Moses: A Type of Christ

we're going to be reading two passages
one of them from the old testament
deuteronomy chapter 34.
the other from the new testament hebrews
chapter 3.
now before we do that though
i want to set a little context here for
it
this is coming out of our evening
services
we've been talking about israel's
wilderness journey together
and part of it has been
understanding then just what the old
testament is about
and its relationship to the new
testament
because a lot of people have a hard time
with the old testament they don't
understand it they wonder if it's even
relevant or if it's even the same god
sometimes you know because the god of
the new testament just seems more loving
or whatever the case might be
we can relate to the psalms emotionally
and
there are amazing stories and we often
draw morals from them life morals but we
don't understand the bloodshed or the
sacrifices or the ritual laws governing
cleanness and uncleanness and all that
kind of stuff we bog down in leviticus
big time
but the old testament shows us in very
concrete ways
how things work spiritually
sacrifices vividly demonstrate
the reality that sin demands the payment
of a life
in that case the life of an animal
sets the stage then for
ritual laws show us literally how god's
people are set apart from other people
to be holy people
the tabernacle in the temple show us how
we approach god in his throne room and
in his holiness
and what we have to do to come to him
so the old testament offers us physical
concrete representation of spiritual
realities that can be helpful sometimes
because we are concrete people
we like stories and things that put
flesh on it that we can relate to that
we can understand and that's what the
old testament does and there are things
then that are fulfilled in the old that
in the old testament that are fulfilled
in the new testament in jesus and the
god of the old testament is the same god
as the new testament god
and he's at work doing the same thing
which is to redeem humankind and even
the creation from all the sin and
brokenness that came into it
after he had created it and made it good
it's god at work in history and you
can't understand the new testament
without understanding the old testament
you can't understand the old testament
about the lens of the new testament
if you have eyes to see you will find
jesus
in the old testament and that's what
we've been doing in the evening worship
service we found jesus in the manna
bread from heaven sustenance for our
lives
we found jesus in water from the rock
spiritual living water from the
spiritual rock as paul puts it in the
new testament
living water as jesus says of himself
we even found him in the bronze serpent
who was lifted up for healing for people
who were being bitten by poisonous
serpents and we saw that jesus is also
lifted up and became sin
because that's what the serpent
symbolized was sin and satan became sin
before god for our sakes
and this morning what i want to do then
is i want to look at a person
and that person is moses and in moses i
want to find jesus
because he's what we call a type of
christ
now a type of christ is someone who in
the old testament
foreshadows jesus showing us who jesus
will look like what he will do what
he'll be like
centuries before he came
in this case well over a thousand years
before jesus came
there are many many examples of types of
christ in the old testament you have
joshua for example
who led god's people into the promised
land and fought for their inheritance
you have isaac's sacrifice which
foreshadows the sacrifice of jesus where
he takes our place you have david who is
the shepherd king you have jonah who was
three days in the whale and then
symbolizes christ three days in the
belly of the earth before being raised
but of all the types of christ found in
the old testament i think moses is the
greatest
and that's because
like christ
he was the great deliverer
of his people
and so my prayer is as we talk about
moses we will see jesus and let's start
then by reading first of all from
deuteronomy chapter 34 the very end of
deuteronomy a series of speeches by
moses about the history of things that
have happened through the whole 40 years
and before that in the wilderness and
before that
verse 10
since then no prophet has risen in
israel like moses
whom the lord knew face to face
who did all those miraculous signs and
wonders that the lord sent him to do in
egypt to pharaoh and to all his
officials into his whole land for no one
has ever shown the mighty power or
perform the awesome deeds that moses did
in the sight
of all
israel
until jesus
came
and when jesus came one of the things
that people were looking for then was
and he was
and that's where we turn to hebrews
chapter 3 and read the first six verses
where the author of hebrews draws the
comparison between them and shows us how
that moses is just a shadow
of the reality that is to come therefore
holy brothers who share in the heavenly
calling fix your thoughts on jesus the
