Moses Foreshadows Jesus
We have already talked about the prefigures of Jesus several times, there was also a separate teaching about them, comparing Jesus to Jeremiah, Elijah, Elisha, Joseph and Moses. We will talk about Moses again to strengthen the personality of Jesus in our imagination. If we try to imagine the person of Jesus without the Bible, then it will be highly inaccurate, since Jesus is the Word of God, so we can only know Him well through the Word of God.
Let's look at the opinions of the people who saw and heard Jesus:
„Now when Jesus came into the district of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, "Who do people say that the Son of Man is?" And they said, "Some say John the Baptist, others say Elijah, and others Jeremiah or one of the prophets."” (Matthew 16:13-14)
So Jesus was not the personality that today's Christianity compares to a kind of hippie who only talks about love and peace. Jesus lived and taught the law of the Father, and Jesus asked people to live according to the commandments. Let's read one of the Messianic prophecies:
„Behold my servant, whom I uphold, my chosen, in whom my soul delights; I have put my Spirit upon him; he will bring forth justice to the nations. He will not cry aloud or lift up his voice, or make it heard in the street; a bruised reed he will not break, and a faintly burning wick he will not quench; he will faithfully bring forth justice. He will not grow faint or be discouraged till he has established justice in the earth; and the coastlands wait for his law.” (Isaiah 42:1-4)
Just like Moses did. He spoke the law to the people, he taught the people the truth! Moses took the law from the Father with his own hand, just as Jesus did, and became a mediator between God and people.
„The LORD your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among you, from your brothers--it is to him you shall listen-- just as you desired of the LORD your God at Horeb on the day of the assembly, when you said, 'Let me not hear again the voice of the LORD my God or see this great fire any more, lest I die.' And the LORD said to me, 'They are right in what they have spoken. I will raise up for them a prophet like you from among their brothers. And I will put my words in his mouth, and he shall speak to them all that I command him. And whoever will not listen to my words that he shall speak in my name, I myself will require it of him.” (Deuteronomy 18:15-19)
It is the summation of an event that happened a long time ago. The Lord descended on the mountain, and what the people heard and saw was terrifying. The people of Israel feared God and asked Moses to speak to God. And God said that the people spoke correctly. Jesus confirmed this when He told his disciples:
„I tell you, my friends, do not fear those who kill the body, and after that have nothing more that they can do. But I will warn you whom to fear: fear him who, after he has killed, has authority to cast into hell. Yes, I tell you, fear him!” (Luke 12:4-5)
Most Christians only know a loving and merciful God, but they do not know Him as righteous. Yet God does not change, He has always been righteous, and He is righteous today, and He will be righteous forever. We will be judged according to our actions! Let's move on to who people saw Jesus as.
„Jesus then took the loaves, and when he had given thanks, he distributed them to those who were seated. So also the fish, as much as they wanted. And when they had eaten their fill, he told his disciples, "Gather up the leftover fragments, that nothing may be lost." So they gathered them up and filled twelve baskets with fragments from the five barley loaves left by those who had eaten. When the people saw the sign that he had done, they said, "This is indeed the Prophet who is to come into the world!"” (John 6:11-14)
This is also why we read that Jesus was called "the prophet" (John 7:40), which was not necessarily identified with the Messiah, but with a prophecy that spoke of someone who would be like Moses. Let's remember what we read in Deuteronomy, that God promised the people a prophet, like Moses. This is "that prophet" that was spoken about by the multitude to whom Jesus gave bread and fish.
But how did this multitude conclude that Jesus could be "that prophet"? In the story, we can see what was once during the 40-year wandering in the desert. The people did not work to be able to eat, they received food (manna) from heaven, just as Jesus gave food to this multitude.
To this day, the Jews who do not believe in Jesus are waiting for a leader in the person of the Messiah who will bring world peace in which He will rule. This is also evident from the speech of the disciples:
„So when they had come together, they asked him, "Lord, will you at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?" He said to them, "It is not for you to know times or seasons that the Father has fixed by his own authority.” (Acts 1:6-7)
Indeed, the Messiah will bring (brought) world peace, but not like earthly kingdoms. Jesus brought peace between man and God, as we read in the writings of one of the apostles:
„Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come. All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation; that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation. Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.” (2Corinthians 5:17-21)
I don't need to talk much about the reign of Jesus, since it didn't happen as is customary with earthly kingdoms, because he reigns in us, in whom Jesus actually lives.
„Jesus answered him, "If anyone loves me, he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him.” (John 14:23)
Notice the condition of with whom the Father and Jesus dwell. They dwell with those who keep the word of Jesus, which is actually the word of the Father. This is very consistent, not a condition we cannot understand. That's why Jesus and the Father dwell only with those who keep God's word, because God is still a holy God, as he once was, that hasn't changed a bit. He keeps his distance from those He doesn't know, just as we keep our distance from strangers. Let's remember the parable of the 10 virgins, the bridegroom told the 5 foolish virgins that he did not know them.
„And while they were going to buy, the bridegroom came, and those who were ready went in with him to the marriage feast, and the door was shut. Afterward the other virgins came also, saying, 'Lord, lord, open to us.' But he answered, 'Truly, I say to you, I do not know you.'” (Matthew 15:10-12)
Antal Farkas
(September 7, 2024)
