Moses
as a Type of the Savior
By Jeffrey
A. Bushman June 2014
I would like to show
how Moses is a type of Christ by first giving you some commonly taught examples
in the ministry of Moses in part one.
But my real goal is to use the exodus of Israel as one of the greatest
stories teaching the roll of the Savior in saving Israel and making the
Celestial kingdom available, this will be in part two.
1st
Part
Moses
as a Type for Christ
1 Both known by their name & deeds
long before their birth
2 Both
babies saved from slaughter when the king had the children killed
3 Both
called a ruler, a deliver, and a judge
4 Both
fasted 40 days
5 Both were
personally tempted by Satan
6 Both
carried to a high mountain, where they were transfigured
7 Both
miraculously provided bread and meat
8 Both
provided water
9 Both
changed the nature of water, and controlled the elements like wind
10 Both were
great givers of the law
11 Both were
rejected by Israel the first time they offered to lead Israel
12 Both were
redeemers, deliverer, or liberator
13 Both
restored the church in their day, and called others (12 & 70) to lead
14 Both
Loved, prayed for and interceded for their people
15 Both were
compared to each other in scripture
16 Both
prophesied concerning the destiny of Israel
17 Both ascended
into heaven in a cloud
I
did not include any references for they are pretty well known
and
taught. I want to spend more time on
part 2.
2nd
Part
The
Story of the Exodus of Israel as a Plan of Happiness Experience
Joseph who was sold
into Egypt by his brothers, later saved them from a famine by bringing the
whole family into the land of Goshen, considered the best part of the
Egypt. Once they were established they
prospered as long as Joseph was alive, but years after he died, there arose a
Pharaoh, who knew not Joseph, and who was responsible for bringing the Children
of Israel in to bondage. In the book of
Revelation chapter 11:8 Egypt is mentioned as a symbolic place of wickedness or
being of the world. During this time,
Israel was in bondage to sin or the world and had not the power to free
themselves from the grip of Egypt. This
is just like all who come to the earth, who experience their own fall when they
sin and put themselves in Satan’s power.(see Romans 3:23) Once we are cut off from God because of our
fall, we become carnal, sensual and devilish, we are incapable of saving
ourselves from this bondage.
Once Israel realized
they were suffering hard bondage, and a loss of freedom, and forced to serve Egypt,
they turned to the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and prayed that he would
deliver them from their bondage. Because
of God’s knowing they would turn to him for relief, he set in motion the great
story of Moses and their deliverance from the power of Satan. (Pharaoh) God had
already planned for their deliverance from Satan for any who returned to him. This is according to some of the prophecies
of Joseph who was sold into Egypt. When
Moses as a baby was put in an ark and was found by Pharaoh’s daughter she
called him Moses which in Egyptian means, to begat a child but in Hebrew it
means to “draw out”. It would be Moses’s
mission to draw Israel and any others who would listen out of Egypt (world
& bondage to sin) and help them obtain a land of promise. (Celestial
kingdom or presence of God)
Paul taught in Hebrews 11:24-29 that
Moses knew who he was and chose to follow the Lord rather than enjoy the sins
of Egypt for a season. He later thought that
all Israel should know that he was the one the Lord raised up to provide them God’s
deliverance from their bondage.
Later Moses decided to
visit his brethren and was involved in an altercation with an Egyptian who was
trying to force his will on an Israelite woman.
When Pharaoh heard of this, he was angry with Moses, and Moses fled for
his life and eventually joined the shepherds of Midian and joined Reuel priest
of Midian and married his daughter. He
was instructed in how the priesthood works.
After 40 years of being a shepherd he experienced the burning bush
episode where he came to more fully get to know the Lord. Remember 40 is a
number meaning time of trial and preparation.
This came after 40 years in Egypt and then it led to 40 years of working
to get them to recognize the Lord’s hand in all things and preparing them for
life in the Promised Land. (Lord’s presence)
In Exodus 3 Moses has his experience with
God at the burning bush where he is instructed by the Lord to his role of
setting Israel free, and bringing them back to this mountain where they would
serve God.
The Lord teaches Moses
that the Egyptians will not allow Israel to go out of bondage but that the Lord
will stretch forth his hand (power) to teach Egypt that he is God and then they
will finally let them go when he has humbled them. The Israelites are to ask the Egyptians for
their jewels and all Egypt will gladly give up all they have just to get the
Israelites out of their lives. God will not
only conqueror his enemies, but takes back that with which he had blessed them
and blesses those who will have him to be their God. It may be considered back wages due to Israel
for her service.
Moses is given Aaron
his brother to be his spokesman and heads back to Egypt to free Israel. Once he arrives he goes to the Israelites and
tells them his errand from the Lord. He
has to show them the signs the Lord had given him on the mountain, one was his
hand turning leprous and then putting it back in his bosom and drawing it out
and it was healed.