apostle and high priest
whom we confess
he was faithful to the one who appointed
him just as moses was faithful in all
god's house
jesus has been found worthy of greater
honor than moses
just as the builder of a house that
has greater honor than the house itself
for every house is built by someone but
god is the builder of everything
moses was faithful as a servant
in all god's house
testifying to what would be
said in the future
but christ is faithful as a son
over god's house
and we are his house
we
are his house
if we hold on to our courage in the hope
there's a lot of similarities between
moses and jesus
and i can give you a whole list i'll
give you a couple
i looked at some of these up on just to
see what kind of lists i found on the
internet i found a list of 75 on one
site and the guy said come up with
another 25 bet you can now mind you i
looked at that list and i thought yeah
so what in some cases said that moses
and jesus are both israelites well okay
there were lots of other israelites too
but you know there were similarities
between them distinct parallels
both were threatened as a baby by an
evil ruler
both lives were at risk moses by
pharaoh's order to kill
all the hebrew baby boys
saved miraculously
through
being found in the reeds by pharaoh's
daughter
adopted by her and raised ironically
in pharaoh's house
jesus
threatened by herod's order to kill all
of the boys in the area of bethlehem two
and under
evil rulers threatened them both spent
time in the wilderness before their
ministries moses spent 40 years
in the wilderness
as a shepherd after he fled from egypt
jesus spent 40 days
tempted
by satan after his baptism before going
then in the power of the spirit and
launching his ministry
they both performed signs and wonders
supernatural miracles moses performed
signs and wonders in egypt as
deuteronomy 34 says the plagues with his
staff he parted the red sea he brought
water out of the rock later in the
wilderness
jesus
healed the sick cast out demons and even
raised the dead did things no one had
ever seen done before
both of them were rejected by the people
that they were sent to save
moses was rejected right from the start
when he went down to check out on what
was happening with his people and he saw
one of the slaves hebrew slaves being
beaten up he killed he killed the
egyptian guard and then later he
intervenes in a confrontation between
two hebrew slaves and one of them looks
at him and says you're going to kill me
too like he killed that egyptian
who made you
ruler and judge over us and that was the
theme all the rest of the way through
moses's life they doubted him they
blamed him for everything that ever went
wrong they threatened to kill him
numbers of times
and jesus
sent to save his people was described as
despised and rejected by isaiah he came
to his own but his own would not receive
him john says in john chapter 1
and he tried to kill him too
and in the end
so they rejected
both of them the people that they were
sent
by god to save
now they also shared similar roles
moses was a shepherd
literally herded sheep for 40 years
after fleeing egypt then he was
shepherded to god's people through the
same wilderness that he had shepherded
literal sheep
shepherded god's people
and jesus calls himself the good
shepherd and
goes back to the shepherd king david who
also shepherded sheep
and jesus saw that the people were
without a shepherd
and they were scattered and helpless and
he had compassion on them and he said i
am the good shepherd
and his sheep know his voice and they
follow him he said and he lays down his
life
for the sheep
because he's the good shepherd
moses was ruler over his people god made
him ruler over his people even though
the question was there who made you
ruler over us well god did
later
and he ruled israel
judged them stood
before them
for before god for them
when jesus was crucified the sign on the
cross said king of the jews and it was
offensive to the
to the people who had gotten crucified
because that was that was the claim that
they wanted dead and buried actually
that was the one question that jesus
replied replied to when pilate was
asking him
that yes it is right it is right what
you've said
but he said my kingdom is not of this
world
it's not an earthly kingdom it's not an
earthly throne he's a ruler over every
power and every authority heaven and
earth and he's head of the church
the body of christ you and me and so
like moses who ruled over god's people
in the wilderness he rules over god's
people his people
here now
moses was a judge
he was a judge of his people and he
appointed judges and he oversaw them and
he handled the tough cases that came up
to him
he dealt with the disputes
jesus
will come to judge the living and the
dead he's the ultimate judge at the last
judgment
that's the judge
moses was a prophet a lawgiver he was
he gave israel the law he went up on
mount sinai came back down with the ten
commandments gave them the laws that god
had given him the ritual laws of
