"Dying To Live"
Text: Deuteronomy 34:1-12
2-27-2022
In the name of Him who brings us life through death, dear friends in Christ. You’ve probably gathered by now that I have some old classic Westerns that are on my list of favorite movies. Well, in one of Clint Eastwood’s best roles ever, he starred as “The Outlaw Josey Wales.” I won’t retell the whole story. All you need to know is that Josey ended up having a “dead or alive” reward put out on his head. A bounty hunter finally locates him in the dark corner of a ghost town saloon. In case you’re not familiar with the movie, Josey had a lightning fast, deadly draw. When this guy confronts Josey, he encourages him to just turn around and leave. The bounty hunter nervously says, "A man’s got to earn a living.” Calm and cool, Josey says through clenched teeth, “Dyin' ain’t much of a livin’, boy.” As you might guess, a gun battle ensues and the hapless bounty hunter is no match for Josey's speed. He paid the ultimate price for his foolish decision. The whole point was that this guy had the opportunity to walk away and die some other day, but he didn’t.
Not too many people have the option to walk away when death comes knocking. It certainly was not an option available to Moses in our Old Testament lesson. Earlier, God had told him to get his house in order because he was going to die. Moses was instructed to appoint Joshua as his replacement and then go up on Mt. Nebo to see the Promise Land. There, he would die on that mountain. Sometimes elderly or sick people seem to get a heads up from God that their time on this earth is over. But I don't know of anybody who got such a clear and definite message as Moses did. With this advanced notice, he could be totally prepared to die.
But this Divine, pre-planned funeral raises several questions for us: Even though Moses was 120 years old, he was still in good shape. He was strong and the text says “his eye was undimmed.” That may sound like he just had good eyesight with no cataracts or macular degeneration. But the Hebrew word here can also indicate that his mind was not dim. In other words, he still had his full mental faculties. His mind was clear and sharp with no dementia. Obviously, that was all a blessing from God. If that's true, (and it is) then why should his life end, especially if he had some good years left in him? Why not let Moses keep on being the respected, strong leader of Israel as they forged into the Promise Land to conquer it? Why not let him finish this journey that God's had sent him on?
We’ll answer that in a minute. But there's one more troubling aspect to this scene that we need to wrestle with. God led Moses to Mt. Nebo which is on the east side of the Jordan River overlooking the Promise Land. There, He showed Moses where Israel was headed. Moses had waited 40 years to see it as he led the Israelites through the desert. Then God said, “I have let you see it with your eyes, but you shall not go over there.” What a kick in the seat of the pants! All those years striving towards this final destination and when he gets there God says, “You can look, but you can’t touch.” Listen, this was not a cruel trick by God. Well then, why did it play out this way? We have to look back to Numbers chapter 20 for the answer. There, God tells Moses that he won't be allowed to enter the land of Canaan because of the sin he committed at a place called Meribah.
What did Moses do that was so terrible to deserve such treatment from God? Did he have an affair with his pretty, little secretary? Did he embezzle money from the Israelite treasury? Was he a mean, cruel, underhanded CEO who abused his authority and treated people like dirt? Nope. In fact, the Bible tells us that Moses was a faithful and humble leader. He also spoke to God face to face, which was a privilege that no other human had. And the Lord called Moses his friend. So what in the world did this righteous man do that was so terribly bad?
Well, Israel was in the desert and like so many other times before they started to whine and complain because there wasn’t any water to drink. Moses was justifiably angry with them. After all the miraculous things God had done and supplied them with over the years, they were still grumbling and ungrateful. Even so, God told Moses to go to a certain rock, speak to it, and water would come out of it. So he marched over to the rock and said with righteous indignation, “Okay, you bunch of ingrates! You want water? I’ll give you water!” He then proceeded to whack the rock with his walking stick, and water gushed out of it. That was his great sin that kept him out of the Promise Land.
