All right, if you'd take your Bibles and turn to Deuteronomy chapter 33. Deuteronomy 33, please. So last week we had part one of closing out Deuteronomy. Today, part two. After that last paragraph, in chapter 32 which talked about the impending death of Moses and his exclusion from the promised land. Then we got into the blessings of chapter 33. We got through part of them. Even though Moses was not technically, literally the father of the Israelites, he was in all respects their spiritual father. So in the tradition of the patriarchs, He blessed the people of Israel even as a father would do. They were the people that he loved dearly. Now there's a lot of similarities between Deuteronomy 33 and Genesis 49. Last week we read all of Genesis 49. It's when Jacob blessed his sons before they died. There were 300 years between when Jacob blessed his sons and when Moses blessed the people of Israel, and that's probably the reason for some of the differences that we see in these blessings. He's already blessed, last week we saw this, he blessed Reuben, Judah, Levi, and Benjamin. And you remember there was no blessing for Simeon, and that is because Simeon and Levi took revenge on the Hivites, who were the relatives of Shechem, who had abused and humiliated their sister Dinah. And because of that, Simeon, that seems to be the reason that he doesn't receive a blessing. Well, why did Levi receive one? Apparently the tribe of Levi redeemed themselves when Moses told them to strap on their sword and go about killing those people who had bowed down to the golden calf. Now we're ready for the blessing of Joseph in chapter 33, and we're going to begin in verse 13. Deuteronomy 33, 13. And of Joseph he said, Blessed by the Lord be his land, with the choicest gifts of heaven above and of the deep that crouches beneath, with the choicest fruits of the sun and the rich yield of the months, with the finest produce of the ancient mountains and the abundance of the everlasting hills, 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. A firstborn bull, 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. Let's pray. Father this morning as we finish up with chapter 33 and go through chapter 34 we're simply asking that you help us to understand what is being said and then even out of this let us see him who is greater than Moses the Lord Jesus Christ. It's in his name we pray. Amen. So we're going to go through the rest of these blessings. Joseph was Jacob's 11th son, the firstborn of Jacob's favorite wife, Rachel. This is a long and very favorable blessing, and I want to say basically four things about it. First, it is very similar to what we find in Genesis 49. We're not going to go there and look at it, but you can look at it later. You can't miss the similarities. Second, you'll notice that he emphasizes material prosperity because of the productivity of the land. He talks about choice gifts of heaven, fruits of the sun, rich yield month by month. It says in verse 16, Joseph was favored by him who dwells in the bush. Who dwells in the bush? God, remember. He's talking about what happened 40 years earlier when the Lord had spoken to him out of the burning bush. climax is in verse 16, when you get to 16, he'll bless him 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, that's another word for head, of him who is prince among his brothers. And then the third thing is, just as in chapter 49 of Genesis, there's an emphasis on Joseph's military might. You see that down in verse 17 when he calls him a firstborn bull and talks about having him the horns, the horns speak of strength of a wild ox. Now the last thing that we see here this reference at the end of verse 17 to Ephraim and Manasseh. Now remember, these are the two sons of Joseph, Ephraim and Manasseh. Now when you read Genesis 49, there is no blessing for Ephraim and Manasseh, and the reason is very simple. He's already blessed them. We read about it in chapter 48. Before Jacob called his sons and blessed them, first he had Joseph bring his two sons, these would be the grandsons of Jacob, Ephraim and Manasseh and we read about how he blessed them and you'll notice here in 33 17 the ten thousands of Ephraim the thousands of Manasseh he favors Ephraim so it wasn't a blessing you remember Jacob took his hands and Joseph brought the son so that he would lay his right hand on Manasseh and his left hand on Ephraim. Well, Jacob, he crossed his hands, laid his right hand on Ephraim. Of course, the right hand, that was a primary blessing. And Joseph said, no, no, dad, you got it wrong. He said, sorry, son, but I have it right. Said, the older one will have a blessing too, but the greater blessing will be on Ephraim. So there's a sense in which Joseph got a double blessing because his sons, both of them, received a blessing. That's like when we go and we look at the way the land was divided, and you look at all those names, you will not see Joseph. But what do you see instead? Ephraim and Manasseh. So Joseph got a double blessing, a