LA VIE DE MOÏSE HOMME DE DIEU

CHRIST THE ROCK CONGREGATION

DIMANCHE 2 MARS 2025

Sermon by Pastor Marc Simeon

AN OVERVIEW OF THE LIFE OF MOSES

UN SURVOL SUR LA VIE DE MOÏSE

Deutéronome 34 :1—8 

De 34:1 ¶ Moïse monta des plaines de Moab sur le mont Nebo, au sommet du Pisga, vis-à-vis de Jéricho. Et l’Éternel lui fit voir tout le pays: (34:2) Galaad jusqu’à Dan,

 2 tout Nephthali, le pays d’Éphraïm et de Manassé, tout le pays de Juda jusqu’à la mer occidentale,

 3 le midi, les environs du Jourdain, la vallée de Jéricho, la ville des palmiers, jusqu’à Tsoar.

 4 L’Éternel lui dit: C’est là le pays que j’ai juré de donner à Abraham, à Isaac et à Jacob, en disant: Je le donnerai à ta postérité. Je te l’ai fait voir de tes yeux; mais tu n’y entreras point.

 5 ¶ Moïse, serviteur de l’Éternel, mourut là, dans le pays de Moab, selon l’ordre de l’Éternel.

 6 Et l’Éternel l’enterra dans la vallée, au pays de Moab, vis-à-vis de Beth-Peor. Personne n’a connu son sépulcre jusqu’à ce jour.

 7 Moïse était âgé de cent vingt ans lorsqu’il mourut; sa vue n’était point affaiblie, et sa vigueur n’était point passée.

 8 Les enfants d’Israël pleurèrent Moïse pendant trente jours, dans les plaines de Moab; et ces jours de pleurs et de deuil sur Moïse arrivèrent à leur terme.

De 34:1 ¶ Then Moses went up from the plains of Moab to Mount Nebo, to the top of Pisgah, which is across from Jericho. And the LORD showed him all the land of Gilead as far as Dan,

 2 all Naphtali and the land of Ephraim and Manasseh, all the land of Judah as far as the Western Sea,

 3 the South, and the plain of the Valley of Jericho, the city of palm trees, as far as Zoar.

 4 Then the LORD said to him, “This is the land of which I swore to give Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, saying, ‘I will give it to your descendants.’ I have caused you to see it  with your eyes, but you shall not cross over there.”

 5 ¶ So Moses the servant of the LORD died there in the land of Moab, according to the word of the LORD.

 6 And He buried him in a valley in the land of Moab, opposite Beth Peor; but no one knows his grave to this day.

 7 Moses was one hundred and twenty years old when he died. His eyes were not dim nor his natural vigor diminished.

 8 And the children of Israel wept for Moses in the plains of Moab thirty days. So the days of weeping and mourning for Moses ended.

INTRODUCTION

• Today we’re going to talk about one of the most influential man that ever walked the face of this earth.
• We will be talking about Moses
• Moses was not just a biblical character, but a legendary leader who reshaped the landscape of human civilization and history.
• Next to Abraham and Jacob, Moses is held to the highest esteem by the Jews even in this present age.
• All the odds were against Moses since his birth.
• He was supposed to be killed immediately after his birth because he was a boy and not a girl.
• Per order of the pharaoh, the midwives were instructed to end the lives of the Jewish boys as they were coming out from their mother’s womb, fearing that they could later be threat to the Egyptians.

THE BIRTH OF MOSES

Ex 2:1 ¶ And a man of the house of Levi went and took as wife a daughter of Levi.

 2 So the woman conceived and bore a son. And when she saw that he was a beautiful child, she hid him three months.

 3 But when she could no longer hide him, she took an ark of bulrushes for him, daubed it with asphalt and pitch, put the child in it, and laid it in the reeds by the river’s bank.

• Moses narrowly escaped the first danger of being butchered at birth, but danger was already tagged to him by default because of his destiny to be the liberator of the Jews.
• His mom decided to nurse him secretly by hiding him in the river on a basket. During the day.

