Hello All,
(Just a general disclaimer that I must insert here at the beginning. I am but a lay person, like most of you. And these weekly “thoughts” are but my own. Not the definitive word on this or any topic. Just my own conclusions derived from my own study and faith in God. The greatest hope I have for these weekly “thoughts” is to have them be a springboard for further study on your part. Not to be a weekly treatise to be blindly accepted. So, please read them with this intent, this motive in mind).
This week’s lesson from “The Adult Sabbath School Guide” is titled “The Resurrection of Moses”. A good conclusion to this quarter’s study. “As Moses’ life and ministry reveal much about the character of God, so too, does his death and resurrection” (Quarterly for Sabbath, December 18). So true. And in this regard, one of the great revelations is “The Sin of Moses” (quarterly for Sunday & Monday). But, “as long as this story has been told, people have wondered why – because of one rash act – would, what he had been anticipating for so long be denied him” (Quarterly for Monday)? The Quarterly gives many of the answers we Adventists have understood (Moses’ frustration with people; Moses taking upon himself the power that belonged only to God; Moses lack of faith). But there is another, more virulent reason for this very public sentence pronounced upon Moses. Let’s look at what God says to Moses about this….
Deuteronomy 32: 49-50 (NKJV)
49 “Go up this mountain of the Abarim, Mount Nebo, which is in the land of Moab, across from Jericho; view the land of Canaan, which I give to the children of Israel as a possession; 50 and die on the mountain which you ascend, and be gathered to your people, just as Aaron your brother died on Mount Hor and was gathered to his people;
Deuteronomy 32: 51…
· New King James Version (NKJV) = 51 because you trespassed against Me among the children of Israel at the waters of Meribah Kadesh, in the Wilderness of Zin, because you did not hallow Me in the midst of the children of Israel.
· Good News Bible (GNB) = 51 “because both of you were unfaithful to me in the presence of the people of Israel. When you were at the waters of Meribah, near the town of Kadesh in the wilderness of Zin, you dishonored me in the presence of the people.”
· New Living Translation (NLT) = 51 “For both of you betrayed me with the Israelites at the waters of Meribah at Kadesh in the wilderness of Zin. You failed to demonstrate my holiness to the people of Israel there.”
· Modern English Version (MEV) = 51 “because you trespassed against Me among the children of Israel at the waters of Meribah Kadesh, in the Wilderness of Zin, because you did not treat Me as holy in the midst of the children of Israel.”
· New English Translation (NET) = 51 “for both of you rebelled against me among the Israelites at the waters of Meribah Kadesh in the wilderness of Zin when you did not show me proper respect among the Israelites.”
· Names of God Bible (NGB) = 51 “This is because both of you were unfaithful to me at the oasis of Meribah at Kadesh in the Desert of Zin. You didn’t show the Israelites how holy I am.
In this we see that Moses did something that Lucifer did as an angel in the courts of heaven. Both Moses and Lucifer misrepresented God. Both were close to God. Both were viewed as having an intimate, understanding relationship with God. Even as a mouthpiece for God. For someone so intimately recognized by the people (or the angelic host) as a representative of God to so grossly misrepresent God, this must singly and decidedly be put-right.
On the boarders of the Promised Land, the people needed to know that the visible demonstration of faith manifested for forty years of wilderness wandering was but an emergency measure. It was far from the ideal. At this time, they needed to understand that God’s watch-care is not dependent on Moses, not dependent on Moses’ staff; but just speaking to our unseen God is sufficient. God sought to show them that He was “for” them, not against them. That He was not “angry” with them. The people needed to trust Him more than ever before as they entered this Land. And God knew that the only way to make them trust Him was for Him to first trust them. It is the only way to make anyone trustworthy, if they will. Trust them.
