THE LAW IS LIFE
After Moses gave his final song to the people, he advised them to command their children to obey the words of the law.
His specific words in Deuteronomy 32 were: “They are not just idle words for you – they are your life. By them you will live long in the land you are crossing the Jordan to possess.”
Oh that we in America today, as well as ALL the nations of this earth, would do the same!
What a difference it would make for life on planet earth.
The words of the law are not just WORDS to us either. All of the powerful truth from the words of the law still hold strong. These words are LIFE for us too.
When you combine the LAW and the PROPHETS, then add the grace of the covering of JESUS; you get transformation. Transformation (through Jesus) then brings ETERNAL LIFE.
Here is the final formula: LAW+PROPHITS+JESUS = TRANSFORMATION. THE POWER OF TRANSFORMATION = ETERNAL LIFE WITH GOD.
This may be the only mathematical equation you should ever need to learn.
Transformation with Jesus is exactly how we are finally able to obtain eternal life.
Believe it or not; many years after his death, Moses got to experience this in action.
REMEMBER THE WAY
So many people living in the world today would love to return to the abundant life God provided for the nations of the earth before we all fell into sin and disrepair from all of our human depravity.
This is not impossible.
The one-way street back to the way of abundance in the land is to remember God’s laws.
What was true for Israel is still true for us.
However; even Mosses had trouble keeping the whole law.
MOSES WAS HUMAN
He was very human too, and he fell into that low place that most humans manage to find at least once or twice in their lifetime.
Moses sinned.
Both Moses and Aaron had broken faith with God at the waters of Meribah Kadesh while camped in the Desert of Zin. They had neglected to proclaim the holiness of God before the people.
On that day Moses was disobedient, showing human pride and a lack of trust in God. The leader forgot to lead. He acted like a human and he broke God’s laws.
Yes; Moses had known the Law well, but the law by itself was not sufficient to transform him completely.
It is the Law combined with Jesus that saves us.
That was what Moses needed.
He needed Jesus in order to be complete enough to be forgiven.
The Messiah had not appeared yet.
THE MIRACLE OF TRANSFORMATION
God loved Moses very much. Eventually God DID provide the way to The Kingdom of Heaven for this great leader.
It took a while, but Moses was given the miracle of knowing Jesus, even after his death had occurred.
What?
Really?
Yes.
For the moment in history we are studying, we need only know that Moses died. As we move on into the future of Israel though; we will hear the rest of the story.
There on Mount Nebo He was “gathered to his people” exactly as God had told him would happen.
GATHERED TO HIS PEOPLE
Exactly what does it mean; to be “gathered to your people’?
That was just an ancient way of saying; “you are going to die.”
Moses died on Mt. Nebo, in the area called Pisgah. The scriptures tell us that God buried him in that area. All we are told is that he was buried by God, somewhere in the valley opposite Beth Peor; but no one was ever able to discover the location of his grave. (Deuteronomy 34:1-6.)
CONFLICT OVER THE BODY OF MOSES
Many years later, we can read in Jude 1:9 of Satan and Michael The Archangel being in a conflict over the body of Moses.
Why would there be such a conflict between Michael and Satan?
No one really knows that answer, but many believe it was possible that God had assigned Michael to guard the grave of Moses and sometime later the Devil had come along to move the body so as to make it an object of idol worship among the people.
Many also think God had buried Moses himself in order to keep that very thing from happening in the first place.
We do know that Michael prevailed and Satan lost this fight.
Whatever the reason; Michael did not argue with Satan; he simply turned it all over to God for judgement.
We will not know the whole story until eternity actually plays out.
This story is one of those mysterious moments of the scriptures that leave you dangling off a cliff without any answers. I’m sure God has a good reason for doing so though, and we will find out eventually; whenever He thinks we need to know.
One possibility is that Moses’ body needed to be available and ready when it came time for The Transfiguration to happen.
CLIMBING THE MOUNTAIN
Getting back to our study in Deuteronomy 33; God told Moses to go up into the Abarim Range to Mount Nebo in Moab, across from Jericho.