MOSES SAVED FROM THE WATER

• His big sister Miriam was watching him from the shore. The only thing baby Moses had to do was to keep quiet and everything would be fine; but can a baby adhere to that rule?
• Ex 2:5 ¶ Then the daughter of Pharaoh came down to bathe at the river. And her maidens walked along the riverside; and when she saw the ark among the reeds, she sent her maid to get it.
• The worst case scenario unfolded on that fateful day that the daughter of the Pharaoh decided to bathe in the very river was Moses was hidden.
• Mariam kept her fingers crossed hoping that the princess would just pass by minding her own business.
• The ark was spotted and before long the princess was holding Moses in her hands.
• Oh no! Miriam was frozen with emotion. If she risked attending her little brother, that could cost both of their lives and that of her family members.
• Ex 2:6 And when she had opened it, she saw the child, and behold, the baby wept. So she had compassion on him, and said, “This is one of the Hebrews’ children.”
• Indeed, there was a beautiful baby boy in the basket, but he was a Jew.
• Miriam was watching every move of the princess to know what to report to her parents.
• What? The princess decided to keep him.
• Now that’s interesting!
• Miriam quickly made her way to the scene, pretending to be an onlooker.
• Ex 2:7 Then his sister said to Pharaoh’s daughter, “Shall I go and call a nurse for you from the Hebrew women, that she may nurse the child for you?”
•  8 And Pharaoh’s daughter said to her, “Go.” So the maiden went and called the child’s mother.
• This is what the ‘s providence can do.
• We have so much fear of the unknown but God works best when man reaches the end of their ropes.
• Moses received an immediate adoption from the first family of the land of Egypt.
• Ex 2:9 Then Pharaoh’s daughter said to her, “Take this child away and nurse him for me, and I will give you your wages.” So the woman took the child and nursed him.
•  10 And the child grew, and she brought him to Pharaoh’s daughter, and he became her son. So she called his name Moses, saying, “Because I drew him out of the water.”
• Moses who was inches away from the sword of the pharaoh will now be raised as a prince in the very house of the pharaoh. What a marvelous God we serve!
• As we can see, Moses had escaped the second odd all the way to adulthood.

MOSES INDENTIFIES HIMSELF AS A JEW

Heb 11:24-25 By faith Moses, when he became of age, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter,

25 choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God than to enjoy the passing pleasures of sin,

 Heb 11 : 24-25 C’est par la foi que Moïse, devenu grand, refusa d’être appelé fils de la fille de Pharaon,

25 aimant mieux être maltraité avec le peuple de Dieu que d’avoir pour un temps la jouissance du péché,

• Some years later, while most people could be struggling with an identity crisis, Moses was already resolute to identify himself as a Jew at the mercy of losing all the fringe benefits associated with been the son of the princess. 
• Moses defended a Jew by killing the Egyptian who was harassing him.
• What Moses though would be a secret act of benevolence from his part toward a fellow Jew had turned against him.
• No one was willing to shield Moses from danger; even his own Jewish counterparts conspired against him and the news got to the ears of the Pharaoh.
• Moses had to flea for his life to the land of Midian.

MOSES THE FUGITIVE

Ex 2:15 When Pharaoh heard of this matter, he sought to kill Moses. But Moses fled from the face of Pharaoh and dwelt in the land of Midian; and he sat down by a well.

 15 Pharaon apprit ce qui s’était passé, et il cherchait à faire mourir Moïse. Mais Moïse s’enfuit de devant Pharaon, et il se retira dans le pays de Madian, où il s’arrêta près d’un puits.

