LivePrayerSermon 1487. The Prophet Like Unto Moses
(No. 1487)
DELIVERED ON LORD'S-DAY MORNING, AUGUST 3, 1879,
BY C. H. SPURGEON,
AT THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON.
"The Lord your God will raise up unto you a Prophet from the midst of you, of your brethren, like unto me; unto Him you shallhearken; according to all that you desired of the Lord your God in Horeb in the day of the assembly, saying, Let me not hearagain the voice of the Lord my God, neither let me see this great fire any more, that I die not. And the Lord said unto me,They have well spoken that which they have spoken. I will raise them up a Prophet from among their brethren, like unto you,and will put My words in His mouth; and He shall speak unto them all that I shall command Him. And it shall come to pass,that whoever will not hearken unto My words which He shall speak in My name, I will require it of him." Deuteronomy 18:15-19.
MAN, the creature, may well desire communion with his Creator. When we are right-minded we cannot bear to be like fatherlesschildren, born into the world by a parent of whom we know nothing whatever. We long to hear our father's voice. Of old time,before sin had entered into the world, the Lord God was on the most intimate terms with His creature, man. He communed withAdam in the garden. In the cool of the day He made the evening to be seven-fold refreshing by the shadow of His own Presence.There was no cloud between unfallen man and the Ever-Blessed One- they could commune together, for no sin had set up a middlewall of partition.
Alas, man, being in honor, continued not, but broke the Law of his God and not only forfeited his own inheritance, but entailedupon his descendants a character with which the holy God can hold no converse. By nature we love that which is evil and withinus there is an evil heart of unbelief in departing from the living God-consequently, communion between God and man has hadto be upon quite another footing from that which commenced and ended in the glades of Eden. It was condescension at the first,which made the Lord speak with man, the creature. It is mercy, unutterable mercy, now, if God deigns to speak with man thesinner!
Through His Divine Grace, the Lord did not leave our fathers altogether without a word from Himself even after the Fall, forbetween the days of Adam and Moses there were occasional voices heard as of God speaking with man. "Enoch walked with God,"which implies that God walked with him and had communion with him. And we may rest assured it was no silent walk which Enochhad with the Most High. The Lord also spoke to Noah, once and again, and made a Covenant with him. And then He, at still greaterlength and with greater frequency, spoke with Abraham, whom He graciously called His friend.
Voices also came to Isaac, Jacob and Joseph. And celestial beings flitted to and fro between earth and Heaven. Then therewas a long pause and a dreary silence. No Prophet spoke in Jehovah's name; no voice of God in priestly oracle was heard, butall was silent while Israel dwelt in Egypt and sojourned in the land of Ham. So completely hushed was the spiritual voiceamong men that it seemed as if God had utterly forsaken His people and left the world without a witness to His name.
But there was a prophecy of His return and the Lord had great designs which only waited till the full time was come. He purposedto try man in a very special manner, to see whether he could bear the Presence of the Lord or not. He resolved to take a family,multiply it into a nation and set it apart for Himself. And to that nation He would make a revelation of Himself of the mostextraordinary character. So He took the people who had slaved among the brick kilns of Egypt and made them His elect-the nationof His choice-ordained to be a nation of priests, a people near unto Him if they had but Grace to bear the honor.
Though they had lain among the pots, with a high hand and an outstretched arm He delivered them and with gracious love Hefavored them so that they became for beauty and excellence as the wings of a dove that are covered with silver and her featherswith yellow gold. He divided the Red Sea and made them a way of escape and afterwards set that sea as a barrier between themand their former masters. He took them into the wilderness and there fed them with manna which dropped from Heaven and withwater out of the rock did He sustain them. After a while He began to speak to them as He had never spoken to any nation before.
He spoke with them from the top of Sinai, so that they heard His Voice out of the midst of the fire and in astonishment theycried, "We have seen this day that God does talk with man and he lives." But the experiment failed. Man was not in a conditionto hear the direct Voice of God. On the very first day the people were in such terror and alarm that they cried out, "Thisgreat fire will consume us! If we hear the Voice of the Lord our God any more we shall die." As they stood still at a distanceto hear the words of God's perfect Law they were filled with great fear. So terrible was the sight that even Moses said, "Iexceedingly fear and quake."
