A PROPHET LIKE ME

A PROPHET LIKE ME

Deuteronomy 18:1-22 (KJV)

The priests the Levites, and all the tribe of Levi, shall have no part nor inheritance with Israel: they shall eat the offerings of the LORD made by fire, and his inheritance.

Therefore shall they have no inheritance among their brethren: the LORD is their inheritance, as he hath said unto them.

And this shall be the priest's due from the people, from them that offer a sacrifice, whether it be ox or sheep; and they shall give unto the priest the shoulder, and the two cheeks, and the maw.

The firstfruit also of thy corn, of thy wine, and of thine oil, and the first of the fleece of thy sheep, shalt thou give him.

For the LORD thy God hath chosen him out of all thy tribes, to stand to minister in the name of the LORD, him and his sons for ever.

And if a Levite come from any of thy gates out of all Israel, where he sojourned, and come with all the desire of his mind unto the place which the LORD shall choose;

Then he shall minister in the name of the LORD his God, as all his brethren the Levites do, which stand there before the LORD.

They shall have like portions to eat, beside that which cometh of the sale of his patrimony.

When thou art come into the land which the LORD thy God giveth thee, thou shalt not learn to do after the abominations of those nations.

There shall not be found among you any one that maketh his son or his daughter to pass through the fire, or that useth divination, or an observer of times, or an enchanter, or a witch,

Or a charmer, or a consulter with familiar spirits, or a wizard, or a necromancer.

For all that do these things are an abomination unto the LORD: and because of these abominations the LORD thy God doth drive them out from before thee.

Thou shalt be perfect with the LORD thy God.

For these nations, which thou shalt possess, hearkened unto observers of times, and unto diviners: but as for thee, the LORD thy God hath not suffered thee so to do.

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;

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.

And the LORD said unto me, They have well spoken that which they have spoken.

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.

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.

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.

And if thou say in thine heart, How shall we know the word which the LORD hath not spoken?

When a prophet speaketh in the name of the LORD, if the thing follow not, nor come to pass, that is the thing which the LORD hath not spoken, but the prophet hath spoken it presumptuously: thou shalt not be afraid of him.

I believe it is important for us to have read this entire passage for context.

Moses is the speaker – the prophet of the day.

But Moses is not going into the Promised Land with Israel.

God tells them through Moses that He will raise up a Prophet like Moses and they must hear Him.

God then warns them of the false prophets and tells them how to tell the difference; the false prophet’s message will not come to pass.

But there is a subtle letter that, if we weren’t on the lookout for it, we might pass right over.

Notice that in verses 15-19 the word Prophet, the one God would raise up like Moses, is capitalized.

This isn’t a prophecy concerning Joshua, the man who replaced Moses leading Israel.

It isn’t a prophecy concerning:

·  Isaiah or

·  Jeremiah or 

·  Daniel or even

·  King David

Deuteronomy 34:10 (KJV)

And there arose not a prophet since in Israel like unto Moses, whom the LORD knew face to face,

There was never in Israel, another prophet like Moses.

This is a promise of the coming Saviour, the Messiah, Jesus Christ.

While the most commonly known roles of Christ are:

·  Lamb of God[1]and

·  Lion of Judah[2]

Three of the most important roles of the Lord are:

·  Prophet[3]

·  Priest and 

·  King

Of course, the one which concerns us today is Prophet.

The Hebrew word, prophet, means simply an inspired speaker.

·  It might refer to one who makes a prediction or

·  It might be one who makes a simple discourse

From that definition I was taught to express it like this; a prophet is either a foreteller or a forthteller.

In the Old Testament the prophet was primarily a foreteller. That’s for two reasons:

1. The Bible was “obviously” not complete. God gave us the Word of God through the prophets.

2. God proved the supernatural origin of the Bible through the prophecies.

Over 25% of the Bible was originally prophecy[4]- 

Of those prophecies, ¾ have already been fulfilled with absolute accuracy.[5]

The fulfillment of those prophesies tells us:

·  That this is in fact the Word of God and

·  That we can expect the rest of the prophesies to be fulfilled with the same accuracy

Someone might ask you why the Bible is better than, say, the Koran or any other “holy” book?

