The Prophet [*] Series

“The LORD your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among you, from your brothers—it is to him you shall listen—just as you desired of the LORD your God at Horeb on the day of the assembly, when you said, ‘Let me not hear again the voice of the LORD my God or see this great fire any more, lest I die.’ And the LORD said to me, ‘They are right in what they have spoken. I will raise up for them a prophet like you from among their brothers. And I will put my words in his mouth, and he shall speak to them all that I command him. And whoever will not listen to my words that he shall speak in my name, I myself will require it of him. But the prophet who presumes to speak a word in my name that I have not commanded him to speak, or who speaks in the name of other gods, that same prophet shall die.’ And if you say in your heart, ‘How may we know the word that the LORD has not spoken?’—when a prophet speaks in the name of the LORD, if the word does not come to pass or come true, that is a word that the LORD has not spoken; the prophet has spoken it presumptuously. You need not be afraid of him.” [1]

Predictions are dangerous—for those making the prophecies. Most “prophecies” are grounds for laughter at the one making the prophecy. What I mean is demonstrated by considering some “prophecies” made by “experts” during the past century.

• “There is not the slightest indication that [nuclear] energy will ever be obtainable. It would mean that the atom would have to be shattered at will.”

Dr. Albert Einstein, 1932

• “The thought of being president frightens me. I do not think I want the job.”

Ronald Reagan, Governor of California, 1973

• “While theoretically and technically television may be feasible, commercially and financially I consider it an impossibility, a development of which we need waste little time dreaming.”

Lee de Forest

American inventor of the audio tube, pioneer in development of radio and TV, 1926

• “‘Gone with the Wind’ is going to be the biggest flop in Hollywood history. I'm just glad Clark Gable will be the one falling on his face and not Gary Cooper.”

Gary Cooper, 1938

• “I do not consider Hitler to be as bad as he is depicted. He is showing an ability that is amazing, and he seems to be gaining his victories without much bloodshed.”

Mahatma Gandhi, May 1940

• “You ain’t goin’ nowhere … son. You ought to go back to drivin’ a truck.”

Jim Denny, manager of the Grand Ole Opry,

firing Elvis Presley after one performance, 9/25/54

• The world would end on December 21, 2012 according to the Mayan calendar.

• Harold Camping predicted that the world would end on May 21, 2011. When that didn’t happen, he pushed back the end of the world to October 21, 2011.

• “The United States, because it occupies a large continent in higher latitudes, could warm as much as 6 degrees Fahrenheit.”

Washington Post, 1990

• World oil and gas would run out by the year 2020.

William Stevens, President of Exxon USA, 1989

Prophecies—accurate, genuine predictions of events that are yet future when the prophecy is delivered—are hard to come by. While prophecies are plentiful, accuracy—even near-accuracy—is almost always missing from the multiplied prophecies delivered at any given time. Accuracy is what makes the prophecies of Jesus’s birth and ministry amazing. Jesus’ identity as the Prophet in the text before us today was foretold by Moses 1400 years before Jesus was ever born. This prophecy is one of more than 300 Old Testament prophecies Jesus has fulfilled. And if prophecies concerning His coming have such amazing accuracy, we would be foolish to ignore prophecies speaking of His coming again to receive His own and to judge the world.

As the time neared when the prophecies that the Saviour was soon to be born, many in Israel were anticipating His coming. They were looking for the Messiah, understanding that Messiah would be the Prophet Moses had said would be coming. After the Saviour was born, a birth that was missed by most people living in Judea at that time, we read of a woman—a widowed prophetess—who just happened into the Temple at the precise moment that Joseph and Mary brought the child to be circumcised.

Scripture informs those who read what is written, “There was a prophetess, Anna, the daughter of Phanuel, of the tribe of Asher. She was advanced in years, having lived with her husband seven years from when she was a virgin, and then as a widow until she was eighty-four. She did not depart from the temple, worshiping with fasting and prayer night and day. And coming up at that very hour she began to give thanks to God and to speak of him to all who were waiting for the redemption of Jerusalem” [LUKE 2:36-38]. Anna, the prophetess, was speaking of the child Jesus “to all who were waiting for the redemption of Jerusalem.” There were people waiting for the deliverance God had promised, and now this aged woman was telling worshippers coming to the Temple that the redemption of Jerusalem had arrived. Anna testified that prophecy had been fulfilled.