The people could not endure that which was commanded and entreated that the word should not be spoken to them any more. Theyfelt the need of someone to interpose-a daysman, an interpreter-someone was needed to come between them and God. Even thoseamong them that were the most spiritual and understood and loved God better than the rest confessed that they could not endurethe thunder of His dreadful Voice. And so their elders and the heads of their tribes came to Moses and said, "Go you near,and hear all that the Lord our God shall say: and speak you unto us all that the Lord our God shall speak unto you; and wewill hear it, and do it."
The Lord knew that man would always be unable to hear his Maker's voice and He, therefore, determined not only to speak byMoses, but to speak by His servants, the Prophets, raising up here, one, and there, another. And then He determined, as theconsummation of His condescending mercy, that at the last He would put all the words He had to say to man into one heart andthat word should be spoken by one mouth to men, furnishing a full, complete and unchangeable revelation of Himself to thehuman race! This He resolved to give by One of whom Moses had learned something when the Lord said to Him in the words ofour text, "I will raise them up a Prophet from among their brethren, like unto you, and will put My words in His month; andHe shall speak unto them all that I shall command
Him."
We know assuredly that our Lord Jesus Christ is that Prophets like unto Moses by whom, in these last days, He has spoken untous! See Peter's testimony in the third chapter of the Acts of the Apostles and Stephen's in the seventh chapter of the samebook. "This Man was counted worthy of more glory than Moses, inasmuch as He who has built the house has more honor than thehouse," yet did He bear a gracious likeness to Moses and therein His Apostles found a sure argument of His being, indeed,the Messiah, sent of God.
The subject of this morning's discourse is the Lord's speaking to us by Jesus Christ, the one Mediator between God and man-andour earnest aim is that all of us may reverently hear the Voice of God by this greatest of all Prophets. Brothers and Sisters,this is the Word of God unto you this morning, that very Word which He spoke on the holy Mount, when the Lord was transfiguredand there appeared with Him Moses and Elijah speaking to Him. And out of the excellent Glory there came the words, "This isMy beloved Son, hear you Him." This is my message at this hour-"Hear you Him."
He says to you all this day, "Incline your ear and come unto Me: hear, and your soul shall live. Hearken diligently unto Me,and eat you that which is good, and let your soul delight itself in fatness." "See that you refuse not Him that speaks. Forif they escaped not who refused Him that spoke on earth, much more shall not we escape, if we turn away from Him that speaksfrom Heaven." Our meditation will run in this line-first, we will think for a moment upon the necessity for a Mediator. Secondly,upon the Person of the Prophet-Mediator whom God has chosen. And, thirdly, upon the authority with which this Mediator isinvested, by which authority He calls upon us this day to listen to God's Voice which is heard in Him.
I. We begin by considering how urgently there existed THE NECESSITY for a Mediator. I need but very short time to set thisforth. There was a necessity for a Mediator in the case of the Israelites, first, because of the unutterable Glory of Godand their own inability to endure that Glory, either with their eyes, their ears, or their minds. We cannot suppose
that the revelation of God upon Sinai was the display of all His greatness. No, we know that it could not be such, for itwould have been impossible for man to have lived at all in the Presence of the Infinite Glory.
Habakkuk, speaking of this manifestation, says, "God came from Teman and the Holy One from mount Paran. His Glory coveredthe heavens and the earth was fall of His praise. And His brightness was as the light; He had horns coming out of His hands."But he adds, "There was the hiding of His power." Despite its exceeding Glory, the manifestation upon the mount of God atHoreb was a subdued manifestation and yet, though it was thus toned down to human weakness, it could not be borne!
The unveiling of Jehovah's face, no mortal eye could bear! The voice with which God spoke at Sinai is by Moses compared tothe voice of a trumpet waxing exceedingly loud and long-and also to the roll of thunder-and we all know the awe-inspiringsound of thunder when it is heard near at hand, its volleys rolling overhead. How the crash of peal on peal makes the bravestheart, if not to quail, yet still to bow in reverent awe before God! Yet this is not the full Voice of God-it is but His whisper.Jehovah has hushed His Voice in the thunder, for were that voice heard in its fullness, it would shake not only earth, butalso Heaven.
