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A PROPHET LIKE MOSES


Moses refers to himself as a prophet, and God speaks of him as a prophet. In addition it is announced in the above texts that a future Prophet is coming, a Prophet like Moses, One who will be raised up by God and One who will have the words of God in His mouth. It will be the responsibility of the nation to listen to Him.

According to the New Testament these Old Testament references are fulfilled in Christ; see: Acts 3:18-23 and 7:37, in which initially Peter and then Stephen connect Christ with the writings of Moses. They both assert that the references in Deut. 18 speak of Christ.

Thus, the Old Testament office of prophet is related to Christ—He is to be the Prophet. The coming Prophet will speak the words of God, and whoever does not listen to His words will be judged by God. As the Prophet Christ will be mediator between God and the people as Moses was when he heard the words of God and then spoke them to the people.

The prophet in the Old Testament was the one who spoke the Word of God; he stood between God and the nation. In various ways he received the Word from God and communicated it to the people. Frequently the prophet prefaced his message and often interjected into his message the words “Thus says Yahweh,” or “The Word of Yahweh came to me.” They understood that their words were the words of God. The prophet was the channel of Divine Revelation, and he held before the people the meaning and obligations of the Covenant (see: Seed of Abraham).

he prophets spoke as they were “carried along by the Holy Spirit” (II Pet. 1:21). And the words they spoke took two dimensions: first, they called the nation to repentance and purity, warning of judgment if it failed to heed God’s Word; and second, they predicted the future with all of their predictions ultimately relating to the Messiah and His eternal rule. Or as some have worded it their ministry was one of forthtelling and foretelling.

This office of prophet anticipated the Revelation that would come from Christ, the Son of God who would speak the words of the Father; in Christ the people would hear the Father. Jesus said: “As My Father taught Me, I speak these things” (Jo. 8:28); “I have given to them the words which You have given Me” (Jo. 17:8); and “I have not spoken on My own authority; but the Father who sent Me gave Me a command, what I should say and what I should speak” (Jo. 12:49). At the Transfiguration the Father said: “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased; listen to Him” (Matt 17:5).

Jesus Himself affirmed His relationship to Moses: “For if you believed Moses, you would believe Me; for he wrote of Me” (Jo. 5:46). He affirms Old Testament prophecy; He affirms that He is the subject of Old Testament prophecy; He affirms that belief is always related to believing what has been spoken by God and written down by the prophets; and He affirms that there is no distinction between the authority of the Old Testament and the New Testament. In this statement He manifests His office as the Prophet.

It is the Word of God, a word of Revelation from above, not speculation from beneath that the people must have; only the prophet can provide this to the people. What was rejected from below was provided from above.

In the prediction of the coming Prophet is enlargement upon the meaning of the Seed of the woman: the One uniquely from her, who also would arise from Abraham, who would be a Priest after the order of Melchizedek, and who would be a Prophet like Moses.


Note: John the Baptist denied that he was the Prophet. In his denial is testament to the fact that the Jews expected a Prophet to appear based on the passage in Deuteronomy; see: Jo. 1:19-24.


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