• On the day before, Moses was registered as a prince in the Egyptian Empire, on the day after; he was a fugitive running for his life.
• The arrival of Moses to Midian and how he was welcome in the house of Jethro who later became his father-in-law was nothing short than the providence of God in action.
• There in Midian, Moses found some solace and calmness. He established himself, started a family, but the odds were still against him.
• Moses must have felt divorced from his destiny by becoming just a simple shepherd in the back side of the desert in consideration to his upbringing, his high education and exposures to all the wisdom of Egypt.
• Fair is fair, at least he is no longer a fugitive; he had a job and he was loved by his wife and his in-laws.
• Moses’ curiosity caused him to walk in God’s trap while investigating a phenomenon.

THE CALLING OF MOSES

Ex 3:1 ¶ Moïse faisait paître le troupeau de Jéthro, son beau-père, sacrificateur de Madian; et il mena le troupeau derrière le désert, et vint à la montagne de Dieu, à Horeb.

 2 L’ange de l’Éternel lui apparut dans une flamme de feu, au milieu d’un buisson. Moïse regarda; et voici, le buisson était tout en feu, et le buisson ne se consumait point.

• A tree blazing with fire that produced no smoke seemed absurd to Moses.
• The phenomena of the burning bush called for a closer observation. Moses went for it, but it was a trap. Curiosity kills the cat.
• God lured Moses right to Him and life would never be the same again for Moses.
• At the age of 80 years old, Moses finally got arrested not by the Pharaoh but by God.
• Moses and his family would soon find themselves embarking toward Egypt in spite of all his attempts to shy away from the assignment.

THE RETURN OF MOSES TO EGYPT

Ex 3:19-20 Je sais que le roi d’Égypte ne vous laissera point aller, si ce n’est par une main puissante.

 20 J’étendrai ma main, et je frapperai l’Égypte par toutes sortes de prodiges que je ferai au milieu d’elle. Après quoi, il vous laissera aller.

Ex 3:19 “But I am sure that the king of Egypt will not let you go, no, not even by a mighty hand.

 20 “So I will stretch out My hand and strike Egypt with all My wonders which I will do in its midst; and after that he will let you go.

• Moses had already lived a double set of 40 years of his life, the first one in Egypt and the second in Midian.
• While Moses had every right to contemplate retirement, he still had another of 40 years to live on earth before his mission would be completed.
• The third trimester of Moses’ life was by far the most challenging and the most fulfilling one.
• Moses would soon find himself bumping heads with the pharaoh, demanding him to let God’s people go.
• Ten plagues later, as the Egyptians were lamenting the death of their first born sons throughout the Land, Moses was leading a caravan of an excess of two million people and cattle and sheep, and all sorts out of Egypt.
• The odds were still up against Moses, the pharaoh changed his mind about letting the Israelites go.
• Before the escaping Jews had a chance to cross the Red Sea and bid their final farewell to Egypt, Pharaoh and his army were already closing in on them in aim to lead them back to slavery in Egypt.
• God took over for Moses and caused Pharaoh and his army to perish in the middle of the Red Sea while the Children of Israel made it safely across.

THE PILGRIMMAGE TO THE PROMISED LAND THROUGH THE DESERT

• Moses’ troubles did not end with the passing of the Red Sea.
• Moses’ life became even more odious in his effort to cope with his fellow Jews on their march to the Promised Land.
• In several attempts, the people wanted to stone him to name themselves another leader to head back to Egypt.
• The situation got very heated for Moses in the desert with an ever complaining, ungrateful, irritable, and disrespectful crowd of people demanding him for water and food as if it was Moses’ idea to lead them to the desert in the first place.
• Just like the rest of would be, Moses became fed-up; in his irritation, Moses hit the rock a second time with much rage.
• He was just suppose to speak to it this second time.
• That was a big mistake because the rock was a figure of The Christ to come who was only to be bruised once and for all.
• Symbolically, it was as putting Christ to death a second time which goes against the divine counsel of God.
• As minuscule as the offense appears to be, the consequences were significant.
• Consequently, both Moses and Aaron were forbidden to set foot on the Promised Land, in spite of the fact that God never dissociated with them.
• Moses the Great Legislator and the legendary leader of the Jewish nation had to wrap up his work in the Eastern side of the Jordan River, which is the last frontier to the Promised Land.
• God granted Moses’ wish partially to explore Canaan from afar, but he was not allowed in.