If He were for once to unveil His face, the lightning's flame would pale to darkness in comparison. The Voice of the LordGod is inconceivably majestic and it is not possible that we, poor creatures, worms of the dust, insects of a day, shouldever be able to hear it and live! We could not bear the full revelation of God apart from mediatorial interposition. Perhapswhen He has made us to be pure spirits, or when our bodies shall have been "raised in power"-made like unto the body of ourLord Jesus-we may then be able to behold the glorious Jehovah, but as yet we must accept the kindly warning of the Lord inanswer to the request of Moses, "you cannot see My face, for there shall no man see Me and live."
The strings of life are too weak for the strain of the unveiled Presence. It is not possible for such a airy, spider-likethread as our existence to survive the breath of Deity if He should actually and in very deed draw near to us. It appearedclearly at Sinai that even when the Lord did accommodate Himself, as much as was consistent with His honor, to the infirmityof human nature, man was so alarmed and afraid at His Presence that he could not bear it-and it was absolutely necessary thatinstead of speaking with His own Voice, even though He whispered what He had to say, He should speak to another apart andafterwards that other should come down from the mount and repeat the Lord's words to the people.
This sufficient reason is supported by another most weighty fact, namely, that God cannot commune with men because of theirsin. God was pleased to regard His people Israel at the foot of Sinai as pure. "Moses went down from the mount unto the peopleand sanctified the people; and they washed their clothes." They had abstained, for awhile, from defiling actions and as theystood outside the bounds they were ceremonially clean-but it was only a ceremonial purity. Before long they were really uncleanbefore the Lord and in heart defiled and polluted. The Lord said of them, "O that there were such a heart in them, that theywould fear Me, and keep all My commandments always, that it might be well with them, and with their children forever!"
He knew that their heart was not right even when they spoke obediently. Not many days after the people had trembled at Sinaithey made a golden calf and set it up and bowed before it, provoking the Lord to jealousy so that He sent plagues among them.It is quite clear that after such a rebellion, after a deliberate breach of His Covenant and daring violation of His commands,it would have been quite impossible for God to speak to them, or for them to listen to the Voice of God in a direct manner.They would have fled before Him because of His holiness which shamed their unholiness! And because of their sin, which provokedHis indignation. Because of their wandering, instability and treachery of their hearts, the Lord could not have endured themin His Presence.
The holy angels forever adore with that threefold cry, "Holy, holy, holy Lord God of Sabaoth," and He could not permit menof unclean lips to profane His Throne with their unholy utterances. Oh no, my Brothers and Sisters, with such a sense of sinas some of us have and as all of us ought to have, we should have to cover our faces and cower down in terror if Jehovah,Himself, were to appear! He cannot look upon iniquity, neither can evil dwell with Him, for He is a consuming fire. Whilewe are compassed with infirmity we cannot behold Him, for our eyes are dimmed with the smoke of our iniquities. If we wouldsee even the skirts of His garments, we must first be pure in heart and He must put us in the cleft of the rock and coverus with His hands.
If we were to behold His stern justice, His awful holiness and His boundless power apart from our ever-blessed Mediator, weshould dissolve at the sight and utterly melt away, for we have sinned. This double reason of the weakness of our nature andthe sinfulness of our character is a forcible one, for I close this part of the discourse by observing that the argument wasso forcible that the Lord Himself allowed it. He said, "They have well spoken, that which they have spoken." It was no morbidapprehension which made them afraid. It was no foolish dread which made them start, for Wisdom, in the person of Moses, said,"I do exceedingly fear and quake."
The calmest and meekest of men had real cause for fear. God's face is not to be seen. An occasional glimpse may come to spiritsraised above their own natural level, so that they can, for a while, behold the King, the Lord of Hosts-but even to them itis a terrible strain upon all their powers-the wine is too strong for the bottles. What said John, when he saw, not so muchabsolute Deity, but the Divine side of the Mediator? "When I saw Him I fell at His feet as dead." Daniel, the man greatlybeloved, confesses that there remained no strength in him and his comeliness was turned into corruption when he heard theVoice of God!
