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Old Testament 26 Exodus Stage 8 Liberty Home Bible Institute HL Willmington
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In this lecture, the speaker discusses how people can fail God in their strongest points. He gives examples of Moses, David, and Elijah who all failed in their strong characteristics. The speaker then talks about Paul's thorn in the flesh and how weakness can actually make us stronger in God's grace. He warns against being complacent in our strong points and emphasizes the need for humility and reliance on God. The lecture also mentions the story of the fiery serpents in Numbers 21 and how it relates to Nicodemus' conversation with Jesus in John 3.14. This is number 26 in a series of 80 Old Testament lectures, and we've been discussing in the former lecture the sin that caused Moses to be kept from the Promised Land. I'd like to ask you a question, do you ever hear that old proverb, a chain is only as strong as its weakest link? You know, sometimes that is not true. For example, the Bible is filled with examples of men of God who fail God not in their weak points, like the weak link in the chain, but in their strong points. And Moses here is the first example that we could offer. For example, if you were choosing a strong characteristic of Moses, I think it would be his meekness. There was no arrogance, no impatience, and no pride in the life of Moses. In fact, the Bible itself says that man Moses was the meekest of all the men upon the earth. And yet, here he fails God in his strongest point, and he blows up. That's the antithesis, that's the opposite of meekness. Then we could offer other instances. Later on, there was a man named David, and certainly David's great point of strength was his kindness. On several occasions, he spares the life of Saul, and his purity. Certainly the man who wrote the 23rd Psalm, and the man who could write the Psalm that says thy word is very pure, the 119th Psalm, therefore thy servant loveth it. He lives two great strong links in his chain, in his life, for his kindness and his purity. And yet, he later murders Uriah, one of his faithful men, and that's the opposite of kindness, I'll guarantee you. And he commits adultery with Uriah's wife Bathsheba, and that's certainly the antithesis of purity. I could give you another example of a man who failed God in his strongest point, and that man's name was Elijah. Elijah's strong point certainly was his boldness and his courageous nature. Here he stands up against the king himself, and then he'll stand up alone, not only against King Ahab, but against 450 priests of Baal, single-handedly defeating them on the Mount Carmel, there in Israel, in northern Galilee. That's in 1 Kings chapter 18, but do you know what he does in 1 Kings chapter 19? That strong, bold, fearless, courageous man who stood up against hundreds of pagan priests the chapter before, now runs from a woman, and her name was Jezebel. Now, I think the examples would support the statement that I've made. But what's the reason for this? And I believe that Paul says in 1 Corinthians, 2 Corinthians, actually chapter 12, these following words, I think, will help explain why men fail God in their strongest points. Paul, you remember, was caught up into the third heaven, and he saw sights that just dazzled him, and he says that, lest he be exalted above measure through the abundance of his revelations, he said, there was given to me a thorn in the flesh, the messenger of Satan, to buffet me, lest I should be exalted above measure. Well, this thing sort of drove Paul up a wall, and it just became a terrible thing. He couldn't stand it any longer, whatever it was, we don't know, but it was something that really, in the common vocabulary, really bugged him. So verse 8, for this thing I besought the Lord thrice, three times, he said, I asked God that it might depart from me. And in verse 9, God said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee, for my strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly, therefore, will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me. Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in necessities, in persecutions, in distresses, for Christ's sake, now notice, class, for when I am weak, 2 Corinthians 12, verse 10, then I am strong. You see, in verse 9, My grace is sufficient for thee, for my strength is made perfect in weakness. And then again the statement, when I am weak, then I am strong. And Paul said this, that I'm glad this happened, because my very weakness has taught me the strength of the Lord. These men, apparently, were not on guard against failing God in their strong points. You know, there are some areas in my life where I've often been tempted to think, well, I won't fail God in this, I may fail Him in other areas, and there are certain weaknesses in my life that I know, I've lived with myself for a number of years now, but I've got some strong points that I don't even have to worry about