CHAPTER TWELVE
Moses in the Dispensation for Restoration
I. GOD USES A MODEL COURSE IN HIS DISPENSATION
The Reason for Establishing the Model Course
The purpose of the Dispensation for Restoration is ultimately
accomplished when man fulfills his responsibility and thus obtains
Satan's voluntary submission and has dominion over him. However, Satan
did not obey or submit to God, and later he would not obey or submit
to Jesus, who would come as a First Ancestor and a True parent.
Certainly he would not submit to anyone else. Being man's creator, God
therefore assumed the responsibility to make Satan submit.
God established Jacob as the representative through whom he would show
the model course for subjugating Satan. This sheds light on the
meaning of Amos 3:7, which says, "'Surely the Lord God does nothing,
without revealing his secret to his servants the prophets.'" There is
far more to the entire course by which Jacob led Esau to submit than
Jacob's individual efforts. It is the model course worked by God,
through Jacob, to show the way to gain the voluntary submission of
Satan, working through Esau. Jacob's course for subjugating Satan is
the pattern that Moses followed on the national level, And Jesus, the
Messiah, came to teach all of mankind how to elicit Satan's voluntary
submission. As man's True Father, or First Ancestor, the Messiah has
to pioneer the course that will be the pattern for all mankind to
follow in substantially subjugating Satan. Jesus himself substantially
subjugated Satan by following the model course that God had already
shown through Jacob and Moses. In the same manner, any person can make
Satan submit by following the course of Jesus. Acts 3:22 tells us that
Moses said, "'..."The Load God will raise up for you a prophet from
your brethren as he raised me up. You shall listen to him in Whatever
he tells you. "'" This is a reference to the coming Messiah (Jesus),
who was to follow Moses' course. In John 5:19 Jesus said that he was
following the pattern that God had shown through Moses' model course:
"Jesus said to them, 'Truly, truly, I say to you, the Son can do
nothing of his own accord, but only what he sees the Father doing; for
whatever he does, that the son does likewise. '"Moses was the model
that Jesus followed.
From an external viewpoint, it may seem that Jacob was merely the head
of a family in a tribal age, whereas Moses was the leader of the
Israelite nation, and Jesus was the Messiah. Yet, these three men did
follow similar patterns in their life courses, because God had set up
a model course in his dispensation.
II. MOSES' AND JESUS' COURSES FOLLOWED
THE PATTERN OF JACOB'S COURSE
As already stated, Jacob's course was a course to elicit Satan's
submission. Any course for subjugating Satan must follow the path
which is the reverse of the one by which Satan gained his wrongful
dominion. Let us compare the courses that Moses and Jesus took with
the model course of Jacob.
2
A. When Adam and Eve did not keep God's commandment and did not
overcome the trials of temptation from the archangel, they fell. At
the ford of the Jabbok, Jacob fought an angel at the risk of his life
and gained the victory over him-then receiving the name of Israel (Gen
32:25-28). God tested Jacob by placing the angel in the position of
Satan, and consequently the victory in that struggle indemnified the
trials which Adam and Eve had failed to pass. The purpose of the trial
was not to drive Jacob into misery but to establish Jacob as the
person who could complete restoration on the family level by having
him restore dominion over the angel. In order for Moses to become the
person who could complete the national restoration of Canaan, he also
had to overcome a trial at the risk of his life, a trial in which God
tried to have him killed (Ex 4:24-26). And in order for Jesus to
become the person who could complete the world-wide restoration of
Canaan and lead all mankind to the Kingdom of Heaven, he also had to
win a fight against Satan at the risk of his life. He did this through
his forty days in the wilderness (Mt 4:1-11).
B. The Fallen Nature was formed because of the spiritual and physical
falls. Jacob and Moses had to meet certain conditions in order to
eliminate symbolically the Fallen Nature. In buying the birthright
from Esau, Jacob used bread and lentil pottage (Gen 25:34) to initiate
the course of indemnity for the Foundation of Substance, the bread and
pottage symbolizing the fresh and the spirit. In order to initiate the
course for the Foundation of Substance in his course, Moses gave the
Israelites manna and quail, the manna and quail again symbolizing the
fresh and the spirit. John 6:49-53 shows that Jesus followed this
model course: "'Your fathers ate the manna in the wilderness, and they
died....unless you eat the fresh of the Son of man and drink his
blood, you have no life in you....'" In the world-wide course of
restoration, fallen man can meet the Indemnity Condition to Remove the
Fallen Nature only by believing absolutely in Jesus and living as he
instructed (Jn 3:16, Mt 28:19,20).
C. Because of the Fall, even man's dead body belongs to Satan.
However, because Jacob was already blessed and sanctified, when his
body was embalmed for forty days and he was mourned (Gen 50:2,3), the
condition for his dead body to be separated from Satan was also met.
