The death of Moses

Turn with me to the last chapter of the book of Deuteronomy, Deuteronomy 34. I've been going through a little bit of the book of Deuteronomy in my studies and I, what I have to say will fit in quite well with what we've been hearing. Deuteronomy chapter 34.

In many ways Moses is the Old Testament counterpart to the Apostle Paul. There are a lot of similarities between the two of them. They were both tremendous leaders in their testamental periods.

They were both trailblazers. They both had to refuse and choose. And when we look at this, I want you to notice this last chapter and keep in mind that the writer of this last chapter is Moses himself.

And Moses went up from the plains of Moab onto the Mount of Nebo to the top of Pisgah. Now you'll understand a little bit that Pisgah was more of a ridge. The word Pisgah never appears in the Old Testament apart from the definite article.

It's the Pisgah. And Nebo is the mountain of course, the mountain of Nebo to the top of Pisgah. So God takes him to this mountain on this ridge that is over against Jericho and the Lord showed him all the land of Gilead unto Dan and all Naphtali and the land of Ephraim and Manasseh and all the land of Judah.

Unto the utmost sea and the south and the plain of the valley of Jericho, the city of palm trees, unto Zoar. And the Lord said unto him, this is the land which I swear unto Abraham, unto Isaac and unto Jacob, saying, I will give it unto thy seed. I have caused thee to see it with thine eyes, but thou shalt not go over thither.

So Moses, the servant of the Lord, died there in the land of Moab according to the word or the mouth of the Lord. And he buried him, imagine that, the Lord himself buried him in a valley in the land of Moab over against Beth Peor, but no man knoweth of his sepulcher unto this day. And Moses was 120 years old when he died.

His eye was not dim nor his natural force abated. The idea there is that there was, he was a man still full of moisture. He wasn't some old dried up man.

That's the idea. Physically he was very capable. His death was in a sense physically naturally premature, but it was according to the mind of God.

And the children of Israel wept for Moses in the plains of Moab 30 days. Interesting. At one point earlier how many times they wanted to kill him and how they're weeping for him because he's gone.

So the days of weeping and mourning for Moses were ended. And Joshua the son of Nun was full of the spirit of wisdom, for Moses had laid his hands upon him. That's the mark of identification.

And the children of Israel hearkened unto him and did as the Lord commanded Moses. And there arose not a prophet since in Israel like unto Moses whom the Lord knew face to face in all the signs and the wonders which the Lord sent him to do in the land of Egypt to Pharaoh and to all his servants and to all his land and in all that mighty hand and in all the great terror which Moses showed in the sight of all Israel. Joshua 1 verse 1. Now after the death of Moses the servant of the Lord it came to pass that the Lord spake unto Joshua the son of Nun Moses minister saying Moses my servant is dead now therefore arise go over this Jordan.

If you can ever get anything by him I would heartily recommend writings by a man he's an old Scottish writer preacher in the 1800s his name is J.R. Macduff. There's something about old books that just the new books just don't seem to have the content and the character by the writers but this book he's written a number of books and one of the books is called Sunsets on the Hebrew Mountains and it is literally the account of of men Old Testament saints that that died and God took them up into mountains and you have Aaron and of course you have Moses and he writes in his account of Moses and it's very very interesting. Here is Moses and he's going to die God takes him up into a mountain on Denebo and he's going he's going to bury him and as Moses is writing this and I was thinking he's writing his own epitaph he's literally writing the end of his life story.