cleanness and uncleanness the plan for
jesus spoke for his father
he too was a prophet in that way he
spoke for god the father
and he taught with authority that amazed
the people he had no idea they'd never
heard the things that he was saying and
taught with such power and he would say
things in like it has been said and he
was referring to the law of moses
so it has been said you shall not murder
or it has been said that you shall not
commit adultery but then he goes on and
says but i
tell
you
that's a lawgiver
but i
tell you
that if you're angry in your heart
against a brother you've already
murdered and if you've lusted in your
heart for a woman
you've already committed adultery
i tell you
but above all
the thing that makes moses who he is and
as a type of christ is the fact that he
is deliverer of his people and that's
what christ is
moses is the central figure in the huge
story
that frames the bible and frames the old
testament and that's the story of the
exodus of the deliverance from egypt
god's people
in bondage slaves
to the powers
to pharaoh
they're the gods of egypt
and god sees their plight
and sends moses then
to deliver them
i love it in exodus chapter four where
moses is tending his flock he's just
minding his own business and then
there's a burning bush and he's watching
it and it doesn't burn up that's unusual
so he goes to have a look and it turns
out god
is there and he's on holy ground and god
says to him i have heard the cry of my
people
and moses
gulped
in fact he balked he gave all the
reasons why it couldn't be him even
though
it actually was woven into his heart and
into his being to be a deliverer of his
people
because that's what he did when he
killed that egyptian who was beating a
hebrew slave he'd gone to see his people
what was happening there and he saw this
happening and what does he do he steps
in he intervenes to save his people in
acts chapter 7 tells us that he thought
they would realize that god had sent him
to save his people
they didn't and he fled and he'd done it
wrong and it was with violence and it
was the timing wasn't right but honestly
it was in his heart it was woven in
there that's who he was the deliverer of
god's people and that's why god came to
him in the desert there with that
burning bush said to him
i'm going to send you
he was sent
he didn't just take it into his head
even though it was woven into him he was
sent by god and in that central story
then he is the central figure of the one
who delivers god's people from bondage
leads them through the red sea parts the
waters all the chaos and destruction
takes them through the wilderness to the
land that god has promised to then the
inheritance all the promises that he's
made
in doing that moses confronted
the powers
because pharaoh did not let go easily
you remember those stories you remember
the plagues you remember ten plagues in
a row because pharaoh would not budge
and the signs and wonders of deuteronomy
34 says that he performed there never
seen
ever since then
signs and wonders done to
in a confrontation with the powers and
it was the powers of egypt and it was
the spiritual powers of egypt because
god was also through that judging the
gods of egypt who would not let his
and in that
you have a picture
of what
we face
the bondage we have
in sin and satan to the powers of this
world
the powers that do not want to let go
and have to be confronted
by jesus then
and that's a picture that we see then in
exodus in egypt with moses and he's
until at last they're compelled to let
and then as deliverer of his people
moses continues to be that his mediator
for them as an intercessor for them he's
an incredible incredible mediator he
completely identified himself with his
people first of all he completely
identified himself with his people even
though he didn't have to he was an
egyptian prince he was raised that way
even though he was hebrew he could have
stayed in the palace enjoyed the luxury
never gotten involved but he chose to
get involved because these were his own
people
a little further on
in chapter 11 of hebrews hebrews says of
him
my faith moses when he'd grown up
refused to be known as the son of
pharaoh pharaoh's daughter he chose to
be mistreated along with the people of
god rather than to enjoy the pleasures
of sin for a short time
he regarded a
disgrace for the sake of christ has
greater value than the treasures of
egypt because he was looking forward to
his reward he completely identified
himself with god's people as their
deliverer and he continued to completely
identify himself with god's people
even to the point that there were a
number of times when god said to him
stand aside moses
i've had it with them in their rebellion
i'm going to destroy them and moses
would not stand aside
at the time of the golden calf for
instance at the time at kadesh barnea
where they were on the edge of the
promised land they refused to go in
because they were like grasshoppers the
walls were too big they were giants they
were going to get slaughtered
