Fellowship Church of Winter Springs

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By Ken Garrison, B.S., M.S., Th.M.

Bible Study-51 (Deuteronomy 33-34)

Book of Deuteronomy

The study through the books of Moses ends this week. Next week we will begin in Genesis.

This week I want to focus an amazing statement in Deuteronomy 34. It is recorded in verse 7.

Although Moses was one hundred and twenty years old when he died, his eye was not dim, nor his vigor abated.” – Deuteronomy 34:7

The normal process of aging evidently had not impacted Moses according to this statement. It is appropriate to ask the question, why was this so? What had happened in Moses’ years that had such an effect? Had he secretly found the “fountain of youth” and drank of its water”?

I believe that the answer to these questions lies in his experience at Mt. Sinai. Moses ascended the mountain into the cloud of the Lord which had descended upon the mountain:

And you came near and stood at the foot of the mountain, and the mountain burned with fire to the very heart of the heavens; darkness, cloud and thick gloom.” – Deuteronomy 4:11

This account describes the boldest coupling of heaven to earth in history with the exception of the period in “the garden” before the fall of man. As Moses climbed the mountain he nearly ascended into heaven. If he had gone any further he would have done like Elijah did some 600 years later and would have exited completely from the physical world. God must have prevented him from doing so.

Moses ascended into and remained directly in the presence of God for 40 days and nights. When he descended he “glowed”. Later, Jeremiah described the God of Israel as:

But the Lord is the true God; He is the living God and the everlasting King.” – Jeremiah 10:10

We may think of the expression “living God” as the entity (God) that is the very source of life and from whom all life emanates. Moses was immersed directly in the presence of this life-emanating source for an extended period of time. Somehow he absorbed some aspects of the life. Even after descending the mountain, Moses continued to “glow”. We believe that Moses had indeed discovered the “fountain of youth”. One other account is given in the Bible of a similar situation. On the so-called “Mount of Transfiguration” it is recorded that Jesus’ face and garments glowed.

And He was transfigured before them; and His face shone like the sun, and His garments became as white as light.” – Matthew 17:2

This happened because He stood, evidently for only a brief period, in the direct presence of “the living God” being manifested in the cloud. Because Jesus was crucified shortly thereafter, we cannot test our theory that the aging process was reversed as a result of this encounter.

Can we discover this “fountain of life” today? This is one important aspect of worship. As local bodies of believers we can, under Jesus’ headship, approach and stand in the presence of the “Living God”. Our experience may not be quite as dramatic as that of Moses or of Jesus but we can partake of the same thing. The Bible declares:

And inasmuch as it is appointed for men to die once and after this comes judgment”. – Hebrews 9:27

Even though the aging process can not be completely reversed, the restoration impact of the presence of the “Living God” will bring healing and restoration to our bodies as well as to our souls.

The time of Moses’ leadership ended with a transfer of authority to Joshua the son of Nun. This final section of Deuteronomy was obviously written after that transition. God had previously declared that He would raise up another prophet like Moses.

I will raise up a prophet from among their countrymen like you, and I will put My words in his mouth, and he shall speak to them all that I command him.” – Deuteronomy 18:18

Most believe that God was speaking of the Messiah. Some argue that this “prophet like Moses” was Joshua the son of Nun. Obviously, this can not be the case since this final paragraph of Deuteronomy was written at least during and most likely after the time of Joshua’s period of leadership. The writer comments,

Since then no prophet has risen in Israel like Moses, whom the Lord knew face to face.” – Deuteronomy 34:10

Tagged With: Fountain of Youth, Heaven & Earth, Moses, Restoration

By Ken Garrison, B.S., M.S., Th.M.

Bible Study-34 (Numbers 8-12)

Book of NumbersOften, the account recorded in the TANACH provides valuable insight for us as believers today. This is true of this Bible section. Here we gain insight for people who experience God directly through the Holy Spirit concerning a Holy Spirit led life.

Number (9:15-23) speaks of how Israel followed the guidance of God manifested through the “Cloud by day” and the “Pillar of Fire by night”. Each morning Israel’s attention was focused on the cloud. If the cloud moved they moved. If the cloud remained in place, they remained also. The account emphasized the point that no matter how long the cloud remained; the people stayed in place. They did not set out on their own (even though human nature would want to move on).

What Is God Doing In Your Life Today?Imagine yourself as an Israeli in that camp. What would be the first thing that you would do in the morning? I believe that you would open your tent flap and see what the cloud was doing. If it moved, then you would begin preparing to move out. If the cloud tarried, then you would relax because you would not be going anywhere on this day.

This is a picture fruitful for the individual believer and for the local church. The first thing we should do in the morning is determine what God is doing in our life today. This means an early morning prayer/worship time. Once we have ascertained what God is doing for the day then we can respond accordingly. The local church should do the same thing during its regular, weekly worship times.

One final thought from this awesome section of the Bible. Consider the “Cloud by day” and the “Pillar of Fire by night”. What was it? It must have been some form of unknown (out of this world, i.e., out of heaven) energy field. It had the characteristics of absorbing photons of light energy in the presence of sunlight; thus it appeared black (my assumption) like a cloud in the daytime. At night in the absence of light energy, it emitted photons of light energy thus appearing as a “Pillar of Fire”. We know that a magnetic field will cause a charged particle to change its direction. Perhaps, this unknown heavenly field absorbed photons of light energy in the daytime and re-emitted that same light energy at night. Can you imagine a glowing column of light at night which turned into a dark, black column of cloud in the morning extending upwards from the tent into heaven?

There is a picture of the best and worse of Moses portrayed in this section. The Lord declared that with Moses He spoke “face to face”.

He said, “Hear now My words; If there is a prophet among you, I, the Lord, shall make Myself known to him in a vision. I shall speak with him in a dream. Not so, with My servant Moses, He is faithful in all My household; With him I speak mouth to mouth, even openly, and not in dark sayings, and he beholds the form of the Lord.” (Numbers 12:6-8a)

But we also have the account of Moses having a “pity party”.

“So Moses said to the Lord, “Why hast Thou been so hard on Thy servant? And why have I not found favor in Thy sight, that Thou hast laid the burden of all this people on me? (Numbers 11:11)

And,

I alone am not able to carry all this people, because it is too burdensome for me. So if Thou art going to deal thus with me, please kill me at once, if I have found favor in Thy sight, and do not let me see my wretchedness.” (Numbers 11:14-15)

So the Lord called seventy elders of the people and placed the Spirit that was on Moses on the seventy elders.

“Then the Lord came down in the cloud and spoke to him; and He took of the Spirit who was upon him and placed Him upon the seventy elders. And it came about that when the Spirit rested upon them, they prophesied. But they did not do it again.” (Numbers 11:25)

Moses prayed that God put His Spirit upon all of His people.

“Would that all the Lord’s people were prophets, that the Lord would put His Spirit upon them!” (Numbers 11:29)

Here we believe that Moses is functioning as a prophet and is speaking of the characteristic of the New Covenant which was still in the distant future.

Tagged With: Cloud by Day, God's guidance, Moses, Pillar of Fire by Night

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Fellowship Church is a non-denominational congregation of believers in Messiah Jesus who love, worship and serve the Holy One of Israel with all their heart, soul, mind and strength. We are located in Winter Springs, Florida.

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