"Finishing Well (Deuteronomy 32:48-34:12)", Will DuVal | 6/28/26
Deuteronomy 32:48-34:12 | 6/28/26 | Will DuVal
It’s Game 4 of the 2026 NBA Finals (just 2 ½ weeks ago now). I’ve just finished tucking my kids into bed - WAY past their bedtime! - cuz I let ‘em stay up to watch the first half of the game with me. By the time I finish bedtime and get back to the TV, halftime is over, and it’s 2 ½ minutes into the third quarter now. The San Antonio Spurs are up 29 points on the New York Knicks. I check my Google Calendar to see how BUSY the next day’s gonna be, and give myself that little NUDGE that I need to do the right thing and turn the TV OFF and just go to bed; this game is OVER; NO ONE in the history of the NBA playoffs has ever come back from a 29-point second-half deficit; “Take the extra hour of sleep, Will.”
But as I reached for the remote, I heard another voice in the back of my mind, “...it’s not over yet. There’s still a LOT of game left - 21 minutes and 40 seconds (and the Knicks would end up needing every last ONE of them).” And as I sat back down on the porch swing, I spent the next hour in utter disbelief, yelling and cursing at my TV, as the Knicks pulled off - actually, it’s more accurate to say: “the SPURS pulled off the single greatest CHOKE-job in NBA history”. OG Anunoby’s put-back tip-in layup with 1.2 seconds left on the clock sealed the Knicks comeback, and HOPEFULLY taught the young, inexperienced Spurs team an invaluable lesson that day: that you CANNOT win a basketball game in the first 3 quarters of play… but you can LOSE it in the fourth quarter alone. It’s not how you START, but how you FINISH that matters MOST.
The Bible is FILLED with examples of real-life people who made a GREAT start… but failed to finish well:
-Judas Iscariot!
-Paul’s friend Demas (2 Tim 4:10)
-So MANY of Israel’s KINGS in the OT: Uzziah, Asa, Joash, King SAUL… King Sol-OMON!
And the nation of Israel as a WHOLE - especially the generation we’ve spent most of the last 4 books of the BIBLE now tracking; the ones God rescued out of Egypt - they made a good START! They painted the lambs’ blood over their doorposts, trusting God to “pass over” their sin; they walked through the Red Sea, trusting God to hold the waters back for them; the first thing they DID after crossing over was WORSHIP the Lord (Ex15) - great start! And the first thing they did after receiving the 10 Commandments was hold a big, public covenant confirmation ceremony where they all agreed to KEEP God’s Law (Ex 24:3) - great START!
But the SECOND thing they did out of Egypt? COMPLAIN. “We’re thirsty… we’re hungry; let’s turn around and go BACK to Egypt!”
The second thing they did at Mt. Sinai? Build a Golden CALF!
Israel was GREAT at STARTING the journey of obedience. But it’s not how you start, but how we FINISH that really matters.
This morning, we are FINISHING not only the book of Deuteronomy that we’ve been studying since January, but the whole “TORAH” - the first FIVE books of the Bible - that we’ve walked through together since 2020 now (if you’ve been WITH us that long). And as this book and SECTION of books comes to a close, so too does the story and life of one of the Bible’s greatest figures: MOSES. The author - or CO-author of the Torah, along with the Holy Spirit - MOSES, whose life, ironically, did NOT get off to the strongest start: Moses’s parents were forced to leave him at birth; he was raised in the BELLY of the BEAST, the evil Pharaoh’s palace; the first thing we read that Moses DID was MURDER someone, and then FLEE in FEAR; and the first time GOD spoke to Moses, at the burning bush, to call him BACK to Egypt to free the Israelites, Moses responded by BEGGING God to send someone - ANYONE - else! Not a great START!