them. Oh, listen, the Bible says, Let him that thinketh he stand take heed lest he fall. There's a little song that goes like this, When the danger least thou fearest, then the tempter snares nearest. I'm speaking to many, many students of all walks and lives and spiritual background, living in various geographical locations. Listen, child of God, according to the Bible, you are capable, even as a child of God, as a Christian, you are capable of committing the vilest sin, even as a child of God. And don't you ever think, and God forbid that I would ever think, we are above doing thus and such and we don't even need to pray about this. Because except by the grace of God, we, too, could fall into the foulest pit of sin. In 1 Corinthians 5, Paul said that a believer there, and apparently he was a believer, was doing things, living in incest with his own mother, or adultery with his mother-in-law, I mean, with his stepmother, we're not sure which, but Paul says that a man should have his own mother. And he was doing things that Paul says, as a believer, that even the Gentiles would not do. And the point we're trying to make here is that Moses failed God in his strongest point, because perhaps he wasn't guarding against an attack of the devil. And God now tells him that this sin will keep him out of the promised land. That's in Numbers chapter 20. Now in Numbers chapter 21, there's a very interesting scene, a set of circumstances that we need to discuss, because it's mentioned again in the New Testament in a very famous night scene. Let's read about this that took place in the desert here in Numbers 21. And the people spake against God, in verse 5, and against Moses, and this is like they get out this same old scratchy record and they begin to play it time and time again. Wherefore have ye brought us out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? For there is no bread, neither is there any water. And our soul loafeth this light bread. And again God steps in and punishes his people. Notice what he does. And the Lord sent fiery serpents among the people, and they bit the people, and much people of Israel died. Therefore the people came to Moses and said, We have sinned, for that we have spoken against the Lord and against thee, praying to the Lord that he take away the serpents from us. And Moses prayed for the people. But notice now, God heard their prayer, and God always hears the prayer of his believers when they pray. But he doesn't take away the serpents, because he's going to show them, illustrate a very precious truth that will be fully enlightened in the New Testament. So God said, All right, I'll forgive their sins, but I'm not going to take away the serpents. And the Lord said unto Moses, verse 8, Make thee a fiery serpent, and set it upon a pole and it shall come to pass that every one that is bitten, when he looketh upon it shall live. And Moses made a serpent of brass, and put it on a pole, and it came to pass that if a serpent had bitten any man, when he beholdeth, beheldeth a serpent of brass, he lived. Now the story has been told now, and in the New Testament, let me just say this, that there's a rich, young ruler, whose name, we don't know how young he was, he was rich and he was a ruler, a ruler of the Pharisees, and his name is Nicodemus. And he comes to Christ by night. He comes for one reason, he wants to know how to be saved. Apparently he had inherited some money down here perhaps, or a little kingdom, and he hears that this Jewish rabbi, Jesus, is talking about a kingdom in the sky, and so he wants to know, how can I inherit the kingdom of God? How can I enter into the heavenly kingdom? And of course Jesus gives him the great mandate, verily, verily, I say unto thee, except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. Well Nicodemus doesn't understand, and he immediately begins to confuse spiritual birth with physical birth. And he says, well, how can a man, verse 4 of John chapter 3, how can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter into the second time into his mother's womb and be born? Then Jesus has to explain to him, no, Nicodemus, I'm not talking about physical birth, I'm talking about spiritual birth. And Nicodemus says, I just don't understand, Lord. He says, well, let me give you another illustration. So he gives him an illustration from nature, and he talks about the wind, and the wind is invisible and yet it does its work, and the Holy Spirit is invisible and yet he can do his work. Nicodemus says in verse 9, how can these things be? And so Jesus uses several illustrations in an attempt to show this rich man, this religious man, and you know they're the hardest to lead to Christ, why and how he should be saved. And Nicodemus keeps saying, I just don't understand. And finally, in verse 14 of John chapter 3, Jesus goes back to Numbers 21, and in an attempt to reach this lost religious teaching Pharisee to Christ, in an attempt to reach him, he relates this story. Well, Nicodemus could understand now. And in