And Job said, "I have heard of You by the hearing of the ear, but now my eyes see You; therefore I abhor myself in dust andashes." No, God knows it is not silly fright nor unbelieving fear-it is a most seemly awe and a most natural dread which takeshold of finite and fallible creatures in the Presence of the Infinite and Perfect One! These frail tabernacles, like the tentsof Cushan, are in affliction when the Lord marches by in the greatness of His power. We need a Mediator. The Lord knows rightwell that our sinfulness provokes Him and that there is, in us-in the best here present-that which would make Him to breakout against us to destroy us if we were to come to Him without a covering and propitiation. We must approach the Lord througha Mediator-it is absolutely necessary.
God Himself witnesses it is and, therefore, in His mercy He ordains a Mediator, that by Him we may be able to approach HisThrone of Grace. May the Holy Spirit make this Truth of God very plain to the consciousness of all of us and cause us to singwith the poet-
"Till God in human flesh I see,
My thoughts no comfort find;
The holy, just, and sacred
Three are terrors to my mind.
But if Immanuel's face appears,
My hope, my joy begins;
His name forbids my slavish fear,
His Grace remo ves my sins."
II. This brings us to consider THE PERSON of the appointed Mediator and in my text we obtain a liberal measure of informationupon this point. Read these blessed words, "The Lord your God will raise up unto you a Prophet from the midst of you, of yourbrethren." Dwell with sweetness upon this fact that our Lord Jesus was raised up from the midst of us, from among our brethren!In Him is fulfilled that glorious prophecy, "I have exalted One chosen out of the people." He is one of ourselves, a Brotherborn for adversity. He was born at Bethlehem, not in fiction, but in fact-He lay in the manger where the horned oxen fed.He was wrapped in swaddling cloths and dependent on a woman's loving care as any other baby might be. He was like ourselvesin His growth from Infancy to Manhood, increasing in stature as we do from our childhood to our riper age. Though the holyChild Jesus, He was yet a Child and, therefore, He was subject to His parents.
And when He came forth as a Man, His was no phantom manhood, but true flesh and blood! He was tempted and He was betrayed.He hungered and He thirsted. He was weary and He was sorely amazed. He took our sicknesses and He carried our sorrows. Hewas made in all points like unto His brethren. He did not set Himself apart as though He were of an exclusive caste or ofa superior rank, but He dwelt among us-the Brother of the race, eating with publicans and sinners-always mingling with thecommon people. He was not One who boasted His descent, or gloried in the so-called blue blood, or placed Himself among thePorphyro-geniti who must not see the light except in marble halls. He was born in a common house of entertainment where allmight come to Him and He died with His arms extended as a pledge that He continued to receive all who came to Him!
He never spoke of men as the common multitude, the vulgar herd, but He made Himself at home among them. He was dressed likea peasant, in the ordinary smock of the country-a garment without seam, woven from the top
throughout. And He mixed with the multitude, went to their marriage feasts, attended their funerals and was so much amongthem, a Man among men, that slander called Him a glutton and a wine-bibber, a friend of publicans and sinners. In all respectsour Lord was raised up from the midst of us, One of our own kith and kin. "For this cause He is not ashamed to call us brethren."
He was our Brother in living, our Bother in death and our Brother in resurrection, for after His Resurrection He said, "Go,tell My Brethren." And He also said, "My Father, and your Father; My God, and your God." Though now exalted in the highestheavens, He pleads for us and acts as a High Priest who can be touched with a feeling of our infirmities. God has graciouslyraised up such a Mediator and now He speaks to us through Him. O sons of men, will you not listen when such an One as Jesusof Nazareth, the Son of Man, is ordained to speak of the eternal God? You might be unable to hear if He should speak againin thunder, but now He speaks by those dear lips of love! Now He speaks by that gracious tongue which has worked such miraclesof Grace by its words! Now He speaks out of that great heart of His which never beats except with love to the sons of men-willyou not hear Him? Surely we ought to give the most earnest heed and obey His every word.