double portion. Now come to 18. And Zebulun, he said, And of Zebulun, he said, rejoice, Zebulun, in your going out, and Issachar in your tents. Now you'll notice, now he's going to give, look down through there, and you'll see shorter blessings. Almost all of them are short. These are the last six tribes. They're lesser known than the first that we talked about last week. He takes these two together, Zebulun and Issachar, they are the sixth and the fifth sons of Leah, respectively. And the command to rejoice, in verse 18, it's directed to both Zebulun and Issachar. Notice, rejoice, Zebulun, and you're going out, and Issachar, in your tents. I like the way one author has drawn this out. He says, it has been suggested that this language is a poetic variation of the frequent Hebrew idiom, going out and coming in. So that the meaning is that the tribes were to rejoice in every aspect of their daily lives. And whatever you do when you go out and when you come in. So a lot of these blessings, their poetry and they're so short that it's hard to understand the meaning because they're very poetic and they're very brief and that's the way it is with verse 19. Maybe in 19, let me read again, 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." Maybe he's talking about the prosperity is so great that these two tribes will call the rest of Israel to come to their festival of sacrificing to the Lord. Or maybe Moses is hoping that their material success will always result in a desire to offer right sacrifices to God. The source of their prosperity is the sea. it's shores. And we find this, if you go back to Genesis 49, the sea is associated especially with Zebulun, and that maybe is why he names Zebulun first instead of Issachar, even though they were born in the opposite orders. When you come down in verse 20, we have Gad. And of Gad, he said, blessed be he who enlarges Gad. Gad crouches like a lion, he tears off arm and scalp. 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." Now, he begins with Gad, he says, blessed be he who enlarges Gad. Well, who would that be? Well, it's the Lord. He's the one who enlarges Gad by giving him a spacious land and delivering him from those who trouble him. Now, the details are not clear here, but he obviously is talking about military exploits. Gad was a warrior. He received land, you'll remember when they divided the land, and we'll see this later on the map we're going to look at, Gad was one of the tribes that got his land on the east side of the Jordan before they crossed the Jordan River. But you remember Moses told them, Gad and Manasseh and the other half tribe, he told them, he said now, You can have the land here, but when Israel goes across to Jordan to conquer the rest of the land, you've got to go with them. And you fight with them until they conquer the land. Then you come back and you can receive your land. History tells us that that is exactly what Gad did. And that fits well with what he says in the last part of 21 with Israel. He executed the justice of the Lord and his judgments for Israel, likely referring to when they went over the Jordan. conquered the land. Verse 22, we have Dan. And of Dan, he said, Dan is a lion's cub that leaps from Bashan, whichever way you prefer to pronounce it. Perhaps this short explanation, I had it written down somewhere, what did I do with it? There was a real short explanation someone gave that is helpful, y'all. As a lion's cub, he was timid in his youth, but in time, Dan would have great strength to slay its prey. Again, the words are few and it's difficult to get a hold of it. This reference to Bashan is very interesting. Dan first inherited land down in the south part of the land they conquered. It was, they bordered the Philistines and they were a warring people, maybe that's why they weren't satisfied before they were. So they sent spies up into the northern part of the land and later they sent 600 soldiers and they took the town of Laish and they renamed it Dan. And at least some of the tribe went there and lived and it was in an area called Bashan or Bashan. Verse 23 comes to Naphtali. And of Naphtali he said, O Naphtali, sated with favor and full of the blessing of the Lord, possess the lake and the south. A very general blessing. Other translations, you may have a translation that instead of reading lake, it reads south, west. The reason is because the Hebrew word, sometimes they translated it sea, sometimes lake, sometimes west, having to do with the context. If it is indeed here, like it is in the ESV, the lake, he's obviously talking about the Sea of Galilee. Naphtali's land would border the Sea of Galilee. this idea about, and the South, we're just not sure exactly of some geographical description. And then he comes to Asher, verse 24, and of Asher he said, most blessed of sons be Asher. Let him be the favorite of his brothers. Let him dip his foot in oil. Your bars shall be iron and bronze, and as your days, so shall your strength. be. Along with Gad, he was a son