John chapter 3, verse 14, he says, Jesus says, as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up. I suppose there is not a Christian in the world that does not know John 3.16. But I'm going to tell you, John 3.14 is just as important because it explains the full meaning of John 3.16. What Jesus is saying here in verse 14 is this, he's saying, Nicodemus, you have been bitten by a serpent, just as that Old Testament Israeli person was bitten by a serpent. And it's the serpent of sin, and as in the Old Testament, it's incurable and there's no possible medicine you can take in order to purge out this poison. But God is going to provide a cure. And someday soon, now, Nicodemus, he's going to dig a hole, this time not in the camp of Israel in the desert, but in the center of the earth, in the Middle East, right outside of the city of Jerusalem. And in this pole, he's going to put, this time, not a pole, but a cross. And on this cross, he's going to put not a serpent, a brass, but a living Savior. And then it will come to pass, and in John 3.15 it says, that whosoever believeth, what does it mean to believe? It means to look. Believeth in him should not perish, but have ever our eternal life. Now with that in mind, let me read John 3.14 again, and you see how this leads to John 3.16. And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up. And you see, that's the statement that Jesus, he was referring to later when he said, search the scriptures, for they speak of me. And what we're saying is this, I don't think you can really preach a message on John 3 and do it full justice, or teach a Sunday school class to a group of boys and girls on the third chapter of the Gospel of John, unless you have the background here in Numbers chapter 21. So it is extremely important, of course, that we understand the Old Testament. Now in chapters 22, and well, actually in chapter 20, I should have called your attention to something. I already discussed the death of Miriam, and at the last part of chapter 20, Moses' sister has died, now Moses' brother, the first high priest, Aaron, dies. And even before he dies, God orders Moses to strip Aaron of his priestly garments and to place them upon his son Eliezer. Remember we said that Aaron had four sons, and two of them were rascals, Nadab and Abihu, and they should have been the next priests, but God killed them in Leviticus 10, and so now the mantle has fallen upon Eliezer, who is his third son, Aaron's third son. And God tells Aaron, you're going to die, now get up into the mountain, and I'll bury you there, and from this point, then Eliezer will become the high priest. So Aaron dies in Numbers chapter 20, at the age of 123, and he's buried on Mount Hor, H-O-R. The Schofield Bible reads at this point, it gives an interesting sidelight here, it says, The death of Aaron marks the end of the wandering of Israel. Henceforth Israel marches or halts, but does not wander. And then, as we said, beginning with chapter 22 now, we find some very strange and almost amusing, but really tragic verses. Chapters 22, 23, and 24. And we have in our notes this outline, a perverted prophet, and the prophet's name is Balaam, B-A-L-A-A-M. And he is hired by a pagan king, whose name is Balak, B-A-L-A-K. Let me give you the background. Israel is now marching, and they're going north. They're on the east side of the Jordan River, but they're going north, and they're licking up their enemies and wiping them out as a cow would just graze and eat the grass. And nothing is able to stand before them, no one or no nation. And there's a wicked king of the nation of Moab, and his name is Balak, and he's terrified. And so he says, you know, I've got to have to do something here. And he remembers that there is a well-known prophet whose name was Balaam, and supposedly he was a prophet of God, at least he was a prophet that God had used. And so he says, I'll do this. I'm going to pay, hire Balaam, I'll give him money, and if he's a prophet, then that means that God will have to do what he tells God to do, or what he prophesies, and I'm going to hire him to put a curse, to put a hex upon the nation Israel, and then this way I'll have their own God to curse them. And so that's what he tries to do. And in chapter 22, he sends messengers, Balak does, to Balaam's home, and says, here's, I'll give you a lot of reward. And he says, in verse 11, the messengers sent from Balak to Balaam, chapter 22, behold, there is a people come out of Egypt, which covereth the face of the earth, come now, curse me them perventure, and I shall be able to overcome them and drive them out. And God said unto Balaam, thou shalt not go with them, thou shalt not curse the people, for they are blessed. And so Balaam sent them home. Well, they came back to Balak, and Balak said, that's all right, every man has his price, go offer him more money. Verse 15, and Balak sent yet again princes more and more honorable than they. And so Balaam, instead of saying, now, look, I told you once, God said no, and