Preface
One day I was reading through the Book of Deuteronomy, and I stumbled on the following verse. I [God] will raise them up a Prophet from among their brethren, like unto thee [Moses], 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 whosoever will not hearken unto my words which he shall speak in my name, I will require it of him (Deuteronomy 18:18-19).
In this scene, God was speaking to Moses who in turn passed this prediction along to his fellow Israelites. Basically, God proclaimed that He would raise up a prophet sometime in the future, and this prophet would proclaim God’s very words. God declared that this prophet would be very special, and God said that there would be consequences, presumably dire consequences, for anyone who did not listen to this prophet (Whosoever will not hearken unto my words which he shall speak in my name, I will require it of him).
However, there is one more phrase in this prophecy, and this one declaration is the key to unlocking the meaning embedded within this prediction. God established a means whereby one could identify the particular prophet that He was referencing. God said that this future special prophet would be like Moses. In other words, we would be able to identify who this person was because they would be like Moses. The details of their life would match the details of Moses’ life. Put another way, the details of Moses’ life would foreshadow this future special prophet’s life. The details of Moses’ life as recorded in Exodus would serve as a set of detailed predictions leading the reader to the identity of God’s special prophet.
I call the Book of Exodus the Gospel according to Moses. I do that in part to be provocative. I want to get your attention. But I also call Exodus the Gospel according to Moses because it is remarkable how many details about Moses’ life mirror details that are recorded about Jesus in the Gospels. Many of the details are quite nuanced and intricate and yet they align so perfectly between Moses and Jesus. It gives the distinct impression of design. It is almost as if every biographical detail about Moses that is recorded in the Book of Exodus has some kind of connection to Jesus in the Gospels. I think it is astounding, and if you take the time to read about the connections, I think you will be stunned. I count over fifty biographical connections between Moses and Jesus, and almost no details recorded about Moses are not also duplicated by Jesus. The Book of Exodus and the four Gospels are separated by over one-thousand years, and yet they align so intricately and precisely.
I am reminded of something that God proclaimed in the Book of Isaiah. “I am God, and there is none else; I am God, and there is none like me,Declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times the things that are not yet done (Isaiah 46:9b-10a). The God of the Bible is a God who makes and fulfills predictions. The Book of Exodus is essentially one long continuous set of predictions about the Messiah, and the life of Jesus as recorded in the Gospels fulfilled those many nuanced and intricate details.
On another day, I was reading about one of Peter’s first sermons as recorded in the Book of Acts of the Apostles. He was explaining to the Jews of that day, people who knew well the first five books of the Hebrew Bible, that Jesus was the fulfillment of that prophecy by Moses. In his sermon Peter then quoted that specific verse from Deuteronomy. Peter’s sermon reference is recorded in Acts 3:22.
Parenthetically, Jesus is Jewish, Peter was Jewish and all of the first believers in Jesus were Jewish. Put simply, belief in Jesus began exclusively as a Jewish faith because Jesus sprang from the Torah. Then in time, Gentiles began to believe in Jesus too, and that began to create some friction between Jewish believers in Jesus and Gentile believers. The Book of Acts explains some of that tension and how it was resolved.
In any event, Peter was explaining in that early sermon that Jesus was the fulfillment of that quote from Deuteronomy in the Torah. Peter exhorted his Jewish audience to not feel badly about not apprehending that Jesus was the Messiah. Peter said that their misunderstanding was part of God’s plan. God had intended for Jesus to be initially rejected, then become a sacrifice before finally being accepted by the Jewish people who had been the caretakers of the Torah. In any event, Peter exhorted his Jewish listeners to not feel badly, but having said that, Peter also encouraged his Jewish brothers to change their thinking and accept Jesus as the Messiah. Peter told them to embrace Jesus as the fulfillment of the Torah. As recorded in the Book of Acts, many Jews followed Peter’s admonition and they became believers in Jesus, and those Jews were the foundation for the church that we see today.
The seed for a kind of turning point in the faith is recorded in Acts chapter seven. Some Jewish religious leaders started to clamp down on this new perspective within Judaism. They had brought heresy charges against Steven who eventually became the first martyr for his belief that Jesus was the Messiah predicted in the Torah. Prior to his execution, Steven gave a defense of his new faith. Would you believe that he too, just like Peter had done, quoted that prophecy from the Book of Deuteronomy in the Torah? Steven’s reference to that prophecy in Deuteronomy is recorded in Acts 7:37.
Ironically, Paul was amongst the accusers. Paul had been a preeminent Jewish scholar who was leading the charge against this new perspective within Judaism. So, Steven died at the feet of Paul. Paul had approved of Steven’s execution, but surprisingly Paul was soon thereafter converted to the faith of the man he had executed. Paul’s dramatic conversion is described in Acts chapter nine when he encountered the risen Lord Jesus. In that encounter, God specifically instructed Paul to take this Jewish religion out to a Gentile world.
It’s breathtaking to consider God’s call to Paul. God directed a man who was, first, a preeminent Jewish scholar, and secondly the foremost persecutor of this new perspective on Jesus, to take a faith in Jesus out to a Gentile world. However, when we step back we can ask ourselves, who better to explain a faith, founded in the Torah, than a preeminent Jewish scholar? Paul felt compelled to explain a faith that was founded in the Torah to a Gentile world that had no notion of how important the Torah was. In retrospect we can see that Paul was the perfect choice. So, as Paul witnessed the stoning of Steven it represented a turning point in the Jewish faith.
Recently, I was reading through the Book of Romans and I was struck by an idea. This letter is addressed to a group of people in Rome. Some of the people were Jewish and some were Gentiles. The common denominator amongst the recipients of this letter was the fact that they all believed that Jesus was the fulfillment of the Torah. However, the two people groups were showing signs of friction and division because of their very different heritages. The Book of Romans was written in part to Jews and Gentiles in Rome in attempt to bridge that emerging gap between the two people groups. Jews and Gentiles had friction regarding their histories and back ground, and Paul was trying to heal the fracture in their relations.
At one point in his letter, Paul, a devout Jew, expressed sadness that some of his fellow Jews seemed to be turning against an understanding of who Jesus was. For I could wish that myself were accursed from [the Messiah] for my brethren, my kinsmen according to the flesh:4 Who are Israelites; to whom pertaineth the adoption, and the glory, and the covenants, and the giving of the law, and the service of God, and the promises;5 Whose are the fathers, and of whom as concerning the flesh [the Messiah] came, who is over all, God blessed for ever. Amen (Romans 9:3-5). In this section of his letter, you can feel Paul’s yearning for his Jewish brothers. They had been given stewardship of the Torah by God himself and yet they were on the precipice of missing the very prophet that the Torah was written to identify. Paul was grieving for his brothers according to the flesh, but he was still committed to proclaim this Torah founded faith to a Gentile world.
However, at one point in his letter to the Romans, Paul wondered if God was going to use the Gentiles to make the Jews jealous. Paul wondered if Gentiles, who were not the inheritors of the rich Torah tradition, would so embrace the Torah and Jesus as the Messiah that it would provoke the Jews to re-think their rejection of Jesus as the fulfillment of the Torah. And Paul quoted both a quote from Moses and Isaiah to reinforce his point. But I say, Did not Israel know? First Moses saith, I will provoke you to jealousy by them that are no people, and by a foolish nation I will anger you (Deuteronomy 32:21) Paul used that quote from Deuteronomy to make his point about God using the Gentiles to provoke the Jews to reconsider Jesus. But then Paul employed a quote from Isaiah 65:1 to further drive home his speculation.20 But Esaias is very bold, and saith, I was found of them that sought me not; I was made manifest unto them that asked not after me (Romans 10:19-20). Again, Paul, a Hebrew scholar, used Hebrew Scripture to make his point to his Hebrew audience about Gentiles finding the God proclaimed by the Torah even though they were not searching for him. Paul’s letter to the Romans is nothing if not ironic.
I’m a Gentile, but I have embraced the Torah. I share a faith in God that Abraham had. I consider myself a Gentile with a Jewish heart. By faith, the Torah is God’s gift to me personally. I am so grateful for it. I am grateful that Jewish scribes faithfully copied it over the centuries and handed it down to us. In a sense, I am talking provocatively again. I am talking this way to provoke Jewish people to re-examine Jesus and decide whether or not he is the fulfillment of the Torah. I am inviting Jewish readers to read the Gospels with Exodus in mind or read Exodus with Jesus in mind. I am asking Jewish readers to keep an open mind for their own sakes.
In this book, we will work our way through Exodus. We will highlight every detail about Moses, and we will explore whether or not it has a connection to Jesus. I truly believe that when the connective details start to accumulate, you will be convinced beyond a shadow of a doubt just like the Ancient Jewish disciples, Peter and Steven, who willingly gave up their lives for the truth of that conviction.
A little bit of Context
Jewish readers will know that the Hebrew Bible is called the Tanakh and it is divided into three sections: The Torah or the law, the Nevi’im or the prophets and the Ketuvim or the writings. The Torah is a section of the Hebrew Bible consisting of the first five books; Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy. Torah is a Hebrew word which means instruction, teaching or law. Therefore, when a reference is made in the Gospels to the “law”, it’s not just a reference to the laws of God or the Ten Commandments, but it is a reference to the entire first section of the Hebrew Bible. What we think of as the laws of God, or the Ten Commandments and the many other laws, are contained within the first section of the Hebrew Bible, and that entire section is called the Law.
This distinction provides valuable context to help us understand what the writers are trying to communicate when we read the Gospels. For example, Matthew records Jesus saying, “Think not that I have come to destroy the law, or the prophets, I am not come to destroy, but to fulfill” (Matthew 5:17). In this quote, Jesus is not just saying that the laws of God contained in the Torah are important and that he came to adhere to them. He is saying that, but in addition to that Jesus was also saying that he came to fulfil what was spoken about him in the first five books. In other words, Jesus is presupposing that within the first five books there are many predictions about him and he came to fulfill them. He came to fulfill the law.
A second important contextual distinction is to understand that the Torah was written by Moses. One of the reasons that we know this is because several times in the other sections of the Hebrew Bible, the Torah is called “the book of the Law of Moses”. (Joshua 23:6, 1 Kings 2:3, II Kings 14:6) Further, Mark in his Gospel account makes specific reference to a particular verse in the Book of Exodus, and the Gospel writer called it a quote from the book of Moses (Mark 12:26). Further, there is a relevant quote recorded in the Gospel of Luke. “And [Jesus] said unto them, These are the words which I spake unto you, while I was yet with you, that all things must be fulfilled, which were written in the law of Moses, and in the prophets, and in the psalms, concerning me” (Luke 24:44). This quote by Jesus verifies three important ideas. First, Jesus’ quotes attest to the idea that the Hebrew Bible had three sections: the law, the prophets and the writings. Secondly, Jesus’ quote verifies the notion that he, too, thought that Moses wrote the first section. And third, Jesus affirmed that within that first section, there were many predictions about him which he fulfilled.
The reason that it is important to understand that Moses wrote the first section of the Hebrew Bible is because in the Gospels many references are made to that first section colloquially, and if you are not aware of that contextual detail, then you may miss the fact that references are being made to the first section of the Bible. For example, Jesus once said that if you believed Moses then you would have believed me (John 5:46). In another Gospel, Jesus said “for Moses said”….and then he proceeded to quote the fifth commandment as recorded in the Book of Exodus (Mark 7:10). It was clear to that audience that the people had not actually heard Moses because Moses had been dead for over one-thousand years. Jesus was saying that Moses said something when in fact he was simply quoting something that Moses had written in the book of the law. Jesus was speaking colloquially. In John’s Gospel account, some religious leaders stated that they were Moses’ disciples (John 9:28). Again, they were not technically Moses’ disciples because at that time Moses had been dead for over one-thousand years. They too were speaking colloquially. So, to not miss what the Gospel writers were trying to communicate, it’s important to understand this contextual detail. References to Moses were actually references to what was written in the Torah. So, to quote what Moses had “said” was to quote what Moses had written in the Torah or the first five books of the Bible.
Again, this contextual detail gives us a more precise understanding into what the Gospel writers were attempting to communicate. When Jesus was talking to two men on the road to Emmaus as recorded in Luke’s Gospel, the following is written. “And beginning at Moses and all the prophets, [Jesus] expounded unto them in all the Scriptures all the things concerning himself” (Luke 24:27). Luke is just telling the reader colloquially that when Jesus said, “Beginning at Moses…” that he was simply referring to the Torah. To the two men on the road to Emmaus, Jesus was explaining all the references to the Messiah in the first five books of the Bible. Earlier Luke had recorded the following quote from Jesus. “If they hear not Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded, though one rose from the dead” (Luke 16:31). Again, Luke is simply telling the reader idiomatically that the section of the Bible known as the law as well as the section called the prophets contain all the information that anyone needs in order to identify who the Messiah is. Jesus is confirming that the Hebrew Bible contains all the persuasive facts that are necessary in order to make an informed decision about who Jesus is. In fact, Jesus is saying that the predictions about the Messiah in the Torah are more persuasive than if someone returned from the dead. With this insight from Jesus, it’s difficult to imagine anything more persuasive than studying the Torah with the Messiah in mind. Therefore, it behooves us for our own sake to study the Torah and to ask ourselves; Could Jesus as recorded in the Gospels actually be the fulfillment of the Torah?
Overview of the Torah by a non-scholarly Gentile.
Sometimes we gain interesting and invaluable insights from a book by stepping back and examining the big picture. This is especially true of the Bible because the Bible is one of those books that we can all get lost in a microscopic and granular approach. When reading the Bible many people (and theologians) can glean literally life-changing ideas by drilling down into the precise meaning of singular words or phrases and chasing those words around each chapter and page. The insights gleaned from those efforts can be profound, but again, the insights are no less profound when we step back and look at the meta-narrative. That’s what we will do with regards to the first five books of the Bible.
In addition, valuable insights can be gained when we look at a familiar book through a fresh set of eyes and even a set of eyes that come from outside a particular tradition. I love the Torah. I have read through it several dozen times over my four decades of adult life. I have written extensive studies on the life of Joseph and the Book of Numbers. Having said that, I did not grow up in the Jewish tradition. Therefore, I bring a unique perspective to the texts. I love the Torah, but I review it as a Gentile. Rather than discounting this viewpoint, however, I think it would be helpful to embrace it to discover new insights into a familiar work.
Finally, I’ve read before that in a university setting, the most effective learning occurs in a classroom populated by different levels of intelligence and experience. In other words, if everyone in the class is a highly intelligent student, then the questioning tends to go in one direction, and conversely, if everyone in the class is unmotivated academically, then the questions tend to take on a far different tone. However, the best setting for learning to occur for all types of learners, at least according to the pedagogical experts, is for all levels of learners to discuss particular topics together. Every stratum of knowledge benefits from the perspective of learners outside of their own cohort. I say all that to inform the reader that I am not an expert on the Torah. Having said that, I think experts on the Torah would benefit greatly from my perspective, and that brings us to an overview of the Torah from a Gentile perspective.
Very early in the Bible, we are presented with the iconic and fascinating story of Adam and Eve. Philosophers and theologians can spend entire careers studying the specific elements in that first story. But stepping back we can distill one simple but profound truth; the Bible reveals vital spiritual and existential truth in story format. This is not to say that the story of Adam and Eve is not factually true. But what we glean from this foundational beginning is that the Bible is not a theological and philosophical treatise where ideas are explained sequentially using precise words and unequivocal statements of logic. What we come to understand is that the Bible reveals important truths via story.
