- [Narrator] The two most mysterious deaths in the Bible.
Number one, Moses.
The man that God buried.
The death of Moses, how God buried him.
Simply bringing up Moses' name conjures up a variety
of images in the mind of various folk.
In the Bible, the circumstances surrounding Moses' death
are not entirely clear.
We're aware that he passed away at the age of 120
but the phrase, "Yet his eyes were not weak,
nor his strength gone," describes him perfectly.
Despite his age, Moses was still in his prime
when he was called home.
As a consequence of his disobedience
at the waters of Meribah Kadesh,
Moses was not permitted to enter the promised land.
He brought the Israelites right up
to the border of Canaan and was given a glimpse of the land
but he was not permitted to enter it.
At the end of Moses' life
God gave Moses a glimpse of the land he had left Egypt for.
Moses climbed Mount Nebo from the plains of Moab
to the top of Pisgah.
Mount Pisgah has a summit elevation of 4,500 feet
and that's nearly a mile.
There aren't many 120-year-old men
who can climb a mountain nearly a mile high
and live to tell the tale.
However, Moses could.
He managed it by scrambling hand over hand.
There was no trail wide enough for Moses
and he didn't need one anyway.
If you're wondering what condition he was in,
that feat will tell you.
Yet here was Moses,
Nearly a century and a quarter old,
climbing to the top of a 4,500-foot-high peak
and having a great time once there.
Moses was not full of self-pity.
Since God had informed him of his impending death
he was prepared for it.
And even before he passed away
the Lord had already appointed another man, Joshua,
to take his place.
In the last 40 years of his life, he was finally relieved
of the weighty responsibility
of guiding the nation.
Moses could take each step on the slope in stride
with lightened shoulders.
He was well aware
that he was about to take his final breath at any moment.
Moses teaches us that when it comes to the topic of death,
a believer has no reason to be afraid
or to rush out into the streets in a panicked state.
This is one of the lessons that we can learn from him.
Each and every one of us, at some point in our lives,
have to face the reality of death.
Before we can say that we are truly ready to live
we need to first say that we're truly ready to pass away.
Therefore, when we are ready to pass away,
let us not delay and immediately do it.
Imagine the breathtaking view
that was spread out before him.
Moses looked out
and the Lord showed him all the land.
And that was it, God wanted him home.
When 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 shall not go over there.'
So Moses, the servant of the Lord,
died there in the land of Moab
according to the word of the Lord.
Moses gave up the spirit."
Whether we are heroes or not, we will reach the point
in our lives when we must abandon the body
and pass on to another realm.
Two different messages spring from this.
The aloneness of death.
Not its loneliness, but its aloneness.
There's a difference.
Loneliness suggests an empty longing,
reaching in vain for someone else.
Aloneness means nobody else goes along.
That is what I see here.
It's a solo flight.
You never take a companion along
when you travel through death.
You go all alone.
It's important to note
that being alone is not the same thing as feeling lonely.
The concept of loneliness connotes an unfulfilled need,
reaching in vain for someone else.
Being alone implies that there is no one else present
and that is what appears to be the case here.
There is only one person on board.
When you travel through death,
you never bring a travel buddy with you.
Instead, you do so by yourself.
Everything is great
just so long as we don't have to be alone.
Perhaps that's what makes death so frightening to some.
We are seldom alone.
On the other hand,
Moses is all by himself atop Mount Pisgah.
Joshua was not allowed to accompany them in any way
and Aaron had long since disappeared.
On the rocky trek to the peak
where there was no discernible trail,
there was just one solitary figure to be seen.
The next thing that springs up is the security of death.
Moses died according to the word of the Lord.
The man's life came to an end
precisely how God had planned it out all along.
Moses passed away by himself, but in peace.
The account of his passing is contained
within the final six verses
of the book of Deuteronomy, Chapter 34.
Death has a way of putting things
in proper perspective, doesn't it?
What a way to live!
120 and you don't need glasses,
a century and a fifth, and you don't need crutches.
Moses never did sit around
in a rocking chair rubbing on liniment
and drinking on the shore.
You can't help but wonder,
did those Hebrews, who often grumble about him, adore him?
Or was he just a convenient target who served
as a lightning rod for their discontent?
Were they inclined to think of him
as some kind of distant, profound man of God?
The answer is found in verse eight when he died.
Deuteronomy 34:8, Amplified Bible.
"So the sons of Israel wept for Moses
in the plains of Moab for 30 days.
Then the days of weeping and mourning for Moses were ended.
Oh, how the Israelites will miss
their late leader's wise council.
His work among them stirred their emotions
to such a degree that it took an entire month
for them to mourn his passing after he had left them.
But finally, that mourning came to an end."
That ought to be true in our own lives.
After death comes a burial
and so it was in the case of Moses.
But verse six contains one of the most remarkable statements
about the whole remarkable career of Moses.
Deuteronomy 34:6.
"And he buried him in the valley
in the land of Moab opposite Beth-Peor,
but no one knows his burial place to this day."
Moses is the only person in the Bible
whom God personally buried.
Did you realize that?
The Lord then hid the tomb.
What made him do that?
Because that grave would've been turned into a shrine.
They'd still be beating a path up Nebo today,
erecting shrines, selling popcorn and peanuts,
offering various rides,
and maybe even running a tram up there
with big banners proclaiming, "Moses's burial place."
So it was concealed.
This was so crucial to the Lord
that it even sparked an angelic confrontation.
Jude 9 contains one of the stranger accounts
in the Bible concerning this event.
Jude writes, "But even the Archangel Michael,
when he was disputing with the devil, Satan,
and arguing about the body of Moses,
did not dare bring an abusive condemnation against him,
but simply said, 'The Lord rebuke you!'"
