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Church in the Wilderness 6
Moses and
Joshua
During some bushfires in Australia the story
is told of a photographer who was asked by his newspaper to get some
spectacular shots of the fires.
His editor tells him to drive to a certain airfield where he’ll
find a little two-seater plane.
The pilot will fly him over the blaze so he can get the best
shots. He drives to the airfield,
finds the little plane. Hops in
and says ‘Take her away.’ The pilot takes off and the
photographer says “There – over towards those fires.” The pilot shrugs and says ‘You’re the
boss.’ Then the photographer says
“Closer, closer I want to get right in tight to the flames.” The pilot shrugs his shoulders and says
‘You’re the boss.’ The
photographer says “Head straight for that plume of smoke, we’ll fly right
through it.” The pilot shrugs and
says “You’re the boss.” Then the
photographer says, “Swoop right down to the ground I want to be inches
from those flames.” The pilot says
“Why are you asking me to do all this?”
He says “I’m a photographer I need to get the best
photographs.” The pilot said “So
you’re not the flying instructor?”
It’s very important to have the right expectations.
I remember Emma and I went to a film called
the Event Horizon and we thought it was a comedy. Actually it’s the scariest
science-fiction horror I’ve ever seen in my life. But the first 10 minutes of the film as
we adjusted our expectations from comedy to horror were very
difficult. We were ready to laugh
and found ourselves shrieking.
Until Emma told me, Don’t be such a girl.
Having the right expectations are very
important. A woman who gets a
bunch of flowers from her husband might rejoice or cry depending on her
expectations. If she wasn’t expecting anything she’s thrilled. If she was expecting a second
honeymoon, she’s distraught.
Expectations are important.
What are your expectations for the Christian life? Getting those right will, to a large
degree, determine how well you’re able to adjust to life. If you’re expectations are too high,
you’re in for a lot of disappointment.
If they’re too low, you’ll never experience the highs the Lord has
for us.
Think
about some of the highs that the bible holds out to Christians. Jesus
says in John 5 that the minute we trust Him we cross over from death to
life. You cannot have a bigger
change than that – we were once dead, spiritually dead. Now we are alive – spiritually alive
forevermore.
The Apostle Paul says in 2 Corinthians 5 that
we are a new creation when we trust Jesus. The power involved in God saying ‘Let
there be light’ is unleashed when we become a Christian – we become a new
creation.
But at the same time Jesus says: In this
world you will have trouble. He
tells us to take up our cross and look to our reward in the age to
come. Paul tells us that we must
go through many hardships to enter the kingdom of God. (Acts 14:22)
So which is it? Are we new creation
Christians bubbling with life and vitality and the powers of the new
age? Or are we stumbling,
suffering, cross-bearing believers enduring hardships like embattled
soldiers?
The answer of course is yes. We are both. But unless we grapple with how we are
both, we’re going to lead very unbalanced Christian lives. We will either think that the Christian
life is just relentless victory – all sickness should be healed
right? All sin completely
conquered. All poverty replaced by
prosperity. All suffering a thing
of the past. If you bring those
expectations into the Christian life you will do tremendous damage to
yourself and those around you.
But we can go too far the other way too. We could think of ourselves as joyless
dutiful soldiers, trudging on towards some abstract hope in the future
but right now it’s miserable. And
again, that expectation will do great damage to yourself and those around
you.
Thinking about the church in the wilderness is
a way of grappling with how we are both.
Just like Israel, we are saved from
slavery. Saved for a promised
hope. But right now we are in a
time of hardship, testing and discipline.
We have crossed the Red Sea, we have left the old life
behind. But we haven’t left
trouble behind. Now we engage with
a new kind of hardship. But we
have a new power with us – the LORD Himself.
John Newton who used to be involved in the
slave trade, was saved by the Lord and he ended up writing the hymn
Amazing Grace. He once wrote of
his change like this:
"I am not what I ought to be. I am
not what I want to be. I am not what I hope to be. But still, I am not
what I used to be. And by the grace of God, I am what I am."
Those are the words of a pilgrim in the
wilderness. I’m not what I want to
be yet. But I’m not what I was. We
are in an in-between time.
Sometimes Christians talk about being in the overlap of the
ages.
