Moses, First of the Holy Prophets

MOSES was one of the outstanding Old Testament prophets and was used by God to foretell various important features in the divine plan for the rescue of mankind from sin and death. He was the compiler of the Book of Genesis, and in this capacity he recorded that original prophecy concerning the Seed of the woman bruising the serpent’s head.—Gen. 3:15

Moses also recorded the prophecy of Jacob concerning “the Lion of the tribe of Judah.” This was a prophecy of the coming of Jesus, first to redeem mankind from sin and death, and then to rule over the people throughout the thousand years of his kingdom.—Gen. 49:9,10; Rev. 5:5

Moses was the first of God’s holy prophets to foretell the dispersion of the Israelites from their Promised Land and also their regathering and restoration to God’s favor in “the latter days.”—Deut. 4:26-31

When the resurrected Jesus talked with his two disciples on the road to Emmaus, he began, the record states, with Moses and, from all the prophets, pointed out to them that according to the divine plan it was necessary that the Messiah should first suffer and afterward enter into his glory. (Luke 24:25-27) From this we know that Moses foretold the suffering and death of Jesus. One of the ways he did this was through the institution of the Passover, in which the death of the Passover lamb foreshadowed the death of Jesus as “the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world.”—John 1:29; I Cor. 5:7

In a prophetic prayer Moses calls attention to the sentence of death which came upon all mankind because of sin and assures us that the time will come when the people will be summoned by divine power to return from destruction. This is one of the Old Testament prophecies of the resurrection of the dead.—Ps. 90:3

Jesus explained to the Sadducees, who did not believe in the resurrection of the dead, that the hope of the resurrection was set forth in connection with God’s dealings with Moses. This is when he spoke to Moses at the burning bush and referred to himself as “the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.” Jesus explained that the Creator is not a God of the dead but of the living, that all live unto him because he proposes to restore them all to life by means of an awakening from the sleep of death.—Exod. 3:6; Luke 20:37,38

Moses, as a faithful servant of God and one of the outstanding prophets, is the only one to be mentioned in association with Jesus in connection with the glorious message of the Gospel. (Rev. 15:3) One of the songs composed by Moses pertained to the deliverance of the Hebrew people from their bondage in Egypt. (Exod. 15:1-19) This prefigures the deliverance of all mankind from the bondage of sin and death.—Matt. 18:11; Isa. 51:11; John 3:14-17

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