Exiles Seeking a Homeland

"And I pleaded with the LORD at that time, saying, 'O Lord GOD, you have only begun to show your servant your greatness and your mighty hand. For what god is there in heaven or on earth who can do such works and mighty acts as yours? Please let me go over and see the good land beyond the Jordan, that good hill country and Lebanon.'" (Deut. 3:23-25)

"These all died in faith, not having received the things promised, but having seen them and greeted them from afar, and having acknowledged that they were strangers and exiles on the earth. For people who speak thus make it clear that they are seeking a homeland. If they had been thinking of that land from which they had gone out, they would have had opportunity to return. But as it is, they desire a better country, that is, a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared for them a city." (Heb. 11:13-16) 

"We can hardly imagine the interest of Moses in Canaan. It was the land of the fathers — Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. It was the land God had chosen as the inheritance of Israel. It was the goal of forty years’ wanderings. It was at length, for the second time, and after a faithless generation had perished

in the wilderness, within their sight. It was not God’s will that Moses should live to see the conquest of Canaan."-  J. Denny, D.D.

 

In Deut. 33:23-25, Moses pleads with the LORD that revealed Himself and His name to him at the burning bush to allow him to go over and see the land beyond the Jordan. Because of the disbelief of the people and his own disobedience, Moses would never see the Promised Land that God commanded him and the people to conquest and possess. In verse 26, God gives his reply to Moses, "Enough from you; do not speak to me of this matter again." Moses never walked in the Promised Land, but God did allow Moses to catch a glimpse of the good hill country he desired to see. Immediately following God's clear and seemingly harsh response to Moses' plea, He commands Moses to go upon Mount Pisgah and see the land that he would never enter. As J. Denny expresses, we can hardly imagine Moses' disappointment. His sin and the disbelief and disobedience of Israel forfeited his life's work and purpose. Let's not forget Moses' calling:
 

"Go and gather the elders of Israel together and say to them, 'The LORD, the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, of Isaac, and of Jacob, has appeared to me, saying, "I have observed you and what has been done to you in Egypt, and I promise that I will bring you up out of the affliction of Egypt to the land of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Amorites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites, a land flowing with milk and honey."' (Ex. 3:16-17)

 

These are hard things to consider when you believe in a God who is faithful to keep His promises. How could God call Moses to lead the Israelites out of Egypt, promise that He will bring them to Canaan, then tell Moses to climb a mountain, take a good look around, and know that he will never enter the Promised Land? I assure you, Moses saw the Promised Land before Israel ever crossed the Jordan. Moses never set foot in Canaan, but he finally set foot in the better country he was seeking after. The author of Hebrews expounds the story of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and Moses, and tells us that, "These all died in faith, not having received the things promised, but having seen them and greeted them from afar, and having acknowledged that they were strangers and exiles on the earth."

 

Moses did not receive the thing promised. Moses' life's work was to be handed to another man and God made it very clear that Joshua would accomplish what Moses failed to. Moses, however, did not die an angry, bitter, despondent, and betrayed man. Deut. 34:7 tells us, "Moses was 120 years old when he died. His eye was undimmed, and his vigor unabated." The author of Hebrews tells us that he died in faith, having acknowledged that he was a stranger and exile on the earth. Moses' plea shows that he desired a better country. He did not want to die in the wilderness. He just wanted to cross the Jordan, and experience one more mighty act of God before he died. Keeping Hebrews 11 in mind, God's response is not harsh at all but is very gracious and loving. Moses' pleading seems to reveal a lack of faith wherein Moses' sight veered away from the bronze snake on a pole (cf. Num. 21, John 3:14-16), and was only seeking an earthly place to call his home. His life needed an earthly accomplishment; a worldly taste of satisfaction for 120 years of service to God. Or so Moses thought.

