48 That very day the LORD spoke to Moses, 49 “Go up this mountain of the Abarim, Mount Nebo, which is in the land of Moab, opposite Jericho, and view the land of Canaan, which I am giving to the people of Israel for a possession. 50 And die on the mountain which you go up, and be gathered to your people, as Aaron your brother died in Mount Hor and was gathered to his people, 51 because you broke faith with me in the midst of the people of Israel at the waters of Meribah-kadesh, in the wilderness of Zin, and because you did not treat me as holy in the midst of the people of Israel. 52 For you shall see the land before you, but you shall not go there, into the land that I am giving to the people of Israel.”
34:1 Then Moses went up from the plains of Moab to Mount Nebo, to the top of Pisgah, which is opposite Jericho. And the LORD showed him all the land, Gilead as far as Dan, 2 all Naphtali, the land of Ephraim and Manasseh, all the land of Judah as far as the western sea, 3 the Negeb, and the Plain, that is, the Valley of Jericho the city of palm trees, as far as Zoar. 4 And the LORD said to him, “This is the land of which I swore to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, ‘I will give it to your offspring.’ I have let you see it with your eyes, but you shall not go over there.” 5 So Moses the servant of the LORD died there in the land of Moab, according to the word of the LORD, 6 and he buried him in the valley in the land of Moab opposite Beth-peor; but no one knows the place of his burial to this day. 7 Moses was 120 years old when he died. His eye was undimmed, and his vigor unabated. 8 And the people of Israel wept for Moses in the plains of Moab thirty days. Then the days of weeping and mourning for Moses were ended.
9 And Joshua the son of Nun was full of the spirit of wisdom, for Moses had laid his hands on him. So the people of Israel obeyed him and did as the LORD had commanded Moses. 10 And there has not arisen a prophet since in Israel like Moses, whom the LORD knew face to face, 11 none like him for all the signs and the wonders that the LORD sent him to do in the land of Egypt, to Pharaoh and to all his servants and to all his land, 12 and for all the mighty power and all the great deeds of terror that Moses did in the sight of all Israel.
48 That very day the LORD spoke to Moses, 49 “Go up this mountain of the Abarim, Mount Nebo, which is in the land of Moab, opposite Jericho, and view the land of Canaan, which I am giving to the people of Israel for a possession. 50 And die on the mountain which you go up, and be gathered to your people, as Aaron your brother died in Mount Hor and was gathered to his people, 51 because you broke faith with me in the midst of the people of Israel at the waters of Meribah-kadesh, in the wilderness of Zin, and because you did not treat me as holy in the midst of the people of Israel. 52 For you shall see the land before you, but you shall not go there, into the land that I am giving to the people of Israel.”
34:1 Then Moses went up from the plains of Moab to Mount Nebo, to the top of Pisgah, which is opposite Jericho. And the LORD showed him all the land, Gilead as far as Dan, 2 all Naphtali, the land of Ephraim and Manasseh, all the land of Judah as far as the western sea, 3 the Negeb, and the Plain, that is, the Valley of Jericho the city of palm trees, as far as Zoar. 4 And the LORD said to him, “This is the land of which I swore to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, ‘I will give it to your offspring.’ I have let you see it with your eyes, but you shall not go over there.” 5 So Moses the servant of the LORD died there in the land of Moab, according to the word of the LORD, 6 and he buried him in the valley in the land of Moab opposite Beth-peor; but no one knows the place of his burial to this day. 7 Moses was 120 years old when he died. His eye was undimmed, and his vigor unabated. 8 And the people of Israel wept for Moses in the plains of Moab thirty days. Then the days of weeping and mourning for Moses were ended.
9 And Joshua the son of Nun was full of the spirit of wisdom, for Moses had laid his hands on him. So the people of Israel obeyed him and did as the LORD had commanded Moses. 10 And there has not arisen a prophet since in Israel like Moses, whom the LORD knew face to face, 11 none like him for all the signs and the wonders that the LORD sent him to do in the land of Egypt, to Pharaoh and to all his servants and to all his land, 12 and for all the mighty power and all the great deeds of terror that Moses did in the sight of all Israel.
Redeemer exists to celebrate and declare the gospel of God as we grow in knowing and following Jesus Christ.