of Zilpah, who was one of the servant girls of Leah. Perhaps part of the explanation is in the meaning of the name. The name Asher meant happy or blessed, and here he says that Let him be the favorite of his brothers. Let him dip his foot in oil. It may be general blessing of prosperity, or it may have to do with the olive oil that they would later cultivate. He was a favorite of his brothers. He was highly respected and valued. he would have his land would have a long coastline along the Mediterranean there was a major highway from north to south which probably indicates this would be one of the first places the enemy would attack when they came in from the north and that's probably why he says in verse 25 your bars shall be iron and bronze and as your days so shall your strength be." Now we come to verse 26. Now we finish the specific blessings, but just as this chapter begins with kind of a general blessing, it ends with kind of a general blessing that will talk a whole lot about the Lord God. So let me read verses 26 through 29. There is none like God, O Jeshurun, who rides through the heavens to your help, through the skies in his majesty. The eternal God is your dwelling place, and underneath are the everlasting arms. and he thrust out the enemy before you and said, destroy. So Israel lived in safety, Jacob lived alone in a land of grain and wine, whose heavens dropped down dew. 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. Now, this link, this reference to Jeshurun in verse 26 links this back to the introduction in verse 5. Now remember Jeshurun, it's a name for Israel, and the root of the word means upright one, and sometimes I think that is used in kind of sarcastically, but here I think he's just saying Israel. Even though we will talk about Israel, the key is the first part of verse 26. There is none like God. And then he says, O Jeshurun, or O Israel. There is none like God. It reminds us of back in chapter 32 and verse 39, see now that I, even I, am He, and there is no God beside me. Sometimes we sing, 1st Samuel 2, 2, there is none holy like the Lord, for there is none beside you, there is no rock like our God. Isaiah emphasized this theme about how nobody can compare with God. Isaiah 40 verse 15, Behold, the nations are like a drop from a bucket, and are accounted as the dust on the scales. Behold, he takes up the coastlands like fine dust. He goes on to say, Who is like the Lord our God? And the answer is obviously no one. No one compares with God. And after he says this, he Then in the first part, let me read 26 again, there is none like God, O Joshua, who rides through the heavens to your help, through the skies in his majesty. He emphasizes how Israel is blessed to have a God like this as her own God. Though he is high and majestic, he comes to the aid of Israel. And beyond that, He then says in 27, the eternal God is your dwelling place. Now, I want to remind you that Joy read Psalm 90. That psalm, there are many other psalms written by David. That psalm, we're told in the superscription, it's written by Moses. And the very first two verses of that psalm, let me read them again. Lord, you have been our dwelling place in all generations. Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever you had formed the earth and the world, From everlasting to everlasting, you are God. And in the middle of verse 27 and underneath are the everlasting arms. That's where we get that hymn that we sing sometimes. We sang it last week. Leaning on the everlasting arms. Talking about God's strength and his protection for his people. Now look at the end of 27, And he thrust out the enemy before you, and said, Destroy. Those same strong arms, speaking metaphorically, that protected Israel, they were able to destroy her enemies. And then verse 28, So Israel lived in safety. Jacob lived alone in a land of grain and wine whose heavens dropped down dew. So with the enemy banished, now the the tribes of Jacob live there in peace and prosperity with the Lord to protect them. And then verse 29, happier you oh Israel who is like you now when you when you read that you think that he's gonna heap praise on Israel but he doesn't immediately he turns and says a people saved by the Lord the shield he is the shield of your help he is the sword of your triumph so even though Israel would be a great nation the emphasis is still on upon her God. He both defends them and he gives them victory. Because of his strength and care, their enemies will be subject to them. What a mighty God they serve. What a mighty God we serve. That brings us to chapter 34. This is about Moses' death and Joshua's leadership. So let's read it. Chapter 34 beginning in verse 1, and I want to begin with the first eight verses. 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, all Naphtali, the land of Ephraim and Manasseh, all the land of Judah, as far as the Western Sea, the Negev, and the plain, that is, the valley of Jericho, the city of palm trees, as far as Zoar. 