Since Moses followed Jacob's model course, on the foundation of his
merits, he also met the condition for his body to be separated from
Satan. Thus, the archangel fought with Satan for Moses' body
(Jude 1:9). And, accordingly, after Jesus' death there were also
unusual phenomena that occurred concerning his body (Mt 28:12,13).
D. Because of the fall of the first human ancestors (during their
growing period), Satan gained wrongful dominion over man. To indemnify
this, God designed conditions based on the numbers that represent the
length of the invaded period. Thus, in the process of restoration
through indemnity, God has worked his dispensation by having man meet
the numerical conditions that represent that period.
For example, when Jacob returned from Haran to Canaan, there was a
three-day period of separation from Satan (Gen 31:22), that period
being the period necessary to initiate a new dispensation. There was a
three-day period of the same kind when Moses initiated the course to
lead the Israelites out of Egypt into Canaan (Ex 5:3). Also, Jesus
spent three days in the tomb (Lk 18:33) to separate from Satan before
3
beginning his world-wide course of the spiritual restoration of
Canaan.
Jacob had twelve sons in order to restore in his lifetime
(horizontally) the vertical indemnity conditions of the twelve
generations from Noah to his time, which had ended up being claimed by
Satan. For the same reason, there were twelve tribes under Moses (Ex
24:4), and Jesus had twelve apostles (Mt 10:1).
Satan's wrongful control of the seven-day period of creation was
indemnified by Jacob's having seventy family members (Gen 46:27), by
Moses' having seventy elders (Ex 24:1), and by Jesus' having seventy
disciples (Lk 10:1), each group taking the central role in its
respective course of restoration.
E. The staff, which is capable of smiting injustice, pointing out the
way, and providing support, is a symbol of God's Word, and thus, a
symbol of the Messiah to come. Jacob entered the land of Canaan
leaning on his staff as he crossed the Jordan (Gen 32:10), and Moses
led the Israelites across the Red Sea with his staff (Ex 14:16), This
foreshadows fallen mankind's crossing from the sinful world into the
ideal world, led by the Messiah and depending on the Messiah, who
smites injustice. Jesus, who smites injustice as the "rod of iron"
(Rev 2:27; 12:5), had to lead all mankind from the world of suffering,
across the troubled sea of this world, into the ideal world.
F. Eve's sin was the root of sin, which bore fruit when Cain killed
Abel. Thus, Satan invaded man and produced the fruit of sin through a
mother and son. According to the principle of restoration through
indemnity, a mother and son should reverse this course, by mutually
cooperating to bring about separation from Satan. Thus, it was by his
mother's initiative and through her cooperation that Jacob received
the blessing and was able to meet the condition for separating from
Satan (Gen 27:43). And through the cooperation of his mother, Moses
came to be in a position to fulfill God's will (Ex 2:2). Jesus also
was helped by his mother in fulfilling his mission (Mt 2:13).
G. The central person in the Dispensation for Restoration must follow
a course of restoration that leads from the satanic world to the
heavenly world. Jacob walked the course of restoration from Haran to
Canaan (Gen 31-33), and Moses walked the course from Egypt to Canaan
(Ex 3:8). Jesus also offered his whole life to transform the satanic
world into the ideal world.
H. The final goal of the Dispensation for Restoration is to completely
demolish Satan. Therefore, Jacob buried idols representing Satan under
an oak tree (Gen, 35:4), Moses destroyed the idol of the golden calf
(Ex 32:20), and Jesus, through his words and power, was to annihilate
the sinful world and gain Satan's surrender.
III. THE DISPENSATION FOR RESTORATION CENTERED ON MOSES
A. Overview of the Dispensation
The principle of the Dispensation for Restoration was the same in
Moses' time as in the previous dispensation, in that he had to
restore the Foundation of Faith and the Foundation of Substance in
order to establish the Foundation for the Messiah. However, in the
4
Dispensation for Restoration centered on Moses, we discover that there
are two differences from the previous dispensations. First, Moses
stood on the successful Foundation for the Messiah which had already
been established by Isaac's family, and the merit of this completed
work applied toward Moses' meeting his own indemnity conditions.
Second, the level of the dispensation had expanded from the family
level to the national level. God chose Moses to lead the Israelites
from the satanic world of Egypt into Canaan, which represented the
Kingdom of Heaven. In other words, God worked his dispensation to
restore the Kingdom of Heaven (Canaan) on a national level.
1. The Foundation of Faith
a. The central person for restoring the Foundation of Faith
Moses was the central person who had to restore the Foundation of
Faith. However, God appointed Moses to a dispensational position
somewhat different from that held by the previous central persons,
Adam, Noah, and Abraham. First of all, Moses stood in a position
representing God, even "be[ing] as" God (Ex 4:16; 7:1); secondly,
Moses was the model for Jesus. That is, since God's spirit would dwell
in Jesus, then God's establishing Moses as his representative means
establishing Moses as the model for Jesus.
b. The Required Offering for the Foundation of Faith
Because of his special dispensational position, Moses did not have to
make a symbolic offering of things as Abel, Noah, and Abraham did. He
was able to restore the Foundation of Faith by fulfilling a
forty-based indemnity period of separation from Satan. There are two
reasons for this.
