In this lesson, seeing Christ in Moses, we'll be looking at another allegorical style prophecy, one we find in the life of Moses itself. And actually, of all the prophecies I've ever studied in the Old Testament, this may be the most detailed one of them all. Although it's quoted twice in the New Testament, it's surprising to me how few Christians today are aware of this prophecy and even few understand the significance of it. I consider this prophecy to be a true hidden gem.
I want to start with an opening question by going back to something that Jesus said in John chapter 5. He said to the Jews," Do not think I shall accuse you to the Father. There is one who accuses you, Moses, in whom you trust. For if you believed Moses, you'd believe me for he wrote about me. That's John chapter 5 verses 45 and 46 from the New King James Version. So question, Jesus says, Moses wrote about me. Where did Moses write about Jesus? What is Jesus talking about here?
Well, Moses was the author of the first five books of the Bible, Genesis through Deuteronomy. And within those books, what passage or passages do you think Jesus had in mind when he said that? Actually, this reminds me of another encounter that Jesus had in the Gospel of John actually in the very beginning of his ministry. So Jesus, this is where Jesus is introduced to Philip and Nathaniel in John chapter one.
It says the following day, Jesus wanted to go to Galilee and he found Philip and said to him," Follow me." Now Philip was from Bethsaida, the city of Andrew and Peter. Philip found Nathaniel and said to him," We have found him of whom Moses in the law," and also the prophets wrote," Jesus of Nazareth, the Son of Joseph." That's John chapter one, verses 43 to 45. So Philip also believed that Moses wrote about the Christ.
And apparently Philip thought Nathaniel understood what he was referring to in the writings of Moses. So when people like Philip and Nathaniel encountered Jesus, what was him that reminded them of something Moses wrote about? Were the Jews waiting for someone Moses said would come? After his resurrection, Jesus again points to the writings of Moses as foretelling his mission in advance.
In Luke chapter 24 verses 44 to 45, where Jesus is addressing the apostles, it says," Then He," referring to Jesus, said to them," These are the words which I spoke to you while I was still with you, that all things must be fulfilled which were written in the Law of Moses and the prophets and the Psalms concerning me." And he opened their understanding that they might comprehend the Scriptures.
Unfortunately, in this passage, Jesus doesn't tell us which prophecies in the writings of Moses and the five books of Moses and the Law of Moses he's referring to. While we don't have Jesus' explanation of how He fulfilled the prophecies, we do have the testimony of the apostles, particularly Peter, who obviously was in the room as one of those whose minds was opened up after the resurrection to understand the prophecies. Therefore, I like to look to Peter to answer this question.
And the question once again is, what prophecy is it that Jesus and the others are referring to where Moses is writing about Jesus? Now I want to turn to Acts chapter three for the answer to that question. Context is this is several weeks after the resurrection of Jesus. Peter has healed a beggar in the temple area in Jerusalem. And then he preaches about Jesus to the Jewish crowd gathered there. There, Peter quotes from Moses and proclaims the following to his fellow Jews.
This is from Acts chapter 3 verses 22 and 23. Peter says," For Moses truly said to the fathers, the Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from your brethren. Him you shall hear in all things. Whatever he says to you. And it shall be that every soul who will not hear that prophet shall be utterly destroyed from among the people. Again, that's Acts chapter 3 verses 22, 23 with Peter speaking. So Peter indicates that Moses had written about a great prophet who would appear in the future.
Furthermore, anyone among the Jews who did not heed the words of that prophet would be destroyed. So here Peter points back to a specific prophecy made by Moses found in Deuteronomy chapter 18 verses 15 to 19. He then makes the points from this that Jesus was the one who fulfilled that long awaited promise. Stephen later makes the same point from referring to the same prophecy and quoting it in his speech to the Sanhedrin in Acts chapter 7 right before he was stoned.
Also, this calls to mind something related to John the Baptist when he began his preaching. Remember in John chapter one, John the Baptist was asked three questions. He was asked by the Jews, are you the Christ? Are you Elijah? Or are you the prophet? This third question, are you the prophet is pointing to the expectation that people had regarding the prophet Moses promised would come, the prophet like Moses who would come in the future. So let's go back to considering what Peter is saying here.
The words Peter quotes in Acts chapter three follow the text of the Septuagint, the Greek Old Testament text which was translated from the Hebrew about 200 years before the birth of Jesus. So when Peter, Paul, and Jesus, and also the writer of Hebrews quote from the Old Testament, they're generally following the text, the Septuagint. And in this message, we'll do the same generally when quoting from the Old Testament.
So the context of the Deuteronomy 18 prophecy that Peter quotes is, this is 40 years after the encampment of Mount Sinai approximately, Moses is giving essentially his farewell address in the book of Deuteronomy to the Israelites and recounting the story of the 40 years in the wilderness and giving some warnings. He's preparing the nation of Israel for the challenges that they're going to face in the future after his departure. Every phrase in this passage from Deuteronomy 18 is very important.