Leprosy was a disease symbolic
of sin and living death, showing Israel that God had given him great power,
much more than Pharaoh possessed. Once
Moses had convinced the Elders of Israel, he then went in to talk to
Pharaoh. Pharaoh rejected the request of
Moses and put harder tasks on Israel.
Sounds like Satan when people start to turn to the Lord he seems to make
it seem harder to do what’s right than go with the way things were like in the
past. Israel then rejects Moses because
of the hard bondage and he seeks out direction from the Lord. God then strengthens Moses and tells him what
to do.
Moses has some interesting experiences
with Pharaoh over the next few days. He
brings down many plagues and many seemed to focus on showing the Egyptians that
their gods are no gods, like the Sun, Nile River, Cattle and frogs many of
which now cause much hardship for all Egypt.
Some of the plagues also come to Israel because of their unbelief but
later the Lord’s plagues only effect Egypt and not Israel. Israel seems to be learning that God is God
and they start to exercise faith, even starting to believe that they might be
free soon.
Pharaoh had magicians who’s
power was given by Satan and they help harden Pharaoh’s heart as they also
duplicated some of the plagues, but eventually they admitted to Pharaoh that
Moses’s power was from God and much greater than theirs.
Finally we get to the
plague that sets Israel free. The Lord
tells Moses that about midnight that he will go into the midst of Egypt and kill
the first born in all Egypt but he will make a way for Israel to escape. The Lord then has then reckon their time from
this date, it is to become the beginning of months. (new beginnings) and they are
to get ready for a paschal feast on the 10 day of the month. (10 in Hebrew has
many meaning but here are a few: it is the numerical value of Yod, the Eternal
Word, the first letter of the divine name, the ten commandments, diving
support, represents also the mystic return to unity)
On this day they were
to take a lamb for their father’s house.
If your house was small you could group together with another house in
order to have enough to consume the lamb at this Passover meal. Each item describing the preparation of the lamb
is to draw your attention to the Savior as he is our paschal lamb. The lamb had to be male of the first year.
(Christ is the first born of Heavenly Father) It had to be without blemish, (no
sin) and they were to keep it until the 14 day. (Possible 2 times 7 which may
stand for completion or perfection) It
was to be killed in the evening, (a time of darkness) and then take it’s blood
and strike it on the two sides post and on the upper door post of the house
where you are going to eat it. (the door posts seem to represent the everyday
life of those who lived there, it was their coming and goings) It was if they wanted their everyday life to
reflect the saving life blood of the lamb. (Christ) They were to eat the flesh of the lamb that
night and leave nothing of it to remain until the morning. (They were to use
the full benefits of the death of the son of God in their life and not just a
part of it) It was also to be roasted in
the fire. (Fire is symbolic of the spirit and power of God, it is a cleansing
agent or purifier) They were also to eat it with their loins girded, (here they
would take their hand and reach between their legs and grab the back of their
robe and pull it between their legs and tuck in into the sash around their
waist. This was a sign that they were
ready for action and ease of motion so as to not trip on their robe. They were to be ready to go as soon as the way
from God was revealed to them. It is
like us and our sins, we are not to wait for a better day but to do it now when
God tells us) They also eat with their
shoes on and their staff in their hand and eat in haste,(for as soon as the
destroying angel had passed over Egypt they needed to be ready to go then) for
because of the blood on the posts they would be protected against the angel of
death. But when God said to move you
need to be ready.
They were also to eat
unleaven bread from the 14 to the 21 or 7 days. (unleaven bread is bread
without yeast which causes the bread to rise but it also cause it to spoil
after a little time. It is symbolic of
sin especially that of pride or being puffed up) They needed to be humble and
willing to follow the Lord no matter what he asked of them. That Passover night they were to stay in the
house all night and not go into the streets, you needed the protection of being
in the Lord’s house. One last
instruction was that they were not to break any bones of the lamb. (Christ had
no broken bones on the day of his death)
This Passover was only for Israel or for the strangers who would be
willing to covenant through being circumcised before eating of the Passover.
(Today only those who are willing to covenant with the Lord are able to truly
able to be saved in his presence by the power of the lamb)
Once all the first
born of Egypt died, just before dawn, Israel started to leave Egypt. Again this was in the month of Abib which is
the first day of Spring, or new beginnings.
As they left Egypt the Lord went before them in a pillar of Cloud (Power
and glory of God) in the day time and as a pillar of fire in the night. (Fire
again is the spirit of the Lord to give us direction and light in our lives as
we follow him)
The Lord tells Moses
to have the people camp near the Red Sea and tells him that Pharaoh will soon come
after them. Pharaoh decides to change
his mind after thinking it was dumb to let them go and stop serving him. (Sound
like what Satan does to people who are trying to do better, he will try
anything he can to bring them back into bondage. Many converts think that all will go well
when they join the church, but they might need to prepare for Satan’s onslaught
that will undoubtedly come) Pharaoh
arrives on the scene at the shore of the sea and then the Lord has Moses tell
the people to stand still and see the salvation of the Lord. Now one note, whenever it says that God
hardened Pharaoh’s heart the JST changes that to Pharaoh hardened his own heart
for the Lord does not play of role of Satan.
