Jesus and Moses

INTRODUCTION

I have received many questions about many things in the Old Testament.

Why all the blood, why all the sacrifices?

Why didn't God send Jesus early on in the history of the world instead of when He did?

Why do the Christians of today even need the Old Testament?

Today, we will examine Moses and Jesus.

For the nation of Israel, Abraham was the father of the nation, Moses was the nation's deliverer, and David was the nation's ruler.

Moses was considered the greatest of all.

If you read the Mishna, published at the end of the second century A.D., you clearly see how the religious leaders viewed Moses.

The Mishnah is an edited record of the complex body of material known as oral Torah that was transmitted in the aftermath of the destruction of the Second Temple in 70 A.D.

The Mishna was not uniform in its teaching; it contained all the arguments on various topics by various Rabbis.

Mark Moore said a Jewish Rabbi told him that you would get five opinions if you had three Rabbis in a room.

When it came to the teaching of Moses, none of the Rabbis would challenge what Moses taught.

That is how highly regarded Moses was viewed in Jewish culture.

You can also see this was still the view of Moses during the ministry of Jesus.

So that we can appreciate the teaching of Jesus on a deeper level, it is vital for us to understand how highly regarded Moses was.

All Jewish life was built on the teaching of Moses, then here comes Jesus doing what looked like He was challenging or disrespecting Moses, when in fact, He was not doing either.

When the Jewish leaders often came at Jesus, it concerned what Moses said.

The message today is another one of the foundational passages of the Bible.

In our sixth week of Core 52, we will see the relationship between Moses and Jesus.

Understanding this relationship will enable us to better understand how Scripture fits together.

So far in Core 52, as we've been looking at these 52 essential verses of Scripture, we've seen subtle hints of how God planned to rescue humanity one day.

All the way back in the Garden of Eden, even as God was announcing the consequences of Adam and Eve's sin, there was this small clue of what was to come.

This is what God tells Satan, the serpent, in Genesis 3, "I will put enmity between you and the woman and between your offspring and her offspring; He shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel."

Just a subtle hint of what would happen on the cross and then in an empty tomb.

There was another hint in His covenant with Abraham.

God promised that the whole world would be blessed one day through Abraham.

Not just Israel.

Everyone.

God keeps leaving these crumbs, showing that this all leads to something.

This is going somewhere. (Dan Raymond)

Let's turn to our verse for the week.

Deuteronomy 18:18 (NET 2nd ed.)

18 I will raise up a prophet like you for them from among their fellow Israelites. I will put my words in his mouth and he will speak to them whatever I command.

SERMON

I. Moses was a shadow of Jesus.

In the context of our passage, Moses taught the people that they were to stay away from occult practices that they had been exposed to during their time in Egypt and that would be waiting for them in the new land they were to inhabit.

In the couple of verses before verse 18, Moses tells the people the following:

Deuteronomy 18:15–17 (NET 2nd ed.)

15 The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among you—from your fellow Israelites; you must listen to him.

16 This accords with what happened at Horeb in the day of the assembly. You asked the Lord your God: “Please do not make us hear the voice of the Lord our God anymore or see this great fire anymore lest we die.”

17 The Lord then said to me, “What they have said is good.

You see, this isn't the first time Moses has told the people that God is going to have to do something bigger and better in the future.

Israel, and indeed all people, need somebody greater than Moses to lead us out of what really holds us captive and into true freedom.

One day, Moses promised that God would send a new leader like Moses, but even better than Moses. (Dan Raymond)

God told the people that He did not speak through the occult but rather through His prophets.

Notice that Moses said that God would raise up a prophet like HIM from among the nation of Israel.

Throughout the nation's history, Jewish leaders saw these verses as Messianic passages.

When John the Baptist came on the scene, he was asked if he was the prophet (John 1:21), John answered no.

Moses was a shadow of what was to come in the future.

The big fancy word for this is called typology.

You have types and antitypes.

This actually comes to us from a Greek word in the Bible, tupas, which is a type or example.

In 1 Corinthians 10:11a Paul says about all these things in the Old Testament, "Now these things happened to them as an example (tupas, type), but they were written down for our instruction."

A type is a person or event in the Old Testament that foreshadows a New Testament or new covenant reality.

The new covenant reality is called the antitype.

These types or shadows become prophetic signposts foreshadowing what is to come.

Hebrews 8:5 says these old covenant things are "a copy and shadow of the heavenly things."

Hebrews 10:1 (NET 2nd ed.)

1 For the law possesses a shadow of the good things to come but not the reality itself, and is therefore completely unable, by the same sacrifices offered continually, year after year, to perfect those who come to worship.

Moses was a shadow of what was to come.

The Bible points out a number of these, for instance.

Noah's ark and the flood are a type of baptism (1 Pet. 3:21)

Israel is a type of the Church (Gal. 3:29; 6:16)

The tabernacle and the temple were a type of heaven (Heb. 8:5)

The Old Testament was a type that would be fulfilled in the New Testament, the antitype.

When you understand this, one of the things that becomes more clear is the fact that the Church is now spiritual Israel.

This is one of the reasons a person does not have to become a Jew before becoming a Christian because becoming a Christian makes you a "spiritual Jew"/

Galatians 3:29 (NET 2nd ed.)

29 And if you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s descendants, heirs according to the promise.

To be an heir of the promise of Abraham, you have to be one of his descendants.

This is why ministries that focus on the nation of Israel as some part of salvation are missing the mark.

This is why a Jew has to be baptized into Christ to be a part of God's family.

Moses and Jesus have a lot in common.

