Moses As Covenant Head, Pointing to Jesus

There are several comparisons in the New Testament between Moses and Jesus, such as in their office of prophet (Acts 3:22, Deuteronomy 18:15) and as mediators (such as Hebrews 8:6). It is this latter parallel that I want to discuss here.

We talk a lot about the mediatorial office of Jesus: "There is one God, and there is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus" (I Timothy 2:5). And with good reason, for it is the basis of our justification before God.

But, if Moses was a type of Christ as mediator, where do we see his acting as mediator? There are obvious places, such as in the giving of the Law. But there is another, more-obscure occasion. Let us recall the one judgment against Moses that is recorded in Scripture: "Die on the mountain which you go up, and be gathered to your people, as Aaron your brother died in Mount Hor and was gathered to his people, because you broke faith with Me in the midst of the people of Israel at the waters of Meribah-kadesh, in the wilderness of Zin, and because you did not treat Me as holy in the midst of the people of Israel. For you shall see the land before you, but you shall not go there, into the land that I am giving to the people of Israel" (Deuteronomy 32:50-52). Do you recall the original event (Numbers 20:2-13)? The people of Israel were journeying through the Wilderness, a desert country, and needed water. God told Moses to command the water to come out of the rock. However, Moses rapped on the rock with his staff. This is often identified as the reason for God's judgment against him, but Scripture never indicates that.

Rather, this is what the Scriptures say: "It went ill with Moses on their account" (Psalm 106:32). While it may have been a sin for Moses to rap the rock, rather than merely commanding it, that is not the reason for God's severe punishment against him. Rather, God punishes him as the covenant representative of Israel! This is the way that Moses was a type of the mediatorial role of Jesus. Just as Moses is judged as the covenant head of Israel, Jesus on the cross was judged as the covenant head of all believers (John 6:37-40, Romans 5:15, Ephesians 5:25). 

As rich as this truth is, one application that comes immediately to mind is the condemnation of the atomistic view of salvation which is predominant among modern evangelicals. Don't they run around telling everyone, "Jesus loves you; Jesus died for you"? But that isn't the biblical gospel. According to Scripture, Jesus knew His bride, and was sacrificed, not for random millions, but explicitly for her (note especially Ephesians 5:25). Jesus knew His bride from all eternity, loved her and her alone, and knowingly gave Himself for her.

The Passover and the Salvation of Households

Have you ever had one of those moments when two things you have known forever just seem to come together in a way that seems so obvious now? I just had that experience with two portions of Scripture.

The first is the account of the original Passover (Exodus 12). I am thinking especially of Exodus 12:7: "Then they shall take some of the blood and put it on the two doorposts and the lintel of the houses in which they eat it." An elementary aspect of that verse is the typology of the redeeming sacrificial blood of Jesus, applied to the elect, that the judgment of the Father would pass us by. However, that is not the only thing taught in that sentence. Notice first what it does not say. Nowhere does Moses tell the people to apply the blood to themselves, as if they would be saved from death one by one. Rather, it was applied to the entrance to the house, so that everyone inside was preserved.

Making that connection made me think of some of the words of Peter in the New Testament: "The promise is for you and for your children" (Acts 2:39). We also have the words of Paul to the Philippian jailer: "Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved, you and your household" (Acts 16:31). This is not the atomistic view of evangelism that we see in our baptistic society, with one convert here and another there. God's evangelism is directed toward the conversion of whole families. And that shouldn't be news, considering the Exodus account above, and God's promise: "All your children shall be taught by the LORD, and great shall be the peace of your children" (Isaiah 53:13).

This is the basis of Paul's encouraging words to Christian parents: "The unbelieving husband is made holy because of his wife, and the unbelieving wife is made holy because of her husband. Otherwise your children would be unclean, but as it is, they are holy" (I Corinthians 7:14). God isn't primarily concerned about individuals, but rather about families!

Agriculture and the Curse of Sin

"How long will the land mourn
     and the grass of every field wither?
For the evil of those who dwell in it
     the beasts and the birds are swept away,
because they said, 'He will not see our latter end.'
     They have made it a desolation;
desolate, it mourns to Me.
     The whole land is made desolate,
but no man lays it to heart.
     Upon all the bare heights in the desert
destroyers have come,
     for the sword of the Lord devours
from one end of the land to the other;
     no flesh has peace.
They have sown wheat and have reaped thorns;
     they have tired themselves out but profit nothing.
They shall be ashamed of their harvests 
     because of the fierce anger of the Lord."
- Jeremiah 12:4, 11-13 

These verses describe the curse on the land of Israel for the apostasy of the people that lived in it (see also Isaiah 26:5-6 and Hosea 4:3). But notice the parallels to other portions of Scripture. For example, the original curse resulting from the sin of Adam: "Cursed is the ground because of you; in pain you shall eat of it all the days of your life; thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you; and you shall eat the plants of the field" (Genesis 3:17-18, compare 5:29). Part of the curse applies to the agricultural efforts of the people. Instead of productive crops, the land would produce thorns. 