First, Moses stood on the foundation of the three successful symbolic
material offerings by Abel, Noah, and Isaac. Second, with the
establishing of the victorious Foundation for the Messiah by Isaac's
family, the age had passed in which a sacrifice was the offering
required in place of the Word, and Moses had entered the age in which
God's Word was to be received directly. In other words, the
Dispensational Age of the Foundation for Restoration had ended and the
Dispensational Age of Restoration had begun.
Since the Dispensation had been delayed so long--even from the time of
Adam--an indemnity condition was necessary to restore this long span
of Satan's invasion, It had to be a condition based on the number
forty, which is the number that symbolizes separation from Satan. In
the Dispensational Age of Restoration, the Foundation of Faith could
be restored through indemnity by man's remaining united with God's
Word during a period of separation from Satan, a period based on the
number forty, instead of by his making a material offering.
2. The Foundation of Substance
The central person for the dispensation to establish the national
Foundation of Substance was Moses himself. As was already explained,
Moses was the central person responsible for establishing the
Foundation of Faith, which is the vertical relationship with God. In
doing so, he was in the position of Jesus, because he was standing as
God to the people (Ex 4:16; 7:1). For that reason, Moses was in the
5
position of a parent to the Israelite nation. Yet, as a prophet with
the mission of pioneering the way for Jesus, Moses was also in the
position of a child to Jesus. Therefore, he was also able to be the
central person, or stand in the Abel position, for the national
Foundation of Substance. This is the same principle that applied when
Abel, in the parent position, successfully made the offering and
established the Foundation of Faith which originally should have been
established by Adam.
If the Israelites, in the Cain position, had loved Moses and had
obeyed him absolutely after he established the Abel position for the
Foundation of Substance, then the Indemnity Condition for Removing the
Fallen Nature on the level of the nation would have been met, Moses'
vertical relationship with God would have been established in the
horizontal order among Moses and the people, and the national
Foundation of Substance would have been established.
3. The Foundation for the Messiah
If Moses had passed through a forty-period for separation from Satan
centered on God's Word, then The indemnity condition to restore the
national Foundation of Faith would have been met. If the Israelites,
centered on the victorious Moses, had restored the Foundation of
Substance, then the national Foundation for the Messiah would have
been established. On this foundation, the Israelites were to receive
the Messiah and be reborn and cleansed of the Original Sin. Then they
Would have realized the Original Nature and would have become perfect
persons. However, the Israelites did not trust Moses, and the national
course of the restoration of Canaan ended up being prolonged two
times.
B. The First Course of the National Restoration of Canaan
In order for Moses to become the central person representing the
Israelites for the course of indemnity that would restore the national
Foundation of Faith, Moses spent forty years in the Pharaoh's palace,
the center of the satanic world. Although to the world he was a prince
because he was raised as the son of Pharaohs daughter (Ex 2:10), Moses
was actually raised by his own mother, who lived in the palace as his
nurse, and she instilled in him a deep awareness of the God of Israel
and of his heritage as one of the chosen people. Finally, he left the
palace, preferring to suffer with God's people rather than to enjoy
the sinful, ephemeral pleasures of pharaoh's palace (Heb 11:24).
Through his forty years in the palace, Moses fulfilled the
forty-period of separation from Satan and restored the Foundation of
Faith.
In establishing the Foundation of Faith, Moses at the same time
qualified himself for the Abel position in the Foundation of
substance. The Israelites, who were in the Cain position, had to
faithfully submit to and obey Moses, who was in the Abel position.
They would have become one with Moses and they would have inherited
God's Will. This would have restored the national Foundation of
Substance. If this had been done, the Foundation of Substance would
have been established during the period of the Israelites' return to
Canaan under the leadership of Moses.
6
With this purpose in mind, Moses fulfilled the condition for starting
the dispensation. Moses confirmed his determination before God and the
Israelites when he killed an Egyptian that he saw beating a Hebrew (Ex
2:12).[1] After seeing Moses act in such a way, the Israelites should
have trusted and united with Moses. Then, through Moses, they would
have been told by God to travel to the promised land of Canaan by the
direct route through the territory of the Philistines, and they would
not have had to go the longer way across the Red Sea and through the
wilderness of Sinai. By their uniting with Moses during a
twenty-one-day journey to Canaan, the Foundation of Substance would
have been successfully established, and this course would have
indemnified Jacob's twenty-one-year course in Haran, Exodus 13:17
says, "When Pharaoh let the people go, God did not lead them by way of
the land or the Philistines, although that was near; for God said,
'Lest the people repent when they see war, and return to Egypt.'"