1. Both Moses and Jesus were saved in Egypt from a tyrannical leader.

2. Both Moses and Jesus survived testing after passing through water.

3. Jesus' five major sermons mirrored the Torah, the first five books of the Old Testament.

4. Both Moses and Jesus had a conversation on top of a mountain during the Transfiguration.

5. Jesus' Last Supper was during the Passover meal that Moses established!

6. Both were liberators, lawgivers, and shepherds.

Moses' work and life were a type of what would come centuries later.

Let's look at our passage again.

Deuteronomy 18:18 (NET 2nd ed.)

18 I will raise up a prophet like you for them from among their fellow Israelites. I will put my words in his mouth and he will speak to them whatever I command.

II. Jesus is the fulfillment of Moses.

More than anything else, the O.T. is filled with types or shadows of Jesus.

Adam, Abraham, Moses, David, Elijah, and many others, each in their own way, are types of Jesus.

Listen to this one from the lips of Jesus himself:

Matthew 12:40 (NET 2nd ed.)

40 For just as Jonah was in the belly of the huge fish for three days and three nights, so the Son of Man will be in the heart of the earth for three days and three nights.

The Old Testament is all about Jesus.

In this morning's core verse, Moses tells us he's just a type or a foreshadowing of a true and better Moses to come.

There will be a true and better Moses who leads us out of real captivity.

There will be a true and better Moses who leads us to true and eternal freedom.

There will be a true and better Moses who gives a greater law that gives life.

Jesus was the fulfillment of Moses.

We know that Jesus was the fulfillment (antitype) from what other New Testament writers said.

Acts 3:22 (NET 2nd ed.)

22 Moses said, ‘The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among your brothers. You must obey him in everything he tells you.

Peter preached that message to a Jewish crowd.

Acts 7:37 (NET 2nd ed.)

37 This is the Moses who said to the Israelites, ‘God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among your brothers.’

Stephen preached this before he was killed for his faith.

Jesus also spoke on the subject.

Luke 24:44 (NET 2nd ed.)

44 Then he said to them, “These are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you, that everything written about me in the law of Moses and the prophets and the psalms must be fulfilled.”

Moses, the prophets, and the Psalmists never called Jesus by name, yet they wrote about him.

Jesus was greater than Moses.

Matthew 5:17–18 (NET 2nd ed.)

17 “Do not think that I have come to abolish the law or the prophets. I have not come to abolish these things but to fulfill them.

18 I tell you the truth, until heaven and earth pass away not the smallest letter or stroke of a letter will pass from the law until everything takes place.

Jesus came to be the fulfillment!

When Jesus taught, "You have heard it said, but I say to you," He said that Moses told you this as a start, and now I am giving you the fulfillment, the rest of the teaching.

John 6:49–51 (NET 2nd ed.)

49 Your ancestors ate the manna in the wilderness, and they died.

50 This is the bread that has come down from heaven, so that a person may eat from it and not die.

51 I am the living bread that came down from heaven. If anyone eats from this bread he will live forever. The bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh.”

Jesus is the manna, the Bread of life; just as the manna gave life to the Israelites in the wilderness, Jesus gives us life spiritually!

At the Mount of Transfiguration, listen to Father in verse 5.

Matthew 17:1–5 (NET 2nd ed.)

1 Six days later Jesus took with him Peter, James, and John the brother of James, and led them privately up a high mountain.

2 And he was transfigured before them. His face shone like the sun, and his clothes became white as light.

3 Then Moses and Elijah also appeared before them, talking with him.

4 So Peter said to Jesus, “Lord, it is good for us to be here. If you want, I will make three shelters—one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah.”

5 While he was still speaking, a bright cloud overshadowed them, and a voice from the cloud said, “This is my one dear Son, in whom I take great delight. Listen to him!”

Jesus is greater than Moses and Elijah!

Deuteronomy 18:18 (NET 2nd ed.)

18 I will raise up a prophet like you for them from among their fellow Israelites. I will put my words in his mouth and he will speak to them whatever I command.

III. Jesus will lead you to the ultimate Promised Land!

Moses led the people out of bondage to freedom; the people passed through the Red Sea!

Moses taught the people, shepherded them, and led them through the wilderness!

Moses led the people out of Egypt to the Promised Land.

Why did God allow Moses to lead the people out of Egypt to the Promised Land?

He did it so that His promise to bless all nations through Abraham would be fulfilled.

See how it all ties in together?

Jesus wants to be the Bread of life to us!

Are you willing to let Jesus be the most essential part of your life and the gift of eternal life?

Jesus wants to be our deliverer.

He will rescue you!

Are you willing to trust Him for deliverance in your life?

Jesus wants you to see clearly the truth of life.

Are you willing to believe Christ can give you the truth and not the world's sources?

Jesus wants to be your Savior!

Are you willing to trust Him with your life?

Acts 4:12 (NET 2nd ed.)

12 And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among people by which we must be saved.”

CONCLUSION

Jesus is the true and better Moses.

Consider this: – first to those who are already following Jesus.

There is a tendency in some corners of the Church to want to go back to the old covenant, to live according to the rules and regulations of the Old Testament.

We want to roll things back to a time before Jesus came and live like the grace of the cross and empty tomb never happened.

With everything going on in our world, some Christians are tempted to think that things might be better if we went back.

No, the answer is never to go back to the law.

The answer is only and always Jesus.

I say this to those who aren't yet committed to following Jesus.

Jesus is better.

Not only is He the true and better Moses, but He is better than anyone or anything you might compare Him to.

The answer to whatever your heart issues are this morning is always and only Jesus.

Deuteronomy 18:18