Joel Brooks:
If y'all would open your Bibles to Deuteronomy chapter 32. You heard correctly, Deuteronomy. I heard a groan or 2. We are in the old testament even though it is Easter. Don't worry, the old testament is about Jesus.
Joel Brooks:
We will get there. We're actually going to finish our study on the life of Moses and the exodus of the people of God. I know that looking at the death of Moses, which is what we're gonna be looking at tonight, the death of Moses doesn't feel very Easterly, but it is. It's absolutely the perfect Easter message, to look at death and his, how the Lord calls Moses home. And so I find it very fitting that we are here this day.
Joel Brooks:
So we'll begin reading in Deuteronomy chapter 32 beginning in verse 48. That very day the Lord spoke to Moses, go up this mountain of the Abirim, Mount Nebo, which is in the land of Moab, opposite Jericho, and view the land of Canaan, which I am giving to the people of Israel for a possession, and die on the mountain which you go up, And be gathered to your people as Aaron, your brother, died in Mount Hor and was gathered to his people because you broke faith with me in the midst of the people of Israel at the waters of Meribach Kadesh and the wilderness of Zin, and because you did not treat me as holy in the midst of the people of Israel. For you shall see the land before you, but you shall not go there into the land that I'm giving to the people of Israel. And turn to chapter 34, begin reading in verse 1. Then Moses went up from the plains of Moab to Mount Nebo to the top of Pisgah, which is opposite Jericho.
Joel Brooks:
And the Lord showed him all the land, Gilead as far as Dan, all Naphtali, the land of Ephraim and Manasseh, all the land of Judah as far as the Western Sea, the Negeb and the plain, that is the valley of Jericho, the city of palm trees, as far as Zoar. And the Lord said to him, this is the land of which I swore to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob. I will give it to your offspring. I have let you see it with your eyes, but you shall not go over there. So Moses, the servant of the Lord died there in the land of Moab, according to the word of the Lord.
Joel Brooks:
And he buried him in the valley in the land of Moab, opposite Beth Peor. But no one knows the place of his burial to this day. Moses was a 120 years old when he died. His eye was undimmed and his vigor unabated. And the people of Israel wept for Moses in the plains of Moab 30 days.
Joel Brooks:
Then 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 on him. So the people of Israel obeyed him and did as the Lord had commanded Moses. And there has not arisen a prophet since, an Israel like Moses, whom the Lord knew face to face. None like him for all the signs and the wonders that the Lord sent him to do in the land of Egypt, and to pharaoh, and to all his servants, and to all his land.
Joel Brooks:
And for all the mighty power and all the great deeds of terror that Moses did in the sight of Israel. This is the word of the lord. Thanks be to God. And pray with me. Our father, we ask that through your spirit, you would bring great clarity to your word, but not just clarity, bring conviction.
Joel Brooks:
May your word be pressed in on us, working change so that we might become more like your son, Jesus. I pray that in this moment, my words would fall to the ground and blow away and not be remembered anymore. But, Lord, may your words remain and may they change us. We pray this in the strong name of Jesus. Amen.
Joel Brooks:
Let me begin this illustration with a little preface here that, I believe our teachers of children's ministry do a fantastic job. They do a great job teaching. Sometimes our kids don't do the best time listening. My 6 year old, Georgia, she was in the class that the teacher was teaching on the prodigal son. And Georgia, she really does, she pays attention.
Joel Brooks:
She might not not like it, but she she pays attention and she was just taking everything in. And, and and so she came home and and this was how she processed the sermon. She went to her mom and said, we have an inheritance. And Lauren goes, yes. She goes, I like my money now.
Joel Brooks:
So so that's that's the great moral lesson that she got from the prodigal son. Now, as we come to an end of our our 5 or 6 months study on the life of Moses and of exodus, I wanna make sure that we don't miss the point. And we don't just hear what we wanna hear. And so after all of the plagues, all of the miracles, all of the traveling, all of the the law giving, all of the intercession, my Moses, what is the point of it all? What is the point?
Joel Brooks:
Now let me go ahead and give it to you. The point is this, despite the greatness of Moses, sin and death still defeat him, and we are left looking for another deliverer, another person to rescue us. Now Moses was a great man. You you can read even any of the liberal scholars out there, and they are all gonna say that despite whatever you think about Moses, you at least have to acknowledge that he is one of the greatest leaders of all time, one of the greatest figures in human history. And if you go through the old testament, you'll realize that Moses as a prophet has no equal.