But… it’s not how you START…
And this morning, MOSES - the “man of GOD” as he’ll be called here (33:1), the “servant of the LORD” (34:5), the “prophet” unlike ANY other who’d come before him or SINCE (until CHRIST), “whom the Lord knew face to face… none like him for all the signs and wonders… for all the mighty power… he [displayed] in the sight of all Israel” - this MOSES we’ve been following (like the Israelites) for the past 134 chapters now: he’s gonna DIE. This is the END of an ERA. But Moses, whose (MOSTLY) FAITHFUL example we have learned SO much from for so long now, he’s got one FINAL lesson to teach us: how to “FINISH WELL”.
Some of us here may be wrapping up the end of a chapter, a season, in YOUR life; if you’re not currently, you WILL be eventually, and you need to file these principles away for when your ending comes. But some here are wrapping up:
-Adolescence: you just graduated and you’re getting ready to launch out on your OWN soon (kind of…); you’ll no longer be under your parents’ authority in the same way. How do you “finish your adolescence WELL”? Or conversely, you’re wrapping up…
-PARENTING… or at least parenting an adolescent. How do you finish WELL the responsibility and the call to parent? Or you’re wrapping up your…
-SINGLENESS, cuz you’re about to get married. Or you’re wrapping up…
-MARRIAGE, cuz you’re about to be divorced, or widowed. Or you’re wrapping up…
-a JOB, cuz you’re about to resign, or retire. Or like Moses, you’re wrapping up…
-LIFE! Some of you are preparing (or at least you SHOULD be!) to say the ULTIMATE “farewell”, to life on THIS earth, and go meet your MAKER. You want to “finish WELL”, don’t you?
Don’t you want to hear Him say, “Well DONE, my good and faithful servant”; you DON’T wanna hear the Lord ask, “Why’d you LIMP through the FINISH line?”
No! We want to be able to say with confidence, with BOLDNESS, like the apostle Paul, in the final chapter of HIS life and authorship: “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith” (2 Tim 4:7). “I SPRINTED through that finish line!”
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Moses is gonna show us HOW this morning. But first, I wanna do a quick RECAP of this wonderful book. We do these at the end of EVERY book we study; I’m convinced it’s an important PART of “finishing WELL”: looking back on the journey and the LESSONS the Lord has TAUGHT us along the way, these past 33 chapters and 23 sermons; let’s take 10 minutes, to try and summarize and SEAL these truths in our minds and hearts:
We BEGAN with the book’s important CONTEXTUAL info - the “who”, “what”, “where”, “when”, “why” of Deuteronomy. It was written BY Moses (or by GOD through Moses) TO His OT people Israel in the year 1406 BC as they stood on the edge of the land of Canaan, the Promised Land they’re about to finally go in and take possession of, and Deuteronomy is really a series of SERMONS that Moses preached to them, for THREE purposes: 1) to remind them (and US!) of God’s past provisions that propel us to PRAISE; to remind us of God’s present precepts that prompt us to PIETY (obedience); and to remind us of God’s prepared promises that propel us to PRESS ON in faith. And that’s essentially the outline of the entire BOOK:
1) Chs 1-4 call us to REMEMBER God’s (past) faithfulness;
2) Chs 5-26 call us to RESPOND to God’s (present) commands; and…
3) Chs 27-34 call us to RELY on God’s (future) promises.
Then on Sanctity of Life Sunday we jumped ahead to ch30, where Moses exhorted us to “CHOOSE LIFE!”, and then showed us HOW: by choosing REPENTANCE when we’ve sinned (first you must LEAVE the WRONG path), then we choose OBEDIENCE (by resolving to stay ON the RIGHT path), but most of all, we must choose THE LORD - Christ ALONE can give us the power to actually obey and “choose life” and God’s blessing.
Then we returned to ch1, for “Lessons from the Wilderness”, parts 1 and 2, where Moses retold and summarized Israel’s journey thus far, and especially, what the Lord sought to TEACH them at each turn: 1) to trust His promises; 2) to share in His work (by empowering others); 3) to follow God’s instructions; 4) to PURSUE God’s BEST (and refuse to settle for less); to 5) REST IN God’s Sovereignty; 6) to FIGHT in God’s STRENGTH; 7) and annihilate God’s enemies; 8) to SERVE God’s people; and 9) SUBMIT to God’s PLAN.