I wonder what would you or I write if we had to write our own epitaphs what would we put as a capstone as a summation it's it's very challenging what would you write over your life? Some of you are quite young and if you were to end now and the Lord were to take you home what would you write? Moses writes concerning this account and he says there was not a prophet who arose in the land of Israel whom the Lord knew face to face. It's a tremendous statement it's a statement really that is not so much although it carries an aspect of it of official capacity but it is really more personal. We were reading here as our brother Joel was bringing before us Paul how well did he know how well did Paul know Christ for to me to live is Christ how well did Moses know God whom the Lord knew face to face and so there is this statement of intimacy and and communion and enjoyment and the reason I say that to support this statement is because if you go back to Exodus you'll remember that Moses said show me your face to God and God says I can't he's I will put you in the cleft of the rock here I will put you in this safety zone and I will pass by and the afterglow of my backside you will see but you cannot see my face and yet here it says whom the Lord knew face to face it is a statement really of of not official position although it certainly had privilege that no one else had but it really is a statement of communion and personal intimacy and now he's gone it's a challenge to me it should be a challenge to every one of us as we've been hearing how well do you know God how intimate is our communion do we speak with him regularly when you go through Moses life and you see how he spoke with God and whether it's at the bush in that in that communication there whether it's on the mountain how many times Moses goes up and down to and he communicates with God whether it's in in in his throwing up his hands at times whether it's when there's plagues that are coming in and and discontent in the camp and Moses is falling on his face he comes to God with everything there seems to be no aspect of life that is left out in his communion with God and yet think about it here is a man that had the responsibility for overseeing two million people here is a man that on a daily basis even though he brought in the 70 elders later on to help and so on he was constantly bombarded with a busyness of life and yet he says that the Lord knew him face to face too busy to read too busy to pray too busy to stop not Moses that's us often not Moses what an example here I want you to think as I look at this I want you to think of the place and the purpose first of all the place and the purpose and that's going to be found in the first six verses so that God takes Moses up onto the top of a mountain his death is not going to be degraded in any way even though he has failed there has been an act of disobedience when he smoked the rock the second time to give them water as you remember and that resulted in his being rejected from going into the promised land into the inheritance but it's significant that he really not only was not allowed to go into the land because of that but there's two other reasons why he wasn't able to go into the land and one of those reasons is to the fact of typical teaching what we mean for the younger ones by typical teaching or typology is that there are old testament illustrations of truth and Moses represents the law and the law he's the law giver the law could not bring them into the inheritance and that is true for us too the book of Hebrews explains that Joshua has to bring them in Joshua whose name means Jehovah the Savior he's a picture of the Lord Jesus and the book of Hebrews explains that too so Moses couldn't go into the land because he represents in a typical way picture the law the law could not bring them in but what I think is also significant is this you remember that God said that entire generation that was in unbelief could not go in and as and subsequently those of the next generation had to wait till they all died before they could go into the land you could understand not as an I don't want to get sidetracked but you could understand where Caleb and some of these men might get pretty upset with some of these other ones like it's your fault because of you we can't go in we have to wait but it's interesting that the very first verses of Joshua chapter 1 says this Moses my servant is dead now go in he was literally the last one to die from that group and in a very real sense while he's not part of the group that died in unbelief yet he failed to obey God and so in that sense he didn't believe God so the very last one dies Moses now he says go in so Moses knew that so you look at the place and now the purpose of his death has several aspects to it so there's a mountain and then God gives him a view that's interesting verses 1 2 and 3 it says the Lord showed him all the land all the land over and over and so as Moses is taken up on this mountain he is he begins his view looking to the north and then it goes circumspectly counterclockwise as he moves around and looks at all this land and God shows him the land he says but you can't go in and Moses heart is longing to go into that land it's interesting you want to you want to cut quite a neat little contrast is in the book of Ruth you have a man named Elimelech and Elimelech is he's he's in the land and he wants to go to Moab he shouldn't have and he died there here's a man who is in Moab and he wants to go in the land but he can't go in and so there's a there's a neat little contrast there there's another comparison if you think of the Lord Jesus and the devil took him up to an exceeding high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment and their glory and he says all this will I give you if you submit to me and you bow down and worship me and of course the Lord Jesus wouldn't couldn't that would be disobedience and he could not sin and here's Moses and he sees the very thing now that