As we stay in our over-view mode of study, several big-picture ideas emerge from the story of Adam and Eve. First, as astounding as this might be, it would appear that God wants to be in a relationship with humans. I don’t think that there is any way to avoid this conclusion. God created Adam and Eve, and then he talked with them. As we step back, we realize that it’s kind of a shocking idea. In the beginning of the Bible, we read that humans did not ascend to God, but rather, God came to mankind. Also, God wanted to be with them and wanted to interact with them. As we absorb the truth of this image in the garden story, it takes our breath away.
Next, this first story makes it clear that disobedience to God’s clear command, got Adam and Eve expelled from the Garden. Their disobedience severed their relationship with God. To a certain degree, the relationship between the humans is also fractured because we see that they begin to blame each other for their disobedience. This is our introduction to the first humans in the Bible. It is key to our understanding of what the author of the Bible is trying to communicate with regard to mankind’s relationship toward God, toward creation and toward each other, and the author reveals these seminal ideas via a story.
The story then shifts toward the offspring of Adam and Eve. They also seemed to be fractured from one another as the Bible tells the story of one of them killing the other and then he attempts to conceal that sin from God. But now we see that God is a distant voice rather than an immediate presence like in the Garden. So, in the meta-narrative we see the same elements; humans in relation to God, to each other and the consequences of sin to those dynamics. These central elements can be traced through the Torah.
The Bible tells other stories before settling on the story of Noah. During the time of Noah, entire societies are now so fractured and dysfunctional that God decides to send a flood and start over. God chooses one man, Noah, to re-start humanity. But alas after the flood, the same problems of human fracture and dysfunction re-emerge. The fallen spiritual nature of mankind seems to be an established theme in the Biblical meta-narrative.
The author of Genesis then introduces the reader to the first major character, Abraham. So very early in the first book (about one quarter of the way in) we meet Abraham who was unique because somehow he “heard” God give him direction, and the Bible says that he believed God and acted on what he heard. This is finally the opposite impulse that Adam and Eve began and can be traced down through mankind until Abraham. For this singular attribute (hearing, believing and obeying), Abraham has been called the “Father of faith” by both Jews and Gentiles alike. Everyone looks to Abraham as an example of how the Bible instructs humanity to relate to God. In the stories involving Abraham, the Bible makes it clear that God is expecting trust and obedience from humanity.
The remainder of the book of Genesis revolves around stories about Abraham and his children and grandchildren. The birth narratives in these stories are somewhat illuminating. In Abrahams case, he and his wife conceived a “miracle” baby well after their child-bearing years had ended, but then God instructed Abraham to sacrifice this only son on an altar. This is a shocking story to our modern ear, but might it really be a story that is meant to communicate a deep spiritual truth? Might this story pre-figure some other idea in the Bible? God told Abraham to sacrifice his only son; a son begotten miraculously well past his wife’s childbearing years. Again, of all the stories that could have been relayed, it’s interesting that Moses writes about that particular story. Since the Bible communicates truth via story, we should ask ourselves about the meaning of this story. Why did God ask Abraham to sacrifice his only begotten son on an altar. I think Abraham’s comment toward his son is significant. “God will provide himself a lamb for burnt offering” (Genesis 22:8). Looking back, we can see that it seems prophetic pointing to the fact that in Jesus, God’s only son, he did in fact provide a sacrifice for all of mankind.
We learn from the Torah that Abrahams son’s name was Isaac. He and his wife also have a miracle birth because her womb had been barren until God had opened it. Late in her life, Isaac’s wife conceived twins. While in the womb, the two boys struggled with each other and Isaac’s wife asked God why the babies were wrestling within her. The Bible then informs us that God said that something will happen to the twins understanding of their own status. God predicts that they will invert their status of older and younger, and as we read the story, that is exactly what happened. The older son does not value his heritage and the blessings that come with being the oldest male child. Consequently, he gives away this rich heritage and status to his younger brother.
One has to wonder what the meaning of this story might be. In the next book, we read that God considers the nation of Israel to be a kind of first-born son. So as we look at the big picture, might Moses be indicating something about Israels understanding of its heritage. Is Moses revealing a deep foundational truth in story format? Does the nation of Israel give away it’s standing before God to his younger brother? If that is true, how would Israel give away its status and heritage and, who might the younger brother be? These are interesting questions that Moses poses to the reader through the revelation of these stories. It is notable that Moses does not answer these questions explicitly. It would seem that Moses posed the questions and allows the reader to discover the answer for themselves.
Eventually, Genesis reveals stories involving Abraham’s great-grandsons. In particular, Genesis lingers over the life of one grandson named Joseph. The author of Genesis devotes a significant portion of its pages to this one character, and the details regarding his life are nuanced and curious. (I wrote an extensive study on the life of Joseph, and you can find that exploration on Readit4yourself.com.)
One has to wonder about the truths that the author is attempting to communicate with the choice of that story containing those particular details. We learn that his father had sent Joseph to look for his brothers, but the brothers rejected Joseph and betrayed him for 20 pieces of silver. They sold him into slavery and forgot about him. While in slavery, Joseph was falsely accused of a crime that he did not commit and was punished for it. At the end of the story, Joseph’s true identity is revealed to his Jewish brothers who had thought he was dead. As far as the brothers were concerned, Joseph had been resurrected. The brothers realized that their once rejected brother had been elevated to second in command of all the world, and he had saved the Gentiles. However, the story also reveals that Joseph eventually saved his Jewish brethren with bread that he offered the world, and those Jewish brothers attested to his identity. Might that story have a deeper spiritual meaning just like the story of Adam and Eve eating an apple, or Essau giving away his birth rite, or Abraham sacrificing his son?
The big-picture view of Genesis opens with mankind in a garden communing with God. Through disobedience or sin, man gets expelled from that special place and is forced to live outside of God’s presence and in a place of hard work (By the sweat of his brow man produces fruit that previously he simply plucked from the tree). In Genesis, mankind began in close communion with God, but by the end, mankind is clearly outside of that special place.
The second book of the Torah begins outside of that special place and moves in the opposite direction. In Exodus, we see the Israelites, God’s first-born son, start out in Egypt under the tyranny of hard labor, and Moses suddenly appears to lead them back to a special place where God would reside in their midst; a promised land or new Garden of Eden. Again, in the flow of Genesis, mankind moved in one direction away from God, and in the flow of Exodus, the tides turn and mankind heads back toward living in communion with God.
In both Genesis and Exodus, the reader is introduced to a kind of redeemer or savior. In the closing chapters of Genesis, Joseph is revealed. He becomes a savior for the world. Through his special connection to God, the world, both Jew and Gentile, is saved from worldwide starvation. So, Genesis ends with a story about a savior/redeemer.
Exodus on the other hand, begins its narrative with a savior/redeemer. Moses arrives to rescue the Israelites from slavery and seeks to lead them back to fellowship with God. Moses secured their release to go worship God at Mount Sanai. We will skip over the details of Exodus for now because that is the focus of this book, but we will talk about the end of the Book of Exodus because it sets up the reason for the next book.
Towards the end of Exodus, God gives Moses details about a tabernacle that he wants the Israelites to construct. Again, it’s tempting to get lost in the minutia of the tabernacle details, but when we step back, we are struck with an overwhelming big-picture idea. God wants Moses to build a temple because he wants to come dwell amongst the people.
This is the exact same truth that emerges from the meta-narrative of the story of Adam and Eve. In that foundational story, God wanted to commune with mankind. This same impulse of God wanting to be in relationship with mankind, is revealed in God’s relations with the Ancient Israelites. God instructed Moses to build a temple because he wanted to reside amongst the people. God is coming down to be with mankind just like we saw in the Garden of Eden story. Exodus ends by telling us specifically that Moses was not able to enter the tabernacle because the presence of God was so overwhelming. And that last detail sets up the reason for Leviticus, the third book.
Leviticus explains an elaborate system whereby Moses and the people could enter into God’s presence. The author of Leviticus gives specific details related to a system based on substitutionary sacrifice. It is definitely tempting to get lost in the granular details of the specific sacrifices described in the Book of Leviticus, but as we step back, we can comprehend the big-picture truth; mankind cannot just blithely waltz into the presence of God. The reason for the complication is the same dynamic that was revealed in the Garden of Eden story, sin. In the Garden man sinned and as a result, God expelled him from His presence. So, sin separates us from God, and yet the Bible makes it clear that God still wants to commune with sinful mankind. Because of God’s desire to be in relationship with mankind, God needs to deal with our sin in a different way rather than expulsion. The Book of Leviticus explains that different way of dealing with mankind’s sin.
God is Holy and our sin needs to be covered in His eyes somehow before we can enter into his presence. The problem that Adam and Eve began, a kind of fracture in the human soul needs to be dealt with before mankind can enter into God’s presence. God is compelled to address the perpetual and innate disobedience of man. In Genesis, God dealt with sin in part by excluding man from his presence. But if God was going to re-emerge into the life of mankind and was going to dwell with them, then that problem needed addressing in a different way. Again, that’s the question that Leviticus attempts to answer. It explains how mankind’s sin can be covered so that he can live in God’s presence.
The next book, Numbers, picks up the story of the Israelites where we left them at the end of Exodus. The people were travelling from Mount Sanai to the so-called Promised Land. There are more religious regulations explained in this book, but it is instructive to focus on the stories interspersed throughout the laws and by-laws. When you do that, a fascinating big-picture story emerges. It’s a story of the Israelites lack of trust in God. This attribute hearkens back to why God values Abraham so much. Abraham believed God. However, unlike Father Abraham, the Israelites in the book of Numbers did not trust God, and God decided that He wouldn’t lead that initial generation into the Promised Land.
There is one pivotal story in the Book of Numbers. It turned out to be a turning point for the nation of Israel. It’s a story of sin and punishment via venomous snakes. The solution turned out to be gazing at a brass snake on a pole. It’s an odd story and an even odder solution, but the person of Jesus in the Gospels makes reference to this curious story. (I wrote an article about this story, and you can read that exploration at readit4yourself.com.) Jesus called this one of the most pivotal stories for the spiritual lives of every person. You can read Jesus’ comments about this story in Numbers in the third chapter of the Gospel of John beginning at the fourteenth verse. After the incident with the snakes, the Israelites changed. God still did not allow them to enter the Promised Land because of their previous lack of faith, but their children saw their change of heart and perhaps that transformation was instructive for them as God led that younger generation into the promised land.
And that brings us to the fifth Book, Deuteronomy. This is essentially a series of speeches that Moses gave to the children of the people who had wandered in the desert for 40 years. Moses exhorted that new generation to trust and follow God always. Again, this admonition hearkens back to why God had chosen Abraham to be the “father of Faith”. Abraham trusted God and did what God directed him to do. Moses told that second generation of Israelites after the Exodus to always trust God as well.
As we explored previously, there is one line by Moses in that long speech that is the impetus for this study. It was during that speech to that second generation poised on the border of the Promised Land that Moses made the prediction that we examined. As we discussed, Moses said that sometime in the very distant future, God would send another prophet to Israel. And God said that the people had better believe and obey that prophet, or God would “require it of them”. Coming from God, that sounds ominous. Moses then explained that the way that you would be able to identify who that prophet was would be by comparing the details of his life against the details of Moses’ life. Moses said that the future special prophet would be “like me”.
So, that is what we will do. We will read the book of Exodus and see if the details in that book correlate to the details in Jesus’ life as recorded in the Gospels. I think you will be amazed as the connections begin to stack up. It is almost as if every detail about the life of Moses has a connection to a detail in the life of Jesus. Again, the author of Exodus seems to know something, and he wanted to warn us. It’s as if all of the curious details about Moses have a bigger purpose.
Details 1 & 2-Exodus 1: 400 Year Gap and then a Baby
As we know, time itself hinges on Jesus’ arrival. History had been divided into two epochs, the time before Jesus’ arrival and the time after (B.C. vs A.D.). It’s really quite astounding. Further, what we know about Jesus is contained in both the Hebrew Scriptures and the Gospels. However, let’s stitch the Hebrew Scriptures and the Gospels together. What would that look like? For one, there would be an obvious time gap. The narrative in the Hebrew Scriptures stops during the re-building of the temple in the time of Ezra and Nehemiah, and it’s not for another 400 years that Jesus would arrive on the scene and the Gospels were written. Between Nehemiah and Jesus, the Biblical cannon is completely silent. So, if we stitched the Hebrew Scriptures together with the Gospels, there would be a 400-year gap. One could argue that the unusual gap proves that the Gospels which introduce us to the character of Jesus are an unlikely appendage to the Hebrew Scripture, and yet the same thing happened with Moses’ story.
The Hebrew Scriptures are one long uninterrupted record of events from Creation to the re-building of the second temple, but with one significant gap. That gap would be the span of time immediately preceding the arrival of Moses. And coincidentally, that gap would be approximately 400 years which would match the time period preceding the arrival of Jesus.
As the Book of Genesis came to a close, the story of Joseph had just concluded. At the end of that story, Israel and his family which numbered seventy people (Exodus 1:5) had arrived in Egypt. When the narrative begins again in the Book of Exodus, we realize that the story had skipped forward 400 years. (Incidentally, God predicted this in Genesis 15:13.) So, at the start of Exodus, we read about the birth of Moses. As we meditate on the broad outline of the story of the Israelites at this juncture, we realize that nothing had been recorded for the 400 years previous to Moses’ birth. The Biblical cannon was silent during this time. Nothing is recorded, and then the narrative picks back up with the birth of Moses. So, the gap of time prior to Moses’ birth accurately mirrored the gap prior to Jesus’ birth.
And interestingly, when each story restarted, it started with the birth narrative of either Moses or Jesus. In other words, we are not introduced to Moses as an adult and Jesus as a baby or vice versa. In both cases, it is their birth story which re-starts the Biblical narrative.
So, the story of Moses was preceded by 400 years of canonical silence, and when he is introduced in the narrative he is introduced as a baby. Likewise, Jesus was preceded by 400 years of Biblical silence, and when we are introduced to the person of Jesus, we are introduced to him as a baby.
Details 3 & 4-Exodus 2: Jewish and Virginal
Obviously, the story of Jesus’ birth is unique. We all know it. The Gospels declared that it was a virgin birth. Jesus’ mother had not known her husband sexually, and yet she was pregnant with a son. Honestly, to say that this detail was uncommon would be a remarkable understatement. A second detail associated with Jesus’ birth was more common; Jesus was Jewish. Matthew begins his Gospel record by tracing Jesus’ lineage back to Abraham (Matthew 1:1). So obviously, Jesus had a Jewish heritage. One has to wonder how God would be able to stitch these wildly divergent details together (one extraordinary and one common) and foreshadow them with the life of Moses, and yet remarkably, God did.
The way that these two astounding aspects of Jesus’ birth were foreshadowed by Moses was by explaining that Moses officially had two mothers, and each mother portrayed an aspect related to Jesus’ birth. One mother is associated with Jesus’ Jewish heritage, and the other mother’s experience hinted at a virgin birth.
Addressing the common detail first, it is clear in the Bible that Moses’ birth mother was Jewish. She was of the tribe of Levi (Exodus 2:1-2). So, Moses’ Hebraic lineage foreshadowed Jesus’ Jewish heritage. But Moses was adopted by another mother. She[the servant] brought him[Moses] unto Pharaoh’s daughter, and he[Moses} became her son (Exodus 2:10). Scripture plainly indicated that Pharaoh’s daughter was his mother too, and she had gotten Moses apart from any sexual relations with a man.
So, Moses’ official connection to his two mothers foreshadowed two divergent aspects to Jesus’ birth. Moses was Jewish, and his second mother had gotten him apart from sexual relations with a man. Likewise, Jesus was Jewish, and the Gospels inform us that his mother had gotten him apart from any sexual relations with a man.