Then, as we transitioned to the middle and LARGEST section of the book - the LAW - ch4 introduced us first to “the God OF the Law”; the One BEHIND it, to whom the Law points and BECKONS us. We noted that the Law shows us 1) God’s CARE; 2) His HOLINESS; 3) His MERCY; and 4) most of all, FATHERLY LOVE.
Ch5 kicked off Moses’ review of the Law with “God’s Top Ten”: the 10 Commandments. Which obligate us to honor God’s 1) Preeminence; 2) His Transcendence; 3) His Holy Character; and 4) His Divine Sovereignty; and to ALSO honor: 5) our PARENTS; 6) human LIFE; 7) our SPOUSE; 8) private PROPERTY; 9) the TRUTH; and 10) God’s call to CONTENTMENT (“Don’t COVET”).
Then Moses IMMEDIATELY exhorted us to “Fear the Lord ALWAYS”! He is 1) HOLY; He is 2) WORTHY; 3) He’s JEALOUS! Because He’s also 4) our SAVIOR, “the One who brought us out of Egypt”, out of your bondage to SIN; only JESUS did that. So only JESUS deserves that we LOVE him with ALL of our heart, mind, soul and strength.
Ch7: Israel was, and we - the Church - today ARE “A People Chosen, Holy and BLESSED”... with a 1) Place of Privilege (we are God’s “treasured possession” out of all the peoples); we’re blessed with 2) eternal PROSPERITY and PROTECTION; but God ALSO blesses us with 3) His DISCIPLINE; that He might ultimately bless us with 4) the promise of PARADISE (our BETTER “promised Land”... HEAVEN!)
SO, Moses reminded us next: “Don’t Forget Where You CAME From!” We were 1) SLAVES; now we are SONS and daughters of the Living God; we were 2) PITIABLE and POOR; now by God’s grace we are eternally PROSPEROUS; and we were once 3) FAITHLESS, without God and without HOPE in this world, but now in Christ, we’ve been FORGIVEN. Don’t FORGET it, Church!
Ch10 (we’ll speed up!) - We must “REMEMBER the LORD”; remember His COMPASSION, His COMMANDS, His CHARACTER, and His CALLING on our lives.
Ch11 - how do we “Live Long and Prosper”? By OBEYING the Lord and receiving His BLESSING. If we DISOBEY, however, we will be CURSED. But the GOSPEL - the good news of the Bible (foreshadowed even as far back as DEUTERONOMY) - the “GOOD news” for disobedient SINNERS like Israel and like US - is that if we repent of our sins and trust in JESUS - HIS perfect obedience… NOT our own - we will be SAVED.
Chs12 & 13 taught us how to “Worship God’s Way”: 1) WHERE to worship (everywhere, but ESPECIALLY together with God’s PEOPLE, the CHURCH); 2) HOW to worship (humbly, joyfully, constantly, carefully…); but most importantly, 3) WHO we worship: God and God ALONE.
EASTER! - we skipped ahead to ch28, and a message very similar to previous ones: Obey God and be BLESSED; DISOBEY God and be CURSED; but we can Trust in JESUS and be SAVED.
As we returned to the Law, we were called, once again, to be “A People HOLY unto the LORD”, with what goes INTO us (what we CONSUME), and with what comes OUT OF us (what we say and do); holiness in our HORIZONTAL relationships (how we treat others); and holiness in our VERTICAL relationship with the LORD.
We were REMINDED, once AGAIN, to “REMEMBER the Lord” - what He’s done FOR us, what He expects FROM us, and most essentially, who He IS - we’ve gotta remember who it IS that we worship and SERVE… that’s the first step to obedience.
