Prophet Like Me

Deuteronomy 18:14-15 – The nations you will dispossess listen to those who practice sorcery or divination. But as for you, the Lord your God has not permitted you to do so. The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among you, from your fellow Israelites. You must listen to him.

Luke 2:30-32 – For my eyes have seen your salvation, which you have prepared in the sight of all nations: a light for revelation to the Gentiles, and the glory of your people Israel.”

Exodus 20:18-19 – When the people saw the thunder and lightning and heard the trumpet and saw the mountain in smoke, they trembled with fear. They stayed at a distance and said to Moses, “Speak to us yourself and we will listen. But do not have God speak to us or we will die.”

John 1:24-25,45 – Now the Pharisees who had been sent questioned him, “Why then do you baptize if you are not the Messiah, nor Elijah, nor the Prophet?”… Philip found Nathanael and told him, “We have found the one Moses wrote about in the Law, and about whom the prophets also wrote—Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph.”

John 5:46 – If you believed Moses, you would believe me, for he wrote about me.

John 6:14 – After the people saw the sign Jesus performed, they began to say, “Surely this is the Prophet who is to come into the world.”

Application:

• ·         At Horeb the people requested that Moses take the message from God and deliver it to them. But now that Moses is to leave them, he says that another spokesman will take his place, and then another will be necessary for the next generation. This is therefore a collective reference to the prophets who will follow. As such, it is also the basis for later Messianic expectation and receives a unique fulfillment in Jesus.
• ·         As a Gentile himself, Luke was careful to emphasize the truth that salvation was offered to Gentiles as well as to Jews.
• ·         The Israelites requested a mediator to stand between them and God, a role fulfilled by Moses and subsequently by priests, prophets and kings—and ultimately by Jesus Christ.
• ·         In Old Testament times anointing signified being set apart for service, particularly as king or priest. But people were looking for not just an anointed one but the Anointed One, the Messiah.
• ·         The authors of the New Testament books sometimes expressly stressed and assumed that the Old Testament, rightly read, points to Christ.
• ·         In the Gospel of John, Jesus applies this truth specifically to the writings traditionally ascribed to Moses.
• ·         Jesus’ feeding of the five thousand pointed people to the Son of Man and the food for eternal life that He gives, but they thought only of the Prophet, i.e., the prophet who would be like Moses. Through Moses, God had provided food and water for the people in the wilderness, and they expected the Prophet to do more than this.

All Scripture verses taken from NIV