Details 5,6 & 7–Exodus 1: Feeling Threatened and Deceived
The political situation surrounding the birth of Jesus was quite ominous. Herod felt threatened by the birth of this potential king of the Jews. Now when Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judaea in the days of Herod the king, behold, there came wise men from the east to Jerusalem,Saying, Where is he that is born King of the Jews? for we have seen his star in the east, and are come to worship him. When Herod the king had heard these things, he was troubled, and all Jerusalem with him (Matthew 2:1-3). Herod then instructed the wisemen who were searching for the potential new king to tell him when they found him. Based on what he eventually did, one can only assume that Herod had an evil intent with regard to finding the Messiah. But the wisemen deceived Herod. As a response to the concealment of the location of the Messiah’s birth, Herod simply had all the boys killed in the town in which the Messiah was expected to have been born. Then Herod, when he saw that he was mocked of the wise men, was exceeding wroth, and sent forth, and slew all the children that were in Bethlehem, and in all the coasts thereof, from two years old and under, according to the time which he had diligently inquired of the wise men (Matthew 2:16). So, there are three key but nuanced details surrounding the political environment into which Jesus was born. First there was a political leader who felt threatened. Secondly, that leader was deceived by people who he had instructed to help him deal with the threat. And finally, the leader simply instructed his people to kill many infant boys in order to eliminate the threat. These are very specific details and would be difficult to replicate, and yet Moses was born into the exact same situation with each of those three details.
First, Pharaoh, a political leader like Herod, felt threatened by the growth of the Israelite nation. He believed that his status as ruler was in jeopardy just like Herod (Exodus 1:10). Secondly, Pharoah was deceived by the midwives who he had instructed to kill the Hebrew boys. The midwives lied to Pharoah and told him a falsehood about the Hebrew woman and their ability to have quick births (Exodus 1:19). As a result, Pharaoh simply commanded his people to kill the Hebrew boys (Exodus 1:22).
So, Pharaoh, the political leader at the time of Moses birth felt threatened. Secondly, that political leader was deceived by people, the Hebrew midwives, who he had instructed to dispense with that threat. And third, the political leader responded to this deception by simply instructing his people to kill a lot of innocent baby boys. Likewise, the details surrounding the political environment during the time of Jesus’ birth were extremely unique and nuanced, and yet those details matched Moses’ birth details precisely. Herod, the political leader at the time of Jesus’ birth, felt threatened. Secondly, that political leader was deceived by the wise men, the people he had conscripted to help him deal with the threat. Thirdly, when he realized that he had been deceived by the wisemen, Herod simply had his military men kill a lot of innocent baby boys.
Detail 8-Exodus 2: Going to Egypt
Jesus’ parents were well aware that King Herod was trying to kill Jesus. He had killed every two-year-old boy and younger in the town of Bethlehem. God instructed Joseph in a dream to take Jesus to Egypt for safekeeping. And when they were departed, behold, the angel of the Lord appeareth to Joseph in a dream, saying, Arise, and take the young child and his mother, and flee into Egypt, and be thou there until I bring thee word: for Herod will seek the young child to destroy him. When he arose, he took the young child and his mother by night, and departed into Egypt (Matthew 2:13-15). So, Joseph took Jesus to Egypt as per God’s instruction in order to keep Jesus safe.
It’s interesting to note that the same thing happened to Moses when he was a baby. Pharaoh was trying to kill all the baby boys. After Moses was born, Moses’ mother tried to keep him hidden. As the child grew, she could no longer keep his existence a secret, so she put him in a basket and let it float down the river into the very heart of Egypt. And when [Moses’ mother] could not longer hide him, she took for him an ark of bulrushes, and daubed it with slime and with pitch, and put the child therein, and she laid it in the flags by the rivers brink (Exodus 2:3). Moses floated by the place in Egypt where Pharaoh’s daughter and other maidens bathed which was presumably the heart of Egypt. Pharaoh’s daughter saw the basket, plucked it out of the water and eventually adopted Moses as her son. Moses lived his life in Pharaoh’s courts.
So, for safe keeping, God had provided a safe place for Moses in the very heart of Egypt. Likewise, God instructed Jesus’ earthly father to take the child into Egypt for safe keeping.
Details 9 & 10-Exodus 2: Leaving Royal Courts
The Gospels indicate that before Jesus was born, he was with God the Father in the courts of Heaven. Listen to Jesus testify about his pre-incarnate status as he prayed to God in heaven. And now, O Father, glorify thou me with thine own self with the glory I had with thee before the world was (John 16:6).The Apostle Paul described Jesus’ exalted status prior to His birth in this way. Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God (Philippians 2:6).So, the Bible makes it clear that Jesus was with God His Father in the courts of Heaven. But then Jesus willingly relinquished that position to identify with mankind. He traded his lofty status in heaven and was born into the lowly human race. But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men (Philippians 2:7). The Bible indicates that Jesus humbled himself in this way in order to redeem us. Once again, these are two very unique aspects to Jesus’ attitude and mission. Jesus divested himself of his heavenly royalty in order to identify with the Israelites. Once again, these are uncommon elements and would therefore be difficult to foreshadow, and yet God accomplished it with the details surrounding the life of Moses.
Listen to the description of Moses’ status as he was growing up. And the child grew, and she brought him unto Pharaoh’s daughter, and he became her son (Exodus 2:10). Listen to how Steven described Moses during this time. And Moses was learned in all the wisdom of the Egyptians, and was mighty in words and in deeds (Acts 7:22). So, Moses grew up in the royal courts of Pharaoh and was being trained to be a leader in the Egyptian nation. Quite simply, Moses was part of royalty. But when Moses became a man, he left the courts of Pharaoh to “look on the burdens” of the Israelites (Exodus 2:11) much like Jesus had left the royal courts of heaven to identify with mankind. Through a series of events, Moses rejected his royal identity and training and chose to identify with the Israelites who were the subjugated nation in a way that was unmistakable and irreversible. The author of the letter to the Hebrews describes it this way. By faith Moses, when he was come to years, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter; Choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God (Hebrews 11:24-25).
So, Moses had at one point lived in the courts of Pharaoh and was Pharaoh’s daughter’s son, and yet he chose to identify with the slaves. Moses divested himself of royalty to identify with the Israelites. Likewise, before his incarnation, Jesus resided in heavenly courts with God, his father, but he chose to leave the courts of heaven to be incarnated in order to identify with mankind.
Detail 11-Exodus 3: The Good Shepherds
Jesus employed the metaphor of shepherding in order to describe himself and His role to His followers. I am the good shepherd, and know my sheep, and am known of mine. As the Father knoweth me, even so know I the Father: and I lay down my life for the sheep. And other sheep I have, which are not of this fold: them also I must bring, and they shall hear my voice; and there shall be one fold, and one shepherd (John 10:14-16). That quote speaks for itself. One can understand why Jesus compared himself to being a shepherd because Jesus communicated a thoughtful care for his followers, and the metaphor of shepherding perfectly captures his attitude.
As we know, after Moses had abandoned the courts of Pharaoh, he became an actual shepherd for the next forty years. Now Moses kept the flock of … his father in law, the priest of Midian: and he led the flock to the backside of the desert, and came to the mountain of God (Exodus 3:1).
So, Moses was an actual shepherd. Likewise, Jesus called himself “the good shepherd”.
Detail 12-Exodus 3: Manifest the Name
Jesus made God’s name known. And now, O Father, glorify thou me with thine own self with the glory which I had with thee before the world was. I have manifested thy name unto the men which thou gavest me out of the world (John 17:6). This is another straight-forward matching detail linking Jesus to Moses and also to the prophecy about the Messiah. Jesus clearly stated in that quote that He had manifested God’s name. In other words, Jesus made God’s name known.
Making God’s name known was a key accomplishment for Moses too. He was one of the first to know God by name. And Moses said unto God, Behold, when I come unto the children of Israel, and shall say unto them, The God of your fathers hath sent me unto you; and they shall say to me, What is his name? what shall I say unto them? And God said moreover unto Moses, Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, the Lord God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, hath sent me unto you: this is my name for ever, and this is my memorial unto all generations (Exodus 3:13,15). Moses was one of the first to be introduced to God by name, and he was the first to make that name known when he revealed it to us through the pages of the Bible.
So, Moses made God’s name known. Likewise, Jesus made God’s name known.
As an aside, most people are surprised to learn that God has a personal name. Most people are content to refer to God by his title which is “the LORD.” And that is perfectly fine. If the president of the United States came to your home and you did not feel comfortable using his name, then calling him “Mr. President” would be perfectly appropriate. But having said that, God does have a personal name, and He encouraged us to use it. God’s personal name is written in the Bible over 6,000 times. It was first revealed by Moses. If you want to know where God’s personal name is recorded in the Scripture, then simply pick up a Bible and start reading anywhere in the book of Exodus. Every time that you see the word LORD (in all capital letters), it represents his personal name. The Bible translators translated God’s personal name that way out of respect and reverence. (Some translators render God’s name as LORD and others as Yahweh or Jehovah, but all these English words are translations of the same four Hebrew letters: yod, hey, vav, hey.)
However, all this cannot hide the fact that the God of the Bible does indeed have a personal name, and He has encouraged us to use it. He directs us to call on his name in times of trouble, and he encouraged us to glory in His Name when we worship him. O give thanks unto the Lord; call upon his name: make known his deeds among the people. Sing unto him, sing psalms unto him: talk ye of all his wondrous works Glory ye in his holy name: let the heart of them rejoice that seek the Lord. Seek the Lord, and his strength: seek his face evermore (Psalm 105:1-4). Again, the title LORD in all capital letters is a translator’s representation of God’s personal name which Moses had actually written out for us to read. But having said that, we should on balance remember that there is a commandment that warns us against saying the name in a vane manner. We must always keep that in mind when we call God by his name.
Details 13-15–Exodus 4: Miracles and their Reasons
Performing miracles was an extremely key aspect to Jesus’ public ministry. When Jesus healed someone, crowds understandably flocked to Him wanting His miraculous touch on their lives. And Jesus was known for having compassion on them. And Jesus went forth, and saw a great multitude, and was moved with compassion toward them, and he healed their sick (Matthew 14:14). It must have been exhausting to give an individual healing touch to thousands of people. However, Jesus was motivated by compassion, and it must have saddened Him to witness the human suffering.
There was a second motivation to Jesus’ healing ministry. He performed miracles to alleviate human suffering but also to help people identify Him as the Messiah. Jesus invited people to put their trust in Him as God’s Son, but Jesus recognized that He had to prove, in a sense, that he was in fact God’s Son if He was going to ask for their trust. The miracles that he performed served as proof. Listen to His own words about the miracles that he performed. Believe me that I am in the Father, and the Father in me: or else believe me for the very works’ sake (John 14:11). So not only did Jesus perform miracles, but the reason that he performed supernatural acts was two-fold. Jesus performed miracles in order to alleviate human suffering, but also to prove that He was sent by God. So first, Jesus performed miracles, but in addition to that he performed them for two very specific reasons: to alleviate human suffering and to attest to the fact that he had been sent by God. To say that these three details are rare would be an understatement, and yet Moses exhibited these same three traits as well.
Obviously, Moses is known for performing miracles. A famous miracle occurred through the hands of Moses when the Israelites were caught between the Egyptian army and the Red Sea. Moses held his arms up and the sea itself parted providing the Israelites with a way of escape. This miracle had a purpose to accomplish. The Israelites needed to be delivered from certain destruction at the hands of the Egyptian army, and Moses had compassionately helped deliver the people from certain slaughter and re-subjugation. Moses also performed the miracle of providing manna to eat. The people were hungry and needed food to be supernaturally provided or they would have starved to death in the wilderness. And Moses was the key catalyst to work that miracle providing the much- needed food. So again, Moses performed miracles to alleviate human suffering and in doing so Moses foreshadowed this key aspect of Jesus’ ministry.
However, Moses also mirrored the idea about performing miracles as proof that he had been sent by God. Listen to what God told Moses when He commissioned him to confront Pharaoh.
And it shall come to pass, if they will not believe thee, neither hearken to the voice of the first sign, that they will believe the voice of the latter sign. And it shall come to pass, if they will not believe also these two signs, neither hearken unto thy voice, that thou shalt take of the water of the river, and pour it upon the dry land: and the water which thou takest out of the river shall become blood upon the dry land (Exodus 4:8-9).
God had given Moses three supernatural miracles to perform in order to prove that he had sent him. God had given him the ability to carry these out for the expressed purpose of giving him supernatural credibility, so that the people would know that they could trust that he had been sent by God.
So, Moses performed miracles, and the reason that he did was two-fold: to alleviate human suffering and also to attest to the fact that God had sent him. Likewise, Jesus performed miracles, and he performed them for the same two reasons that Moses did: to alleviate human suffering and also to prove that he had been sent by God.
Details 16 &17–Exodus 7: God and Prophet
A key attribute for Jesus was the fact that He was God. Listen to His interchange with the High Priest. But Jesus held his peace, And the high priest answered and said unto him, I adjure thee by the living God, that thou tell us whether thou be the [Messiah], the Son of God. Jesus saith unto him, Thou hast said: nevertheless I say unto you, Hereafter shall ye see the Son of man sitting on the right hand of power, and coming in the clouds of heaven. Then the high priest rent his clothes, saying, He hath spoken blasphemy; what further need have we of witnesses? behold, now ye have heard his blasphemy (Matthew 26:63-65). So, the Bible clearly teaches that Jesus was the Son of God and was therefore God himself.
Jesus also had a prophet, John the Baptist, who bore witness to Him and His Sonship. Jesus referred to John the Baptist as a prophet. But what went ye out for to see? A prophet? yea, I say unto you, and more than a prophet. For this is he, of whom it is written, Behold, I send my messenger before thy face, which shall prepare thy way before thee (Matthew 11:9-10). So, Jesus confirmed that John was a prophet that more-or-less announced His arrival. How could Moses foreshadow the fact that the prophet spoken of in Deuteronomy would actually be God and that this God had a prophet? The rarity of this two-part detail would seem to be impossible for a mere human to replicate, and yet Moses did.
Providentially, God had ordained Pharaoh to view Moses in this light, and that fact is recorded in Exodus seven. And the Lord said unto Moses, See, I have made thee a god to Pharaoh: and Aaron thy brother shall be thy prophet (Exodus 7:1). So astoundingly, Pharaoh viewed Moses as a god and considered Aaron as his prophet.
So, in Exodus chapter 7 it is clear that Pharaoh considered Moses to be a god, and he thought of Aaron as the prophet of this god. Likewise, Jesus was denounced by the high priest for the blasphemous consideration that he was God, and Jesus called John the Baptist the prophet that was predicted to have come before him and announce his arrival.
As an aside, we are simply reading through the Book of Exodus and highlighting examples of where details of Moses’ life match and prefigure details surrounding the life of Jesus. We are only up to the seventh chapter and we have already identified seventeen examples. I often say that it requires less faith to believe in an all-powerful God who was in control of writing Exodus and the Gospels and employed the use of foreshadowing, rather than to accept the stipulation that these literary works match each other so precisely simply by coincidence. Really think about it. We are only seven chapters in and almost every random but particular detail that is recorded about Moses is one that could be applied to Jesus. These details are specific, divergent and nuanced and yet they are elements that match the life of Jesus recorded by four different authors over one-thousand years later. And by way of reminder, God predicted this exact correlation in Deuteronomy 18:18. Moses prophesied that the future special prophet that people needed to listen to would be like him (meaning like Moses).
