Although Messianic Judaism and Christianity acknowledge that Jesus Christ is identified by his likeness to Moses, any others’ likeness is downplayed as being nothing more than “types” of Christ. We are discarding our own identity in Christ if don’t recognize Moses’ successors’ relationship to the Promised Redeemer.
Yes, Deuteronomy 34:10-12 documents “And there arose not a prophet since in Israel like unto Moses…” but that is time-stamped to the historical era during which it was written –
The full biblical – not Jewish or Christian – criteria for recognizing the Melchizedekian successors to Moses include the essentials of the same attributes.
1. The LORD Knew Face To Face / Unveiled His Hyperdimensionality
Moses
“Moses alone shall come near the LORD…And the sight of the glory of the LORD was like devouring fire on the top of the mount in the eyes of the children of Israel…forty days and forty nights.” (Exodus 24)
Yeshua 1
“when Joshua was by Jericho…there stood a man over against him with his sword drawn in his hand…And Joshua fell on his face to the earth, and did worship…for the place whereon thou standest is holy.” (Joshua 5:13-15)
Elijah
“Elijah…went in the strength of that [angel-provided] meat forty days and forty nights unto Horeb / Desolate AKA Sinai / dirt,, the mount of God…the word [in the sense of calling a business meeting] of the LORD came to him.” (I Kings 19)
Yeshua 2
“Jesus taketh Peter, James, and John his brother…and his face did shine as the sun, and his raiment was white as the light. And, behold, there appeared unto them Moses and Elias / Elijah talking with him.” (Matthew 17:1-5)
Paul
“Saul…journeyed, he came near Damascus: and suddenly there shined round about him a light from heaven: And he fell to the earth, and heard a voice saying unto him…I am Jesus whom thou persecutest.” (Acts 9:1-16)
2. Signs and Wonders
Moses
“And the LORD said unto Moses…I will multiply my signs and my wonders in the land of Egypt.” (Exodus 7:1-2)
Yeshua 1
“Then came Amalek, and fought with Israel in Rephidim…when Moses held up his hand, that Israel prevailed…And Moses built an altar, and called the name of it Jehovah-nissi
the LORD is my [war]banner” (Exodus 17:8-15)
Elijah
“said Elijah unto the people…call ye on the name of your gods, and I will call on the name of the LORD: and the God that answereth by fire, let him be God…Then the fire of the LORD fell, and consumed the burnt sacrifice, and the wood, and the stones, and the dust, and licked up the water that was in the trench.” (I Kings 18)
Yeshua 2
“Now when John had heard in the prison the works of Christ, he sent two of his disciples…Jesus answered and said unto them, Go and shew John again those things which ye do hear and see: The blind receive their sight, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised up, the poor have the gospel preached to them.” (Matthew 11:1-6)
Paul
“And God wrought special miracles by the hands of Paul:” (Acts 19:11-12)
3. Mighty Hand
Moses
“And the LORD said unto Moses…stand before Pharaoh, and say unto him…I will stretch out my hand, that I may smite thee and thy people with pestilence; and thou shalt be cut off from the earth.” (Exodus 9:13-16)
Yeshua 1
“the LORD said unto Joshua, See, I have given into thine hand Jericho, and the king thereof, and the mighty men of valour…the wall fell down flat, so that the people went up into the city…and they took the city.” (Joshua 6)
Elijah
“And Elijah said unto them, Take the 450 prophets of [a particular] Baal / lord [and 400 prophets of the groves / other Baalim / Baals]…and Elijah brought them down to the brook Kishon, and slew…all the prophets with the sword.” (I Kings 18:40-19:1)]
Yeshua 2
“The hour is come, that the Son of man should be glorified / experience a great victory…Then came there a voice from heaven, saying…Now is the judgment of this world: now shall the prince of this world be cast out.” (John 12:23-33)
Paul
“I have fought a good fight.” (II Timothy 4:6)
4. Great Terror
Moses
“Pharaoh’s chariots and his host hath he cast into the sea: his chosen captains also are drowned in the Red sea.” (Exodus 15)
Yeshua 1
“And Joshua the son of Nun sent out of Shittim two men to spy secretly...And [a woman] said unto the men…your terror is fallen upon us.” (Joshua 2:1-9)
Elijah
“[King Ahaziah] sent unto [Ahab] a captain of fifty with his fifty…And he spake unto him, Thou man of God, the king hath said, Come down…And there came down fire from heaven, and consumed him and his fifty.” (II KIngs 1)
Yeshua 2
“about the ninth hour Jesus…yielded up the ghost. And, behold, the veil of the temple was rent in twain from the top to the bottom; and the earth did quake, and the rocks rent; And the graves were opened; and many bodies of the saints which slept arose,..Now when the centurion, and they that were with him, watching Jesus, saw the earthquake, and those things that were done, they feared greatly, saying, Truly this was the Son of God.” (Matthew 27:45-53)
Paul
“the magistrates rent off their clothes, and…when they had laid many stripes upon them, they cast them into the inner prison, and made their feet fast in the stocks. And at midnight…suddenly there was a great earthquake, so that the foundations of the prison were shaken: and immediately all the doors were opened, and every one’s bands were loosed.” (Acts 16)
5. Shewed In The Sight Of All Israel
Moses
“And Moses went up unto God, and the LORD called unto him out of the mountain, saying, Thus shalt thou say to the house[hold, including other nationalities] of Jacob, and tell the [biological] children of Israel…
Idioms can be easily misunderstood. A good comparison for this one is found with Abraham.