We are still in the old age of sin and death
and suffering. But we’ve also been
brought into the new age of righteousness and life and glory. And it’s a struggle to live in this
in-between time.
Paul uses this language of overlapping ages
in 1 Corinthians 10. And he says
the church in the wilderness teaches us about this in-between-ness. In verse 2 he says:
“They were all baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the
sea. They all ate the same
spiritual food and drank the same spiritual drink for they drank from the
spiritual rock that accompanied them, and that rock was Christ.”
So there are a lot of similarities between Israelites
and us. Their pattern of salvation
through the waters is the same.
Their spiritual experiences are the same. They had the Rock of Christ
accompanying them. Paul is making
sure we realize the similarities. But
actually there’s a significant difference here that we haven’t yet
explored in this series. And
tonight I want us to think about it.
Can you see the significant difference between the Israelite’s
experience and our experience?
Verses 3 and 4 are all about things being the
same. But in v2 there’s something
significantly different. They were
baptized into Moses. We are
baptized into Christ.
To be baptized is to be joined to another
person so that your life is theirs and their life is yours. It’s being united to someone you follow
so that their fate becomes your fate.
The Israelites were baptized into Moses. They threw their lot in with
Moses. They got to the edge of the
Red Sea, the Egyptians were pursuing.
They said ‘I can’t get through the Red Sea, but Moses can – I join
myself to him and he will get me through.’ So the Israelites were joined to
Moses. But here is a crucial point
about Moses. Moses didn’t make it
to the promised land. Moses fell
in the desert. And if you’re
baptized into Moses, that’s bad news.
Because his life is your life, his fate is your fate. But Moses doesn’t make it. And most of his people didn’t make it
either. That’s what Paul goes on
to say in 1 Corinthians 10. And in
a later sermon we’ll explore those failure in great detail. But for now I want us to notice what a
difference it is between being baptized into Moses and baptized into
Jesus. Because Moses doesn’t make
it.
Let’s read about that in Numbers 27. Verse 12
12 Then the
LORD said to Moses, "Go up this mountain in the Abarim Range and see
the land I have given the Israelites. 13 After you have seen
it, you too will be gathered to your people, as your brother Aaron was, 14
for when the community rebelled at the waters in the Desert of Zin, both
of you disobeyed my command to honour me as holy before their eyes."
In Numbers 20 you can read about how Moses
had not trusted the LORD in the presence of the Israelites. And the LORD told him “"Because
you did not trust in me enough to honour me as holy in the sight of the
Israelites, you will not bring this community into the land I give
them." Unbelief means Moses
will fall short of God’s rest. And
so the LORD allows him just to see the promised land from a distance. Here’s the view.
It’s a very touching scene – the idea of this
old man seeing the future but not entering it. Martin Luther King picked up on this
imagery in his famous ‘I have a dream speech.’
“I just want to do God's will. And he's
allowed me to go to the mountain. And I've looked over, and I've seen the
promised land! I may not get there with you, but I want you to know
tonight that we as a people will get to the promised land.”
Martin Luther King died without entering into
what he saw. Moses was the
same.
He eventually went up this mountain at the
end of Deuteronomy and it’s the very last thing he does. He climbs the mountain, sees the
promised land and he dies – so close yet so far.
And that first generation of Israelites –
they were baptized into Moses.
They threw their lot in with Moses – his fate was their fate.
The Israelites need a different leader, a new
leader. That’s what Moses says in
v15:
15 Moses said
to the LORD, 16 "May the LORD, the God of the spirits of
all mankind, appoint a man over this community 17 to go out
and come in before them, one who will lead them out and bring them in, so
that the LORD's people will not be like sheep without a shepherd."
Moses speaks of another leader who will be a
shepherd to his people. All that
language of going out and coming in is shepherding language. And it’s language that is used
throughout the bible of the LORD Himself. He is the great Shepherd but Moses
specifically wants a man to do this God-like shepherding. So, v18:
18 So the LORD
said to Moses, "Take Joshua son of Nun, a man in whom is the spirit,
and lay your hand on him. 19 Make him stand before Eleazar the
priest and the entire assembly and commission him in their presence. 20
Give him some of your authority so that the whole Israelite community
will obey him.
So Joshua will succeed Moses. He will have authority over the people
and shepherd them. And actually
Joshua has been groomed for this position for quite some time.