This passage shows that God's original plan was to have them take the
route through the land of the Philistines, which was a faster, more
direct route.
However, instead of trusting Moses, the Israelites exposed Moses'
killing, and Moses had to escape from Pharaoh, as recorded in Exodus
2:15, "When Pharaoh heard of it, he sought to kill Moses." Moses went
to hide in the wilderness of Midian, and thus the first course of the
national restoration of Canaan could not even begin.
C. The Second Course of the National Restoration of Canaan
1. The Foundation of Faith and the Foundation of Substance
Because the first course of the national restoration of Canaan could
not even begin, the forty-year period of indemnity which Moses had
established for the Foundation of Faith while he was in Pharaoh's
palace was invaded by Satan. Therefore, Moses had to establish a
second forty-year period of separation from Satan. He did so through
his life in exile in the wilderness of Midian. through this he was
able to restore the Foundation of Faith for the second national
course.
At the end of this period, God appeared to Moses and said,
...I have seen the affliction of my people who are in Egypt,
and have heard their cry because of their taskmasters; I
know their sufferings, and I have come down to deliver them
out of the hand of the Egyptians, and to bring them up out
of that land to a good and broad land, a land flowing with
milk and honey, to the place of the Canaanites....And now,
behold, the cry of the people of Israel has come to me, and
I have seen the oppression with which the Egyptians oppress
them. Come, I will send you to Pharaoh that you may bring
forth my people, the son of Israel, out of Egypt. (Ex
3:7-10)
____________________
1Though Moses had killed someone, he had done so in defense
of another person and knowing full well that if found out he
would lose his very privileged position and his life. Thus, it
was a sign of righteousness and a sign that he was willing to
stand with the Israelites.
7
Through his forty years in the wilderness of Midian, Moses restored
the Foundation of Faith and at the same time established his position
as the central person for the Foundation of substance. God's
dispensation began with Moses' establishing the foundation to start
the course of national restoration by striking the Egyptians with
three miracles and ten disasters (Ex 4, 7-11). The Israelites
witnessed these and came to realize that Moses was the true leader
sent by God. on this basis, the second course of the national
restoration of Canaan was finally able to begin. However, the fact
that the Israelites were at last following Moses did not mean that the
Indemnity Condition for Removing the Fallen Nature was an accomplished
fact. Satan was able to invade during this dispensational course and
caused this long period to be handed over to him. To restore this lost
indemnity period on a national basis, the Israelites, in Cain's
position, had to submit to Moses, obey him, and remain one with him
throughout the entire period, until their arrival in the land of
Canaan. consequently, the Israelites had to enter Canaan having been
obedient to Moses during their entire course in the wilderness. Only
then could the national Foundation of Substance have been established.
God already knew that, although the Israelites trusted Moses enough to
begin the journey to the land of Canaan, they did not have complete
faith in him. God was afraid that if they went via the direct route,
their fear of battle (Ex 13:17) would revive their faithlessness, and
they might easily return to Egypt and leave his dispensation
unaccomplished. For this reason, God instead led them across the Red
Sea and through the Sinai wilderness, even though it would take more
time. God continually showed them his grace by performing miracles. He
was trying to make it difficult for them to fall into disbelief and go
back to Egypt. As a result, Moses started the Israelites on what
should have been a twenty-one month course through the wilderness.
2. The Tabernacle in the Dispensation for Restoration
At the beginning of the third month after the Israelites had left
Egypt, they arrived at the wilderness of Sinai. There, God gave Moses
special directions. God told him to consecrate the people (Ex 19:10)
and reinforce their faith. Then Moses went up Mount Sinai with seventy
elders and met God (Ex 24:9,10). There, God showed his glory to his
people, as we find expressed in Exodus 24:15-17:
Then Moses went up on the mountain, and....the glory of the
Lord settled on Mount Sinai, and the cloud covered it six
days; and on the seventh day he called to Moses out of the
midst of the cloud. Now the appearance of the glory of the
Lord was like a devouring fire on top of the mountain in the
sight of the people of Israel.
This was also to show them that God was personally working with them.
God took these measures so that the people of Israel could have
absolute trust in him.
God called Moses to the mountaintop and asked him to fast for forty
days so that he could receive the two tablets of stone with the Ten
Commandments (Ex 24:18). During the time that Moses fasted on the
mountain, he received instruction from God concerning the ark of the
covenant and the tabernacle (Ex 25-31). When the forty-day fast was
8
over, he received two tablets of stone with the Ten Commandments
engraved on them (Ex 31:18). When Moses came down from the mountain,
he found that the Israelites had already lost their faith in God and
were worshipping a golden calf as their god (Ex 32:2-4). During the
forty days that their leader was away from them, the Israelites had
lost their faith and rebelled against the very God who had guided them
with so many miracles. When Moses say this, he was greatly angered,
and at the foot of the mountain, he threw the tablets to the ground,
breaking them (Ex 32:19).
