Seeing Until We See No More

I've been thinking about Moses a lot recently, particularly how he died. There are some peculiar tidbits in the Bible about the matter, as it says that God buried him and didn't bother telling anybody where he was buried. Apparently God felt it was nobody's business where he buried his friend, "And Moses the servant of the Lord died there in Moab, as the Lord had said. He buried him in Moab, in the valley opposite Beth Peor, but to this day no one knows where his grave is" (Deuteronomy 34:5-6). Being in command of the universe, I suppose God's entitled to do such mysterious things. (I've also heard he's a big fan of doing the opposite, resurrecting a body from a grave and then spilling the beans, telling everybody to not even bother looking for the grave because it doesn't really matter, the body won't be there anyway. Strange being, this God.)

The Bible also notes that while Moses had gone to great lengths to set the Israelites free from slavery under Pharaoh and lead them to the Promised Land, he would not be permitted to enter the land himself because he "broke faith" with God, violating the commands God had set forth for Moses (Deuteronomy 32:48-52).

I can't help but wonder if God had handed Moses a supernatural version of a View Master (remember those things?) and had him click back through images of his life:

A baby in a basket in the Nile.

Click.

Growing up in Pharaoh's palace.

Click.

The burning bush.

Click.

Staffs into snakes.

Click.

Piles of frogs.

Click.

Blood on door frames.

Click.

Parted waters.

Click. Click. Click. ClickClickClickClickClickClickClickClick.

Hundreds, thousands, of images spanning his life rapidly going by. (He's obviously changing out cartridges regularly. Although, this is a supernatural View Master, so maybe not.)

And with each passing image, he's getting closer and closer to the end of his life.

And what are the final images he clicks through?

Then Moses climbed Mount Nebo from the plains of Moab to the top of Pisgah, across from Jericho. There the Lord showed him the whole land—from Gilead to Dan, all of Naphtali, the territory of Ephraim and Manasseh, all the land of Judah as far as the Mediterranean Sea, the Negev and the whole region from the Valley of Jericho, the City of Palms, as far as Zoar (Deuteronomy 34:1-3).

Gilead.

Click.

Dan.

Click.

Naphtali.

Click.

All of the Promised Land.

And with one last slow press and release of the lever, Moses saw all that he needed to see. All of the images of his life culminated in this one final view of the Promised Land. The Master of it all removed the View Master from the hands of his friend. No more clicking. No more images. And just like that, Moses was gone. God had faithfully sustained Moses until he saw all that he needed to see. Better yet, all that God wanted him to see. And he let Moses see it in all its fullness: "And Moses the servant of the Lord died there in Moab, as the Lord had said. Moses was a hundred and twenty years old when he died, yet his eyes were not weak nor his strength gone" (Deuteronomy 34:5, 7). Moses wasn't seeing the Promised Land through a haze of cataracts and near-blindness. His eyes were not weak, it says. He saw it in all its glory, from end to end, valley to valley, sea to sea, with eyes that God created and sustained, and then ordained at a precise moment, and not a moment before, that they should see no more. 

And with that, the slide show was over for Moses.

But wait! It looks like there's one more slide. 

But there's no image.

But Moses knows. He knows what's on that image. He knows he has eyes to see what's on that slide.

Moses saw him who is invisible.

". . . he persevered because he saw him who is invisible" (Hebrews 11:27).

Moses' final view wasn't a view of the Promised Land. 

It was a view of the Promised One.

"The Son is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation" (Colossians 1:15).

"For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that people are without excuse" (Romans 1:20).

Jesus. The image of the invisible God.

Click.

"But blessed are your eyes because they see . . ." (Matthew 11:16).