Perfect things

Moses lived a long and interesting life. He spoke with the Lord face to face (Ex 33:11, “And the LORD spake unto Moses face to face, as a man speaketh unto his friend.”) He would be one of the most qualified people in history to tell us about the Lord and His character. Towards the end of his life Moses composed a Psalm of praise to the Lord. If we read that we can get some insight into a man who knew the Lord God as a friend and learn some lessons for our lives because we, who believe in the Lord Jesus Christ as Saviour are the Lord’s friends as well (see John 15:13–15, “Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends. Ye are my friends, if ye do whatsoever I command you. Henceforth I call you not servants; for the servant knoweth not what his lord doeth: but I have called you friends; for all things that I have heard of my Father I have made known unto you.”)

Deuteronomy 32: 1-6, “Give ear, O ye heavens, and I will speak; and hear, O earth, the words of my mouth. My doctrine shall drop as the rain, my speech shall distil as the dew, as the small rain upon the tender herb, and as the showers upon the grass: Because I will publish the name of the LORD: ascribe ye greatness unto our God. He is the Rock, his work is perfect: for all his ways are judgment: a God of truth and without iniquity, just and right is he. They have corrupted themselves, their spot is not the spot of his children: they are a perverse and crooked generation. Do ye thus requite the LORD, O foolish people and unwise? is not he thy father that hath bought thee? hath he not made thee, and established thee?”

Before we look at the Psalm that Moses wrote to the Lord it is a good idea to look at his life so that we can understand the context of the Psalm.

There are extra biblical sources that give quite a lot of information about Moses’ life but, as Moses wrote the first five book of the Bible, we can find autobiographical information about him from the Bible (see John 7:19, “Did not Moses give you the law, and yet none of you keepeth the law? Why go ye about to kill me?”) These books were inspired by God and contain information that is valuable for readers today.

We know that Moses was born to Israeli parents during a time when Pharaoh was trying to commit genocide on the Jews by demanding that all the Israeli boys should be killed at birth. Moses’ mother, Jochebed, refused to kill her son and hid him inside her home for three months. After that she put Moses in a waterproof ark and placed her child in the river, trusting the Lord to care for him (see Heb 11:23, “By faith Moses, when he was born, was hid three months of his parents, because they saw he was a proper child; and they were not afraid of the king’s commandment.”)

Moses was adopted into Pharaoh’s household and grew up there. He was, however, wet nursed by his mother during his early years and she was able to teach him about the Lord God and the promises that the Lord made to Abraham. When Moses became an adult, he identified with his own people, even though he had many opportunities to succeed as an Egyptian prince (Heb 11:24–27, “By faith Moses, when he was come to years, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter; Choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God, than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season; Esteeming the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures in Egypt: for he had respect unto the recompence of the reward. By faith he forsook Egypt, not fearing the wrath of the king: for he endured, as seeing him who is invisible.”)

Moses left Egypt after he committed murder and lived in Midian and married there. He looked after his father in law’s sheep while he was there. At one stage Moses saw an incredible sight. He saw a bush that was burning but it wasn’t being consumed by the fire. When Moses saw this sight he went to have a closer look an the Lord spoke to him from the burning bush. The Lord told Moses to bring His people Israel out of Egypt. Moses did what the Lord said and led the people out after the Lord performed a series of miracles. After Israel had been in the wilderness for a short period of time the Egyptian armies chased after Israel and the Lord miraculously destroyed Egypt’s armies.

After that Moses spent forty days on top of Mount Sinai (Ex 24:18, “And Moses went into the midst of the cloud, and gat him up into the mount: and Moses was in the mount forty days and forty nights.”) Speaking to the Lord and receiving the Law. At that stage he asked the Lord if he could see the Lord’s glory (Ex 33:18–23, “And he said, I beseech thee, shew me thy glory. And he said, I will make all my goodness pass before thee, and I will proclaim the name of the LORD before thee; and will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and will shew mercy on whom I will shew mercy. And he said, Thou canst not see my face: for there shall no man see me, and live. And the LORD said, Behold, there is a place by me, and thou shalt stand upon a rock: And it shall come to pass, while my glory passeth by, that I will put thee in a clift of the rock, and will cover thee with my hand while I pass by: And I will take away mine hand, and thou shalt see my back parts: but my face shall not be seen.”) This means that Moses had a closer relationship with the Lord God than any other man before the Lord Jesus Christ came.

