Thank God for bringing us to the final portion of the Book of Deuteronomy, which is also the final portion of the Laws of Moses. It is solely by God's grace that we may do so, and we have always found the Lord providing strength upon strength, that we may carry on in the learning of His Word. As we come to the end of the Book of Deuteronomy, we also come to the end of Moses' life. We have witnessed from chapter 1 to chapter 32 verse 47 that Moses preached five sermons in one day. And now as he comes to the close of his life, he takes on the role of a patriarch to bless the twelve tribes of Israel. We notice in our summary of Deuteronomy that just as Genesis ended with Jacob's blessing, so Deuteronomy ends with Moses' blessing. And the Torah, or law, culminates in the book of Leviticus, the atonement of our Lord Jesus Christ, He being the fulfiller of the law. We must not take our eyes off Him as we look at the blessings which Moses here pronounces. For we shall find that every blessing that comes upon Israel is linked directly to Jesus, their Messiah. Let us, as we come to the close of Moses' life, open our hearts wider to our Lord Jesus, who has purchased all spiritual blessings on our behalf. For as He purchased Israel for Himself, so has He purchased us, the Church, for Himself, that He may make His glory known through His blood-bought people. Therefore, let us seek to find great comfort today, in our Prophet, Priest and King, as we examine the two points which the Lord inspired Moses to pen for our learning. Our first point, find comfort in death. Find comfort in death. Death is that which frightens many in this world, but for God's people, He provides comfort even in the last moments of our earthly sojourn. This was the same case with Moses. For though he was forbidden to enter the promised land, the Lord gave him sight upon Mount Nebo to see all of it before his death. So if we see chapter 32 and verses 48 to 52, we shall see again what the Lord said and promised to Moses. Verse 48 to 52. And the Lord spake unto Moses that self same day, saying, Get thee up into the mountain Abarim, unto Mount Nebo, which is in the land of Moab, that is over against Jericho, and behold the land of Canaan, which I give unto the children of Israel for a possession. And die in the mount, whither thou goest up, and be gathered unto thy people, as Aaron thy brother died in Mount Hor, and was gathered unto his people. because he trespassed against me among the children of Israel at the waters of Meribah Kadesh, in the wilderness of Zin, because he sanctified me not in the midst of the children of Israel. Yet thou shalt see the land before thee, but thou shalt not go thither unto the land which I give the children of Israel. Look at God's grace to Moses. Though thou hast sinned against me, yet my mercy will continue with thee. As Aaron was gathered, so thou be gathered unto the children of Israel. They'll mourn for thy death, having seen the labor which thou hast done for them. This was exactly fulfilled by the Lord later on in chapter 34, verses 1 to 8, where we shall notice that all that was prophesied by the Lord from chapter 32 verses 48 to 52 is exactly fulfilled. Chapter 34 verse 1. And Moses went up from the plains of Moab unto the mountain of Nebo, to the top of Pisgah, that is over against Jericho. And the Lord showed him all the land of Gilead unto Dan, and all Naphtali, and the land of Ephraim and Manasseh, and all the land of Judah, unto the utmost sea, and the south and the plain of the valley of Jericho, the seed of palm trees unto Zohar. And the Lord said unto him, This is the land which I swear unto Abraham, unto Isaac, and unto Jacob, saying, I will give it unto thy seed. I have caused thee to see it with thine eyes, but thou shalt not go over thee. So Moses, the servant of the Lord, died there in the land of Moab, according to the word of the Lord. And he buried him in a valley in the land of Moab, over against Bath-peor, but no man knoweth of his sepulcher unto this day. And Moses was an hundred and twenty years old when he died. His eye was not dimmed, nor his natural force abated. And the children of Israel wept for Moses in the plains of Moab thirty days. So the days of weeping and mourning for Moses were ended. Gilead, Dan, Naphtali, Ephraim, Manasseh, Judah, and all the land was shown to Moses. The twelve tribes have not even entered into the land, yet the land has already been allocated to them by the Lord and shown to Moses. Is there a greater comfort than that? The Lord has already said, this belongs to them. This belongs to Naphtali. This belongs to Ephraim. This belongs to Manasseh. And surely this is the same for the blessings of the Church. This belongs to Pastor. This belongs to Dr Ang and Mrs Ang. This belongs to Aunty Teng Teng. This belongs to my sister Chia Chia. And all these things we have, All these things we have because there is One in Heaven who is preparing a place for us. Jesus knows which mansion belongs to who because He is the One who is building it. Your future is certain. Your mansion is being prepared before you are even there. There is therefore