AFTER seeing what God had done to those two mighty kings, Sihon and Og, whom He completely destroyed, Moses encouraged Joshua saying, So shall the Lord do unto all the kingdoms whither thou passest. Ye shall not fear them; for the Lord your God He shall fight for you.”
At this time Moses besought the Lord and said, “O Lord God,... I pray Thee, let me go over, and see the good land that is beyond Joan, that goodly mountain, and Lebanon.” But God refused telling him not to speak any more of this matter.
God would have His people learn a lesson from His ways with Moses. By that one act of disobedience Moses lost Canaan and Israel would understand that only an obedient people could possess and enjoy that good land. If they were disobedient, they too would lose Canaan.
However, God told Moses to go up to the top of Pisgah and look away to the west, to the north, to the south and to the east. He saw that beautiful country with his own eyes. After those forty years in the wilderness that must have been a thrilling moment to Moses when he feasted his eyes on the goodly land, while no doubt thoughts of coming glories filled his soul when the redeemed of the Lord should walk there and they should “see the King in His beauty.” But Moses’ feet were not to tread Canaan’s soil and this was a great sorrow to his heart.
Here Moses reminds the people that their unbelief and rebellion were the occasion of his failure, when he spoke “unadvisedly with his lips.” Still he desires in the fullest way that they might enter in and enjoy what he cannot.
God told Moses to encourage Joshua and to strengthen him, for it was he that should go over before the people and lead them to inherit the land, and this he did. How sweet it is to find one who has come under the government of God not fretting or rebelling under it, but in quiet submission, knowing it is a hand of love that deals with us and at the same time seeking to encourage others in the path of faithfulness and obedience to Him. This was grace in Moses’ heart and surely written for our learning.
Moses was for the wilderness, and Joshua as captain of the Lord’s host was for the land. Both these two types center in Christ.
Moses had led the people out of Egypt, but not as the law-giver there, for the law did not come in until later when they were at Sinai. Law never delivered God’s people from Egypt nor took them into Canaan. Sovereign grace and power were needed for both. Faith in Christ as Saviour, whose blood has answered to God for all his sins, delivers one now from judgment, from the world, and from Satan’s power. To realize that he has died and risen with Christ brings one into the enjoyment of our heavenly blessings in Him above.
ML-11/10/1974