Detail 18-Exodus 7: Resistance from the High Priest and from Pharaoh
When Jesus burst on the scene, he offered the Israelites entrance into the kingdom of heaven, but the high priest was preventing people from entering. The High Priest did not want Jesus to upset the established system of religion. Instead, the High Priest desired to keep the people in bondage to a complex system of rules and regulations which was a system in which the priest had control. The High Priest received benefits from the current system, namely employment and status, and he wanted the current system left just the way it was. Jesus threatened that established culture. Listen to the words of Jesus as he rebuked them. But woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye shut up the kingdom of heaven against men: for ye neither go in yourselves, neither suffer ye them that are entering to go in (Matthew 23:13). And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free (John 8:32). Jesus recognized that the High Priest was preventing people from leaving the bondage of a religion that held people captive to a complex system of rules and regulations. This would seem like a difficult detail to portray, and yet Moses did.
Remarkably, Moses telegraphed this key focus of Jesus’ mission. Jesus wanted people to be freed from the bondage of the old system and enter into the kingdom of heaven, and this was obviously the central focus of Moses’ ministry. Moses sought to free the people from the control that Pharaoh had over them. Listen to Moses as he confronted Pharaoh. The Lord God of the Hebrews hath sent me unto thee, saying, Let my people go, that they may serve me (Exodus 7:16). Pharaoh’s stubborn refusal to “Let the people go” prefigured the obstinate refusal of the High Priest to allow the adherents to his religion freedom to be released from that system.
So, Moses sought release from Pharaoh for the people to worship in freedom. Likewise, Jesus sought release from the High Priest for the people to worship in freedom.
Detail 19&20-Exodus 7-11:Acting Alone & Fighting the Power behind the Throne
In the previous detail, we see that Jesus confronted the religious leaders and admonished them to stop preventing people from entering into the kingdom of heaven. There are two other facets to Jesus’ encounter with those leaders. First, it should be noted that Jesus was acting completely alone. In other words, Jesus was not attempting to lead a revolt. Jesus was not trying to galvanize public support for a mass uprising. Jesus acted alone. His mission was a solitary endeavor.
The reason for this is probably because of the underlying plot to His encounter with the High Priest. Jesus was actually battling much darker forces than just the High Priest. In one sense, the High Priest was just a superficial impediment to people being freed from bondage. Jesus was actually battling satanic forces behind the High Priest, and He knew that no one could help him in that more primal struggle. It was a battle and a victory that He alone could fight and win. And that is why He acted alone. Jesus was battling Satan, and He sought to vanquish death itself. Jesus fought to free mankind from the sting of death. Jesus knew that a mass uprising would be of no help in that confrontation and that is probably why He acted alone. Then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory.55 O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory?….57 But thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus the Messiah(1 Corinthians 15:54,55 &57). By being resurrected from the dead, Jesus overcame death. Obviously, only Jesus could have fought that battle. Only Jesus could have vanquished death itself. Only Jesus could have been resurrected from the dead. We could not have helped in that battle and that is why Jesus acted alone. We can only observe His victory and then respond in faith. Again this is an extremely rare focus and would be difficult to telegraph this aspect to Jesus’ ministry, and yet Moses did.
Moses foreshadowed this nuanced aspect to Jesus’ confrontation with the High Priest, because Moses also acted alone. Again, Moses did not organize an armed rebellion. Moses did not attempt to garner support for a mass uprising. Moses acted completely alone. He approached Pharaoh as an individual just like Jesus confronted the High Priest alone. Perhaps it was because Moses was aware that a mass uprising would have been useless against the real enemy. Just as Jesus had done with the High Priest, Moses was battling darker forces behind Pharaoh. Pharaoh was only a superficial impediment to gaining freedom. Moses was battling the Egyptian gods behind Pharaoh. Listen to this quote from God with regard to the gods of Egypt. Against all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgment: I am the Lord (Exodus 12:12).
So, Moses confronted Pharaoh alone, but he was keenly aware what lay behind Pharaoh’s power (the gods of Egypt), and Moses was battling those forces. Likewise, Jesus acted alone. He knew that this mission involved confrontation with a human figurehead (the high priest), but he recognized that he was confronting and defeating the satanic forces of death itself behind that human figure head.
As an aside, it is interesting to note that when Moses announced the plagues in Exodus chapters 7-11, each one targeted a different Egyptian god, and Moses was actually pitting God’s power over-and-against the weaker power of that Egyptian deity.
For example, the Egyptian goddess of fertility was represented by a frog oddly enough. Sometimes in Egyptian art, a man with the head of a frog will be depicted. In any event, when Moses announced the plague of the frogs, he was actually pitting God’s authority over and against that specific Egyptian deity. And the Lord spake unto Moses, Go unto Pharaoh, and say unto him, Thus saith the Lord, Let my people go, that they may serve me. And if thou refuse to let them go, behold, I will smite all thy borders with frogs (Exodus 8:1-2). In Egyptian society, since frogs represented that fertility goddess, they were revered and were not meant to be killed. It is notable that at the end of this plague, mounds of dead frogs were piled up. And they gathered them[the frogs] together upon heaps: and the land stank (Exodus 8:14). God had executed judgement upon the Egyptian goddess of fertility, and His judgement made the people abhor the stench of that god.
This same dynamic was in play with all ten plagues. Moses was pitting God’s authority over and against those Egyptian deities, and the God of Israel was proving victorious time and time again. The Egyptians also worshiped the god of the Nile River. The Nile was considered to be the heart of this god, and therefore, the river water was its life blood. Consequently, when God instructed Moses to announce that the Nile would be turned to actual blood, He was in reality demonstrating His supremacy over the god of the Nile (Exodus 7:17).
The Egyptians worshiped the god of the sun as well, so when Moses announced darkness over the land, he was in truth demonstrating God’s authority over the Egyptian god of the sun who was powerless against the pronouncements of the God of the Israelites (Exodus 10:21). The Egyptian god of the crops was powerless to defend the land and the harvest against the destruction brought on by the locust and the hail. Again, in each of the ten announced plagues, Moses was pitting God’s authority over and against a specific Egyptian deity just as God had stated. Through the Exodus, God had said that he would execute judgement on the gods of the Egyptians (Exodus 12:12).
Again, it is utterly astounding that there is such a precise correlation between the details of Moses’ life and Jesus’. If one were to list just the details in Jesus’ life that we have reviewed thus far, it would seem incomprehensible that they could have been so precisely foreshadowed by Moses, and yet each one of them were. Reading Exodus with Jesus in mind is simply an astonishing experience. It confirms for us that Jesus is that Moses that was predicted in Deuteronomy 18:18. We can shout Amen to Stephen’s declaration that Jesus is that Moses predicted by the details in the Book of Exodus. But alas, we are not even halfway through our study.
Detail 21-Exodus 7-11: Speak Only what is Heard
Jesus made it clear that he only said what God told him to say. This hearkens back to the original prophecy in Deuteronomy when God said that the future Moses would say what God commanded him to say. Jesus said,
For I have not spoken of myself; but the Father which sent me, he gave me a commandment, what I should say, and what I should speak.50 And I know that his commandment is life everlasting: whatsoever I speak therefore, even as the Father said unto me, so I speak (John 12:49-50).
When we read the back and forth of the plague sequence of events between Moses and Pharaoh, each new plague begins with God telling Moses to go tell Pharaoh something, and Moses did just that. Moses told Pharaoh exactly what God told him to say and nothing more.
So, Moses said that which God told him to say. Likewise, Jesus declared that he was under the same directive from God.
Detail 22-Exodus 12: Faith Alone
As we just discussed, Jesus acted alone probably because he knew who the real enemy was, and He was aware that only He could defeat that foe. Jesus allowed Himself to be crucified on a cross and then He overcame death when he was resurrected. Jesus did all the work. We can only observe the victory that His resurrection secured. Having said that Jesus does require a response from us in order to appropriate in our lives the victory that He won. Jesus requires faith in His work on the cross and in the saving power of His blood. By faith and faith alone, we can enter into the spiritual Promised Land.
Jesus explained what our responsibility is in the battle when some men asked him that very question. Jesus answered and said unto them, This is the work of God, that ye believe on him whom he hath sent … Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me hath everlasting life (John 6:29,47). Jesus died on a cross and rose from the dead. He did the work, but we have a part to play in the battle. Jesus said that our part was to believe on Him. When we do that, we appropriate to our own lives the victory over death that his resurrection secured. When we trust in the saving power of Jesus’ blood, we too will live forever.
Again, Jesus did all the work, but he made it clear to his disciples that they had to believe in him and trust in what he had accomplished on their behalf. Jesus knew what his mission was. He alone would battle and defeat Satan. Jesus knew that he would be the sacrificial lamb. The only thing required from his followers in order to save them was belief in the efficacy of His blood. That is a unique dynamic but very clearly taught in all four Gospel accounts. Jesus did all the work to defeat the power of Satan, but He still required one thing and only one thing (faith in the efficacy of His sacrificial blood). Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in [Jesus’] blood, to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins[meaning our sins] that are past (Romans 3:25). It seems impossible for the life experiences of Moses to foreshadow this aspect to the life of Jesus, and yet he did.
Incredibly Moses’ actions foreshadowed this nuanced detail as well. As we established in the previous detail, Moses, just like Jesus, did all the work. He affected the release of the Israelites trapped in slavery. Moses by Himself walked into Pharaoh’s courts and confronted Pharaoh man-to-man. And Moses won because Moses also had God acting on his behalf just like Jesus. But because of what Moses accomplished, the people were free to simply walk out of bondage and into freedom. The people were merely observers to the release that Moses had accomplished. But they, too, had to do one thing but only one thing in order to appropriate the victory that Moses had won. They had to believe Moses and trust in the sacrificial blood of the lamb that Moses had directed them to paint on the doorposts of their homes.
Before they walked out of bondage and towards the Promised Land, the people had to demonstrate their faith. They had to demonstrate their belief that the lamb’s blood would secure their victory over death itself. God had said that when he saw the blood on the doorposts of their homes, He would know that the people in that house had demonstrated their trust in the saving power of the blood. And the blood shall be to you for a token upon the houses where ye are: and when I see the blood, I will pass over you, and the plague shall not be upon you to destroy you, when I smite the land of Egypt (Exodus 12:13).
So, Moses did all the work, but he required just one thing in response (faith in the saving power of the blood). Likewise, Jesus did all the work when he died a solitary and sacrificial death on the cross, but he required one thing in order for the people to appropriate the benefits of his work; they had to believe in the saving power of his blood.
Detail 23-25-Exodus 12: Institution of a Vital Religious Rite
At the Last Supper on the eve of his crucifixion, Jesus celebrated the Passover meal with his disciples and instituted this important religious rite.
And [Jesus] took bread, and gave thanks, and brake it, and gave unto them, saying, This is my body which is given for you: this do in remembrance of me.20 Likewise also the cup after supper, saying, This cup is the new testament in my blood, which is shed for you (Luke 22:19-20).
Jesus instructed his disciples to perform this rite in remembrance of him. This comes down through two-thousand years of church history, and we call this the Lord’s Supper or the Eucharist. It is one of the two most significant sacraments celebrated in the church today. (The other important rite is baptism.)
Moses was the one who on behalf of God and by His direction instituted the rite of Passover. In that Passover instituted by Moses, there were two important elements. First, after they sacrificed the lamb, they smeared the blood on the doorposts of their homes. The blood on the doorpost became a sign to God that the family inside was obedient to God’s direction. When God saw the blood, death passed over those within that house. The people within the house had demonstrated their faith in the power of the blood to save them. A second major aspect to the Passover meal was the fact that the people ate the sacrificial lamb. This second action, consuming the sacrifice, completed the ritual. It was a way that the people in future generations could tangibly participate in the power of the original Passover.
So, Moses instituted Passover. In that ritual, the people ate the sacrifice and put its blood over their homes for protection. Over 1,000 years later, Jesus celebrated the Passover the way Moses had established it. But then he redefined the two main elements. The bread, Jesus said, was his body broken (or sacrificed) for them. He told his disciples to eat the sacrifice symbolically or sacramentally. Secondly, Jesus took the wine and said that it was his blood and told the disciples to drink it. Metaphorically or sacramentally, it would become a kind of covering over each individual life.
Detail 26-Exodus 14: The Red Sea and Baptism
Jesus emphasized the importance of baptism in regard to salvation. He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned (Mark 16:16). Jesus said that we need to believe and then be baptized. Jesus said that we needed to do both things in order to be saved. That is a straight-forward but specific formula.
Incredibly that exact formula was set forth by Moses over one-thousand years previously. As discussed in previous details, Moses did all the work. However, he required only one thing in response. Moses said that the people must put faith in the blood of the lamb that they were instructed to put on the doorpost of their homes. Through that process they had escaped the death of their first born. But noticeably, that was not the end of the salvation story for the Ancient Hebrews. After the sacrifice that spared them from death, they were pursued by the Egyptian army and had to be delivered because they were trapped by the Red Sea. That is when Moses stretched out his hand and the waters were parted allowing the people to walk through on dry land. And Moses stretched out his hand over the sea; and the Lord caused the sea to go back by a strong east wind all that night, and made the sea dry land, and the waters were divided.22 And the children of Israel went into the midst of the sea upon the dry ground: and the waters were a wall unto them on their right hand, and on their left (Exodus 14:21-22).
In Chapter 12, the Israelites had just been saved from death. They trusted Moses and put the blood of the Passover lamb on the doorposts of their homes. This act of faith had spared them from the angel of death. And the Israelites then walked out of slavery and out of Egypt. But at that point Pharaoh changed his mind, and his army pursued the Israelites to bring them back into bondage. Pharaoh pursued them up to the point of the Israelites being trapped between the Red Sea and Pharaoh’s army. That is when God provided a way through the water for them. Water meant death for the Egyptians, and it could have meant death for the Israelites too. However, the Israelites trusted God and walked through the water to a secure life on the other shore.
Painting the lamb’s blood on the doorposts of their homes demonstrated their trust in the saving power of the blood, but the people were not completely free from their enemies. It was only after they had walked through the water of the Red Sea that they were completely free. The enemy had been defeated. The water was a clear line of demarcation. Once the Ancient Israelites walked through the water, freedom from the pursuing enemy had been appropriated in their lives.
So, Moses had instructed the Israelites to believe in the lamb’s blood and then walk through the waters of the Red Sea in order to be saved. Likewise, over one-thousand years later, Jesus had said in a very matter-of-fact manner that people need to believe (in His atoning blood) and then be baptized in order to be saved.
Detail 27-Exodus 15: The Song of Moses and the Song of the Lamb
When John the Baptist first saw Jesus, he called him the Lamb of God. The next day John seeth Jesus coming unto him, and saith, Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world (John 1:29). When John called Jesus the Lamb of God, he was alluding to the Passover Lamb. So immediately after seeing Jesus, John the Baptist knew that He came to be a sacrifice for our sins. Either John had discovered that truth by reading the Scriptures or it was revealed to him by God, but he knew that Jesus came to be sacrificed to take away the sin that separated man and God. The Book of Revelation picks up on this reference to “the lamb who was slain”. The writer of Revelation saw a vision of many angels in heaven surrounding the throne, and they worshipped the one who sat upon the throne.
And I beheld, and I heard the voice of many angels round about the throne…Saying with a loud voice, Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive power, and riches, and wisdom, and strength, and honour, and glory, and blessing (Revelation 5:11-12).
These verses create an image of heaven in the future. In this picture, thousands upon thousands of people and angels gather around the throne of God to worship. The “Lamb” in this picture is clearly Jesus, God’s son who was crucified or slain and then ascended to heaven to sit at God’s right hand. Honor was given to Him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb. Later in the Book of Revelation, a fascinating connection is made between Moses and the Lamb or Jesus. Let’s read it for ourselves.