he's not going to change his mind, this time he says, I tell you what, he says, why don't you wait, and perhaps God does change his mind, and I'll talk to him. And in verse 20, God realizes, of course, that Balaam's going to go anyway now for the filthy lucre, and so God's going to work out his own purpose, even though Balaam is disobedient. And in verse 20, God says, he came unto Balaam at night and said unto him, if the men come to call thee, rise up and go with them, you've got your mind made up, Balaam, go ahead, but I want to tell you right now that you're going to say only what I want you to say. Then in verse 21, Balaam rose up in the morning, and he went with the princes of Moab. Well, on his way, God's anger, we're told, was kindled against Balaam because he went, and the angel of the Lord, might have been the Lord Jesus, or it might have been Gabriel and Michael the archangel, verse 22, stood in the way for an adversary against him. And he was riding upon his ass, and his two servants were with him. And the ass saw the angel of the Lord standing in the way, and his sword drawn in his hand. And the ass turned aside out of the way and went into the field, and Balaam smote the ass to turn her into the way. So apparently this dumb donkey now has more common sense than Balaam, and Balaam's beating up on the donkey, and you crazy animal, what are you doing scattering and getting off the pathway like this? But he finally gets her back on the pathway, and she's going along now, and verse 24, but the angel of the Lord stood in a path of the vineyards, a wall being on this side and a wall on that side. So he goes in a vineyard area now, and there's a wall on either side, and he's riding his little donkey. And verse 25, and when the ass saw the angel of the Lord, see the angel got right before this donkey and holds the sword out, she thrust herself unto the wall and crushed Balaam's foot against the wall, and he smote her. And he's really getting angry now. And verse 26, and the angel of the Lord went farther and stood in a narrow place where was no way to turn either to the right hand or to the left. Now they're trapped now. And when the ass saw the angel of the Lord, she fell under Balaam, and Balaam's anger was kindled, and he smote the ass with a staff. And so here you're just beating on this crazy animal and probably calling it all kinds of choice adjectives, and you say, why do I say that, Dean Wilmington? Well, apparently Balaam wasn't saved, or if he was, he was so backslidden that I imagine he would use that language this way. But this is one of the most hilarious moments in the Bible, verse 28, and the Lord opened the mouth of the ass, and she said unto Balaam, What have I done unto thee, that thou hast smitten me these three times? Why are you beating up on me? Well, Balaam is so angry that apparently he doesn't think it too strange that this donkey speaks. And Balaam said unto the ass, Because thou hast mocked me, he said, I would that there were a sword in mine hand, for then I would kill thee. You know, if this staff was a sword, he said, Oh, buddy, you'd go to that great donkey home in the sky. And verse 30, And the ass said unto Balaam, Here the ass is attempting to, as someone said, to reason with the human donkey. She said, Am I not thine ass, upon whom thou hast ridden ever since I was thine unto this day? Was I ever wont to do so unto thee? Have you ever known me to act this way before, Balaam? And Balaam says, Nay. Well, this is the first, second, rather, of three creatures apart from human beings that speak in the Bible. One is a serpent in the book of Genesis, and one here is an ass in Numbers 22, and the other is an eagle in the book of Revelation. At this time the Lord opened the eyes of Balaam, and he saw the angel of the Lord standing in the way, and his sword drawn in his hand. And he bowed down his head, and fell flat on his face. And then God really rebukes him. Well, Balaam goes on, and he meets Balak. They get on top of the hill, and they see the children of Israel, their armies bivouacked below. And Balaam says, Balaak says, All right, now I've paid you. He says, Do your stuff. And then Balaam opens his mouth and attempts to place a curse upon the children of Israel. But in every case, and he tries it four times, there proceeds from his mouth words of blessing to his amazement and to Balak's anger. And these four blessings are as follows. One is found in Numbers 23, verses 8 to 10, and then verses 22 to 24 of that chapter, and then in verses 5 to 9 of chapter 24, and then verse 17 of chapter 24. Let me read these four blessings. The first time he tries to curse, and here's what comes out. How shall I curse whom God hath not cursed? Or how shall I defy whom the Lord hath not defied? For from the top of the rocks I see him, he's speaking of the nation Israel now, and from the hills I behold him, I'm standing on this hill and I see this, lo, the people shall dwell alone, and Israel has certainly dwelt alone, among the nations, but never lost