Let's pay close attention as I read the words of this prophecy. I'm reading from Deuteronomy 18, verses 15 to 19, following the Orthodox Study Bible, which is based on the Septuagint. And in your Bibles, this will probably be very close to what this says here. Starting in verse 15," The Lord your God will raise up for you." This is Moses speaking, a prophet like me from among your brethren.
Him you shall hear, according to all you asked from the Lord, your God in Horeb, in the day of the assembly, saying," Let's not hear again the voice of the Lord our God, nor let us see this great fire anymore, lest we die." Then the Lord said to me," What they have spoken is good. I will raise up for them a prophet like you from among their brethren, and I will put my word in his mouth, and he shall speak to them all I command him.
Therefore, whatever man will not listen to whatever the prophet speaks in my name, I will require it of him." Or another translation that says," I will exact vengeance from him." So you get the idea. Again, this is Deuteronomy 18 verses 15 to 19. So Moses recalls the day that their time at Horeb. That was Mount Sinai way back almost 40 years earlier when God had given the Ten Commandments, the events recorded in Exodus 19 and 20, also in Deuteronomy chapter five.
So he tells the people that back on that day, about 40 years ago at Mount Sinai, that in addition to giving the Ten Commandments, that God had given Moses one more commandment, which I like to refer to as the 11th commandment. And the 11th commandment here, the additional commandment that God gave Moses, he's telling the people here that God would send in the future one specific prophet and they must do everything this prophet says.
But you may be wondering, you may be objecting, well, God sent many prophets to the Jews after Moses. How do we know which one he's referring to here? And the answer is right in the text. The identifying the prophet is found in the words there. It says, it will be a prophet like me. So this is going to be a prophet who is uniquely like Moses. We'll discuss more about that in a few minutes here. So let's step back. One of the first things it says about this prophet is this prophet will be from among your brothers.
That's actually a very significant point. What does it mean when he says from among your brothers? It's very significant for us to consider because Muslims have appropriated this prophecy, claiming that it refers to Muhammad, of course, who of course was from Arab descent, clearly not a Jew. Now keep in mind, Muslims make up about a quarter of the world's population. And at the time of this recording, that number is approaching 2 billion people.
So the word that he's using here, referring to brothers or brethren in English translations, which says from among your brothers or from among your brethren, that word just like in English can mean lots of different things depending on how it's used in context. So what's the context here? The context is this is the Jews gathered together as a nation at Mount Sinai when Moses is recounting the story here.
And here at Mount Sinai, when they spoke to him, and here Moses is speaking to the Jews near the end of the 40 years in the wilderness. So brothers in context would be referring to the Jews. And if there's any doubt about that, this expression brothers is used a few places in the book of Deuteronomy. In Deuteronomy chapter 7, God says His own special people, the nation of Israel, must not marry foreigners. They must only marry their brethren.
And we see that Solomon later got into trouble by violating what it said in Deuteronomy 7, by taking many foreign wives among the Syrians, the Moabites, the Amorites, and the Edomites for his wives. Now the Edomites, of course, or Idumeans were descended from Esau, the twin brother of Jacob. So it's clear that not even the Edomites here were considered to be, even though they were descended from Abraham, were not considered to be part of the nation of Israel. They were foreigners.
So the Arabs, of course, are even more distant than the Edomites were because the Arabs are descended from Abraham, but via Hagar. So they're not even descended from Isaac, let alone from Jacob. So definitely the Arabs would be considered foreigners, and in the context of what he's saying in Deuteronomy 18, would not have been considered their brothers.
This is an important distinction to understand because that eliminates that eliminates Muhammad and anyone of Arab descent from being considered to be fulfilling this prophecy. It's very significant. So let's move on here. Let's consider the phrase a prophet like Moses. So Deuteronomy 18 says this one special prophet would be distinctively different from all the other prophets. He'd be in some way similar to Moses. So first question, what was unusual or distinctive about Moses among all the prophets?
In what ways was Moses different from all the other Jewish prophets who came after him? Well, in Deuteronomy chapter 34, the end of Moses' life after he's died. It says there is not arisen in Israel a prophet like Moses then referring to the fact that Moses spoke to God face-to-face and performed many extraordinary miraculous signs. So obviously this is after the death of Moses and this would preclude Joshua, his immediate successor from being the one that fulfilled that prophecy.
Now some unusual distinctive characteristics of Moses that you may come to mind is one, he had the ability to perform rather extraordinary miraculous signs. Most of the prophets could not do that. He met with God face-to-face. He led the people out of Egypt and he was the author of the first five books of the Bible. So those are all distinctive things of Moses that come to mind.
But was there anything else that was highly unusual or even unique about Moses that made him different from all the other prophets who followed? Well, Eusebius, Bishop of the Church in Caesarea in Palestine, who was writing in the early 300s, is well known to many Christians as a church historian, as the author of Ecclesiastical History.
However, another one of his works, Proof of the Gospel, Book Three, in my opinion, is one of the greatest apologetic writings that we have in the early church and perhaps of all time. There, Eusebius addressed this question about the Deuteronomy 18 prophecy and discussed several remarkable ways in which Jesus was like Moses. I'm going to be borrowing heavily from what he said in the rest of this message.
