Grace and peace to you from God our Father and our Lord Jesus Christ.
The Word of God through which the Holy Spirit touches our hearts this morning are the words spoke through Moses in Deuteronomy 18:15-20
The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among your own brothers. You must listen to him. For this is what you asked of the Lord your God at Horeb on the day of the assembly when you said, “Let us not hear the voice of the Lord our God nor see this great fire anymore, or we will die.”
The Lord said to me: “What they say is good. I will raise up for them a prophet like you from among their brothers; I will put my words in his mouth, and he will tell them everything I command him. If anyone does not listen to my words that the prophet speaks in my name, I myself will call him to account. But a prophet who presumes to speak in my name anything I have not commanded him to say, or a prophet who speaks in the name of other gods, must be put to death.” (NIV)
This is the word of our Lord.
Dear Christian friends,
The oracle at Delphi, Mohammed, Nostradamus, John Smith. People have looked to them as prophets, but they have proven false. You know the names of other prophets, ones that spoke God’s truth: Isaiah, Jeremiah, Daniel, to name a few.
In our modern, rational, scientific age, many dismiss prophecy as naïve and backwards. And yet there is something in us that yearns for prophecy. Something that yearns to hear a voice from beyond ourselves, a voice of promise, a voice of hope, a voice that touches us with the divine. We see that longing expressed in many stories of mythology, fantasy, and science fiction that revolve around a prophecy and its fulfillment. For example, Star Wars® talks about the prophecy of the one who would restore balance to the force.
Some fill this longing for prophecy by searching the stars for their horoscope. Some try to drown this longing in the promises of technology and human advancement. Some turn to charismatic leaders, no matter how off the wall they may be. Yet only one truly satisfies this longing. Only one voice of promise and hope will not fail. Only one can touch us with the divine. He and he alone is the Prophet. He is the one the Lord promised through Moses. Listen to him. Listen to the Prophet. That’s the theme we focus on this morning. Listen to the Prophet, for 1) he is our Go-between, 2) he is our Brother, and 3) he is the Truth. Listen to the Prophet.
1) He is our Go-between
Nearly forty years before Moses spoke these words to the Israelites, they had camped at the foot of Mount Horeb. We’re more familiar with its other name, Mt. Sinai. Remember what the Lord God did there? He came down on the mountain in fire. Smoke, thunder, lightening, and cloud covered the mountain. Everything trembled violently; the trumpet blast grew louder, and the voice of God spoke: “I am the Lord your God who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery. You shall have no other gods before me” (Exodus 20:1-3 NIV). And the Lord God continued to speak his Law – the Ten Commandments.
Moses tells us that at Mt. Horeb on that day of assembly when the people heard the voice of God, they said, “Let us not hear the voice of the Lord our God nor see this great fire anymore, or we will die.” The terror of God’s Law pierced them to the core. It burnt to ashes the fig leaves of pride and the rags of human goodness. They knew that even the best they did could not hide their sin. They stood before the holy Judge in their sinful nakedness and knew that death and hell was all that they deserved.
In his grace and mercy the Lord promised them a Go-between, an intermediary, an intercessor. The Lord God said to Moses, “What they say is good. I will raise up for them a prophet like you from among their brothers; I will put my words in his mouth, and he will tell them everything I command him.” This Prophet is the one who goes between the holy God and the naked sinner. Listen to him.
Why do we need to listen to him? Because we are no better off than the Israelites were when they stood at the foot of Mt. Sinai. It may be easier for us to choose to ignore God’s Law and holy fire, since the ground underneath us is not physically shaking. We can try to dull our conscience, by telling ourselves that we shouldn’t take religion too seriously. We can try to dress up our sins with excuses. “I tried my best.” “Other people do it.” “I couldn’t help myself.” “It’s not my fault.” We can try to focus on our so-called good points. But all this is just denial of the truth.
Hear the voice of God’s Law burn away our pretense: “Whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles at just one point is guilty of breaking all of it” (James 2:10), God says. No excuse can cover that up. You and I are lawbreakers. The holy judge knows it. Is there anyone to speak up for us? Anyone to be our go-between?