and god ends up sending them back into
the desert but god gets angry with him
there and again he says stand aside i'm
going to raise up a nation out of you
moses
and he will not stand aside
in fact there's this incredible picture
which involves aaron and moses later in
the desert of
korra dayton and abyram who rise up in
rebellion against moses and aaron and
against god therefore too saying who do
you think you are we're just as good as
you are we have censors we have the
spirit we can we can approach god and
god backs up moses there
and then he tells moses and aaron stand
aside from the assembly and moses says
no
and he says to aaron run in and get the
coals from the fire from the altar put
some incense on it and get out there in
the middle of the people
and stand between the living and the
dead
moses was an astonishing intercessor and
prepared to put his life in aaron's life
too
on the line
between god
that's moses that's the great deliverer
that's the picture literally of
deliverance from egypt in the passage
through the wilderness and of him
identifying with his people and
confronting the powers and
and uh interceding for them chosen and
sent by god
and that's this world it's egypt
full of slavery and a bondage full of
brokenness full of sin ruled by satan
people who are helpless
and driven one way and another because
and god sees the plight of this world
and he
sends his son
and unlike moses his son does not bark
at it
his son takes it on
that was his will and that was his
purpose and that was why he came and it
was so from the very beginning it was
woven right into his name
when joseph was agonizing over do i go
ahead with this or not because his wife
mary is a wife to be mary is pregnant
and she says by the holy spirit but can
that be he knows it's not him
and an angel the lord comes to him in a
dream and says don't be afraid of that
this is the holy spirit
she's going to give birth to a boy name
him jesus
because he will save
his people from their sins
that's his identity that's who he is
that's what he's about that is that is
his purpose that is why he came he
and like moses
identified then with his people with
god's people
moses was a hebrew slave but raised i
mean born to a hebrew slave but but
raised is an egyptian prince he could
have stayed there but
jesus could have stayed in heaven
he too had a palace he was a prince
he's the son of god the second person of
the trinity all glory and honor is
belongs to him
and instead he chose to come and join us
and to identify himself with us and not
just to kind of come in and sightsee
you know like a traveler who comes from
outside a tourist who takes some
pictures and goes back again
no he entered into life the same way you
as a baby born
helpless vulnerable
going through life then with the same
joys and the same suffering the same
risks and
the same possibilities that we have
because he was going to completely
identify with his people with you and
with me and that's why he's called then
a high priest who is sympathetic to us
because he understands us he gets us he
knows what it's like to live as a human
being even though he was perfect
because he too is tempted in all ways
he knows what this world is like
he completely identified himself with us
and in doing that he also then
confronted the powers
to set his people free
because it's interesting right away just
like with moses there is a power that's
out to get him
in this case it is because he is the
messiah you remember the wise men coming
because they've found a star and the
star says that a king has been born and
so they go to jerusalem and they ask
herod and herod
asks his people and they say bethlehem
that's what will happen this king will
be born there and herod's going a king
a threat
i will destroy him
and behind that is evil
who's saying we have this world in
bondage
we like it
and so the soldiers were sent
to kill all the baby boys two years and
younger
in bethlehem and around it but jesus
because in this cosmic battle
in this confrontation with the powers
the father knew that
and spoke to joseph in a dream
because jesus was entrusted to joseph
and so joseph was responsible for him
and joseph took
the child and his mother and went
ironically of all places to egypt
to find safety
miraculously delivered returns back when
herod is dead but that's the pattern all
the way through it's the powers that
confront jesus who's the first to know
that he is the savior the son of god the
messiah sent to deliver the people from
their sins
well the people who know it first the
ones who know it first really are the
demons
in a synagogue
where he's teaching
and where a demon comes out and
confronts him and says i know who you
are
yeah
because it was a confrontation with the
powers and that confrontation went on
throughout his life
and it worked through his people who
rejected him or refused him
and in the end the powers had their way
they crucified him they killed him he
but the confrontation was not over
because in doing that they had played