The first point that Eusebius made in Book 1 and Book 3 of Proof of the Gospel regarding Moses that was unique among all the prophets is he was the only one who brought in new law. All the other prophets who followed Moses simply called the people back to following the law that Moses had previously delivered. Eusebius then challenged his readers with the following statement. I'm quoting Eusebius here.
Was then any of the prophets after Moses, Isaiah say, or Jeremiah or Ezekiel or Daniel or any of the 12 like Moses in being a lawgiver? Not one. Did any of them behave like Moses? One cannot affirm it. For each of them, from the first to the last, referred their hearers to Moses and based their rebukes of the people on the breaches of the Mosaic Law and did nothing but exhort them to hold fast to the Mosaic enactments. You could not say any of them was like him, yet Moses speaks definitely of one who should be.
Whom then does the Oracle prophesy will be a prophet like Moses, but our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, and none other. That's from proof of the Gospel of Book 3 chapter two. Eusebius points out that Jesus alone was like Moses, and then He brought a new set of laws, one that superseded those of Moses. And his law set an even higher moral standard than the ones introduced by Moses. Consider the contrast between what Jesus taught in superseding the law of Moses.
Jesus gave new laws in the Sermon on the Mount regarding anger and hatred. In Matthew chapter 5, in verse 21, he said," You've heard it was said to those of old, you shall not murder, and whoever murders will be in danger of judgment." Here he's alluding to the law of Moses from Exodus chapter 20, verse 13, and elsewhere, he said," But I say to you, whoever is angry with his brother without cause shall be in danger of judgment. And whoever says Raca shall be in danger of the council.
Whoever says you fool shall be in danger of fire. So Jesus here is changing and superseding the law of Moses, something none of the other prophets ever did. Jesus brought in in the sermon on the Mount new laws regarding sexual purity and lust. He said," You've heard it said do not commit adultery, but I say whoever looks at a woman to lust for her has already committed adultery in his heart." He gave new laws regarding divorce and remarriage.
Moses said," Whoever divorced his wife, let him give her a certificate of divorce." But Jesus said," Whoever divorce his wife for any reason except sexual immorality causes her to commit adultery, and whoever marries a woman who is divorced commits adultery." So Jesus changed the laws on adultery. He also changed the laws on vengeance and retribution. He said," You've heard it was said an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth," which goes back to the law of Moses. But I say don't resist an evil person.
Jesus even changes how we're supposed to treat our enemies. He says," You have to love your enemies and bless those who curse you," which is not what Moses taught. Jesus also changed the laws regarding worship. Recall in John chapter 4 with the Samaritan woman at the well, she asked if we're supposed to be worshipping God in Jerusalem as the Jews did, or on the mountain where her forefathers, the Samaritans had.
And he told her," Woman, believe me, the hour is coming, when you'll neither worship on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. The hour is coming when the true worship worshippers will worship the Father in spirit and in truth." So the manner and location in which people would worship God will be changed from what was handed down by Moses. People would no longer look to the tabernacle or the temple in Jerusalem as the focal point of prayer and worship as they had before.
Jesus also changed the dietary laws about what people were allowed to eat from what Moses laid down. So Jesus brought in new laws to supersede the laws of Moses, which no other prophet had done. Now, some Christians may struggle with the idea of Jesus bringing in laws, as Eusebius says. Doesn't Paul teach, you may be thinking, that we've been freed from law? But consider what Jesus said at the end of the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew chapter 7.
He said," Not everyone who says to me,' Lord, Lord, shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of my Father in heaven.' Many will say to me on that day,' Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?' And I'll declare to them,' I never knew you. Depart from me, you who practice lawlessness.' And he talked about people like that or like people who build their house with no foundation.
And when the wind and the rains descend, the house falls with a great fall in Matthew chapter 7 verses 21 to 27. So Jesus calls those believers who do not obey His commands as lawless and he says," I never knew you." So the kingdom of God is a real kingdom, the kingdom that Jesus established. And like every kingdom, it has a ruler who in this case is Jesus. It has citizens or subjects, the Christians, it has boundaries, and yes, it also has laws which are the commands of Jesus.
The lawless will be put out on the day of judgment. So Eusebius also explained this is why Jesus said at the beginning of the Sermon on the Mount, don't think I've come to destroy the law of the prophets. I didn't come to destroy them, but to fulfill them. Matthew 5:17. Think about this. Jesus fulfilled the law of Moses. He supplied what Moses said was yet to come. The 11th commandment was there will be another prophet. When he comes, you have to do what he says.
I look at Jesus as being the missing capstone of the arch that was laid by Moses that Moses said was still lacking and incomplete until the coming of Jesus, the prophet who would reveal more to the people and would bring new laws just like Moses did. Now, there are many other ways in which Jesus was like Moses as prophesied in Deuteronomy 18:15 to 19.
Eusebius said," You'll find other works done by our Savior with greater power than those of Moses, yet resembling the works which Moses did." That's proof from proof of the gospel. Eusebius book three, chapter two. After making statements about Jesus and Moses bringing in new laws, Eusebius runs through a list of at least a dozen extraordinary similarities between Moses and Jesus, which we'll touch on shortly.