Moses was truly one of the people, for he loved them intensely and all his sympathies were with them. They provoked him terribly,but he still loved them. We can never admire that man of God too much when we think of his disinterested love to that guiltynation. See him on the mountain as Israel's advocate! The Lord said, "Let Me alone that I may destroy them, and I will makeof you a great nation." That proposal opened up before Moses' eyes a glittering destiny! It was within his grasp that he shouldbecome the founder of a race in whom the promises made to Abraham should be fulfilled! Would not the most of men have greedilysnatched at it?
But Moses will not have it! He loves Israel too well to see the people die if he can save them. He has not an atom of selfishambition about him. And so with cries and tears he exclaims," Why should the Egyptians speak and say, For mischief did Hebring them out, to slay them in the mountains, and to consume them from the face of the earth? Turn from Your fierce wrathand repent of this evil against Your people." He prevailed with God by his pleading, for he identified himself with Israel.Moses did, as it were, gather up all their grief and sorrow into himself, even as did our Lord. True Israelite was he, forhe refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter! He cast his lot with the people of
God.
This is just what our blessed Lord has done. He will not have honor apart from His people, nor even life unless they alsolive. He saved others, Himself He could not save. He would not be in Heaven and leave His saints behind! He loved the peopleand so proved Himself to be One chosen out of their midst, a Brother among brethren. Mark well that while thus our Lord isour Brother, the great God has, in His Person, sent us One who is lifted up above us all in the knowledge of His mind. Thussays the Lord (v. 18), "I will put My words in His mouth." Our Lord Jesus Christ comes to us inspired by God. Not alone Hecomes, nor of His own mind, but He says, "The Father is with Me: I do always the things which please Him: the Father thatdwells in Me, He does the works." Both in word and work He acted for His Father and under His Father's inspiration.
Brothers and Sisters, I beseech you not to reject the message which Jesus brings, seeing it is not His own, but the sure messageof God! Trifle not with a single word which Jesus speaks, for it is the Word of the Eternal One! Despise not one single deedwhich He did, or precept which He commanded, or blessing which He brought, for upon all these there is the stamp of Deity!God chose One who is our Brother that He might come near to us and He put His own royal imprimatur upon Him that we mightnot have an Ambassador of second rank, but One who counts it not robbery to be equal with God, who, nevertheless, for oursake has taken upon Himself the form of a Servant that He might speak home to our hearts. For all these reasons, I beseechyou despise not Him that speaks, seeing He speaks from Heaven!
The main point, however, upon which I want to dwell is that Jesus is like Moses. There had been no better mediator found thanMoses up to Moses' day. The Lord God, therefore, determined to work upon that model with the great Prophet of His race andHe has done so in sending forth the Lord Jesus. It would be a very interesting task for the young people to work out all thepoints in which Moses is a personal type of the Lord Jesus. The points of resemblance are very many, for there is hardly asingle incident in the life of the great Lawgiver which is not symbolic of the promised Savior.
You may begin from the beginning at the waters of the Nile and go to the close upon the brow of Pisgah and you will see Christin Moses as a man sees his face in a glass. I can only mention in what respects, as a Mediator, Jesus is like
Moses, and surely one is found in the fact that Moses, beyond all that went before him, was peculiarly the depository of themind of God. Once and again we find him closeted with God for 40 days at a time. He went right away from men to the lone mountaintopand there he was, 40 days and 40 nights, and did neither eat nor drink, but lived in high communion with his God! In thosetimes of seclusion he received the pattern of the tabernacle, the Laws of the priesthood, of the sacrifices of the holy daysand of the civil estate of Israel-and perhaps the early records which compose the Book of Genesis. To whom else had God everspoken for that length of time as a man speaks with his friend?
