Exodus 32:30-34 - Homiletics

Moses as the forerunner of Christ.

" A prophet shall the Lord your God raise up unto you like unto me," said the great lawgiver, ere he left the earth ( Deuteronomy 17:15 , Deuteronomy 17:18 ); and the parallelism between Christ and Moses is in many respects most striking.

1 . Both were of obscure birth—"the son of a carpenter"—the son of "a man of the house of Levi."

2 . Both were in great peril in infancy—their life sought by the civil ruler—Herod—Pharaoh.

3 . Both passed their youth and early manhood in obscurity—Christ for thirty, Moses for forty years.

4 . Both felt they had a mission, but on coming forward were rejected by their brethren. "He came unto his own, and his own received him not" ( John 1:11 ). "He supposed his brethren would have understood how that God by his hand would deliver them: but they understood not" ( Acts 7:25 ).

5 . Both showed "signs and wonders," such as have rarely been seen upon earth, and thus made it manifest that their missions were from God.

6 . Both were law-givers—promulgators of a new moral code—Moses of an imperfect, Christ of a perfect law—(" the perfect law of love").

7 . Both were founders of a new community—Moses of the Hebrew state, Christ of the Christian Church.

8 . Both were great deliverers and great teachers—Moses delivered his people from Egypt and Pharaoh, and led them through the wilderness to Canaan; Christ delivers his from sin and Satan, and. leads them through the wilderness of this life to heaven.

9 . Both willed to be a sacrifice for their brethren—God could not accept the one sacrifice ( Exodus 32:33 ), but could and did accept the other.