We must ALSO remember that we are “UNDER His AUTHORITY”. That the Lord 1) establishes justice; 2) rules over RULERS; 3) demands our worship; and 4) speaks authoritatively.
He showed us His heart for JUSTICE, faith, purity and mercy.
…that He requires ATONEMENT, kindness and personal holiness.
…Sexual Purity, Physical Propriety, and Marital PROMISE.
THREE Sundays ago, we arrived at the END of the Law, whereupon Moses called us to “Rightly RESPOND to the Lord”, by generously GIVING, wholeheartedly WORSHIPING, benevolently BLESSING others, prayerfully PETITIONING the Lord, observantly OBEYING Him, and regularly REMEMBERING His goodness.
TWO weeks ago God invited the “NEW” generation of Israelites to RENEW their covenant with Him, and we TOO learned how we ENTER INTO… how we STAY in… and how we can REST in right relationship with the Lord.
And LAST Sunday we got sort of a “part ONE” of “Finishing Well” - the BEGINNING of the END for Moses, as he started the hand off - “Passing the Baton” - to the next generation of God’s people, and to his successor, JOSHUA.
So NOW we’re finally ready to FINISH the ending, by learning from Moses how to “Finish WELL”.
Would you STAND and read it together with me now; beginning in v48 of ch32; hear the word of the Lord:
“That very day the Lord spoke to Moses, 49 “Go up this mountain of the Abarim, Mount Nebo, which is in the land of Moab, opposite Jericho, and view the land of Canaan, which I am giving to the people of Israel for a possession. 50 And die on the mountain which you go up, and be gathered to your people, as Aaron your brother died in Mount Hor and was gathered to his people, 51 because you broke faith with me in the midst of the people of Israel at the waters of Meribah-kadesh, in the wilderness of Zin, and because you did not treat me as holy in the midst of the people of Israel. 52 For you shall see the land before you, but you shall not go there, into the land that I am giving to the people of Israel.”
ch33: This is the blessing with which Moses the man of God BLESSED the people of Israel before his death. 2 He said,
“The Lord came from Sinai and dawned from Seir upon us;[q] he shone forth from Mount Paran;he came from the ten thousands of holy ones, with flaming fire[r] at his right hand.
3 Yes, he loved his people,[s] all his holy ones were in his[t] hand;so they followed[u] in your steps, receiving direction from you,
4 when Moses commanded us a law, as a possession for the assembly of Jacob.
5 Thus the Lord[v] became king in Jeshurun, when the heads of the people were gathered, all the tribes of Israel together.
6 “Let Reuben live, and not die, but let his men be few.”
7 And this he said of Judah:
“Hear, O Lord, the voice of Judah, and bring him in to his people.With your hands contend[w] for him, and be a help against his adversaries.”
8 And of Levi he said,
“Give to Levi[x] your Thummim, and your Urim to your godly one,whom you tested at Massah, with whom you quarreled at the waters of Meribah;
9 who said of his father and mother, ‘I regard them not’;he disowned his brothers and ignored his children.For they observed your word and kept your covenant.
10 They shall teach Jacob your rules and Israel your law;they shall put incense before you and whole burnt offerings on your altar.
11 Bless, O Lord, his substance, and accept the work of his hands;crush the loins of his adversaries, of those who hate him, that they rise not again.”
12 Of Benjamin he said,
“The beloved of the Lord dwells in safety.The High God[y] surrounds him all day long, and dwells between his shoulders.”
13 And of Joseph he said,
“Blessed by the Lord be his land, with the choicest gifts of heaven above,[z] and of the deep that crouches beneath,
14 with the choicest fruits of the sun and the rich yield of the months,
15 with the finest produce of the ancient mountains and the abundance of the everlasting hills,
16 with the best gifts of the earth and its fullness and the favor of him who dwells in the bush.May these rest on the head of Joseph, on the pate of him who is prince among his brothers.