Joel Brooks:
I mean, sure, there's gonna be prophets that would come after him. There's gonna be Elijah. There's gonna be Isaiah and Jeremiah, and they were great prophets, But almost all that they did was point back to Moses, and they pointed back to what Moses had taught. And they just called the people to go back and obey what Moses had already taught them. They didn't add any new teaching.
Joel Brooks:
Moses is unparalleled in his greatness in the Old Testament. And if you just look at his life, you'll see all that he accomplished as a leader. He went and stood toe to toe with the greatest power in the world in pharaoh, and he won. He won. It was through Moses' hand that God brought the plagues on Egypt.
Joel Brooks:
It was through his hand that God parted the Red Sea. It was through his hand that he grabbed the rod and he hit hit the rock and water came forth. It was through his hands that he lifted them up. And when they were up, Israel won their battles. It was through the mouth of Moses that the people heard God's word because when God came down on the mountain and it trembled and it smoked, the people said, we don't want to go near this.
Joel Brooks:
We don't want to hear God. Moses, will you go there on our behalf, and you just tell us what he says? And Moses did, and he taught people the law of God. And it was Moses who would stand up and intercede on behalf of the people when they would send time and time again, when they when they bow down to the golden calf and God in his anger was about to destroy them, Moses stands in the gap between God and the people, and he says, you'll destroy them over my dead body. Who has the courage to do that?
Joel Brooks:
This is an amazing man, an amazing leader. Moses even got to catch a glimpse of the glory of God when he prayed, God, show me your glory. And God said, well, Moses, nobody can see my face and live. However, I'm gonna hide you in the cleft of a rock, and I'm gonna put my hand over you, and I'm gonna walk by. And and as I walk by, I'm gonna let down my hand, and I'm gonna let you just catch a glimpse of my glory when you see my back and pass by.
Joel Brooks:
And Moses caught that glimpse of the glory of God and it forever changed him. So no one surpasses Moses and his greatness in the old testament. And that's why we we read these words in Deuteronomy 34, and there has not arisen a prophet since In Israel like Moses, whom the Lord knew face to face, none like him for all the signs and the wonders that the Lord sent him to do in the land of Egypt, to pharaoh and to all his servants and to all his land and for all the mighty power and the great deeds of terror that Moses did in all the sight of Israel. And yet, despite all of his greatness, Moses still sins and Moses dies and Moses fails to bring God's people into the promised land. In Deuteronomy 3, we we we see Moses begging God.
Joel Brooks:
He is pleading with God. God, please let me go into the promised land. Please just overlook this sin. Please let me go. And God says, no.
Joel Brooks:
Because of sin, you will not go into the promised land. And when we look at the sin that Moses committed and you can read about it in numbers 20, it really doesn't seem like a big deal. God told Moses, I want you to speak to this rock and water is gonna come out. And in Moses in a kind of a fit of anger because he's been surrounded by grumbling people for probably about 30 years in the middle of a hot desert, He kinda loses it for just a little bit instead of speaking to the rock, he hits it with his staff. God says, you didn't obey me, you did not treat me as holy.
Joel Brooks:
Because you didn't treat me as holy, you will not take the people to the promised land. You will die because of your sin outside of the promised land. And so Moses's sin brought death. So as great as Moses was, we are still left looking for another rescuer. He failed.
Joel Brooks:
Now as you read through the pages of the old testament, page after page, you're you're gonna see God raise up another leader and you're gonna kinda have some hope, but then there's gonna be sin, and then there's gonna be death, and there's gonna be failure. Then there's gonna come along another leader, and you're gonna have a little more hope, and then there's gonna be sin and death and failure, and then another leader, and then sin and death and failure. So you you you leave just asking the question, who then? Who will rescue us from sin and death? The 2 greatest enemies.
Joel Brooks:
Moses could go toe to toe with any power in the land and defeat them, but he was still defeated by these 2 great foes, sin and death. Who will defeat them? Well, Moses, he he points us forward to the one who will. Back in Deuteronomy 18, he actually prophesies that God will send another prophet. Moses knows he's gonna fail.
Joel Brooks:
He knows his failure. He knows his sin. And so he points forward and says, there will be another prophet like me. There's going to be another deliverer, another exodus. It's not gonna be him.
