Even though these two stories dealt with two completely different cultures, two completely different eras of time, and two completely different leaders, the goals, outcomes, missions, and environments are surprisingly similar when compared to each other. In the following paragraphs below, I will show you many of the similarities between the oppressive leaders of Pharoah and Rome, the price of freedom to go from one journey to another, and the reward for those who are diligent seekers of the Lord.

The bones of Jesus and Moses can not be found on Earth to this day: If you remember a statement I wrote earlier in this article, it is stated in Deuteronomy 34 that the Angels buried Moses and to this day, no one knows where the grave is. If one reads Acts 1, we discover that the arisen Jesus ascended back to Heaven with his heavenly father. Human nature's attraction to nostalgia would have caused many to retrieve these bones to use as relics of a time gone past. God is a god that is the same yesterday, today, and forevermore. However, it is the past that God wants to be in control over and it's through the blood of Jesus that this is done. I remember reading in the classic George Orwell book 1984 where the character Winston met with a dissident of the Thought Police who told him "Whoever controls your past, controls your future. And whoever controls your future has control of your past." I find this an interesting observation because it is now very evident that if one allows the nostalgia of a past move of God to control them instead of God Almighty himself, then the nostalgia that is in control will control their future walk with God. The thought mentalities that were prevalent in their past move of God will rise up and in some cases rebel against the current and future moves of God. In order for new moves of God to appear, there has to be a death of the old move of God and a exit of the old move of God to allow the new move of God to manifest. Moses and his generation had to die in order for Joshua and his generation to enter the Promise Land. Jesus had to go back to be with His Heavenly Father in order for the Holy Spirit to come and baptize the willing people who tarried in Jerusalem.

The transitional period between the old way of life and the new way of life: In the transfer of power from Moses to Joshua and in the change between Jesus on Earth and the Holy Spirit on Earth, there was a transition period these two moves of God faced. The Israelites mourned for thirty days transitioning from the end of the rule of Moses to the beginning of the rule of Joshua. The apostles rejoiced in the fifty days between the death and arising of Jesus, his ascension on day forty, and the arrival of the Holy Spirit on day fifty. If you were to look at the calendar dates of these two events in history, you will find in Deuteronomy that the death of Moses was not in direct correlation to any Hebrew holidays and festivals. However, if you look at Jesus, His death and arising from the dead that we modern Christians celebrate as Maundy Thursday, Good Friday, and Easter Sunday correlates with the Jewish Passover remembrance of the death angel visiting Egypt and anyone who had blood on their doorposts were saved from death. In fact, there were certain aspects of Jesus's death done different from ordinary common criminals in order not to violate the commandments of the Passover. It is ironic that the Jews still participated in the legalism that Jesus came to set them free from. If you look at the date of when the mighty rushing wind came with the tongues of fire modern Christians celebrate as Pentecost, this date correlates with the Jewish Festival of Harvest celebrated in thanksgiving to the Lord for the harvested crops reaped from the soil. It is clearly evident that Jesus wants us to celebrate life and life everlasting and not death.

Today, there are many Christians who choose to constantly mourn for a revival of days gone by instead of celebrating and praising God for a renewal that is about to or currently happening. In the end of Deuteronomy and the beginning of Joshua, the scriptures clearly state that the morning lasted for thirty days and in Joshua, the mourning time was over and it was time to take possession of the promised Land. There are many Christians who mourn the passing of an old move of God and immediately transition into a new move of God quickly. Some of these Christians take a little longer to move forward in embracing the new move of God. Some Christians constantly mourn the death of an old move of God and never get over the death of that movement they hold dear or they experienced freedom in and they never embrace the next move of God. Many hold their memories in high esteem over the word of God. Look at those Bill and Gloria Gaither "Precious Memories" Southern Gospel videos and tours. In fact, let us look at the entire Southern Gospel Music industry as a whole. A complete culture that yearns for the old days of homecoming, country gospel music, no air conditioners, and Sunday afternoon fried chicken dinners on the lawn mourns the loss of those "good times" and attempts to recreate the old nostalgia as fresh anointing by calling themselves "God's last great remnant people" while rejecting many of the CCM artists and many of the true praise and worship artists who worship God instead of "worshipping worship". However, when someone's truth subsides and their integrity falls shy on the fault lines of why and how, instead of recognizing what God said about the falling away in the last days, these nostalgic believers blame the falling away on the new move of God and the falling away because the people refused to stay in their past glories. I remember the "stinking thinking" of the old ladies and gentlemen in the Pentecostal Holiness church where my grandma took me constantly complain of how "the air conditioner made us lazy to evangelize and therefore, we lost prayer in the public schools", "those drums introduced 'demon music' in the church", "that 'Ten Commandments' movie played every Easter on ABC is evil because the actors are non-Christian and it was first seen in those evil and morally corrupt movie houses, but bless God, we watched those newsreels of the War there to support our fighting boys and the USO." to "the church compromised their holiness by allowing the kids to go to Pizza Hut where they serve beer, REPENT!!! SINNER!". Others formed denominations and Bible colleges to keep their move of God alive for one last glimmer of hope of returning to the "good ole days" with music and singings of the "good ole boys". A people who desired God's sovereign move ended up worshipping the movement instead of God, the provider of the movement. The movements now monuments became idolatry, shrines, and totems in the eyes of God. God's will and purpose of bringing these people into holy temple living through life in the Spirit was replaced by man's shrines to touches of God trivialized into "good feelings".