17 A firstborn bull[aa]—he has majesty, and his horns are the horns of a wild ox;with them he shall gore the peoples, all of them, to the ends of the earth;they are the ten thousands of Ephraim, and they are the thousands of Manasseh.”
18 And of Zebulun he said,
“Rejoice, Zebulun, in your going out, and Issachar, in your tents.
19 They shall call peoples to their mountain; there they offer right sacrifices;for they draw from the abundance of the seas and the hidden treasures of the sand.”
20 And of Gad he said,
“Blessed be he who enlarges Gad! Gad crouches like a lion; he tears off arm and scalp.
21 He chose the best of the land for himself, for there a commander's portion was reserved;and he came with the heads of the people, with Israel he executed the justice of the Lord, and his judgments for Israel.”
22 And of Dan he said,
“Dan is a lion's cub that leaps from Bashan.”
23 And of Naphtali he said,
“O Naphtali, sated with favor, and full of the blessing of the Lord, possess the lake[ab] and the south.”
24 And of Asher he said,
“Most blessed of sons be Asher; let him be the favorite of his brothers, and let him dip his foot in oil.
25 Your bars shall be iron and bronze, and as your days, so shall your strength be.
26 “There is none like God, O Jeshurun, who rides through the heavens to your help, through the skies in his majesty.
27 The eternal God is your dwelling place,[ac] and underneath are the everlasting arms.[ad]And he thrust out the enemy before you and said, ‘Destroy.’
28 So Israel lived in safety, Jacob lived alone,[ae]in a land of grain and wine, whose heavens drop down dew.
29 Happy are you, O Israel! Who is like you, a people saved by the Lord,the shield of your help, and the sword of your triumph!Your enemies shall come fawning to you, and you shall tread upon their backs.”
ch34 Then Moses went up from the plains of Moab to Mount Nebo, to the top of Pisgah, which is opposite Jericho. And the Lord showed him all the land, Gilead as far as Dan, 2 all Naphtali, the land of Ephraim and Manasseh, all the land of Judah as far as the western sea, 3 the Negeb, and the Plain, that is, the Valley of Jericho the city of palm trees, as far as Zoar. 4 And the Lord said to him, “This is the land of which I swore to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, ‘I will give it to your offspring.’ I have let you see it with your eyes, but you shall not go over there.” 5 So Moses the servant of the Lord died there in the land of Moab, according to the word of the Lord, 6 and he buried him in the valley in the land of Moab opposite Beth-peor; but no one knows the place of his burial to this day. 7 Moses was 120 years old when he died. His eye was undimmed, and his vigor unabated. 8 And the people of Israel wept for Moses in the plains of Moab thirty days. Then the days of weeping and mourning for Moses were ended.
9 And Joshua the son of Nun was full of the spirit of wisdom, for Moses had laid his hands on him. So the people of Israel obeyed him and did as the Lord had commanded Moses. 10 And there has not arisen a prophet since in Israel like Moses, whom the Lord knew face to face, 11 none like him for all the signs and the wonders that the Lord sent him to do in the land of Egypt, to Pharaoh and to all his servants and to all his land, 12 and for all the mighty power and all the great deeds of terror that Moses did in the sight of all Israel.” This is the word of God…
#1- We finish well by RETIRING & REFLECTING ON the journey. (32:48-52)
God commands Moses to “retire” in the most ultimate sense: by DYING: “Moses, climb this mountain… and DIE!” It’s kind of an odd, RARE command in Scripture, found only in one other place, when Job’s wife tells him to “curse God and DIE”.
Nevertheless, the message here is clear: “there is a season, and a time for everything: a time to be born, and a time to die” (Ecc 3:1-2); and MOSES’ time had COME. Psalm 90, the only psalm that MOSES HIMSELF wrote, invites us to pray: Lord, “teach us to number our days” (v12); Moses’s days, all along, have been numbered, and now they’ve finally run OUT.
As will MINE; as will YOURS. The question isn’t “if” but “WHEN”, and even more importantly: “Will you be READY?”
