“A Prophet Like Me”
Text: Deuteronomy 18:15-20
1-28-2024
In the name of Jesus, dear friends in Christ. Have you ever heard the famous barbershop quartet song that goes, “I want a girl, just like the girl, that married dear ole Dad”? The lyrics go on to say that if this young man wants to be happy, he needs to marry a woman just like his Mom. But is that totally true? Most likely not. In fact, my experience has been that it causes lots of trouble in a marriage if a new husband is constantly saying things like, “That’s not the way Mom cooked my meals or folded my socks.” Quite often that young man gets handed the frying pan and laundry basket as his wife walks away saying, “Yeah, well I’m not your mother!” And to be fair, a wife can make the same mistake when commenting how her Dad used to do things. That’s not to say there aren’t certain admirable traits in our parents which we look for in a spouse. Things like: honesty, loyalty, tenderness, etc. But what we’re really hoping for is all the good qualities and none of the bad ones. We want the hybrid version, so to speak.
That’s not only true in marriage but also when we’re looking to elect a U.S. President or when you call a new Pastor. If the previous man was popular and held in high esteem then it’s pretty hard to find anyone who could possibly fill his shoes and do a better job. I’m confident you won’t have that problem in the future when it comes to your next Pastor. Well, that wasn’t the case with Moses and the Israelites. Talk about tenure! Moses had led the people of Israel for over 40 years. And he was greatly respected. He had been given power from God to do mighty miracles like parting the Red Sea. More importantly, when he spoke it was the voice of authority. Not because Moses was such a charismatic leader and persuasive speaker. On the contrary, he himself argued that he wasn’t. No, what gave his words so much weight and authority is that God had put them directly in his mouth. He didn’t speak of his own accord. Rather, he met with God face to face and the Lord gave him the precise words to say. And that’s what gave the words of Moses such power and authority.
We should pause here to explain something. First of all, Moses was indeed a prophet. Contrary to what some people believe, a prophet is not just someone who predicts the future. Some of God’s prophets did foretell, quite explicitly, what was going to happen– like Israel being taken into captivity or the prophecies about the coming Christ. But their primary job was to speak the revealed Word of God to His people. That is, His words of warning against sinful rebellion, calling to repentance, and the promise of forgiveness. The prophet also was an intercessor. He would speak to God and plead with the Lord on behalf of the people. And some of those prophets were occasionally given miraculous power to be used for the benefit of the people who were receiving God’s Word.
According to those criteria, Moses was a prophet in spades! As our text says, He went up on Mt. Sinai to receive God’s Word so that he could speak it to the people. That’s because the Israelites were scared spitless when they saw and heard God’s presence on that holy mountain. So, Moses went as their mediator and representative. He received God’s covenant with Israel directly from the Lord and then came down to speak it into their ears. When the people sinned and God was angry with them, Moses went before the Lord to plead for mercy on their behalf. God listened to him and forgave them. And finally, God worked miracles through Moses for the benefit of the Israelites. He spoke God’s Word and the 10 plagues descended upon Egypt in order to deliver Israel from their slavery. Likewise at the Red Sea when he parted the waters. When the people needed food and drink, Moses pleaded with God and the Lord supplied water from a rock, manna from heaven, and quail. And by God’s Word from the mouth of Moses, Israel was assured of victory in battle.
Considering all that, you might assume that no one would ever question that authoritative word that Moses spoke. You would be wrong. His own brother and sister challenged him at one point. They basically said to their younger brother, “Who do you think you are?!? You’re not the only one who gets to speak for God. We can do it too!” But God hadn’t authorized them to be His prophet and leader, so the Lord afflicted Miriam with leprosy to show the foolishness of opposing the man He had chosen. Later, a group of 250 leaders did the same thing claiming to have equal authority as Moses. God responded by having the ground open up and swallow them. {Good thing He doesn’t do that at voters’ meetings, huh?} You see, it’s not a good idea to disrespect God’s chosen spokesman. Even though all of Israel complained against Moses at times, in the end they held him in high regard because he was God’s powerful prophet.
Now, there were plenty of other prophets who followed after Moses, but none could claim to have had the same kind of an intimate, face-to-face relationship with God. There he received the authoritative Word of the Lord. He was the gold standard of prophets in Israel. He was the one that every other prophet was compared to. So in our text, when Moses says that the Lord will raise up another prophet “like me”, there was certainly some apprehension in the minds of the people. If you think it’s unlikely to find a girl like the girl your Dad married, well, the Israelites thought it was impossible that someone as good as Moses–or even better–would ever come along. And yet, the people took these words at face value. They were constantly on the lookout for a great prophet like Moses to appear.
Which helps explain something that happened with John the Baptist. His message was powerful and authoritative as he called people to repentance. They took notice of that. So, a contingent was sent from the religious leaders in Jerusalem to quiz him to see who he was. They asked if he was “the Prophet”? That is to say, was he the one that Moses had promised who would come and be like him? John humbly denied it. He said he was simply the forerunner of Christ, preparing the way for the Savior’s arrival. In the Gospel lesson though, people were asking Jesus a similar question. They heard Him preaching God’s Word and were astonished because, “He taught them as one who had authority.” That should tell us something. Contrary to their other teachers in the synagogue, Jesus wasn’t presenting His own theological opinion. He was boldly declaring, “This is what God says!” Jesus spoke with the authority of God’s Word in His mouth because He was God Himself in human flesh.
But that wasn’t all. Like the prophet Moses, Jesus performed mighty miracles by the power of God. He cast out a demon from the man in our Gospel reading. However, His miraculous power wasn’t borrowed as it was with Moses. No, it was His own power that He possessed as the Son of God. The people who witnessed it were amazed that Jesus had authority even over the evil spirits. Later in His ministry when He fed the five thousand, the people began to connect the dots. In John 6:14 they said, “This is indeed the Prophet who is to come into the world!” Moses had fed the Israelites with miraculous food from heaven and now Jesus had done something similar. And they saw it as a fulfillment of what Moses had said, that God would send another prophet “like me.”
But what they had a hard time realizing is that Jesus was a prophet “like” Moses but even greater. Moses was the shadow of the reality of Jesus Christ. Moses fed God’s people physically, Jesus fed their bodies and their souls. When they sinned, Moses pleaded with words for God to forgive them. However, the Book of Hebrews tells us that Jesus is our mediator with His blood which pleads for our forgiveness and provides it. While Moses was God’s instrument for delivering Israel from their slavery in Egypt, Jesus Himself is the means by which all mankind is delivered from our slavery to sin. Through the sacrifice of His body on the cross, we are now free.
The best part is that God continues to speak His Word to us today. The authority of God’s Word is heard among us as He places that word in the mouth of His servants, the ministers of the Church. You see, if I was simply speaking to you my own words and my own opinion then you would be free to take it or leave it. But if it’s God’s Word that He is speaking to you through my mouth then you don’t dare ignore it. Because Jesus tells us if you reject that Word from God’s messenger then you’re rejecting Him. That’s what gives your Pastor the ability to announce that your sins are forgiven “by the authority” of Christ Jesus. It’s God’s Word of authority which gives power to the preached word in a sermon. It’s God’s Word combined with water, bread, and wine in the Sacraments that give them their power. Like Moses, I’m merely God’s instrument. It’s His Word of authority placed into human mouths which can change lives, convert sinners, and sustain faith within us. May we then be strengthened through our worship as we listen to that prophetic Word of God which declares us righteous because of Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
Soli Deo Gloria!