Moses was the peculiar favorite of God. From the first day of his call, when he was keeping his father's flock at the backof the desert, right to the day when God kissed away his soul on the top of Nebo, he was a man greatly beloved to whom Godmanifested Himself as to no other. Hear the Lord's own words to Aaron and Miriam. "And He said, Hear now My words: If thereis a Prophet among you, I the Lord will make Myself known unto Him in a vision, and will speak unto Him in a dream. My servantMoses is not so, who is faithful in all My house. With Him will I speak mouth to mouth, even apparently, and not in dark speeches:and the similitude of the Lord shall he behold. Why, then, were you not afraid to speak against My servant Moses?"
In this our Lord Jesus is like Moses, only He far surpasses him, for the communion between Christ and the Father was verymuch more intimate, seeing that Jesus is, Himself, essential Deity, and, "in Him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily."Cold mountains and the midnight air continually witnessed to His communion with the Father. Nor these, alone, for He abodewith the Father! His language was always spoken out as God was speaking within Him. He lived in God and with God. "I know,"He said, "that You hear Me always." Instead of having to point out when Christ was in communion with the Father, we have rather,with astonishment, to point out the one moment when He was not in communion with the Father, even that dread hour when Hecried, "My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?"
Only that one time did the Father leave Him and even then it was inexplicable and He asked the reason for it- though He knewthat He was suffering as the Substitute for man-yet did His desertion by God come upon Him as a novelty which utterly overwhelmedHim so that He asked in agony why He was forsaken. Moses, to take another point, is the first of the Prophets with whom Godkept up continuous Revelation. To other men He spoke in dreams and visions, but to Moses by plain and perpetual testimony.His Spirit rested on him and he took of it to give thereof to Joshua and to the 70 elders, even as Jesus gave of His Spiritto the Apostles.
Sometimes God spoke to Noah, or to Abraham and others-but it was only upon certain occasions and, even then, as in the caseof Abraham and Jacob, they must fall asleep to see and hear Him best. But with Moses, the Lord abode perpetually! Wheneverhe willed, he consulted the Most High and at once God spoke with him and directed his way. So was it with Christ Jesus. Heneeded not to behold a vision-the spirit of prophecy did not occasionally come upon Him and bear Him out of Himself-for theSpirit was given Him without measure and He perpetually knew the very mind and heart of God. He was always a Prophet, notsometimes a prophet, like he of old, of whom we read, "The Spirit of God came upon him in the camp of Dan." Or like othersof whom it is written, "The Word of the Lord came to them."
At all times the Spirit rested upon Jesus-He spoke in the abiding power of the Holy Spirit more so than did Moses. Moses isdescribed as a Prophet mighty in word and deed and it is amazing that there never was another Prophet mighty in word and deedtill Jesus came. Moses not only spoke with matchless power, but worked miracles. You shall find no other Prophet who did both.Other Prophets who spoke well worked no miracles, or only here and there-while those who worked miracles, such as Elijah andElisha, have left us but few words that they spoke-indeed, their prophecies were but lightning flashes and not as the brightshining of the sun.
When you come to our Lord Jesus you find lips and heart working together with equal perfectness of witness. You cannot tellin which He is the more marvelous-in His speech or in His acts. "Never man spoke like this Man," but certainly never man workedsuch marvels of mercy as Jesus did! He far exceeds Moses and all the Prophets put together in the variety and the multitudeand the wonderful character of the miracles which He did. If men bow before Prophets who can cast down their rods and theybecome serpents-if they yield homage to Prophets who call fire from Heaven-how much more should they accept Him whose Wordsare matchless music and whose miracles of love were felt even beyond the boundaries of this visible world?
The angels of God flew from Heaven to minister to Him. The devils of the Pit fled before His voice and the caverns of deathheard His call and yielded up their prey! Who would not accept this Prophet like Moses, to whom the Holy Spirit
bore witness by mighty signs and wonders? Moses, again, was the founder of a great system of religious law and this was notthe case with any other but the Lord Jesus. He founded the whole system of the Aaronic Priesthood and the Law that went withit. Moses was a Lawgiver-he gave the Ten Commandments in the name of God-and all the other statutes of the Jewish polity wereordained through him. Now, till you come to Christ you find no such Lawgiver-but Jesus institutes the New Covenant as Mosesintroduced the old!
