Adventist Teaching: Yes
Biblical Teaching: No
The Adventist Church—by way of Ellen G. White—who claimed to be shown in vision that Michael the Archangel (who they believe is Jesus Christ) resurrected Moses when disputing with Satan over Moses’s body (Jude 1:9).
I saw that Moses passed through death, but Michael came down and gave him life before he saw corruption. Satan claimed the body as his, but Michael resurrected Moses, and took him to heaven. The Devil tried to hold his body, and railed out bitterly against God, denounced him as unjust, in taking from him his prey. But Michael did not rebuke the Devil, although it was through his temptation and power that God’s servant had fallen. Christ meekly referred him to his Father, saying, “The Lord rebuke thee.”
Ellen G. White, Spiritual Gifts, Vol. I, pg. 43 (1SG 43.1)
Satan exulted that he had succeeded in causing Moses to sin against God. For this transgression Moses came under the dominion of death. If he had continued faithful, and his life had not been marred with that one transgression, in failing to give God the glory of bringing water from the rock, he would have entered the Promised Land, and would have been translated to heaven without seeing death. Michael, or Christ, with the angels that buried Moses, came down from heaven, after he had remained in the grave a short time, and resurrected him and took him to heaven.
Ellen G. White, The Story of Redemption, pg. 173 (SR 173.2)
One of the reasons why they teach this is because they think that Moses was physically present at the Transfiguration (Matthew 17:3). Because of their teaching around the state of the dead and that you cease to exist between your physical death and the resurrection (what is more akin to a re-creation in their theology), they have to have Moses being resurrected because he appears with Christ at the Transfiguration. Meaning, they understand that Moses was physically present at the Transfiguration.
But if one reads the account in Matthew 17:1-13 carefully, you’ll notice that, after the Transfiguration event, Jesus tells the disciples that witnessed it to tell no one of the vision they were shown (Matthew 17:9). It was a vision, not Moses physically appearing with Christ.
The Bible nowhere says Michael the Archangel resurrected Moses. Jude 1:9 simply says there was a dispute over the body of Moses after his death, not that Moses was resurrected. Deuteronomy 34:5-7 is clear that God buried and hid the body of Moses, no one knowing where this was at.
Mrs. White was more than likely influenced by extra-biblical apocryphal works such as The Ascension of Moses, The Testament of Moses, and The Book of Jubilees which suggest this idea. Some Jewish writings, such as those referenced by Philo of Alexandria and Josephus, imply Moses had a unique end, possibly involving an ascension to heaven. While not extant, these traditions influenced later writings.
