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February 24 Today’s Reading — Deuteronomy 2-4 “That Goodly Mountain” Deuteronomy 3:25
The happiest, most pleasant memories of my childhood are memories of times spent in the mountains of North Carolina. There I had grandparents, aunts and uncles who spoiled me; cousins and friends and family laughed with me. In the mountains I was never in trouble. Everything, even the air was better in the mountains. How often we find ourselves, as we read the Book of God, at the foot of a mountain, or on a mountain, a “goodly mountain.” Here is Moses, God’s faithful servant, praying — “Let me go over, and see the good land that is beyond Jordan, that goodly mountain.” What is “that goodly mountain” Moses desired to see?
Calvary’s Mount Surely there is more here than the mere desire to see the good land of Canaan. Canaan was, at its best, but a type and shadow of heaven, but in no way equal to it. Yet, Moses here expresses an intense desire and prayed for grace to “see the good land that is beyond Jordan, that goodly mountain.” He knew, because God had told him, that he would not be allowed to enter Canaan. He would not have the type; but the substance he was assured of having. He was barred from Canaan; but he was going to heaven! There must have been something else that caused Moses to long for the sight of it. — “Let me go over, and see the good land that is beyond Jordan, that goodly mountain.” This seems to have been the one hallowed spot Moses longed to see and to feast his eyes upon. He who had seen and spoken with God in the bush wanted to behold, and with sacred meditation of by faith, converse with him on the very spot, which in after ages he knew the Lord Jesus would be crucified. Moses wanted to see and hear the Savior he trusted, loved, and served in his redeeming glory on Mt. Calvary. I am not guessing about this. In verse 24 the Holy Spirit tells us that the Lord God had begun to show his servant his greatness and glory; but Moses wanted to see and know more. — He wanted to see it all and know it all in all its infinite fulness. Tell me, poor sinner saved by grace and redeemed by blood, is that not the case with you? This man Moses would be privileged to talk with his Redeemer, on the Mount of Transfiguration in days to come, about the death he would accomplish at Jerusalem (Luke 9:31); but he wanted to know all he could of his Redeemer’s greatness and glory while he lived in this world.
Good Will Moses knew “the good will of him that dwelt in the bush” (Deuteronomy 33:16) was the redemption and everlasting salvation of God’s Israel by his own precious blood. He who walked with Christ by faith in Egypt, esteeming the reproach of Christ greater riches than all its treasures, wanted to know the presence of his Lord in sweet communion in “that goodly mountain.” Moses kept the passover and the sprinkling of blood in the ordinance of the paschal lamb throughout his wilderness journey, anticipating the day when “Christ our Passover” would be sacrificed for us. Who can imagine what this man of God must have felt as he traversed the sacred “goodly mountain”? As he beheld the day of Christ afar off, “Here,” he must have thought, “he who dwelt in the bush will accomplish his good will and reveal his greatness and glory by making his soul an offering for sin. Here that One who knows no sin shall be made sin that God may be just and justify me! Here that one great Sacrifice will be offered to God, which is typified in all the services and ceremonies of the tabernacle, that one Sacrifice by which the Lord Jesus will forever perfect them that are sanctified! Here the Son of God will forever put away my sin by the sacrifice of himself.”
Our Mediation O Holy Spirit of God, make our daily meditation be about “that goodly mountain,” and make that meditation sweet to our souls! “Let” us this day, throughout the day, and throughout all the remaining days of our pilgrimage here “go over and see that goodly mountain.” There we would bless and praise God and the Lamb for the wonders of redemption. And when our appointed days are finished and our appointed work is done, graciously carry us across the swelling Jordan into “the good land that is beyond Jordan, the goodly mountain, and Lebanon”. — There “I will behold thy face in righteousness: I shall be satisfied, when I awake, with thy likeness!”
Don Fortner
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