Deuteronomy 3:23-27 (NKJV)
“Then I pleaded with the Lord at that time, saying: ‘O Lord God, You have begun to show Your servant Your greatness and Your mighty hand, for what god is there in heaven or on earth who can do anything like Your works and Your mighty deeds? I pray, let me cross over and see the good land beyond the Jordan, those pleasant mountains, and Lebanon.’
“But the Lord was angry with me on your account, and would not listen to me. So the Lord said to me: ‘Enough of that! Speak no more to Me of this matter. Go up to the top of Pisgah, and lift your eyes toward the west, the north, the south, and the east; behold it with your eyes, for you shall not cross over this Jordan.
Just observing my own children and even myself at times, we get the idea that if we repent of a wrongdoing and then do the right thing, that somehow we will be able to reverse the consequences of the previous sin and everything will be as we originally wanted it to be. This passage is a striking illustration of how God is holy, just and gracious at the same time.
Moses had angered God by being disobedient and stealing a bit of God's glory during one episode with the unruly Israelites. He struck a rock to bring forth water rather than speaking to it as God had instructed. And he took a bit of credit to himself in front of the Israelites. This is not acceptable to God. Now certainly Moses was God's faithful servant and was perhaps the greatest leader of God's people. But God would not tolerate such sin and there would be consequences. Moses thought perhaps now that some time had passed that God might rethink his position on the matter. Although it might with us, the passage of time does not ameliorate sin. Oh, God had forgiven Moses of his sin and Moses would spend eternity in Heaven with God but the consequence of Moses sin would stand.
Yet, in His grace, God allowed Moses to see the Promised Land before he died.