There up on a scenic mountain cliff God showed Moses a view of the land of Canaan which He was giving to the Israelites. This was the land of promise that Moses had longed to see for the last 40 years of his life. It was the culmination of a life-long longing for Moses.
What a view!
This great leader named Moses was told that he would die up on this mountain. Then; he would be gathered to his people.
He could not go on with the people of Israel into the promised land because of the time that he broke faith with God in the presence of the Israelites at the waters of Meribah Kadesh, in the Desert of Zin.
On that day Moses neglected to uphold God’s holiness before the Israelites.
Have you ever been guilty of neglecting to uphold the holiness of God? I think we all are guilty. I’m so grateful to have been born on this side of the cross.
Moses punishment was that he would only see the land of The Promise from a distance. He would never walk into the land; not in his lifetime.
REALIZING THE DREAM BEFORE DEATH
Moses looked out and saw all the way from Gilead to Dan. He saw all of Naptali and the territories of Ephriam and Manasseh.
Moses viewed all of Judah, all the way to the Mediterranean Sea. It must have taken his breath away.
He saw the land of the Negev, the Valley of Jericho, and The City of Palms all the way to Zoar.
It was all so very beautiful!
The eyes of Moses beheld his dreams.
He had the satisfaction of knowing that the people he loved (Israel) would finally take possession of those precious, long cherished and dreamed about lands.
A FULFILLED DESTINY
Though he was not able to cross over with them; Moses must have received great satisfaction in knowing that the destiny and purposes of God for his life had been completely carried out.
Everything was set into perfect motion and God’s will for The People of Israel was about to come to pass.
Moses died knowing that he had produced good fruit for The Nation of Israel.
He was able to die in peace knowing that all of God’s will was about to be carried out through the formation of a Nation that would grow into all of God’s people.
Most likely, Moses had the satisfaction of knowing that he had played a huge role in God’ best play. It was time for his final bow. The audience was cheering him on, and all of the angels were waiting to assist him.
In spite of his mistakes along the way; he was one of God’s most shinning stars.
Moses could lie down and rest in peace.
He would go on no further.
NO ONE KNOWS THE MIND OF GOD
Does this end to Moses’ story seem harsh to you?
Have you caught yourself questioning God and asking why Moses wasn’t allowed to go on with the people and at least step foot on to the promised land?
I had to think hard about this part of the story because I know we serve a merciful and forgiving God.
I wondered why God would be so dead-set on punishing Moses for this ONE DAY that he had sinned out of so many other days in which he had been totally faithful.
GOD’S TIMING PREVAILS
Then I realized the fact that The Messiah had not yet come to earth. There was no way God could forgive trespasses against the Law at that time.
If he overlooked one thing; he had to overlook it all.
There was no way around punishment for disobedience in those days before Messiah.
On that fateful day Moses was not covered in the blood of Christ, because the precious feet of Jesus had not yet trod the earth.
Even though Moses had believed a Messiah was coming, and even though He had great faith in advance; he carried no covering.
Not yet.
THINKING BEYOND THE GRAVE
I had to think ahead in order to get beyond this seemingly harsh punishment.
Our God is always fair and there were many others who had not escaped these same or similar circumstances.
I realized in reading Deuteronomy 32 that even Aaron, the High Priest of Israel, had not died with salvation assured. He too had been led to a mountain and died and was gathered to his people. Aaron never saw the Promised Land either.
Aaron too had great faith. He believed in the Messiah ahead of time; totally without proof; but for the moment there was no blood covering to save him.
Not yet.
All of those sacrifices at the Wilderness Tabernacle had not been enough. The symbolism in them held answers; but they were never sufficient and humanity would never be able to become perfect before God.
Finally; an answer began to form.
THE NEXT APPEARANCE OF MOSES AFTER DEATH
As I pondered the death of Moses, I recalled reading in the New Testament about The Transfiguration.
Jesus went up on a mountain and His appearance was radiant, vivid and bright. It was said that He appeared to shine like the sun.
Two servants (who had left the earth long before this date) appeared there with him. These two witnesses were said to be Moses and Elijah.
Jesus’s closest friends, Peter, James and John witnessed their appearance from afar.
