood of bulls and goats, but His own blood, offered once for all.
We still face the same temptation. We measure our spiritual health by our consistency in disciplines rather than our confidence in Christ. We find security in what we're doing for God rather than what God has done for us in Christ. We treat religious performance as the thing that keeps us in good standing with God.
Jesus is better than your best spiritual performance. He's better than your most consistent season of prayer. He's better than your theological knowledge or your ministry track record. The point of all of it is to know Him — and if the disciplines become the point, you've missed the One they're meant to lead you to.
Better Than Comfort
Hebrews 11 catalogs the heroes of faith — and it does not sanitize their stories. They were mocked, flogged, chained, imprisoned. They were stoned. They were sawn in two. They were killed with the sword. They wandered in deserts and mountains and caves, destitute, afflicted, mistreated. (Hebrews 11:36–38)
Why would anyone endure that? Because they desired a better country — a heavenly one. (Hebrews 11:16) They had found something — Someone — better than earthly comfort, safety, and prosperity. They could see what the world around them couldn't see: that the things being taken from them were temporary, and the thing they were holding onto was eternal.
What if Jesus is better not because He removes suffering, but because He's worth suffering for? What if He's better not because He gives us our best life now, but because He secures our eternal life forever? The heroes of Hebrews 11 weren't naive about the cost. They counted it and concluded: He is worth it. He is better.
The Better Hope: Access to God
Hebrews 7:19 speaks of a better hope through which we draw near to God. This is the heart of why Jesus is better — He gives us access to God Himself.
The old system kept people at a distance. Only the high priest could enter the Most Holy Place, and only once a year, with blood, under strict conditions. The veil separated the people from the presence of God. And when Jesus died, the veil tore from top to bottom. (Matthew 27:51) Not from bottom to top, as if a human hand had torn it. From top to bottom. God tore it.
Through Christ, we have confidence to enter the holy places by His blood. (Hebrews 10:19) Not tentatively. Not hoping we qualify. With confidence — because the access is secured not by our worthiness but by His sacrifice.
Jesus isn't better because He makes our circumstances better. He's better because He makes us right with God. He's better because He reconciles us to the Father. He's better because He transforms us from enemies into children.
Living in Light of Better
If Jesus truly is better — better than everything, preeminent in all things — it changes how we live.
It changes how we face loss. Hebrews 10:34 describes people who joyfully accepted the plundering of their property, because they knew they had a better possession and an abiding one. When you know what you actually have in Christ, the things that can be taken from you lose their power to devastate you.
It changes how we face suffering. Not by pretending it doesn't hurt, but by holding it against the backdrop of something better — the eternal weight of glory that Paul says is beyond all comparison. (2 Corinthians 4:17)
And it changes how we relate to everything else in our lives. When you truly believe Jesus is better, you stop trying to add to Him. You stop hedging your bets with backup plans. You stop treating Him as one good thing among many good things and start treating Him as the supreme good — the One in whom all things hold together, the One for whom all things were made, the One who is preeminent in everything.
He is better. He is worth it. He is enough.
- Todd Wallace, 4HG
Go Deeper
- The audience of Hebrews was being pressured to return to a religious system that felt more substantial than faith in Christ. What is the thing in your life that most competes with Christ for the position of supreme good — the thing you're most tempted to treat as equally important, or to add to Him as a backup? What does it mean that He is not one good thing among many but preeminent in everything?
- The heroes of Hebrews 11 endured suffering, loss, and death because they desired a better country — they could see something the world around them couldn't see. What does it look like to hold your earthly comforts and securities loosely enough that losing them doesn't devastate you? What would it mean to genuinely believe that what you have in Christ is better than what can be taken from you?
- Hebrews 10:19 says we have confidence to enter the presence of God through Christ's blood — not tentatively, not hoping we qualify, but with confidence. Where in your relationship with God are you still approaching Him tentatively, as if your access depends on your performance? What would it look like to approach Him with the confidence that His sacrifice has already secured?
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