Moses: Prophet of Deliverance. March 7, 2021. Deuteronomy 18:15-22.

Here the Israelites were about to enter the Promised Land. Moses is addressing the Israelites.  The Promised Land is in inhabited by the Canaanites. Moses is warning the people to refrain from participating in the evil practices of the inhabitants of the land. Moses informs the people that the Lord will raise up a prophet like Him.  The prophet will be from among the Israelite people. Moses urges the people to listen to this prophet. Peter, at Pentecost, recognized Jesus as the prophet that Moses spoke of in this text (Acts 3:20-23)

When Jesus tells the Jews, “If you believed Moses you would believe me, for he wrote about me”. Jesus probably was referring to Deuteronomy 18:15. Jesus was raised up from among the Israelites. Moses reminds the people that this is what they asked for on Mt. Horeb. They were terrified to hear God’s voice directly so they asked that God speak to them through someone else.  The Lord promised to raise up a prophet from among the Israelites.  The Lord also promises to put his words in the prophet’s mouth. The prophet will in turn relay God’s message to the people.  The Lord will hold accountable any man who would not listen to the prophet sent by the Lord. The Lord also declared that any prophet that falsely claims to be sent by God and speaks words that God did not give him permission to speak shall die.  And any prophet that speaks in the name of other gods shall also die. How will we know if a prophet is sent by God you may ask? If he prophesizes and it does not come true, then he is not a true prophet and he was not sent by God. If his prophesy comes true part of the time, he is not a true prophet. A prophet sent from God will have his prophesies come true 100% of the time. Some prophesies come true after several hours such as Daniel’s prophecy concerning Babylon and Belshazzar (Dan 5:24-30). Some will take thousands of years to come true.