Moshe's fate - a warning that obedience and remembering WHO is in charge is the key to pleasing our Creator

POOR MOSHE (Moses)!

Deuteronomy 32: 49 "Go up into the 'Avarim Range, to Mount N'vo, in the land of Mo'av across from Yericho; and look out over the land of Kena'an, which I am giving the people of Isra'el as a possession.

50 On the mountain you are ascending you will die and be gathered to your people, just as Aharon your brother died on Mount Hor and was gathered to his people.

51 The reason for this is that both of you broke faith with me there among the people of Isra'el at the M'rivat-Kadesh Spring, in the Tzin Desert; you failed to demonstrate my holiness there among the people of Isra'el. 52 So you will see the land from a distance, but you will not enter the land I am giving to the people of Isra'el." (CJB)

I always cry when we read Deuteronomy 32, because in it, we see Moshe - the holiest man on earth at the time - being told, after everything he did for YHWH, he would die there and not get to see the Promised Land, because he was guilty of "failing to demonstrate my holiness among the people of Israel"...

What this shows me is that our ELOHIM is NOT kidding around when it comes to obedience; that this "prayer and repentance is all that God requires" and "we're under grace" stuff that many exclaim is NOT what Scripture teaches! For some reason today, both Jews and Christians alike are under the erroneous impression that God is this loving, forgiving entity who doesn't really mind that we humans tend to sin, even when we know better.

WRONG! The entire Torah is replete with examples of people who lost their life due to willful disobedience! Those who broke the Shabbat were stoned to death (Numbers 15: 32-36). The earth swallowed up Korach (who led a revolt against God’s divinely appointed leaders) along with all the people who had sided with Korach, and we are told they went down alive into Sh'ol (Numbers 16).

Deuteronomy 27:26 tells us, "'A curse on anyone who does not confirm the words of this Torah by putting them into practice. 'All the people are to say, 'Amen!'" When did that ever change? It didn't change when Y'shua died!

Nothing changed when Y'shua died, except the need to offer the blood of innocent animals to atone for our sins. Torah (God's Divine Instructions in Righteousness) have always remained the same. Yes, most of those original 613 "commands" were for the Levite priests. Some were only for men, while others were only for women. Some were only for a time; but some were meant for as long as humans exist on earth (i.e., the Seventh Day Sabbath and the Feasts, many of which contain words to the effect of,, "throughout your generations as a permanent regulation".......

Example - Seventh Day Sabbath:

Exodus 31:16 The people of Isra'el are to keep the Shabbat, to observe Shabbat through all their generations as a perpetual covenant. 17 It is a sign between me and the people of Isra'el forever; for in six days ADONAI made heaven and earth, but on the seventh day he stopped working and rested.'"

Example - Sukkot/Tabernacles:

Leviticus 23:39-43: "'But on the fifteenth day of the seventh month, when you have gathered the produce of the land, you are to observe the festival of ADONAI seven days; the first day is to be a complete rest and the eighth day is to be a complete rest. On the first day you are to take choice fruit, palm fronds, thick branches and river-willows, and celebrate it in the presence of ADONAI your God for seven days. You are to observe it as a feast to ADONAI seven days in the year; it is a permanent regulation, generation after generation; keep it in the seventh month. You are to live in sukkot for seven days; every citizen of Isra'el is to live in a sukkah, so that generation after generation of you will know that I made the people of Isra'el live in sukkot when I brought them out of the land of Egypt; I am ADONAI your God.'"

Please take a minute to read Deuteronomy 28:1-15 to get a real sense that YHWH is not kidding around when it comes to obedience! If we proclaim to belong to YHWH, we cannot pick and choose what part of the Bible we wish to follow! Those who OBEY are blessed in every way, and those who do not, are cursed; it's as simple as that!

The above are just a few examples that reveal God is serious when it comes to obedience. Throughout Scripture we see that He expects love, respect and obedience from His people.

As a matter of fact, to please ADONAI, we must not only repent and turn from our sins, but from then on, we're also required to Sh'ma (hear AND obey)! Yeshua, in Mark 12:29 says: "The most important [mitzvah] is, "Sh'ma Yisra'el, ADONAI Eloheinu, ADONAI echad.'" Translated to English this becomes "Hear O Isra'el, the Lord our God, the Lord is One."

So, just how are you to "hear and do"? Well, Yeshua tells us,we are to "love ADONAI your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your understanding and with all your strength." Note He did NOT say: "You are to abandon Adonai, and follow what your own understanding, do the best you can but don't worry about it because I'll love you no matter what."

Like any good parent, YHWH only wants the best for us. All of His Divine Rules are designed to help us be holy and to live set apart lives for Him.

Let Moshe's fate be a warning that obedience and remembering WHO is in charge is the key to pleasing our Creator. It isn't that hard to do. All we have to do is "hear AND do" as we continue to read and study the Word which shows us how to live and prepares us for the world to come.