God appeared to Moses again and gave him instructions to cut out of
stone two tablets like the first (Ex 34:1). After Moses finished his
second forty-day fast, he gain received the Ten Commandments, written
on the two tablets. The Israelites then built the ark of the covenant
and the tabernacle, with the tablets as the core.
a. The significance of the tablets and the arch of the covenant
(i) The significance of the tablets
Adam and Eve were created by the Word. If they had perfected
themselves, they would have become perfect incarnations of the Word.
However, because of the Fall, they lost the Word.
The tablets inscribed with God's Commandments, which Moses received
after the forty-period of separation from Satan, have a special
meaning. They are the substantial representation of the Word,
symbolically representing the restoration of Adam and Eve from the
satanic world. Thus, the two tablets, as symbols of Adam and Eve,
also symbolize Jesus and the Holy Spirit, who would come as the
substantial incarnations of the Word. This is the reason that Jesus
is symbolized as the "white stone" (Rev 2:17) and the "Rock"
(1 Cor 10:4).
Moses' receiving the tablets with God's Words also demonstrates that
the Dispensational Age of the Foundation of Restoration had passed.
In other words, the age during which man could relate to God only
through material offerings had passed, and fallen mankind had entered
the Dispensational Age of Restoration, in which man could relate to
God through the Word.
(ii) The significance of the tabernacle
Jesus compared the temple in Jerusalem to his body (Jn 2:21), and Paul
state that Christians are the temple of God (1 Cor 3:16). The temple
is the image-representation of Jesus. However, during their course
through the wilderness, the Israelites could not build a temple, and
so they built the tabernacle instead. Thus, the tabernacle, which was
a miniature type of the temple, was also a symbolic representation of
Jesus. For this reason, when God ordered Moses to build the
tabernacle, he said, "'...let them make me a sanctuary, that I may
dwell in their midst'" (Ex 25:8). Accordingly, the tabernacle is the
symbolic messiah which the Israelites where to attend during their
course in the wilderness.
(iii) The structure of the tabernacle
9
The tabernacle was composed of the Most Holy Place[2] and the Holy
Place (Ex 26:33,34). Only the chief priests could visit the Most Holy
Place, and that but once a year, for the offering of sacrifices.
Within the Most Holy Place was the ark of the covenant, within which
were the two tablets of stone, symbolizing Jesus and the Holy Spirit,
and heaven and earth. We can consider the ark, then, in a narrow
sense, a microcosm of the cosmos, and also, a microcosm of the
tabernacle. The Most Holy Place symbolizes Jesus' spirit self and the
invisible substantial world, and the Holy Place, which was the
ordinary place for the offering of sacrifices, symbolizes Jesus' body
and the visible substantial world.
b. The purpose of the dispensation with the
tablets of stone and the tabernacle
From God's viewpoint, once the Israelites had left Egypt it was
imperative that they make it to Canaan without turning back; it was
necessary to enter Canaan at all cost. To this end, God sought to
inspire the Israelites to have faith in him by continually performing
miracles, beginning right at the start of the dispensation.
After they had set out for Canaan, God guided and cared for the
Israelites throughout their course in the wilderness by means of many
miracles: guiding them by a pillar of cloud and a pillar of fire
(Ex 13:21); dividing the waters of the Red Sea (Ex 14:21); providing
manna and quail (Ex 16:12,13,35); having Moses produce water from a
rock for the people to drink (Ex 17:6); and defeating the Amalekites
with his power (Ex 17:10-13). Despite all of these, the Israelites
lost faith in Moses and God numerous times, and in the end there was
the danger that even Moses might act faithlessly.
For this reason, God found it necessary to create an object of faith
which would never change, even though man might change. If there were
even one person among the Israelites who would believe absolutely in
this object of faith, the God would be able to carry out his Will by
having that person's faith be representative of the Israelites and
then passing it from person to person like a baton. That object of
faith was the tabernacle, which enshrined the ark and the tablets and
symbolized the Messiah. Thus the Israelites' construction of the
tabernacle meant that symbolically the Messiah had come.
Consequently, if, until they entered the blessed land of Canaan, the
Israelites had continued to follow Moses and attend the tabernacle
with the loyalty due to the Messiah, then they would have established
the national Foundation of Substance.
c. The Foundation for the Tabernacle
Since the Messiah's coming must be preceded by the Foundation for the
Messiah and the tabernacle was the symbolic Messiah, then receiving it
had to be preceded by the Foundation for the Tabernacle. Accordingly,
a Foundation of Faith and a Foundation of Substance were necessary for
the Foundation for the Tabernacle.
