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OW Moses kept the flock of Jethro his father in law, the priest of Midian: and he led the flock to the backside of the desert, and came to the mountain of God, even to Horeb. 2 And the angel of the LORD appeared unto him in a flame of fire out of the midst of a bush: and he looked, and, behold, the bush burned with fire, and the bush was not consumed. 3 And Moses said, I will now turn aside, and see this great sight, why the bush is not burnt. 4 And when the LORD saw that he turned aside to see, God called unto him out of the midst of the bush, and said, Moses, Moses. And he said, Here am I. 5 And he said, Draw not nigh hither: put off thy shoes from off thy feet, for the place whereon thou standest is holy ground. 6 Moreover he said, I am the God of thy father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. And Moses hid his face; for he was afraid to look upon God.
7 ¶ And the LORD said, I have surely seen the affliction of my people which are in Egypt, and have heard their cry by reason of their taskmasters; for I know their sorrows; 8 And I am come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians, and to bring them up out of that land unto a good land and a large, unto a land flowing with milk and honey; unto the place of the Canaanites, and the Hittites, and the Amorites, and the Perizzites, and the Hivites, and the Jebusites. 9 Now therefore, behold, the cry of the children of Israel is come unto me: and I have also seen the oppression wherewith the Egyptians oppress them. 10 Come now therefore, and I will send thee unto Pharaoh, that thou mayest bring forth my people the children of Israel out of Egypt. (Exodus 3:1-10)
The recognition of Moses as a type of Christ is not, at first, as easily realized as would Joseph, Isaac, or King David; however, when we study the matter in the context of the metaphors, types and similes used in Exodus, the subject becomes more clear. the land of Egypt was a place of hard bondage and servile labors. This compares to the world of sin to which our Lord Jesus Christ likewise descended to set the captives free as a place of bondage.
Christ was born of parents of low standing – so was Moses. Christ was laid in a manger while Moses was laid in a small ark made of reeds. Moses was rescued by an Egyptian princess and remained in Egypt for a time in preparation for his role as deliverer. So was Jesus taken into Egypt as a child to protect Him from the wrath of Herod. These seem coincidental factors until the entire lives of both Moses and Jesus are examined.
Moses was the giver of the Law to Israel; Jesus satisfied the terms of that Law and was the Giver of Grace to His elect. Moses was patient, persevering, and long-suffering. So was the Lord Jesus Christ. Unlike Christ, Moses was not divine or sinless, but he became the greatest prophet of Israel. It was Moses upon which the Temple and ceremonial laws of Israel would be founded. It was Christ upon which the Church would be founded as the Rock of our Salvation. It was that rock that Moses struck at Horeb which represented the living waters of Christ in the wilderness.
Moses was forty days and forty nights in the cloud on Sinai fasting. Our Lord fasted forty days and forty nights after His baptism and the beginning of His ministry.
Moses was obedient to the Lord God in all he was told except in not glorifying the Lord in the striking of the rock of Horeb. Jesus Christ taught nothing except that which He heard of His Father.
Following his forty years of leading the Children of Israel in the wilderness, Moses went upon mount Nebal and was shown the Promised Land. There, Moses died and was buried in the Valley of Moab. No man knows thew whereabouts of his grave. Likewise, Christ died on Mount Moriah at Calvary and was buried in a tomb which is vacant. No man knows His grave because He is risen.
While it is true that Moses died without crossing Jordan into the Land of Promise, he did, like Christ, ascend into the true Promised Land of the Paradise of God. You will remember that Christ took Peter, James, and John up into a high mountain (Hermon) and there the same cloudy mist that had descended on Moses at Sinai descended on Jesus. When it lifted, we discovered that Moses and Elijah were seen talking with Jesus. Did not Moses go to a far better mount and Land of Promise than that which he was denied at the end of the wilderness journey?
Moses was constantly murmured against, faced constant derision of his own. Did not Christ suffer the same while doing good works? Did not all who doubted Moses perish in the wilderness. All who forsake Christ will likewise perish in the wilderness of this sinful world. “14 For we are made partakers of Christ, if we hold the beginning of our confidence stedfast unto the end; 15 While it is said, To day if ye will hear his voice, harden not your hearts, as in the provocation. 16 For some, when they had heard, did provoke: howbeit not all that came out of Egypt by Moses. 17 But with whom was he grieved forty years? was it not with them that had sinned, whose carcases fell in the wilderness? 18 And to whom sware he that they should not enter into his rest, but to them that believed not? 19 So we see that they could not enter in because of unbelief.” (Hebrews 3:14-19)
Have we, too, grieved our Lord Jesus Christ as the Children did Moses?
