Advent 4
Dt
18:15-19
12/21/25
What do you think of when you hear the word “prophet” in the Bible? Most likely, you think of someone who
foretells future events. Advent is certainly a time that makes us think about
this since we focus on the prophecies of the Old Testament that were fulfilled
in Christ. Prophets like Isaiah said
what God would do in the future, and then God’s action accomplished it. So when
the virgin Mary becomes pregnant with Jesus through the work of the Holy
Spirit, Matthew tells us, “All this took place to fulfill what the Lord
had spoken by the prophet: ‘Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son,
and they shall call his name Immanuel”(which means, God with us).’”
Yet while this is the association that we usually have, it really
isn’t very accurate. To be sure some prophets did make prophecies about the
future. But this was in fact a small part of their work. Instead, the primary task of the prophet was
to declare God’s Word to the people.
His work was to teach them about God’s ways, and to call them to
repentance when they sinned. This was the basic task of prophecy, and it
continues to be the case when we find prophets mentioned in the New Testament.
This understanding is very important as we come to our text today
from Deuteronomy. In Deuteronomy we have the words that Moses spoke to Israel
as they were about to cross over into the promised land. The adults who had
refused to enter the promised land, had all now died in the wilderness. It was a new generation – most of whom had
not experienced the exodus – that were about to cross over. And so Moses
reviews what God had done and teaches the people about God’s law – his Torah.
Moses begins our text by saying, “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.’”
Now the thing that probably catches our attention is the fact that
Moses identifies himself as a prophet. We don’t normally think about Moses in
this way. Instead, we usually associate him with the Law given at Mt Sinai – we
identify him as the “law giver.” But in
Hebrew, the word translated as “Law” – Torah – is based on a root that means
“to teach.” Law is not an inaccurate translation, but we need to understand
that the Torah is God’s teaching about how the people are to live according to
his will. It is God’s Word. Moses is the one who gave God’s Word to the
people, and so he is rightly called a prophet.
In our text we learn that Moses became the prophet who spoke God’s
word to the people because the people couldn’t bear to hear from God directly.
After the exodus when they came to Mt Sinai, Yahweh descended upon the
mountain. It was an awesome scene as there was thunder and lightning. There was
a thick cloud on the mountain. God descended on the mountain in fire and the
mountain trembled as smoke went up like a furnace.
In response the people said, “Let me not hear again the voice of
the Lord my God or see this great fire anymore, lest I die.” They wanted
nothing more of a direct encounter with Yahweh. So Moses took on the role of
being a mediator. After God enacted the covenant with Israel, Moses went up on
the mountain to receive the Torah. Moses was before God and this began a
pattern in which he continued to do so. When he returned from these encounters
with God, the skin of his face was shining and he had to put a veil over his
face so as not to frighten the people.
Moses was not permitted to enter the promised land. He died and was buried by God. At the very
end of Deuteronomy we are told, “And there has not arisen a prophet since
in Israel like Moses, whom the Lord knew face to face, none like him for
all the signs and the wonders that the Lord sent him to do in the land of
Egypt, to Pharaoh and to all his servants and to all his land, and for all the
mighty power and all the great deeds of terror that Moses did in the sight of
all Israel.”
Scripture calls Moses a prophet, and says that there was no one
else who could compare with him. This was so because Moses knew God face to
face – he encountered God’s presence in a way that no one else did. In
addition, this passage calls attention to the powerful miracles for which God
used Moses. There were the ten plagues on Egypt, and the crossing of the Red
Sea. There was water from a rock, and
the bronze serpent on a pole.
At Mt Sinai the people did not want to encounter God directly
anymore. In our text, God says, “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.”
Yahweh promised to raise up a prophet like Moses. And note what
this prophet will do. God says that he will put his words in the prophet’s
mouth so that he can speak God’s word to the people. The word of this prophet
will be the word of God, and anyone who ignores this word will receive God’s
judgment.
As you would expect, the words of our text attracted interest among
Jews at the time of Jesus. In addition to the prophet like Moses, God had also
revealed through Malachi that he would send his messenger to prepare the way.
He said he would send Elijah the prophet before the great and awesome day of
the Lord arrived. We hear the questions
about these figures swirling around in today’s Gospel lesson as the priests and
Levites come to John and ask questions about who he is.
But because of Jesus Christ’s death and resurrection we have no
uncertainty regarding who the prophet like Moses is. In the book of Acts Peter
declared to those at the temple, “The God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the
God of Jacob, the God of our fathers, glorified his
servant Jesus, whom you delivered over and denied in the
presence of Pilate, when he had decided to release him.”
God had glorified Jesus in his resurrection and ascension. Peter
said that he is the One, “whom heaven must receive until the time
for restoring all the things about which God spoke by the mouth of
his holy prophets long ago. Moses said, ‘The Lord God will raise up for
you a prophet like me from your brothers. You shall listen to him in
whatever he tells you. And it shall be that every soul who does not listen to
that prophet shall be destroyed from the people.’ And all the
prophets who have spoken, from Samuel and those who came after him, also
proclaimed these days.”
Jesus is the prophet like Moses promised by God. Moses said that
this future prophet would speak God’s Word. John tells us in his Gospel that Jesus
is in fact the Word become flesh. He is the Son of God incarnate among us – God
himself speaking his word to us. Jesus
spoke on his own authority. In the Sermon on the Mount he repeatedly said, “You
have heard it said, but I say to you…”
Jesus is the One who reveals not only God’s love for us, but who also
instructs us in how to live as those who have received God’s saving reign.
