Deuteronomy chapter 34, and we're
going to read from verse one. But before we read, let me just
give you a few words by way of introduction as to what it is
that we're going to be thinking about today. This is a passage
concerning the death of Moses. And today we're going to learn
A little bit about the death of God's servant, Moses. We have moved from the book of
Numbers to the very end, to the very last chapter of the book
of Deuteronomy. And in fact, it's all that we're
going to look at in the book of Deuteronomy. So we've kind
of moved quickly through Numbers and Deuteronomy in many ways. Deuteronomy means, the word Deuteronomy
means the second book of the law. Not because God gave the
law twice, but because Moses again repeats the whole law to
the people of the children of Israel on the plain of Moab. just before he died. The people
were waiting on this plain. It was in a valley area beside
mountains and they were waiting there on the border of Moab ready
to enter into the promised land. But Moses was not to go with
them. And so this is the incident where
the Lord speaks to Moses concerning his own death. And it's been
40 years that the children of Israel have been wandering in
the wilderness. And now they're in the last month
of that 40 years. And Moses is speaking to them. And the whole of the book of
Deuteronomy is actually Moses speaking to the people in this
last period, in this last month. Moses knew that he was going
to die, so he reminded the people of the Lord's deeds and the Lord's
words and the Lord's law. how they should live when they
entered the promised land and the book of Deuteronomy contains
a prophecy about the coming of Christ. It also contains a song
known as the Song of Moses and it speaks about some individual
blessings that Moses gave to each of the 12 tribes. So there's
also a little bit of the account, we'll read it in a moment, of
Joshua being chosen as the new leader of the children of Israel
to go before them into Canaan after Moses' death. So that's
kind of an overview, brief and summarised it is, of the book
of Deuteronomy. But having spent a lot of time
thinking about the law in the book of Exodus, and about the
travels of the people in the book of Exodus. There's no need
really for us to repeat these in the book of Deuteronomy at
this time. So here it is, we have come to
the time for Moses to die. We spent time thinking many months
ago about the birth of the child and his safety in the bull rushes
and now we've come to the end of his life. It's been a very
eventful life, it's been a very powerful and significant life. His work is now complete and
here we are told how his death happened. So we're going to read
verses 1 to 12 of Deuteronomy chapter 34. And Moses went up from the plains
of Moab unto the mountain of Nebo to the top of Pisgah that
is over against Jericho. And the Lord showed him all the
land of Gilead unto Dan. and all Naphtali, and the land
of Ephraim, and Manasseh, and all the land of Judah unto the
utmost sea, and the south, and the plain of the valley of Jericho,
the city of palm trees, unto Zoar. And the Lord said unto
him, This is the land which I swear unto Abraham, unto Isaac, and
unto Jacob, saying, I will give it unto thy seed. I have caused
thee to see it with thine eyes, but thou shalt not go over thither. So Moses, the servant of the
Lord, died there in the land of Moab, according to the word
of the Lord. And he buried him in a valley
in the land of Moab, over against Beth Peor. But no man knoweth
of his sepulcher unto this day. And Moses was an hundred and
twenty years old when he died. His eye was not dim, nor his
natural force abated. And the children of Israel wept
for Moses in the plains of Moab thirty days. So the days of weeping
and mourning for Moses were ended. And Joshua the son of Nun was
full of the spirit of wisdom, for Moses had laid his hands
upon him, and the children of Israel hearkened unto him, and
did as the Lord commanded Moses. And there arose not a prophet
since in Israel like unto Moses, whom the Lord knew face to face. in all the signs and the wonders
which the Lord sent him to do in the land of Egypt to Pharaoh,
and to all his servants, and to all his land, and in all that
mighty hand, and in all the great terror which Moses showed in
the sight of all Israel. Amen. May the Lord bless this
reading to us also. Here are a few points from this
very straightforward little passage, this very straightforward little
account of Moses' death, which I think we would do well to notice. First one is this. We know that
Moses was 120 years old at this time. The text tells us that. Do you know it may even have
been his birthday? It may even be that Moses died