(i) The first Foundation for the Tabernacle
____________________
2Also commonly known as the Holy of Holies
10
Through Moses' forty-day fast on Mount Sinai (Ex 24:18), God had him
establish the forty-period of separation from Satan, thus establishing
the Foundation of Faith for the tabernacle. Next, the Israelites were
supposed to serve and obey Moses during a forty-day period of
separation from Satan and until they had built the tabernacle, since
this would establish the Foundation of Substance. However, the
Israelites fell into faithlessness and made and worshipped a golden
calf (Ex 32:2-4). Because the Indemnity Condition for Removing the
Fallen Nature was not fulfilled, the Foundation of Substance was not
established. When Moses saw the faithless Israelites at the foot of
the Mountain, he burned with anger and threw the tablets to the
ground, breaking them (Ex 32:19).
Since the two tablets symbolized Jesus and the Holy Spirit, Moses'
breaking them in reaction to the people's lack of faith foreshadowed
that when Jesus came he could be crucified should the Israelites fall
into faithlessness.
(ii) The second Foundation for the Tabernacle
After bringing Aaron and the people to repentance, Moses fasted for
forty days and nights a second time, thus reestablishing the forty-
period of separation from Satan. On this foundation, God inscribed a
second set of tablets and Moses received the Ideal of the Tabernacle
(Ex 34:28). The Israelites not only obeyed Moses during this forty-
day period, but also built the tabernacle according to the directions
of God and Moses. This was the first day of the first month of the
second year since the Israelites' had left Egypt. However, the
Foundation of Substance could not be established simply by the
Israelites' building the tabernacle; to establish it, the Israelites
had to become one with Moses and obey him and had to regard God's
Ideal of the Tabernacle as more precious than their own lives.
On the twentieth day of the second month of the second year since the
Exodus, the Israelites, revering the tabernacle (Num 10:11,12), left
the wilderness of Sinai for Canaan under the guidance of the pillar of
cloud. However, they fell into faithlessness and complained to Moses;
so God burned an outlying part of the camp (Num 11:1) in an attempt to
awaken them. But they still did not awaken to God's Will and
continued to complain against Moses and to long for the land of Egypt
(Num 11:4-6). In looking back at this, we can see that the successful
Foundation for the Tabernacle was invaded by Satan.
Thus, God again directed the unfaithful Israelites to establish the
forty-day foundation of separation from Satan. He gave them a forty-
day foundation of separation from Satan. He gave them a forty-day
period of spying as the condition for accomplishing the second
national course of the restoration of Canaan. God chose twelve people
to spy for forty days, one person from each tribe (Num 13:1-15).
However, except for Joshua and Caleb, all of them returned with
faithless reports (Num 13:28-32). The Israelites, hearing these
reports, angrily complained against Moses and cried out that they
should choose a new leader and go back to Egypt. Then God appeared to
all of the people and said to Moses, "...'How long will this people
despise me? And how long will they not believe in me, in spite of all
the signs which I have wrought among them?'" (Num 14:11). Then God
said, "'"But your little ones, who you said would become a prey, I
11
will bring in, and they shall know the land which you have despised.
But as for you, your dead bodies shall fall in the wilderness. And
your children shall be shepherds in the wilderness forty years, and
shall suffer for your faithlessness, until the last of your dead
bodies lies in the wilderness. According to the number of days in
which you spied out the land, forty days, for every day a year, you
shall bear your iniquity, forty years, and you shall know my
displeasure"'" (Num 14:31-34).
Thus, the faithless reports led to the failure of the forty-day period
of spying, and the Israelites were not able to make the Foundation of
Substance at Kadesh-Barnea. As a result, the second national course
(the twenty-one-month course in the wilderness) was extended to a
third course, a forty-year course, again in the wilderness.
D. The Third Course of the National Restoration of Canaan
1. The Foundation of Faith
Because of the faithlessness of the Israelites, the second course of
the national restoration of Canaan ended in failure. Thus, the forty-
year period in the wilderness of Midian, through which Moses had
established the Foundation of Faith for this second course, was also
claimed by Satan. With the failure of the forty-day mission of spying
in Canaan, Moses began another period of separation from Satan in
order to restore the Foundation of Faith for the third course. Thus,
he led the Israelites on the forty-year course of wandering in the
wilderness, which ended when they returned to Kadesh-Barnea. By
exalting the tabernacle with utmost faith and loyalty during the forty
years of wandering, Moses reestablished the forty-period of separation
from Satan.
