In the days of Jesus of Nazareth there were many who did not believe in him, but who professed to believe in Moses. Some of them said, “We know that God spake unto Moses; as for this fellow, we know not from whence he is.” John 9: 29.
From “Patriarchs and Prophets.”
MOSES AND CHRIST.
To the one who stood up for Jesus, they said, “Thou art his disciple; but we are Moses’ disciples.” But what was the actual fact? They did not believe on Moses any more than they did on Christ. He said to them: “There is one that accuseth you, even Moses, in whom ye trust. For had ye believed Moses, ye would have believed me; for he wrote of me. But if ye believe not his writings, how shall ye believe my words?” John 5: 45-47.
The highest testimony given to Jesus as the One sent from God, is this which the Lord spoke to Moses: “I will raise them up a prophet from among their brethren, like unto thee, and will put my words in his mouth; and he shall speak unto them all that I shall command him. And it shall come to pass, that whosoever will not hearken unto my words which he shall speak in my name, I will require it of him;” he “shall be destroyed from among the people.” Deut. 18: 18, 19; Acts 3: 23. It is evident, therefore, that anybody must believe in Christ if he really believes Moses.
But there is another side. In these days we find many who profess to believe in Christ. They have no sympathy for the Jews who refused to accept him, and they wonder at the blindness of that people. But they do not profess to believe very much in Moses. Many of them openly depreciate his writings as out of date. If the authority of Moses is not openly discredited by them, he is at least slighted. Yet these same persons profess the most implicit faith in Christ.
What is the position of these last?—It is precisely that of the Jews of old. Listen again to the words of Christ: “Had ye believed Moses, ye would have believed me; for he wrote of me. But if ye believe not his writings, how shall ye believe my words?”2
In vain are all professions of faith in Christ by those who discredit Moses. The two can not be separated. He who believes the one must believe the other also, and he who denies the one denies the other as well; for both were sent by God with the same message. To deny Christ while professing to believe Moses is exactly the same as denying Moses while professing to believe Christ. Happy will that man be who in the judgment shall not be condemned either by the words of Moses or of Jesus. E. J. W.