Years ago the financial services firm ING ran a commercial asking us “What’s your NUMBER?”, referring to “the estimated total savings [each of us] needs to be able to retire the way we want” (Gemini). But friends, GOD asks us a DIFFERENT question; sure, go ahead and plan financially for your retirement from WORK, but it is ETERNALLY more important that you plan SPIRITUALLY for your retirement from LIFE! And the most important question for THAT retirement isn’t “What’s your NUMBER?”, cuz only GOD knows the number of days He’s assigned to each one of us, but rather, “Will you be READY?”, when YOUR day comes. It could be sooner than you think; just yesterday, one of our regular attenders here (in his mid / late-20s), found out his best friend just died in a tragic hiking accident out in Colorado; NONE of us is promised our next day around here, much less 80 or 90 YEARS. “Do you have your SPIRITUAL affairs in ORDER,” friend? Are you right with GOD? Jesus Christ is the ONLY way to have your sins forgiven, your slate wiped clean.
But this first point applies not JUST to our ULTIMATE retirement, DEATH; with ANY “retirement”, you can’t “finish WELL” unless you… FINISH! Like Moses, we’ve gotta KNOW and ACCEPT when our time is up, our day has come, and be willing to “hang the cleats” up. There’s nothing sadder than hanging on too long:
-the washed-up, has-been athlete getting circles run around ‘em now by the youngsters…
-the Boomer boss running the company into the ground with him, cuz he’s too old to adapt with the times but too self-IMPORTANT or too AFRAID to retire…
-the parent who REFUSES to “cut the umbilical cord”, still trying to micromanage their adult child…
-the PET who should’ve been put down YEARS ago. You ever been to a friend’s house, and their dog is like 17 years old - blind, deaf, can’t stand, can’t sit, wearing a DIAPER, constantly SHAKES from the PAIN? A good friend will OFFER: “Hey, can I take your dog to the vet for ya? Cuz it’s TIME… it’s PAST time!” Nothing sadder.
You gotta know when to hang it up. Don’t fight it; ACCEPT it.
And secondly, God invites us to REFLECT on the journey that was. The REAL journey - the good AND the bad; don’t just “whitewash” it. Yes, God will CELEBRATE Moses’s life and legacy, by bestowing upon him this first-ever title “man of GOD” - no one BEFORE Moses was called that. Noah, Abraham, Joseph… they were all great. But MOSES was the FIRST EVER to be called “the man of God”. “There has not arisen a prophet like Moses since in all Israel”, til JESUS.
And yet, God doesn’t WHITEWASH Moses’s story either. God REMINDS him here in v51 of why Moses isn’t ALLOWED to enter the Promised Land: “because you broke faith with me in the SIGHT of all the people at the waters of Meribah… and because you did not treat me as holy”. Numbers 20: God told Moses to speak to the rock and He would bring forth water for His people; instead Moses got ANGRY and HIT the rock, claiming HE was Israel’s provider. He “broke FAITH” with the Lord, and was banned from Canaan.
Can you imagine your boss standing up at your retirement party to remind EVERYONE of your greatest FAILURE? “We’re all here today to celebrate Johnson; Johnson: remember that giant merger you tanked back in ‘05; just think, our company could be TWICE as profitable today…” Or giving the EULOGY at your funeral: “Mom was smart, funny, and the biggest GOSSIP you’ll ever meet. ‘The MOUTH OF THE SOUTH’ we used to call her (behind her back, of course)...”
And yet AGAIN, God wants us to see an important PRINCIPLE here: that in LIFE, as in sports, you really DO learn more from the LOSSES, than you do from the wins. And God’s got Moses writing all this down for FUTURE generations of Israelites… and for US today, because He wants US to learn not just from Moses’s overall STELLAR example, but from Moses’s MISTAKES as well.