into god's hands into the hands of the
messiah because that was why the messiah
for moses when it came to the tenth
plague the one that struck down the
firstborn sons
it wasn't his life for their life it was
the life of lambs
you killed a lamb and you painted it on
the doorposts and that house the angel
of death would pass over this is the
this is the lamb
that makes the angel of death pass over
and so his father raises him from the
dead and the powers are not just
he's raised up to heaven and we're told
that he sits at the right hand of his
father to judge all and he's coming back
to judge all things and everything has
been placed under his authority
he's in control
even though it doesn't always seem like
but he's in control
and the powers have to bend to him and
ultimately will and the day will come
because it's not all fulfilled yet
that's part of what happens with this is
that the foreshadowing goes even farther
into the future
because there's an inheritance yet to
come an inheritance yet to be led into
and that is we get a taste of it but the
inheritance is
that
heaven and new earth where the sea is no
more the chaos is gone destruction is
done
where sorrow and tears and death is no
more and where all things are renewed
and where evil doesn't exist anymore
but it's coming
and moses foreshadowed that too because
that's where he was leading god's people
to that land
you see moses
then then too i want to touch i got to
go back a second to the way that jesus
completely identifies himself
with us
because like moses he continued to and
continues to identify himself with us he
didn't just do that when he was born
into this life but he continues to do
that in heaven
because he intercedes for us with the
father john tells us in his letter first
john that if anyone sins we have before
before the before the father before the
throne
one who will speak in our defense
the righteous one jesus
and he's a high priest who's sympathetic
to us and he's a high priest who pleads
his blood the sacrifice once for all and
who says no i intercede on behalf of
your people and your promises
because he completely identifies with
you
and with me
so moses is a type of christ but he is
only a shadow of the reality
he had a unique and intimate
relationship with god an amazing
relationship with god the kind of
relationship you and i really wish we
could have sometimes
he spoke to god face to face
unlike any other prophet we are told
elsewhere in scripture
god spoke to him face to face as a man
speaks to his friend now through the
holy spirit god speaks to us as he does
to a friend
but he went up that mountain into the
cloud into the presence of god god put
him into a cleft of the rock and passed
his presence before him he would go that
was a mountain that no one else could
touch they would die
and he would go into a tent of meeting
and he would speak face to face with god
there and when he'd come out his fla his
face would be so full of glory that he
had to put a veil over it
but it wasn't his glory it was reflected
in glory
because he's a shadow
of what's to come
because jesus was more than a friend
he was a son
and we see that in hebrews where it
talks about moses being a servant and a
faithful servant and jesus being
faithful too but faithful as a son
and moses was faithful in god's house
he's part of god's house he's one of us
too
but jesus is faithful as a son over
god's house
and rules it
and has authority over it
and we're part
of that with him
he's the one that god spoke of at his
baptism and at the mount of
transfiguration this is my son with whom
he's the son who goes back to heaven and
relates to the father and gives to us
the spirit
his spirit spirit of a son
so that we can relate to his father as a
son too as he does in other words as
sons and daughters
moses you know even made the tabernacle
according to the plans made by god he's
the one who directed the whole thing
he's the one who put everything in his
place when they set it up
he consecrated it
he anointed and consecrated aaron and
but jesus is the presence that fills
that temple
and he's the presence that fills your
life and mine
now
through his holy spirit
it's his glory we look for it's him we
look for moses is a shadow
and my prayer today
is that god will through this show
through moses then show us jesus
and maybe there'll be something in there
that spoke to you that said
that's what jesus
is like
to me
because that's what jesus wants
because he doesn't just save kind of
people
and mass in a crowd
he saves his people
one by one
knows them
intimately
cares about each one of us
knows our hearts even better than we do
and wants us to know that
that he knows us
that he saved us
that he called us
that he's preserving us
that he will bring us into his presence
that he will bring all of this into
completion
that he will give us a glorious
inheritance no one can take away
that this sad world which is so broken
all
done
someday
because of jesus and that's who moses
foreshadowed
just a shadow
just a reflection
you