Jeremiah also contains a theme that is picked up by the Apostle Paul in the New Testament: "The creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the sons of God. For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of Him who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to corruption and obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God. For we know that the whole creation has been groaning together in the pains of childbirth until now" (Romans 8:19-22). The Apostle personifies the physical creation as longing for the full conversion of the sons of God, be then, and not until then, the creation will be released from that curse of futility that was brought upon it by the sin of its head, Adam. 

We have Christians who seek to help less-developed countries improve their agriculture, as populations grow and need increasing amounts of quality food. And I am grateful that God has called people to that ministry. However, improved agriculture is not the ultimate answer to the problem. Rather, spreading the Gospel and teaching the nations to obey everything God commands rolls back the effect of sin, and the creation is progressively freed to be the rich and productive thing it was created to be.

The Spirits of the Dead: Where Are They?

While their specifics are different, both Jehovah's Witnesses and Seventh-Day Adventists hold to a version of "soul sleep." That is, they hold that the spirits of the dead are unconscious (SDA's) or dissolved (JW's) from the time of death until the resurrection. This is in contrast to the understanding of orthodox Protestants that the spirits of dead pass immediately either into heaven (II Corinthians 5:8, Philippians 1:21-23) or into hell (II Peter 2:9). As the Scriptures say, there is no gap between death and judgment (Hebrews 9:27).

Personally, I cannot understand the interest that SDA'a and JW's have in maintaining their soul sleep doctrine. How does it contribute to the Christian life to believe it?

But, as I have said before, the psychological element is not the only one. The Scriptures are also contrary to it. Use the "annihilationism" tag below to see those other comments. Here I want to add one more.

In Romans 8:38-39, the Apostle Paul gives us a wonderful promise of God: "I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord." Notice that he explicitly includes "death." Even death shall not separate the true believer from the love of God.

Is that not what the doctrine of soul sleep says, especially as the Jehovah's Witnesses teach it? They hold that the dead person spends the indefinite period of time between his death and his resurrection without any experience of God's love. Yet, that is contrary to God's promise, as given us by Paul.

Another consequence of this doctrine is the hope it gives to the unbeliever. Unbelievers imagine that death is far from them, so they can continue in their illusion of autonomy from God. If SDA'a and JW's are adding an indefinite period, even thousands of years, after death, does that not increase the illusion of freedom for the unbeliever? Surely encouraging unbelief is an offense to God: "If I say to the wicked, ‘You shall surely die,’ and you give him no warning, nor speak to warn the wicked from his wicked way, in order to save his life, that wicked person shall die for his iniquity, but his blood I will require at your hand" (Ezekiel 3:18). Our duty is to warn the unbeliever, not to encourage him!

The Whole-Bible Mission of God

When asked to cite the Great Commission, most Christians will immediately refer to Matthew 28:19-20. Some will go to Acts 1:8. And there is nothing wrong with either citation. In fact, both are excellent! The New Testament is full of directives to the Church to carry the Gospel to the unbelieving world.

However, what about the other two-thirds of the Bible in the Old Testament? Do we believe that God had no concern about the spiritual welfare of the rest of the world for two-thirds of His inspired interaction with His people? I hope no one thinks that. What an unloving God that would be!

Look at Isaiah 66:19: "I will set a sign among them. And from them I will send survivors to the nations, to Tarshish, Pul, and Lud, who draw the bow, to Tubal and Javan, to the coastlands far away, that have not heard My fame or seen My glory. And they shall declare My glory among the nations." Is there any New Testament statement of the great Commission which more-clearly indicates the missionary purpose that God has given His people?

What about Isaiah 43:10-12:
"'You are My witnesses, declares the Lord, 
     'and My servant whom I have chosen,
that you may know and believe Me
     and understand that I am He.
Before Me no god was formed,
     nor shall there be any after Me.
I, I am the Lord,
     and besides Me there is no savior.
I declared and saved and proclaimed,
     when there was no strange god among you;and you are My witnesses,' declares the Lord, 'and I am God.'"

As much as the New Testament, the Old Testament reports the mission of God, His plan for the knowledge of His glory and deity to be spread among all men, not just to Israel, and not just to the Church.

The Eternal Begetting of God the Son

One of the erroneous doctrines of Oneness Pentecostalism regarding Jesus is that His sonship began with His incarnation in the womb of Mary. Before that, His preexistence was as the Father. In contrast, orthodox Christians hold that His sonship was eternal. That is, that God the Son has been such from all of eternity.

