Was Moses a Christian?

Was Moses a Christian?

Hebrews 11:26
Moses considered suffering for Christ greater wealth than the treasures of Egypt, for he was looking to the reward.

Christ is ever present in and among His people, therefore the suffering of His saints is His own suffering, Christ living, striving, suffering in His Church, His Body, in the Old and New Testaments.

The reproach which Christ in all ages bears in the person of His people, as He once bore in His own person; for what is done to His people is done to Him. Of this reproach each disciple must for Christ’s sake bear his share, before he can share with Christ in His glory (2 Timothy 2:12).

2 Corinthians 1:5
For as the sufferings of Christ abound for us, so also our comfort abounds through Christ.

Act 4:12 "Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved."

That's very interesting Alec, I hadn't thought of that before.

I believe every person in history that has been justified by faith, whether they were in the Old Testament era or the New Testament era, is born again.

It's interesting that when Jesus talked to Nicodemus about being born again, he said "Are you a master in Israel, and do you not know these things?" Like "You should know this."

If you study the Old Testament you find instances of people being born again, like king Saul. "...and it shall come to pass, when thou art come thither to the city, that thou shalt meet a company of prophets coming down from the high place with a psaltery, and a tabret, and a pipe, and a harp, before them; and they shall prophesy: And the Spirit of the Lord will come upon thee, and thou shalt prophesy with them, and shalt be turned into another man." 1 Samuel 10:5,6 If that's not a clear salvation experience, I don't know what is! Many, many more examples could be given.

A while back, I was watching the Gospel of John DVD. Highly recommended. 👍
These words of Jesus struck me as I was watching -
10:14 "I am the good shepherd......,
16 I have other sheep that are not of this sheep pen. I must bring them also. They too will listen to my voice, and there shall be one flock and one shepherd.
So, Moses might not be from the same pen, but we are of the same Flock, and have the same Shepherd. 🌟

Moses was not a Christian in the sense we are. We are Christian because of the fulfillment of the old covenant prophecies Jesus accomplished in his life and death.

Moses was not an inheritor of God's promises fulfilled, he was an heir awaiting the death of our testator Jesus.

Moses shares with us; Election, Grace, Covenant, Forgiveness and Mercies, the Spirit of God, the word of God, a waiting for the appearance of the Messiah.

What he has in common with us is he is a Child of God, He was God's chosen, He was a recipient of God's grace. Moses looked forward to Christ but had yet to hear the words of Christ that bring an end to fading glory.

The people of God under the old covenant were called by "my name"... "Yahweh" but when Christ=the messiah came we are now joined in Jesus "Yeshuah" Moses did see the Son, after Christ had come and fulfilled God's will now we are all joined In-the-Son. All things are gathered together in the Son, then in the end the Son shall present all to the Father.

Two things stand out for me.

You said that the Lord is our testator. This has to do with the word "testament" (Greek: diatheke) or "covenant".

I was trying to understand the meaning of this word as found in Scripture.

Mark 14:24
This is My blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many.

Matthew 26:28
This is My blood of the covenant, which is poured out for a many, for the forgiveness of sins.

When we think of covenant, we think of contract or agreement but the word can also mean testament or will.

How do we best understand this word when it is used in Scripture?

The Greek Lexicon says:

The twofold use of the word is found in the book of Hebrews.

Hebrews 9:16-18
In the case of a will, it is necessary to establish the death of the one who made it, because a will does not take effect until the one who made it has died; it cannot be executed while he is still alive. That is why even the first covenant was not put into effect without blood.

The author substitutes for the meaning covenant which διαθήκη bears elsewhere in the Epistle that of testament and likens Christ to a testator.

Can you possibly write more about what it means that Christ is our testator.

The second thing is that Moses was both a mediator and a prophet of God's people in the OT and this is what separated him from his brothers.

This is why he said in Numbers 11:29: I wish that all of Jahweh's people were prophets and that Jahweh would put His Spirit on them.

In the New Covenant, the Church is a Royal Priesthood.

Every believer is a mediator of Christ to the world (not to each other because every believer has equal access to God through the one Mediator between God and people, the Man Christ Jesus).

In the New Covenant (Testament) the Holy Spirit lives in every believer.

Did the Holy Spirit live in any believer in the OT?
Did the Holy Spirit live in Moses?

In that case, we can say Moses was not a Christian because he only looked forward to the day when the Spirit would indwell believers.

Is this then how we understand Hebrews 11:39-40: These were all commended for their faith, yet they did not receive what was promised (the indwelling of the Spirit). God had planned something better for us (the indwelling of the Spirit)?

Is this not the inheritance of the New Covenant (Testament)?

I believe the Holy Spirit did indwell Old Testament believers. Take John the Baptist for example. Before the Holy Spirit was poured out on the day of Pentecost he was filled with the Holy Spirit from his mother's womb.

Hi Arthur: I was thinking this text..

Hebrews 9:16 King James Version (KJV)

16 For where a testament is, there must also of necessity be the death of the testator.

I tend to agree with the remainder of your post.

And Yes, John the Baptist was filled with the Spirit in the womb of Elizabeth...but that is the exception to old covenant living.

The promise of the Spirit to the Church is really anti-climatic when we interpret old covenant believers were indwelt the same as new covenant believers.

I agree with Marvin and I think these verses prove that.

Heb 11:39-40, "And these all, having obtained a good report through faith, received not the promise: God having provided some better thing for us, that they without us should not be made perfect.

The old testament saints did not have Christ dwelling within them as we do.

"Of this salvation the prophets have inquired and searched carefully, who prophesied of the grace that would come to you, searching what, or what manner of time, the Spirit of Christ who was in them was indicating when He testified beforehand the sufferings of Christ and the glories that would follow." (1 Peter 1:10,11)

Though the above verses mention that the Spirit of Christ/ Messiah was in the prophets, the difference that stands out to me is that though the prophets had the Spirit either upon them or in them at different times, it is only after the death and resurrection that we can be actually born again, born of God, born of the Spirit and become one with Him, part of His own body -- not just indwelt but recreated, a new creation, born again.

To look at this from another angle, since Christ was a Jew, and we are being transformed into His image, should we over time not resemble a Jew in this life? Moses lived by faith that transforms the earthly image. We live by faith which transforms our earthly image. Christ is the Son of Man.

All are one due to the work of Christ.

Imagine the twelve tribes of Israel camped in the wilderness. If one were to stand far off on the side of a mountain, one would see the cross.

God created a blue print for Israel. In the second chapter of Numbers God defines the exact arrangement of how the tribes would set up camp. Just think of the campfires in the formation of the cross.

The Old Testament is a tutor leading to Christ. And Christ is the same always.