But of all the lessons I’ve learned, the most important one is to see Christ: His work accomplished for us, our need to rest in Him, to cease trying to please God with our lives, but instead to trust Christ’s righteousness as all we need. That truth is borne out in this final chapter of Moses's life. As Israel is about to take possession of the Promised Land, our final glimpse of Moses is his ascending Mt. Nebo, seeing the Promised Land, but not going there himself. The ending to this long journey is surprising, even tragic. The lessons are important. The great mouthpiece of God and Israel’s mediator, triumphantly leading the people into their new life in the Promised Land, is suddenly taken from the scene. The irony is severe: Moses, God's instrument of Israel's deliverance, dies without ever setting foot in the Promised Land.
Lesson #1 The Best is Yet To Come As we reach the end of Deuteronomy, the end of Moses’s life, we realize that this is the end of a chapter, but not the conclusion of the story. There is so much more to come. This is the commencement, the dawning of something far more. Having concluded the second reading of the Law, having finished the listing of blessings and curses and the Covenantal obligations down on the plains of Moab, across the Jordan River, Moses ascends Mt. Nebo to Pisgah. For those of us who did not learn from childhood the stories from the Old Testament, the places listed here may seem superficial to the story, but they are not. This mountaintop was used on another occasion. In Numbers 22-23 Barak called Balaam to this mountain to survey the Israelites camped on the plains of Moab. There the false prophet Balaam was paid to curse Israel, but every time he opened his mouth, he could only bless them. Now Moses ascends the same, this time to survey all that God would bless them with. Now Moses, at 120, climbs the mountain. In verse 7, we are told his eyes were not weak. At that time, with undimmed eyes, God showed him all that He would give to him. The land that was promised to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, the land for which they waited 500 years and traveled for 40 was now before them. His vista is described in a counterclockwise direction. Gilead was to the north. Dan, 100 miles to the north. Moving northwest 80 miles was Naphtali, the territory of Ephraim and Manasseh is to the northwest, Judah to the east and southwest as far as the sea, which we know is the Mediterranean. The Negev is the desert to the southwest. Jericho to Zoar (that is, the entire length of the Dead Sea) is to the immediate southwest and south. But as Moses sees all this Promised Land, there is a statement, which to us, appears tragic, in verse 4. If anyone went into the land, it should have been Moses. This is tragic. He spends 120 years being groomed for this event and he is but a few steps shy. On a superficial level, it is like Janet’s brownies for a school or church function. They’re cooling on the stovetop and snitching a piece will call down wrath. But they smell so good. Yet what does it mean to see the land? Hebrew law regarding land rights must be understood. The practice of viewing land had very significant legal implications among Israelites. In Genesis 13 Lot looked up and saw the whole plain of the Jordan and then took that part of the land. Abraham, likewise in verses 14-15 was told to lift up his eyes and look. All the land that he saw God would give to him. To see the land was the precursor to owning the land. In Jesus’s temptation, Satan showed Him all the kingdoms and promised to give them to Him. There is a parable in Luke 14:18 of man who bought a field and then says he must go and see it. You might think it silly to buy something you have not seen! But what is described is the formal legal transfer of newly acquired property. By looking at the land Moses had been given the unique privilege of legally taking possession of the entire country on behalf of its new people. It is for this reason that he is told to look out as far as he can see in each direction and discern the geographical features of its extensive territory. You and I have this same mountain top view today, seeing what is ours in the world to come Ephesians 1:18-23 reminds us of what is ours in Christ, our inheritance that is reserved for us. On Easter Sunday we examined this promise in 1 Peter 1:4 – "we have an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade – kept in heaven for you." This is what the author of Hebrews is speaking of when he writes in Hebrews 11:13-16. There is hope of heaven. But we forget this future orientation to our faith. We want what we want now. We imagine that heaven should be our possession immediately. We want victory now, completeness today, wholeness immediately. Heaven lies before us, not in us today God shows us those things, but often from a distance so that we do not find our satisfaction in obtaining what we desire, but that we find our satisfaction, our joy, our happiness in the God who supplies what we need. Not everything given is immediately acquired. We are heirs to a rich inheritance, but some of our assured possessions belong to a land we have yet to enter. It’s sad when we insist on heaven now; we become depressed when we still wrestle with sin, when our health fails, relationships crumble. But God’s Word is clear: the best is yet to come. That perfection we long for will arrive, but not until we are long gone from this earth. Lesson #2 There are consequences to sin While Christ’s sinless life is imputed to us and our sinful lives imputed to Christ, since the great exchange has taken place by God’s grace, we know that the best is yet to come. We must not forget, however, that there are often consequences to sinful choices in our lives. We learn this valuable lesson from Moses. Moses faces a premature death ... at 120. Notice verse 7 - Moses did not fail to enter Canaan because he died. He died because he failed to enter Canaan. God would not allow him to enter. The answer lies in Numbers 20. Israel ran out of water. Again they grumbled, complained and accused Moses of taking them from the good life they had in Egypt to a horrible existence now that they were freed from slavery. The Lord tells Moses to go the rock and speak to it. Remember before in Exodus 17 he was told to strike it, but this time the instructions are to speak. Notice what he does in 20:10. "Listen you rebels, must WE bring you water out of this rock?" And with that he raised his arm and struck the rock twice with his staff. Anger has consequences. Years before