And I saw another sign in heaven, great and marvellous, seven angels having the seven last plagues; for in them is filled up the wrath of God.2 And I saw as it were a sea of glass mingled with fire: and them that had gotten the victory over the beast, and over his image, and over his mark, and over the number of his name, stand on the sea of glass, having the harps of God.3 And they sing the song of Moses the servant of God, and the song of the Lamb, saying, Great and marvellous are thy works, Lord God Almighty; just and true are thy ways, thou King of saints (Revelation 15:1-3).
In this scene in heaven in the future, the people sang a song because the Lamb had finally and completely secured victory over the enemy, but are they singing the song of Moses or the song of the Lamb which is the song of Jesus? Is one song both the song of Moses and the song of Jesus? Regardless, the writer of revelation was clearly connecting Moses and Jesus.
It is remarkable that people sang the song of Moses over one-thousand years previously when the victory that he secured over the enemy, Egypt in that case, was final and complete as well. Then sang Moses and the children of Israel this song unto the Lord, and spake, saying, I will sing unto the Lord, for he hath triumphed gloriously (Exodus 15:1). The song of Moses was first sung when the Israelites passed through the Red Sea and their enemies had been drowned in the water and were completely obliterated. At that moment, the Ancient Israelites’ victory was final and complete, and so, they sang the song of Moses to celebrate that victory. That celebration by the people of Israel was a precursor to the future celebration that John the Revelator saw in his vision.
So, the Song of Moses was sung when the Ancient Israelites finally secured victory over their enemies. Likewise, in the future when the Lamb’s victory is complete, the people in heaven sing a song to the lamb just as the song of Moses had foreshadowed over one-thousand years previously.
Detail 28-Exodus 16: Providing Miraculous Food
Twice Jesus was in the wilderness, and people came to him to be healed and to hear him teach. Because they lingered so long away from any food source, the people became hungry. Both times, Jesus gave them food in a supernatural way. Jesus started with a small amount of food, but as his disciples distributed it, the food miraculously never ran out. As a matter of fact, they had leftovers. In Mark 6 it is reported that they started with five loaves of bread and two fish, and they fed five thousand men. In another incident recorded in Mark 8, they started with seven loaves of bread and a few small fish, and they fed four thousand people. Jesus had miraculously fed multiple thousands of people on two separate occasions. Feeding a large group of people both meat and bread in the wilderness in a miraculous manner is a rather unique detail to foreshadow, and yet Moses did.
In Exodus 16, the Israelites were expressing their hunger to Moses. It’s no wonder that they were hungry since they were wandering in a desert far away from any reliable food source, so they approached Moses for a solution. Moses prayed to God for a miracle. As a result, God gave them manna (or bread) in the morning and quail (or meat) in the evening. And the provision was clearly miraculous. And it came to pass, that at even the quails came up, and covered the camp: and in the morning the dew lay round about the host. And when the dew that lay was gone up, behold, upon the face of the wilderness there lay a small round thing, as small as the hoar frost on the ground And when the children of Israel saw it, they said one to another, It is manna: for they wist not what it was. And Moses said unto them, This is the bread which the Lord hath given you to eat (Exodus 16:13-15). In this story, a direct connection between Moses and Jesus was established. God was telegraphing another detail that Moses portrayed and Jesus repeated that could be used to identify Him as that special prophet that God had promised in Deuteronomy 18:18.
So, Moses was the catalyst to feed multitudes in a miraculous manner. Likewise, Jesus did the exact same thing.
As an aside, Jesus then took the connection to a higher level. The miracles in Jesus’ time were meant to get the crowd’s attention and suggest to them that Jesus is like Moses because he was doing the very same thing that Moses had done. Both Moses and Jesus were feeding the people bread and meat in a supernatural way. But then Jesus said that this miracle was actually a metaphor for something even more profound.
Some seekers asked Jesus a question, and this was his response. Then said they unto him, What shall we do, that we might work the works of God? Jesus answered and said unto them, This is the work of God, that ye believe on him whom he hath sent. They said therefore unto him, What sign shewest thou then, that we may see, and believe thee? what dost thou work? Our fathers did eat manna in the desert; as it is written, He gave them bread from heaven to eat. Then Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Moses gave you not that bread from heaven; but my Father giveth you the true bread from heaven. For the bread of God is he which cometh down from heaven, and giveth life unto the world. Then said they unto him, Lord, evermore give us this bread. And Jesus said unto them, I am the bread of life: he that cometh to me shall never hunger…Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me hath everlasting life. I am that bread of life. Your fathers did eat manna in the wilderness, and are dead. This is the bread which cometh down from heaven, that a man may eat thereof, and not die. I am the living bread which came down from heaven: if any man eat of this bread, he shall live for ever (John 6:25-28, 47-51). So, Jesus provided food in a supernatural way, just like Moses had prefigured. But Jesus then compared himself to the manna itself. He was claiming that God had sent him and that the people needed him to stay alive.
Detail 29-Exodus 17: Rejection
Even though Jesus dedicated His life to redeem the Israelites, he was none-the-less rejected by most of the people that he came to save. Very early on as Jesus was basically announcing his ministry, the people in a local synagogue were enraged to the point of wanting to kill him. They wanted to throw Jesus off a cliff. And all they in the synagogue, when they heard these things, were filled with wrath, And rose up, and thrust him out of the city, and led him unto the brow of the hill whereon their city was built, that they might cast him down headlong (Luke 4:28-29). Jesus’ ministry was just beginning, but the priests and their followers were obviously not buying in to His leadership. Again, not only did they question His leadership, they went so far as expressing their desire to kill Him. This is a fairly rare detail. Soon after Jesus began his public ministry, the people who He came to save had expressed a desire to kill Him. Ironically, the same dynamic transpired as Moses’ ministry was beginning.
Soon after Moses had miraculously led the people out of Egypt, the people were already wanting to kill Him. Very early on in their journey and early in Moses’ tenure as leader, they were experiencing thirst because they did not have enough water. And very quickly, the people turned against Moses. And the people thirsted there for water; and the people murmured against Moses, and said, Wherefore is this that thou hast brought us up out of Egypt, to kill us and our children and our cattle with thirst? And Moses cried unto the Lord, saying, What shall I do unto this people? they be almost ready to stone me (Exodus 17:3-4). Again, the people had very quickly turned against Moses. They wanted to kill him just like the Israelites over one-thousand years later wanted to do to Jesus. The fact that the Ancient Israelites wanted to kill Moses assures us that the leaders of Jesus’ day in their desire to kill Him was not a failure on Jesus’ part. God had expected that rejection and even predicted it over one-thousand years before Jesus was born by foreshadowing this aspect to His ministry with the way that the leaders of Moses’ day had reacted to Moses.
So, Moses ultimately had become an accepted and beloved leader, but early on the people had wanted to kill him. Likewise, just like they had done to Moses, the people initially reacted to Jesus as His ministry was just beginning and they wanted to kill him as well.
Detail 30-Exodus 17: Quenching Thirst
At one point in Jesus’ ministry, He stood up in a busy marketplace and shouted a bold pronouncement. In the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried, saying, If any man thirst, let him come unto me, and drink (John 7:37). Obviously, Jesus was using a metaphor to communicate a spiritual truth. What did Jesus mean by this statement? Come to Him and drink? Poetically it communicates something positive in a vague sense, but again, what does it actually mean?
Remarkably, this particular statement had not only been foreshadowed by Moses, Moses had actually acted out the metaphor. Put another way, Jesus referenced a story involving Moses and utilized it to communicate a lot of information with a succinct statement. Let’s read the story about Moses and how people who were dying of thirst had come to him and asked him to provide water to drink.
And all the congregation of the children of Israel journeyed from the wilderness of Sin, after their journeys, according to the commandment of the Lord, and pitched in Rephidim: and there was no water for the people to drink. Wherefore the people did chide with Moses, and said, Give us water that we may drink. And Moses said unto them, Why chide ye with me? wherefore do ye tempt the Lord? And the people thirsted there for water; and the people murmured against Moses, and said, Wherefore is this that thou hast brought us up out of Egypt, to kill us and our children and our cattle with thirst? And Moses cried unto the Lord, saying, What shall I do unto this people? they be almost ready to stone me. And the Lord said unto Moses, Go on before the people, and take with thee of the elders of Israel; and thy rod, wherewith thou smotest the river, take in thine hand, and go. Behold, I will stand before thee there upon the rock in Horeb; and thou shalt smite the rock, and there shall come water out of it, that the people may drink. And Moses did so in the sight of the elders of Israel (Exodus 17:1-6).
It’s interesting to note that the people in this story came to Moses and asked him for water. Remarkably, that’s what Jesus had said. If any man thirst, let him come to me and drink. Again, Moses had foreshadowed this unique statement by Jesus by literally acting out the metaphor that Jesus had utilized.
So, the people came to Moses and asked for him to provide water or else they would die. Likewise, Jesus declared to people in a busy marketplace that they should come to him and he would provide living water so that they would not die spiritually.
As an aside, the people in Moses’ day were in a desert. They were dying of thirst. They needed water or they would soon die. Miraculously, Moses provided water in a supernatural manner. Essentially, when Jesus shouted that phrase, he communicated metaphorically that the people were, right then, in a spiritual desert. They needed water to survive, and Jesus, like Moses, would provide that water. Jesus then elaborated on what he had said regarding coming to him to quench a thirst. Let’s read the rest of what Jesus had to say.In the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried, saying, If any man thirst, let him come unto me, and drink.38 He that believeth on me, as the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water.39 (But this spake he of the Spirit, which they that believe on him should receive (John 7:37-39). So, Jesus had said that people could come to him and that he would provide water, just as Moses had foreshadowed over one-thousand years previously. The water that Jesus would provide would be the Holy Spirit which would be given to people who believed in Him. Jesus closed the loop on the metaphor by declaring that the Holy Spirit would flow out of a man’s innermost being like a river of living water.
The rock itself represents a kind of poetic symbol. The Gospel writers talk about two different resurrections, Lazarus and Jesus, and in both cases the Gospels are clear; the dead person comes back to life out of a rock. For example, the Gospel of Matthew states that [he] laid [Jesus’ body]in his own new tomb, which he had hewn out in the rock: and he rolled a great stone to the door of the sepulchre (Matthew 27:60). After being buried in a rock, Jesus came back to life. The Gospels also stipulate that when a person believes that set of details, then living water, or the Holy Spirit, will flow into them and then out of them. That is what happened in the story involving water coming out of a rock as recorded in Exodus. The people were dying of thirst, literally. When Moses made the water gush forth from the rock, the people were saved from certain death. It was as if they had been brought back to life from certain death. The gushing water from the rock represented a metaphorical resurrection
That is a lot of information that was communicated with just one comment, but that was because God had set the stage over one-thousand years previously. All of these stories were recorded, reverenced, repeated, and memorized by the scribes and the people for over one-thousand years. The Israelites of Jesus’ day were prepared for the life that Jesus lived and the things that he said because those details were predicted in the stories of Moses’ life over one-thousand years before.
Detail 31-Exodus 3 & 25: The Trinity
The doctrine of the Trinity is the proverbial “elephant in the room” for anyone considering the claims of the Gospel. This study is meant to explore the connection between Moses as portrayed in the Book of Exodus to Jesus as he is depicted in the Gospels. People who already believe that Jesus is the Messiah are familiar with these connections. So, this study is primarily directed to people who have read Exodus but are not familiar with the Gospels. People in that category generally have difficulty with the doctrine of the Trinity, so we will address this grand and complex topic now.
Admittedly, the doctrine of the Trinity is difficult for the human mind to comprehend, therefore, it’s even more challenging to explain. The idea that God is both three distinct persons and yet one seems contradictory, and yet it is clearly taught by the Gospels. However, it is as if the Gospels presuppose its existence without expounding on it.
For example, in the account of Jesus’ baptism which is an event relayed by all four Gospel writers, as Jesus emerged from the water a voice emanated from heaven that said, “This is my beloved son, in whom I am well pleased “(Matthew 3:17). While the voice was speaking, the Bible said that the Spirit descended on Jesus and remained on him. The Gospels indicate that the spirit had a physical appearance, and it looked something like a dove (for lack of a better image). So, the Gospels just tell the reader what happened, and we are left to play a kind of “mental catch-up.” It is simply revealed but not expounded upon or explained.
In this event, we see the person of Jesus, and we hear a voice from heaven that identifies Jesus as his son. So, the voice is presumably the affirmation of the Father toward the son. Further we see the spirit descend from where the voice emanated, and it descended on and remained on the son. Depicted in this event are three persons somehow both distinct and yet connected (Father, Son and Holy Spirit). You might be wondering how in the world this scene could have been foreshadowed in Exodus. Keep in mind that the baptism of Jesus occurred at the start of his public ministry.
Surprisingly, at the start of Moses’ ministry, we read about an event with a similar dynamic.
And the angel of the Lord appeared unto him in a flame of fire out of the midst of a bush: and he looked, and, behold, the bush burned with fire, and the bush was not consumed.3 And Moses said, I will now turn aside, and see this great sight, why the bush is not burnt.4 And when the Lord saw that he turned aside to see, God called unto him out of the midst of the bush, and said, Moses, Moses. And he said, Here am I.5 And he said, Draw not nigh hither: put off thy shoes from off thy feet, for the place whereon thou standest is holy ground (Exodus 3:2-5).
First, in this event we read that the voice of God was heard just like at the baptism of Jesus. Secondly, we have a man, Moses, who foreshadows the man, Jesus. Thirdly, we have a fire. In the Book of Acts, the Spirit of God is depicted by fire. For example, on the day of Pentecost the spirit descended on the Jewish believers, and it looked as if small flames of fire rested on their heads (Acts 2:3).
So, at the baptism of Jesus three distinct entities are depicted: the voice of a father, the person of the son and the Spirit of God. At the start of Moses’ ministry, we see an encounter with God and we witness three distinct entities: the voice of God, the person of Moses, and a curious fire that burns but does not consume. Are you not convinced that the call of Moses as described in Exodus chapter three foreshadows the baptism of Jesus and the Trinitarian nature of God? Well, let’s consider another image in Exodus.
At the Burning Bush, God declared that Moses was standing on Holy Ground. This connects to the Tabernacle first described in Exodus 25. The tabernacle was considered the Holy Place as well and was the place that God abode. In this account we see a single tent and three pieces of furniture. (A fourth piece of furniture is described later, and we will talk about that. However, at this point Moses described only three pieces of furniture within a single tent.)
The first piece of furniture is the Ark of the Covenant. God clearly said that he would abide above the mercy seat on top of the Ark. And thou shalt put the mercy seat above the ark;and in the ark thou shalt put the testimony that I shall give thee. And there I will meet with thee; and I will commune with thee from above the mercy seat (Exodus 25:21-22). This mercy seat gives the sense of a kind of throne where God decided to reside.
The second piece of furniture is a table, and on this table, God instructed Moses to put something called shewbread (King James Version). That word shewbread is a contraction of two words; it could be translated as face bread (Exodus 25:30,35:13,39:36). Many Bible translations render that contraction as the bread of presence. In any event it alludes to a special kind of bread. Perhaps it is an allusion to bread somehow exhibiting human qualities. God commanded that fresh bread was required to be on this table always. Clearly bread is something that has an expiration date, so God directed the priests to replace this bread frequently. At one point, Jesus made reference to himself as the bread of life (John 6:35). Further, in the upper room Jesus took bread, brake it, gave it to his disciples and told them to take and eat it for it was his body broken for them (Luke 24:30-31). Is Jesus the bread of presence?
The third piece of furniture in that one tent described in Exodus 25 is the candlestick. The flames were never meant to be extinguished. To accomplish an eternal flame, the priest was directed to keep the oil full. Oil is often associated with a kind of spiritual anointing from God. In fact, God directed Moses to keep a holy anointing oil in the tent. The flame imagery hearkens back to the Burning Bush, but also forward to the day of Pentecost as recorded in the Book of Acts when the Holy Spirit descended on each individual believer in Jesus. In that account, little flames of fire appeared to rest on people’s heads (Acts 2:3). It’s as if that group of people who believed that Jesus was the Messiah had become a living candlestick.
