Moses died on Mount Pisgah where he could see the Promised Land before he passed away. His death is highly symbolic in nature: Moses representing the Law of Moses does not have access to the Promised Land. He was allowed to see it but not enter it. In the same fashion will the law help us to see God’s values but it won’t get us into the Promised Land. We need to be redeemed to gain access and this is where Jesus, the Messiah comes in.

The Law of Moses is pointing out the blessings of adhering to them but is also spelling out the curses of disrespecting them. The curses outlined in the Torah all fell on Jesus. Prophet Isaiah wrote about the Messiah:

Isaiah 53:3-4: “He was despised and rejected— a man of sorrows, acquainted with deepest grief. We turned our backs on him and looked the other way. He was despised, and we did not care. Yet it was our weaknesses he carried; it was our sorrows that weighed him down. And we thought his troubles were a punishment from God, a punishment for his own sins!”

On Earth, Jesus loved to refer to Himself as the Son of Man – or Son of Adam. I believe He did that to claim His Human identity, even though He is the Son of God who has lived long before He was born to Mary and Joseph. It was important to Jesus to identify Himself as a human being because Jesus would be the only living and breathing Son of Adam who satisfied the Law of Moses.  Not only did He follow the law in His lifetime with all the blessings that come with obeying the law, he also satisfied the law by accepting the curses coming from disobeying the law.  And since He did not have to take care of His own sins – He took care of humanity’s sins by absorbing the full punishment, including death. The wages of sin is death.  Jesus labored grief-stricken, mortally wounded, tormented and despised to absorb the full punishment of disobeying God to pay the price for humanity’s release.

That’s our Redeemer. That’s what Jesus did. After He had satisfied the law and died, God received His offering and opened up the grave to wake Him up from the dead.  After three days Jesus came back to life. And the rest is history.

“See from His head, His hands, His feet sorrow and love flow mingled down. Did ever such love and sorrow meet or thorns compose so rich a crown?” (Isaac Watts)