Moses in the New Testament

You have riches and glory in your hands if you have a good Christian Bible in your hands right now. Men of God wrote as they were lead by the Holy Spirit to bring the Word of God to every generation to benefit from.

Please note that the first mention of the man Moses in the New Testament is found in the book of Matthew chapter 17. Moses is the man who is the central figure in the Old Testament and his presence is found throughout the New Testament. He is a man who most people in the world hold in great esteem and wonder, even those who do not profess faith must be in awe of this man of God, leader and prophet to his people. Under the Most High’s specific instructions, he lead the Hebrew nation out of bondage, coming out of Eypgt; Moses, the man who by any standard other than the calling of the Most High God, would have been an also-ran at best to even his fellow Hebrew brethren, carried the torch if you will and lead the people of God out of the land of bondage, Egypt, and carried them forth into the desert, with the Egyptian army in ruins, bringing them forth in hope under the mighty hand of God.

The first mention of Moses in the New Testament is in what is known as the encounter at the mount of transfiguration, wherein Jesus, with his disciples present and that is significant, was transfigured and His face shone like the sun and His clothes became as white as the light. The only descriptors that come close to that one in Matthew are probably only found in the book of Revelation.

The disciple of Jesus we know as Peter had a great suggestion (at least he thought his idea was a good one) at the height of this time of transfiguration, but he was trying to hard obviously to come up with something that would honor all three men of God so he reacted if you will by suggesting ‘booths’ one for Jesus, one for Moses, and one for Elijah, perhaps reminiscent of the festival of booths observance we read about in the Old Testament.

Jesus being wise do not rebuke Peter, and he didn’t even tap Peter on the shoulder to preempt his speech, because a bright cloud overshadowed them and a voice from the cloud said, “this is my beloved Son in whom I am delighted: listen to Him.”

There is no WOW moment that gets any bigger than this right? All of the disciples heard the voice from the cloud, knew it was the Father and they were in great fear, but of course Jesus knew what to do; he came forward and touched them and said, “stand up and have no fear.”  The disciples were obedient to Jesus and raised their eyes and they saw no one except for Jesus alone.

The theological implications of what I just described in brief are numerous, but dissertation is not needed here.

Moses, Elijah, two of the most reverent and powerful men of God we can imagine up until the arrival of Jesus on earth, were there with Jesus and there was transfiguration of the raiment of Jesus and his whole being. What this first reminds of me is what is described in I Cor 15:49: And just as we have borne the likeness of the earthly one, so we shall bear the likeness of the heavenly One.

Think of it, one day we shall be as Jesus is now if we follow the path he has made for us through instruction of His Word and the Holy Spirit which is the ‘down-payment’ of our inheritance in the faith that is our proud hope and has been witnessed by generations of them that are now passed but ‘believed in God’ until the end.

Moses mention in New Testament is worthy of study and I have hardly started that kind of study myself, but you will find yourself blessed in studying Moses whether you find him in the Old or New Testament.

In the meantime, remember that we now bear the image of the earthy (like Adam), but one day we shall bear the image of the one who loved us and saved us from the power of sin and darkness; Jesus, in shining raiment, on the mount of transfiguration; no fear; the Father saying for the benefit of the disciples and all followers of Jesus from every generation to the present day.

BELOVED SON.

HEAR him JESUS.

The privilege we have is unfathomable, the length and breadth and depth of our faith cannot be measured.