2. The Foundation of Substance
If, during the forty-year period of wandering in the wilderness, the
Israelites had surrendered to and obediently united with Moses, who
had exalted and attended the tabernacle with unchanging faith, and
they had thus entered the land of Canaan, the Foundation of Substance
would have been established in the third course of the national
restoration of Canaan. Accordingly, this forty-year period of
wandering in the wilderness was the period in which to lay the
Foundation of Faith for the third course and to realize the foundation
for departing on the third course to Canaan. The third course for the
Foundation of Substance was begun centered on Moses, but was completed
centered on Joshua. It should be studied in light of these two
phases.
a. The Foundation of Substance centered on Moses
Anxious that his people might again fall into faithlessness, God, in
his grace, gave the Israelites the ark, the tabernacle, and the
tablets of stone with the Ten Commandments. If the Israelites had
kept the Ideal of the Tabernacle with absolute faith after they had
received this grace from God at Mount Sinai, or during the period of
spying, then they would have been able to indemnify the invaded
beginning of the second course. In other words, they would have been
able to restore their status to that which they had held when they
left Egypt, that of being united with Moses after he received the
12
grace of the three miracles and ten calamities. Accordingly, if the
Israelites who followed Moses back to Kadesh-Barnea after their forty-
year indemnity period in the wilderness had exalted and attended the
tablets, the ark, and the tabernacle, then the nation of Israel could
have started victoriously for the land of Canaan.
Since the tablets were the microcosm of the ark, and the ark was a
microcosm of the tabernacle, then the tablets were also a microcosm of
the tabernacle. Thus the tabernacle or ark can be represented by the
tablets, or, further, by the source of the tablets, which is the rock
from which they were made. Thus, the Bible records that the beginning
of the third course of the national restoration of Canaan centered on
the rock at Kadesh-Barnea (Num 20:8-11).
The Israelites were murmuring in resentment against Moses because they
had no water. In order to save the Israelites, who were again falling
into faithlessness despite their forty years in the wilderness
(Num 20:4-10), God instructed Moses to bring forth water for the
people to drink (Num 20:8). Because they were complaining and blaming
him for not having water, Moses was so enraged at his people that he
twice struck the rock with his rod (Num 20:11). God was displeased,
and said, "'Because you did not believe in me, to sanctify me in the
eyes of the people of Israel, therefore you shall not bring this
assembly into the land which I have given them'" (Num 20:12).
By striking the rock twice, when he should have struck it only once
(as God had had him do earlier at Rephidim (Ex 17:6) ), Moses was
unable to initiate the dispensation successfully and also prevented
himself from entering the blessed land of Canaan, even though it was
then in sight (Num 20:24; 27:12-14; Deut 3:23-37). What was the
difference between the time when Moses struck the rock at Horeb in
Rephidim and this time such that God reproached Moses and prevented
him from going into the land of Canaan, which Moses very much wished
to enter? After working so devotedly throughout his life, leading his
faithless people toward the precious goal, the blessed land, how much
must Moses have wanted to enter Canaan! He begged God, "'"Let me go
over, I pray, and see the good land beyond the Jordan, that goodly
hill country, and Lebanon"'" (Deut 3:25). God answered firmly,
"'"...speak no more to me of this matter"'" (Deut 3:26). Though Moses
had reached the Jordan, because of the problem in bringing forth the
water from the rock he died on Mount Pisgah in the land of Moab
without setting foot in Canaan (Josh 34:1-6).
We should learn from Moses' mistake. At both Rephidim and Kadesh,
Moses brought forth water after receiving God's instruction. His
demonstration of God's power to the faithless people and his use of
the rod was the same in both cases. The only difference was that at
Kadesh he struck the rock twice. Let us determine why the rock should
have been struck only once and why striking it twice was such a sin.
In the Bible, Christ is symbolized as a white stone (Rev 2:17) and as
a rock (1 Cor 10:4). Since Christ came as the Tree of Life
(Rev 22:14; also see "The Fall"), the Rock also represents the Tree of
Life. The Tree of Life in the Garden of Eden (Gen 2:9) symbolized
perfected Adam. Since this Tree of Life is also the Rock, the Rock
must also symbolize perfected Adam.
13
In the Garden of Eden, Satan struck Adam and caused the fall of Adam,
who was to have become the Rock. Since Adam did not become the Tree
of Life (Gen 3:22-24), he failed to become the Rock that would forever
give the water of life to his descendants.
Thus, the rock that did not yield water before Moses struck it with
the rod represented fallen Adam. God, in accordance with the
principle of restoration through indemnity, wanted to establish the
condition of having restored Adam as the Rock capable of yielding
water, by having Moses strike once the barren rock, which was the
symbol of fallen Adam, and bring forth water from it.
Accordingly, God had Moses strike the rock once as the condition for
restoring through indemnity the first, fallen Adam into the second,
perfected Adam, or Jesus. Therefore, the rock that gave forth water
after being struck once symbolized Jesus, who was to come and give the
water of life to fallen people ("For they drank from the...Rock which
followed them, and the Rock was Christ" (1 Cor 10:4) ). Moses' angry
act of striking the rock as second time represented striking Jesus who
was the restored Rock that would give the water of life to all
mankind. In other words, Moses' striking the rock twice (in anger at
the Israelites' faithlessness) established a basis for Satan to
directly confront Jesus, who was the true Rock, if the Israelites were
faithless at Jesus' time. This is why Moses' act was so wrong.
