Title: Jesus, The Prophet Sermon by Joey McLeod 12-7-2014 Calvary Presbyterian Church Mize, Mississippi Deuteronomy 18:15-21 15 The LORD thy God will raise up unto thee a Prophet from the midst of thee, of thy brethren, like unto me; unto him ye shall hearken;16 According to all that thou desiredst of the LORD thy God in Horeb in the day of the assembly, saying, Let me not hear again the voice of the LORD my God, neither let me see this great fire any more, that I die not.17 And the LORD said unto me, They have well spoken that which they have spoken.18 I will raise them up a Prophet from among their brethren, like unto thee, and will put my words in his mouth; and he shall speak unto them all that I shall command him.19 And it shall come to pass, that whosoever will not hearken unto my words which he shall speak in my name, I will require it of him.20 But the prophet, which shall presume to speak a word in my name, which I have not commanded him to speak, or that shall speak in the name of other gods, even that prophet shall die.21 And if thou say in thine heart, How shall we know the word which the LORD hath not spoken? As we enter this Christmas season, and celebrate the birth of Jesus, I wanted to take a few weeks and think about just who this child named Jesus truly is. We know that he is the son of Mary, conceived by the Holy Spirit, but who is Jesus? What was his purpose? What did he come to do? Historically theologians have identified a three-fold office of Jesus, and those offices are prophet, priest and king. So in the weeks leading up to Christmas I want to focus upon these offices and their implications for us. This week we are going to think through what it means that Jesus is the Prophet of God and we read Jesus is the prophet like Moses to whom we shall listen. The Necessity of a Prophet We live in an information age. Never in the history of the world has there been so much information at our fingertips as there is today. God has created us with the desire to know, to know ourselves, and to know the world around us and this desire is good, particularly when used correctly. It is amazing the advances in knowledge that we have which even 50 or 100 years ago was unavailable. Think about the advancements in medicine alone. But that knowledge which we need most, our deepest desire is to know God, and to know the ways of God, the laws of God, the salvation of God. Natural knowledge, when correctly understood, leads us to know God, but we need to know more than what knowledge of creation can tell us. The context of this passage is that we are not to seek to know God and his ways like the rest of the world, rather God reveals himself. In verse 10 we read that the world uses means like fortune telling, divinations, omens, sorcery, channeling spirits etc. to “know God’s ways.” But verse 14 we find, “As for you, the Lord has not allowed you to do this,” instead God says, “I will raise up a prophet who will reveal Me.” This prophet was necessary because of the entrance of sin into the world and heart of mankind. At creation, there was no barrier between God and man. Adam walked with God in his state of innocence, and God personally revealed his will. “do not eat…” But once sin entered the picture everything had changed. Now instead of creation pointing to God, man begins to worship creation. Instead of having communion with God, mankind hid from God. With the entrance of sin, instead of hearing God’s voice and obeying mankind lives in disobedience, and as we read in Genesis 6:5, “Every intention of the thoughts of their hearts were only evil continually.” It was a great condescension of God to speak to man in the Garden, but an even greater mercy that he purposed to speak to man after the fall. God spoke to Noah, to Abraham, to Isaac and to Jacob revealing himself and his covenant and his purposes. But in Egypt, there had been 400 years of silence – no voice. This brings us to Mt. Sinai, or as it is called in Deut. 18 Horeb, where God appeared in thick clouds and smoke while the earth trembled and he spoke giving the 10 commandments. It was here in the presence of God that they rightly begged for God not to speak to them, lest they should die. Fallen man was in no condition to directly hear the voice of God. As they came into his presence they became acutely aware of their sinfulness. They could not endure that which God commanded, as they would surely die. God cannot look upon iniquity, and neither can evil dwell in his presence. If we in our sinful condition were to behold his justice, his holiness, his power, his glory we would perish, and yet Mt. Sinai was only a whisper of the glory of God. Even when God accommodated himself at Sinai, sinful man became so alarmed they he could not bear to be in the presence of God. God said they have spoken well in what they have asked and his gracious plan was to raise up a prophet in whom he would place his words in his mouth, and he will speak all I command. The Person of the Prophet There is a two-fold fulfillment of these words of God, just as there are many others. What we find is that the office of prophet is established, wherein God raises up men who come and speak in the name of the Lord. God reveals himself and his will to them through various means – sometimes through dreams or visions other times directly by Holy Spirit. They come to God’s people proclaiming, “Thus says the Lord…” But these prophets did not exhaust the fulfillment as there is the word of “A” prophet being raised up, an anticipation in the New Testament of “the prophet.” John 1:21 we read they asked John, “Are you Elijah?” and he said, “I am not.” They asked, “Are you the prophet?” There were hints in John 4 with the woman at well, as well. In Acts 3:22ff Peter quotes this passage in Deut. 18 and directly attributes it’s fulfillment to Jesus charging them to listen to him. We know that Jesus, the prophet, would be like Moses, but like Moses in what way? Well, to