After providing many examples in which Jesus was like Moses in extraordinary ways, Eusebius concluded, and I get a kick out of this, he says," But why need I seek further proof that Moses and Jesus our Lord and Savior acted closely in similar ways, since it's possible for anyone who likes to gather instances at his leisure." That's in proof of the gospel book three, chapter two. So Eusebius gave a dozen examples and basically he says, I don't have time to give all the examples.
You can go and read the writings of Moses and read the gospels and come up with these examples yourself. Now, over the years since I first read this passage of Eusebius, I have had an opportunity at my leisure to go back and dig out more similarities and build on what Eusebius explained here, and we'll discuss those next. Now I'd like to go through some unusual similarities between the life of Moses and the life of Jesus. I'm sure that a few come to mind immediately.
To look at the life of Moses, you really need to read through the stories of Exodus and Numbers and Deuteronomy because details of his life were scattered throughout all of those books. And we look from the birth of Moses, his miracles, his mission, his death, unusual details about his life. And I want to focus on things that are unusual similarities between Jesus and Moses.
Maybe they're the only two people in the Bible that share this particular trait or characteristic, or maybe this is something shared by very, very few. So I'm going to build on what I learned from Eusebius and what I've picked up over the years, including some suggestions from friends and things that students that I've taught this to have pointed out to me things that they have seen.
And starting with the birth and continuing all the way through to the end of Moses' life, unusual similarities between Moses and Jesus. Number one, the scriptural accounts of both Moses and Jesus begin with their conception and birth and describe the time where they were infants. Of course, Moses in Egypt in Exodus chapter 2, and then the conception, birth, and infancy of Jesus in Matthew and Luke in the beginning of those two gospels. Number two, both spent part of their childhood in Egypt.
Moses, of course, was born in Egypt in Exodus chapter 2. And then Jesus fled to Egypt in Matthew chapter 2 to escape being killed by Herod. Similarity number three, both as infants were placed in rather unusual cradles. Moses' mother placed her infant son in an ark of bulrushes, daubed with tar and then placed it in the water in Exodus 2. Jesus' mother placed her infant son in a manger, which is normally a feed trough for cattle in Luke chapter 2.
Similarity number four, in both cases, an evil king has many infant Jewish boys put to death where they are. However, they both managed to escape that fate. Fate, Pharaoh orders all the baby Hebrew boys killed, but Moses' parents hide him and he survives. And in Exodus chapter one, and then of course, Herod puts the infant boys under the age of two in the vicinity of Bethlehem to death, but Jesus' parents are warned and they flee at night in Matthew chapter two.
Similarity number five, both are initially rejected by their own people who complain more or less with the very similar expression," Who made you ruler and judge?" In Exodus chapter 2, this is exactly what it said to Moses who made you ruler and judge. And also, Jesus is rejected by the same, by the same expression.
Luke chapter 19, it says," In the parable of the minas, the people protests, we will not have this man to reign over us." And that actually that's the point that Stephen is making in Acts chapter 7 is your forefathers rejected Joseph. They rejected Moses. They didn't want him to be ruler or judge over them. And likewise, they rejected and killed the Messiah for the same reason. Similarity number six. Both at one point in time ended up alone in a foreign land and had a significant encounter with a woman at a well.
Moses sat down by the well in Midian alone after he fled Egypt and he helps the women by providing water for their flocks. When their father Jethro hears about the encounter, he is invited to eat with the foreigners and he ends up marrying one of the daughters, Zipporah, one of the seven daughters in Exodus chapter 2. Obviously, Jesus in John 4 sat down alone by the well in Samaria and he meets a Samaritan woman and he offers to provide her spiritual water.
And when the people find out about the encounter, they persuade him to stay on. A little side comment here, the discussion with the Jewish prophet. Both of them have to start off with water, but ends up getting on the subject of marriage. And seven beside the prophet are engaged in the discussion in some fashion. The seven are the Samaritan woman, her five prior husbands, and the man she currently has who Jesus said is not her husband, in the case of the Samaritan woman in John 4.
And in the Exodus account, Moses interacts with the seven daughters at the well and ends up marrying one of them. Similarity number seven, both of them were good shepherds. Moses, after fleeing Egypt, as we discussed, looks after the daughters of Reuel and chases off the not-so-good shepherds and gives water for the sheep. And then Jesus in John chapter 10 refers to himself as the good shepherd who laid down his life for the sheep.
I realize there are some other good shepherds in the Scripture, but I believe that they also foreshadowed Jesus in some way as well, like David. Similarity number eight, both were chosen by God to lead God's people out of slavery. That is exactly what Moses is told when the Lord speaks to him in Exodus chapter 3 from the burning bush. He's going to deliver the Israelite from the affliction of bondage and take them out of captivity. And consider what Jesus said about His role, about the people in bondage.
