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The Story of Redemption
unto the utmost sea, and the south, and the plain of the valley of
Jericho, the city of palm trees, unto Zoar. And the Lord said unto
him, This is the land which I sware unto Abraham, unto Isaac, and
unto Jacob, saying, I will give it unto thy seed: I have caused thee to
see it with thine eyes, but thou shalt not go over thither. So Moses
the servant of the Lord died there in the land of Moab, according to
the word of the Lord. And He buried him in a valley in the land of
Moab, over against Beth-peor: but no man knoweth of his sepulchre
unto this day. And Moses was an hundred and twenty years old
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when he died: his eye was not dim, nor his natural force abated.”
Deuteronomy 34:1-7
.
It was not the will of God that anyone should go up with Moses
to the top of Pisgah. There he stood, upon a high prominence on
Pisgah’s top, in the presence of God and heavenly angels. After
he had viewed Canaan to his satisfaction, he lay down, like a tired
warrior, to rest. Sleep came upon him, but it was the sleep of death.
Angels took his body and buried it in the valley. The Israelites could
never find the place where he was buried. His secret burial was to
prevent the people from sinning against the Lord by committing
idolatry over his body.
Satan exulted that he had succeeded in causing Moses to sin
against God. For this transgression Moses came under the dominion
of death. If he had continued faithful, and his life had not been
marred with that one transgression, in failing to give God the glory
of bringing water from the rock, he would have entered the Promised
Land, and would have been translated to heaven without seeing
death. Michael, or Christ, with the angels that buried Moses, came
down from heaven, after he had remained in the grave a short time,
and resurrected him and took him to heaven.
As Christ and the angels approached the grave, Satan and his
angels appeared at the grave and were guarding the body of Moses,
lest it should be removed. As Christ and His angels drew nigh, Satan
resisted their approach, but was compelled, by the glory and power
of Christ and His angels, to fall back. Satan claimed the body of
Moses, because of his one transgression; but Christ meekly referred
him to His Father, saying, “The Lord rebuke thee.”
Jude 1:9
. Christ
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told Satan that He knew Moses had humbly repented of this one
wrong, that no stain rested upon his character, and that his name