But Moses did not do this. Knowing His standing before the people as God’s mediator, he purposely and determinedly presented God as being angry with them. He even called the people names, just as they were about to enter the Land. Moses was a thief. Hundreds of years later, Jesus would denounce the money changers in the temple as a “den of thieves” (Matthew 21:13). Moses, too, was such a thief. He had robbed God of being able to show Himself as He is. He had robbed the people of seeing God as He is. Oh, how the people needed God’s assurance. Oh, how they needed to know God was with them at all times and they could call on Him just by speaking, even by just thinking toward Him. Oh, how God longed to lead them to a higher faith. But Moses had robbed God and the people. He had subverted God’s will. He had replaced God’s will and words with his own will and words.
So out of love for the people, God must act… decisively. The damage Moses’ had done must be set-right, as much as possible. The people needed to see how displeased God was with Moses misrepresentation of Himself. And in this light, to tell us in very plain terms, as recorded in scripture, just why Moses was excluded from entering the Land.
God obviously understood Moses frustration. This sentence on Moses was not to punish him, but for the sake of the people. Obviously. Because when God and Moses were together after this event, God honored Moses in a most exclusive manner. God gave Moses “a supernatural revelation, not only of the land but also of what it would be like after they had taken possession” (Quarterly for Tuesday);
“He was permitted to look down the stream of time and behold the first advent of our Savior… (He saw the Savior’s) rejection by a proud, unbelieving nation. Amazed he listened to their boastful exaltation of the law of God, while they despised and rejected Him by whom the law was given. He saw Jesus upon Olivet as with weeping He bade farewell to the city of His love. As Moses beheld the final rejection of that people so highly blessed of Heaven--that people for whom he had toiled and prayed and sacrificed, for whom he had been willing that his own name should be blotted from the book of life; as he listened to those fearful words, ‘Behold your house is left unto you desolate’ (Matthew 23:38), his heart was wrung with anguish, and bitter tears fell from his eyes, in sympathy with the sorrow of the Son of God. He followed the Savior to Gethsemane, and beheld the agony in the garden, the betrayal, the mockery and scourging--the crucifixion. Moses saw that as he had lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so the Son of God must be lifted up, that whosoever would believe on Him ‘should not perish, but have eternal life’ John 3:15.
And now another scene passed before him. He had been shown the work of Satan in leading the Jews to reject Christ, while they professed to honor His Father's law. He now saw the Christian world under a similar deception in professing to accept Christ while they rejected God's law. He had heard from the priests and elders the frenzied cry, ‘Away with Him!’ ‘Crucify Him, crucify Him!’ and now he heard from professedly Christian teachers the cry, "Away with the law!" He saw the second coming of Christ in glory, the righteous dead raised to immortal life, and the living saints translated without seeing death, and together ascending with songs of gladness to the City of God.
Still another scene opens to his view--the earth freed from the curse, lovelier than the fair Land of Promise so lately spread out before him. There is no sin, and death cannot enter. There the nations of the saved find their eternal home. With joy unutterable Moses looks upon the scene--the fulfillment of a more glorious deliverance than his brightest hopes have ever pictured. Their earthly wanderings forever past, the Israel of God have at last entered the goodly land.
Again, the vision faded, and his eyes rested upon the land of Canaan as it spread out in the distance. Then, like a tired warrior, he lay down to rest” (Selected quotes from Patriarchs and Prophets, pgs. 475-477).
And then the culmination of it all… “Moses came forth from the tomb glorified, and ascended with his Deliverer to the City of God” (Patriarchs and Prophets pg. 479, as quoted in Wednesday’s lesson).
God loves us. But today, we too can misrepresent Him. Heinously. If Christians ever act toward others as “severe, exacting, revengeful, and arbitrary” then we are displaying “the very attributes that belonged to the character of Satan, (and representing them) as belonging to the character of God” (quotes from “Signs of the Times”, 1/20/1890). Yikes! May we cling to our Father of love and never misrepresent Him. Like Moses, our eternal security may be unaffected by any misrepresentation. But like Moses’ misrepresentation, the destiny of others may hang in the balance.
With brotherly love to you all,
Jim