At this point in the story the Lord who had been in the front leading
now moves between the army of Pharaoh and Israel. It talks about this cloud being darkness to
the Egyptians but gave light to Israel.
It is how many nonbelievers feel about the gospel of Christ, because it
appears as darkness to the unbeliever, they can’t seem to open their hearts and
minds to be enlightened by the spirit of the Lord, but those of a righteous
nature, the spirit enlightens and opens their mind to comprehend the things of
God. That is why many wicked people just
think we are stupid when it is really the opposite way.
Once Pharaoh believes
he has Israel is in his power, the Lord inspires Moses to lift up his rod and
part the Sea (remember that Satan has power over the seas or water). All night a wind (spirit of the Lord) blows
and stacks the water up on each side so that a path is made with dry ground (no
wickedness, firm foundation) for Israel to cross in safety. Pharaoh tries to follow Israel through the
sea but the Lord takes off the wheels of their chariots and they drag
heavy. When the Egyptians realize that
God is still fighting for Israel they want to flee from the face of Israel, but
then the Lord instructs Moses to stretch his hand over the sea so that it would
come in upon the Egyptians. A little
later, all Israel sees that not one soul of Pharaoh’s army survived, for they
saw their bodies on the sea shore.
Paul makes an
interesting comment about this experience in 1 Corinthians 10:1-4 “Moreover,
brethren, I would not that ye should be ignorant, how that all our fathers were
under the cloud, and all passed through the sea. All were baptized unto Moses in the cloud
(baptized of the spirit ) and in the sea (Baptized in the water); And did all
eat the same spiritual meat; And did all drink the same spiritual drink: for
they drank of that spiritual Rock that followed them: and that Rock was Christ”
( Sounds like sacrament)
One important
symbolism is that this Red Sea event is when they passed though the water, and the
power and might of their former masters was washed away leaving no more power
over them, and they were now truly free through the power of Christ. So developing
faith that God sent Moses, then returning after they rejected him and being
baptized of the spirit and the water, they are now ready to manifest their
righteousness by following Moses through the wilderness to the Mountain of the
Lord. (Mt. Sinai-Temple) Here at the Mountain of the Lord they will be given
the opportunity of getting to know the Lord face to face. (See Exodus 15:17
& John 17:3 getting to know God is Eternal Life)
During their sojourn
in the wilderness many murmured and complained even after healing the bitter
water, (providing living water) and sending down manna or bread (bread of Life)
and then providing meat with the flocks of quail. As they learned to trust the Lord and then
after 3 months they arrived at Mt. Sinai here the Lord tells them that if they
will keep their covenants and obey his voice they will be a kingdom of priests.
(Think of the temple) After the Lord
made this offer they all said they would do as the Lord asked. The people prepared as Moses instructed and
then the Lord came down on the Mountain. It was covered with clouds with much
thunder and lightning. (Glory and power of the Lord) Following this experience
the people said to Moses that he should speak to God and they would just like
to hear from Moses what God wanted and not talk to God themselves.
God then gives the 10 commandments and then
has Moses teach them his laws. Once the
people have put themselves under covenant with Moses’s help. They signified this covenant by having the
blood of the sacrifice sprinkled on them, later 70 of the elders of Israel went
up on the Mountain and saw God face to face with their own eyes. (Ex.24:9-14)
Moses then is
instructed to build a tabernacle and the Lord promises to dwell in the midst of
his people. During the next few months
they progress towards the Promised Land and then 12 are sent to spy out the
Promised Land. On their return Joshua
and Caleb give good reports but the other 10 give wicked reports and the people
rebel for the 10th time against Moses and the Lord. They decide they want to return to Egypt and just
forget the Promised Land. The Lord then
tells them because of their wickedness that only Joshua and Caleb will enter
the promised land and all others over the age of 20 will wander 1 year for each
day the spies were gone or 40 years and after all these adults died he would
take their children into the Promised land.
At the end of 40 years
Moses will be taken into heaven and be released from his calling and he will
appoint Joshua of the tribe of Ephraim to lead the children of Israel into the
Promised Land. Moses was to draw them
out of Egypt and Joshua (Hoshea in Hebrew that means Jesus in Greek or savior
or redeemer) was to take them from the wilderness into the Promised Land.
The story of Moses and
the exodus was repeated over and over to later generations, explaining the
great love God had for the House of Israel.
He brought them out of Egypt with a mighty hand, and was their savior
and deliverer. He has the power to bring
his people out of bondage and captivity and bring them to a Promised Land where
he would be their God.
Today, as the children
of Israel we have the opportunity to be faithful in our wilderness journey and with
help through the atoning sacrifice of Jesus Christ he will carry us from this
world to a far better place where we can dwell in the presence of our Father in
Heaven.
One last thought, as
Joshua was from Ephraim, even so in the last days it will be Ephraim’s
responsibility to help the Lord bring the rest of the twelve tribes into their Promised
Land.