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Moses' Final Message
[Lesson 42: The Bronze Snake]
[Table of Contents]
[Lesson 44: Joshua & the Land of Canaan]
Lesson 43
Moses' Final Message
Deuteronomy
Peace be with you, listening friends. We greet you in the name of God, the Lord of peace, who
wants everyone to understand and submit to the way of righteousness that He has established, and
have true peace with Him forever. We are happy to be able to return today to present your program
The Way of Righteousness.
Over the past forty-two lessons, we have been looking into the first book of the Holy Scriptures,
the book we call the Torah. As you know, it is God who implanted His words in the mind of the
prophet Moses, inspiring him to write them in a book. Approximately three thousand five hundred
years have gone by since Moses wrote the Torah, yet it is still of immeasurable value to us today.
The Torah is the foundation that God Himself laid, so that we can test everything that we hear and
discern whether it comes from God or not. The teaching contained in the Torah is pure truth
from God. Any teaching that contradicts it is false. All of God's truth is in perfect harmony with what
is written in the Torah. There is one thing that Almighty God cannot do. Do you know what it is?
That's right, God cannot contradict Himself! In the Torah, Moses penned these words, "God is
not a man, that he should lie, nor a son of man, that he should change his mind. Does he
speak and then not act? Does he promise and not fulfil?" (Deut. 23:19)
Through our study in the Torah of Moses, God has revealed to us many profound mysteries. Today
we plan to conclude our journey through the holy Torah. But before we look at the final chapters,
let us review what we have seen from the beginning until today.
In the first chapter of the Torah, we saw how God created the first man in His own image. God
wanted to have a wonderful and meaningful relationship with man whom He had created. That is
why He placed in the soul of man a mind (spirit) so that he might know God, gave him a heart so
that he could love God and entrusted to him a will so that he could choose for himself whether to
obey God or to disobey Him.
In the third chapter, we saw how the first man, Adam, chose to obey Satan and eat of the tree
which God had prohibited. Thus, the Scripture says: "Sin entered the world through one man, and
death through sin, and in this way death came to all men, because all sinned." (Rom. 5:12) The
penalty of sin is death and eternal separation from God.
Thus, we saw how God expelled Adam and Eve from the Garden of Paradise because of their sin.
But before He put them out, God announced how He planned one day to send a Redeemer into the
world, to open a door of salvation for Adam's offspring; to free them from the dominion of Satan and
the penalty of sin.
Next, we learned how God called Abraham, promising to make of him a special nation from which
the prophets and the Redeemer would descend. Thus, Abraham begot Isaac; Isaac begot Jacob; and
Jacob begot twelve sons. Later, God changed Jacob's name to Israel. The twelve sons of Israel
formed the new nation which God had promised Abraham. The ten older sons sold their younger
brother, Joseph, as a slave who was taken to Egypt. However, "a man reaps what he sows." (Gal.
6:7) Consequently, we saw how all the children of Israel became slaves in Egypt. Nevertheless, God
did not forget His promise to Abraham and his descendants. In the book of Exodus we learned how
God fulfilled His promise to Abraham by calling Moses to free the Israelites from their bonds of
slavery.
In studying the story of Moses, we read the amazing and wonderful account of how God delivered
the multitude of Israel from the oppression of Pharaoh and the people of Egypt. We also read how
God protected them in the desert and brought them to the border of Canaan, the land which He had
promised their forefather Abraham long before. However, most of the Israelites were afraid of the
giants of Canaan and did not trust God to do for them what He had promised them. That is why they
did not enter the abundant land of Canaan at that time.
Because of their unbelief, the Israelites wandered in the wilderness for forty years, until all those
who did not believe what God had promised concerning Canaan passed away. That was the
punishment that God brought upon them because of their unbelief. Surely "the Lord is…a faithful
God who does no wrong, upright and just is He!" (Deut. 32:4)
Now, let's complete our journey in the Torah. Remember, the Israelites were in the desert
because God was chastening them for their unbelief. Every one of those more than twenty years old
who had refused to believe what God had promised concerning the land of Canaan had died. Not
one remained alive. Now their children were at the border of Canaan. After forty long years in the
wilderness, the children of Israel were now very anxious to get settled in the land their parents had
failed to enter!
Our study today is from the fifth section of the Torah, the book of Deuteronomy {Lit. Second Law}.
In this final section Moses reviews God's holy law and teaches it to the tribes of Israel. This profound
book contains the final message that Moses preached to the people to prepare them to enter the
land which God had promised them. We do not have time to read Moses' entire sermon today, but
we can summarize Moses' words in these few words: "Do not forget!"
