Let’s look at Joshua and the Israelites. I would imagine them being so full of anxiety and fear about their future. It concerned their very existence as a people. Moses is going to die, and their toughest battles lay ahead, and a huge river to cross yet again. Here is where the Holy Spirit takes over. Once every few verses in Deuteronomy, Ol’ Patriarch Moses affirms that they will cross over and will settle down in Canaan, that the LORD will fight their battles. About 50x or more (directly and indirectly) he tells them, YOU WILL CROSS OVER, ONCE YOU CROSS OVER, ONCE YOU SETTLE DOWN, AFTER YOU SETTLE DOWN DO THIS, etc etc. I can’t tell you how much it would have meant to them that Moses was reaffirming this and emphasizing this and repeating this. Coming from a man, who was friends with God for 40 years, whose God never failed them even for a single day during the 40 years, it is 100% believable. Their daily morning cereal breakfast Manna and the evening Quail meat was proof | Many times when we are about to cross the Jordan, we need our Moseses. We need to stand on the shoulders of someone else to see into the Promised land. It could be a friend, an elder cousin, a senior man of God, just a praying partner, whoever it is. When our faith isn’t enough, we need to climb on someone else shoulders. Timothy grew on Paul’s faith, David took refuge in Samuel’s company when he was fleeing Saul. | | This is an individual world today, of TV preachers, online Churches and social media Christianity. Real relationships are so absent, and hence the Church is becoming worse day by day. If the Church in this generation has to deliver something meaningful to the world, one last time before the Lord comes, we got to forge godly friendships. We got to pray together, We got to listen to godly authority and counsel. We got to talk scripture with each other when we meet. Even house conversations have to go back to discussing scripture. | Remember Joshua and the children of Israel would never have made it through the river, but for Deuteronomy. Without that book, there is no Kingdom, no crossing over and no Joshua or David, no prophets. (Many of us are so impressed with Joshua Chapter 1, and rightly so, for many battles in human history have been won just because the General read Joshua 1, including World War-II battles. Joshua chapter 1 is an exact reproduction of Moses’ verses in Deut!) Even Jesus needed a launch pad - John the Baptist. If you want to cross your Jordans, stand on someone else’s shoulders and only then you can see the Promised land. You won’t make it alone, you were not designed to be that way. | And lastly, Moses was not speaking of his own. He was an intimate friend of Christ. Jesus manifest presence was with the Israelites all through. The Pillar of Cloud was God’s literal presence. Moses instituted the sacrificial offerings, all of which point to the Cross and the lamb of God. Moses even saw Jesus’ back parts (Ex 33:20-23). Bible scholars says that Jesus showed him his stripes on back. He heard the voice of Christ, and even saw his form (Num 12:4-8) | Depend on those that are real friends of Christ. God depended on Moses, and Moses depended on God. Such friendship. He was a unique prophet, so much that God knew that the Jews would go awhoring on his sepulchre, hence he was the only man who God buried with his hands (Deut 34:5,6). And Jesus said, If you believed Moses, you would believe me for he wrote of me (John 5:46). Read your scriptures with Christ in clear view. Any other view is a waste. I repeat, Preaching without Jesus in view, is a total waste | Stand on the shoulders of someone and you will cross the Jordan. | | |
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