The Supernatural occurrance that took place to usher the chosen people from the old method of life to the new adventure of life: In Joshua chapter one, we clearly see that in order to enter the promise land, there was a major obstacle between where the Israelites were and where they were going. That major obstacle was the Jordan River. In order to leave the wilderness for the Promise Land, Joshua and the Israelites were going to have to cross over the Jordan River. In Joshua chapter three, we see the people getting ready to cross over the Jordan and when it was time to cross over, the priests carried the Ark of the Covenant first into the river. It was at this time, God performed a supernatural miracle by parting the Jordan and drying the riverbed up in order for the people and their possessions to safely pass through and enter the Promise Land. By God parting the Jordan River, God gave us a clear sign that in order to move on with God and go to the next level of our Spiritual walk, God was going to be the one who provided the way from our current state into the promises of God.

In Acts two, we see the apostles and the fellow believers in Jerusalem as commanded by Jesus ten days earlier before his ascension to heaven. It was at this time that these people were gathered together celebrating the Festival of Harvest. In order for the apostles and others to enter the Spirit-filled life, there was a major obstacle between where the apostles and fellow believers were and where they were going. That major obstacle was their own flesh and it's selfish desires. In order to leave a life of ordinary Christianity to receive the promise of the Comforter Jesus promised them in John chapters fourteen through sixteen, the apostles and fellow believers were going to have to cross the barrier of original sin that separated them from a life in the flesh to life in the spirit. Like the supernatural parting of the Jordan and the supernatural parting of the veil in the temple at Jesus Christ's death, God sent in a mighty rushing wind and tongues of fire upon the apostles and believers . It was at this time that the wall between the life of the flesh and the life in the Spirit was broken and suddenly the apostles and fellow believers were baptized in and filled with the Holy Spirit and the work on the inside was confirmed through the manifestation of speaking in tongues. This manifestation shows the change from one realm to another realm. Like our flesh with it's sinful and unclean nature, the Jordan river was known for it's dirtyness and soot. In fact, Naaman (2 Kings 5:1-19) almost refused his healing from leprosy because of the dirtyness of the river. What God did was to part away the unclean river and the unclean barrier of sin nature that seperated us from the Promise of God with his pure, clean, and holy power and created the trailway to temple living we desired and yearned for.

However, the reward of the promise made by God was based on a condition known as obedience. The priests had to go first into the Jordan and stay there until all had passed over into the Promise Land. The apostles had to obey the words of Jesus by staying in Jerusalem in order to receive the Holy Spirit. It it wasn't for obedience, then the promise would not have been fulfilled. The scriptures clearly state that obedience is better than sacrifice. In many ways, we want to sacrifice and not to obey. By obedience, we allow God to be first and foremost in our life and we allow God to make the first move to bring us to the next level instead of ourselves creating our own anointings. Every failed attempt in the Bible to come closer to God to achieve the next plateau is the result of man making the first move to the next plateau. Look at Babel and look at Nadab and Abihu and see what happens when man in his flesh tries to achieve the next plateau that only is obtainable by the supernatural impartation of God.

Please Click here for part five of this article.