on his 120th birthday. We get that from another portion
of the scriptures where he says this day in reference to the
account that was here given. However, be that as it may, neither
his strength nor his eyesight was diminished in any way. And we see that because on the
day that he died, he climbed a 700 meter or 2,300 foot mountain. This Mount Pisgah was the mountains,
it was part of a mountain range, or Pisgah is the range I think,
and Nebo is actually the highest mountain in that range and so
he climbed that on the day that he died. And we learn from this
account that the Lord showed Moses all the land of Canaan
from that mountain top. Moses was enabled to see far
into the distance, and there may have been some miraculous
vision to this, for it was an extensive area that the Lord
gave him the vision to see. And Moses saw all the land of
Canaan. He saw into the far distance
where the tribes would dwell when they entered and possessed
the land. And this was a very kind gift
from the Lord to his servant. It showed that Moses' work was
complete and he was able then, as it were, to lay down the responsibilities
that God had given him with a satisfied heart. Now I've never been to
that part of the world at all. But Wikipedia tells me that you
can see the city of Jericho from the top of this hill and you
can see Jerusalem as well on a very clear day. And we also
learn that the Lord buried Moses, so that Moses' grave was hidden
from people and its location unknown, even to this day. And we're not told why necessarily
the Lord did that. Perhaps it was out of a mark
of respect for Moses. Perhaps it was to stop people
making an idol out of his tomb. Perhaps it was because Moses'
body would be needed on another occasion because we remember
that Moses and Elijah appeared to the disciples in the presence
of the Lord Jesus Christ at the time of the Transfiguration.
Perhaps too, it points to the coming of the Lord Jesus. because it suggests to us that
here was the Lord burying Moses so that Christ's righteousness
would far supersede that righteousness that comes from what we now call
the Law of Moses. So that it pointed, even in the
hiding of Moses' body, that there would come in bodily form another
whose righteousness and whose glory would far exceed that of
the Lord's servant Moses. Paul tells us indeed in that
context in Romans chapter 10, for Christ is the end of the
law for righteousness to everyone that believeth. And true it is
that the Lord, that the living word buried Moses that day. So this little passage brings
us to the last chapter of the first five books of the Bible,
which are known collectively as the Pentateuch, or the Book
of Moses, the Books of the Law. And here is the last chapter
telling us about Moses' death. Some people wonder who wrote
these final verses. Was it Moses himself before he
died? Maybe it was. He was a prophet
after all and there's no reason why the Lord could not give him
these words. Moses knew long before that he
wouldn't enter the promised land. He knew that he would die in
the land of Moab. And so it may be that the Lord
gave him to write these words in the very morning before he
left to walk to the top of the mountain. Or maybe it was Joshua
who wrote them after Moses died just to bring an end to Moses'
writings. Or perhaps it was someone even
later. It doesn't really matter. But
what we learn from this passage is that Moses died in the land
of Moab and he was buried. And that Joshua replaced him
as the leader of the children of Israel. Moses' death therefore
opens up or brings to an end one part of the history of the
children of Israel, their wilderness years, their wanderings in the
desert and it opens up a new period and a new generation and
a new leadership in the history of the children of Israel. I
think there are a couple of lessons that we can take just by way
of application here. Moses was a great man and he
served the Lord well. And indeed we're told in verse
10 that there arose not a prophet since in Israel like unto Moses
whom the Lord knew face to face. So Moses was a very significant
character both in the history of Israel but more importantly
for us in the history of our scriptures. Nevertheless, Moses,
for all his usefulness, died and was buried. Because this
is the appointed end of us all. This body that we have is flesh
and all flesh grows old, weak and dies. We may see wonderful things in
this life. We may experience wonderful things. Moses saw the Lord face to face. But we must never limit our attention
to the physical experiences that we have in life or the fleshy
things of this world. There's a spiritual dimension,
a spiritual part to life that Moses learned and all believers
come to experience. No mere man, woman, boy or girl
has any power to stop the passage of time or the effects of time
on our bodies. We're told, perhaps miraculously
again, that Moses enjoyed health to the time of his death. but
he still died. And some people do have relatively
good health and some do not. But we all die. The big question
is, have we found peace with God in our souls in the Lord
Jesus Christ before the day of our death? Will our spiritual
life go on with Christ? when these bodies of ours have
run their course? That's the question. We said
that Moses served the Lord well, but he didn't serve him perfectly
because no one can live perfectly before God. We all sin, we all
fall short of God's holiness. The very law which Moses brought
condemned Moses himself. and it teaches us that no one
is fit for God's presence outside of Christ. Christ alone is all
our righteousness. Christ alone can make us holy
and give us everlasting life. Paul says in 1 Corinthians chapter
15, for as in Adam all die, so in Christ shall all be made
alive. Moses was in Adam. You and I
are in Adam by nature. We are flesh. But if we are in
Christ too, then we shall find that the spiritual life that
he gives goes on forever and ever and ever. And here's another
little thought for us with respect to Moses' death. The Lord gave
Moses a view of Canaan from Mount Pisgah. This was a kindness from
the Lord and it was the end of Moses' 40 wilderness years. But it has too, I think, a typical
lesson for us. Those who trust in Christ have
a view given to them of the promised land. I don't mean by that the
land of Canaan or the land of Israel or that place which the
people inhabited beside the Mediterranean Sea. The promised land of heaven
opens before the eye of faith. Just as Abraham looked for a
city which hath foundations, whose builder and maker is God,
so believers look toward heaven. We don't become entranced and
ensnared by the things of this world. We have an eye to the
eternal promises of God. We are promised a home in heaven
with the Lord our Saviour. And the Bible suggests many things
about heaven. But really we can't begin to
understand what wonderful things it will contain. It is likened
to a city full of mansions. It's likened to a peaceful country. It's likened to the Garden of
Eden. However, because heaven is where
the Lord Jesus Christ is, it is perfect, it is glorious, it
is satisfying, and it is everlastingly wonderful. Hell is to be eternally
separated from Christ. Heaven is to be eternally with
Him and joined to Him. Sometimes as we get closer to
the day of our death, like Moses, the Lord gives his people little
glimpses of the promised land of heaven. It is as though God
takes us in our mind to a high mountain and he shows us that
these old, sick, failing bodies are not the end. but only the
beginning of a new and better experience. The death of a believer
is precious in the sight of the Lord, and for all the suffering
and weariness it might bring in our flesh, it is compensated
for with glimpses and visits from the Lord in our spirit. If you are a believer thinking
about life and death, incidents such as this in Moses' experience
encourage us to remember that the Lord is with his precious
people right to the end of our life and right into the joy of
the next. And lastly, let me just make
this point and then I'm done. Moses pointed to another prophet
who would come after him. And that prophet was the Lord
Jesus Christ. Moses couldn't save himself from
death, nor could he save anyone else. But the great prophet,
the promised Messiah, is able to save to the uttermost. That
means even you, and even me, he is able to save to the uttermost
all who come unto God by him." Coming to God by Christ means
simply trusting in the Lord's death as being for you, and trusting
in the Lord's life as being for you. That the death and the life
of the Lord Jesus Christ was for me, When the Lord Jesus Christ
died on the cross, he carried the sin of all his people and
he paid the price with his blood for all their crimes and guilt. And when the Lord Jesus Christ
rose from the dead, he showed that he ruled over death and
he gives everlasting life to all for whom he died. Moses looked
forward to the coming of Christ because he believed God would
save his people from their sins. He looked into the promised land
of Canaan but he saw too a better land, a spiritual land where
Christ's people will ever dwell. Today we are saying goodbye to
Moses. We've been with him for a while. And we, we shall have to say
goodbye to our friends and our family in this world also. But in the world to come, there
are no goodbyes. There are only hellos in heaven. May the Lord bless these thoughts
to us.