But we only DO that by taking the time to REFLECT on the journey - mistakes and all. Think of how much Moses must have BLESSED Joshua in that - Joshua wasn’t perfect either. But he didn’t make the same mistake MOSES made. He was able to LEARN from Moses’s example: the good and the bad.
#2 now - We finish well by POINTING PEOPLE BACK TO the Lord. (33:1-5, 26-29)
For Moses, it was NEVER ABOUT Moses; it was ALWAYS about the LORD. And his last ever recorded words here, at the end of ch33, and the beginning as well - Moses BOOKENDS his final blessing of Israel, with reminders of God’s GOODNESS; how…
““The Lord came from Sinai [to RESCUE us]...
he came with the ten thousands of holy ones, [ANGELS]
with flaming fire[r] at his right hand.”
Why? Because “he loved his people,
all his [SAINTS] were in his [loving] hand”
So v3: “we FOLLOW you,” Lord. v5: “Thus YHWH became king in Jeshurun” [that’s a nickname for “Israel”]. “YAHWEH is our KING!”
And v26: ““There is none like [Him]... who rides through the heavens to our help… in his majesty.”
“The eternal God is your dwelling place,
and underneath us are [His] everlasting arms.” – this is some of the most beautiful, tender imagery Moses has used to describe our relationship with God in the entire Torah; he really did save the BEST for last.
God PROTECTED us (“thrust out the enemy”)
He PROVIDED for us (“a land of grain and wine”)
But above all, God has DELIVERED us: “Happy are you, O Israel! Who is like you, a people SAVED by the Lord!”.
NO ONE should out-HAPPY us, Church, “a people SAVED by the LORD!” On our very WORST of days, we still have good reason to be happier than the happiest of sinners, on his HAPPIEST day - our WORST day; his BEST day - WE’RE happier, because WE know that WE’VE BEEN SAVED by the LORD! This is as ROUGH as it’s gonna GET for us; we’ve got HEAVEN ahead of us!
And that’s the last hope that Moses wants to leave Israel with, his final words he wants ringing in their ears: “Happy are you, O Israel! …a people saved by the Lord”.
We finish well by pointing people PAST ourselves… past their own PROBLEMS… and pointing them straight to the source of ALL their hope and joy and peace and eternal security: JESUS.
#3 - We finish well by BLESSING the posterity. (33:6-25)
Sandwiched in BETWEEN Moses’s doxology to GOD, is his blessing of the PEOPLE. The “posterity”: the succeeding generations of Israelites.
He blesses them by TRIBE, not by BIRTH order, like JACOB did back in Genesis 49, but by geography, of tribal inheritance in the Promised Land. (Guzik, Enduring Word). And without going over each of these 11 blessings (Simeon is the only tribe that’s left OUT here; definitely some interesting tidbits here we just don’t have time for; submit your “After the Sermon” podcast questions in those cards in your bulletin…), but at a HIGH level, Moses asks the Lord to bless Israel with:
Proliferation for Reuben (6)
Protection for Judah (7)
The Priesthood for Levi (esp v10)
His Presence for Benjamin; v12: “The High God[y] surrounds him… and dwells between his shoulders.” – Jerusalem, and the TEMPLE, where God’s presence resided, was in Benjamin’s boundaries.
Prosperity & Preeminence for Joseph (13-17)
And 7) Pleasure & Prosperity for Zebulun & Isaachar (18-19)
Plentitude for Gad (20-21)
Passion for Dan (22)
Partiality (God’s favor) for Naphtali (23); their territory is where most of JESUS’s earthly ministry took place, in Galilee
And Partiality (the favor his brothers) & Power for Asher (24).
11 “P”s of blessing. And if we had time, I’d point out more acutely how God has blessed US with each one of them as well, in an even GREATER and more ETERNAL way, through the ULTIMATE blessing of His Son JESUS.
But lastly, #4 - We finish well by PASSING the baton. (34:1-12)
Moses’s final act, fittingly, is one of OBEDIENCE: he CLIMBS Mt. Nebo, he VIEWS the land, then he DIES.