So, Exodus 25 describes three pieces of furniture in this one tent. We further learn that the LORD descended in a cloudy pillar and stood at the door of this tabernacle. It was from the door that the LORD spoke with Moses (Exodus 33:9). By standing at the entrance of the tent, it is as if God is indicating that this is who he is; he is one tent with three pieces of furniture. As Moses and the priests entered the tent, they metaphorically came to know God. God is like a single tent with three pieces of furniture inside.
There are two other details worthy of consideration. First, this single tent is actually segmented inside into two parts. The first room is called the Holy Place, and the second room is called the Most Holy Place. They are separated by a vail. On the vail are depictions of Cherubims which hearken back to the Garden of Eden. When Adam and Eve were expelled, God placed Cherubims at the entrance to guard it so that Adam and Eve could not re-enter. This vail in the tabernacle projects the same sense. Entrance into this second room was limited to an extreme few number of people and only after an elaborate ritual cleansing of sin. This hearkens back to the Garden of Eden and the themes that were introduced in that story. Might this second room be heaven where God’s throne is. It is vailed from our eyes, and we are forbidden to enter except on an extremely limited basis. This is much like we might describe heaven now.
Might the first room represent earth. We read in the Gospels that God the Father sent both Jesus and the Holy Spirit from heaven to earth. This first room is also the place where man exists. The priests, representing humanity, would enter this room regularly. They needed to trim the oil in the lamp and replace the bread of presence on a regular basis. So, in this first room or earth, the bread, the flame and the priests existed together. Does this not foreshadow the fact that God sent Jesus and the Holy Spirit to live amongst humanity as described in the Gospels?
As stated previously, after the initial description of the three pieces of furniture, Moses described a fourth piece of furniture in subsequent instructions. This was an altar of incense. The priests attended to this also on a regular basis by adding fresh incense to it. As the smoke of incense wafted up to heaven, it represented the prayers of the people from earth to heaven.
I think the doctrine of the Trinity is revealed and foreshadowed in the Book of Exodus. However, the question of whether or not the Hebrew Scriptures teach the doctrine of the Trinity is important, so I will leave you with some further questions for your own research. What is the spirit of God that filled Bazaleel (Exodus 31:2-4;35:30-31)? Who was God speaking to (plural) when he made the statement, “Let us make man in our image”(Genesis 1:26)? Who is the LORD that “walked” in the garden (Genesis 3:8)? Who are the three men that Abraham calls LORD in Genesis 18:1-2? Who is the LORD talking to in Genesis 18:17? Who is the “man and angel” that Manoa saw ascend to heaven in the flames of fire and why did he call him God when he looked like a man (Judges 13:22)? Who was the fourth man who apparently looked like the other three men in the fiery furnace, and why did Nebuchadnezzar say that he looked like the Son of God (Daniel 3:25)?
Details 32-37-Exodus chapter 17: The Crucifixion
The central focus of the four Gospels is the Crucifixion of Jesus. This event is as detail laden as it is important. Let’s read it for ourselves. Then delivered he him [Jesus] therefore unto them to be crucified. And they took Jesus, and led him away. And he bearing his cross went forth into a place called the place of a skull, which is called in the Hebrew Golgotha: Where they crucified him, and two other with him, on either side one, and Jesus in the midst (John 19:16-18). And Mark records this added detail in his Gospel. And when the sixth hour was come, there was darkness over the whole land until the ninth hour (Mark 15:33).
Let’s highlight some details in this significant event. First, Jesus was crucified on a wooden cross. Second, his hands were outstretched and nailed on either side of a wooden cross beam. Third, it was perhaps on a hill (i.e., place of the skull). Fourth, Jesus was between two other people who also were being crucified. Fifth, Darkness descended as this event came to a close. And sixth and most importantly, it was because of this single event that believers in Jesus celebrate their greatest victory over God’s biggest enemy.
The Crucifixion of Jesus is obviously an extremely unique event in recorded history. It might seem like a nearly impossible set of detailed circumstances to foreshadow. Certainly it would be a challenge to prefigure the Crucifixion with any level of specificity, and yet Moses did.
Let’s read an amazing story as recorded in Exodus chapter 17. Then came Amalek, and fought with Israel in Rephidim. And Moses said unto Joshua, Choose us out men, and go out, fight with Amalek: to morrow I will stand on the top of the hill with the rod of God in mine hand. So Joshua did as Moses had said to him, and fought with Amalek: and Moses, Aaron, and Hur went up to the top of the hill. And it came to pass, when Moses held up his hand, that Israel prevailed: and when he let down his hand, Amalek prevailed. But Moses’ hands were heavy; and they took a stone, and put it under him, and he sat thereon; and Aaron and Hur stayed up his hands, the one on the one side, and the other on the other side; and his hands were steady until the going down of the sun. And Joshua discomfited Amalek and his people with the edge of the sword. And the Lord said unto Moses, Write this for a memorial in a book, and rehearse it in the ears of Joshua: for I will utterly put out the remembrance of Amalek from under heaven. And Moses built an altar, and called the name of it Jehovahnissi: For he said, Because the Lord hath sworn that the Lord will have war with Amalek from generation to generation (Exodus 17:8-16).
There are a few points of note in this unusual but interesting story. First, the Israelites were fighting the Amalekites who were a people that God had sworn that he will be at war with forever. God declared that he would erase even the memory of Amalek from under heaven. So, Amalek was clearly a singularly pronounced enemy to God. The second detail is that the Israelites fought, but Moses went up on a hill overlooking the battle, and Moses did something a little out of the ordinary. He lifted up his arms as his warriors were fighting. Again, this is out of the ordinary. Why didn’t Moses fight along with the Israelites? Perhaps he was too old, and if that was the case it is understandable that he didn’t go into battle with his younger warriors. Why did he climb a hill? Perhaps Moses wanted to view the progress of this important battle? That too is understandable. Finally however, why did he lift his arms as his men fought? There is simply no rational explanation for that. It’s just out of the ordinary. And why did that specific action impact the battle? Again, it’s just conspicuous and out of the ordinary. But we know from the story that when Moses lifted his arms, the Israelites prevailed. And when he got tired and let his arms down, the Amalekites gained the upper hand. So, two men, one on either side, held up Moses’ arms, and the Israelites won the day.
The Bible doesn’t explicitly say, but you get the sense that Moses was holding the rod of God in both hands. At first he was holding up his hand (singular), and he had the rod of God in that hand. Then at some point, he held both hands up. Based on the precise wording of the text, we don’t know for sure, but Moses probably held the rod over his head with an end in each hand because this passage implies that both hands were equally tired since he had a man hold them up on either side.
Now let’s explore this image with a little more depth. A man (Moses) carried a wooden rod up a hill. He held the wood with outstretched arms. There was a man on either side of the man in the middle. While the man was in this position, the sun was going down. And most importantly, it’s imperative that the man maintain this position because as he does, the Israelites defeated the enemy. Their victory was directly connected to his position with outstretched hands on this wood. We know this because when his arms came down, the enemy gained the upper hand, and when his arms went back up, the Israelites gained the advantage. So, our attention is drawn to what he was doing. He was holding up his hands with a piece of wood between them. And this is an enemy that God had sworn to have war with forever.
The Crucifixion of Jesus and this image of Moses on a hill with outstretched arms on a piece of wood are practically identical to each other, yet this shared story is so unique in all of recorded human history. Moses was on a hill with his arms outstretched on a piece of wood with a man on either side as the sun was going down, and in this position and because of this position God and his people gained their greatest victory over a sworn enemy of God. Over one-thousand years later, Jesus hung on a cross with his arms outstretched on a piece of wood with a man on either side as the sun was darkened, and because of this act, God and his followers achieved the ultimate victory over God’s sworn enemy. Over one-thousand years before Jesus hung on that cross, God showed us the exact image with Moses. It is simply astounding.
There is one more detail which cements the connection between these two events. During the battle as Moses oversaw the progress, he sat on a stone. And then after the victory, Moses built an altar and more than likely, the stone on which he sat became part of the altar. So, as Moses was up on the hill with outstretched arms on a piece of wood with a man on either side as the sun was going down, he sat on an altar. With that last detail, Moses precisely prefigured what Jesus accomplished as he hung on the cross over one-thousand years later. Jesus became a sacrifice. Now once in the end of the world hath [the Messiah] appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself (Hebrews 9:26b).
The crucifixion of Jesus portrays such a unique image, and yet God had painted that picture in the pages of the Bible over one-thousand years before it occurred. God is telling us that he is in control and we can trust him. For I am God, and there is none else; I am God, and there is none like me,10 Declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times the things that are not yet done (Isaiah 46:9-10). And I am also reminded of the words of Jesus. “And now I have told you before it come to pass, that, when it is come to pass, ye might believe (John 14:29).
There is a verse written by the Apostle Paul in one of his letters that applies to these stories. For the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness; but unto us which are saved it is the power of God (1 Corinthians 1:18). Truly Moses on a hill with outstretched arms on a piece of wood must have looked foolish to the Amalekites, but unto them who were being saved it was the power of God. And truly, Jesus on a hill with outstretched arms on a piece of wood must have looked foolish to the world, but unto them who are being saved it is the power of God.
Detail 38-Exodus 18: Mediator
The Bible makes it clear that Jesus is the only mediator between man and God. Listen to Jesus’ own words explaining this idea. Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me(John 14:6). And listen to the words of the Apostle Paul as he reinforced this doctrine. For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Jesus the [Messiah] (1 Timothy 2:5). Again, the Bible makes this doctrine clear. This is a very straight-forward concept and yet at the same time it is an extremely unique role. Not many people could make this claim about themselves, and yet Moses prefigured this important aspect to Jesus’ ministry.
When Moses’ father-in-law came to visit Moses, Moses’ father-in-law noticed that so many people came to him, and because of that Moses’ Father-in-law felt that Moses was basically too busy. When his father-in-law asked him why so many people were coming to him, Moses implied that it was because they wanted to know what God thought, and that they viewed him as the mediator. And Moses said unto his father in law, Because the people come unto me to enquire of God (Exodus 18:15). The assumption in that answer is that the people viewed Moses as the mediator, and Moses did not deny that implication. Later the Bible tells us that the people were afraid to talk directly with God. Again, they were content to let Moses be the mediator. And all the people saw the thunderings, and the lightnings, and the noise of the trumpet, and the mountain smoking: and when the people saw it, they removed, and stood afar off. And they said unto Moses, Speak thou with us, and we will hear: but let not God speak with us, lest we die (Exodus 20:18-19). They wanted Moses to be the mediator between themselves and God because to talk with God directly was too ominous of an encounter. They would just as soon leave that responsibility to Moses. Go thou near, and hear all that the Lord our God shall say: and speak thou unto us all that the Lord our God shall speak unto thee; and we will hear it, and do it (Exodus 20:27). And finally, even God established Moses’ role as a mediator between God and man. God directed the leaders of the people to come and worship but stated that only Moses should come near to God. And Moses alone shall come near the Lord: but they shall not come nigh (Exodus 24:2).
So, Moses functioned as a mediator between God and man. Likewise, Jesus functioned as a mediator between God and man as well.
Detail 39-45–Exodus 19: The Resurrection
The resurrection of Jesus is the pivotal event in the Gospels and indeed in all of human history. Let’s analyze some details related to this important event. At the last supper before his crucifixion, Jesus was explaining what the events over the next few days would mean. Jesus said that his death burial and resurrection were going to be the basis of a new covenant. And he took the cup, and gave thanks, and gave it to them, saying, Drink ye all of it;For this is my blood of the new [covenant], which is shed for many for the remission of sins (Matthew 26:27-28). So, Jesus established that the crucifixion and resurrection would happen within the context of confirming a covenant between God and man.
Secondly, when we read through the Gospels, we quickly understand that according to the Gospels no event in history is more important to our lives than the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus. God has heralded this event as the preeminent experience of all of human history. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus the Messiah, which according to his abundant mercy hath begotten us again unto a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus the Messiah from the dead,4 To an inheritance incorruptible, and undefiled, and that fadeth not away, reserved in heaven for you(1 Peter 1:3-4). So, this event is heralded as the most determinant and pivotal event in all of human history.
Third, the Gospels highlight the fact that the tomb in which Jesus was buried was guarded. The religious leaders did not want anyone to take the body of Jesus and then falsely claim that Jesus had been resurrected. They had known that Jesus had predicted that he would be resurrected after three days, and they knew that producing the dead body would squelch any false rumors regarding an alleged resurrection. Not only did the leaders want to kill Jesus, they wanted to squelch any potential false stories that might emerge after his death. Now the next day, that followed the day of the preparation, the chief priests and Pharisees came together unto Pilate,Saying, Sir, we remember that that deceiver said, while he was yet alive, After three days I will rise again.Command therefore that the sepulchre be made sure until the third day, lest his disciples come by night, and steal him away, and say unto the people, He is risen from the dead: so the last error shall be worse than the first.Pilate said unto them, Ye have a watch: go your way, make it as sure as ye can.So they went, and made the sepulchre sure, sealing the stone, and setting a watch (Matthew 27:62-66). Presumably, if someone did attempt to steal the body of Jesus, the guard surrounding the tomb would have put them to death. Also, as we will read in the next quote, when the resurrection occurred, the men who guarded the tomb were so stunned and frightened by everything that transpired that the Gospels says that they became as dead men.
Fourth, in the Gospels it is recorded that on the morning of the third day, Jesus was resurrected from the dead and was raised to reign with God up in heaven. In the end of the sabbath, as it began to dawn toward the first day of the week, [which was the morning of the third day] came Mary Magdalene and the other Mary to see the sepulchre. And, behold, there was a great earthquake: for the angel of the Lord descended from heaven, and came and rolled back the stone from the door, and sat upon it.His countenance was like lightning, and his raiment white as snow:And for fear of him the keepers did shake, and became as dead men (Matthew 28:1-4). So, the resurrection happened on a very precise and conspicuous time schedule; the morning of the third day.
Fifth, as noted in the previous quote, an earthquake occurred in conjunction with the resurrection. And, behold, there was a great earthquake: for the angel of the Lord descended from heaven, and came and rolled back the stone from the door, and sat upon it (Matthew 28:3).
Sixth, when Jesus was resurrected he went up to sit at the right hand of God up in heavenly realms. But Jesus held his peace, And the high priest answered and said unto him, I adjure thee by the living God, that thou tell us whether thou be the Christ, the Son of God.64 Jesus saith unto him, Thou hast said: nevertheless I say unto you, Hereafter shall ye see the Son of man sitting on the right hand of power, and coming in the clouds of heaven(Matthew 26:63-64). And another quote: [God] raised [Jesus] from the dead, and set him at his own right hand in the heavenly places,21 Far above all principality, and power, and might, and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this world, but also in that which is to come (Ephesians 1:20-21).
Seventh, God wants us to believe in Jesus as a result of this event.And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up:15 That whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life.16 For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life (John 3:14-16). Being lifted up is a euphemism for being crucified on a cross. Jesus had declared that whoever believes on Him and this mission as he hung on that cross would be saved.
So, let’s summarize the details from the resurrection story as recorded in the Gospels
One, the crucifixion and resurrection occurred within the context of a covenant.
Two, nothing is more important in the Gospels than the resurrection of Jesus.
Three, the tomb in which Jesus was buried was guarded, and anyone who went near would be killed.
Four, the resurrection occurred on precisely the morning of the third day.
Five, an earthquake transpired as the resurrection occurred.
