Divine Principle - 2) Moses and Jesus in the Providence of Restoration -2-1

[대태양/김현수]

Section 2. The Providence of Restoration under the Leadership of Moses

2.1 Overview of the Providence Led by Moses

The providence of restoration led by Moses was built upon the foundation for the Messiah laid in Abraham’s family. Nevertheless, the Principle still required Moses himself to lay the foundation for the Messiah by restoring through indemnity the foundation of faith and the foundation of substance. Whenever the central figure for the providence changes, the new central figure cannot inherit the providential Will without first completing a similar responsibility of his own. Furthermore, in this case, the foundation had to be laid anew because the scope of the providence had expanded from a family to a nation. As we shall see, in the providence of restoration led by Moses, the indemnity conditions required to lay these foundations were quite different than before.

2.1.1 The Foundation of Faith

2.1.1.1 The Central Figure to Restore the Foundation of Faith

Moses was the central figure to restore the foundation of faith. A foundation of faith had to be laid anew to begin the course to return to the promised land of Canaan upon the conclusion of the four hundred years of slavery incurred because of Abraham’s mistake in his symbolic offering. Before we study how Moses established the foundation of faith, let us first examine the providential position of Moses in relation to Jesus, and then in the next section investigate how he was different from all the previous central figures who were called to lay the foundation of faith.

First, Moses was put in the position representing God, acting in His stead. God told Moses that he should be as God to Aaron (Exod. 4:16). He also said, “See, I make you as God to Pharaoh; and Aaron your brother shall be your prophet” (Exod. 7:1).

Second, God set up Moses to prefigure Jesus. By having Moses stand in God’s position before Aaron and the Pharaoh, God set him up to prefigure Jesus, the only incarnation of God. By prefiguring Jesus, Moses pioneered the path for Jesus to one day walk. Like John the Baptist after him (John 1:23), Moses was to make straight the way for Jesus.

As the descendant of Jacob, who had established the foundation for the Messiah, Moses could serve as a central figure in the Age of the Providence of Restoration. In his providential path, Moses built upon the tradition and deeds of his ancestor, Jacob. Their courses served as models for the path which Jesus would later walk.

Moses also stood on the foundation which Joseph had laid when he entered Egypt. Joseph’s life, too, prefigured that of Jesus. As the son of Rachel (Jacob’s wife representing God’s side) and the younger brother of the sons of Leah (Jacob’s wife representing Satan’s side), Joseph stood in the position of Abel. He narrowly escaped his older brothers’ scheme to kill him, and when he was sold off to merchants, he entered Egypt as a slave. Yet he rose to the rank of prime minister of Egypt by the age of thirty. His brothers and father came to Egypt and humbly bowed before him, fulfilling a prophetic dream he had as a child (Gen. 37:5-11). Based upon this providential victory, the Israelites entered Egypt and commenced a period of hardships for the purpose of severing Satan’s ties.

Joseph’s course foreshadowed the course which Jesus would later walk. After coming to the satanic world, Jesus would endure a path of hardships and emerge as the King of Kings at the age of thirty. He was to bring all of humanity, including his forefathers, into submission, cut all their ties to the satanic world, and restore them to God’s realm.

Moses’ infancy, childhood and death also prefigured the course of Jesus. At his birth, Moses was in danger of being killed at the hands of the Pharaoh. After his mother nursed him in concealment, Moses entered the Pharaoh’s palace and was brought up safely among his foes. Likewise, Jesus was born into a situation where he was in danger of being killed by King Herod. Jesus’ mother took him, fled to Egypt, and raised him in concealment there. Later, she brought him back to King Herod’s realm where he grew up safely among his foes. After Moses’ death, no one knew the whereabouts of his body (Deut. 34:6); this foreshadowed what would happen to Jesus’ body after his death.

In all these ways, Moses’ course to restore Canaan on the national level was the model for Jesus’ course to restore Canaan on the worldwide level.

And, as we mentioned earlier, the Bible attests through the words of Moses (Deut. 18:18-19) and Jesus (John 5:19) that God disclosed through Moses’ life a model for Jesus, prefiguring the path Jesus would walk in the future.

2.1.1.2 The Object for the Condition in Restoring the Foundation of Faith

Moses was in a position different from earlier central figures who were entrusted with laying the foundation of faith. Unlike Abel, Noah and Abraham, Moses did not need to make a symbolic offering. Rather, he could restore the foundation of faith merely by obedience to God’s Word while fulfilling a dispensation of forty for the separation of Satan. There are three reasons for this difference.

