Hi! loving sisters and brothers,
It is clear to me that both old and new testaments are God's integral plan from the beginning and not Plan A and B as some may think. God's love and care for His people never changed as advocated by John 3:16. He did everything for us, knowing the truth that we can't add value to it. He even send His begotten Son to die for us so as to redeem our sins.
Below are some of crucial points extracted for your easy understanding.
1. Man of God
Moses is a man of God. God reaffirmed that Moses is a sinner, that he made mistakes despite his privilege to be able to communicate with God face to face. He still fell short of perfect obedience which resulted in his failure to enter the promised land. Deuteronomy 34: However, God's grace made him not lacking in anything. Even though he was one hundred and twenty years old, his eyes were not weak nor his health. God's grace enable him to see the entire promised land prior to the end of his life.Thereafter, no one has any idea as to the whereabouts of his dead body. Do not forget that his living body was protected by God and delivered from the hatred of Pharaoh when he was a baby in a basket in the Nile.
Since then, no prophet has risen in Israel like Moses, whom the Lord knew face to face, who 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.
Through Moses, four profound principles are well entrenched in the Christian walk :-
a) Time
The most important thing is to spend time with God.
Here, our issue is that we must get our priorities right and find the time to be with God. Is it not Him that gives time?
b) Obedience
Obey God. If you spend time with God and thus come to love Him, you have to obey His commands. This is inclined to inward rather than outward looking. Once you have intimate relationship with God, you will hear His voice accurately, and not the voice from your flesh.
c) Trust God
This means to believe Him, to act and also to have your entire life based on His instructions, encouragements, statutes, laws and promises.
d) Witness
Speak often to others about God. The purpose of our presence is to testify God's existence. We share our experiences and revelations to glorify Him knowing the truth that all titles, glory, mercy, holy, and grace are for Him.
These four elements are integrated and function as one action to form the characteristics of Christ likeness.
2. Tutor between Adam and Jesus
One man's sin (through Adam), the world sin. Therefore, one man saved (through Jesus), the world is saved. Laws are our tutor but does not make us perfect us. [Galatians 3:24] If not, Christ death on the cross is in vain.
From Moses' life, we find abundance of evidence that God's grace delivered them out of Egypt and not through any of their efforts. In their weaknesses God's great strength is demonstrated. The point of the illustration is that salvation is made possible by the grace of God alone and it is received by faith alone, and not through our work. [Ephesians 2:8 - 9]
3. Two basic yet powerful commands
The vertical line of the Cross symbolize the first command of loving God whereas the horizontal line of it symbolize the second command of loving our peers, including our enemies.
Moses has demonstrated an unshakable faith even in the most troubling circumstances. In Moses' last breath, he still pray for his people despite his disappointing experiences with almost all of his people except Caleb and Joshua. God's grace made him lack nothing because of his fulfillment of these two basic commands.
James Oh
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