Six, Jesus was raised from the dead to sit at God’s right hand up in heaven.
Seven, God clearly wants people to believe in His son because He had been sacrificed and resurrected.
We have just listed seven significant and very specific details from the Gospel record that relate to the resurrection. It would seem to be nearly impossible to foreshadow this event with any sort of specificity. Perhaps in a vague general sense Moses could have alluded to this particular event, but not in a particular manner. Perhaps little snippets of this important event could have been sprinkled throughout the hundreds of pages of the Bible. We could piece those vague snippets together ourselves in order to confirm the fact that God had known about the Crucifixion of His son in advance and had predicted it. But again, it would seem nearly impossible to foreshadow this unique and detail laden event with any sort of direct specificity, and yet Moses did. As a matter of fact, all seven of the above elements are highlighted in just one single story from the Book of Exodus. Let’s read an utterly astounding account from Exodus.
And Moses went up unto God, and the Lord called unto him out of the mountain, saying, Thus shalt thou say to the house of Jacob, and tell the children of Israel.Ye have seen what I did unto the Egyptians, and how I bare you on eagles’ wings, and brought you unto myself.Now therefore, if ye will obey my voice indeed, and keep my covenant,( so whatever was about to transpire would be happening within the context of confirming a covenant) then ye shall be a peculiar treasure unto me above all people: for all the earth is mine:And ye shall be unto me a kingdom of priests, and an holy nation. These are the words which thou shalt speak unto the children of Israel…..(verse 9 )And the Lord said unto Moses, Lo, I come unto thee in a thick cloud, that the people may hear when I speak with thee, and believe thee for ever. And Moses told the words of the people unto the Lord.And the Lord said unto Moses, Go unto the people, and sanctify them to day and to morrow, and let them wash their clothes,And be ready against the third day for the third day the Lord will come down in the sight of all the people upon mount Sinai.And thou shalt set bounds unto the people round about, saying, Take heed to yourselves, that ye go not up into the mount, or touch the border of it: whosoever toucheth the mount shall be surely put to death:There shall not an hand touch it, but he shall surely be stoned, or shot through; whether it be beast or man, it shall not live: when the trumpet soundeth long, they shall come up to the mount.And Moses went down from the mount unto the people, and sanctified the people; and they washed their clothes. And he said unto the people, Be ready against the third day: come not at your wives.And it came to pass on the third day in the morning,that there were thunders and lightnings, and a thick cloud upon the mount, and the voice of the trumpet exceeding loud; so that all the people that was in the camp trembled.And Moses brought forth the people out of the camp to meet with God; and they stood at the nether part of the mount.And mount Sinai was altogether on a smoke, because the Lord descended upon it in fire: and the smoke thereof ascended as the smoke of a furnace, and the whole mount quaked greatly.And when the voice of the trumpet sounded long, and waxed louder and louder, Moses spake, and God answered him by a voice.And the Lord came down upon mount Sinai, on the top of the mount: and the Lord called Moses up to the top of the mount; and Moses went up(Exodus 19:3-6,9-20). I am dumb-founded by the details of this story. Moses went up to be alone with God on the morning of the third day. Again, this is utterly astounding. It is almost as if this story in Exodus was a dress rehearsal for the actual resurrection of Jesus that occurred over one-thousand years later. Moses had been the stand in for the main actor during this rehearsal. The actual event occurred later, and Jesus took the main role. All seven of the details that we highlighted from the Gospels that relate to the Resurrection of Jesus were foreshadowed in this amazing story involving Moses from the Book of Exodus.
One, Jesus had declared at the Last Supper that His death and resurrection would occur within the context of a covenant, and the same dynamic occurred within this event in Exodus. Now therefore, if ye will obey my voice indeed, and keep my covenant (Exodus 19:5).
Two, nothing is more important in the Gospels than the resurrection. In this story in Exodus, exceedingly loud trumpets are repeatedly mentioned all throughout this event heralding the importance of what was transpiring. the trumpet sounded long, and waxed louder and louder (Exodus 19:19).
Three, in the Gospels we read how the leaders set a guard around the tomb threatening anyone with death who came near. In Exodus, God instructed Moses to set a boundary around the mountain, and anyone who went near should be killed. God even emphasized that no one should even touch the mountain. Whosoever toucheth the mount shall be surely put to death:There shall not an hand touch it, but he shall surely be stoned, or shot through (Exodus 19:12-13).
Fourth, Jesus was resurrected on precisely the morning of the third day. This fact has been celebrated for two thousand years of history. The morning of the third day is such a precise and conspicuous period of time. Amazingly, in this story in Exodus, Moses was called up to be with God on the morning of the third day. Only a God who was in total control could have arranged two important events separated by over one-thousand years and caused them to occur within the same conspicuous time period. On the third day in the morning (Exodus 19:16)! Not around three days later and not even exactly three days later, but on the third day in the morning.
Fifth, an earthquake occurred at the resurrection of Jesus, and the same thing transpired in the Exodus account. The whole mount quaked greatly(Exodus 19:18).
Sixth, when Jesus was resurrected, he went to sit in the presence of God. Moses was called up to be in God’s presence, and Moses went up. And the Lord came down upon mount Sinai, on the top of the mount: and the Lord called Moses up to the top of the mount; and Moses went up (Exodus 19:20). This is as close as one can get to describing the image of the resurrection of Jesus without simply saying that God resurrected Moses to join him at His right hand.
Seventh, the Gospels make it clear that God wants us to believe in Jesus, and in this account in Exodus, God had specifically stated that He wanted the people to believe in Moses forever. And the Lord said unto Moses, Lo, I come unto thee in a thick cloud, that the people may hear when I speak with thee, and believe thee for ever(Exodus 19:9).
The resurrection of Jesus is detail laden, nuanced and unique, and yet the story of Moses in Exodus 19 prefigured that story in all of its detail, nuance and uniqueness. It is utterly astonishing.
As an aside, we should note that this story comprises only seven matching details amongst a total of over fifty. We have been exploring the book of Exodus in this study, and we have worked through each chapter in numerical order. Almost every story about Moses has a detailed connection to Jesus’ life and mission. By way of reminder, Moses wrote those words over one-thousand years before Jesus was even born. It is astounding. Clearly God wanted us to have the information that we needed in order to make an informed decision about the identity of His Son.
After studying this book and understanding the prophecy in Deuteronomy, we can no longer honestly say that we would have believed in Jesus if we had known. After studying Exodus with Jesus in mind, we can no longer say that we would have believed in Jesus if we would have had solid evidence. After reading Exodus with Jesus in mind, we can no longer credibly state that God did not give us the evidence. Listen to what Jesus had to say to people who chose not to believe that He was God’s Son and that He was the fulfillment of what Moses had written. Do not think that I will accuse you to the Father: there is one that accuseth you, even Moses, in whom ye trust.For had ye believed Moses, ye would have believed me; for he wrote of me (John 5:45-46).
Detail 46 & 47-Exodus 24: A Couple of Specific Numbers
At one point in Jesus’ ministry, he chose seventy men to help lead his ministry (Luke 10:1). It’s interesting to note that Moses too had a group of seventy men who were part of his leadership group (Exodus 24:9).
Further, Matthew records in his Gospel the simple fact that Jesus was alone in the wilderness for forty days (Matthew 4:2). It was during that time that Jesus was tempted by the Devil, but once that test had been completed, the Bible says that angels ministered to him. It is recorded in Exodus that Moses went up on a mountain to commune with God for forty days and nights, and it was during that time that God gave the Ten Commandments to him (Exodus 24:18).
So, Moses had seventy men helping him lead. Likewise, Jesus selected seventy men to help him lead. Secondly, Moses was alone with God for forty days, and during that time he was given the Ten Commandments. Likewise, Jesus was alone for forty days, and during that time the devil tempted him to break the Ten Commandments.
Detail 48-Exodus 32: Intercessors
Was God the Father angry when His Son was nailed to a cross? The religious leaders whom Jesus came to redeem had betrayed him and crucified him, and yet, in that excruciatingly painful moment, Jesus interceded for the people who had him crucified. “And when they were come to the place, which is called Calvary, there they crucified him, and the malefactors, one on the right hand, and the other on the left. Then said Jesus, Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do (Luke 23:33-34). What an amazing display of love and forgiveness! Again, he interceded on behalf of the people who had just crucified him. One has to wonder how this detail could be foreshadowed, and yet Moses did.
We see the exact same disposition exhibited by Moses over one-thousand years previously. Immediately after God had delivered the Israelites from Egypt with mighty signs and wonders, they fashioned an idol to worship. It was a heinous act of ignorance and betrayal. And God was angry. And the Lord said unto Moses, I have seen this people, and, behold, it is a stiffnecked people:10 Now therefore let me alone, that my wrath may wax hot against them, and that I may consume them: and I will make of thee a great nation.11 And Moses besought the Lord his God, and said, Lord, why doth thy wrath wax hot against thy people, which thou hast brought forth out of the land of Egypt with great power, and with a mighty hand?12 Wherefore should the Egyptians speak, and say, For mischief did he bring them out, to slay them in the mountains, and to consume them from the face of the earth? Turn from thy fierce wrath, and repent of this evil against thy people.13 Remember Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, thy servants, to whom thou swarest by thine own self, and saidst unto them, I will multiply your seed as the stars of heaven, and all this land that I have spoken of will I give unto your seed, and they shall inherit it for ever.14 Anthe Lord repented of the evil which he thought to do unto his people (Exodus 32:9-14).
God was so angry that he told Moses that he would kill all the people who had forsook Him and start over with a new nation using Moses as the progenitor. Was that an attractive proposition for Moses? The people seemed to be utterly and hopelessly rebellious. It might have been gratifying to Moses for God to start again with him at the head, and yet when God declared this intention, Moses interceded with God on behalf of the people. From the story you can see that he pleaded and reasoned with God. He begged God to forgive the people who had sinned. Amazingly, as we read in the story above, God relented based on Moses’ imploring argument.
So, Moses interceded between God and man and pleaded for mercy on behalf of man. Likewise, Jesus as he hung on the cross interceded between God and man and asked God his Father to forgive the people who had betrayed him.
Detail 49-Exodus 32: Accepting the Punishment; Atonement
When John the Baptist saw Jesus for the first time he said, Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world(John 1:29). John knew that the central mission of Jesus was to offer his life as a sacrificial lamb to atone for our sin. That is the central point of all four Gospels. It would be a challenge for God to foreshadow that aspect of Jesus’ life with the life of Moses, and yet He did.
The story from the previous detail continued, and as that story progressed we aren’t quite sure that Moses was fully aware of how astonishingly sinful the people had been when he had interceded on their behalf. Moses had pleaded with God to forgive them, but then Moses came down from the mountain and saw for himself how terribly they had acted. At that point, he did something absolutely remarkable.
And it came to pass on the morrow, that Moses said unto the people, Ye have sinned a great sin: and now I will go up unto the Lord; peradventure I shall make an atonement for your sin. And Moses returned unto the Lord, and said, Oh, this people have sinned a great sin, and have made them gods of gold. Yet now, if thou wilt forgive their sin–; and if not, blot me, I pray thee, out of thy book which thou hast written. (Exodus 32:30-32).
Incredibly, Moses offered to take the punishment that the people had earned. Moses had nothing to do with this horrendously sinful incident, yet he offered to take the punishment from God on their behalf. Moses had been up on the mountain top communing with God while the people had committed this heinous act. I am reminded that Jesus was in heaven with God His Father when mankind was down on earth committing sin against God. Jesus and Moses had nothing to do with the rebellion. But Moses said to God, please forgive these people and don’t blot their names out of your book of life. Moses said (and I’m paraphrasing), “If you are going to punish someone, then hold me accountable. Blot my name out of your book of life instead of those who actually deserve that punishment.” And that’s exactly what Jesus agreed to do. When Jesus agreed to die on a cross, he had offered to receive the penalty that we deserve. It’s a penalty for which he was not responsible.
So, Moses offered to take the punishment that others deserved. Likewise, Jesus willingly took the punishment that all of us deserve for our disobedience.
Detail 50-Exodus 33: Close Relationship
Throughout the Gospels, we get the sense that Jesus spent much time in prayer alone with God. And when he had sent the multitudes away, he went up into a mountain apart to pray: and when the evening was come, he was there alone (Matthew 14:23). And there came a voice out of the cloud, saying, This is my beloved Son: hear him (Luke 9:35). And Jesus lifted up his eyes, and said, Father, I thank thee that thou hast heard me. And I knew that thou hearest me always: but because of the people which stand by I said it, that they may believe that thou hast sent me (John 11:41-42). All of these verses in the Gospels give the sense that Jesus is speaking with God directly and continually, and that he was someone who had a special relationship with God. He spoke with God directly. Moses prefigured the special relationship with God that Jesus enjoyed. And the Lord spake unto Moses face to face, as a man speaketh unto his friend (Exodus 33:11).
So, Moses talked directly with God. Moses had a special relationship to God. God spoke to Moses like a man speaks to his friend. Likewise, Jesus enjoyed the same remarkably close relationship with God.
Detail 51-55 -Exodus 34: A Shining Face
The story of what we call the Transfiguration is fascinating. And after six days Jesus taketh Peter, James, and John his brother, and bringeth them up into an high mountain apart,And was transfigured before them: and his face did shine as the sun, and his raiment was white as the light.And, behold, there appeared unto them Moses and Elias talking with him.While he yet spake, behold, a bright cloud overshadowed them: and behold a voice out of the cloud, which said, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased; hear ye him.And when the disciples heard it, they fell on their face, and were sore afraid (Matthew 17:1-3,5-6). It cannot be overstated that this was yet again an extremely unique experience with several interwoven nuanced details transpiring, and yet, incredibly, it was exactly prefigured by Moses in a single story that was recorded in the Book of Exodus.
Let’s read it for ourselves and simply be astonished at how God told us in advance what Jesus would do over one-thousand years before he was born. When God delivered the Ten Commandments, God spoke to Moses. Be ready in the morning, and come up in the morning unto mount Sinai, and present thyself there to me in the top of the mount.” “And the Lord descended in the cloud, and stood with him there, and proclaimed the name of the Lord. And it came to pass, when Moses came down from mount Sinai with the two tables of testimony in Moses’ hand, when he came down from the mount, that Moses wist not that the skin of his face shone while he talked with him.And when Aaron and all the children of Israel saw Moses, behold, the skin of his face shone; and they were afraid to come nigh him (Exodus 34:2,5,29-30.)
Let us consider the astoundingly disparate details that precisely match from these two stories, the one in Exodus and the other in the Gospel. First, both Moses and Jesus went up on the mountain to meet with God. Second, both had shining faces as a result of this encounter. Third, their faces caused a reaction of fear in the people who saw it. Fourth, God descended and covered both of them in a cloud. Fifth, God spoke out of the cloud. Sixth, in the Exodus account, God proclaimed the name of the LORD, and in the Gospel of Matthew, God proclaimed that Jesus was his very Son. In both cases, God’s voice affirmed His own divinity. In Exodus, God had referenced Himself, but in Matthew, God had included Jesus in that divine Godhead.
In the Gospel of Matthew, God explicitly instructed the disciples who were witnessing this experience to “hear” Jesus. This seems to be a direct allusion to the original prophecy in Deuteronomy that began this study where God predicted that in the future, a special person would come. In that prophecy, God instructed the people to “hear” this person or God would “require it of them”. In other words, if we don’t listen to Jesus who is that special prophet, then God would hold us accountable. We know that Jesus is that special prophet because the details of His life as recorded in the Gospels match the details of Moses’ life as recorded in the Book of Exodus.
So, Moses experienced a unique encounter with God where the Book of Exodus sets forth six unique and wildly disparate details. Remarkably, the Gospel of Matthew relays a single story where all six of those details are precisely duplicated.