Moses's anger resulted in murder, other times to despair and depression. This time it was willful defiance of God’s command. Notice what happened in light of his disobedience – in verse 11 water gushed out, but in verse 12 comes the consequence of his pride. God’s holiness matters greatly. In Deuteronomy 32:48 the reason stated is likewise as serious: Moses broke faith with God; he was a Covenant breaker. What does God do with people like Moses? There is a penalty, but grace is still poured out, for there was provided for Moses one who would keep the Covenant perfectly, completely. Sin is very deep and very real; it affects us in ways we may never fully understand when we run after it. We must never disconnect our choices from the consequences in our lives. Misuse of God’s gifts when young may well have ramifications as we grow older. God’s grace, the forgiveness we receive because of Christ’s completed work, removes the guilt and shame; the legal ramifications are lifted, but the residue is still there. Thinking our sexual purity is external to our lives may well come back to haunt us later. I heard a man once speak of how in the early 80’s in Greenwich Village the specter of death pervaded his life. Friends became mysteriously ill, some even dying. The homosexual community was rocked. In light of his fear of death, he became celibate. Periodic testing showed no signs of being HIV positive. He continued to be plagued by fear. Around 1990, befriended by a pastor in Manhattan, he finally heard the Gospel and responded by trusting in Christ. His fears subsided, he finally found hope. He explained how his desires began to change as he found himself in love with a woman. In preparation for marriage, he again, as before, was tested. After ten years of celibacy, his lifestyle from his past caught up with him. Not only HIV positive, but full blown AIDS. Bouts of dementia had set in, as had numerous complications. He recognized the consequences of his choices. But what was amazing was that as he spoke, he was cognizant of God’s grace, of what was to come. A corollary to this then is that: Lesson #3 Leaders may be faithful, but are always flawed We do a disservice to Moses and ourselves if all we see are the virtues of God’s servants. Moses was not faultless. Without this honesty and realism, the stories of the great characters of the Bible would daunt us rather than inspire us. They would create an impression that all these great men and women lived impeccable lives, and that would put them completely out of our world. Moses, one without equal, was still a sinner. He was one who was simultaneously a saint and a sinner. Talk of perfection, of sinlessness, of achieving a plateau of victory over the effects of the Fall has no place on our lips. God’s faithfulness is based not on our performance, on our achievements, but on Christ. That gives us tremendous freedom. The burden of appearing perfect, of trying to convince others of our obedience to the Law, is gone. That is Christ’s job. All we are to do is show ourselves to be sinners, warts and all, trusting in Christ as our all in all. We must never look to human leaders for that which they can not give: perfect obedience to God. There are no saints in the sense of those who have been elevated to special status. Lesson #4 What the Law cannot do, Christ has done The concluding verses of this chapter close the book on the unique life of Moses. Tradition tells us that they were penned by Ezra, the great scribe who re-established the Law of Moses in Israel after the Babylonian Captivity some 700 years later. With the view of distance, it was easy to conclude that no one could hold a match to the greatness of Moses. Yet he died without entering the land. "Why, after bringing the people out of Egypt, might he not settle them in Canaan?" asked Henry Melvill. "Why, except that Moses was but the representative of the law, and that the law, of itself, can never lead us into heavenly places? The law is as 'a schoolmaster, to bring us unto Christ;' it may discipline us during our wanderings in the wilderness; but if, when we reach the Jordan, there were no Joshua, no Jesus -- for the names are the same, to undertake to be our guide, we could never go over, and possess that good land" ("The Death of Moses," Sermons, London, 1836, II, 185) Our hope lies not in the Law, in our obedience to it, but in Christ. Christ, not the Law, is our only hope. In our Gospel reading this morning, John points out this great truth when in John 1:17 we hear:"the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ." Jesus Christ is not just a new and improved Moses, giving us better commands. Rather He is the one who fully obeyed the Law of Moses and is the only one who can then credit it to our lives. We see Moses again on another mountain, now in the land, conversing with the Son of God. It is that Son, the voice from heaven says, to whom we must listen. The Law and Prophets speak of Christ; He is the key to our understanding of Scripture; He is the one we must see. In Hebrews 3:1-6 again we see the superiority of Christ. The author here makes the comparison between Moses and Christ. Moses was indeed faithful, but Jesus is far better. Moses was a servant of God, just as Deuteronomy 34:5 tells us. Such an epitaph is tremendous. But Christ’s faithfulness is not as a servant but as a Son. We have then the opportunity to be called sons and daughters as well, if we, by faith alone, apart from our own works, look to Christ as our only hope. Over 200 years ago a controversy brewed in England over whether the work of Christ is sufficient. Some contended that Christ’s death made possible our personal perfection, that with enough self effort, one could rise above sin and live victoriously in this life. In response to such a machination which demeaned the work of Christ and gave credit to our own works in our salvation, Augustus Toplady penned the words to our final hymn, "Rock of Ages." Using the image of the rock which provided the life-giving refreshment to Israel in the wilderness, Toplady describes Christ as the one who is our double cure, taking from us both the guilt and power of sin from our lives. Christ’s work is so complete, so perfect, it does what the Law was never meant to do. The labors of our hands could never fulfill the Law’s demands; no amount of contrition or excitement would satisfy God, only Christ. In light of that, our only hope is Christ; only He can save. The final verse is a prayer, that, like Moses, as we face our own death, we will do so only and always looking to Christ. |