The Sermon on the Mount was an utterance from a happier Sinai and, whereas Moses gives this and that command, Jesus givesthe same in sweeter form and in a more Divine fashion and embodies it in His own sacred Person. He is the great Legislatorof our dispensation He is the King in the midst of Jeshurun giving forth His commands which run very swiftly and they thatfear the Lord are obedient to them. Time will fail us, or we would mention to you that Moses was faithful before God as aservant over all his house and so was Jesus as a Son over His own house! Jesus was never unfaithful to His charge in any respect,but in all things ruled and served to perfection as the Anointed of the Father. He is the faithful and true Witness, the Princeof the kings of the earth.
Moses, too, was zealous for God and for His honor. Remember how the zeal of God's house did eat him up? When he saw grievoussin among the people, he said, "Who is on the Lord's side?" and there came to him the tribe of Levi and he said, "Go in andout, and slay you, everyone, his men that were joined to Baalpeor." Herein he was the stern type of Jesus who took the scourgeof small cords and drove out the buyers and sellers and said, "Take these things away: it is written, My Father's house shallbe a house of prayer, but you have made it a den of thieves," for the zeal of God's house had eaten Him up.
Moses, by Divine Grace, was very meek and, perhaps, this is the chief parallel between him and Jesus. I have said, "by DivineGrace," for I suppose by nature he was strongly passionate. There are many indications that Moses was not meek, but very farfrom it until the Spirit of God rested upon him. He slew the Egyptian hastily and in later years he went out from the presenceof Pharaoh "in great anger." Once and again you find him very angry-he took the tablets of stone and dashed them in piecesin his indignation, for "Moses' anger waxed hot," and that unhappy action which occasioned his being shut out of Canaan wascaused by his "being provoked in spirit so that he spoke unadvisedly with his lips" and said, "Hear now, you rebels! MustI fetch you water out of this rock?" Divine Grace had so cooled and calmed him that in general he was the gentlest of menand when his brother and sister thrust themselves into his place and questioned his authority, it is written, "Now the manMoses was very meek, above all the men which were upon the face of the earth."
In his own defense he has never anything to say-it is only for the people and for God that his anger waxed hot. Even abouthis last act of hastiness he says, "God was angry with me for your sake," not for his own sake. He was so meek and gentlethat for 40 years he bore with the most rebellious and provoking nation that ever existed! But what shall I say of my Master?Let Him speak for Himself. "Come unto Me, all you that labor and are heavy laden and I will give you rest: take My yoke uponyou, and learn of Me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and you shall find rest unto your souls." Our children call Him, "GentleJesus, meek and mild." The Man Jesus is very meek above all men that are upon the face of the earth. He has His indignation-
"Like glowing often is His wrath, As flame by furious blast up blown," for He can be angry and the wrath of the Lamb is themost awful wrath beneath the sun! But still, to us, in this Gospel day, He is all love and tenderness. And when He bids uscome to Him, can we refuse to hear?
So meek is the Mediator that He is Love itself, Incarnate Love! He is so loving that when He died, His only crime was thatHe was "found guilty of excess of love." Can we be so cruel as to reject Him? O Brothers and Sisters, do not refuse to listento the voice of this Tender One by whom God speaks to you! Our Lord was like Moses in meekness and then, to sum it all up-Moses was the Mediator for God with the people and so is our blessed Lord. Moses came in God's name and set Israel free fromPharaoh's bondage. Jesus came to set us free from a worse bondage and He has achieved our freedom. Moses led the people throughthe Red Sea and Jesus has led us where all the hosts of Hell were overthrown and sin was drowned in His most precious blood!
Moses led the tribes through the wilderness and Jesus leads us through the weary ways of this life to the rest which remainsfor the people of God. Moses spoke to the people for God and Jesus has done the same. Moses spoke to God for the people andJesus always lives to make intercession for us. Moses proposed himself as a sacrifice when he said, "If not, blot my nameout of the Book of Life." But Jesus was an actual Sacrifice and was taken away from the land of the living for our sakes,being made a curse for us! Moses, in a certain sense, died for the people, for he could not enter into the land, but had toclose his eyes on Nebo.