“And the LORD appeared unto [Abraham] in the plains of Mamre: and he…bowed himself toward the ground, And said, My LORD, if now I have found favour in thy sight, pass not away, I pray thee, from thy servant:” (Genesis 18:1-3)
Likewise, we can understand that all that “Moses’ shewed” / brought to pass, were discerned to be favorably by all Israel.
- IF ye will…keep my covenant – this is conditional!
- THEN ye shall be a peculiar treasure unto me above all people: for all the earth is mine – a clear reference to the Melchizedekian Covenant of Dominion
- And YE shall be unto me a kingdom of priests, and an holy nation – leadership of the Hebrew Commonwealth of Nations under the existing Melchizedekian Covenant.” (Exodus 19:3-6)
No mistaking the legal verbiage – this is not a different – Mosaic vs Melchizedekian – Covenant.
“to Abraham and his seed [seed, Melchizedekian heirs, Christs] were the [Melchizedekian] promises made…And this I say, that
- the covenant that was confirmed before of God in Christ / the Promised Seed of the Woman Savior starting with Abel and carried at the time of Abraham through Isaac,
- the law [given through Moses], which was four hundred and thirty years after, cannot disannul, that it should make the promise of none effect…(Galatians 3:14-17)
Yeshua 1
“And Joshua gathered all the tribes of Israel to Shechem, and called for the elders of Israel, and for their heads, and for their judges, and for their officers; and they presented themselves before God…And the people said unto Joshua…we will serve the LORD…
Joshua made a covenant with the people that day.” (Joshua 24)
This was the same covenant, new generation. confirming that Moses’ covenant was the existing Covenant of Dominion – not a different “Mosaic” covenant. Does anyone claim that there is a “Joshuaic Covenant”?
Elijah
“I have been very jealous for the LORD God of hosts: for the children of Israel have forsaken thy covenant, …And the LORD said unto him, Go…
- anoint Hazael to be king over Syria:
- Jehu the son of Nimshi anoint king over Israel:
- Elisha the son of Shaphat of Abelmeholah anoint to be prophet in thy room / place…” (I Kings 19)
These are all new appointments under the Melchizedekian covenant – with new people, not new terms of the covenant.
Yeshua 2
“Behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel, and with the house of Judah…
This is not an entirely new covenant!
“Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets…For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled.’ (Matthew 5:17-18)
It is the fulfillment of the promise made in the original covenant.
“I will put my [existing] law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts; and will be their God / indwelling empowering Spirit, and they shall be my people. And they shall teach no more…saying, Know / acknowledge the LORD: for they shall all know / be intimately united with me, from the least of them unto the greatest of them, saith the LORD: FOR I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more.” (Jeremiah 31)
And he / Jesus took the [Passover] cup, and gave thanks, and gave it to them, saying, Drink ye all of it; For this is my blood of the new testament [promised through the Seed of the Woman, which is shed for many for the remission of sins.”(Matthew 5:17-18, 26:28)
Paul
- “Circumcised the eighth day,
- of the stock of Israel,
- of the tribe of Benjamin,
- an Hebrew of the Hebrews;
- as touching the law, a Pharisee [obsessive compulsive]
- touching the righteousness which is in the law, blameless.” (Philippians 3:5-10)
It was Paul’s humility in lowering his identity from that of a privileged nationally favored relationship with YHVH to a universal human being that qualified him to be the rare apostle to the Gentiles. I’ve rearranged the order of the phrases to demonstrate the parallels.
From Moses gloriously on Mount Sinai and from Paul ignominiously in prison,
-
- “Ye are the children of the LORD your God
- Having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself,
- thou art an holy people unto the LORD thy God
- holy and without blame before him in love / merged identities:
- the LORD hath chosen thee to be a peculiar people unto himself, above all the nations that are upon the earth.” (Deuteronomy 14:1-2)
- chosen before the foundation of the world ergo, trumping the choice of the nation of Israel on Mount Sinai. (Ephesians 1:1-5)
- “Ye are the children of the LORD your God
All the rest of us:
“ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should shew forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvelous light; Which in time past were not a people, but are now the people of God” (I Peter 2:8-10)