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. So Moses, the servant of the Lord, died there in the land of Moab, according to the word of the Lord. And he buried him in the valley in the land of Moab, opposite Beth-peor. But no one knows the place of his burial to this day. Moses was a hundred twenty years old when he died. His eye was undimmed and his vigor unabated. 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." All right Stacy if you'll put that map up there. So regardless in verse one there you see regardless exactly of the relation of Nebo and Pisgah, He went up on the peak so he could view the land. We're told back in the end of chapter 32, we're told about how he's going to do this, now he does it. He goes on the mountain. Now we're told that where he is right here's Mount Nebo, it's opposite Jericho, that is it's across the river from Jericho, so there he's located. And from there, Moses surveys the promised land. Now remember, the Lord says, you can see it, Moses, but you're not to go over there. I think he probably made that strong again so Moses wouldn't have any temptation to say again, Lord, like he had once before. Lord, change your mind, let me go over. He says, Moses, you're not going over. Now, when it says that he surveyed the land, and then in verses end of one down through three, it gives a kind of a panoramic view of what he saw. So it starts in the north, he looks up, there's Dan. And then further over, let me make sure I get what he says here, further over is Naphtali. farther to the west. And he views this, and then he comes down and he views Ephraim and Manasseh and Judah. Manasseh, Ephraim, Judah down through here. Of course Benjamin's included. and he can see as far as the Mediterranean Sea. And then he views some more in here, it talks about the plain and so on. And finally it ends up with Zohar. Zohar was associated with Sodom and Gomorrah, seems to be down below the Dead Sea. So now he starts looking this way and he looks all the way around. Now It's obvious he could not see the features of the land very well from a great distance, but he could see all of this. And as Moses viewed this, I think he must have been amazed. Even though he wasn't going over, Lord, you're going to give all this land to your people, and he must have given praise to God for all that he saw. You can take it down now if you will. Thank you, Stacy. Now we come to verse five, and now we have the actual death of Moses. So Moses, the servant of the Lord, died there in the land of Moab according to the word of the Lord. Notice, if you will, he is called the servant of the Lord. Now we're going to see part of the reason why a little later in this chapter, but keep in your mind that Moses is referred to here as the servant of the Lord. So he goes up into the mountain and he died. Though he must have been terribly disappointed that he couldn't go into the land, he died according to the word of the Lord. In other words, he was obedient. God told him to go up into the mountain and die. Moses obeyed. He went up into the mountain and died. What an honor it is that Moses was called the servant of the Lord. So I want to be really clear. Even though the Lord did not let him go into the land, it did not change the fact that the Lord saw him in a special way as the servant of the Lord. He was indeed that. Now, we get to verse 6. And he buried him in the valley in the land of Moab opposite Beth Peor. Now the question is, who is he? He buried him. You know, it doesn't give a name there. It says, he buried him. Now, there's a lot of speculation at this point about who buried him. Some would say it was Joshua, and maybe some people helped Joshua. Joshua was in this passage, it must have been Joshua who buried him. But that doesn't seem to square very well with the end of verse 6, but no one knows the place of his burial to this day. Some people believe that angels buried him. Grammatically, when you look at he in verse 6, if you go back, the antecedent of that is the Lord. If you want to be strictly grammatical, the Lord, and then it says he, the Lord, he buried him. I would certainly agree with those who believed that it was the Lord himself who buried Moses. Some believe that the Lord did it and he used angels as his instruments to do it. That might square with, there's a verse in Jude 9 that I want to read. I should have had it marked here, I'm sorry. Jude 9. There are some difficult verses in Jude. Let me read to you verse 9. But when the archangel Michael, contending with the devil, was disputing about the body of Moses, he did not presume to pronounce a blasphemous judgment, but said, The Lord rebuke you." So at some point in history, Michael was contending with the devil about the body of Moses, and many believe that this was a place. It may well be. And it goes along with the question of why does it say here that no one knew where Moses was buried? It may be that the devil wanted this place to be known. But God did not want it to be known. If that's the case, I can think of