Reading: Psalm 95:6-11
Speaker: Tommy Pratt
This Week’s Thoughts
Do you ever hear a sermon and it awakens a new reality within you? It’s like a key going into a lock. It turns, then something true and wonderful opens up.
I have had this experience several times. One time jumped out at me when I saw this week’s sermon was on Moses and the Promised Land. The message that it brought to mind was about the ending of each book in the Torah. It may not sound like anything special, but stick with me.
Kevin DeYoung had been preaching as a guest pastor at our old church in Colorado. I remember him asking us: “What do the endings of Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy all have in common?”
The congregation – including me – went quiet. Pins could have dropped and gone off like gunshots. Then Kevin gave us the answer. “Each book of the Torah,” he said, “ends by looking toward the Promised Land.”
Well fancy that. He was right. How could I have missed it?
Genesis ends with Joseph’s plea for his bones to one day return to Canaan. Exodus ends with the Tabernacle built and God guiding Israel toward the Promised Land. Leviticus ends with property rights for the Israelites’ future home. Numbers ends with Israel camped on the plains of Moab, just across from Jericho. And Deuteronomy ends with Moses up on Mount Nebo, allowed by God to see the Promised Land just before his death.
Pretty great, right? You can see why I wondered how I ever missed this profound link between the first five books of the Bible. For God’s ancient people, the promise of milk, honey, and security was the air they breathed. They had longed for such a land since the days of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. We all know this feeling. But how does this relate to our current study of Hebrews?
Ask yourself: what was Moses thinking as he left the plains of Moab and climbed Pisgah Peak? As gazed across at Jericho and the Lord showed him the whole land – from Gilead as far as Dan – just what went through his mind?
The Bible does not tell us. Instead we hear God’s last words to His friend Moses: “This is the land I promised on oath to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob when I said, ‘I will give it to your descendants.’ I have now allowed you to see it with your own eyes, but you will not enter the land” (Deuteronomy 34:4). And that was that.
Was Moses sad? Maybe. Probably. Was the prophet of God, whom the Lord spoke with face-to-face, as a man speaks with a friend, devastated? Possibly. Or maybe – hopefully – Moses learned from his lapses in faith and realised God knew best. Maybe he saw God’s decisions were fair and perfect, and who is man to argue with his Maker?
But again I ask: how does this relate to our current study of Hebrews? We will see that next week. So in the meantime I’ll ponder this: God gave the Law through Moses, and Moses served well. Then, in the fullness of time, God’s full grace arrived in His perfect Son. Only then was a better Promised Land revealed. And which land was Moses really chasing? The one just across the Jordan, or the one whose architect is God, where your Saviour awaits you…