Moses had almost finished his course…
Our men’s bible study this morning moved me to think about Moses and finishing strong. Many run the race. Few finish it well.
In early Deuteronomy, Moses recounts the story of the Israelites’ journey from Sinai (Horeb) to the edge of the Jordan. The history includes highs (mainly in the form of God’s faithfulness) and lows (in the form of the people’s failures). All this is intended to grab the attention of the people so that they heed the ensuing warnings and exhortations prior to their entry into the land.
Of all the lows, perhaps the most gripping is Moses’ own, which he recounts last:
23 “And I pleaded with the Lord at that time, saying,
24 ‘O Lord God, you have only begun to show your servant your greatness and your mighty hand. For what god is there in heaven or on earth who can do such works and mighty acts as yours?
25 Please let me go over and see the good land beyond the Jordan, that good hill country and Lebanon.’
26 But the Lord was angry with me because of you and would not listen to me. And the Lord said to me, ‘Enough from you; do not speak to me of this matter again.
Deuteronomy 3:23–26
“You have only begun to show your servant your greatness and your mighty hand…”
What a statement. Moses had conversed with the Lord in the burning bush. He had seen his own staff transformed into a serpent and back into a staff. He had seen his own healthy hand made leprous like snow, then made like new. These two signs Moses witnessed as the portents of the Lord’s deliverance of all Israel from slavery to the world’s greatest super power. That deliverance came not through skilled diplomacy. Rather it came through the bending of a king’s heart like a stream of water; it came through the manipulation of meteorology and ecology, light and darkness, life and death.
The plagues of Exodus come even before the great miracle that seems to be the emblem of God’s saving OT works—the parting of the Red Sea (Exo 14). One might think that the plagues represent God’s “beginning to show his greatness.”
Yet, Moses witnessed another forty years of wonders. He saw judgment: pretentious priests consumed by fire from heaven (Lev 10), rebels swallowed by the earth (Num 16), idolators bitten by poisonous serpents and healed by a bronze one (Num 21). He saw provision: manna from heaven (Exo 16), quail from the sea (Num 11:31), and water from a rock (Exo 17:6). All these works and many others were only the beginning of YHWH showing Moses His greatness and mighty hand.
If these things were only the beginning, how magnificent the fullness would have been!
Yet, Moses did not see the land beyond the Jordan with the rest of the Israelites. All because of a seemingly momentary lapse in faith. You can read the story in Numbers 20. Upon the people’s demand for water, Moses disobeyed the Lord’s command regarding how to provide it for them. And the Lord characterized this as unbelief disqualifying Moses (and Aaron) from bringing the people into the land.
There are many questions that tend to arise based on the events in Numbers 20 and Moses’ comments in Deuteronomy 3. Reams could be written about many aspects of this. Yet, I would like to focus just on the danger of the “Moses moment.”
I think of a “Moses moment” as the culmination of a host of circumstances and choices that can result in the forfeiture of blessings. A Moses moment may not only be found in the life of a prophet who strikes a rock to which he was commanded to speak. It may be a pastor who allows his heart to chase a woman not his wife. It may be a wife who entertains the attention of a man not her husband. It may be the student who turns in work not his own. It may be the father who loses control and injures his child.
And there are consequences. Did Moses’ failure cost him everything? Certainly not. He did not lose his eternal reward in glory. He is recorded as an examplar of faith in Hebrews 3 and 11. Moses enjoys the presence of the Lord even now, and like the rest of us, he will enjoy the new heaven and earth at the return of Christ.
Anyone who sins even in the most grievous of ways can find forgiveness through the atoning work of Jesus Christ. This is one great encouragement of the inclusion of the particular names of OT saints mentioned in Hebrews 11. The vast majority committed major sins for which they suffered temporal consequences. Yet, they are mentioned as those of faith awaiting a better reward.
Moses’ own failure didn’t cost him eternal blessing, but it did cost him temporally. The loss of entrance into the land beyond the Jordan was a loss. Moses rightly lamented it. He begged for a reversal of the consequence, but the Lord denied it.
So, the unfaithful pastor rightly loses his pulpit. The adulterous wife suffers at least a loss of trust, if not her marriage. The cheating student loses an education. The abusive parent may lose his or her freedom. Far worse…all forfeit a clean conscience and a testimony that commends the gospel. Some by losing these have shipwrecked their faith (1 Tim 1:19). In other words, these are not small consequences.
The Scriptures do not give us a window into Moses’ heart and mind to show us what led to his lapse, so that we might avoid the same. However, that does not mean the Scriptures leave us defenseless against “Moses moments.” What can we glean from the rest of the Word that might help us to remain faithful?
1) We should adopt an appropriate, godly fear of the temporal consequences of sin. The NT warns that God will not be mocked (Gal 6:7-8). May the example of Ananias and Sapphira testify to our hearts (Acts 5:1-11; cf 1 Cor 11:27-30). We ought not overrule our consciences by appealing to the prospect of eventual forgiveness and eternal reward. Sin will cause trouble for the believer.
2) We should avail ourselves of all the means of grace provided for us in Christ. We should abide in Christ (John 15:1-5). We should submit to and rely upon the indwelling Spirit (Gal 5:16-26). We should meditate on the Word preached, read, memorized, and sung (Psalm 1:1-2; 119:11; Col 3:16; 2 Tim 4:1-3). We should thoughtfully and carefully observe the ordinances (Acts 2:38; 1 Cor 11:17-34). We should pursue righteousness with the gathered saints (2 Tim 2:22; Heb 10:24-25).
3) We should keep our eyes on the prize. We should live like people who have not finished the race, but rather have an undetermined length of road yet to traverse (Phil 3:13-14). Such a mindset will lead us to lay aside every weight and sin that ensnares us, running with patience, setting our gaze on Jesus (Heb 12:1-2).
4) We should trust in Christ. This is not necessarily a fourth instruction but a clarification of the preceding three. All the above is not to say that we should muscle our way across the finish line or avoid a Moses’ moment strictly in our own strength. The point of #2 above is that we gain from Christ what we need to finish well. But it bears repeating. It will not be by our own strength that we remain faithful. It will not be by our own righteousness that we enter the kingdom. Christ alone is our hope. And we must remain fixed on Him.
May we love Jesus above all, may we trust Him for the forgiveness of any failures, may we by His grace avoid Moses moments, and may He receive the glory!
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