a good reason why. Do you remember when Moses, God told Moses to lift up the snake in the wilderness and have the people look at the snake and then they wouldn't die of the snake bites? That was a wonderful thing. But you remember what happened? They made an idol out of that brass snake and hundreds of years later they were worshiping it. It may be that if Moses' grave was well known, that people would make an idol out of it and come and worship it. You know, there are people that take trips to the Holy Land and they go where it's believed that Jesus was buried and so forth. Maybe that's the reason. We don't know all of it. Some is speculation. But I would certainly agree that it was the Lord who buried him. I love what this author says. The specific subject of the clause, he, is uncertain. The context would indicate the Lord himself buried him, which would suggest that the death and burial of Moses was a private matter between God and Moses. Although it is possible to take he either as Joshua or as a collective term referring to the people, nevertheless the latter part of the verse, no man knows his grave, indicates that there was something special about the burial of Moses and that man did not have a part in it. And I would wholeheartedly Agree you can disagree if you want to but that seems to be the best way to take it is the Lord Did it there was something kind of a miraculous aspect about this and you remember? Moses would participate in something very miraculous in the future when he would be on the Mount of Transfiguration and we'll talk about that a little bit more in a bit now come to verse 7 and Moses was a hundred twenty years old when he died his eye was undamned and his vigor unabated now we dealt with this before When we're we're told back Let me see if I can remember where that was if I have it down. Yeah back in Deuteronomy 31 to verse where Moses says, I am 120 years old today. I am no longer able to go out and come in. The Lord has said to me, you shall not go over this Jordan. Now, I take it to mean the reason he couldn't go over Jordan wasn't because he was old and feeble. It was because God had said you're not going into the promised land. And here that goes along with that. It says that Moses was as strong as ever when he was a hundred and twenty years old. The Lord blessed him with excellent health and he needed it to lead those rebellious people. And this supports the idea that there was something miraculous about his death. There was no physical reason for Moses to die. So why did he die? Because God told him, you go up in the mountain and die. The people then mourned for him, verse 8, they mourned for him for 30 days. In verse 9 we have Joshua introduced again, verse 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. Now, We've already been told about Joshua and how he is going to take over for Moses. God had commissioned him back in chapter 31, and Moses was a part of that. I don't totally understand this part about him being full of the spirit of wisdom because Moses has laid his hands on him, but it does remind me of Numbers 11. You remember? You can turn there if you like. In Numbers 11, uh... the people were grumbling again they said we're sick of this man i give us some meat and i want to pick it up now inverse thirteen of numbers chapter eleven I believe this is where I want it. Yes. Moses says, where am I to get meat to give to all this people? He's speaking to God. For they weep before me and say, give us meat that we may eat. I am not able to carry all this people alone. The burden is too heavy for me. If you will treat me like this, kill me at once. If I find favor in your sight, that I may not see my wretchedness. Then the Lord said to Moses, Gather for me seventy men of the elders of Israel, whom you know to be the elders of the people, and officers over them, and bring them to the tent of meeting, and let them take their stand there with you. And I will come down and talk with you there. And I will take some of the spirit that is on you and put it on them, and they shall bear the burden of the people with you, so that you may not bear it yourself alone." Maybe we have an echo of this. Let me just read it to you. It's in 2 Timothy. Paul says this. He's writing to Timothy, "'For this reason I remind you, to fan into flame the gift of God which is in you through the laying on of my hands." What is clear is God intended Joshua to take over for Moses, and he had given him spirit of wisdom." Now notice, the people of Israel obeyed him and did as the Lord had commanded Moses. So you would think, the people have been following Moses for 40 years. Joshua steps up, are they going to just immediately follow him? They did. So when the Lord commissioned him, Moses was present, and he spoke to Joshua in the presence of all the people, it was very effective because now the day when they're called to obey, they obey and they follow Joshua. Now we come to the best part beginning in verse 10. And there has not arisen a prophet since in