Moses Wasn’t Superman (Neither Was Jesus)
by J.D. Greear
Published on October 20, 2025
Categories: Inspiration

Maybe I’m just thinking in “Superman” terms because another Superman movie just came out. (I haven’t seen it, but I’m told there’s a super-pup in it, which I find, at the very least, interesting.) But I was struck recently, as I read through the book of Exodus, at how un-Superman the human hero of that story is.

It’s true that Moses, God’s chosen deliverer, works a number of impressive miracles. But it’s vital to the story that Moses is one of his people. Not an outsider from another planet. Not a perfect person sent directly by God. No, Moses was a deliverer raised up from among God’s people, for God’s people. Born to an Israelite mom and dad. With an Israelite brother and an Israelite sister. From Pharaoh’s perspective, Moses was just another slave. But from God’s perspective, he was the chosen vessel of salvation.

God’s preferred method of salvation, after all, is not distant and remote. It’s intimate and personal. He sends deliverers like his people, because only those deliverers can truly relate to his people. Like Moses.

But not just Moses. Because centuries later, another deliverer would be born as an average Israelite. With an Israelite mom. With Israelite brothers. From the perspective of the rulers of the day, he was just another member of the Jewish underclass. Flesh and blood, just like us. But also, in God’s wisdom, the Savior of the world.

You know who I’m talking about. It’s Jesus, the better Moses, the flesh-and-blood deliverer we all needed.

Moses was born during a season when Pharaoh had declared that all infant boys had to be murdered. But not just Moses. When Jesus was born, Herod had made a decree that all Hebrew baby boys under the age of 2 should be killed. Oh, and just for kicks: Do you remember where Jesus’ parents fled with him to escape that death sentence? That’s right: Egypt.

Moses came through water; his name literally means “saved through water.” That’s supposed to remind you of how God saved his people through the ark during Noah’s flood, recorded in Genesis 6. Want to know something amazing? The Hebrew word used for the little basket Moses was put in is “ark.” The author literally calls Moses’ basket an ark. This salvation-through-water theme will come up again in Exodus 14–15 when Israel is delivered from the Egyptian army through the Red Sea, and New Testament writers will say that event, being delivered through the Red Sea, prefigures the baptism-with-water that starts out our Christian life. Saved through water: It happened with Moses, but not just with Moses.

Moses was rejected by his people, just like Jesus, who “came unto his own, and his own received him not.” Moses was more than a mere messenger of God’s covenant; he was a mediator of the covenant. Moses not only taught the Israelites about God’s laws, but he confronted Pharaoh on their behalf and led them out of bondage. Moses engraved his law on two stone tablets; Jesus, through the Holy Spirit, Paul says, writes his law on our hearts. Like Moses, Jesus talked about the need for blood sacrifice to forgive sins. Unlike Moses, Jesus didn’t point us elsewhere for that; he was that in himself.

Moses laid out the pattern for a blood sacrifice that forgives sins and later laid out for them the plans for a temple where they could meet with God directly. After Israel sinned and failed to hold up their end of the covenant, Moses interceded on their behalf to keep God from showing judgment on them. But not just Moses. Jesus, too, provided a temple where we could meet with God. Unlike Moses, however, Jesus didn’t merely give us plans to build one, but became the Temple where we encounter God’s presence. He was the altar where we find forgiveness of sins. Like Moses, Jesus now intercedes on our behalf at the right hand of God, but unlike Moses, he pleads his perfect obedience in our place, so God always hears him.

Before bringing salvation, Moses wandered in the wilderness for 40 years because he’d killed a man. Israel had to wander for 40 years in the wilderness before going to the Promised Land, because of their sin. But not just Moses. And not just Israel. More importantly, Jesus wandered in the wilderness for 40 days before he began his ministry of deliverance. After his baptism, that’s where he went—into the wilderness to be tempted by Satan directly. But unlike Moses and Israel, Jesus did not wander in the wilderness because of his sin, but because of ours. And in that wilderness, he was tempted by Satan directly and resisted him completely every single time.

Moses, the great prophet of God, the great deliverer, was a flesh-and-blood man, like you and me. He wasn’t Superman, some alien with otherworldly powers. He was God’s chosen vessel to bring about salvation.

And so it is with Jesus, our great prophet, priest, and king. A flesh-and-blood man, like you and me. He wasn’t Superman, coming to us without knowing what it’s like to be human. Yes, he was God, but he was also 100 percent human. And only by living fully into both his humanity and his divinity could he be the chosen vessel to bring salvation to the world.

J.D. Greear is the pastor of The Summit Church, in Raleigh-Durham, North Carolina. He leads the Summit in a bold vision to plant one thousand new churches by the year 2050. Pastor J.D. completed his Ph.D. in Theology at Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary. He has served as a member of the Board of Directors of Chick-fil-A since January 2022 and recently served as the 62nd president of the Southern Baptist Convention. Pastor J.D. and his wife Veronica are raising four awesome kids: Kharis, Alethia, Ryah, and Adon.

This article has been republished from the J.D. Greear website and is under copyright law. It may not be republished without express written consent by J.D. Greear Ministries Team. J.D. Greear is the author of 27 Books including 12 Truths & a Lie

Image by Solihin Kentjana from Pixabay

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