Those are touching words, "The Lord was angry with me for your sakes"-words which, in a more Divine sense, may be fitly appliedto Jesus-for God was angry with Him for our sakes. Right through to the very end our blessed Lord Jesus Christ, our Savior,is a Prophet like Moses, raised up from the midst of His brethren. O my Hearers, listen to Him! Turn not your ear away fromthis Prophet of Prophets, but hear and live!
III. I close with that point and if my words are very few let them be weighty. Let us think of THE AUTHORITY of our greatMediator and let this be the practical lesson-Hear you Him. Brothers and Sisters, if our hearts were right, the moment itwas announced that God would speak to us through Jesus Christ, there would be a rush to hear Him! If sin had not maddenedmen, they would listen eagerly to every Word of God through such a Mediator as Jesus! They would write each golden sentenceon their tablets! They would hoard His Words in their memories! They would wear them between their eyes! They would yieldtheir hearts to them!
Alas, it is not so, and the saddest thing of all is that some talk of Jesus for gain and others hear of Him as if His storywere a mere tale or an old Jewish ballad of 1,800 years ago. Yet, remember, God still speaks by Jesus and every Word of Histhat is left on record is as solemnly alive, today, as when it first leaped from His blessed lips! I beseech you rememberChrist comes not as an amateur, but He has authority with Him-this Ambassador to men wears the authority of the King of kings!If you despise Him, you despise Him that sent Him-if you turn away from Him that speaks from Heaven, you turn away from theeternal God and you do despite to His love! Oh, don't do it!
Note how my text puts it. It says here, "Whoever shall not hearken unto My words which He shall speak in My name, I will requireit of him." My heart trembles while I repeat to you the words, "I will require it of him." Today God graciously requires itof some of you and asks why you have not listened to Christ's voice. Why is this? You have not accepted His salvation. Whyis this? You know all about Jesus and you say it is true, but you have never believed in Him! Why is this? God requires itof you! Many years has He waited patiently and He has sent His servant again and again to invite you. The men of Nineveh soughtmercy in their day and yet you have not repented! God requires it of you!
Why is this? Give your Maker a reason for your rejection of His mercy if you can-fashion some sort of excuse, O you rebelliousones! Do you despise your God? Do you dare His wrath? Do you defy His anger? Are you so mad as this? The day will come whenHe will require it of you in a much more violent sense than He does today! The day comes when you shall have passed beyondthe region of mercy and He will say, "I called you and you refused, why is this? I did not speak to you in thunder. I spoketo you with the gentle voice of the Only Begotten who bled and died for men-why did you not listen to Him? Every Sabbath Myservant tried to repeat the language of His Master to you-why did you refuse it? You are cast into Hell-why did you not acceptthe pardon which would have delivered you from it?"
You were too busy! Too busy to remember your God? What could you have been busy about that was worth a thought as comparedwith Him? You were too fond of pleasure. And do you dare insult your God by saying that trifling amusements which are notworth the mentioning could stand in comparison with His love and His good pleasure? Oh, how you deserve His wrath! I prayyou consider what this means, "I will require it of him." You who still harden your hearts and refuse my Master, go away withthis ringing in your ears, "I will require it of him! I will require it of him. When he lies dying alone in that sick chamberI will require it of Him! When he has taken the last plunge and left this world and finds himself in eternity, I will requireit of him! And when the thunder wakes the dead and the great Prophet like Moses shall sit on the Great White Throne to judgethe quick and the dead, I will require it of Him! I will require it
of Him."
My Master will require of me how I have preached to you and I sincerely wish it were in my power to put these things in betterform and plead with you more earnestly. But, after all, what can I do? If you have no care for your own souls, how can I helpit? If you will rush upon eternal woe. If you will despise the altogether Lovely One through whom God speaks to you. If youwill live day after day carelessly and wantonly, throwing away your souls, oh, then, my eyes shall weep in secret places foryou, but what more can I do but leave you to God? At the last I shall be compelled to say, "Amen," to the verdict which condemnsyou forever!
God grant that such a reluctant task may not fall to my lot in reference to any of you, but may you now hear and obey theLord Jesus and find eternal salvation at once, for His dear name's sake. Amen.