Israel like Moses, whom the Lord knew face to face, 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, and for all the mighty power and all the great deeds of terror that Moses did in the sight of Israel." Now, notice carefully, there has not arisen a prophet since in Israel like Moses. Moses is unique. There is not another prophet. You might say, well, no, no, Moses wasn't a prophet. The prophets are over there, you know, Isaiah and Jeremiah. Those are what we call the writing prophets. You might put Elijah and Elisha in, we call them prophets. But many others in the Old Testament, David's called a prophet, Moses is called a prophet. As a matter of fact, he says, there never arose one after Moses. When it comes to prophets, Moses is the prophet par excellence. None like him. We praise the Lord for this servant, Moses. Now, there are three things he says about Moses in these verses that set him apart as this special prophet above all the other prophets. The first one is at the end of verse 10, whom the Lord knew face to face. The Lord knew Moses. Moses was known by God. Now kind of think about that for a minute. One author, he puts it like this. I think this is really good. Moses was a prophet, but in his epitaph, like if they had written on his tombstone, it is not his knowledge of God that is stressed, but rather the Lord's knowledge of him. God had sought him out and appointed him to a particular task. Over the years, the relationship had become intimate, so that to those Israelites who knew Moses, it was evident that his highest communion was with God. And so in his epitaph, written in a book because the grave was not known, God's intimate knowledge of Moses was the most striking memory of the man now departed." All he's saying is when people thought about Moses, they thought, God knows Moses. No wonder when he went up on the mountain and he'd come down, you know, then his face would shine. We read in 1 Corinthians 8.3, But anyone who loves God is known by God. Yes, we want to know God, but we glory in the fact that God knows us, and it was especially so with Moses. The second thing he says about him is about the signs and wonders that he did, verse 11. None like him for all the signs and the wonders that the Lord sent him to do in the land of Egypt. And then he spells it out. to Pharaoh and to all his servants and to all his land. And he's talking about the Exodus, when Moses stretched out his staff and the waters rolled back, and then he stretched it out again and the waters drowned Pharaoh and his servants there. And then the last thing is in verse 12, and it's about all the mighty power and the great deeds of terror that Moses did in the sight of all Israel. And I take this to mean this is what happened beyond the Exodus, like when he was on the mountain and the mountain was covered with fire and thunder and lightning, the things he did as they were traveling through the wilderness, the miracles that the Lord used him to do. So Moses is elevated above the other prophets. The prophets who came after Moses ministered in the context of the community of Israel, but Moses was instrumental in the formation of Israel. What a great prophet he was. Now before we conclude the book we have to ask this question because somebody is bound to ask it. So Moses dies in verse 5. Who wrote the rest of Deuteronomy? The rest of chapter 34. I don't have a compelling answer. There's lots of speculation. Some would say Moses wrote it. God told him what the right before he died, and I think that is very possible. Others have suggested others who might have written this, like Joshua, Eliezer, Samuel, Ezra. Of those names, I would think Joshua would probably be the most likely. But the Bible itself, and you could find dozens of references in the New Testament that make it very clear, Moses is the author of the Pentateuch, that is the first five books of the Bible, Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy. Whether or not Moses actually wrote these last words does not compromise that in any way. Ultimately, it doesn't matter who was the ultimate author of Deuteronomy. It was the Holy Spirit. and we can know that these words are from the Lord himself. Now I want you to go back for a moment to verse 5, 34-5. So Moses, the servant of the Lord, died there in the land of Moab. Think about that, the servant of the Lord. Such simplicity. There's never been another prophet like him we praise God for the servant Moses but after the Old Testament comes the New Testament after the Old Covenant comes the New Covenant and the writer of Hebrews has something to say about this if you'd like to turn there you may it's Hebrews 3 John read it for us earlier but I want to go back to it again Hebrews chapter 3 Hebrews speak so much about Jesus and his glory and so on, but early in Hebrews there's much about how Moses, how Jesus was a man, especially when you go to chapter 2 and so forth. But he establishes though that Jesus was greater. He was greater than the angels in chapter 1. And