Moses

This week's Sabbath reading is titled Eikev, meaning "Because", from Deuteronomy Chapters 8 through 11. The individual Hebrew letters that form the word Eikev, ayin, qoph, and beth, each have a meaning. These letters when assembled together can mean ""a people, or house, that sees, understands and experiences the past". These were exactly the group of Israelites whom Moses was addressing in this reading: "...you shall love the LORD your God,, and keep His charge, His statutes, His judgments, and His commandments always. Know today that I do not speak to your children, who have not known, and who have not seen the chastening of the LORD your God, His greatness, and His mighty hand and His outstretched arm - His signs and His acts which He did in the midst of Egypt...what He did for you in the wilderness until you came to this place...but your eyes have seen every great act of the LORD which He did." (Deut. 11:1-7, excerpt). Moses was talking to the Israeites who had seen and experienced the LORD in mighty ways. A different level of understanding is expected of such a people because they know God from experiencing Him. As Moses said, such a people should be keeping the LORD's commandments which He gave to them, not out of a religious obligation, but out of a love for God. Love is not acquired by word of mouth, but through experiences by which one has become intimately acquainted with and knowledgeable of another. Therefore Moses said to the people who have experienced God: "...I command you today, to love the LORD your God and serve Him with all your heart and with all your soul....Therefore you shall lay up these words of mine in your heart and in your soul, and bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes." (v. 13, 18). This exhortation of Moses to the people of Israel came on the day when Israel would cross over the Jordan River into the Promised Land (see Deut. 9:1-3). This also meant, therefore, that this would be the day of Moses' death, because God had told Moses previously that he would not be allowed to go into the Promised Land with the people. All of the rest of the chapters of Deuteronomy that will follow will be his last words to the people. Moses also reminded the people of an interesting point. He revealed to the people that on several different occasions, he had prostrated himself and fasted without food or water before God for forty days. He did this when receiving the Word covenant of the LORD for the people on Mt. Sinai, and also in intercession before God to prevent His anger from destroying the people because of their idolatry, rebellion and wickedness before Him (see Ex. 34:27-28, Deut. 9:18-19, 9:23-25, and 10:4-10). And now we see that on his last day on earth, Moses is still teaching God's Word to His people so they can live in God's blessing when they inhabit the land. I have to ask myself, "Where are those who are following Moses' example today?" Who is there that is willing and moved to repeatedly lay prostrated before the Lord for forty days without food or water, not on their own behalf, or because of their own troubles, but on behalf of a stiff-necked people who have seen and experienced the greatness of God, but have turned from Him? Who is willing to do this in order that God's anger would be turned away from us, His people, or from others who are about to face His judgment for wickedness? Would I be willing to do it? Would you? And yet, this is not about following a religious formula: 1) prostrate, 2) fast, 3) forty days. This is more about the heart and mind of Moses in regard to the people of God, and God's purpose in Moses. What caused Moses to seek the LORD for His rebellious people in such a steadfast manner? We'll see more about this later. On this Sabbath, this Eikev reading portion answers that question for us. From Isaiah 50 and 51, the LORD asked His prophet: "Why when I came, was there no man? Why when I called was there none to answer? Is My hand shortened at all that it can not redeem? Or have I no power to deliver?..." (Isa. 50:2). If we really believed that the Lord would deliver and redeem a people who have sold themselves for iniquity, wouldn't we think it was worth doing as Moses did in order to intercede, and see the miraculous mercy and deliverance of God? The Lord raised this issue again with His prophet, Ezekiel: "The people of the land have used oppressions, committed robbery, and mistreated the poor and needy; and they wrongfully oppress the stranger. So I sought for a man among them who would make a wall, and stand in the gap before Me on behalf of the land, that I should not destroy it; but I found no one." (Ezek. 22:29-30). The Lord was looking for anyone like Moses, and He didn't find even one. That's a shame. As much as we see "the handwriting on the wall" regarding the judgment of God in our times, I don't know if there is one like Moses who is prostrating, fasting and praying for forty days and nights before the Lord. Do you know of any? So what did God do regarding this? He sent One who spiritually prostrated Himself in humility and obedience: "...I was not rebellious, nor did I turn away. I gave My back to those who struck Me, and My cheeks to those who plucked out the beard; I did not hide My face from shame and spitting. For the LORD God will help Me...Therefore I have set My face like a flint, and I know that I will not be ashamed." (Isa. 50:5-7). This prophesied Servant, Who would be sent to us as the Savior, Jesus, laid down His body before God in order to stand in the huge gap between sin and righteousness among the people. The apostle Paul wrote that the same is required of us, we who have experienced the saving knowledge and Person of Christ: "Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus, who, being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God, but made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant, and coming in the likeness of men. And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross. Therefore God also has highly exalted Him and given Him the name which is above every name..." (Phil. 2:5-9). Jesus did these things in the form of a man. We are asked by Paul to be of the same mind. We may never be called to give our lives physically as Christ did, or to fast and prostrate before God for forty days and nights as Moses did, but we are to have the same mind in order to walk in this same Spirit. If we hope to bring others to Christ in a latter day harvest of souls, I think that they are going to have to begin seeing this "mind" in us. Isaiah's prophesied Servant, Who made living intercession and sacrifice before God, accomplished joy and salvation in the place of God's judgment and anger: "For the LORD will comfort Zion, He will comfort all her waste places; He will make her wilderness like Eden, and her desert like the garden of the LORD; joy and gladness will be found in it, thanksgiving and the voice of melody...My salvation will be forever, and My righteousness will not be abolished." (Isa. 51:3, 6). It is Christ Who died and is also risen Who makes even greater intercession for us than Moses did for the Israelites (see Rom. 8:34). He is still before God interceding continually. He does not stop, and Christ saves to the uttermost of circumstances and distance, because He lives to make intercession for those who belong to God (Heb. 7:25). We read in the Gospels, that as the Lord Jesus was transfigured before His disciples, Moses was one of two who appeared and stood with Him (Mt. 17:1-3). Jesus said: "Watch therefore, and pray always that you may be counted worthy to escape...and to stand before the Son of Man." (Lk. 21:36). One of those who has already been shown to be worthy of standing with Jesus in His glorious appearance is Moses. If you would like to learn more about our calling to the same mind that is in Christ, you can pray with me: "Lord Jesus, You showed us the Eikev purpose to which Your Father called You, because You experienced Him and loved Him. Father has also called us to the same calling. Fill me with Your Holy Spirit who leads me to intercede for the people, to stand in the gap like Moses, to be that wall that stands between the people and destruction, to have the same mind as is in Christ. I ask this in Jesus' name. AMEN."