THE FINAL DAYS OF MOSES

De 34:1 ¶ Moïse monta des plaines de Moab sur le mont Nebo, au sommet du Pisga, vis-à-vis de Jéricho. Et l’Éternel lui fit voir tout le pays: (34:2) Galaad jusqu’à Dan,

 2 tout Nephthali, le pays d’Éphraïm et de Manassé, tout le pays de Juda jusqu’à la mer occidentale,

 3 le midi, les environs du Jourdain, la vallée de Jéricho, la ville des palmiers, jusqu’à Tsoar.

 4 L’Éternel lui dit: C’est là le pays que j’ai juré de donner à Abraham, à Isaac et à Jacob, en disant: Je le donnerai à ta postérité. Je te l’ai fait voir de tes yeux; mais tu n’y entreras point.

 5 ¶ Moïse, serviteur de l’Éternel, mourut là, dans le pays de Moab, selon l’ordre de l’Éternel.

 6 Et l’Éternel l’enterra dans la vallée, au pays de Moab, vis-à-vis de Beth-Peor. Personne n’a connu son sépulcre jusqu’à ce jour.

 7 Moïse était âgé de cent vingt ans lorsqu’il mourut; sa vue n’était point affaiblie, et sa vigueur n’était point passée.

 8 Les enfants d’Israël pleurèrent Moïse pendant trente jours, dans les plaines de Moab; et ces jours de pleurs et de deuil sur Moïse arrivèrent à leur terme.

• No funeral would be held for Moses because God was very cautious about it.
• The remains of Moses would become a stumbling block that could lead future generations to spiritual adultery.
• His dead body would probably continue to emit divine radiation from all these close encounters he had with God like in the case of Prophet Elisha, whose corpse caused the resurrection of a dead soldier.
• The Israelites even worshiped the bronze serpent that Moses erected in the desert for generations.
• Imagine what they would do if they could spot the body of Moses. It would probably be resting in some museum in a foreign country right now.

REFLEXION

• The sunrise and the sunset of the life of Moses and everything in between have many similarities to the lives of all of those who are entrusted with great missions on earth.
• The odds will always manifest early and throughout his life’s span.
• The enemy will continue to try to steer such a person away from the will of God in efforts to abort his missions.
• Nothing in life made sense to Moses until he finally got the full picture.
• The life of Moses would have been a big waste if it ended in Midian.
• God carefully orchestrates all the happenings in the lives of his servants to foster the highest output.  
• God will not spare any challenge that can gear you and me to the right direction.
• Nothing surprises God; the people who are active in your life and the people who are absent are all part of the mission.
• The privileges and the misfortunes that one endures in life are part of the mission.
• The closed doors and the open doors in one’s life are part of God’s program.
• Age is no issue to God.
• Danger is no issue to God.
• Lack is no issue to God.
• Obedience, faith and courage are all that matter for God to maximize your life to its full potential.
• Don’t worry about your funeral arrangements, God already got that under control.
• Finish the race! Get as far as you can in the direction of your destiny.
• If you are unable to finish the race to cross the people to the Promised Land, do your best to get them as close to it as possible.
• Raise others to finish the race after you.
• Give your all and pave the future favorably for the coming generation.
• Moses took that last solitary walk to meet God on the Mount of Moab, to behold Canaan and to end his days on earth.
• How long did he stay up there until his death, no one knows.
• One could argue whether or not Moses really died or whether he was taken away alive to heaven like Enoch and Elijah.
• He showed up along with Elijah at the transfiguration of Jesus.
• Wow! What a life well lived!
• What a life well accomplished!
• May God take hold of all of us and use us for His highest glory like he did in the case of Moses!
• AMEN!