So it seemed that both Moses and Elijah came to know Jesus after their lifetime on the earth. God was merciful and allowed this. We are witnesses to the fact when we know about The Transfiguration.
FULFILLMENT OF THE LAW AND THE PROPHETS
Most scholars agree that these two standing on the mountain with a Transfigured Jesus were Moses and Elijah.
Wise Scholars tell us these two represented the Old Covenant, made up of The Law, (represented by Moses) and The Prophets (represented by Elijah.)
REALNESS OF GOD
Jesus was teaching his disciples (who were looking on with amazement) about the realness of God (represented by the glory that shone upon them at the Transfiguration.)
Perhaps He felt it was crucial for the disciples to see this before His death, burial, Resurrection and Ascension.
Did Jesus want them to realize they could display the Glory of God even if they were still living in earthly places?
That wasn’t all though; Jesus was teaching them (and us) many things through the Transfiguration.
RESURRECTION
We realize he was teaching them about Resurrection – (represented by the glowing bodies of Elijah and Moses who had either died or been taken from the earth yet, in this later Transfiguration; they lived.)
Both of these great men had been dead and/or removed from earth a long time ago. Yet; here in the Transfiguration, they were shown to be very alive.
Each of them were seen talking with Jesus on the mountain top.
All three (Jesus, Moses and Elijah) were displaying the characteristics of glorified and resurrected bodies.
Simply by being themselves at the Transfiguration they spoke of the Old Covenant, the Law and The Prophets. Jesus who shone the brightest of all spoke of Salvation.
The view of their now glorified bodies declared The Glory of God and the REALNESS of God.
It was a great miracle.
SALVATION
Jesus; shinning out over them, spoke of salvation; the salvation that was to come to His followers along with eternal life after death.
The bodies of Moses and Elijah, being very much alive, spoke of Resurrection from the Dead.
A lot was going on here at the Transfiguration!
GOD’S POWER AND HOLINESS
The power of God through all ages and times was clearly at work.
It was plain to see transitional change in motion as God’s clock kept it’s constant turning, always right on time for all of us.
God speaks and at the sound of His words; supernatural things begin to happen. What were His words for the disciples looking on? “THIS IS MY SON IN WHOM I AM WELL PLEASED; LISTEN TO HIM.!”
They knew they had heard those words before. It was a confirmation of what they already had learned about Jesus.
He was Messiah!
Maybe Jesus thought showing this to the disciples before his death would give them hope through all of the hard days they were about to suffer.
No one would suffer more than Jesus; but He was only thinking of those that He loved.
He knew they believed in the power of God through Moses and Elijah. Now He wanted them to believe this power was even stronger through Messiah.
ELIJAH IS TAKEN
The Transfiguration happened MANY years beyond the life of Moses. It happened during the time that Jesus walked the earth and during the times of the lives of the Apostles; right before the crucifixion of Christ.
After Moses; God had sent Elijah; who was a great prophet. The Law needed great prophets to proclaim it’s powerful truth to the world.
The Glory that shown from all three of these men (mostly from Jesus, as the other two were probably only reflecting His light) clearly spoke to us of the fact that they all had been to the Throne Room of Heaven and had beheld God’s face.
It clarified the fact that they had been moving in God’s will and carrying out God’s plans for the earth.
The radiant light proved that they had come very close to God; even face-to-face with Him.
That was why they shone like the sun at the Transfiguration.
WHEN THE GLORY FALLS ON YOU
We read in the scriptures of a time, even before The Transfiguration, when Moses glowed from having been up on the mountain of God during the days when he received the commandments.
Moses had the need to cover his face so that the people were not frightened when they saw that the glory of God had fallen on him.
Also, in the case of Elijah; we know that God sent chariots of fire and angels to gather up Elijah to bring him into heaven.
Many believe that Elijah never died. They think his body was “taken up” by God; like that of Enoch.
WAS MOSES TAKEN LIKE ELIJAH?
Could it be possible that Moses too was “taken up” in his earthly body into heaven?
Because of the fact that the grave of Moses was never discovered, and only God saw where he was buried this theory might seem to make sense.
But only at first glance, because we ARE told that God buried Moses after he died.
The answer to that question has to be “no.”