First, Moses stood on the foundation of the three successful symbolic offerings by Abel, Noah and Isaac. They had completed the providence based on making symbolic offerings.

Second, symbolic offerings were objects for the condition made necessary as substitutes for the Word, because after the first human ancestors lost God’s Word at the Fall, people were not able to receive God’s Word directly. Hence, during the Age of the Providence to Lay the Foundation for Restoration (the age from Adam to Abraham), sacrifices had been offered as objects for the condition in laying the foundation of faith. However, by Moses’ time that age had come to a close. Humanity had entered a new era, the Age of the Providence of Restoration (Old Testament Age), when they could once again receive God’s Word directly. Thus, there was no longer any need of a symbolic offering in laying the foundation of faith.

Third, as the providence which had commenced with Adam’s family was prolonged again and again, certain conditions of indemnity were needed to restore the providential periods which had been defiled by Satan. When Noah was laying the foundation of faith, he had to pass through a dispensation of forty for the separation of Satan while living in the ark. Abraham could make the symbolic offering to lay the foundation of faith only after he restored the previous period of four hundred years and thus stood on the foundation of a dispensation of forty for the separation of Satan. The Israelites suffered four hundred years of slavery in Egypt to fulfill a dispensation of forty for the separation of Satan and thereby restore the foundation of faith claimed by Satan due to Abraham’s mistake. Likewise, in the Age of the Providence of Restoration, a central figure could lay the foundation of faith as long as he stood firmly upon the completion of the dispensation of forty for the separation of Satan by upholding God’s Word, now that an object for the condition was no longer required to serve as its substitute.

2.1.2 The Foundation of Substance

In the Age of the Providence to Lay the Foundation for Restoration, God worked to lay the family foundation of substance. Upon entering the Age of the Providence of Restoration, God worked to lay the national foundation of substance. Since Moses stood as God to the people and represented Jesus, he stood in the position of parent to the Israelites when laying the national foundation of faith. Concurrently, Moses was the prophet with the mission to prepare the way for Jesus. Hence, he stood in the position of a child to Jesus, who was to come as the True Parent. Therefore, with respect to the Israelites, Moses stood in the position of Abel as the central figure for the national foundation of substance.

We recall that Abel made the symbolic offering from the position of a parent in Adam’s stead and was thereby entitled to make the substantial offering from the position of a child. Likewise, Moses stood in the dual positions of parent and child. When he restored through indemnity the foundation of faith, he stood in the position of a parent. He thereby secured the position of Abel for the foundation of substance, for which he stood in the position of a child.

Once Moses had secured the position of Abel, the Israelites, standing in the position of Cain, were supposed to fulfill the national indemnity condition to remove the fallen nature through their obedience to Moses. By doing so, they would establish the national foundation of substance.

2.1.3 The Foundation for the Messiah

Moses was to restore through indemnity the national foundation of faith, and the Israelites under Moses’ leadership were to restore through indemnity the national foundation of substance. This would have constituted the national foundation for the Messiah and the basis for a sovereign nation to which the Messiah could come. The Israelites were then to receive the Messiah, be reborn through him, be cleansed of their original sin, and restore their original nature by uniting with God in heart. In this way, they were to attain the ultimate goal of becoming perfect incarnations.

2.2 The National Courses to Restore Canaan under the Leadership of Moses

Moses brought the Israelites out of Egypt, the satanic world, with miracles and signs, led them across the Red Sea, and had them wander through the wilderness before entering the promised land of Canaan. This foreshadowed the course on which Jesus would one day lead Christians, the Second Israel. With miracles and signs, Jesus would bring Christians out of lives of sin and lead them safely across the troubled sea of evil. He would take them through a desert devoid of life-giving water before guiding them into the Garden of Eden of God’s promise.

Just as the national course to restore Canaan under the leadership of Moses was prolonged as three courses because of the Israelites’ faithlessness, the worldwide course to restore Canaan under the leadership of Jesus had to be undertaken three times because of the disbelief of John the Baptist and the Jewish people of that day. To avoid redundancy, a close comparison between Moses’ course and Jesus’ course will not be made here. Still, the parallels will become plain when one compares this section with the next.

2.2.1 The First National Course to Restore Canaan

2.2.1.1 The Foundation of Faith

After four hundred years of slavery in Egypt, the indemnity period required of the Israelites due to Abraham’s mistake came to an end. In order for Moses to become the central figure to restore the foundation of faith and be qualified to lead the Israelites out of Egypt, he as an individual had to inherit the four-hundred-year national indemnity period and complete a dispensation of forty for the separation of Satan. In addition, Moses had to restore through indemnity the number forty, which unfallen Adam should have fulfilled to establish his foundation of faith (cf. Periods 2.4). To achieve these purposes, Moses was brought into the Pharaoh’s palace, the center of the satanic world, and he spent forty years there (Acts 7:23).