now he's going to say that about Moses. And the reason is because the people had such high regard for Moses. And why shouldn't they have such high regard for Moses? He's the greatest prophet. Hebrews 3.1, Therefore, holy brothers, you who share in a heavenly calling, consider Jesus the Apostle and High Priest of our confession, who was faithful to him who appointed him, just as Moses also was faithful in all God's house. So up to this point, he's comparing Jesus as Moses. They're alike in this way, but now verse 3, for Jesus has been counted worthy of more glory than Moses as much more glory as a builder of a house has more honor than the house itself for every house is built by someone but the builder of all things is God now verse 5 now Moses was faithful in all God's house as a servant and to testify to the things that were to be spoken later. But Christ is faithful over God's house as a son." Do you see the contrast there? Moses is in God's house, Jesus is over God's house, Moses is a servant, Jesus is a son, and ultimately the son. Jesus is far, far greater than Moses. The writer of Hebrews, he's not trying to take away anything from Moses. He wants to elevate Moses high. Humanly speaking, there's no prophet higher. But then when it comes to Jesus, there's no comparison between Moses and Jesus. Jesus is far, far, far superior to Moses. So Moses himself knew this. In chapter 18, I want to go back, you'll remember in chapter 18, Moses tells them and us what the Lord had told him. Deuteronomy 18, 17. 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 them." Moses is talking about the one who would come, the Lord Jesus, who would speak words of life. So we rejoice in Moses. In all that we've seen the Lord do through him, he did so much. Through Moses, he formed a people. Through Moses, he gave the law. He gave the plan and the construction of the tabernacle. It's through Moses we have the very book of Deuteronomy. Nevertheless, Moses' greatness dims in comparison with Jesus and his life-giving ministry. Ultimately, Moses pointed to Jesus. Through Moses came the law and Jesus would fulfill that law that came through Moses. Finally think about the Mount of Transfiguration if you want to read it later Matthew chapter 17 you remember that Jesus went up on the mountain and he took Peter James and John with him and while they were there Peter, James, and John were looking, they saw Jesus, they saw Moses, and they saw Elijah on that mountain. That must have been a glorious thing. But then there came the voice from heaven, obvious, the Father's voice, and the voice from heaven says, this is my son, listen to him, hear him. Wasn't really about Moses and Elijah, it was about Jesus. And then we're told, then it's kind of they were in a cloud and then they saw Jesus only. Moses was there on the mountain, but Jesus is the one to whom they were to listen. We're told in the first chapter of John that the law came through Moses, but grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. So as we close Deuteronomy, I'm going to make it crystal clear. Deuteronomy is a great book, and it does tell, especially in this last chapter, of a great man of God, the servant of the Lord, Moses. But oh, Moses, his intention How much he fully realized it, I don't know, but his intention was to point to the one greater, the Lord Jesus Christ. That's what we always want to do, no matter where we are. This book is about the Lord Jesus, cover to cover. Yes, it's clearer in the New Testament than in the old, but we always want to make Jesus the center of the book. How can we serve the Lord and be a servant of the Lord? First, we must be reconciled to the Lord. And that is through this one, the Lord Jesus Christ, who gave himself for my sins on that cross, absorbed the wrath of God that I might not have to, and gave me that eternal life. That's what God wants to do in your life. Let's pray together. Father, thank you so much for guiding us through the book of Deuteronomy. We don't claim that having studied it, we understand everything in it. We'll go through it many times on our own. We'll read it. You'll continue to give us understanding by your Holy Spirit, and we thank you for that. But Father, we thank you much more that you did indeed raise up the prophet Licon to Moses and far greater You sent your son into this world. Thank you, Lord. And this morning, we want to glorify Jesus. We want to hear him above all else. Lord, I pray for those here this morning, young or old, who have not yet been reconciled to you through your son, Jesus. Though the language seems harsh, we know it comes right from the scripture, that until that reconciliation takes place, we are your enemies, Lord God. Thank you that you did indeed send Jesus to rescue us. And Lord, those who are here who have not yet been rescued, lead them to true repentance and faith in Jesus, we pray. And Father, for those of us who are known by you, send us from this place rejoicing. We'll give you all the praise in Jesus' name, amen.