Thus, the foundation for beginning the dispensation, a foundation
which was to be based on the rock, was not realized. Instead of
Moses, it was Joshua who, with unchanging faith and loyalty, led the
new generation into Canaan. He did so on the basis of the foundation
he had set for the tabernacle through the forty-day period of spying
in Canaan.
b. The Foundation of Substance centered on Joshua
Because of Moses' striking the rock twice, his mission to lead the
Israelites passed to Joshua.
And the Lord said to Moses, "Take Joshua, the son of Nun, a
man in whom is the spirit, and lay your hand upon him; cause
him to stand before Eleazar the priest and all the
congregation, and you shall commission him in their sight.
You shall invest him with some of your authority, that all
the congregation of the people of Israel may obey."
(Num 27:18-20)
Joshua was one of the two Israelites who had not fallen into
faithlessness during the forty-day period of spying and had stood
firmly on the Foundation of Faith which Moses had established for the
tabernacle. He was one of the only two who established a foundation
for the tabernacle and served it with unchanging faith and loyalty to
the end. Although Moses' faith wavered, the Ideal of the Tabernacle
remained unchanged on the foundation established by Joshua.
Therefore, God chose Joshua to replace Moses and carried out his
dispensation in such a way that in order to begin the third course,
the Israelites had to repent and center themselves on the tabernacle
(Num 21:6-8). It was now God's intention to establish the Foundation
of Substance for the third course using Joshua as the central person
14
by having the Israelites enter Canaan while in absolute obedience to
Joshua.
There, God said to Moses,
"...'he [Joshua] shall go over [into Canaan] at the head of
this people, and he shall put them in possession of the land
which you shall see.'"
(Deut 3:28)
Later God said to Joshua:
..."Moses my servant is dead; now therefore arise, go over
this Jordan, you and all this people, into the land which I
am giving to them. to the people of Israel."
(Josh 1:2)
"...as I was with Moses, so I will be with you; I will not
fail you or forsake you. Be strong and of good courage; for
you shall cause this people to inherit the land which I
swore to their fathers to give them."
(Josh 1:5,6)
At the same time, the second generation of Israelites, which was born
in the wilderness, was determined to follow Joshua at the risk of
their lives, saying,
..."All that you have commanded us we will do, and wherever
you send us we will go....Whoever rebels against you
commandment and disobeys your words, whatever you command
him, shall be put to death. Only be strong and of good
courage.
(Josh 1:16-18)
They also presented their faithful reports after the spying at
Jericho, saying "...Truly the Lord has given all the land into our
hands; and moreover all the inhabitants of the land are fainthearted
because of us'" (Josh 2:24). Thus the second generation of Israel was
completely united with Joshua, who stood on the Foundation for the
Tabernacle in accordance with God's instruction, and they were led to
the Jordan. The river was running in flood, overflowing its banks.
But the priests bearing the ark waded in as they were instructed, and
the waters stopped, piling up on the upstream side and draining away
on the downstream side, and all of Israel passed over on dry ground to
Canaan (Josh 3:16,17).
In taking Jericho according to God's instructions, forty thousand
soldiers proceeded in the vanguard, followed by seven priests marching
with seven trumpets, all preceding the ark of the covenant, which was
carried by the Levite priests. All the people of Israel marched in
the rear (Josh 6:8,9). As God commanded them. the Israelites marched
around the city for six days, making one tour each day, and on the
seventh day, seven tours. Then at the shout of Joshua and his people
the walls crumbled (Josh 6:20). In this way, the Israelites began
their conquest of Canaan, which was the home they had longed for.
Now let us summarize what we have learned concerning the Foundation of
Substance of the third course of the national restoration of Canaan.
15
Because of the Israelites' faithlessness toward Moses, the Foundation
of Substance had not been established centered on Moses, and all of
the first generation Israelites, including Moses--all except Joshua
and Caleb, who had a steady faith--all died in the wilderness. The
second generation Israelites, born in the wilderness, entered Canaan
(Num 14:29-38) centered on Joshua, establishing the Foundation of
Substance.
Although the national Foundation for the Messiah was established
centered on Joshua, it was necessary for the heavenly side to prepare
a strong foundation in order for the Messiah to come. This is because
fallen man had already built great kingdoms centered on Satan which
would oppose the heavenly Dispensation for Restoration.
But, despite their responsibility to establish a heavenly foundation,
the Israelites fell into faithlessness even after they came to the
land of Canaan, and thus, God's dispensation was repeatedly prolonged
until the time of Jesus.