Detail 56- General Theme of the Book of Exodus: Redeem Israel First
It’s surprising for some people to hear that Jesus came to minister to Jewish people since most people who believe in Jesus today are Gentile. However, Jesus made it clear that he came to minister to the Israelites. Listen to Jesus’ own words when he sent out his disciples to preach the good news. These twelve Jesus sent forth, and commanded them, saying, Go not into the way of the Gentiles, and into any city of the Samaritans enter ye not: But go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. And as ye go, preach, saying, The kingdom of heaven is at hand (Matthew 10:5-7). And listen to Jesus respond to someone outside the Jewish nation who had approached him with a request. But [Jesus] answered and said, I am not sent but unto the lost sheep of the house of Israel (Matthew 15:24). So, Jesus made it abundantly clear; he came to redeem the Jewish people.
As we know, Moses’ central mission and only focus was to redeem the Jewish people from slavery in Egypt. That is what the entire book of Exodus describes.
So, Moses was sent by God to redeem the Jewish people and that became his singular focus. Likewise, Jesus made it clear that he was sent to redeem the Jewish people and that too was his singular focus.
As an aside, the singular focus on the Jewish people by Jesus raises the question as to why. Why would Jesus solely focus on the Jewish people? Secondly, if that is true, then why are most believers in Jesus today Gentiles. Answers to these questions are found in both the Book of Acts and in the Book of Exodus.
Previously, we briefly talked about the Apostle Paul. He was a preeminent Jewish scholar who had been dead-set against Jewish people turning to a faith in Jesus as the Messiah predicted by the Torah. But Acts recounts a story about how the resurrected Jesus appeared to him personally and commissioned him to take the message of the Torah to the Gentile world. It was then that Paul, a Jewish scholar, became a self-described apostle to the Gentiles. Paul recounts the story in Acts 26 describing how Jesus essentially told him at that point to bring the message of Jesus to all nations. For Jesus, then, it was a timing issue. He made it clear that he came to redeem the Jews first, but then he personally commissioned Paul to preach the Gospel message to the Gentiles. So, Jesus wanted to reach all the world, but he wanted to first begin with the Jews. And listen to the words of Paul whom God had made an Apostle to the Gentiles. For I am not ashamed of the gospel of [the Messiah]: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek (Romans 1:16).
So, the answer to our question as to why the focus on the Jewish people is that it was a timing issue. Jesus wants to reach all nations with the truth of the Gospel, but he first wanted to start with the Jewish people. The reason for reaching out to the Jewish people first is because they had the best chance of understanding that Jesus was the fulfillment of the Torah because after all they were the keepers of the Torah.
The Jewish people also understood intuitively concepts that Jesus taught. Jesus said that he came to redeem mankind from slavery to sin. The Jewish people understood slavery subconsciously because they had been slaves for 400 years in Egypt. Jesus proclaimed that he came to redeem the people. The Jewish people understood the concept of redemption because Moses had done that for their ancestors, and they had never forgotten it. Jesus said that he wanted to lead these redeemed people from slavery to sin back to the kingdom of heaven. The Jews understood the concept of being redeemed from captivity in order to travel to the Promised Land. So, the Jewish people understood on a visceral level the concepts that Jesus came to proclaim.
In retrospect, God’s plan of reaching all mankind by using the Israelites proved to be effective. Today, followers of Jesus comprise one of the world’s major religions. Believers in Jesus come from every nation and ethnicity. It truly is a world religion that cuts across all cultures. However, this great religion started with one man (Jesus) who discipled twelve Jewish men who understood on a foundational level all of the concepts that God needed them to understand. Those Jewish men understood on a deep theological level concepts like sin, exile, slavery, redemption and repentance. Those twelve men in turn preached this message to fellow Jews who understood these complex theological concepts. Would a Roman citizen comprehend the need for redemption from slavery and repentance? The Jewish people understood these foundational concepts innately. So, the target audience was receptive, and they were prepared to understand it and teach it to the rest of mankind. Those first believers in Jesus were Jewish, and they truly became a kingdom of priests pointing the way to God for all nations.
There is a verse in Exodus that references the idea that God wanted the Jewish nation to become a kingdom of priests. And ye shall be unto me a kingdom of priests, and an holy nation (Exodus 19:6). Again, God had some rather complex concepts to teach mankind, and He needed a nation to understand those concepts so that that nation could teach them to all mankind. God chose the Israelite nation to be the vehicle of that teaching to all the world. He chose them for slavery so that he could show the world his power and his ability to redeem. He needed a nation, Israel, to point the way to God after they had been redeemed. Being a kingdom of priests is another way of saying a nation of people who point the way to God.
In the introduction we examined the Apostle Paul’s speculation of whether or not God was going to someday use the Gentiles to make the Jewish people jealous with regard to their relationship with God. Afterall, belief in Jesus is essentially a Jewish faith. Jesus is the Messiah predicted by the Jewish Torah. Gentiles who believe in Jesus embrace the Torah. Jewish people who understand that notion might be dumb-founded. How could Gentile people claim to be more Jewish than the modern Jews of today? Perhaps the Apostle Paul, a preeminent Hebrew scholar, was correct. Perhaps Gentiles who believe in Jesus and embrace the Torah will cause Jewish people to re-examine the Torah and reconsider Jesus as the fulfillment of it.
Detail 57 (back to Deuteronomy): The Body
This journey began in the Book of Deuteronomy. In that book God had declared a prophecy. He told Moses that in the future a special prophet would arrive. God had said that the details of Moses’ life would serve as identifying markers so that we could know with certainty who that person could be. That is what we have been exploring in this study. We have now worked our way through the Book of Exodus, and it has been a fascinating journey. We have addressed each chapter simply in numerical order. It seems fitting at this point to jump back to the Book of Deuteronomy and finish our study because that is where we began.
Jesus’ death, burial, and resurrection is the heart of the Gospel message. Key to that, is the salient straight-forward evidentiary fact that Jesus’ body was never found in the sepulcher after the third day. But Mary stood without at the sepulchre weeping: and as she wept, she stooped down, and looked into the sepulchre, And seeth two angels in white sitting, the one at the head, and the other at the feet, where the body of Jesus had lain. And they say unto her, Woman, why weepest thou? She saith unto them, Because they have taken away my Lord, and I know not where they have laid him (John 20:11-13). As stated, this is a simple straight-forward detail, but it might be difficult to replicate, and yet the body of Moses was never recovered when he died.
So Moses the servant of the Lord died there in the land of Moab, according to the word of the Lord. And he buried him in a valley in the land of Moab, over against Bethpeor: but no man knoweth of his sepulchre unto this day (Deuteronomy 34:5-6). This is a curious little detail, and yet it is clearly taught in the Bible.
The fact that Moses’ body was never found is a curious minor detail in his sweeping story, and yet this small detail prefigured the fact that Jesus’ body was not found in the sepulcher after his death and resurrection.
Decision
Remember what God said in the book of Isaiah. I am God, and there is none else; I am God, and there is none like me,Declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times the things that are not yet done (Isaiah 46:9b-10a). The God of the Bible is a God who makes and fulfills predictions. The Book of Exodus is essentially one long continuous set of predictions about the Messiah, and the life of Jesus as recorded in the Gospels fulfilled those many disparate and nuanced details. God has provided us all the evidence that we need in order to make an informed decision about who Jesus is. Can you shout with Steven, the first martyr, who proclaimed, “This Jesus, is that Moses” Amen.
As I mentioned earlier, it seems as though it would take less faith to believe in an all-powerful God who was in control of the writing of both Exodus and the four Gospels causing them to align so perfectly rather than to assume that the intricate correlation occurred simply by coincidence. When one considers the fact that there are over fifty details from Moses’ life that precisely foreshadow elements in Jesus life it seems simply incomprehensible to imagine that these details came into alignment by coincidence. And when one considers that almost no detail from Moses’ life was omitted from this alignment and that all four Gospels concur, it would seem to indicate that there was some level of outside control.
Jesus once told a parable about a man who died and found himself in hell. (Luke 16:19-31) It’s a fascinating story, and I encourage you to read it for yourself. The man in the story was suffering intensely, and he reached out to another man in the story, Father Abraham who was in heaven. Again, I encourage you to read the story because it is interesting, but it also has a connection to this study. In the parable it is revealed that the man who was stuck in hell asked Abraham if someone could return from the dead and go warn his brothers against ending up in such a horrible place. In light of this study, Abraham’s response is chilling. Abraham said that the man’s brothers had what they needed in order to make an informed decision regarding heaven and hell because they “had” Moses. When this parable was told, Moses had been dead for over one-thousand years. What was meant by this response is that the brothers had the writings of Moses. So, Abraham had said to the man in hell that his brothers had all the warning that they needed because they had the writings of Moses.
And this is how this parable connects directly with us. We have the writings of Moses too. That is what we have been exploring in this study. In other words, the connections between Moses and Jesus provide all the proof and therefore warning that is necessary for us to make a decision about heaven and hell too. The man in the story pleaded with Abraham imploring him to send someone back from the dead to warn his brothers. And again, Abraham said simply, if they won’t believe the predictions made by Moses, then they will not believe someone even if they returned from the dead to warn them. It’s chilling to imagine that some people will awake in hell after they have died and recall that story. For whatever reasons they had put off a decision on who Jesus was until it was too late.
Let’s conclude our study with another story in that same Gospel. It is about Jesus as he was being crucified. Remember that two other criminals were crucified with Him. One of the criminals railed on Jesus, and the other one defended Jesus. Let’s read it for ourselves. And one of the malefactors which were hanged railed on him, saying, If thou be [the Messiah], save thyself and us.40 But the other answering rebuked him, saying, Dost not thou fear God, seeing thou art in the same condemnation?41 And we indeed justly; for we receive the due reward of our deeds: but this man hath done nothing amiss.42 And he said unto Jesus, Lord, remember me when thou comest into thy kingdom.43 And Jesus said unto him, Verily I say unto thee, Today shalt thou be with me in paradise(Luke 23:39-43).
As chilling as that other story was, this one is encouraging and hopeful. The criminal that had defended Jesus may not have had mountains of evidence. He may not have understood intricate theology and doctrine. For that matter, he may not have even been literate, but he knew two things. He knew that he was a sinner because he said that the crucifixion was a punishment that he deserved. Secondly, he knew that Jesus was the Son of God. How he knew that, we don’t know. But he knew. And based on those two bits of information, he took decisive action. He essentially asked Jesus to let him into heaven. Lord, remember me when thou comest into thy kingdom. And essentially, Jesus said that he would. Verily I say unto thee, Today shalt thou be with me in paradise. It was not a moment too soon to make that decision. I would like Jesus to allow you entrance into heaven. Can you say to Jesus what that criminal said? Lord, Jesus, remember me when thou comest into thy kingdom. I hope that you do. Amen
Epilogue
I began this book by giving an overview of the Torah. I had said that it was sometimes valuable to step back and try to absorb the big-picture of a book. When I did that with the Torah a few ideas emerged. First, remarkably it would seem based on Holy Scripture, that God wants to have a relationship with mankind. We see that motivation in the story of God meeting with Adam and Eve in the Garden, and we see it in God coming to earth to live in a tabernacle (and later a fixed temple) in the very midst of the people.
Next, we learn that sin creates a fracture in that relationship, and that fracture forces God to deal with it in some way. The simplest way to deal with our sin is to simply banish us from His presence like God did with Adam and Eve and leave us to our own devices. Things can get pretty bad pretty quickly when God abandons mankind. We can see how bad things became for mankind right before the great flood.
But remarkably God still loves us, and He wants to dwell amongst us despite our perpetual propensity toward disobedience. So, the other approach to deal with the tension between our sin and God wanting to commune with us is for God to move toward us but somehow cover our sin from his eyes. In the case of the Israelites who God had rescued from slavery in Egypt, God initiated an elaborate system of substitutionary sacrifices to atone for our sin (cover our sin from His eyes). These sacrifices were meant to cover mankind’s sins in God’s eyes so that He could live with man.
That is the big-picture perspective of the Torah in three paragraphs. First, God loves us and wants to be with us. Second, our disobedience or sin creates a problem for a Holy All-powerful God. Third, God solved His problem by covering mankind’s sin with the sacrificial system outlined in the Book of Leviticus.
Would you believe that the Gospels follow the same big-picture narrative? In fact, one verse in the Gospels encapsulates those three big-picture elements. For God, so loved the world (and he wants to be in relationship with us), that he gave his only begotten son (to be the sacrificial lamb) that whoever believes in him will not perish (our faith in his blood covers our sin from God’s eyes) but have everlasting life (John 3:16).
There is one more remarkable idea that the Gospels highlight. God still wants to live amongst mankind. However, rather than meeting us in the Garden like He did with Adam and Eve, or meeting us in the tabernacle like He did with the Ancient Israelites, remarkably, God promises to come abide in us. The corporate group of believers in Jesus becomes a modern-day temple in which the presence of God can reside. And astoundingly, the heart of each individual person even becomes a temple. This is made possible by the blood of Jesus; Our faith in the power of Jesus’ blood covers our sin in God’s eyes so that He can live in a hopelessly sinful people.
Peter, the Apostle, preached a sermon on the first Pentecost after Jesus had ascended to heaven. Peter directed his Jewish listeners to repent [from their current thinking] believe in Jesus [as a covering for our sins] and God will come make his home in us. Is that something that you are considering doing?
If so, I encourage you to find someone who you know who believes that Jesus is the Messiah of the Torah and tell them what you are thinking. If you don’t know anyone who believes in Jesus, then simply go up to someone you trust and ask them if they believe that Jesus is the Messiah. If they tell you that they don’t or that they don’t know, you should tell them that they should consider it for their own good.
When you find someone who does believe that Jesus is the Messiah predicted by the Torah, they will know what to do. They will probably encourage you to pray to God. You will probably tell God that you believe Jesus is the Messiah predicted by the Torah, and you will ask for his blood to cover your sin. At that point, God the Holy Spirit will come in to your heart.
Let me end this book with an image. Picture yourself as a priest 3,500 years ago. Back then it mattered, but for purposes of this exercise it doesn’t matter if you are a man or a woman. For this exercise, you have been wandering in the desert with 600,000 other Israelites. Today is your day to serve the LORD in the Holy Place. You need to replace the shewbread, trim the candle with more oil and put some fresh incense on the altar before the vail.
As you step into that first room and stand between the table of presence and the candle, imagine Jesus sitting on the table. You hear him talking to you but not with your ears. His voice is clear and peaceful. He tells you that he is the living bread. He is looking at you. He knows you. He cares about you. Then you look over at the candle. The flames of fire represent the Spirit of God. Jesus then asks you if you would like him to put that fire in you. Imagine yourself being totally overwhelmed at that moment, mentally and emotionally, and yet you want nothing more than to allow Jesus to put that fire in you.
At some point, you realize that it has happened. Jesus put the fire in you. You can feel your soul burning in a warm way, and yet the fire does not consume you. And then an idea seeps into your thoughts. You have the incense in your hand. You step forward to put it on the altar. It represents the prayers of the people. As you spread the incense over the flames and see the smoke ascend to heaven, you feel prompted to say thank you to God your Father. For everything! For the Living Bread on the table. For the fire inside your soul! You lose track of time.
I will close with two thoughts. First, God wants you to stay in that Holy Place. All the time! That’s the theme that runs through the entire Bible. God wants to be with you. Secondly, I’d like you to imagine one more detail in the mental exercise that you just experienced. Something happens to that vail separating you from God when Jesus was crucified. You should read about it in Matthew chapter 27. Imagine that happening while you are standing in the Holy Place. You should tell your friend what you think it means. God bless you! See you in heaven.