Yes, there is! The Prophet whom the Lord has sent. The Prophet is your Go-between. He goes between you and the consuming fire of God’s Law. He took the full blast of God’s anger against you when he suffered and died in your place on the cross. He goes between you and the holy Judge to cover you with his perfect record. For this Go-between, this Prophet, is our God, the holy Son of the Father. Through faith in him you are covered with his holy life. His goodness is real. It truly covers our sinful nakedness, so that the holy Judge declares us not guilty. He declares us right in his sight.
Listen to this Prophet for the words he speaks are words of promise. He doesn’t lay down a new set of laws. He promises that he has fulfilled all of God’s laws in our place. He promises that he has suffered and died to appease God’s holy justice. He promises you the clothing of his righteous life. He promises you that he has fully paid the debt of your sin. And all his promises are true. Why? Because he rose from the dead in victory. His body left the tomb in glory. Listen to this Prophet. Believe his promises.
2) He is our Brother
Now how could God the Son cover us with his perfect life. How could he take our place under God’s wrath to suffer and die? Because God the Son became our Brother.
Moses makes this clear to the Israelites and to us. He says, “The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among your own brothers”
This Prophet came from the people of Israel. He has born from the virgin Mary of the house of David from the tribe of Judah. This baby was a prophet like Moses, but even greater than Moses. Unlike any of the other prophets that the Bible speaks about, the Lord knew Moses face to face (Deuteronomy 34:10). Yet even Moses could not look upon God in his glory (Exodus 33:18-23).
Like Moses, this Prophet had a closer relationship with the Father than any other prophet, a relationship much closer than Moses had. For this Prophet, born of Mary, is the eternal Son of God, one with the Father. He came from the Father full of grace and truth. He is God the One and Only who is at the Father’s side, who has made the Father known to us. (John 1:14,18)
He, the eternal, the almighty, the holy Son of God, became our Brother. He was born of a woman, born under the Law, to ransom those under the Law, to ransom you and me.
So as our Brother he kept the Law in our place, and as our God he kept it perfectly. As our Brother he carried our sins to the cross to pay the ransom price of his life blood, and as our God that blood was more precious than all the gold and silver for it is the blood of the God-man. It pays the full price for all sins.
Listen to this Prophet. Listen to him for he is your God and Brother. He was tempted in every way like we are. He suffered like you and I do. But he did not fall like us. He knows the words of comfort and strength to speak to you. As our Brother, he sympathizes with us in all our weaknesses. He speaks to you the words of comfort that he has washed you clean with his blood in the water of Baptism. He strengthens you with his promise that no one can bring a charge against you since through faith you are covered with his righteous life. Listen to the Prophet. He is your Brother.
3) He is the Truth
Finally, listen to the Prophet because he is the Truth. Listen to his word with the utmost conviction and sincerity. For the Lord made it clear that this Prophet speaks only what God wants, “I will put my words in his mouth,” the Lord says. Any who do not listen to him will be called to account and any who speak contrary to him or speak in the name of other gods will be put to death.
This Prophet is unlike any other. He not only speaks the truth; he is the Truth. He himself said, “I am the way and the truth and the life” (John 14:6). He not only speaks God’s message. He is God’s message. He is the Word who became flesh(John 1:1, 14). He has carried out all of God’s promises. When he rose from the dead, he put the “Yes!” and “Amen!” behind all of what God said (2 Corinthians 1:20).
He is the Truth. Listen to him. Count on every word and promise he speaks to you. Remember the promise he made to you at your Baptism that through faith you are clothed with him. His promise is true, for he is the Truth. Remember the promise of forgiveness he makes to you with his body and blood in the Lord’s Supper. His promise is true, for he is the Truth. Focus on his promises as you study the Bible. His word is true, for he is the Truth.
Don’t settle for any imitations. Don’t try to satisfy your longing for prophecy in all the various ways the world offers. You know who the Prophet is. You know his name, even though I have not yet mentioned it. The Prophet is Jesus Christ our God and Lord. He not only speaks as a prophet, he fulfills all the prophecies as our Savior and Substitute. He is our Go-between. He is our Brother. He is the Truth. Listen to him. Believe his promises. Amen.
The peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.
