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!