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Patriarchs and Prophets
heaven, for the dew, and for the deep that coucheth beneath, and for
the precious fruits brought forth by the sun, ... and for the chief things
of the ancient mountains, ... and for the precious things of the earth
and fullness thereof.”
Moses saw the chosen people established in Canaan, each of the
tribes in its own possession. He had a view of their history after the
settlement of the Promised Land; the long, sad story of their apostasy
and its punishment was spread out before him. He saw them, because
of their sins, dispersed among the heathen, the glory departed from
Israel, her beautiful city in ruins, and her people captives in strange
lands. He saw them restored to the land of their fathers, and at last
brought under the dominion of Rome.
He was permitted to look down the stream of time and behold the
first advent of our Saviour. He saw Jesus as a babe in Bethlehem. He
heard the voices of the angelic host break forth in the glad song of
praise to God and peace on earth. He beheld in the heavens the star
guiding the Wise Men of the East to Jesus, and a great light flooded
his mind as he called those prophetic words, “There shall come a Star
out of Jacob, and a Scepter shall rise out of Israel.”
Numbers 24:17
.
He beheld Christ’s humble life in Nazareth, His ministry of love and
sympathy and healing, His rejection by a proud, unbelieving nation.
Amazed he listened to their boastful exaltation of the law of God,
while they despised and rejected Him by whom the law was given. He
saw Jesus upon Olivet as with weeping He bade farewell to the city of
His love. As Moses beheld the final rejection of that people so highly
blessed of Heaven—that people for whom he had toiled and prayed
and sacrificed, for whom he had been willing that his own name should
be blotted from the book of life; as he listened to those fearful words,
“Behold your house is left unto you desolate” (
Matthew 23:38
), his
heart was wrung with anguish, and bitter tears fell from his eyes, in
sympathy with the sorrow of the Son of God.
He followed the Saviour to Gethsemane, and beheld the agony in
the garden, the betrayal, the mockery and scourging—the crucifixion.
Moses saw that as he had lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so the
Son of God must be lifted up, that whosoever would believe on Him
“should not perish, but have eternal life.”
John 3:15
. Grief, indignation,
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and horror filled the heart of Moses as he viewed the hypocrisy and
satanic hatred manifested by the Jewish nation against their Redeemer,