Joel Brooks:
And Moses introduces us to this person some 1400 years later. When you go to, the new testament in Luke 9, it's a familiar story about the mount of transfiguration. And in the story we read how Jesus, he he took up to the mountain Peter and James and John to pray. And when he was up on this mountain, says that his face was transfigured, became radiant with glory and it shone like the sun. And 2 people came and met him there.
Joel Brooks:
Moses and Elijah met him there. And we we read this in verse 31 of chapter 9. It says that they spoke to Jesus about his departure, which he was to accomplish in Jerusalem. And so when Moses talks to Jesus about his departure, this word departure is the exact same word as exodus. So Moses is meeting Jesus up on a mountain and he is talking about the Exodus, the Exodus that Jesus is going to do, the ultimate Exodus.
Joel Brooks:
Jesus is the leader that Moses prophesied about. He is the one who's gonna take down the greatest enemies of all. Take down the enemies he couldn't, sin and death. And we see Jesus doing this, not just at the cross, but throughout all of his ministry at the very start, he begins attacking sin and death. Do you remember after he was baptized and the Holy Spirit descended upon him like a dove, the very first thing he did to launch his ministry was he went out into the wilderness.
Joel Brooks:
Just like Israel was led out into the wilderness, Jesus went out into the wilderness to be tempted the exact same way. He was tempted by hunger. He was tempted by thirst. He was tempted to bow down before someone. And where Israel failed their temptation in the desert, Jesus proved to be a faithful son and sin would not bring him down.
Joel Brooks:
He was victorious. And all throughout his ministry, Jesus proved to be the greater Moses. Whereas Moses, in his miracles, he would bring judgment, and he would do things like he would turn water into blood for judgment. Jesus would come and he would turn water into wine in order to bring joy for the people, where Moses would come and he would bring things like boils and pestilence among the people during the plagues. We see Jesus when he comes, he would see the leper and he would reach out and touch the person with the skin disease, and he would heal them.
Joel Brooks:
Moses would come and he he would look to the sky and he'd pray, and and hailstones would fall down, and and darkness would cover the land. And Jesus would come and he would stand up in the midst of a hurricane and he'd say, peace be still. And the forces of nature would obey him and there would be calmness and peace. Moses would go and he'd proclaim God is going to kill the firstborn of every child. Yet we see Jesus over and over again raising the dead, saying Lazarus, come forth.
Joel Brooks:
Going to the widow and when and when she is bearing her son and during the procession goes and he wakes up the child from the sleep of death, her first born. Jesus proves to be the greater Moses. He brings the blessings to us. And the reason that he can do this, live such a constant life of blessing to others is because Jesus at the cross would take on all of the plagues, all of the judgment of God in order that he might give us blessing and joy. The wrath of God was poured out on him and not us.
Joel Brooks:
And so it was on the cross and it was in the grave that Jesus took the fight to the 2 greatest enemies. That's when he took on sin and death. It's at the cross and in the grave. These 2 enemies that have been hanging over our heads ever since Adam's failure. And he takes them on, and Jesus defeats them.
Joel Brooks:
He bore our sin, and he took our death, and he rose up in triumph over these two enemies. And this is why we proclaim with the apostle Paul these words, death is swallowed up in victory. Oh, death, where is your victory? Oh, death, where is your sting? Paul is mocking death as one who is victorious and who has triumphed over it.
Joel Brooks:
The 2 greatest enemies. He says the sting of death is sin and the power of sin is the law, but thanks be to God who gives us victory through our Lord Jesus Christ, our deliverer, our rescuer. Let me be as clear as I possibly can be about this. We believe Jesus to be God's son, and that he physically died and was buried and rose again from the dead. And when he rose again from the dead, he did what none of us could accomplish and what Moses could not accomplish and that is defeat sin and death and banish it forever.
Joel Brooks:
And he provides the ultimate exodus when he delivers us from the grave. This is why Jesus says, I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me though he dies, yet shall he live. And everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die. You know, what we see happening to Moses at the end of chapter 34 will happen to every one of us.
Joel Brooks:
Every one of us here will die.