their identity. There are Russian Jews, there are German Jews, American Jews, Holy Land Jews, Cuban Jews, these are peoples that have never mingled in with the rest of the population in the way that Germans have, for example, they just haven't been absorbed into the great melting pot even of American society. And this is a prophecy. From the top of the rocks I see him, lo, this people shall dwell alone, and shall not be reckoned among the nations. Who can count the dust of Jacob, and the number of the fourth part of Israel? Let me die the death of the righteous, and let my last end be like this. He was saying, oh, that I could be like that nation down there. That was his first attempt to curse Israel, and it failed. And Dalek said, hey, listen, now, I'm paying you to curse, and you're a blessing. And he said, now, listen, if you can't say something bad about him, don't say anything good about him, just don't say anything at all. And Balaam said, let me try it again. And he tries it again, abracadabra, but it doesn't work, and here's the second words that came out of his mouth, the record. God brought them out of Egypt. He hath, as it were, the strength of a unicorn. Surely there is no enchantment against Jacob, there's no curse I can put upon him, neither is there any divination against Israel. According to this time, it shall be said of Jacob and of Israel, what hath God wrought? Behold, the people shall rise up as a great lion, and lift up himself as a young lion. He shall not lie down until he eat of the prey, and drink of the blood of the slain. This is a reference to what Israel is going to do to its enemies. And then he tries it the third time. And Balaam says, you better make them cursed this time. And so, again, he tries and fails, and here's the third blessing. How goodly are thy tents, O Jacob, and thy tabernacles, O Israel, as the valleys are they spread forth as gardens by the riverside, as the tree of aloes which the Lord hath planted, and on and on. The last part, he says, of this third prophecy, blessed is he that blesseth thee, and cursed is he that curseth thee. That's Numbers 24, verses 5 to 9. And then the fourth attempt, and at this both Balak and Balaam get so disgusted they quit. What a beautiful prophecy this is, probably coming from the mouth of an unsaved man. In Numbers 24, verse 17, I shall see him, Balaam says, but not now, I shall behold him. Now, apparently the hymn here is not a reference to Israel on this occasion, where it says, he shall dwell alone before that that spoke of the nation. This seems to be speaking here of an individual, and I believe that individual is Christ. I shall see him, Jesus, but not now. I shall behold him, but not nigh. This may mean that I'll see him someday, but I don't get very close to him, because I'll be lost. There shall come a star out of Jacob, and a scepter shall rise out of Israel, and shall smite the corners of Moab, and destroy all the children of She. So the Moabites were going to be destroyed. Then many years later, in fact, some fourteen centuries later, a group of wise men, a group of astronomers, left the land of Mesopotamia, out of the east somewhere, and made their way into the city of Jerusalem, and they went to King Herod and asked him a question, and the question was this, Where is he that is born King of Israel? For we have seen his star. Did you ever wonder? How did they know that there was a star attached to the birth of the Jewish Messiah? Apparently from this passage here. As far as we know, Balaam lived perhaps in the same area that the astronomers that came to worship Jesus later would live in. And there was this tradition by one of their own prophets, Balaam, by name, that someday a Jewish Messiah would be born, and that the sign of his birth would be a star. In reading this, there shall come a star out of Jacob, and a scepter shall rise out of Israel. Of all the thousands of characters in the Old Testament, surely Balaam is the most mysterious, one of the most mysterious, and in some ways the most tragic. He is mentioned by no less than three New Testament writers, each of whom write concerning a particular aspect of his character. He is mentioned by Peter, and he is mentioned by Jude, and he is mentioned by the Apostle John. Simon Peter says, concerning the way of Balaam, who loved the wages of unrighteousness. And then the book of Jude speaks of his error, the error of Balaam. And then his doctrine is mentioned by the Apostle John in the book of Revelation, the doctrine of Balaam, who cast a stumbling block before the children of Israel, to eat things sacrificed unto idols, and to commit fornication. So what was his error? What was his way? Well, his way was this. He loved the wages of righteousness. His way seemed to be that he could be hired, his ministry was up for the highest bidder. That was his way. And then his error, according to Jude, apparently his error was his conclusion that God would simply have to curse Israel because of their many sins. But God did not have to