Only Jesus can bridge the gap

Rom 15:4 tells us that whatever was written in former days was written for our instruction, that through endurance and through the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope. The passage from Deut 3:23-29 teaches us many lessons.
The gap between sinful man and holy God is too large for us to bridge because:
1. God is holy holy holy, and
2. In contrast man is sinful. Rom 3:23.
So we depend on God to bridge the gap.
The context of this passage is that the Israelites have spent 40 years in the wilderness. They are about to cross the Jordan river and enter the promise land. The book of Deuteronomy is Moses’ sermon and a farewell speech to the Israelites. Moses will not cross over. So he is saying goodbye.
Deut 3 Vs 27 God allows Moses to look at the promise land from the mountain but he cannot go over.
Deut 3 Vs 25 Moses asked God to allow him enter into the promise land, but God said no. This was because of something that happened many years before (which we read about in Num 20).
At that time, there was no water and the people were complaining. Moses and Aaron asked God, and God told Moses to go and CALL out water from the rock. But Moses, instead of just calling out water, he struck the rock two times and water came out. So God told Moses that because he had not believed Him and upheld Him before the people, he would not go into the promise land.
This is what Moses is reminding the Israelites about in this passage. We can see the very real consequence that Moses could not go over the Jordan.
These things are examples for us. The promise land is a symbol to us of our eternal rest. So we must learn that for those who have sinned, the very real consequence is that is no eternal rest. The wages of sin is death.
It is not that Moses did not go to the eternal rest. He was buried by God himself in a secret place. But the fact that he did not enter the Promise land is symbolic of the fact that we cannot enter our eternal rest because of sin.
It is easy for us to look at these consequences and say that it is too harsh. God has never given a consequence that is too harsh. Hell is not too harsh. Moses’ punishment was not too harsh. Moses did not commit a small mistake. Sin is serious. The fact that God did not strike him dead when Moses struck the rock, is an act of great mercy. We experience that mercy everyday. Even the air that we breathe is His mercy to us.
On that occasion, Moses had not upheld God as holy in front of the people. He was playing God. This is what all sin is. There is a gap between a righteous holy God and sinful man. We need the bridge.
Deut 3 Vs 23. Moses “pleaded to the Lord” Moses is very used to pleading with God on behalf of the people. And he is also used to going to the people on behalf of God. So Moses was a mediator.
There was a gap between the people and God, the holy Judge. So Moses was like an advocate. Or Moses may be compared to a doctor between the people and health.
But Moses was not perfect as a mediator. The Judge will not now listen to Moses fully. He is not a good lawyer here because he himself needs a lawyer. He is like a doctor who is himself very sick. He needs a better doctor to treat him.
If Moses could not be the lawyer/doctor, if he could not be the mediator, who else can bridge the gap. Moses was the best of the best, and even he fell short. We need to look to the one who Moses was looking forward to.
John 5: 46-47 records: For if you believed Moses, you would believe me; for he wrote of me. But if you do not believe his writings, how will you believe my words?” Jesus talks about Moses. Moses was looking to Jesus.|||||
WHAT MAKES JESUS BETTER THAN MOSES?
1. HIS PERFORMANCE: God refused Moses. God would not listen to him. 1 Pet 2:22 says of Jesus that He committed no sin, neither was deceit found in his mouth. Jesus was without sin. He did not speak sinfully. He did not think sinfully. We have never had even a second where we were perfect. But if you looked in the life of Jesus for a single moment that was out of line of God’s will, you would not be able to find it. Jesus did not have the gap between him and God. So He is the perfect Mediator.
2. HIS POSITION: According to Deut 3 Vs 24, Moses was a servant in the house of God. But Jesus in the house of God was a SON. Heb 3:5-6 says: Now Moses was faithful in all God’s house as a servant, to testify to the things that were to be spoken later, but Christ is faithful over God’s house as a son . . .
At His baptism, the Voice said: This is my beloved Son. There is no other name by which we can be saved. 1 Tim 2:5 tells us very clearly that there is but one God, and one Mediator between God and man, The Man Jesus Christ. John 14:6 records the words of Jesus who said: I am the Way, the Truth and the Life. |||||
IS JESUS YOUR MEDIATOR?
Moses cannot help you, or Mohammed or Buddha. No one can help you. No other bridge can manage your sin. No other bridge can get you to God except Jesus?
What else can we depend on? Our performance? Our righteousness is like filthy rags. Try to build a bridge from here to North Shore with toothpicks. A truck may much surer reach North Shore on that toothpick bridge than we can get to God on any other bridge than Jesus. 2 Cor 5:2 tells us that God made Jesus sin for us that we may be made the righteousness of God. Moses looked forward to Jesus Christ. Is Jesus your Mediator? |||||
HOW DO YOU COME TO THIS MEDIATOR?
You come by faith. If you only KNOW this stuff, it is not enough. If you BELIEVE, you will put your weight on this bridge.
Take the example of a chair that can take the weight of 150 kg. You may know that the chair can bear that weight. But only when you sit on that chair, we can say that you believe that the chair can manage the weight.
So too with Jesus. You may know all about salvation. But if you do not put your trust and confidence in Jesus, then you have not believed. Only Jesus can bridge the gap.