The answer is that no other so-called holy scripture, but the Bible has proven itself to be divine by foretelling what would be the future and having those prophecies be fulfilled accurately and in detail.

·  The Koran doesn’t attempt it

·  The Book of Mormon doesn’t attempt it

·  The Vedas of Hinduism do not attempt it

·  The Five Classics of Confucianism do not attempt it

For them to have done so, and to have failed, would have proven they were false. 

Once the Apostles had completed their work in the New Testament the ministry of the foretelling portion of the ministry of the prophet ceased.

All scriptural New Testament prophets today are “forthtellers.”

We prove the accuracy of our message with the Bible.

Every time a New Testament prophet preaches, he urges his hearer, “Look here and see for yourself.”

The prophet preaches the Word of God:

·  In the Old Testament, as he received it from God

·  In the New Testament, as we study it in the Word of God

Concerning Christ as a Prophet:

·  Moses preached Christ in the Old Testament but

·  Christ isthe New Testament

Every Word Christ said, isthe very Word of God.

In so many ways Jesus is present with us at this very moment through the Bibles that we hold in our hands at this very moment.[6]

I. JESUS FULFILLED THE LAW IN THE GOSPELS

Matthew 5:17-18 (KJV)

Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil.

For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled.

James 2:10 (KJV) says,

For whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all.

Here is the problem with us trying to gain heaven by our good works.

The Bible says in order to do so, we would have to do it perfectly.

If we failed in even one point, we would be guilty as if we had failed in the all.

Jesus, the perfect Son of God and Son of Man, was tempted in all points like as we are, yet without sin.[7]

He fulfilled all the righteousness of the law.[8]

And then he nailed it all to the cross,[9]blotting them out and removing them from us.

The book of Hebrews says,

Hebrews 8:6-12 (KJV)

But now hath he obtained a more excellent ministry, by how much also he is the mediator of a better covenant, which was established upon better promises.

For if that first covenant had been faultless, then should no place have been sought for the second.

For finding fault with them, he saith, Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah:

Not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day when I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt; because they continued not in my covenant, and I regarded them not, saith the Lord.

For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, saith the Lord; I will put my laws into their mind, and write them in their hearts: and I will be to them a God, and they shall be to me a people:

And they shall not teach every man his neighbour, and every man his brother, saying, Know the Lord: for all shall know me, from the least to the greatest.

For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and their iniquities will I remember no more.

Jesus could do away with the Old Covenant and give to us a new and better covenant because He had fulfilled the first covenant.

II. THE APOSTLES FINISHED THE WORK OF CHRIST IN THE ACTS

John 14:12 (KJV)

Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do also; and greater works than these shall he do; because I go unto my Father.

On the night before His crucifixion Jesus told His Apostles that those who believed on Him would do greater works than even those that He had done.

The book of Acts, usually called, “The Acts of the Apostles,” is the very first evidences of those greater works.

Certainly, what they did was not greater than: 

·  The immaculate conception of Jesus or 

·  The sinless life of Jesus or 

·  The vicarious death and resurrection of Jesus

But that work of the believers has been “greater” than the work of Jesus Christ on this earth in a number of ways.

A. Greater in scope

Acts 2:7-11 (KJV)

And they were all amazed and marvelled, saying one to another, Behold, are not all these which speak Galilaeans?

And how hear we every man in our own tongue, wherein we were born?

Parthians, and Medes, and Elamites, and the dwellers in Mesopotamia, and in Judaea, and Cappadocia, in Pontus, and Asia,

Phrygia, and Pamphylia, in Egypt, and in the parts of Libya about Cyrene, and strangers of Rome, Jews and proselytes,

Cretes and Arabians, we do hear them speak in our tongues the wonderful works of God.

The book of Acts says they went everywhere preaching the Word of God.

And the longer they went the farther they went.

