A Prophet Like Moses: An Exposition of Deuteronomy 18:15-20
We have an insatiable desire for information. We feel that we can deal with all the problems we face if only we can become better informed. And there are a lot of people who want to provide you with information, usually for money. Some will try to tell you the secret of investing on Wall Street. Others will try to sell you on a miracle diet. Others will try to share the secrets for happiness. Others will try to prognosticate the future. The problem is that not all sources of information are reliable. Some are downright harmful. Those who want to share their knowledge are more interest in their own profit than yours. Let the consumer of information beware.
Religion is not free from distorted information. In fact, it may be the most unreliable and harmful of all. Religion and spirituality is a huge business. We all want to hear from God. We all want to know what happens when we die. We all miss loved ones who have passed on and wish we could talk to them one more time. We all want to know if there is any purpose in life. Today’s secular world leaves a large void in our hearts, and there are those who claim they can fill it. Let the consumer of religious products especially beware. The answer to the dangers of misinformation is not ignorance but true and reliable information. There is nothing wrong with the religious questions people ask, per se, but where does one get the truth. Ultimately, truth comes from God who is Truth itself. We as Christians believe that the Bible is God’s spoken truth to us and that God wants us to know this truth. So let us look at a passage from the Old Testament Book of Deuteronomy to explore what God has to say about this matter. Turn your Bible’s to the 18th Chapter of Deuteronomy. We will be reading verses 15-20.
It helps to provide some context to what we have just read. Deuteronomy is the last of the five books Moses read. It is cast in the form of an ancient treaty between a king (Suzerain) and his subjects. There is a summary of the historical relationship between the king and his people. There are promises made by the king to the people to which the people affirm their loyalty and obedience. Laws which govern the covenant are spoken and expected to be obeyed. Finally, there are specific blessings listed for obedience and curses for disobedience. The passage was are studying falls in the middle of this covenant.
The Children of Israel were about to enter into the land which Yahweh their King had promised to Abraham. This promise stated that after 400 years, Abraham’s descendants would return to take possession of this land. This land was filled with idolatry, child sacrifice, violence, sexual immorality, and other crimes against God. The people of Canaan got their religious knowledge from soothsayers. necromancers, astrologers, false prophets, and other Satanic sources. The Canaanites asked the same questions we all ask. But they were getting their information from Satan who does not have the good of humanity at heart- quite the opposite. There was danger that their religious practices would corrupt the Children of Israel. These are practices which lead to destruction. No good can come to those whose source of information is a lie.
Yahweh wanted His people to know Him, This was more than just knowledge, but relational as well. The whole Book of Deuteronomy calls upon Israel to love the LORD their God. Love demands mutual faithfulness, or it isn’t love. By trying to get information from false gods was to commit spiritual adultery. This call to wholehearted love is then to be reflected in our relations with each other.
The text starts with the promise that the LORD would raise up another prophet like unto Moses. This is because Moses had been forbidden to enter Canaan because of his rash words and striking the rock in anger to provide water to Israel. Moses was supposed to speak to the rock, and he disobeyed. It seems to be a harsh punishment for a man who was far more faithful to the LORD than we are or the children of Israel were. The Book of Hebrews commends the faithfulness of Moses. This of course necessitated a change of leadership which would fall upon Joshua, the son of Nun whom Yahweh raised up to take the place of Moses. One could see that this text could refer to Joshua as being the prophet like unto Moses. But although Joshua did receive some prophetic oracles from Yahweh and was a faithful leader, it seems hard to ascribe this prophecy to him in any way but a shadow of a greater prophet. The same could be said of all the prophets of Israel. None of these rose up to the level of Moses. It was not until another Joshua, the Son of God would be raised up. Remember that Jesus is the Greek form of the Hebrew Joshua. All of the Old Testament prophets were shadows of this greater reality.
