Lesson 143 - Senior
Memory Verse
"Precious in the sight of the LORD is the death of his saints" (Psalm 116:15).
Cross References
I Moses the Mortal Man
1. Moses as a mortal man closed his career with the common fate of all men -" death, [DEU:32:48-52]; [2SM:14:14]; [JOB:30:23]; [HEB:9:27].
2. Moses as a mortal man had nothing to say as to the time of his death, the mode of it, or the place of it, [DEU:31:14-15]; [DEU:32:48-50]; [DEU:34:1-12].
3. Moses' momentary taint with Israel's besetting sin, unbelief, was the main factor in his death, [NUM:20:12], [NUM:20:24-28]; [NUM:27:12-14]; [PS:106:32-33].
4. Moses, regardless of his high post, was subjected as all men to the restraints and judgements of God; and suffered for his own misbehaviour, [DEU:32:48-52]; [DAN:4:33-37]; [DAN:5:22-23], [DAN:5:30]; [JOB:36:5-12]; [COL:3:25].
II Moses the Saint of God
1. Moses saw the land of promise but did not enter into its borders, neither did the elders of Israel, nor Miriam, nor Aaron, [DEU:32:52]; [NUM:20:1], [NUM:20:28]; [JOS:5:6-7].
2. Moses, in his calling of teacher and prophet to the people of God, was a type of Christ, [EXO:4:15]; [EXO:24:12]; [DEU:4:1], [DEU:4:14]; [DEU:18:15]; [DEU:34:10]; [ACT:3:22]; [ACT:7:37-44].
3. Moses was called to a higher place from his work on earth, which was the giving of the Law, and the establishment of the tabernacle worship that was a shadow of the heavenly tabernacle, [EXO:31:18]; [JHN:1:17]; [JHN:7:19]; [HEB:8:5]; [HEB:10:1]; [ROM:8:3].
4. Joshua, Moses' successor, was a type of Christ as the captain of the hosts of the Lord, and as such carried on the work of God where Moses relinquished it, [DEU:34:9]; [EXO:17:9]; [EXO:24:13]; [EXO:33:11]; [JOS:1:2]; [ZEC:3:1-10].
III Moses the Immortal
1. Moses in his death was a type of the saints of God who have died in the hope of eternal life not yet received, [DEU:34:5-6]; [HEB:11:13], [HEB:11:27], [HEB:11:39-40]; [1TS:4:14-17].
2. The high standing of Moses was testified to by God Himself, and in the revelation of Moses with Christ on the Mount of Transfiguration, [DEU:34:10-12]; [NUM:12:7-8]; [MAT:17:3].
3. The personal love of God toward Moses is seen in that no human hand succoured Moses in his last hour. God was his lifetime Friend and Companion, and was his consolation in death, God Himself burying Moses, [DEU:34:5-6]; [2CO:1:7].
Notes
Life's End
The study of Moses' life is not complete until we look at his triumphant death. It was triumphant despite Moses' momentary indiscretion in smiting the rock twice at Meribah ([NUM:20:11]). Moses' disobedience to God's command was the prime factor in his death. Moses suffered the penalty of that disobedience. He was forbidden entrance into the land of promise because of it. Yet his life shines as a great testimony in the annals of the Church.
We are earthen vessels which contain the glory of God if we are children of God; so with Moses. He was not made of immortal clay, but was very much a human being as are we all. It was his triumphant victory over himself, subjecting himself to the will of God completely, that leaves us with such an inspiring example to fol-low. So long as we are in this mortal body we are subjected to the corrections and chastenings of God that we might be purified for eternal life. Thus was Moses, and thus he battled and won.
Christian Comfort
It has been the assurance of all believers, from the very beginning, that through faith in Jesus they would es-cape the pangs of spiritual death and a lost eternity. Moses know of Christ and the hope of the resurrection, for he spoke of a Prophet like unto himself that would arise whom the people were to hearken unto meaning Christ (Acts 3:22).
Moses had good authority to hope for such a possibility as the resurrection; for Enoch, the seventh from Adam, was translated that he should not see death ([GEN:5:24]; [HEB:11:5]). Moses in his death, seeing the promise, and not inheriting it, is a clear picture of the saints of God who have died under the Law in the same hope.
Paul, speaking of these heroes of the faith says: "These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off, and were persuaded of them, and embraced them. . . . And these all, having obtained a good report through faith, received not the promise: God having provided some better thing for us, that they without us should not be made perfect" (Hebrews 11:13, 39, 40).
Moses was not without hope in his death. Neither was he without consolation or comfort in that death. While saint and sinner alike often suffer the agony of physical pain in death, the sinner dies without comfort, without consolation in his hour of need, and worst of all, he dies without hope of any kind for the life beyond the grave. The sinner dies to drop into an everlasting and endless hell, made for the devil and his angels. Not so with the child of God. God is his comfort, and the angels of God are there to sustain him and help him over that last mile of the way to eternal life.
The beauty of God's love for the ones He loves is plainly seen in Moses' death. Moses went to the Mount to die without human companionship. God had been his whole life; he had desired to know God more than anyone else in life. God's business had been Moses' business. Moses had asked nothing more than to know Him and be near Him. Miriam and Aaron, prophetess and prophet, Moses' sister and brother, had at one time both failed him and opposed him. So Moses, in life, lived unto God and died unto God; his life was separated from close human companionship and he went alone on that journey that all must travel. However, God went with Moses. No one is ever alone when God is along. The Jewish Rabbis tell us that the true meaning of the text of Moses' death is that God kissed his soul away. Could anyone ever feel remorse over such an ending?
God buried Moses in the land of Moab (Deuteronomy 34:6). It is a stirring thought to meditate on the majesty and honour that attended Moses in that hour, when God and His angels laid away to rest that beloved saint of God. So dies every saint of God. Human hands may lay away the remains of mortal clay, but it is the hand of God and His angels that received the soul and spirit.
