Why was Moses not allowed to enter the Promised Land?

Everything comes to us through Christ having been on the cross; and we do not need the cross again, but the priestly work. It was now, "Tell the rock before their eyes to yield its water." Speak the word only, and the water will flow... In verses 9 and 10 we see that Moses was upset, and speaks rashly. He could not rise to the height of God's grace; and that was why he could not enter the land. He was in a better frame of mind the first time Israel complained. Then he said, "It is not against us that you grumble, but against the Lord"; now he says, "Shall we bring water for you out of this rock?" — setting up Aaron and himself, and using the Lord's authority to do it.

But here Moses, completely losing sight of the infinite grace of God in this wonderful transaction and provision for His people, and falling back on the principle of judgment, misrepresented the God he had sought to magnify, and whose grace it was his greatest joy to reflect... God most of all resents a grave misrepresentation of Himself by someone who ought to have known Him well. It was precisely because Moses and Aaron were so near to God, because they had entered — Moses particularly — into the grace of the Lord, that now under these circumstances total failure on their part became the occasion for setting aside Moses as a vessel that had done its work.

To seek to satisfy God's thirsty people was good, but he did not act in it for the glory of God. And it is important to notice that, in spite of Moses' failure, God acted then as He often does now — He brought blessing to the people, though He disciplined His servant for his inconsistent conduct. The failure was very great, not only because it was not obedience to the Lord's plain command, but because it spoiled the type, which was surely meant to teach us that the rock, once struck, never needs to be struck again, but would give out refreshing streams at the cry of faith, as we now know Christ.

It may seem astonishing to us, hard to understand, that one so loved as Moses should be refused entrance into the promised land. But in this we see the solemn action of God's government, and we have to bow our heads and worship. It was not merely that Moses, in his official capacity, or as representing the legal system, could not bring Israel into the land. This is true; but it is not all. Moses spoke rashly with his lips. He and Aaron his brother failed to glorify God in front of the congregation.

It was very necessary to remind the congregation that it was on their account that Moses, that loved and honoured servant of the Lord, was prevented from crossing the Jordan and setting his foot on the land of Canaan. True, "he spoke rashly with his lips"; but "they made his spirit bitter." This ought to have cut them to the heart. They not only failed, through unbelief, to enter in themselves; they were also the cause of his exclusion.

There was a double reason, no doubt, why His servant Moses should not cross the Jordan and enter the land of Canaan. In terms of God's dealings, the law could never bring the people of God, such as they were, into the rest of God; it was left to Joshua, the type of Christ in resurrection, to do this. And the moral reason, of course, everyone knows: "he spoke rashly with his lips."

In this beautiful way the grace of God rose above His stern government. His government could not allow Moses to enter the land, but His grace let him see it all, which he would not have done by entering it, and which no Israelite who entered would see. More than that, in the New Testament (Matthew 17:1-3) Moses is seen in the land, but with his interest not fixed on the land at all, but on the Lord Jesus, transfigured before his eyes.