The book of Acts gives us the account mostly of Apostle Paul, but we know that the rest of the Apostles went out too:[10]

·  Peter, east to Babylon

·  The rest of the Apostles: 

·  Throughout Europe,

·  Beyond the Black Sea, 

·  India and Asia, 

·  South into Africa and 

·  Likely even China

B. Greater in sequence

I mean by this the various centuries and millennia since Christ was crucified.

It’s amazing that Christianity, especially Baptist Christianity, has survived and flourished these two thousand years since Jesus Christ.

The Devil has attempted to:

·  Destroy Christianity through violent government oppression

·  Disrupt Christianity through doctrinal error and controversy

·  Disperse Christianity through the multiplicity of denominations

·  Disorder Christianity through the eradication and perversion of the Bible and most recently,

·  Dissolve Christianity through compromise and worldliness

Despite all of his attempts, Christ’s promise, Matthew 16:18 (KJV)

… upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.

Has remained true.

C. Greater in size

Revelation 7:9 (KJV)

After this I beheld, and, lo, a great multitude, which no man could number, of all nations, and kindreds, and people, and tongues, stood before the throne, and before the Lamb, clothed with white robes, and palms in their hands;

From 120 frightened believers, huddled together in the upper room,[11]the Bible concludes with a number so huge they cannot be counted.

Truly these are greater works than Jesus accomplished in His 33 ½ years of earthly life.

III. THE EPISTLES FORM THE ORDER FOR THE BRIDE OF CHRIST, WHICH IS THE CHURCHES

Ephesians 1:20-23 (KJV)

Which he wrought in Christ, when he raised him from the dead, and set him at his own right hand in the heavenly places,

Far above all principality, and power, and might, and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this world, but also in that which is to come:

And hath put all things under his feet, and gave him to be the head over all things to the church,

Which is his body, the fulness of him that filleth all in all.

I work hard to enlighten our eyes to what God has wrought in Christ through the local church, which is His body.

Everything that is Christ today is in the local church. 

It is “the fulness of Him that filleth all in all.”

·  Christ is the fullness of the Godhead[12]and

·  The church is the fulness of Christ

IV. THE REVELATION FINALIZES THE REVELATION OF CHRIST IN THE FUTURE

Revelation 22:20 (KJV)

He which testifieth these things saith, Surely I come quickly. Amen. Even so, come, Lord Jesus.

Did you see that?

The one who testified to John and give Him this revelation of future things is Jesus Christ.

And He is coming quickly.

Believers have join with John for almost 2000 years now in praying, “Even so, come, Lord Jesus.”

I do not know when He will come.

But I know that when He appears, it will be sooner than many will have wished it to be.

If He were to come today – and He can come today – are you ready?

·  Are you saved?

·  Are you baptized and serving Him in your church?

·  Are you right with Him and your Christian brothers and sisters? And

·  Are you sure you have witnessed to everyone you possibly can have by now?

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[1]His first coming

[2]His second coming

[3]Besides these is Deuteronomy 18, Matthew 21:11 (KJV)

And the multitude said, This is Jesus the prophet of Nazareth of Galilee.and Luke 24:19 (KJV)

And he said unto them, What things? And they said unto him, Concerning Jesus of Nazareth, which was a prophet mighty in deed and word before God and all the people:

[4]https://gracethrufaith.com/ask-a-bible-teacher/much-bible-prophecy/, accessed 2-16-19

[5]See, for instance, https://www.blueletterbible.org/comm/torrey_ra/fundamentals/25.cfm

[6]Which is one reason I insist that there is an infallible Bible in the world today. There may be many false bibles as there are many false christs. But there is one true and living Christ and He is present in one infallible and perfect Bible.

[7]Hebrews 4:15 (KJV)

For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin.

[8]Matthew 5:17-18

[9]Colossians 2:14 (KJV)

Blotting out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us, which was contrary to us, and took it out of the way, nailing it to his cross;

[10]See, for instance, In Search of the Twelve Apostles, by William S. McBirnie

[11]Acts 1:15 (KJV)

And in those days Peter stood up in the midst of the disciples, and said, (the number of names together were about an hundred and twenty,)

[12]Colossians 2:9 (KJV)

For in him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily.