Better Moses, Good Shepherd

Introduction

Last week we saw an aside that showed us the death of John the Baptist. Through it we foreshadowed what would eventually happen to Jesus. Before that aside we saw Jesus send out the twelve in pairs and tonight they will return from their excursion.

Through our study of Mark we have stuck pretty close into the book of Mark. If we wanted to go even deeper we could look at the same stories in the other Gospels and we could look at the connections to other books. Tonight I want to do just that so that we can see some of the significance of the Old Testament, especially with Moses and the book of Psalms.

As we read the Bible we see patterns begin to develop. The pattern of salvation and rebellion. Each time it builds and builds and it is always building to the final salvation from Jesus. When we read this we can view it as the authors of the Bible view it. Jesus is called by Paul the true and better Adam. We see how he shepherds the people as Moses did, and on throughout. We want to be careful not to do anything that the Bible does not do but many times it is clear and we can get a fuller picture by trying to understand the relations there. Through this we can trace thoughts and ideas throughout the Bible and see how they develop. We see what salvation is in Exodus but it is not the final salvation that we see offered in the gospels and realized in Revelation.

Tonight we are going to see how Jesus is the better Moses and how he is the true Good Shepherd. Lets begin by reading the story where Jesus feeds the 5,000.

Mark 6:30–34 ESV

The apostles returned to Jesus and told him all that they had done and taught. And he said to them, “Come away by yourselves to a desolate place and rest a while.” For many were coming and going, and they had no leisure even to eat. And they went away in the boat to a desolate place by themselves. Now many saw them going and recognized them, and they ran there on foot from all the towns and got there ahead of them. When he went ashore he saw a great crowd, and he had compassion on them, because they were like sheep without a shepherd. And he began to teach them many things.

Before we look at this story in light of the Old Testament lets look at what is going on here in this scene. Throughout the book we have been seeing themes develop and many of them are present here in this passage. These themes continue to grow and develop and several of them are present here in this passage so lets look at them briefly before we see the strong relations that this passage has with the Old Testament. The first theme that we see is the Theme of wilderness.

wilderness

From the beginning of the book we have see the theme of wilderness. John baptized people there, Jesus fasted in the wilderness, Jesus often went to the wilderness to recharge. The wilderness is a place where God provides for his people throughout the Bible and in the book of Mark that still holds true. The wilderness is also used as a place to receive instruction from Jesus and Jesus reveals things about the coming of the kingdom of God. We see that Jesus was desiring to provide rest for the twelve so that they could recuperate from their mission that they had just returned from.

Jesus’s heart

As they go towards their wilderness rest they are met by a great crowd. This would have been a time that it is easy to tell the people to go away but that is not what Jesus did. We see that he had compassion of them and he began to teach them. This shows us the heart of Jesus yet again. Jesus’s heart was for the people, they were often a pain and they were almost always at inconvenient times. Jesus never let that affect him, he always had a heart for the people.

the great miracle

We finally get to the great miracle that Jesus performs. The disciples wanted to send them away to get food which would have been tough because there was so many of them. Jesus had other plans to demonstrate his power to everyone there.

It says that there were 5,000 men here. Often in the Bible when it says men it means everyone but here it is distinctively masculine. What this means is that these were the men that were the heads of households. With this thought we can figure that most of the men were married with children. This would mean that there could have easily been upwards of 20,000 people here.

With this great crowd present and hungry Jesus has them all group up similar to what they would have done after Moses brought them out of Egypt. From here they found a young boy that had 5 loaves of bread and 2 fish, this boy was willing to give all of the food that he had to Jesus. Jesus proceeded to pray over this food and bless it. Then the disciples began to pass it out. In the end there were twelve baskets full of leftovers, equal to the number of apostles. Also each person was satisfied, they had plenty of food.

This story has lots of the themes that we find through Mark plus strong ties to the Old Testament. Let’s finish tonight by looking at the ties to the Old Testament.

Better Moses

Moses brought salvation to the people of Israel by bringing them up out of the land of Egypt and leading them through the wilderness towards the promised land. While in the wilderness he asked God for food and God provided and fed them, Moses guided them and acted as a shepherd. The thing with Moses is that the salvation that he helped to bring was not final.

Moses brought the people out of slavery but eventually they became slaves again. Moses gave the law from God but eventually they lost it. Moses fed them but there were times of hunger again.

Here in this story we see Jesus having compassion on these people as they are out in the wilderness. He brings them the food they need and he offers them the salvation that is needed. The only thing is that the salvation that Jesus brings is final.

The salvation that Jesus offers was made possible by his eventual death that the book of Mark is leading us towards. From the time that Adam introduced sin into the world there has been a problem and everything from that point on had been building towards the solution to that problem. Moses was a step along the way of this. The solution is found in Jesus and that death that I just mentioned. Through his sacrificial death Jesus made a way for us to be forgiven of our sins. This is through faith. I know it might seem repetitive at times but everything in the Bible is pointing towards this moment in the life of Jesus and our faith is how we accept it.

Throughout the Old Testament we see a pattern begin to develop where we see something happen and then later there is a corresponding event that escalates. Moses was one in a chain that was escalating towards Jesus. Jesus is the final point in all of these escalations.

Moses also acted as a shepherd to the people of Israel and was worried about the people being without a shepherd, we see that Jesus is the good shepherd that leads the people.

Good Shepherd

Numbers 27:16–17 ESV

“Let the Lord, the God of the spirits of all flesh, appoint a man over the congregation who shall go out before them and come in before them, who shall lead them out and bring them in, that the congregation of the Lord may not be as sheep that have no shepherd.”

Moses wanted the people of Israel to have someone over them to shepherd and guide them. We see that there was someone appointed for this but there would be someone better in the future. This was pointing towards Jesus. We see in Psalm 23

Psalm 23 ESV

A Psalm of David. The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want. He makes me lie down in green pastures. He leads me beside still waters. He restores my soul. He leads me in paths of righteousness for his name’s sake. Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me. You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies; you anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows. Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life, and I shall dwell in the house of the Lord forever.

Jesus came as the good shepherd described in the Psalm to guide us in the way of righteousness and to be with us even in the darkest times of life. Jesus is the ultimate fulfillment of what Moses ask God for in the book of Numbers. Jesus is the good shepherd and the better Moses.

So through this you may wonder what a shepherd is exactly. Well a shepherd is someone that takes care of sheep. Sheep are dumb and need constant attention. They will wander off to places that are dangerous and will stumble into raging waters. The shepherd was responsible from keeping them from going astray. The shepherd also protects the sheep from dangers such as wild animals because they are defenseless against them.

In the Bible we are described as sheep and Jesus is our shepherd. He is not just any shepherd though, he is the good shepherd. He is the perfect leader of the people. Moses was a leader of Israel and he did a decent job but Jesus is far better. Jesus through his word guides us through life if we will just listen, he protects us even when we are in the most dangerous places and when it is his will he will call us home to be with him forever.

Conclusion

Jesus is the better Moses and the good shepherd as is built up and predicted through the Old Testament. The thing with it though is that He is the shepherd for his people. To be a part of his sheep flock is done by faith in Jesus. We receive salvation through putting your faith in Jesus as the only way for salvation and turning away from your old sinful ways. Long ago, even before Moses there was a problem of sin introduced and it has been a problem ever since. Jesus came in fulfillment of all of the Old Testament and became the way that we can receive this salvation.

This salvation is what the whole Bible is pointing towards and it is eventually seen in the final salvation in the book of Revelation. This is where the whole story is headed and along the way we are told how to be in the right part of it and how to live as we wait for it. We also get to see beautiful glimpses of the glories of God as we travel through the beauties of scripture.

As you read the Bible, read it with the thought that it is pointing towards Jesus. From Jonah to Numbers and every other book. It can be tough to see at times but this is where it is all going and this is where we should look. Through this the Bible will make more sense than it ever has before and you will be able to see it’s true beauty.