Joshua:
Ex 17:9-14 – Warrior for Israel. (Would have only been young)
Ex 24:13; 32:17 – goes up mountain
with Moses (He’s there for the 10 commandments)
Ex 33:11 – Incredibly close to the LORD. He stays
in tent of meeting with LORD. (Moses leaves, the LORD says ‘Joshua, why
don’t you stay a while.’ Extraordinary)
Num 11:28 – Moses’ assistant from his youth
Num 13:8 – Ephraimite (fruitful). Spy – comes back from promised land.
Num 14:6-9 – summons people into land of
promise
Num 27:17 – Shepherd of the sheep
Num 27:18; Deut 34:9 – Full of Spirit. That’s mentioned a number of times.
Num 32:12 – Followed the LORD wholeheartedly
Deut 3:28; 31:7ff,23; Josh 1 – commissioned,
encouraged, strengthened
Josh 24:29 – Servant of the LORD. Servant King.
Now the name Joshua is a name that means
Saviour. And actually the name
Joshua, meaning Saviour, is the name Jesus. Joshua and Jesus are the same.
Yehoshua in Hebrew, is Iesous in Greek. If you want the English version of
Yehoshua you say Joshua. If you
want the English version of Iesous, you say Jesus. But Jesus and Joshua are the same name.
So think about this: This Warrior, incredibly
close to God, comes back from the promised land, summons His people in. He is the Spirit-filled, Servant-King. And his name is Jesus.
And while Moses can’t get you into the
promised land, the one called Jesus can.
Moses is the law man. He gives the people the law. He tells them to live the good life of
the coming age. But he can’t get
you there.
Joshua is the savior. And where the law man fails, the
saviour brings you in like the Good Shepherd.
These who went through the Red Sea, they may
not have been baptised into Moses but they were being directed towards
their true hope. Their true hope
would be a Spirit-filled Servant-King who would lead them as a Warrior
and a Shepherd and bring them in to that true rest which the promised land
signified.
It’s a theme that the writer to the Hebrews
picks up in chapters 3 and 4.
Let’s go there to conclude. P1202.
(We’ll skim through these two chapters, you might want to study
them in some more detail on your own).
And in chapter 3, verses 1-6, we see how much
better is Jesus than Moses.
Hebrews 3:1 Therefore,
holy brothers, who share in the heavenly calling, fix your thoughts on
Jesus, the apostle and high priest whom we confess. 2 He was
faithful to the one who appointed him, just as Moses was faithful in all
God's house. 3 Jesus has been found worthy of greater honour
than Moses, just as the builder of a house has greater honour than the
house itself. 4 For every house is built by someone, but God
is the builder of everything. 5 Moses was faithful as a
servant in all God's house, testifying to what would be said in the
future. 6 But Christ is faithful as a son over God's house.
And we are his house, if we hold on to our courage and the hope of which
we boast.
Notice here that there’s only one house. Moses doesn’t have one household of
people and Jesus another. Moses’
people and Jesus’ people are one people – and Moses works IN God’s house
while Jesus is the Builder of the house and the Son over it.
Jesus is far superior to Moses.
But then watch how Hebrews 3 applies that
truth. From v7 he quotes Psalm 95
which we said earlier. And Psalm
95 is all about how the Israelites under Moses did not enter the rest of
the promised land.
So we’ve got Moses in Numbers, David writing
Psalm 95 and it’s all being applied to Jesus in Hebrews.
Read with me from v7.
7 So, as the
Holy Spirit says: "Today, if you hear his voice, 8 do not
harden your hearts as you did in the rebellion, during the time of
testing in the desert, 9 where your fathers tested and tried
me and for forty years saw what I did. 10 That is why I was
angry with that generation, and I said,`Their hearts are always going
astray, and they have not known my ways.' 11 So I declared on
oath in my anger,`They shall never enter my rest.'"
So here Hebrews is telling us that we need to
learn the lesson from the wilderness, the lesson that Psalm 95 is
teaching, and the lesson stands for today. This is the lessons: Today if you hear His voice, do not
harden your heart.
They hardened their heart in Moses’ day, they
hardened their heart in David’s day and there’s every danger we will
harden our own hearts today.
