Now after the death for Moses the servant of the Lord it came to pass, that the Lord spake unto Joshua the son of Nun, Moses’ minister, saying Moses my servant is dead. Joshua 1:1,2
The incredible life of the Old Testament’s greatest man had to come to an end. From the posh palace in Egypt, to the plains of Midian, through the plagues and Passover, and across the Red Sea, God led him and his people through the wilderness, unveiled to him the Law and its ordinances, granting to him a long lifetime of adventures unmatched before or since. Moses’ last act was to climb Mount Pisgah and behold the land of promise to which he had led the children of Israel. He could look, but he could not enter. Through him, God had given the Law, and the Law had a barrier that its would-be keepers could not cross.
Consider again the words of the Lord Jesus to the lawyer who recited the law: ‘This do and thou shalt live’ (Luke 10:28). He then related the account of the Good Samaritan, in which the priest and Levite were helpless to aid the dying man because neither could keep the law that they represented. A saviour was needed. And a saviour was needed to lead the Israelites across Jordan. With the lawgiver dead, God had a saviour ready: Joshua. His name means ‘saviour’, in fact it is the same Name as our Saviour, Jesus.
Can we keep the Law? Only the greatest of folly and pride would dare to say yes. Do we need to keep the law? Unless the demands of the law are met, we die. Like Moses, we perish in our inability to keep the law. So how do we cross the Jordan into God’s blessing of eternal life? We have a Joshua. Jesus Christ has kept the law, fully meeting its demands and fully satisfying the God Who requires death for our transgressions. Like the Israelites who followed Joshua into the land of milk and honey, we enter eternal life by trusting our Saviour.
Although we can’t keep the law, we can trust our Saviour Who defeated the law’s claim. And we can follow Him in thankful obedience. – Jim MacIntosh
here is the link to the viodeo of this message: https://youtu.be/Cj26umVKmYc