Moses is quick and clear in disabusing the people of any
notion that the years in the wilderness have been the reason for the Lord
giving them the land. They have
accumulated no merit in their time there.
They are getting the land for two reasons, the wickedness of the nations
who currently possess the land and because the Lord had made a promise to the
fathers of the nation, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob to do this very thing. It is a mistake that is certainly tempting to
make, to believe you have paid the price and now deserve something good to
happen because you have persevered.
Moses reminds them who they are and what they have done, they are a
stiff-necked people who have failed time and again. The man had some tough times leading them all
these years, it is no surprise that he hasn’t forgotten all the pain they have
caused him and the Lord. We don’t
deserve anything good in this life or the next, it is all about grace,
unmerited favor.
We need this lesson to remind us that Jesus wasn’t the
milquetoast man of peace and teaching many have in mind. He took a whip of cords to drive out the
moneychangers and sellers of sacrificial animals, poured out the coins of the
moneychangers and turned over their tables.
It was a scene to say the least as he drove out not only the men but
also the sheep and oxen from the courts of the temple. Jesus was an angry man with a whip, it would
have been a melee when He did this. The
leaders ask, “What sign do you show us for doing these things?” Why do they ask such a question? They have allowed this to occur, in direct
contravention of the words of the prophets who have scored the nation for
centuries regarding this very thing, worship with the wrong motives. They believe themselves to be righteous
although they countenance great injustice right in the temple courts. Though they do not understand Jesus (no one
did at the time), the sign he offers is resurrection.
The contrast between Moses and Jesus is the contrast between
a servant in the house and the son and heir of the house. Moses was chosen by God for the task of
leading the people out of Egypt and leading them in the wilderness, holding the
people together, for forty years. His
job was an incredibly difficult job under trying circumstances, to say the
least. The young Moses who killed the
slavemaster in the desert wasn’t prepared for such a job, it required him to
question himself in a way he never had, to lead his father-in-law’s sheep in
the wilderness forty years first. He had
to come to grips with himself. He knew
his story of being saved by Pharaoh’s daughter, of growing up as a son in
Pharaoh’s house, and believed he was someone special and he was right but for
the wrong reasons. That part of his life
mattered but it didn’t complete his preparation for the role. Jesus knew His role before creation even and
His glory, unlike Moses’, never faded.
He is different in kind. This
life, for us, is preparation for the next.
We should be practicing and setting our hearts on Him now.
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