God had promised his people and his heart is longing to go in and in submission there's no remonstrance there's no resistance there's no debate he acquiesces he knows he's going to die and he sees the kingdom I just wonder as I was thinking of this about my own heart and that is true none of us really know our own hearts but how submissive am I to the things of God when God says no to you or to me on specific things how willing are we to submit to that when God says no this is not my will for you and you might want this and maybe and it could be a number of things I see there are single people here there are married people here there are people in your employment and whatever maybe it's a partner maybe it's some relationship maybe it's some some job that maybe would have taken you away from from maybe closeness to the assembly or moved you into a sphere that that God knows who is infinite of course in in his knowledge he's omniscient and he knows that is not the best thing for you and he says no are you and I able to not only agree with God but agree willingly with God that was Moses and so he takes him up and he shows him all the land then it says the Lord said unto him verse four as a reminder this is the land which I swear unto Abraham unto Isaac and unto Jacob saying I will give it to your seed think of Abraham he's taking him back and what he's doing is he's confirming to Moses his word he's confirming to Moses saying Moses don't worry you're leaving these people you're letting them go because Moses was the shepherd Moses loved those people as his his life was poured into them and thank God for men we need men that are raised up that will have that same care that same burden that same heart that beats and throbs with a concern for the people of God that will pour out their lives lay down their necks and even what it means being misaligned and misunderstood and even incorrectly and wrongly blamed they are willing to do that men that will God will raise up that's what we need and we need to pray for such men and such men need to give themselves to that but Moses was one of those men and God is telling him Moses I've got them I'm true to my word I promised this long ago I gave it to Abraham and by Abraham's name he reiterates as it were the promise the covenant and the covenant keeping God Moses and then by the name of Isaac he's emphasizing the provision because you remember that while Abraham was given the promise all of a sudden now the question is is that going to be taken away because Isaac is going to be offered on the altar but yet Isaac it has the provision of the lamb the ram and it's pointing us ahead again in Genesis 22 and then with Jacob it's the idea of the problems because Jacob introduced a number of problems and God is saying listen there might have been problems without with Jacob but I am the God who performs I am the God who sees things through Moses you can die confidently I have them he's reminding them of that then he says here verse 5 Moses the servant of the Lord died there in the land of Moab according to the mouth of the Lord and he buried him in a valley in the land of Moab and he says no man knoweth of his supplicant unto this day I thought that was very interesting because here is this massive parcel of land according to the geography that we're given here it was approximately at its furthest view a hundred mile view a hundred mile panorama of of land that Moses was allowed to see and God says there it is there it is there it is it's everything that I've promised and it's interesting God not only gives Moses sight he gives him insight you know why why because the land hadn't been divided yet and he's seeing it there as if it had the land of Judah Dan Naphtali here they are and God is giving him that he's not only giving him sight he's giving him insight and the interesting thing is that as God shows Moses this panoramic view as it were and this is everything God is saying to Moses here is everything that I have told them about everything that you have known and in contrast with all of that vast parcel of land that was so well known and promised there's one little grave that's unknown one little grave that's unmarked and it's special to God some have suggested maybe rightly so I don't know I'm not sure but we do read in the book of Jube that Michael comment contended with with the devil about the body of Moses perhaps because maybe they would have made a shrine or a memorial about it and put up some erected some some memorial because to Moses some may have suggested they have suggested that that some might have even dug up the body of Moses and brought it into Canaan themselves to make make sure that Moses does enter in for whatever the reason is God chooses not to disclose it but it is special to God and it fulfills in a man who's 120 years old 120 years old I was speaking to 98 you got 22 years to go 22 don't know if you'll catch up but 120 years old and it fulfills that verse precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his saints meant something to God every time every time a child of God dies can I put it that way a believer it's precious to God one less person to pray for the nation I remember something that spoke to me when my wife's father died we were standing by the coffin and she said to our children she said there's one less person now to pray and she said to me Moses was a man of prayer he's gone we need we need God is looking for men and women who are men and women of prayer to pray for his people and so we have that mentioned here that it's not known so we have the place and the purpose verses 1 through 6 then we have the report in the record verses 7 through 12 and so it says Moses was 120 years old his eye was not dim his natural force not abated and the children of Israel wept for Moses in the plains of Moab and as I'm reading that I'm thinking about this and how they talked about him during his life how they criticized him how they wanted to kill him and yet he poured his life into