curse them. And then his doctrine was this. The Bible says, the doctrine of Balaam, who cast a stumbling stone before the children of Israel, to eat things sacrificed unto idols, and to commit fornication. So apparently here he was saying, if you can't curse them, then corrupt them. So finally, let's say this, that Balaam turned to Balak and said, okay, you can't curse them, but here's my doctrine, let's corrupt them. You send some of these Moabite girls and these city slickers and immoral girls and let them go in and entice the Israeli boys to commit fornication and idolatry. And that's exactly what took place. And God then did have to step in and punish his people. In fact, the Bible says that some 24,000 people of the children of Israel fell in the plague because of their sin in turning from God and going along with the doctrine of Balaam. Again, the doctrine is this, if you can't curse them, then corrupt them through immorality and idolatry. In chapter 27, and we must bring this to a close, we don't have too many moments left concerning this lecture. In chapter 27, Eliezer, the new high priest, remember who took the place of his father Aaron, he's instructed to lay hands upon Joshua in a public ceremony, thus transferring Moses' authority over to him. And so we have two new leaders. We have a new high priest, Eliezer, and now we have a new political leader. And Joshua is soon to take the place of Moses. And apparently Moses himself in this chapter delivers the ordination address. And all this brings us to the final book of the Exodus stage, which is the book of Deuteronomy. And in the next eight or ten, perhaps eleven minutes left of this lecture, and actually of the entire stage, I want us to consider some key passages in this book of Deuteronomy. Some Christians will pass over the book because it seems to be just a repetition of what has already gone on before. And it is that, in a sense, because the word Deuteronomy comes from two words, duet, meaning of course two, and nomos is law, and you put them together and you get second law. But it's far more than that. It's not only a time of reminiscing and reviewing, but it's a time of rededicating on the part of Moses concerning the nation Israel. There are a number of key passages. The book of Deuteronomy has 34 chapters, and it includes the record of four of Moses' sermons to the nation, and then a final song in the last few verses. The first sermon has been titled, in our notes, Look Backward, and includes Deuteronomy 1-4, and he does do some reviewing there. Then the second sermon is included in Deuteronomy 5-26, and we have this in our notes, Look Inward. Then the third sermon, Deuteronomy 27-30, Look Forward, what God has for you in the future, and then finally, Deuteronomy 31-34, Look Upward, and this is good for a child of God to stop on occasion and do these four things, to look backward, see from whence we've come, look inward, check our own hearts and look forward, what God has for us, and then always stopping to look upward. Moses covers a broad spiritual spectrum in Deuteronomy, and we'd like to note in closing just a few of his key statements concerning a number of subjects. First of all, concerning the faithfulness of God, and why he speaks about this. In Deuteronomy 2, verse 7, Moses says, For the Lord thy God has blessed thee in all the works of thy hand. He knoweth thy walking through this great wilderness, and God knew, of course, they had done much walking. These forty years the Lord thy God hath been with thee, and thou hast lacked nothing. Then in Deuteronomy 7, verses 6-8, as far as I know, God tells his people he loves them for the first time. I'm sure he's told them that before, but this is the first recorded instance. Moses reminds them, The Lord did not set his love upon you, nor choose you, because you were more in number than any people, for you were the fewest of all the people. But because the Lord loved you, and because he would keep the oath which he had sworn unto your fathers, hath the Lord brought you out with a mighty hand. In Deuteronomy 8, verses 3-4, Moses reminds them of the faithfulness of God. He says, Thy raiment, thy clothing, waxed not old upon thee, neither did thy foot swell these forty years. My, what a testimony that was. And then again, continuing on the faithfulness of God in Deuteronomy 32, we're sort of skipping around here, but what I've attempted to do is go through the book of Deuteronomy and classify these scriptures into various subjects. He says, For the Lord's portion is his people. Jacob is the lot of his inheritance. He found him in a desert land, and in the waste, howling wilderness, he led him about. He instructed him. He kept him as the apple of his eye, as an eagle stirreth up her nest, fluttereth over her young, spreadeth abroad her wings, taketh them, and beareth them on her wings, so the Lord alone did lead Israel. So God led Israel out with his wings, the everlasting wings he bore up Israel, out of the land of Egypt, and kept her as a tender