In brief, Moses said something like this to the Israelites: Be careful not to forget that you were
slaves in Egypt! Do not forget all that God did for you on the way, between Egypt and the new land
which you are about to enter! Do not forget the sins that you committed against the Lord your God!
Do not forget how the Lord judged your parents because of their unbelief, which is why all their
corpses remain in the desert. Do not forget that God was good to your parents, but they were
hardheaded and refused to believe Him. Do not forget it!
Today, when you hear the voice of God, do not harden your hearts, as your parents did in the
wilderness. Will you be like your ancestors who refused to believe the Word of God, or will you
believe the Lord your God? If you refuse to believe the Word of God as your ancestors did, God
will punish you as He punished them. Do not forget it!
The Lord God will bring you into the land, which flows with milk and honey, which He swore to your
ancestors. Do not forget your God who gave you the land, because man does not live on bread
alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord! Do not forget it!
After Moses had finished his sermon, the Lord said to Moses:
(Deut. 32) 49Go up into the Abarim Range…across from Jericho, and view Canaan, the land
I am giving the Israelites as their own possession. 50There on the mountain that you have
climbed you will die… 51This is because both of you broke faith with me in the presence of the
Israelites…in the desert and because you did not uphold my holiness among the Israelites.
52Therefore, you will see the land only from a distance; you will not enter the land I am giving
to the people of Israel."
(Deut 34) 1Then Moses climbed Mount Nebo from the plains of Moab…There the Lord
showed him the whole land…all the land of Judah as far as the western sea… 4Then the Lord
said to him, "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 let you see it with your eyes, but you will not cross over
into it." 5And Moses the servant of the Lord died there in Moab, as the Lord had said. 6He
buried him in Moab…but to this day no one knows where his grave is. 7Moses was a hundred
and twenty years old when he died, yet his eyes were not weak nor his strength gone. 8The
Israelites grieved for Moses in the plains of Moab thirty days, until the time of weeping and
mourning was over. 9Now Joshua [who replaced Moses as the leader of the Israelites]…was
filled with the spirit of wisdom because Moses had laid his hands on him. So the Israelites
listened to him and did what the Lord had commanded Moses.
10Since then, no prophet has risen in Israel like Moses, whom the Lord knew face to face,
11who did all those miraculous signs and wonders the Lord sent him to do in Egypt, to Pharaoh
and to all his officials and to his whole land. 12For no one has ever shown the mighty power or
performed the awesome deeds that Moses did in the sight of all Israel." Amen.
So dear friends, this is where the Torah concludes. Everything written in the Torah is recorded so
that we might gain knowledge, knowledge that will lead us to faith in God's way of salvation. Truly,
Moses was a great prophet. He knew the Lord God face to face. He performed miraculous signs
from God. By the hand of Moses, God delivered the Israelites from the oppression of Pharaoh. Also
by his hand, God has given us the Torah, the first book in the Holy Scriptures. Everyone should
know what the prophet Moses wrote. Whoever does not know the Torah of Moses will be mistaken
in much and is in great danger of perishing in the way of unrighteousness. Remember, the Torah
is the foundation which God Himself laid, the foundation upon which God, through all the other
prophets, would build the rest of His holy book.
Truly, the prophet Moses wrote amazing, profound and wonderful words. Yet of all that Moses did
and wrote, nothing is more important than what he announced in the fifth section of the Torah, in
chapter eighteen. In this chapter Moses told the Israelites how God planned to raise up another,
even greater, prophet who would speak directly for God. Listen to what Moses told the people
of Israel:
(Deut. 18) 15The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among your
own brothers. You must listen to him. 16For this is what you asked of the Lord your God
at Horeb (Mount Sinai) on the day of the assembly when you said, "Let us not hear the voice
of the Lord our God nor see this great fire anymore, or we will die." 17The Lord said to me:
"What they say is good. 18I will raise up for them a prophet like you from among their
brothers; I will put my words in his mouth, and he will tell them everything I command
him. 19If anyone does not listen to my words that the prophet speaks in my name, I
myself will call him to account."
By this declaration from the mouth of Moses, God was announcing the coming of another prophet
who would come forth from the Hebrew nation (verses 15,18), a Man who would speak forth the
Word of God in all fulness and purity (vs.18,19), a Prophet who would be a Mediator between God
and man (vs.16,17). Do you know who that Prophet was? Do you know which Prophet spoke with
even greater authority than Moses? Do you know which Prophet displayed works which were greater
than the miracles performed by Moses? Yes, the Prophet of whom Moses spoke is the righteous
Redeemer, who was born of a Jewish virgin. Concerning Him, Moses issued an early warning to the
nation of Israel: "You must listen to him!…If anyone does not listen to my words that the
prophet speaks in my name, I myself will call him to account."