He says," Whoever sins is a slave to sin." He came to deliver people from freedom, from spiritual slavery and bondage. Actually, Eusebius commented on this. He said," Moses transferred the Jewish race from the bitterness of Egyptian slavery to freedom, while Jesus Christ summoned the whole human race to freedom." Similarity number nine. Both men expressed a reluctance to go on the difficult mission that God called them to undertake against a powerful enemy. In fact, both of them tried to get out of it three times.
However, both in the end submitted to God's will and undertook the mission. Isaiah in Isaiah chapter 6:8 said," Here am I send me?" Jesus and Moses tried three times to get out of it. And Moses, when the Lord called him, gave reasons three times in Exodus chapter 3 and 4 why he didn't want to go on the mission. And then Jesus, of course, in the Garden of Gethsemane prays three times to his father. If possible, he might be able to avoid the mission of suffering and dying on the cross, but finally submits.
Similarity number 10. Both were told to return to their native land after the king who wanted to kill them was dead. In Exodus 4:19, it says," Now the Lord said to Moses in Midian, go return to Egypt. All the men who sought your life are dead." In Matthew 2:20, Joseph, the stepfather of Jesus, was told that in a dream arise, take the young child and his mother, go to the land of Israel, for those who sought the young child's life are dead. Similarity number 11.
Both for their first public miraculous sign involved changing water to something that was red. Think about that. Moses' first public miracle was changing the water to blood in Exodus chapter 7, the first of the ten plagues. And the account says in Exodus 7:19, not only the water in the river, but the water even in the stone water containers was changed. This was, as I said, this was the first of the 10 plagues.
In the parallel to that, Jesus' first public miracle, John chapter two, was changing the water to wine at the wedding in Cana. And interesting to me, the water that was changed was in stone water jars. In John chapter two, verse six. Similarity number 12, both demonstrated power over the serpent by the transforming power of the wood. Moses' staff turned into the serpent. When God told him to grab it by the tail, it turned back into the staff.
And Jesus demonstrated power over the great serpent, Satan, by the wood of the cross. Similarity 13, both had the ability to heal leprosy. Moses healed Miriam's leprosy in Numbers chapter 12. And of course, Jesus healed leprosy in his ministry, notably in Matthew chapter 8. Similarity 14, both, for both, the last miraculous sign before the Passover lamb was slain was bringing darkness over the whole land.
Moses brought darkness over the land for three days in the ninth plague, which was the last one before the Passover lamb was slain. And in the case of Jesus, there was darkness over the land for three hours right before Jesus died on the cross. The last miracle before he was slain. Similarity number 15, both instituted the sacrifice of the Passover lamb. The specific requirements of the Passover lamb in both cases. It's an unblemished male lamb. People be saved by death from the blood of the lamb.
None of the bones will be broken. It must be slain at twilight. All the community has to get rid of the yeast, representing sin for the seven days after the lamb is slain. And everyone in the community would observe a memorial meal with the flesh of the lamb and taken regularly thereafter to remember this great sacrifice. Of course, Jesus instituted the ultimate Passover sacrifice by becoming our Passover Lamb, as it says in 1 Peter chapter 1 and 1 Corinthians 5:7. Similarity number 16.
Both led the people to the water and introduced a baptism that brought God's people out of slavery. John 3 verses 3 to 5. 1 Corinthians chapter 10:1 refers to the crossing of the Red Sea, 1 to 5, and 1 Peter 3 as being like a baptism going through the water. So this journey through the water also brought about death to the forces of an evil kingdom. And Paul refers to that in Romans 6:4 to 5.
It says that we've been buried with Him through baptism and to death and we've been united with Him in the likeness of His death. We died of sin in baptism that the forces of evil are destroyed. And we're saved through that process. Similarity number 17. Both were able to miraculously traverse across water and take others with them.
Obviously, the Lord used Moses to drive back the Red Sea with a strong wind in Exodus 14, parting the sea and bringing the other people along with him out of Egypt into safety by crossing the sea miraculously. And Jesus demonstrated power over the wind and the waves also in Matthew 8 and Matthew 14 and was able to walk on the sea, an even greater miracle than walking through the sea with Peter. Number 18, both fed thousands miraculously with bread from God.
Of course, Moses, in the case of the manna, and Jesus fed thousands in John chapter 6, and actually right after he did that, the people remarked," Truly, this is the prophet who has come into the world." This to them, I think, was a sign if he could feed people with bread from God, that reminded them of the great miracle that Moses did. Number 19, both were able to provide water miraculously to those who thirsted.
Moses did this by striking the rock and casting the wood into the lake of bitter water to make it drinkable in Exodus 15 and 17. Jesus did this with the Samaritan woman at the well, where he told her that he would give her water, that if she drank it, she would never thirst again. Water that would become a fountain of water spring up to everlasting life. Number 20, both won the great spiritual battle by holding up their arms with the wood all day long, which is foreshadowing the cross.
And that's Exodus chapter 17 in the story of the battle against the Amalekites that Moses is told to hold up his arms all day long with the staff of God in his hands and one man on each side, which is foreshadowing, of course, Jesus on the cross, many early Christians like Justin Martyr and dialogue with Trypho, a Jew, Ante-Nicene Fathers Volume 1, page 244, point out the parallel between Jesus on the cross and Moses holding up his arms all day to bring about victory against the Amalekites.