So that’s why he goes on in v12:
12 See to it,
brothers, that none of you has a sinful, unbelieving heart that turns
away from the living God. 13 But encourage one another daily,
as long as it is called Today, so that none of you may be hardened by
sin's deceitfulness.
Do you see what’s being assumed? Hebrews assumes that Today is a day
like the Today of Psalm 95 which is a today like the days of the
wilderness. In every age God addresses
His people and in every age the danger is that we harden our hearts and
we do not make it into God’s rest.
What’s interesting is how ambiguous Hebrews
is about whether Christian believers have entered the rest of the
promised land or not.
We are addressed on the understanding that
our Today is a Today like the wilderness years. And in chapter 4:1 he says
Therefore, since the promise of entering his rest still stands,
let us be careful that none of you be found to have fallen short of it.
So rest looks like something future to look
ahead to.
But then v3:
3 Now we who have believed enter that rest
It looks like a done deal in v3. The Christian seems to be in the
promised land according to this verse.
But then what about v6.
Verse 6 says:
6 It still
remains that some will enter
that rest,
And then after re-emphasizing the link with
the Today of Psalm 95, we get v11
11 Let us,
therefore, make every effort to enter that rest, so that no-one will fall
by following their example of disobedience.
So are we really in the wilderness, as I’ve
been saying. Or are we in the
promised land? What’s going on?
Here’s what’s going on. Read with me verses 14-16:
14 Therefore,
since we have a great high priest who has gone through the heavens, Jesus
the Son of God, let us hold firmly to the faith we profess. 15
For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathise with our
weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we
are--yet was without sin. 16 Let us then approach the throne
of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to
help us in our time of need.
Jesus is our Great High Priest. He is the One we have been baptized into.
And His life is our life and His fate is our fate. And He has gone into the promised hope
like our Great Warrior Joshua. He
has entered into the true REST – He hasn’t just crossed the Jordan
River. He has gone through the
heavens. And He sits on the throne
of grace at the heart of the universe.
That’s where Jesus our great High Priest is right now.
Where are we?
Well, v16 says we are in a time of need. Jesus has gone through the heavens and
rests at the Father’s right hand.
We are in a time of need.
But because we are baptized into Jesus, because He is our great
High Priest who represents us to God, we can approach the throne of grace
with confidence.
Are we in the wilderness or are we in the
promised land? Can you see why
chapters 3 and 4 are a bit ambiguous as to where we are? I think you can put it like this.
We are in the wilderness. Jesus is in the promised land. And we are in Him.
And if you are truly united to Jesus you will
make it to the promised rest. He
is your Head, you are His body.
Where the Head has gone, the body will follow. But we follow along the same
route.
You see v15 says Jesus was tempted in every
way. The word for tempted is a
word often associated with the wilderness – a place of testing and
temptation. Jesus was tempted in every
way. You will follow in His
footsteps. You will tread His path
through testing and hardship and discipline. But you will do it knowing that He is
Your Conquering, Triumphant Warrior, Shepherd, Servant, King and
Priest. And He sympathizes with
how hard the wilderness is.
Flick over to chapter 5:7:
7 During the days
of Jesus' life on earth, he offered up prayers and petitions with loud
cries and tears to the one who could save him from death, and he was
heard because of his reverent submission.
Jesus knows about testing, hardship, loud
cries, tears. He knows about
mocking and hatred and betrayal.
He knows about physical pain and suffering. And He even knows what it is to be
thrust out into the howling wasteland of godforsakenness. He hung on that cross when the blazing
fury of God’s anger burned against Him.
And He hung there as your Priest and mine. To take the heat, to give us mercy.
Are you united to this Jesus? Have you ever said to Him – I throw my
lot in with you Jesus. May your
life be my life, may your fate be my fate. He sits on a throne of grace right now
– you can approach Him and find the most stunning offer of REST, of LIFE,
of PEACE, of MERCY. Tonight could
be the night you know for certain you have a way through the wilderness,
a way into God’s very presence.
His name is Jesus, call on Him now.
For all of us – what are you expectations?
Do you realise you ARE in the
wilderness? Will you adjust your
expectations? You haven’t been
promised an easy life – the very opposite.
But will you look to Jesus – He is in the
promised land. And, joy of joys,
you are IN HIM. Will you seek
fellowship with Christ as you tread His path to glory?
Let’s pray...
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