begin with he would be from among his brothers, meaning that he would be a man of flesh and blood. Jesus would be born of a woman, he was truly man bearing our nature, as much a human as you or I. He was born for adversity. He grew and increased in stature and knowledge, just like we do. He was a baby, and then a teen, and finally a man. He increased in knowledge of the word of God as he aged. He was tempted just as you and I are tempted, yet without sin. We know that he hungered; he thirsted; he wept; he was weary, he prayed; he slept; he had compassion; and anger etc. He attended weddings and funerals but most importantly he called himself our brother. God would raise up a prophet that was every bit a man as was Moses, and every bit a man as you or I, to reveal himself to us, one who knows us inside and out and knows our needs. But there is more than this, because like Moses means more than simply bearing our human nature as important as that is. Numbers 12 helps us understand the great distinction of Moses, “I make myself known to him (other prophets) in a vision, or in a dream. Not so with Moses. He is faithful in all of my house. With him I speak mouth to mouth, clearly and not in riddles, he beholds the form of the Lord.” God spoke through other prophets, but he spoke through Moses in a special manner. It was Moses who spoke with God mouth to mouth at Sinai, who reasoned with God face to face. And yet, Hebrews tells us that Moses was faithful in all God’s house as a servant, but Jesus was even greater than Moses as a Son. Jesus was not only of flesh and blood, but also had a divine nature so that he could say that he and the Father are one. To hear Jesus speak, was to hear the Father speak. Jesus is the Word, the word who was with God in the beginning and who was God. He revealed the very words from the mouth of God. He revealed the character of God. When we see the way Jesus interacted with people, we witness the way God interacts – compassion, love, but also sternness. But when he speaks he does not say “Thus says the Lord,” but rather we hear him say, “You have heard it said… but I say.” You hear others say this one speaks like no other, he speaks with authority as the Son of God. The Authority of the Prophet Finally, there are two warnings issued in these words of Moses and they both deal with authority. There was an old TV commercial that I am sure most of you probably remember that had a catch phrase, “When EF Hutton talks, everybody listens.” The point was EF Hutton was an authority in the brokerage market and when they spoke it was in your best interests to hear. Well, let me just as that when God speaks, it is in your best interests to listen. God says that he is raising up a prophet with his words that will speak his commands, it is to him you shall listen! When Jesus says, “I am the way, the truth and the life and no one comes to the father except through me,” we do well to listen. When Jesus says, “If you love me, you will keep my commands,” we do well to listen and keep his commands. When Jesus says, “If anyone would come after me, let him take up his cross and follow me,” we do well to listen. Anything that comes from the mouth of this prophet is from the mouth of God, and he says those who refuse to hear, God will require it of them. The second warning is against false prophets, a direct warning to them and also I think a warning to us to be aware and on the look out for false prophets. There will be those who presume to speak in the name of the Lord that which he has not commanded. All through the Old Testament there were men who presumed to speak in the name of the Lord. They cried peace, peace when there was no peace. They called good evil, and evil good – and were admonished. They remain today – presuming to speak God’s word when actually they teach and preach anything but God’s word, they speak their own word. Beware of those who speak things contrary to what God has revealed through Jesus as recorded in his word. It is your responsibility to know what God has proclaimed, and judge whether those who speak in God’s name speak truly, and there is are lots of presumptuous speaking all around us today. There will also be those who speak in the name of other gods. This may take the form of Mohammed, or the form of science (make no mistake evolution is a religion). It could come disguised in the aforementioned fortune telling, omens or horoscopes etc. There will be people who come and maybe do not come proclaiming to be a voice of God, but a voice of truth from a god. These voices were prevalent throughout the Biblical times and remain prevalent today, and they are drawing people away from God. Where you hear anyone or anything claiming to be truth in whatever source, but is contrary to God – beware. Where false prophets are found, you need not fear them. If our hearts were right with God, we would not have need of a prophet but would know God’s voice when we heard it. We would run to hear the voice of God. But unfortunately that is not the case, we need a prophet to speak to us, lest we are struck in the presence of the glory of God. But God has sent us this prophet like Moses, and we know that his words are the words of God because his word came to pass. He said, “Tear down this temple, and I will rebuild it in three days,” and after three days he arose from the grave, among other things. Hear him as he says you are a sinner, but God has brought peace between a holy God and sinful man through the sacrifice of his Son. Today, if you hear his voice do not harden your hearts! Listen to him! Do you dare despise him? Do you dare say you are too busy to hear him? Do you dare cling to your desires of the flesh instead of hearing? If so, then I pray that as you leave this morning you will hear God’s words ringing in your ears, “I will require it of him who refuses to hear him.”
Posted on: Sun, 07 Dec 2014 20:22:53 +0000
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