God used Moses to work signs and wonders – to work miracles.
Miracles were a feature of the prophets who followed Moses. This was especially
true of the ministry of Elijah and Elisha. During his ministry we see Jesus do
the same kinds of things that these ninth century B.C. prophets had done. He
healed lepers, provided miraculous feedings for crowds, and raised the dead. By
his actions Jesus demonstrated that he was the prophet like Moses.
Moses and the prophets who followed him spoke God’s word. They
often worked miracles. And there is one more thing that characterized their
ministry: they were rejected, suffered, and died. Moses gave the people God’s word and they
repeatedly disobeyed. They worshipped the golden calf. They refused to enter
the promised land. They worshipped the false god Baal at Peor.
Moses bore the burden of the people’s continual rejection. They
grumbled at Moses about not having food. They quarreled with Moses about not
having water. He faced a rebellion led by Korah. At times he felt overwhelmed
by it all. When they complained to Moses about the manna he said to God, “Why
have you dealt ill with your servant? And why have I not found favor in your
sight, that you lay the burden of all this people on me?” And then he added, “I
am not able to carry all this people alone; the burden is too heavy for me. If
you will treat me like this, kill me at once, if I find favor in your sight,
that I may not see my wretchedness.”
The people ignored the prophets who followed. We hear in 2 Kings, “Yet
the Lord warned Israel and Judah by every prophet and every
seer, saying, ‘Turn from your evil ways and keep my commandments and my
statutes, in accordance with all the Law that I commanded your fathers, and
that I sent to you by my servants the prophets.’ But they would not
listen, but were stubborn, as their fathers had been, who did not believe
in the Lord their God.”
The prophets suffered. Elijah felt that his ministry was a failure.
He said, “It is enough; now, O Lord, take away my life, for I am no better than
my fathers.” Jeremiah was threatened
with death and thrown into a well. And the prophets were killed. As Jesus said,
“O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones those
who are sent to it!”
Jesus was the prophet like Moses who came to suffer and die. He said, “Nevertheless, I must go
on my way today and tomorrow and the day following, for it cannot be
that a prophet should perish away from Jerusalem.” Yet this season of Advent prepares us to remember
that Christ is more than just a prophet. He is the Son of God who was conceived
by the Holy Spirit, and born of the virgin Mary.
Moses knew God face to face. His face shown as it reflected the
glory of God. But Jesus is the Son begotten of the Father from all
eternity. As the writer to the Hebrews
tells us, “He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of
his nature, and he upholds the universe by the word of his power.”
Moses was the mediator between God and Israel. But Jesus Christ is
the mediator between God and all peoples of all times. St Paul told Timothy, “For there
is one God, and there is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ
Jesus, who gave himself as a ransom for all, which is the testimony
given at the proper time.” Christ
suffered and died on the cross as the sacrifice that has won forgiveness. He was, as John the Baptist declared “the
lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.”
In his life and death Jesus was the fulfillment of all that was
written in the Old Testament. He was the Christ. He was the Servant of the
Lord. He was the temple as God dwelt with his people. He was the sacrifice. And
he was the prophet like Moses. By his suffering and death Jesus won forgiveness
for us. And then on Easter God raised him from the dead. In the resurrection,
death has been defeated and eternal life has begun.
On the evening of his resurrection Jesus said to the disciples, “These are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you, that everything written about me in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms must be fulfilled.” Then he opened their minds to understand the Scriptures, and said to them, “Thus it is written, that the Christ should suffer and on the third day rise from the dead, and that repentance and forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem.”
In our text today God says, “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.” Jesus continues to speak God’s Word to us. He
does so through the Scriptures which have been inspired by his Spirit – the
Spirit breathed Word of God.
But this raises the question: Are you listening? To listen means that we must take time out of
our other activities. We must set aside time to listen. This shouldn’t be
surprising. After all, we make time for the people and things that are
important to us.
In order to listen to Christ’s Word we need to hear, read, and
study the Scriptures. So how much time did you spend listening to Jesus Christ
this past week? What place does God’s Word have in your daily schedule?
The Scriptures are the means by which Christ comes to us. Through
them we receive the forgiveness that he has won by his death and resurrection.
Through them the Spirit strengthens faith in Christ so that we can trust in God
in the midst of every circumstance. And through them Christ teaches us what
life looks like for those who live according to God’s will.
Your life will be better if you read God’s Word. Your marriage will be better if you read
God’s Word. You will be a better husband; a better wife; a better Christian if
you read God’s Word. That is Scripture’s own witness about itself. St Paul told
Timothy, “All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for
reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man
of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.”
So find a regular time in your day to read Scripture. And take up a
pattern of reading that is going to lead you through God’s Word. I strongly
encourage you to use the one that has been adopted by the spiritual resources
of our church body: it’s found in the Treasury of Daily Prayer and through the
InPrayer app on your phone. It’s the insert in your bulletin, and is on our
church website – complete with a link to those texts.
Through the Scriptures we receive the crucified and risen Lord. We
listen to his word by which he comforts and strengthens us. He teaches us how to live as God’s children,
and provides the Spirit who makes this possible.
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