Moses was attacked by his brother and sister (see Num 12:1–3, “And Miriam and Aaron spake against Moses because of the Ethiopian woman whom he had married: for he had married an Ethiopian woman. And they said, Hath the LORD indeed spoken only by Moses? hath he not spoken also by us? And the LORD heard it. (Now the man Moses was very meek, above all the men which were upon the face of the earth.)”) Moses was a meek man, this is not the same as being humble. Moses knew that the Lord had called him and he knew that the Lord trusted him to carry out the task so Moses didn’t fight for himself because he trusted the Lord to carry out the work that the Lord called Moses to do. Moses knew that the Lord would not forsake him and would keep him throughout the course of his life.

Later there were other rebels who attacked Moses and tried to relieve him of his leadership of Israel but the Lord intervened and kept Moses and Israel safe from these evil men.

However, Moses sinned when the Lord told him to speak to the rock and bring forth water (see Num 20:11–12, “And Moses lifted up his hand, and with his rod he smote the rock twice: and the water came out abundantly, and the congregation drank, and their beasts also. And the LORD spake unto Moses and Aaron, Because ye believed me not, to sanctify me in the eyes of the children of Israel, therefore ye shall not bring this congregation into the land which I have given them.”) For that reason Moses was allowed to lead the people to the borders of the Promised Land and then he had to pass the leadership on to his assistant. (Deut 3:23–27, “And I besought the LORD at that time, saying, O Lord GOD, thou hast begun to shew thy servant thy greatness, and thy mighty hand: for what God is there in heaven or in earth, that can do according to thy works, and according to thy might? I pray thee, let me go over, and see the good land that is beyond Jordan, that goodly mountain, and Lebanon. But the LORD was wroth with me for your sakes, and would not hear me: and the LORD said unto me, Let it suffice thee; speak no more unto me of this matter. Get thee up into the top of Pisgah, and lift up thine eyes westward, and northward, and southward, and eastward, and behold it with thine eyes: for thou shalt not go over this Jordan.”)

Deuteronomy is a record of Moses last dealings with the nation that he had led out of slavery. The Psalm in ch 32 is the end of the section,which began with the early chapters as its preamble. When Moses spoke these words he was well aware of the fact that the Lord was not allowing him to enter into the Promised Land.

Moses called to creation to bear witness to his remarks. His teaching was like the rain coming down from heaven to refresh the earth and bring life. He used a Hebrew poetical device by repeating the same idea in a few different ways to emphasise his words. His main goal, in writing this psalm, was to let creation know about the Lord and the Lord’s greatness. In fact, he called on the entire creation to acknowledge the Lord’s greatness and to proclaim it as well.

The Rock is associated with permanence, security and provision. in fact, the Jews believed that the Rock followed them through the wilderness (see 1 Cor 10:4, “And did all drink the same spiritual drink: for they drank of that spiritual Rock that followed them: and that Rock was Christ.”) Moses knew that the Lord was Israel’s security and provision.

Even though Moses knew he would not be allowed to enter the Promised Land and he had submitted to the Lord in that regard, he still proclaimed that the Lord’s work is perfect. Noah was known to be a perfect man (Gen 6:8–9, “But Noah found grace in the eyes of the LORD. These are the generations of Noah: Noah was a just man and perfect in his generations, and Noah walked with God.”) He was perfect because he walked with God. In contrast to this the church at Sardis was found not to have perfect works (Rev 3:2, “Be watchful, and strengthen the things which remain, that are ready to die: for I have not found thy works perfect before God.”) When it comes to God, however the fact that His works are perfect means that any careful examination of his works by a person of faith will show that His works are absolutely without fault. Moses spent the majority of his life living by faith in the Lord God. At the end of his life he could look back and say that the Lord didn’t ever do anything that was, in any way, evil. Any person, by faith, can trust the Lord and rejoice in the fact that He is pure and compassionate in every action. Near the beginning of this sermon Moses said the Lord acted for good (Deut 8:16, “Who fed thee in the wilderness with manna, which thy fathers knew not, that he might humble thee, and that he might prove thee, to do thee good at thy latter end;”) even though Israel spent forty years in the wilderness.

Everything that the Lord does will stand up to the most precise scrutiny because He is the source and the definition of all truth. The Lord is just and right. When things go wrong it is because people refuse to accept that the Lord only does perfect things and they go against His wisdom.

We know that the Lord Jesus Christ is God (John 1:1, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.”) and that the Lord Jesus Christ remains the same throughout time and eternity (Heb 13:8, “Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and to day, and for ever.”) The apostle Paul referred to this same idea (Rom 8:28, “And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.”)

The Lord Jesus Christ is alive and at work today and we know that His work is perfect. Whatever He does, He will always remain consistent and we can rejoice in the fact that He only does perfect things. One day, He will return to take us to be with Himself forever (1 Thes 4:16–17, “For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord.”) We can take comfort from and rejoice in the fact that He will continue with his perfect works as we move from the old heavens and the old earth to eternity in the new heaven and the new earth.