mother, as it were, throughout the forty years, and brought them to the place where they were here. Then concerning the grace of God, there are a number of passages that we could read. We'll skip over that. The warnings of God, in several key chapters here, Deuteronomy 28, 29, and 30, Moses solemnly warns God's people, If you'll behave yourself, then God will allow you to enter the land and stay in the land. But if you don't behave yourself, then God will drive you out of the land. He says in Deuteronomy 30, for example, I call heaven and earth to record this day against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing. Therefore choose life, that both thou and thy seed may live. In chapter 18, Moses predicts the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ. As far as I know, the only time in his writings when he speaks directly concerning Christ, and he says this, The Lord thy God will raise up unto thee a prophet from the midst of thee of thy brethren like unto me, unto him ye shall hearken. So he speaks of this great prophet, and this was known in Jewish tradition then as the great prophet that Moses promised, and everybody was looking forward to that prophet. It's interesting, some 14 centuries later, when John the Baptist was baptizing by the Jordan River, the Pharisees from Jerusalem came to talk with him. And they said, We'd like to know who you are and why you're doing, who's given you the authority to do what you're doing. Are you Elijah the prophet? And he said, No. And they said, Well, are you that prophet? And apparently they meant the prophet that Moses spoke about. Are you that prophet, the Messiah? And he said, No, I'm just a voice crying in the wilderness. What did God really desire of Israel? Well, in Deuteronomy chapter 10, Moses reminds God's people what the Lord wanted of them. He says, And now, Israel, what doth the Lord thy God require of thee, but to fear the Lord thy God, to walk in all his ways, and to love him, to serve the Lord thy God with all thy heart and with all thy soul? He admonishes them then, therefore, in Deuteronomy 10, to circumcise therefore the foreskin of your heart, and be no more stiff-necked. In Deuteronomy 17, we read an interesting passage here, Moses predicts that when they get into the land, they will have a king, and that king will be set up over the people. But God here warns the future kings of Israel that there were three things the kings were not to multiply unto themselves. Number one, God says, He shall not multiply horses to himself. Secondly, neither shall he multiply wives to himself. Thirdly, neither shall he greatly multiply to himself silver and gold. That we read in Deuteronomy 17, verses 14 to 20. And of course, Solomon, later on, would break all three of these commands. He would multiply greatly horses. He had some 40,000 horses and women. He had 700 wives and 300 concubines, and gold and silver. The Bible said he made as the stones and blocks of the street, all three of these. Finally, in Deuteronomy 31, Moses, at the age of 120 years, is about ready to depart this earth. So he gives the final encouragement to Joshua, and he gave Joshua, the son of Nun, a charge and said, Be strong and of a good courage, for thou shalt bring the children of Israel into the land which I swear unto them, and I will be with them. Then he has a final song. He says, And this is the blessing, wherewith Moses, the man of God, blessed the children of Israel before his death. And here is sort of a chorus of his song, The eternal God is thy refuge, in Deuteronomy 33. His teeth are the everlasting arms, and he shall thrust out the enemy before thee. So Moses now goes up to the plain of Moab, unto the mountain of Nebo, to the top of Mount Pisgah, and then God showed him all the land of Palestine, the land that he was not able to enter into, but nevertheless the land that God did show him. Moses sang a song as the book of Deuteronomy ends, and as we end it, I won't sing. Someone has said that I was cut out to be a singer, but I was sewed up wrong, and so I won't frighten you with my singing. But I'd like to quote a song, one of my favorites, written many years ago by William W. Walford entitled, Sweet Hour of Prayer, and it sort of ties it in with what we said. Sweet hour of prayer, sweet hour of prayer, that calls me from a world of care. Bids me at my father's throne, makes all my wants and wishes known. In seasons of distress and grief, my soul has often found relief, and oft escaped the tempter's snare. By thy return, sweet hour of prayer, and the last stanza, I think, is given over to Moses. Sweet hour of prayer, sweet hour of prayer, may I thy consolation share, till from Mount Pisgah's lofty height I view my home and take my flight. This robe of flesh I'll drop and rise to seize the everlasting prize, and shout, perhaps as Moses did, while passing through the air, farewell, farewell, sweet hour of prayer. This brings to the end now, to the end, the Exodus stage.
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