The most explicit biblical reference to that truth is from Psalm 2:7: "The Lord said to Me, 'You are my Son; today I have begotten You.'" Oneness people cannot deny the reference of this verse, because we have the inspired interpretation of it in Hebrews 1:5, applying it to the Father's message to the Son.

Instead, the Oneness try to avoid the implications of the Psalm by pointing to its use of "today," which, they claim, must refer to a particular time. However, that assertion ignores the use of "today" in the Bible, especially in the Psalms, and as it is adopted in Hebrews. For example, we read in Hebrews 4:7, from Psalm 95:7, "He appoints a certain day, 'Today,' saying through David so long afterward, in the words already quoted, 'Today, if you hear His voice, do not harden your hearts.'" Here, it occurs three times, "a certain day" and "today" twice. About what day is the Psalmist talking, Oneness apologist? Well, every day, obviously. There is no day when we are allowed to harden our hearts.

Thus, the question about Psalm 2:7 and Hebrews 1:5, what day is the Father begetting the Son? Well, every day!

Having had this conversation with Oneness, I know their next quibble is, How can a father beget the same son every day? Of course, merely asking that question reveals what a carnal view they have of God, as if He fathers children like a human father does. Sometimes they will even demand, Well, then, who was His mother? Of course, the first response to that is to point out that their carnal demands are to the author of the Scripture, God Himself, not to me. But then, again, I cannot but notice what a carnal view of God they reveal, acting as if God reproduces, or that deity has parents. That is the Mormon doctrine, not anything that should be expected from the God of the Bible!

Spiritual Freedom through Absolute Dependency

In discussions with Mormons over the doctrine of perseverance, more than one has cited Matthew 10:22 in response: "The one who endures to the end will be saved." And those are, indeed, the words of Jesus. But these Mormons never stop to ask, How does he endure to the end? As a hardcore Pelagian religion. Mormonism presupposes that it is their temple ceremonies and obeying the commandments that will enable them to endure. And that presupposition is based on their denial of total depravity. If I cite Isaiah 64:6 or Jeremiah 17:9, for example, they claim that my understanding of those verses is erroneous. Of course, when they make that assertion, they never show how my understanding is wrong. I guess that to assert is to prove.

However, the Bible tells us that man is helpless to sustain himself. As demonstrated by the fall of Adam and Eve, man, left to his own power will fall. And they were without the corruption of the sin nature!

Thank God that the Bible tells us differently! My heart responds, not to Mormon Pelagianism, but to the faithful God to whom Jude addressed this doxology: "Now to Him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you blameless before the presence of His glory with great joy, to the only God, our Savior, through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, majesty, dominion, and authority, before all time and now and forever. Amen" (Jude 1:24-25).

This is the biblical truth, the proof, not just assertion: "You are not lacking in any gift, as you wait for the revealing of our Lord Jesus Christ, who will sustain you to the end, guiltless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ" (I Corinthians 1:7-8). The biblical Christian is sustained by Jesus, not by church ceremonies or obeying commandments or any other human effort. He cannot be! Rather, he is sustained only by the hand of Jesus Christ, like the toddler who is enabled to walk by Mommy's sustaining grip.

I understand why Mormonism hates the doctrine of perseverance, as do all Pelagian religions (Jehovah's Witnesses, Catholicism, Pentecostalism, etc.). When the believer receives the biblical truth of his security in Christ, he can eschew any dependence on ceremonies or priests or edifices. Those organizations (I do not call them churches) lose their power over that man forever. He is rescued from their spiritual bondage, and they are deprived of his money and adoration. 

So my answer to those Mormons is, The one who endures is the one whom Jesus sustains!

That Moronic Arminian Question

One response I frequently get from Arminians strikes me as particularly bizarre. When I assert God's absolute predestination of all things, they respond with, "Well then why do (fill in the blank)?" I find it incomprehensible that they think that predestination implies that we should all stand around in a catatonic state while God operates the universe around us. How can they not be conscious of what a silly caricature that is?

Predestination answers the question of why things occur. Things occur because it is the purpose of God that they should do so: "He does according to His will among the host of heaven and among the inhabitants of the earth; and none can stay His hand or say to Him, 'What have You done?'" (Daniel 4:35). To my mind, the concept of God implies exactly what this verse asserts, that He must be in sovereign control of all things.

However, the Arminian pretends that Calvinist thought stops there, as if "why" were the only issue. Does he really believe that a Calvinist cannot conceive of the question of "how"?

Why do things happen? Because God has determined that they shall. How do they happen? Well, why am I alive? Because God has so determined. But how do I live? By eating, drinking, breathing, keeping warm, etc. The error of the Arminian is his assumption that the answer to the first question covers the answer to the second, and that is obviously not the case. God has chosen that I live (for this moment, at least) by food, water, air, warmth, etc. That is, by means. The answer to the first question does not include the answer to the second.