Jude 9.
It would appear that the devil had his own ideas
about what he could do with Moses' body,
but God responded, "Never.
I claim ownership of his body
in the same manner that I do his soul
and I intend for the grave to remain undiscovered
for all time."
To the end of the story,
all things that have their proper wrap up,
as does the story of Moses.
Since that time
there has not been another prophet
who has arisen in Israel who is comparable to Moses
whom the Lord personally knew.
This is due to all of the miracles and signs
that the Lord commanded Moses to perform
in the land of Egypt against Pharaoh,
all of his servants, and the entirety of the pharaoh's land,
as well as due to all the great terror
and mighty power that Moses displayed
in front of all of Israel.
Moses was clearly one of a kind,
but at the end of the day, he was just a man serving God.
Nonetheless, we can derive a great deal of personal gain
from learning about his life and passing.
Number two, Enoch.
God is able to reveal his mighty power
through us in shocking ways.
The Bible shows us individuals
who responded to God's love for them
with genuine gratitude, loyalty, and passion.
And so, for this reason, there were great manifestations
of his mighty power through them.
Enoch.
Genesis chapter 5 gives us the first expression of Enoch.
There is a first Enoch that was the son of Kane.
This is a different Enoch.
Genesis 5:21, Amplified Bible.
"When Enoch was 65 years old,
he became the father of Methuselah."
And from our Bible knowledge
we know that his son, Methuselah,
was the oldest living man as recorded in scripture.
When we study through the genealogies written in the Bible,
we find out that Enoch was the great grandfather of Noah.
Jude 14.
"It was about these people that Enoch
in the seventh generation from Adam prophesied
when he said, 'Look, the Lord came
with myriads of his holy ones.'"
Jude says that Enoch prophesied
about the Lord's coming judgment against them.
Enoch was a man who walked with God amid moral decay
in the days of Noah and spoke of the coming judgment.
This prophecy was unwritten, as it is absent from the Bible.
Now, there is a significant fact
about Enoch that concerns us in this brief discussion.
This is found in Genesis chapter 5:22 and then 24.
The Bible says, "And Enoch walked with God."
In an era when most of his peers only had the record
of their birth and their children they also gave birth to,
Enoch is like a breath of fresh air.
In the history books, Enoch was introduced like others
but despite the fact that he didn't live as long
as some of the other men, his testimony is eye-catching.
The Bible says that he walked with God
and that when it was time to leave earth,
God took him without the passage of death like we know it.
His description is short, but heavy and weighty.
This means something about his pure walk
with God translated him.
His life has provided a template
for so many people throughout different generations
as it teaches us to live for the audience of one.
He silently teaches us,
passionately seeking a close-knit communion
and fellowship of God,
knowing that, as we do this,
we will experience God in a new dimension.
"And Jared lived 160 and two years and he begat Enoch.
And Jared lived after he begat Enoch 800 years
and begat sons and daughters.
And all the days of Jared were 960 and two years
and he died.
And Enoch lived 60 and 5 years and begat Methuselah.
And Enoch walked with God
after he begat Methuselah 300 years
and begat sons and daughters
and all these days of Enoch were 365 years.
And Enoch walked with God and he was not,
for God took him."
Genesis 5:18-24.
Enoch's case was the first rapture recorded
as God just took him.
Perhaps the fellowship was so intense
that the presence of God just enveloped
and whisked him away.
The Book of Hebrews talked about the men
of whom this world was not worthy.
Hebrews 11:5-6.
"By faith that pleased God
Enoch was caught up and taken to heaven
so that he would not have a glimpse of death.
And he was not found because God had taken him,
for even before he was taken to heaven
he received the testimony still on record
that he had walked with God and pleased him.
But without faith, it is impossible to walk
with God and please him.
For whoever comes near to God must necessarily believe
that God exists and that he rewards those
who earnestly and diligently seek him."
God is always searching for faithful and loyal seeds
that'll live wholeheartedly without any facade to him.
These are the vessels that he can genuinely use
and manifest his glory through,
despite living his everyday human life.
The Bible isolated that he walked with God.
We also need to remember this.
Why does Enoch's Bible story matter?
We can see parallel in Enoch's story
with the story of Revelation yet to come.
In a wicked world, we are called to be righteous
and to walk in faith with God.
Although many of us, if not all of us,
as we do not know the accurate time Jesus will come back
will experience the pangs of death.
Christians in the end times will experience a rapture.
It's also important to note
that in 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18,
both Christians who have previously died
and those still alive will participate
in this event together.
So in either case,
we will experience the rapture.
During that time, like Enoch,
Christians will be caught up in the air.
We can also see God being able to speak
through even non-biblical sources,
operating under the viewpoint
that the Book of Enoch is pseudepigraphal work.
We do have to exercise discernment,
decipher what is true and what is not.
But as the apostles quoted
from secular philosophers and poets,
we can find kernels of God's truth
in other literature as well.
Life lessons from Enoch.
Enoch was a loyal follower of God.
He told the truth despite opposition and ridicule
and enjoyed close fellowship with God.
Enoch and the other Old Testament heroes mentioned
in the faith hall of fame
walked in faith in the hope of a future Messiah.
Their Messiah has been revealed to us
in the gospels as Jesus Christ.
Enoch was faithful to God, truthful, and obedient.
When we follow his example by walking with God
and trust in Christ as savior,
we will die physically
but will be resurrected to eternal life.
Knowing that God keeps his word,
let us therefore pursue him
and the interest of his kingdom with all that is in us
because he will empower us to become vessels unto his glory.