Similarity 21, both met with God on the mountain. Of course, Moses ascended Mount Sinai to meet with God in Exodus 19 and Exodus 24. Jesus met with God in the Mount of Transfiguration. It's recorded in Matthew chapter 17. Number 22, both served as the one mediator between God and the people.
And I think of the passage in Deuteronomy 5:5, in the story of the Ten Commandments being given, Moses said," I stood between the Lord and you at that time to declare the Word of the Lord." So Moses stood between God and the people. And of course, Jesus is the one mediator between God and men, as Paul says in 1 Timothy 2:5. Similarity number 23.
Both served as a leader of the as the leader of the assembly or basically the head of the church and actually the word used for assembly in the Septuagint in Deuteronomy 4:10 and elsewhere in Deuteronomy is Ecclesia, which in the New Testament means church. And Stephen actually uses the same term when he's talking about Moses, the ecclesia, the church in the wilderness. Number 24, both brought in a new covenant, including new standards regarding adultery, honoring parents, oaths, divorce, et cetera.
Number 25, both were noteworthy for their zeal and righteous anger in the face of the false worship of God. Classic example, Moses with the golden calf incident in Exodus 33 or 34, he comes down the mountain, smashes the tablets, and destroys the golden calf. And I think of Jesus casting out the sheep and the oxen, overturning the tables in the temple area, combating the corrupt worship that had taken place in John chapter 2.
26, I'm sure many of you thought of this, both had radiant faces after an encounter with God. Exodus 34, Moses' face was radiating light. In Matthew 17:2, it speaks about the face of Jesus when he was transfigured shone like the sun at the Mount of Transfiguration. Both were known for fasting for 40 days. This is number 27. Moses fasted for 40 days when he was on Mount Sinai with the Lord from Food and Water and Jesus fasted for 40 days right after he's baptized in Matthew chapter four.
Number 28, both sent out 12 men with all of them identified by name and changed the name of the most prominent one among them. So this is Moses sent out the 12 spies in Numbers 13 and changed the name of Hoshea to Joshua. Jesus sent out the 12 apostles on a preaching expedition and changed the name of the most prominent one, Simon to Peter or Cephas. Number 29. Both also, and it not only had a group of 12, but they also had a group of 70 that they relied on. Moses talks about the 70 elders in Numbers chapter 11.
And of course, Jesus sent out the 70 in Luke chapter 10. Number 30, both provided the sign by which those bitten by the serpent would be saved. This is, of course, numbers 21, the story of the bronze serpent that had to be lifted up on a pole, that the people who were bitten by the serpent would be saved. And Jesus actually points to that example in John chapter 3 in verses 14 to 15.
He says," As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man must be lifted up, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life." So they both had to lift up, to be lifted up to save the people from the bite of the serpent. And of course the serpent representing Satan there. Similarity number 31, both expressed concern that God's people should not be left like sheep having no shepherd. And we're familiar with Matthew chapter 9:36 when Jesus looks at the multitude.
He's filled with compassion because they look like sheep having no shepherd. But actually it first shows up in Numbers 27 when Moses was concerned. When God told Moses that he was going to die, Moses was concerned that after he was gone, that people be left like sheep having no shepherd. And so the Lord tells him to lay hands on Joshua who will succeed him. Number 32, both men held out hope of attaining a promised land to those who remained faithful to their instruction.
From Eusebius, Moses, too, promised a holy land and a holy life therein under the blessing to those who kept his laws. Deuteronomy 4 to 7. While Jesus Christ says likewise, blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth, Matthew 5:5, promising a far better land in truth. A holy and godly, not the land of Judea, which was in no way excels the rest of the earth, but the heavenly country which suits souls that love God to those who follow out the life proclaimed by Him.
Number 33, after the death, the Jews were unable to locate the body. Of course, in the story of Moses, when Moses dies, the people could not, it says that no one was able to find His grave to this day, Deuteronomy 34:5-6. And of course, the Jews couldn't find the body of Jesus either. The tomb was empty. Now one more thing I want to talk about is a similarity between Moses and Jesus regarding this prophecy. There's one more thing regarding this prophecy.
Peter said," The Lord will raise up for you a prophet." And Peter quotes this in Acts chapter 3:22, where he's quoting from Deuteronomy 18: 15 to 19 out of the Septuagint. So Peter says, God said He would raise up for you a prophet quoting this passage. And then right after that, in Acts 3:26, he concludes and God just did raise up his servant Jesus. So God said he'd raise up a prophet. And while I'm sure most people thought he meant figuratively raise him up, actually the Holy Spirit meant it literally.
He'd be raising up a prophet. So the word raise up a prophet that Jesus was not only like Moses in so many ways. And here we gave over 30 examples of similarities. But God confirmed that this was the prophet by literally raising him from the dead. God would raise up a prophet like Moses. And a few questions have come up. We'll take those up next.