Since the scriptures record Moses died of natural causes and was buried by God.
At any rate; we know that the Glory that shown from all three of these men clearly spoke to us of the fact that they had been allowed to visit to the Throne Room of Heaven, and/or had somehow beheld God’s face.
That was why they all shone like the sun at the transfiguration. They had seen God and His Glory had fallen upon them.
There was a time in the earthly ministry of Moses when he glowed in much the same way from having been up on the mountain of God. This had happened when he received the commandments directly from God. The scriptures tell us that Moses had to cover his face so that the people were not frightened.
WHY DID THE TRANSFIGURATION HAPPEN?
So what does the death of Moses and the Transfiguration which he experienced with Jesus and Elijah later means to us today?
There are many answers to this question.
One answer is that God was painting a picture of how The Kingdom of Heaven would be. He was showing a clear story to the disciples, whom He knew He could depend upon to take the good news of the Gospel to the world.
SYMBOLISM OF THE TRANSFIGURATION
What did all of the symbolism mean though?
Today, many believe the glorified body of Jesus represents the Kingship of Jesus in His millennial reign on earth for 1,000 years. The disciples got a glimpse of Jesus in His glory!
When Moses and Elijah appear on the mountain with the transfigured Jesus, it is proof that He is Messiah; the One of which the law and the prophets speak.
This amazing vision, which Jesus allowed His Apostles to witness, was a solid confirmation that Jesus could be identified as The Son of God.
He alone is qualified to reign as King of Kings in the coming Kingdom of Heaven.
THE KINGDOM OF GOD
Elements of God’s Coming Kingdom are symbolically displayed through the different characters of the people in the vision in that day of The Transfiguration.
Jesus is the King of the Kingdom. He will reign in Glory.
Many will come into the Kingdom of God through death. That group of people is represented by Moses.
Some will come through the transformation of their natural bodies at The Rapture of The Church. These people groups are represented by Elijah (who never died but was transported into heaven.)
There will be Jewish believers in the end times who will enter into the millennium in their earthly bodies. This group of people is represented by the three Jewish disciples who witnessed the Transfiguration.
Also; there will be various nations with people who are still living when Christ returns. These nations of people will remain in their earthly bodies and live out a natural lifespan. These nations are represented by the people standing at the foot of the mountain.
A PICTURE OF A FUTURE KINGDOM
All of this symbolism of different people groups gives us a picture of God’s Kingdom which will come to the Earth when Christ returns for the second time.
Jesus was painting a picture for the disciples to know what would transpire after His death, burial, Resurrection and Ascension occurred.
We learn through the Transfiguration how the life of Moses makes a huge difference in the coming Kingdom of God.
Moses mattered even more than anyone knew.
THE CAVE AT MOUNT NEBO
The above discussion clears up most of the mysterious facts associated with the death of Moses.
One other story associated with Moses can be found in some of the extrabiblical Jewish literature.
That story also speaks of the prophet Jeremiah.
An old legend is told which suggests that Jeremiah hid The Ark of the Covenant, the Tent of Meeting, and the Altar of Incense from the Wilderness Tabernacle inside a cave on Mount Nebo. (The same mountain where God buried Moses.)
In The Apocrypha; 2 Maccabees 2:4-8 speaks of how Jeremiah received a revelation from God to do this.
He was told to seal up the entrance of the cave. Jeremiah was also told the cave would remain hidden and undiscovered until the time when God would gather all of His people together.
Most who discover and study this passage seem to think these artifacts will be discovered and uncovered during the end of time as we know it.
If and when it is discovered; even further truth of the fact that God has orchestrated every tiny moment of history will be evident for all the world to witness and know.
CELEBRATING THE LIFE OF MOSES
So now we’ve learned there was a long, wilderness journey in which The Children of Israel crossed the desert and eventually came into the Promised Land of their inheritance.
It all started with the story of Moses.
One day; we will see him in his glorious, resurrected body whenever we reach God’s Kingdom ourselves.
Until then; he has left the People of God, The Nation of Israel and those who grew out from them, in the capable hands of the new leader named Joshua.
Moses was not the end of the story.
We have so much more to learn!
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