The Dead Sea community waited for the “Teacher of Righteousness” and lived in the day of Jesus. The Jews expected the Messiah, The Samaritans expected the “Taheeb” (Great Teacher). This shows that all of the offshoots of Israel realized that Moses’ prophecy had not been fulfilled. As the mark of a true prophet is that what he prophecies comes to pass. If it did not, then the LORD had not sent that prophet. Certainly, Moses’ prophecy could not fall to the ground unanswered. False prophecy, even in the name of Yahweh was punishable by death along with any prophecy, even if was true, spoken in the name of another god. This prophecy did indeed come true in Jesus of Nazareth. Just because a prophecy does not immediately come to pass does not mean that the prophecy is false. God does not work on a timetable. Moses’ words of prophecy were upheld just as all the other words and prophecies he uttered.
Moses reminded Israel that they we unable to bear the direct voice of Yahweh from Mount Horeb. They had trembled in fear, even to the point of death. This is why God had to raise up prophets in general who would speak God’s word to the people. But even though it was through human prophets that God spoke to the people, these words were to be obeyed as though God had directly spoken them. Anyone who failed to obey the voice of the prophet was to be cut off from the people of Israel.
John records the well-known words: “And the Word became flesh and tabernacled among us.” God at that time spoke to the people directly, but with a human voice. He called the people of Israel to repentance and to obey the Good News. Other than His divinity breaking forth for a moment upon the Mount of Transfiguration, His voice was as any human. The terrors of His full nature were only experienced in His earthly life to Peter, James, and John where the LORD who had spoken with power at Sinai appeared with Moses and Elijah.
So much now we would like to audibly hear Jesus speak to us like He did all those years He walked upon earth. We need to be encouraged like John was encouraged at Patmos. We do indeed have the Bible. God speaks to us there. Every word, rightly divided is the truth because it has been breathed by the very Holy Spirit of God. The believer is filled with the same Holy Spirit. In a way, God tabernacles in the midst of His people so long as we make a distinction between our filling and the Incarnation. God wants us to know the true information about Him. The two testimonies of Word and Spirit guide us on our journey to a Promised Land of which Canaan was just a shadow of. We are led by the greater Joshua into this greater land. Without the testimony of Word and Spirit, we could have no assurance of the truth at all. Surely we would try to supplement our knowledge from illegitimate sources. So let us stick closely to what we have been taught.
This means that we should dabble less in speculations such as those promoted by the preachers of end-time prophecy. It is not that I do not believe that we are living in the end-times as the Bible said exactly that 2,000 years ago. If it was the last times then, it is certainly so now, realizing that is but two days on God’s calendar. What God had prophesied will come true, exactly as God understands its fulfillment. The trouble with speculation is that in doing so, we confess that we do not possess all the information. It is true that we do not. But we possess sufficient information. But we become susceptible to the wiles of Satan. Did not Satan accuse God of not fully informing Adam and Eve. The serpent implied that be listening to his voice and eating the fruit of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, that they would be better informed, and, therefore, make better choices. The disciples wanted to know more about His return. Jesus said only the Father knew. He commanded us instead to be about the work of the Kingdom, to be witnesses in Jerusalem. In Samaria and Judaea, and to the uttermost parts of the earth. The one who is found doing so when the LORD returns has nothing to fear.
We need to believe that Jesus is the fulfillment of Moses’ prophecy and of the Old Testament as a whole. We need to listen carefully to what He said. We need to see what He did to prove that He is that promised prophet. We need to listen to those God has raised up to proclaim the Gospel. We need to hear what they say and discern carefully. Not all who claim to be called by the LORD have been so. And even those who try to be faithful are also subject to being led astray. Everything we say needs to be measured by the Bible as well as the testimony of the Spirit. Anyone who claims to be speaking by the Holy Spirit whose words do not agree with he Word need at least be admonished and if persisted upon rejected. But be of good comfort. We are not kept by our own ability and wisdom. We are kept by the great High Priest of our confession, Jesus Christ our Lord.