no need for you to worry about death. He who prepares a place for you will surely ensure that you will inherit it in His heavenly kingdom. And if He will lead you through death, surely He will also lead you through life. Do you not see in chapter 34 verse 7 that though Moses was a hundred and twenty years old, one, he still could climb a mountain because his natural force wasn't abated, and two, he had good eyesight to see all the land of Canaan. None of us, I'm sure, None of us would dare to climb a mountain when we are 80 years old. But Moses could at 120, not because he knew the secret formula to eternal youth, but because he knew his life was in the hands of his Lord. His strength, his health, his life, his death is ordained by his Father's hand. Every saint is immortal till his work is done on earth. Let us hold on to this comfort, that our lives are in the hands of our loving Father, who has given all the land of Canaan to the seed of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, our Lord Jesus Christ, who will lead us in His perfect timing to our heavenly home. If we find comfort in this, how much easier would our lives be? How would our priorities be shifted in the way we live? We will live for the One who has given us all things, who is preparing a place for us, who has allotted the land to us. The One who has given us, now this day, another day of witness on this earth, and has also given to us the victory over it. Our second point, find comfort in victory. Find comfort in victory. Now we come to examine the blessings of Moses in chapter 33, and we shall notice firstly that its structure is different from the blessings of Jacob in Genesis 49. Jacob begins straight away with the blessings, but Moses starts and ends the blessings with God's deliverance of his people. If we see again chapter 33 and verses 1 to 5, we'll notice it is different When we go back, we can read Genesis 49 to see the difference. But let's focus on Deuteronomy 33 verses 1 to 5. And this is the blessing wherewith Moses, the man of God, blessed the children of Israel before his death. And he said, The Lord came from Sinai, and rose up from Seir unto them. He shined forth from Mount Paran, and He came with ten thousands of saints, from His right hand went a fiery law for them. Yea, He loved the people. All His saints are in thy hand, and they sat down at thy feet. Everyone shall receive of thy words. Moses commanded us the law, even the inheritance of the congregation of Jacob. And he was king in Jasharun, when the heads of the people and the tribes of Israel were gathered together. Moses was the king of Jeshurun, which is Israel. And whatever he commanded, the people followed. He was God's representative, as we have seen through the last five months, leading the people through the wilderness. All the twelve tribes were placed surrounding him. If we remember the formation of the battalions in the book of Numbers, he was at the center, in front of the ark, leading and guiding the people of God. He was the king, yet he was only a type. For we find another king mentioned, here, God himself being spoken of in verses 2 and 3. And do you remember where we started verse 2 before? We started it in the song and prayer of Habakkuk, in chapter 3 of Habakkuk. where we remember that it spoke concerning the second coming of Christ, the one who will come with ten thousands of saints in the future, to save the Jews whom He loves from their enemies. This we read at the end of the blessings in verses 26 to 29. There is none like unto the God of Jeshurun." Remember, Moses was called the king in Jeshurun. Now, God is called the God of Jeshurun. "...who rideth upon the heaven in thy help." in thy help, and in his excellency on the sky. The eternal God is thy refuge, and underneath are the everlasting arms. And he shall trust out the enemy from before thee, and shall say, Destroy them. Israel then shall dwell in safety alone. The fountain of Jacob shall be upon the land of corn and wine. Also his heavens shall drop down dew. Happy art thou, O Israel, Who is like unto thee, O people, saved by the Lord, the shield of thy help? And who is the sword of thy excellency? And thine enemies shall be found liars unto thee, and thou shalt tread upon their high places. Who is like Jesus, the eternal God, who with the word of His mouth, as we saw in Revelation, He'll destroy all the nations gathered against Israel in that day. There is no safer place than this, to be under the care and protection of our Saviour. And we His saints, as we saw in verse 2, will be with Him on that day. For we shall witness Jesus' victory as He destroys all the enemies of the world and saves His people Israel. Jesus' victory sweetens all the blessings given from verses 6 to 25. For if you remember that in the blessings of Jacob, Judah and Joseph were the ones who were highlighted to have kings that were coming from their loins. the Southern Kingdom and the Northern Kingdom. But in Moses' blessings, we shall see that these two tribes aren't described with kings, because the king in focus in Moses' blessings is Jesus. Furthermore, if we