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Moses Dies Before He Reaches His Lifelong Destination

Even One Sin Is Enough to Disqualify Us from Attaining God’s Perfect Standard; Jesus Bridges the Gap

The book of Deuteronomy concludes with the death of Moses.

Moses faithfully leads God’s people as they wander in the desert for forty years, brings them to the border of the land God had promised to give to them, sees it from afar, and then dies before he can step into it.

It’s not fair!

How could God treat his dedicated servant this way? Yet this is what God had decided to do.

Years before Moses has a tiny slip-up. He disobeys God. God tells Moses to speak to a rock and water will gush forth. Instead Moses hits the rock with his walking stick—twice.

Perhaps he’s frustrated with the people’s grumbling; maybe he wasn’t listening to God’s instructions. Possibly he didn’t think it mattered.

It did.

As punishment for his mistake, God says Moses will not be allowed to enter the Promised Land, his final destination (Numbers 20:7-12). As a result, that’s the penalty for not meeting God’s exacting expectations: Moses dies.

We all fall short, so death is our penalty as well. But Jesus makes us right with God, bridging the gap between our failings and God’s gold standard.

Through Jesus we will make it to our final destination, the presence of God and eternity with him.

Thank you Jesus!

[Read through the Bible with us this year. Today’s reading is Deuteronomy 31-34, and today’s post is on Deuteronomy 34:1-5.]

Peter DeHaan writes about biblical Christianity to confront status quo religion and live a life that matters. He seeks a fresh approach to following Jesus through the lens of Scripture, without the baggage of made-up traditions and meaningless practices.

Read more in his books, blog, and weekly email updates.

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