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Chosen no: R-5333 a, from: 1913 Year. |
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God Buried Moses, His Servant
--NOVEMBER
16.--DEUTERONOMY 34:1-12.--
"Precious in the sight of the Lord is
the death of His saints."--Psalm 116:15.
MOSES is one of the grand characters on the
pages of history. His nobility looms up as a great patriot, general, judge and
ruler of his people; and still more grand does he appear in his relationship
toward God. He was the personification of obedience and loyalty as a servant of
Jehovah. In this he typifies the "greater than Moses," Messiah. As we
read, "A Prophet shall the Lord your God raise up from amongst your
brethren like unto me" (Deuteronomy 18:15)--I
am a diminutive picture or representation of that great Teacher, Leader and
King whom Jehovah will anoint to be the real Deliverer of Israel and the world
from the bondage of Satan, sin and death.--Hebrews
2:14,15.
Any one may discern something of the greatness
of Moses from the records. Any one may perceive that it required great
patriotism to forsake the courts of Pharaoh to cast in his lot with his
brethren, the Jewish nation, and to become their leader out of bondage to the Land of Promise. Any one can note the patriotism
of the man when, as mediator for his people, he pleaded with God for the
forgiveness of their trespasses, declining the proposal that the nation be cut
off and that he and his family inherit the promises instead. Any one can see
that great faith in God was necessary for the position occupied by Moses. But
only comparatively few see the real depths of Moses' character; for only a few
grasp the real situation and realize the Divine call to the nation of Israel and the
work of Moses as their mediator.
MOSES, THE
SERVANT OF GOD
We cannot help feeling sympathetic toward this
grand servant of God--"the meekest man in all the earth"--in respect
to the particular cause which, as a penalty, barred him from entering Canaan
with his people and made him, in a typical way, a representative of those who
die the Second Death. After so many years of patience and longsuffering and
loyalty to God, in an unguarded moment Israel's great mediator failed in
meekness and in loyalty. Directed by the Lord to speak to the rock, which on a
previous occasion he had smitten, Moses petulantly smote the rock the second
time, saying to the people, "Ye rebels, must we bring you water out of
this rock?"
The rock whence came the life-giving stream
represented [R5333 : page 316] the Rock of
Ages--Messiah, who was to be smitten once more. Compare Hebrews
6:6.
The fact that Moses was used as a type of the
Second Death class in no sense implies that he experienced the Second Death,
nor that he cut himself off from Divine favor. The punishment which he received
merely helped to complete the typical picture--he might not enter Canaan--he might not enter the Promised Land.
CANAAN
VIEWED FROM MT. PISGAH
Pisgah is one of the peaks of Mount Nebo.
From it Moses got a considerable glimpse of the Promised Land, toward which his
eye of faith had looked for eighty years and toward which he had laboriously
guided the nation of Israel
for forty years. This grand old servant of God, fully resigned to the Divine
will and arrangement, was put to sleep by the Lord whom he served. The Jews
have a saying that the Lord kissed him there. His place of sepulchre was
hidden--doubtless to prevent anything of the spirit of idolatry. The New
Testament declares that Satan strove for possession of the body of Moses,
doubtless with a view to using it in some idolatrous way, but Jehovah forbade.
MOSES DIED
AND WAS BURIED
We are not to overlook the fact that Moses died,
and that he will not live again until the Divinely-appointed time when, under
Messiah's Kingdom, he will be resurrected. Meantime he has slept with his
fathers, as the Bible generally records of all who died.
The account of the transfiguration of our Lord
and the appearance of Moses and Elias with Him in that vision must not be made
to contradict the statement that Moses died, and that the only hope for anybody
is by a resurrection from the dead. (I Cor. 15:13,14.)
We have Jesus' own word for it that neither Moses nor Elias went to Heaven. He
declared, "No man hath ascended up to Heaven." (John
3:13.) Jesus explained that what the disciples saw on the mountain was
not a reality, but a vision--just as the trumpets, beasts, etc., of Revelation
are not realities, but visions. "Tell the vision to no man." (Matthew 17:9.) St. Peter, who witnessed the
vision, declares that it was a representation of Messiah's Kingdom. (2 Peter 1:16-18.) Moses represented one class and
Elijah another, as participators with Jesus in His Messianic glory--in the
Kingdom which is to bless the world, the Kingdom which, established on earth,
will quickly correct wrong and effect the accomplishment of God's will as
completely as it is done in Heaven.
