Then the Lord said to him, “This is the land which I swore to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, saying, ‘I will give it to your descendants’; I have let you see it with your eyes, but you will not go over there.” (v. 4)

For the Law was given through Moses; grace and truth were realized through Jesus Christ. (John 1 :17)

The Law came in so that the offense would increase; but where sin increased, grace abounded all the more, so that, as sin reigned in death, so also grace would reign through righteousness to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. (Romans 5:20-21)

But the Lord said to Moses and Aaron, “Since you did not trust in Me, to treat Me as holy in the sight of the sons of Israel, for that reason you shall not bring this assembly into the land which I have given them.” (Numbers 20:12)

This is the last chapter of Deuteronomy. Moses dies and does not enter the promised land. The land symbolizes the kingdom of God. It is only a symbol, not the real kingdom of God. But what happened to the Israelites then teaches us about God’s plan of the kingdom.

Once I had a chat with a former Christian who has become an atheist. I asked him about his understanding of Christianity. He said faith came because people could not keep the law and get saved. What he said is accepted by most churches as the right understanding. But he is wrong. Faith did not come as an alternate way to salvation. God planned the kingdom with His only begotten son as the cornerstone before He created the world. So there was no such thing as salvation (or righteousness) by perfect keeping of the law.

A person who obeys God perfectly may be called upright and blameless as in the case of Job.

The LORD said to Satan, “Have you considered My servant Job? For there is no one like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man, fearing God and turning away from evil. (Job 1:8)

The Hebrew words used for Job here are not righteousness described for Abraham, which I’ve mentioned in a previous post. Through much suffering, Job comes to understand who God is. His uprightness was nothing compared to God who alone is righteous. No one can earn righteousness by observing the law because the law was given to teach us that we cannot earn righteousness. This does not lead us to lawlessness. We know that the law is holy if the Holy Spirit teaches and guides us. We no longer offer to God various animal sacrifices because all law is fulfilled by Jesus Christ. His death and resurrection made us the children of God through faith. So the law is perfected and its essence, love, remains as the eternal law. Only God can love. Only God is righteous. And we love God and His people as ourselves by the power of the Holy Spirit.

Moses, as the mediator of the old covenant, was only a foreshadow of the Savior. That is why he was not allowed to enter the promised land. This does not mean that he was not saved. We must focus on what this teaches us.

The LORD your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among you, from your countrymen; to him you shall listen. (Deuteronomy 18:15)

Christ was accused of breaking the law and killed. But He lives forever as the mediator of the new covenant.

For if the blood of goats and bulls, and the ashes of a heifer sprinkling those who have been defiled, sanctify for the cleansing of the flesh, how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without blemish to God, cleanse your conscience from dead works to serve the living God? For this reason He is the mediator of a new covenant, so that, since a death has taken place for the redemption of the violations that were committed under the first covenant, those who have been called may receive the promise of the eternal inheritance. (Hebrews 9:15)

Christ was born under the law but free from the curse of the law because He is the only begotten Son of God. He became like us so that we would become like Him. He became like us to redeem us. There is much difference between the words “keep” and “fulfill”. However, theologians keep insisting that Christ made us righteous by keeping the law perfectly. I pray to God that you understand what the Bible teaches and make the right judgment. There is no freedom under a false gospel. Many people left Christianity because churches preach a false gospel. That is why churches are full of false Christians.

Do not presume that I came to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I did not come to abolish, but to fulfill. (Matthew 5:17)