Moses Had to Die First

“Moses my servant is dead. Now therefore arise, go over this Jordan, you and all this people, into the land that I am giving to them, to the people of Israel. 3 Every place that the sole of your foot will tread upon I have given to you, just as I promised to Moses. (Joshua 1:2-3 2)

It just makes perfect sense that Moses had to die before God's people could enter the promised land. Moses was the vessel through whom God gave His Law. The purpose of that Law was neither to bring saving righteousness nor to bring the blessings of that righteousness.

Rather, it was to do quite the opposite. It was to show man the absolute holiness of the Triune God. It was always God's intention that, in seeing the Law, man would be forced to see his own nature. Confronted with his nature, and his own inability to fulfill the law and thus be acceptable to God, man will then turn to God's mercy offered by grace for another solution.

Further God knew and told Moses, and through Moses, the people of God that they would never live up to his wall. The apostle John, in the introduction to his Gospel, told us that this was true. In verse 16 and 17 of chapter 1, he said that

"... of his fullness we have all received and grace for grace. For the Law was given through Moses, but grace and truth came through Jesus Christ."

There is a contrast there. Moses gave the Law, but grace and truth, the only means by which anyone can actually GET INTO God's presence and emerge, comes by another means.

That means, John says specifically, and the Old Testament tells us in type, was the person and actions of Jesus Christ, God's Only Begotten Son. What the Law could not do, what the Law, in fact, was not ever designed to do, and what men had no desire to do because of their fallen nature, Christ came and did for them. He walked perfectly and acceptably before His Father, and then He laid down His life a sacrifice for sins.

Both His active and passive obedience qualified Him as the perfect Lamb of God which then served to satisfy God's wrath against the sins of a depraved people. It is that gift that we celebrated Christmas. That just would not have been possible if Moses had not died. No one would have been able to enter the promised land if Moses had not died (and I speak metaphorically here) because the Law could not get anyone there. At least not the law with Joshua at the helm. Only the Law as fulfilled by the Lord Jesus Christ.

The Lord Will Prosper You...When!

Deuteronomy 30:8-10 8 And you shall again obey the voice of the Lord and keep all his commandments that I command you today. 9 The Lord your God will make you abundantly prosperous in all the work of your hand, in the fruit of your womb and in the fruit of your cattle and in the fruit of your ground. For the Lord will again take delight in prospering you, as he took delight in your fathers, 10 when you obey the voice of the Lord your God, to keep his commandments and his statutes that are written in this Book of the Law, when you turn to the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul.

"you will again obey the voice of the Lord." We need to remember that all of this comes after the coming of Israel's Messiah. With a new heart under the New Covenant, Israel would obey all the commandments of the Lord. This would result in the Lord’s blessing, which would bring greater prosperity than Israel had ever previously experienced. Here is a renewed enforcement of the indispensable fruit of salvation and another echo of the constant theme of this book.

Remember that the intention of the law is not to bring righteousness, but to show the sinfulness of man and to direct man to their need for Christ (Israel's Messiah). The only kind of righteousness the wall was never intended to bring was a practical righteousness that brought practical blessing. The kind of righteousness that brings redemption was never the capacity of the Law. It was always God's intent that the Law simply bring man to his knees and direct them to Himself.

At this point, we must note that the fact that this was not accomplished in the Old Testament is not a failing of the Law, but rather a failing of Old Testament Israel as a nation. It is certainly true that there were indeed individuals, many of them, who were redeemed throughout Israel's Old Testament history. However, as a nation , Israel turned to the Law for their redemption and did not learn the lesson from the Law that God intended.

Their obedience was short-lived, it came in spurts, and God was constantly having to send "judges" to both chasten, and call them back to that obedience. This was not a surprise to God, and should not have been a surprise to Israel! He made it clear to them from the very beginning that this was to be their experience, after all righteousness was not the purpose of the Law. After all, we know that the Scriptures say: ...the law was given through Moses, but grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. (John 1:17).

Let us remember this principle, for it applies, not only to the issue of how a man becomes a believer, accomplishing his redemption, but also to how one pleases his God in all things as a believer! This is a matter that deserves far more consideration in the long run!

A New Hearing From God

9 “When you come into the land that the Lord your God is giving you, you shall not learn to follow the abominable practices of those nations. 10 There shall not be found among you anyone who burns his son or his daughter as an offering, anyone who practices divination or tells fortunes or interprets omens, or a sorcerer 11 or a charmer or a medium or a necromancer or one who inquires of the dead, 12 for whoever does these things is an abomination to the Lord. And because of these abominations the Lord your God is driving them out before you. 13 You shall be blameless before the Lord your God, 14 for these nations, which you are about to dispossess, listen to fortune- tellers and to diviners. But as for you, the Lord your God has not allowed you to do this. 15 “The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among you, from your brothers—it is to him you shall listen (Deuteronomy 18:9-15 )

    The issue at hand in these verses is not so much the matter of divination per se, so much as it is how one hear and discern the voice of God. With any people this matter is critical. But with Israel it would be crucial. In their new land they would be surrounded with people that would be consumed with the occult; believing that God speaks personally and individually, through signs and wonders, etc.; the main matter being that the source of revelation was entirely subjective. This was not to be the case with Israel. Their interaction with God was rooted in an objective reality, that is, in a real encounter with a God Who actually spoke to them in time and space; as Francis Schaeffer said, "A God Who is there."

     The nations that were around Israel in the land relied upon their intuition upon which to interact with "god" as they perceived him. "They worshiped god as they understood him". Surely, they pursued Him with zeal, cutting themselves, passing their children through the fire, and using other such zealous pursuits. But because these practices were coupled with a lack of genuine knowledge they had "a zeal for God, but not according to knowledge. For, being ignorant of the righteousness of God, and seeking to establish their own, they did not submit to God's righteousness." (Romans 10:2-3).

    God speaks in no uncertain terms here. He is very clear as to his feelings about the practices of those who were in and around the land that He was giving to the Israelites. The religious practices of those people were unacceptable to him. Those "abominable practices"

• ...Onw who burns his son or his daughter as an offering,
• ...Anyone who practices divination or tells fortunes or interprets omens, or a sorcerer
• ...A charmer or a medium, A necromancer or one who inquires of the dead,
• ...Fortune-tellers and diviners of the future

    All of those had to do with inquiry of the "world beyond". God desired Israel to rely upon his revelation, given through his vessel, the prophet of God, for information concerning those matters. That's why this section is followed immediately by an endorsement of Moses as the prophet of God.

    Notice that this section also uses words like "abomination" to underscore the seriousness of what He is saying. This is no small matter! These are matters that God takes very very seriously. He spoke of the idols and practices of Egypt in the same fashion! And we know what he did to them! Israel certainly didn't want their God to have to take similar action with regard to them.

     Note that God tells them that He has "not allow them to do this". There are many who insists on their "right" to approach God in whatever fashion they desire to approach him. This is only another expression of Cain's desire to approach God in the fashion in which he desires to approach Him. And God reacts no better than he reacted to Cain. Men do not have the right to approach God in whatever fashion they desire to approach. It is God who sets the terms upon which man may approach at all! Men are beset by sin; they are soiled, and God in his grace, has provided a way for them to approach. That avenue is by means of the Lord Jesus Christ and his precious gift of grace on Calvary's mountain. There is no other way that is acceptable to God.