recall, Reuben, Simeon, Levi, all these three had evil reports concerning them, though they were blessed surely by the Lord. Yet here, none of this is mentioned. Yet here, instead, they are blessed. If we look at, for example, of Levi in verses 8 to 11, And of Levi he said, Let thy Tumim and thy Urim be with thy Holy One, whom thou didst prove at Massah, and with whom thou didst strive at the waters of Meribah, who said unto his father and to his mother, I have not seen him, neither did he acknowledge his brethren, nor knew his own children, for they have observed thy word and kept thy covenant. Massah was the place where Moses had brought out water from the rock. And Meribah is the place where he sinned against the Lord, where he brought out water again, but against the commands of the Lord. And he, Moses, is from the tribe of Levi. This is why this is mentioned here, so that the Levites will always be in consideration of what their representative has done. to learn from the good that He has done, and not to learn from the evil that He has done. And therefore, in verse 9, this is related to the incident at Mount Sinai, when the Levites had gone together with Moses and had slew the people of Israel for the building of the calf at the bottom of the mountain. Therefore, verse 10 and 11 will show them what the Levites will do. They shall teach Jacob thy judgments, and Israel thy law. they shall put incense before Thee, and whole burnt sacrifice upon Thine altar. Bless, Lord, His substance, and accept the work of His hands. Smite through the loins of them that rise against Him, and of them that hate Him. that they rise not again." How blessed is this! This is a prophecy of the millennium, when Jesus will rule from Jerusalem, and the twelve tribes will receive the full allotment of their land, from the river Nile to the river Euphrates. What a glorious future we are heading towards, where our King will reign over all the world. Finally, let us notice from these blessings over here, that oftentimes the younger is placed before the elder, the younger is placed before the elder. The handmaid is placed before the free woman. Judah, the younger son of Leah is placed before Levi. Verse 7 is on Judah and verses 8 to 11 is on Levi. Again, Benjamin, the younger, is placed before Joseph, the elder. Verse 12 is on Benjamin. and verse 13 to 17 is on Joseph. Again, Benjamin and Joseph, the younger, are placed before Zebulun and Issachar, the elder, the sons of Leah. Verse 12 to 17 is Benjamin and Joseph, and verse 18 to 19 is Zebulun and Issachar. Again, Ged is placed before Dan and Naphtali. Ged is in verse 20 and 21, and Dan and Naphtali in verse 22 and 23. And finally, in this order, if we look back at verses 2 to 5, where the kings of Israel are described. The Lord Jesus is placed before Moses. Verse 2 and 3 is the Lord Jesus, and verses 4 and 5 is Moses. Though Jesus will come a thousand five hundred years after Moses, yet He is greater than Moses. Moses, though he was Israel's prophet and priest and king, he died and did not enter into the promised land. But Jesus did. He will sit and rule from Jerusalem. He triumphed over death on our behalf, and he will sit victoriously as the perfect mediator between God and men. Do you look forward to His return, all you people who are blessed by Him? Look forward to your King's return. He will surely come for you. Let us pray. Our Father in heaven, we are one day closer to our Saviour's return. Would Thou comfort our hearts in Him, comfort our hearts that even in death we are with Him. comfort our hearts that we will always be victorious over our enemies. We await that glorious day when He will ride in triumph, bringing us along with Him to destroy all His enemies and to save all of Israel. As we feel that day drawing closer, fill us further with Thy Spirit. We want to live for Thee, O Father. We want to live for Thy Son. who loves us and gave Himself for us, and is preparing a home for us. Give us strength to love, to be joyful, to be obedient, to be watchful, to be prayerful, that Thou mayest be glorified in us, as we seek with all our hearts to glorify Thee." And now we end with the words of the Apostle John in Revelation chapter 19. And I saw heaven open, and behold a white horse, and he that sat upon him was called Faithful and True, and in righteousness he doth judge and make war. His eyes were as a flame of fire, and on his head were many crowns, and he had a name written that no man knew but he himself. and he was clothed with a vesture dipped in blood, and his name is called The Word of God. And the armies which were in heaven followed him upon white horses, clothed in fine linen, white and clean, these are the saints. And out of his mouth goeth a sharp sword, that with it he should smite the nations, and he shall rue with a rod of iron, and he treadeth the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God. And He hath on His vesture and on His tyre name written, King of Kings and Lord of Lords. What a blessed future we look to, O Father, without comfort our hearts in this victory that is surely ours today. This we ask and pray in Jesus' name. Amen.