The author in chapter 3, compares Jesus to Moses. Why would he do that? Because the primary audience for the book is the Hebrew, or Jew, and Moses was their most highly regarded person. The author was explaining how and why Jesus was to be held in even higher regard.
He does this by making some opening statements in the first six verses, then he refers back to Psalms chapter 95, a book from the OT, or as the Jews know it, the Torah. In doing this, he takes them to familiar ground. Psalm 95 is a warning to the Jews not to harden their hearts toward God as their ancestors did when Moses led them through the desert for 40 years. Because they did that, God did not allow them to enter the Promised Land. He waited until that entire generation passed away before allowing the next generation to receive the promise.
We humans tend to be impatient. When I was a new believer, the first time I attempted to read through the Bible and read about how God delivered the Jews from the Egyptian pharaoh and slavery, how God parted the Red Sea to make an escape route as they were being pursued by Pharaoh and his army, and how they soon turned to worshipping a golden calf when Moses was on the mountain receiving the tablets from the hand of God, I was amazed at how quickly they forgot the Lord.
“How stupid can these people be,” I thought. “How can they forget the miraculous way that God delivered them? Why would they so quickly turn their backs on God?”
And then God spoke to my heart and said, “You do the same thing.”
And it was true. Being so young in my faith…I had only been a Christian for about five years…I knew there were times that I had forgotten God. I knew that I had already failed Him and decided to do my own thing. Yes, God is faithful, and when I asked forgiveness, He was quick to forgive. And as He gently spoke to my heart about how I was no different than the Jews who forgot Him, I realized that I was no better and no worse than the Jews. I realized that I must make a concerted effort to stay close to Him, to make an effort to remember the times that He did something wonderful, and yes, miraculous for me.
I wish I could say that since that day I never turned my back on God, but I would be lying. I was about 21 years old then, and I just turned 61 a few days ago. During those intervening 40 years, I have failed Him countless times. I’m not proud of that, but I have learned and I have grown increasingly appreciative of His gift of forgiveness.
He promises in His Word to forgive us, not because we deserve it, but because of what Jesus did for us. As I look back, I am amazed and humbled that God cares for me, but it is only because He sees me through the lens of the sacrifice of Jesus. The Father sees me as blameless. Psalm 103:12 says, “As far as the east is from the west, so far has He removed our transgressions from us.”
Does God forgive? Oh yes, he does.