them can I just want to encourage because I think we've all been there at one point or another but some more than others because it seems what the Apostle Paul said the more I love the less I be loved and it seems that obviously you know the best way to don't get your hands dirty right you'll never be blamed for anything except being lazy but the more we get involved there more there is the risk of being misunderstood the more there is the risk of being misaligned the devil does not attack lazy Christians he attacks busy ones committed ones but Moses goes on the divine record and so will the divine record be for each one as God records we have here the report and the record God records he knows he sees and while men might write and say one thing God knows and will write and say another someone has said there's two sides to every story right well there's actually three sides there's the right there's your side there's my side and then there's the truth and God knows it and here is the report and the record about this man as we go through a little further I want you to think when it comes to what God says about him spiritually his memory now before the people his memory before the Lord but I want you to think finally of the life and the lessons the life and the lessons that God gives us here it says here at the end verse 9 and Joshua the son of nun was full of the spirit verse 8 sorry rather the children of Israel wept for Moses in the plains of Moab 30 days so the days of weeping and mourning for Moses were ended and Joshua the son of nun was full of the spirit of wisdom for Moses had laid his hands upon him and the children of Israel hearkened unto him and did as the Lord commanded Moses he's going to present him if you were to go back a few chapters to chapter 31 you would see that there is a public and official recognition now of Joshua by Moses Joshua is Moses is not bitter he's not holding anything back he's not couching statements with innuendos that could be taken two ways he is literally extremely sincere and spiritual and he is commending Joshua according to the commandment of the Lord he is a man that's not bitter he doesn't hold anything back you know there's some brethren and they can't seem to take that they can't seem to take when younger men are coming up older men they think they can do it all they don't want to let go they don't want to encourage they don't want to recognize brethren let me just say this to older men I that there is such a crying need as well for older men to groom younger men to train them not to just wait till they can't do it anymore and then just flop things into their hands and then the younger men are floundering and they're they're crying out what we didn't know we were never bring them along encourage them teach them you have that you have that multiple times in the scriptures and Elijah with an Elisha a Paul with a Timothy there is a crying need to shepherd not just the flock but individuals and train them and teach them on the part of older men I think that one of the problems is that there aren't many older men as such that are doing it themselves or as much as should be and if you're not doing it yourself you certainly can't train others to do it Moses wasn't that way Moses highly commendable what a man what a man there arose not a prophet like him it didn't say there weren't other prophets Aaron was called Miriam they were actually addressed as as such labeled as such but not like Moses whom the Lord knew face-to-face and when Moses does this it's interesting one of the last verses of Deuteronomy even in light of the backdrop and background of his disobedience that he could not enter in here are millions of people that are just waiting to go into the promised land and Moses can't go in because he disobeyed and yet it says he did it one of the last statements that God puts upon him of the divine record according to the commandment of the Lord how gracious is our God how kind is our God a God of restoration a God of kindness of grace and of mercy but you know what I think is very significant that statement is not only a statement about Moses it is a statement to the nation you say how is that the book of Deuteronomy what book would you think has the word or a derivative of the word of command commandments commanding more than any other book in the Bible it's Deuteronomy the word command commandments come more than any other book in our entire Bible that's interesting because Psalms only has a 47 times the book of Exodus where the Decalogue it was actually given and the book of Leviticus which is the priest's handbook has that word less times than Deuteronomy I think Exodus off the top of my head has it about 60 times Deuteronomy has it almost a hundred times because you see the key is they're going to stand on the threshold of the land what is going to ensure their success what is going to guarantee them progress and conquering and victory it's obedience to the Word of the Lord it's wedding that obedience and meshing it and melding it together with a love for the Lord their God and that's what you find in Deuteronomy what a voice to us Moses according to the commandment of the Lord and there arose not a prophet since in Israel like unto Moses whom the Lord knew face-to-face what's going to be said about each of us what is being said of us right now what is known by God about us love for his people love for the Lord love for his word laying down our lives service to God humility Moses the meekest man in all the world humility meekness listen meekness isn't thinking less about yourself meekness is thinking the most about God meekness is the aspect and the idea and the understanding that God is so great that I am so small and I can do nothing without God and the Lord Jesus said that and so might God help us to keep these lessons on this last page of this last man of his last days of his life Moses the Old Testament counterpart to the Apostle Paul and what an example these two men are for each of us