Don't misunderstand. Moses wasn’t trying to take credit for this miracle. That wasn’t his big mistake. Rather, he had broken faith with God and dishonored the Lord by not obeying Him. God said to speak to the rock. Moses struck it with his stick instead. I know, I know. You're thinking, “You gotta be kidding me! That's it? This tiny variance and he got royally spanked for it?” Yes, but it was no little thing. You see, God had every reason in the world to be angry with these rebellious people and yet He graciously forgave their distrust and supplied them with what they needed. God was applying Gospel. But Moses was so upset that he didn’t think they deserved the Gospel. Instead, he figured they needed the wrath of God’s Law. So he disobeyed God and let them see and hear some terrifying wrath. And that was his big sin.
It was that one act of disobedience that kept him out of the Promise Land. He got to see it from a distance, but he never got to enter it. As hard as that must have been for him to swallow, he evidently accepted God's judgment as fair. And therein lies one of the lessons for us in this story. James 2:10 says, “Whoever keeps the whole law but fails in one point has become guilty of all of it.” Moses was a righteous man of God. He lived an exemplary life. But he couldn’t enter the Promise Land based on his past, good record. One seemingly small sin excluded him. And friends, no matter how good of a life you have lived, it won’t get you into the Promise Land of heaven. Just one sin will exclude you.
So considering what happened, are we to assume that Moses didn’t die in peace? Not at all. Sure, he knew he’d blown it. Because of his sin, he would die before he could see his hopes and dreams fulfilled. But even so, he died in peace because he had faith in God's promise of a Savior who would cover the guilt of his sin. Although he was denied access to that place on earth, he was instead taken to the heavenly Promise Land. The one he was viewing was only a faint shadow of that magnificent home. We can definitely say that Moses was prepared to die as he climbed Mt. Nebo. But more importantly, because of his faith he was prepared to live forever with God in heaven.
Like Moses, we’ll ALL go to the grave before we’ve had the chance to see some of our earthly hopes and dreams fulfilled. Death will interrupt our many plans. But like Moses, we must realize that this disappointment is because we’ve blown it. We too have to confess that we’ve disobeyed God and deserve to be excluded from His heavenly kingdom. Your good record, no matter how extensive it may be, can never counter balance the weight of your sin. So my question is this: If God says this is the end of the road for you, are you prepared to die? That's a question that we really don't like the sound of. But you need to stop and think about it. If you died right now, what would you want the Pastor to say at your funeral? All too many people think that he should tell stories about how kind and generous you were. But as we’ve already seen, that won't cut it when it comes to entry into God's kingdom of heaven. If there's no evidence of a living faith, what can a Pastor possibly say? On the other hand, if there is evidence of your faith that he can point to, that will be a comfort to your family and friends. Because then they can hear from God's Word the promise of forgiveness and eternal life for all who trusted in Jesus Christ.
You see, if you have faith in God's Savior like Moses did, then you can prepare to die in peace. That's because you’ll also be prepared to live eternally with Christ in heaven. Moses definitely received that great blessing from the Lord as we can see in the Gospel Lesson. He obviously was alive with the Lord after his death because he and Elijah appeared on the Mount of Transfiguration. Jesus was about to go to the cross and accomplish our salvation. Moses and Elijah were there as a confirmation that Jesus was the fulfillment of all of God’s promises, especially His promise of forgiveness and eternal life. That’s what all believers cling to because it allows us to die in peace. Josey Wales may have been right that “Dyin’ ain’t much of a livin’” when you’re only talking about a physical life here on earth. But all that changes when we consider entering eternal life through the portal of death. If we have faith in Jesus Christ then dyin’ is the beginning of true livin’.
As a Believer in Jesus, you can be assured that when God closes your eyes in death, He will then also awaken you to eternal life in heaven. There's a very tender moment in our text for today when Moses' life came to an end. God was right there and He even buried the body of Moses. The thing to notice is that God didn’t abandon His faithful servant even in death. Rather, He was there to gently take the soul of Moses to rest peacefully with Him. In the same way, God promises to be with all believers as we make that transition from this earthly life, to a never-ending life in heaven with our loving God. May we then live each day in that confidence. May we joyfully and confidently prepare to die even as we prepare to live forever with the Lord. Amen.
Soli Deo Gloria!