"By Nebo's lonely mountain On this side Jordan's wave, In a vale in the land of Moab There lies a lonely grave, And no man knows that sepulchre, And no man saw it e'er; For the angels of God upturned the sod, And laid the dead man there. "Amid the noblest of the land We lay the sage to rest, And give the bard an honoured place, With costly marble drest, In the great minster transept Where lights like glories fall, And the organ rings, and the sweet choir sings Along the emblazoned wall. "And had he not high honour --- The hillside for a pall, To lie in state while angels wait With stars for tapers tall, And the dark rock pines, like tossing plumes, Over his bier to wave, And God's own hand, in that lonely land, To lay him in the grave?'Resurrection Hope
The saint of God has died with peace and anticipation. He knows that on the resurrection morning when soul and body are reunited and raised in immortality he shall be the first, and those that are alive shall be the second ([1TS:4:13-17]).
The account of the Transfiguration of Christ, in Matthew's Gospel, reveals to us that Moses appeared there with Elijah. Moses is a representative of the sleeping saints awaiting the resurrection, as Elijah is a representative of the living saints awaiting their translation. Jude makes reference to Moses, which strongly implies that Moses had been resurrected, and received his glorified body when he appeared with Christ. "Yet Michael the archangel, when contending with the devil he disputed about the body of Moses, durst not bring against him a railing accusation, but said, The Lord rebuke thee" (Jude 9).
Momentous Changes
There are several remarkable landmarks of God's plan of salvation shown us at the time of Moses' death. Moses was the instrument God used to reveal to mankind His commandments, the Law of the Levitical sacrifices, and the priesthood worship. This setting up of tabernacle worship was to instruct men how to worship God. The Law was a schoolmaster to bring men to Christ; the Levitical sacrifices were to show men the need of a sacrifice and the shedding of blood for atonement for sin; and the priesthood was a beautiful type of the One who would be our High Priest, making intercession for us before God the father. It was Moses' duty and task to establish these things, to instruct the people in the Law and the worship of God. He was teacher, shepherd, and prophet extraordinary.
An era in Israel's history was closed, and the work of the leader of that period closed with it. When God sees fit to remove one of His leaders as great as Moses, the work does suffer; but it is the Lord's work, and He will take good care of it. Sometimes God is limited greatly because of the lack of ability and willing consecration in the men He wants to use.
God does not replace His workers with stereotypic duplicates. When a leader is gone, God lets another fill his place. Fortunate for Israel, Joshua was wholly consecrated to the will of God and Israel's good.
Joshua, Moses' successor, was a different type of man, was of a different personality and had a different calling. Moses was called to instruct, to establish, to build, and to unify; Joshua was called to carry on, to prop-agate that which had been established, and to build on that which had been founded. Joshua was the captain of Israel's armies, and in that capacity he was a type of Christ, who is the Captain of our salvation, Captain of the host of the Lord, the Lion of Judah. It was Joshua who went out to lead Israel in battle while Moses stayed to pray for the victory
([EXO:17:9]).As Israel was ready to enter the Promised Land the need was for one called to lead them in battle against all enemies. God's plan of salvation is adequate for every circumstance. The need for talent and capabilities in God's ministers and shepherds, properly to instruct and guide the flock of God, has never been overlooked. It was not overlooked in Moses; and Joshua, the successor of Moses, was in training many years for his day of leadership. When God in His wisdom removed Moses, his successor was ready.
Joshua probably never could have done the work Moses did. Moses had lived a tremendously responsible life; and when it came time for the Children of Israel to enter the Promised Land, a great work was yet to be done. None is called to do the whole work of God. Some are to plant, others to water, and God will bring the harvest, ([1CO:3:6-8]). Moses laid down his task knowing that the cause of God would not suffer for lack of leadership. He had finished his course and there was laid up for him a crown of righteousness.
Several remarkable comparisons are to be seen in the Books of the Pentateuch of Joshua, and the four Gospels and the Book of Acts. The first five Books of the Bible bring us through the beginning of God's dealings with men, to the establishing of a definite form of the worship of God. Moses is the character God used to establish this worship, and he stands out as a man of rare quality. The Book of Joshua is a record of the Israelites, as to how they carried on the worship of God after it had been established.
The four Gospels tell us of the life and the preaching of Christ. Of course, He is the Figure that fills all its pages. Christ brought a new presentation of worship to Israel and to the world: the worship of God in spirit and in truth, in comparison to the Law with its sacrifices, and priesthood. The Acts of the Apostles are a record of the disciples of Christ and the manner with which they continued in the worship of God as Christ had introduced it.
Following the death of Moses there was a change in many ways in the life of Israel. While this was not a dispensational change, yet under Joshua they entered the Promised Land and established their tabernacle worship in one permanent place, Shiloh. New circumstances had to be met now under a new leader.
The death and resurrection of Christ was a dispensational change. The changed was great for all. The worship of God under the Law was no more. The Dispensation of Grace had arrived. Jesus was no more on earth, and the Holy Spirit was to be the Teacher, and still is. Moses in his leadership was a beautiful type of Christ, that great Prophet, to whom Israel was to hearken in later years.
Questions
1. What was the cause of Moses' death?
2. Is there such a thing as the providence of God concerning itself with the death of God's saints?
3. Did Moses die in disgrace?
4. Who helped to bury Moses?
5. How was Moses a type of Christ?
6. How was Joshua a type of Christ?
7. What was the changed of policy Israel made at the time of Moses' death?
8. How are the Books of Moses and Joshua comparable to the four Gospels and the Book of Acts?
9. What proof do we have that Moses is in Heaven?