I mentioned 33 examples of similarities, and I guarantee you that if you go back and read through the life of Moses and the life of Jesus, you'll find more in there that I didn't come up with. So there's nothing magic about that number. Several of those I got from Eusebius and other ones I've just found over time or people have pointed them out to me when I'm teaching this material. So I encourage you please dig in and find even more things than I pointed out that are really extraordinary similarities.
I taught this class once to a very skeptical group of people and someone asked the question, is there any way that Christians could have deliberately altered or falsified the story of Moses or the story of Jesus in order to make them line up with each other? Well, let's think about that. Now, keep in mind the law of Moses was given 1,400 years before Jesus was born in Bethlehem.
And the law of Moses is in possession of the Jews who throughout history have had a somewhat antagonistic relationship with the claims of the Christians from the beginning. So there's no way that the Christians could have altered or changed the Jewish Scriptures of the Old Testament. Even the Septuagint, the Greek translation which the Christians used was a translation made by Jews about 200 years before the birth of Christ.
So the idea that the Christians could have changed the Old Testament is completely impossible. Well, could the Christians have fabricated details in the story of Jesus to match the life of Moses? Well, that seems pretty unlikely too, because the story, the similarities are scattered throughout the four gospels. They're not all concentrated in one place. They're dispersed through different gospels. So there's no coordinated attempt to try to make it line up.
For example, the account of an evil king who tries the infant boys, childhood in Egypt, and the announcement that the king who wanted to kill the boy had died and now it was okay to return is in the Gospel of Matthew. Also, the twelve being identified by name and sent out an exploratory mission is in Matthew's gospel alone. On the other hand, the account of an unusual cradle and the 70 men who were sent out is in the Gospel of Luke alone.
In the Gospel of John alone, we find the perfect we find the first public miraculous sign changing water to wine in John chapter 2. The zeal of Jesus in demolishing the articles of corrupted worship in John chapter 2 and the account of the woman at the well that we talked about in a foreign land in John chapter 4. So we see these things are scattered throughout four different gospels.
Also, we see even foreshadowing of the death and crucifixion of Jesus, a horrible death that Jesus suffered that are embedded in the story of Moses. In Exodus chapter 17, we see Moses forming the sign of the cross, holding up his arms all day long with the wood in his hands and two men one on either side depicting the form that Jesus had to maintain in order to defeat Satan in Exodus chapter 17.
In Numbers 21, we see the bronze serpent lifted up on a pole that Jesus also would have to be lifted up to save us from the serpent's poisonous, deadly bite. And also all the details of the Passover lamb sacrificed by Moses in Exodus chapter 12 and 13. There's no way the Christians could have staged a public crucifixion by the Romans in such a horrible manner. So we're left with two possibilities.
Either this detailed foreshadowing with all these details of Moses mapping to the life of Christ was either planned by God and woven into the scriptures by the Holy Spirit, or this is just a massive coincidence. So I'll have you think about this and figure out how likely that is. Another question that may have come to mind, if God always intended to provide the perfect law through Jesus, why did he go to the trouble of instituting this imperfect law through Moses, which was incomplete and destined to be changed?
Why did God reveal His laws in two steps rather than one? Well, that's a really good question. I can't be sure, but I'll offer some thoughts about that based on things that we find in the Gospels. One is, for example, on the subject of divorce. That may provide us some insight. In Deuteronomy chapter 24, Moses gave instructions about you can divorce a woman and give her a certificate, divorce, and dismiss her.
And Jesus, in addressing the Jews, said the Pharisees permitted a man to write that Moses permitted permitted a man to write a certificate of divorce and to dismiss his wife. The Pharisees said that to Jesus, but Jesus responded that that was because of the hardness of your heart that Moses wrote this precept. Perhaps Jesus is saying the hearts of the Jews were not ready at the time of Moses to receive what it's referred to by James as the perfect law of liberty. They couldn't handle it at that point in time.
So perhaps the more challenging and eternal law that Jesus would deliver, the higher law and the more challenging standard the people were not ready for yet. It would have called them to love their enemies, turn the other cheek, abstain from lusting after a woman, upholding the permanence of marriage. This suggests to me that the people simply were not spiritually ready to receive the laws that will be handed down by Jesus.
Their hearts were too hard and God knew that this would have to be a two-step process that would be revealed in the fullness of time. Eusebius also makes an interesting point to me when addressing this question about the inadequacy of the law of Moses. He says," God's plan from the beginning was to save the people of every nation, not just the physical descendants of Abraham." That God had told Abraham in the beginning in Genesis chapter 12:3," In you, all the families of the earth will be blessed.
In your seed, all the nations of the earth will be blessed." Genesis chapter 12:3 and Genesis 22:18. Eusebius points out the law of Moses could not have been followed by all the nations of the earth. And he gives a few practical examples.
Quoting from Eusebius," It was impossible for all the nations to go up three times a year to Jerusalem as the law of Moses required for a woman after childbirth to hasten there from the ends of the earth to pay the fees for a purification and many other ways which you can arrive at for yourselves at your leisure. Since then, it was not possible for the nations living outside Judea to keep these things even if they wished. Our Lord and Savior could hardly be said to have rescinded them.