And then v6 - you wanna talk about receiving a COMMENDATION from God - the Lord HIMSELF BURIED Moses in Moab. Why do you think God did that? YES, to HONOR Moses. But why’d God make sure that “no one knows the place of his burial to this day”? Because God didn’t want Israel to be tempted to WORSHIP Moses. Go dig up his bones and treat ‘em like some CHRISTIANS do the so-called “relics” of past saints. No! It was never ABOUT Moses, remember? It is the LIVING God who was BEHIND the now-deceased Moses, who empowered him for greatness. And friends, His SAME Holy Spirit still empowers YOU AND I for greatness, for holiness, and for Great Commission BOLDNESS… still today.
But it was never about Moses - that’s why, v8: the people MOURNED for him for 30 days… and then you move on.
We’re born, we RE-born spiritually, we live for God for as many days as He sees fit to give us, then we DIE, and then frankly, unlike Moses, everyone in THIS room, within 3 or 4 generations of our death, will probably be forgotten. And that’s OK. Because it was never ABOUT us.
But God does include one additional interesting DETAIL about Moses’ death here in v7: “He was 120 years old… His eye was undimmed, and his vigor unabated.” And that highlights TWO important things for us: first, God’s sustaining grace in Moses’s life, that he managed to make it that long in such good health. But second, it suggests that despite being 120 years OLD, Moses did NOT simply die of “old age”. I read an article just recently that said the scientific consensus on this has shifted, and there’s actually NO SUCH THING as dying merely of “old age”, “natural causes” - No, friends, the BIBLE tells us that death is NOT natural; it’s NOT the way God DESIGNED things to be. And there are a lot of really SMART, really WEALTHY, really SCARED people right now devoting their careers and LIVES to trying to find a CURE for DEATH, but while they may slow DOWN aging, they are only delaying the INEVITABLE. Because WHY do we die? Why does MOSES die here?
Because of his SIN! It is SIN that leads to DEATH. So unless you can cure SIN, you ain’t curing DEATH.
But I’ve got GOOD NEWS for you this morning: there IS one who CAN… who DID! Who has DEALT with sin CONCLUSIVELY, COMPREHENSIVELY… one who “finished well” by declaring “it IS finished” on the cross, referring to the deathly CONSEQUENCE of our sin – his name is JESUS, and if you confess and believe in Him today, you will be SAVED!
He is the BETTER Moses, who leads us into freedom from sin and death.
But back to the OTHER Moses just one last time: why’d he have to “pass the baton”, to JOSHUA? V9: “Then JOSHUA… full of the SPIRIT… cuz Moses laid hands on him”; by WHY? Why couldn’t MOSES go IN?
In the NT, the apostle Paul explains that Moses represents THE LAW. And friends, you need to understand this morning that BY the Law, NO ONE will be justified in God’s sight! (Gal 2:10). We have ALL sinned, and fallen SHORT of the glory of God, and His better “Promised Land”, Heaven. You can’t EARN it on your OWN merit.
But there’s one who CAN. Jesus Christ. And if MOSES represents the LAW, what does JOSHUA represent?
FAITH! Joshua was the one READY to go take the Promised Land 40 YEARS ago, at Kadesh Barnea, when the REST of Israel proved faith-LESS, Joshua TRUSTED in the Lord.
Friends: it is ONLY through FAITH in God’s GRACE - his gift of JESUS - that you and I can be saved, and enter into our glorious inheritance. Won’t you trust in Jesus today?
CONCLUSION: Let’s END this way: the Jews have a tradition, going back 1,000s of years now, that whenever they finish reading a book of the Torah, and ESPECIALLY when they’ve finished the whole THING, by wrapping up DEUTERONOMY, the entire congregation stands and recites (in Hebrew, but we’re gonna do the ENGLISH translation:)
"Be strong, be strong, and may we be strengthened!”
I’d love us to end that way; would you stand…