 

Moses' desire to cross the Jordan was a desire to find an earthly country to call home, and God corrects Moses and sets his eyes on a new direction. Just before he dies, Moses ascends Mount Pisgah one last time. Keep in mind, Moses is now 120 years old. The Scriptures record:

 

"Then Moses went up from the plains of Moab to Mount Nebo, to the top of Pisgah, which is opposite Jericho. And the LORD showed him all the land, Gilead as far as Dan, all Naphtali, the land of Ephraim and Manasseh, all the land of Judah as far as the western sea, the Negeb, and the Plain, that is, the Valley of Jericho the city of palm trees, as far as Zoar. And the LORD said to him, 'This is the land of which I swore to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, "I will give it to your offspring." I have let you see it with your eyes, but you shall not go over there.'" (Deut. 34:1-4)

 

Moses saw the Promised Land and greeted it from afar, and the last thing he did before he died in faith was acknowledge that he was a stranger and exile on earth but that he was coming home to a better country, that is, a heavenly one. After 120 years, Moses died in peace and in faith knowing that the Christ would be born in the Promised Land and that He would redeem God's people from their sins. He knew the Christ would impute perfect righteousness to God's people by fulfilling the Law that God wrote on two tablets of stone on Mount Sinai and gave to him and that He would bear the sins of God's people to death, being cursed to hang on a tree for their iniquities (cf. Deut. 21:23, Gal. 3:13). Moses died knowing that he was a part of redemptive history, and that he played a pivotal role in the Biblical narrative of Christ and Him crucified.

A couple thousand years after Moses died, another child was born in Bethlehem that the earthly ruler of the country wanted dead. This child, Jesus of Nazareth, was taken to Egypt by his parents at the command of an angel in order to spare the child's life from Herod. Calvin writes:

 

"Above all, let us never avoid the cross, by which the Son of God himself was trained from his earliest infancy. This flight is a part of the foolishness of the cross, but it surpasses all the wisdom of the world. That he may appear at his own time as the Savior of Judea, he is compelled to flee from it, and is nourished by Egypt, from which nothing but what was destructive to the Church of God had ever proceeded. Who would not have regarded with amazement such an unexpected work of God?"

However, there was another who was nourished by Egypt as an infant. There was another who was raised for a period in Egypt who set God's people free from bondage and slavery. It is clear that Moses is a type of Christ, and I do not doubt that he saw more than just land as he stood upon Mount Pisgah before dying. He would never set food in Canaan, but he has reached the true Promised Land, the City of God, that city and country in which God dwells with His people, a place where He wipes away every tear from their eyes, death is no more, and there is no more mourning, crying, and pain (Rev. 21:3-4). The author of Hebrews tells us that Moses acknowledged that he was an exile, a sojourner in a foreign land, and that he died in faith seeking a better country, a heavenly one.

Therefore, ask yourself: Are you pleading with God to go over and see your land beyond the Jordan or are you seeking a better country, a heavenly one, with eyes of faith? Have you come to peace that you will never find the rest and home you seek in this life, and have you acknowledged that you are and always will be an exile and stranger on this earth? Are you keeping your eyes on the cross, knowing that a City is being prepared for you, or are you constantly pleading with God to see an earthly city to call home? Remember God's words to Moses, "Enough from you; do not speak to me of this matter again." Stop looking for the better country in this life and on this earth. God has a far greater Promised Land than this earth has to offer, and you shall not only see it one glorious day, but if you are resting in the finished work of Christ by faith then you shall set foot in it with Moses, with Abraham, with Isaac, and with Jacob. We are exiles and sojourners seeking a homeland, and Christ is bringing it to us, "prepared as a bride adorned for her husband" (Rev. 21:2). "Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared for them a city" (Heb. 11:16). Greet it from afar for you shall one day set foot in it, believer. Die in faith, and find rest with Moses, exile. You see the Promised Land off in the distance, and you will die before you set foot in it, but set foot in it you shall, nevertheless.

"For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain." (Phil. 1:21)