GOD'S
PROMISE TO ABRAHAM
At the foundation of all of God's dealings with
Natural Israel and with Spiritual Israel lies His great Promise made to Abraham
and bound with an oath--"In thee and in thy Seed shall all the families of
the earth be blessed."
God purposed from the very beginning that the
curse of death should not be an everlasting curse on the race. From the
beginning He purposed in Himself the healing of sickness, sorrow and pain, and
that the time would come when He would roll away the curse. From the beginning
He premeditated sending the Lamb of God, who by redeeming the world should take
away its sin, lift the curse and bring in a blessing to mankind in its stead.
Yet the first clear statement of this Divine purpose was made to Abraham--that
himself and his posterity should be associated with God in the great work of
human uplift and blessing.
Although God knew that no member of the human
family could perfectly keep the Divine Law, nevertheless it was expedient that
this matter should be exemplified. Hence, before God was ready to bring in the
Messianic blessing, He made a proposition to Abraham's posterity through
Jacob--suggesting to them that if they would show their loyalty by keeping the
Divine Law God would be ready to use them as the promised Seed of Abraham for
the blessing of all nations. Israel's
sixteen centuries of endeavor under the Law are summed up by St. Paul, saying, "By the deeds of the
Law shall no flesh be justified in God's sight."--Romans
3:20.
PREPARATION
OF THE SEED
This led up to Messiah's time. The Logos, by
virtue of a special birth, became Jesus and sacrificially laid down His life,
in harmony with Divine foreknowledge. To Him were gathered such of the natural
Israelites as were saintly at heart, to be His disciples--to share in His
sufferings [R5334 : page 316] and death and
to be made partakers of His glory and exaltation to the Divine nature. These
Elect, or select, ones are with Jesus to constitute the antitypical Moses. To
this end they were called, or raised up from amongst their brethren, as Moses
prophesied. Not enough of such "Israelites indeed" being found,
Divine Wisdom has been calling and selecting others throughout this Age from
amongst the Gentiles--from every kindred, nation, people and tongue.
Thus gradually God has been preparing the great
Prophet, Priest, King and Judge, who during the thousand years of Messiah's
Kingdom will be the Mediator between God and all who desire to draw near to Him
and to receive His blessing. These will be related to the repentant world as
the priests of Israel were related to their nation; but their work will be
efficacious, and not a failure, because based upon the "better
sacrifices" for sins (Heb. 9:23), and
therefore backed by Divine Power in the forgiveness of sins and the deliverance
of the willing and obedient out of bondage to sin and death into the glorious
liberty of the children of God. This grand antitype is before us and will, we
believe, soon have its glorious accomplishment.
The Messiah whom God is thus preparing, composed
of Jesus the Head and all the Elect of Israel and of the whole world, the Body
of Messiah, will, like the type, be very faithful, loyal, patriotic toward God
and toward the people. Indeed, it is one of the tests of these that they shall
be willing to lay down their lives for the brethren and be faithful to the
principles of the Divine character even unto death.
MOSES'
MESSAGE TO ISRAEL
The Book of Deuteronomy may in a general sense
be said to be the dying message of Moses to Israel. It is supposed to have been
uttered within a few days of his death.
The first address begins with Chapter 1:6and
concludes with Chapter 4:40.
The second address begins with Chapter 5and
extends to the end of Chapter 26.
Third address, Chapters 27, 28.
Fourth address, Ratification of the Covenant, Chapters
29 and 30.
Joshua appointed to be the successor of Moses, Chapter
31:1-8.
The Song of Moses, Chapter 32--"The
Rock of Israel" --delivered on the very day in which his summons came.
The Blessing of the Tribes, Chapter 33,
on the same day.
The tenor of these addresses was hope toward
God, faith in the promises and loyalty to their Covenant engagements.
W.T.
R-5333a : page 315 - 1913r