But was the fulfillment of the law and gave a proof to those who could see that he was indeed the Christ of God foretold by the Jewish prophet. So if you think about that, some of the requirements in the law of Moses could not have been fulfilled by the people of the whole world. He gives the example of the people traveling to Jerusalem three times a year and after childbirth from all over the world, that would be absolutely impossible.
So God's plan was to start with a small group of people to take them part of the way and that Jesus would finish the job with the perfect law. I want to think about the significance of the things that we've looked at for us today. Moses wrote about 1,400 years before the time of Christ. And as I mentioned before, the Septuagint was translated by Jewish scholars about 200 years before the time of Jesus that Peter is quoting from here. The prophecy provides a detailed testimony preparing the way for Jesus.
Jesus was right. When Jesus says," If you believe Moses, you believe me because he wrote about me." Moses did indeed write about Jesus just as he said in this amazing prophecy of Deuteronomy chapter 18. And as we mentioned before, it's very hard for the skeptics to refute this. The details of the similarities are scattered through all the gospels. The prophecy is applied to Jesus by both Peter and Stephen.
On the other hand, the early Christians, really, with the exception of Eusebius, I don't see them making extensive use of this prophecy. We can see it ourselves. It's alluded to, but it's not really developed in Scripture, nor do many of the early Christians mention it other than Eusebius. We even see here the portrayal of the crucifixion, which is done in plain view for all to see, the Jews and the Roman authorities and the followers of Jesus.
The value of this lesson to people from a Jewish background, Peter warns the Jews based on what Moses said anyone who ignored this future prophet would be rejected and destroyed. So to my Jewish friends, don't listen to me. As Jesus said, you'd listen to Moses. If you believe Moses, you believe Him. Study Moses' life. Study what Moses has said, and then read the gospel accounts and the book of Acts and put the pieces together for yourself.
Moses said another prophet like him would come and warn that they must follow what this prophet said. This is if this is going to be a prophet like Moses, he would have to bring in new laws as Eusebius discussed. We see in Moses the entire life of Jesus 1400 years before. We see from His conception, birth, infancy, miracles, mission, crucifixion, and even the fact that he'd be raised up by God, literally from the dead, all revealed in advance through this prophecy. So to the Jews, just listen to Moses. To Muslims.
I think it's time for Muslims to reconsider how they understand this passage in John chapter one. When John the Baptist is asked," Are you the Christ? Are you Elijah? Are you the prophet?" And to consider, who is it who meets the standard of the Deuteronomy 18 prophecy? Was it Muhammad or was it Jesus? Which one was from among their brothers, therefore a Jew? Which one's life matches so accurately that of Moses? And finally, which one was raised up by God? In this case, literally.
But for Muslims, Jesus was not only the great prophet that was foretold by Moses, we understand He's also the Christ, the Messiah, as foretold by David and Daniel. He's also the faithful high priest, as foretold in 1 Samuel chapter 2. He is the king over the eternal kingdom, as promised to the descendant of David. He's the one good shepherd who rule over all of God's flock, as foretold by the Ezekiel. And he is the Son of God, as foretold to David by Nathan the prophet.
To my friends who are unbelievers, to atheists and agnostics, the Christian faith is based on solid evidence and prophecies that are written hundreds of years before the birth of Jesus that had been fulfilled. This is what Paul said was the foundation that he laid in 1 Corinthians chapter 15, that Jesus Christ was killed, buried, and resurrected on the third day in fulfillment of the prophecies and seen by eyewitnesses.
I encourage unbelievers, seek the truth with an open mind, look at the evidence, and become convinced by the facts and the hard evidence such as the fulfilled prophecies. And then finally to the Christians. Jesus didn't come to destroy the law of Moses, but to fulfill it. Jesus provided the missing piece, the capstone, to the commandments that were given to Moses recorded in the law. Moses was told that there was more to come, that there'd be one prophet in the future who would be like Moses.
He would bring in new commandments and fulfillment of what it says in Jeremiah 31, there will be a new covenant with new laws, that the kingdom of God is a true kingdom and it has laws that are different from the law of Moses. In the conclusion to the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus warns those who are listening to Him. Many will believe, but those who don't put into practice what He says, He'll say to them," Depart from me, you who practice lawlessness.
We need to make sure that we are following the laws of the kingdom, that every kingdom has laws just like this one does, and just like the law of Moses did. We don't follow the law of Moses, but we follow the kingdom teachings of Jesus, the laws of the kingdom. And we must obey everything He tells us so that we don't get cut off. If we want to have a faith that cannot be shaken, let's build it on the evidence of the fulfilled prophecies.
And let's use the prophecies as the Christians did in the first century, and as the early Christians did in the first several centuries, let's use the evidence of the fulfilled prophecies to convince unbelievers and to evangelize the world. And Jesus did, indeed, was died, buried, and rose from the dead in fulfillment of the prophecies.
And let's use the old spiritual weapons that are still the most powerful, the evidence of the fulfilled prophecies of the Old Testament, including especially the wonderful prophecy that God would raise up a prophet just like Moses.