Jeffrey Heine:
A
Joel Brooks:
few weeks ago I watched a documentary called On Being Mortal. It's a very uplifting documentary. I'm more of the, kind of watching dumb and dumber. But I thought I would do something different and I watched this documentary on being mortal and it was about a doctor who goes to terminally ill patients and it was about his struggle with telling them they are going to die. And so this documentary, he's talking to them and he's saying, listen, none of the medicines are working and there's no more medicines.
Joel Brooks:
And there's all the treatments we've tried, they're not working and there's no more treatments. And what you find is all of these people upon hearing this news would say, okay. So what's the plan? So so so what do we do next? How do we how do we fight this?
Joel Brooks:
And he found as a doctor, he struggled so much to saying, there is no fight. There is no plan. And so a lot of times he would just throw out a little something just so he could get out of the room. But one of the things that he said was everybody's surprised when they get this news. Now, if if you think about it, that makes no sense because the one thing that will happen to every single person alive is that someday they will die.
Joel Brooks:
That is one thing we're absolutely sure of. It should take nobody's surprise by surprise that that day will happen. So what we see happening to Moses will happen to us. And I hear people saying all the time, you know, when when they do die, they just wanna be surrounded by their friends. They don't wanna go through death alone.
Joel Brooks:
But let me tell you what, everybody goes through death alone. Nobody goes through that door with you. There's gonna be 2 people, you and your creator. And that's what we see here up on this mountain. It is Moses and God.
Joel Brooks:
That's all there will be when that day comes. Let me ask you. Is that a comforting thought to you that when that day comes, it will be you and God? Or does it terrify you? For Moses, it was an incredible comfort.
Joel Brooks:
Moses could look back at his life and he could see how God has taken care of him from the cradle to the grave, from from life's first cry to his final breath. When there was genocide happening everywhere, God protected Moses. He was, remember, he was putting that little basket and covered in tar pitch and and just sent down the Nile. God took care of him and guided it to pharaoh's daughter. God raised Moses in a palace.
Joel Brooks:
When Moses was exiled from Egypt and and had to live as a shepherd, God took care of him as he was a shepherd. God took care of him as he led God's people and lived back out in the wilderness. He provided for him. God was always there and God is here during these final days. He is here at the end.
Joel Brooks:
We read here that Moses died according to the word of the Lord. Literally in Hebrew, it says this, that Moses died by the mouth of God. And a number of the Jewish commentaries and traditions say what's pictured here is God kissing Moses good night. And and you you see this this care here. Verse 6 says that God himself buries Moses.
Joel Brooks:
So even after his life, right there, we see God's care. And Moses dies on top of the mountain, but he's buried in a valley, meaning that God or his angels somehow took Moses's body, maybe proceeded down the mountain and they buried him. And you actually get kind of hints of this when you read through Jude and how they they they took care of his body here. So so God, he he from Moses's first breaths to the end of his life to right after his life and even to all of eternity, we see God's care of Moses. You know, Moses ultimately does make it to the promised land.
Joel Brooks:
We do have to fast forward about 1400 years into the future, but he makes it there. When we look at the mount of transfiguration which is that mountain is right there in the middle of the promised land, Moses comes and his feet touch ground and he's there. He literally is standing on the promised land, and so he gets this desire of his heart finally. But more than that, he gets the real desire of his heart. When he had prayed so long ago, God, show me your glory, and God said, you cannot see my face and live.
Joel Brooks:
Now, you know what? We see Moses standing and seeing the face of God shining in glory. And he sees Jesus radiating that glory, and he can stand in that presence. That is a picture of what awaits every person who has placed their faith and their trust in Jesus as their lord. That God cares from us both from from our time of birth to when we die and afterwards.
Joel Brooks:
And that someday we will reach the promised land in heaven. Someday we will see Jesus' face in which the fullness of God dwells in all of his glory. That is the promise that we have as believers. Someday, someday our prayer for show me your glory will be true. Pray with me.
Joel Brooks:
Our father, we thank you for your son in which all your fullness dwells. And when we look to Jesus, we see you. Lord, in our hope, our hope is in Jesus and that he has defeated sin and death on our behalf. We put our hope in no other deliverer, no other system, no other structure, no other philosophy.
Jeffrey Heine:
We put
Joel Brooks:
our hopes squarely on Jesus, trusting in him that we will now be victorious over the grave And we long for that day in which we get to see you in glory. We pray this in the name of our present and our future King, Jesus Christ.