While in the palace, Moses was educated by his mother, who, unknown to anyone, was hired to be his nurse. She secretly imparted to him the consciousness and pride of belonging to the chosen people. Despite the comforts of palace life, Moses maintained unshakable loyalty and fidelity to the lineage of Israel. After forty years, he left the palace, “choosing rather to share ill-treatment with the people of God than to enjoy the fleeting pleasures of sin” (Heb. 11:25). Hence, during the forty years of his life in the Pharaoh’s palace, Moses fulfilled the dispensation of forty for the separation of Satan and thereby restored the foundation of faith.

2.2.1.2 The Foundation of Substance

Moses was in the dual position of parent and child. When he laid the foundation of faith, he also secured the position of Abel for the foundation of substance. The Israelites, who were in the position of Cain, were supposed to follow and obey Moses in faith. By inheriting God’s Will from Moses and multiplying goodness, they would fulfill the national indemnity condition to remove the fallen nature and lay the national foundation of substance. The Israelites were to lay the foundation of substance by following Moses from the time they left Egypt until they entered the blessed land of Canaan.

God commenced the dispensation to start the course with Moses’ act of killing an Egyptian. Seeing one of his brethren being mistreated by an Egyptian taskmaster, Moses was incited by his burning love for his people; he struck and killed the man (Exod. 2:11-12). In a way, this was an expression‎‎‎ of God’s heart of burning indignation as He looked down upon the affliction of His people (Exod. 3:7). At that moment, whether or not the Israelites united with Moses would determine if they could successfully begin the course to return to Canaan.

When Moses killed the Egyptian, God used this act to achieve the following: First, the Archangel induced the first human ancestors to fall and Cain to kill Abel; these were the conditions by which Satan has controlled the progression of sinful history from the position of the eldest son. Therefore, before God could begin the providence to restore Canaan, someone on God’s side should fulfill the condition to restore this through indemnity by prevailing over someone on the side of Satan who stands in the position of the eldest son. Second, this act effectively cut off any lingering attachment Moses had to the Pharaoh’s palace and placed him in a situation where he could never return. Finally, by this act, God desired to induce the Israelites to trust Moses by showing them he was a patriotic Israelite. As we shall see, these were comparable to the reasons why in the second national course to restore Canaan, God struck all the firstborn among the Egyptians and their livestock.

The Israelites, upon witnessing Moses’ act of killing the Egyptian, should have been deeply inspired by his love for Israel, as was God. Had they felt this way, they would have respected Moses, trusted him and followed him with ardor. Then, through Moses’ leadership, God would have brought them directly into the land of Canaan where they would have established the foundation of substance. In fact, they would not have had to cross the Red Sea or wander through the Sinai wilderness, but would have taken the straight route to Canaan by way of the land of the Philistines. In a twenty-one-day course, they would have restored Jacob’s twenty-one years in Haran.

Later, in the second national course, God had reason to distrust the Israelites because their previous failure to follow Moses had aborted the first national course. It is written: “When Pharaoh let the people go, God did not lead them by way of the land of the Philistines, although that was near; for God said, ‘Lest the people repent when they see war, and return to Egypt’” (Exod. 13:17). During the second national course to restore Canaan, God led the people across the Red Sea and in a detour through the wilderness because He had reason to fear they might turn faithless and return to Egypt without completing their journey.

2.2.1.3 The Failure of the First National Course to Restore Canaan

Had the Israelites (Cain) wholeheartedly obeyed Moses (Abel) and followed him to return to Canaan, they would have fulfilled the national indemnity condition to remove the fallen nature and laid the foundation of substance. On the contrary, however, when they saw Moses strike and kill the Egyptian, they misunderstood him and spoke ill of him :

When he went out the next day, behold, two Hebrews were struggling together; and he said to the man that did the wrong, “Why did you strike your fellow?” He answered, “Who made you a prince and a judge over us? Do you mean to kill me as you killed the Egyptian?” Then Moses was afraid, and thought, “Surely the thing is known.” When Pharaoh heard of it, he sought to kill Moses (Exod. 2:13-15).

Moses was left with no choice but to escape from the Pharaoh. Reluctantly forsaking the Israelites, he fled into the wilderness of Midian. The foundation of substance was shattered, and the Israelites’ course to restore Canaan under the leadership of Moses would be repeated a second and eventually a third time.