As you can see we’ve now begun the Christmas season! And with Advent upon us we’re pausing our normal sermon series through the book of Genesis, to be picked back up next year, so we can lean into the glories of Christ this Christmas.
The title of this year’s Advent series is Expectations. Christmas is certainly a season of great expectation, but what we mean by titling the series expectations is this. As we look in Scripture, we find that there are clear roles that the Messiah would come and carry out for His people. Now there are loads of promises and prophecies throughout the OT that are fulfilled in the NT, but for us in these next four weeks we’re going to look at four, just four, of the roles Christ would come to take up, come to do, and come to be for His people. The four roles are: prophet, priest, king, and shepherd. Yes, many prophets have taught God’s people, but Christ will come and be the true Prophet. Yes, many priests have servedGod’s people, but Christ will come and be the true Priest. Yes, many kings have ruled God’s people, but Christ will come and be the true King. And yes, many shepherds have loved and led God’s people, but Christ will come and be the true Shepherd. Each of these roles has a particular beauty and glory to it, so we’ll spend one week on each one, to see and savor the beauty and glory of Christ this Advent season.
Before diving into this, think with me for a moment on the word expectations. What does the word expectations bring to mind for you? While the word can bring up something positive, I think for many it brings up the negative. For many it brings up those times or seasons or situations in life where you had expectations that went unmet. And this can be true in many spheres of life. Whether its expectations we set for ourselves personally, or expectations we have in marriage, in parenting, in our friendships, in our work, wherever they may be, unmet expectations seem to abound, don’t they? One area where unmet expectations can prove very disastrous is in the church, or in spirituality. I would say that all people have expectations of God. Whether you’re in church every single week or whether you’ve never come to church at all, everyone has expectations of what God will be for them and what God will do for them. Now, I don’t think expectations of God are wrong, but I do think that it really matters what those expectations are, whether they’re fancies of our own imaginations, or whether they’re rooted in Scripture.
All in all, I think our focus on expectations this year will hit home for many of us, because we always need to be reminded of the expectations we should actually have of God.
So I ask: what are your expectations of Jesus? Our first answer to that question this week is this: we can and we should expect Jesus to be our Prophet. To help explain what this means and why this matters, we turn to the book of Deuteronomy, specifically chapter 18.
While you turn there in your Bibles or devices, allow me to set some of the context around Deuteronomy. Israel was once enslaved in Egypt, but God rescued them in the events of the Exodus and brought them out to worship Him and enter into covenant with Him at Mount Sinai. He made great promises to them, but Israel waivered in unbelief so God judged them and made them wander in the wilderness for 40 years. After their wandering was over they arrived at the Jordan river on the banks of the promise land, they’re about to enter in, and their on the banks of the Jordan they hear the Law of God for a second time. Which brings us to the book of Deuteronomy. Deuteronomy means second law. Deutero meaning second, nomos meaning law, so the title explains the whole book. Before going into the Promise Land, God gives His people His Law for a second time to reestablish their identity in Him. Which was massively important because God’s people were about to go into a land where people worshiped all kinds of gods in all kinds of ways. So this younger generation of Israelites gathers together in Deuteronomy to hear the Law for themselves. They hear there is blessing for obedience and cursing for disobedience, and they hear Moses plead with them to embrace life, not death.
That’s a very brief account of Deuteronomy as a whole. But for us today we’re dropping anchor down in chapter 18, so let’s go there and read our text, 18:15-22. “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.’ And the LORD said to me, ‘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. But the prophet who presumes to speak a word in my name that I have not commanded him to speak, or who speaks in the name of other gods, that same prophet shall die.’ And if you say in your heart, ‘How may we know the word that the LORD has not spoken?’— when a prophet speaks in the name of the LORD, if the word does not come to pass or come true, that is a word that the LORD has not spoken; the prophet has spoken it presumptuously. You need not be afraid of him.”
Two headings for us today. See first…
A Prophet Like Moses (Deut. 18:15-22)
To really understand what’s going on in v15-22 we need to back up a paragraph and see v9-14. There we find Israel being reminded that when they come into the promise land, they’re not to learn the wicked practices of the pagans. Practices like child sacrifice, sorcery, fortune telling, and more. These are all ways the pagan peoples living in Canaan sought to acquire knowledge of the divine. Israel is supposed to be different as v13-14 say, “You shall be blameless before the LORD your God, for these nations, which you are about to dispossess, listen to fortune-tellers and to diviners. But as for you, the LORD your God has not allowed you to do this.”
This all begs the question, since the ways of the people are out of bounds for Israel, how are they to seek after the knowledge of God and learn from God? Enter v15-22 and the role of the prophet.
In v15-18 we see the identity and work of the prophet. In v15 God makes a promise. That He will one day raise up a prophet. But not just any prophet, God will raise up a prophet like Moses. So ask the question, what was Moses like? Or, what was Moses’ role with the people? The answer is clear, Moses functioned with God’s people as the mouthpiece. God would speak to Moses, and Moses would then speak to the people. So God’s people would hear from God through Moses. This is in effect what a prophet does. And God is promising here to raise up another like Moses to continue this work after him. v15 also mentions this prophet will come from among the people, meaning He will be an Israelite, and that the people (those who are truly God’s people) would listen to the words of the prophet.
Then v16-18 clarifies this with the mention of a former situation. Back when Israel received the Law the first time after the events of the Exodus, the people were terrified of God and begged that Moses would speak to them instead of God so the terror would fade. So Moses became a kind of mediator between God and the people, and spoke the Words of God to the people of God. v18 tells us this pattern will continue on, that God will raise up for them a prophet like Moses from among them. God will put His Words in His mouth, and He shall speak to them all that God commands of Him.
So, putting all of this together teaches us that Israel will not be like the nations in how they learn from and follow God. Instead of resorting to things like child sacrifice, sorcery, fortune telling, and the like Israel is to hear and heed the prophet of God, they’re to depend on the prophet to hear the Words of God. This naturally brings up some questions. Like what about those who claim to be prophets who speak falsely? That’s where v19-22 comes in. Here God’s people are warned about what happens to those who reject the message of God’s prophet. They’ll be held accountable and will have to deal with God Himself. So though the prophet is human, the words of prophet are divine, if indeed they come from God Himself. So to deny the word of the true prophet is to deny God, because God is the origin of the message.
Now that’s v19. Look at v20-22. There we see the nature of the false prophet. In a fallen and sinful world it’s not only likely but it’s a reality that some will think it a good and wise thing to pretend to be a prophet. For whatever reason they come up with to justify such a wicked action, the false prophet comes never saying he’s a false prophet, but claiming to be a true prophet. But, the proof is in the pudding. They don’t come with God’s own words but with a message of their own making. It could be that they come in God’s name, and it could be that they come in the name of a false god, either way the message is false. And while God’s people could get all bent out of shape at such charlatans and hucksters peddling a pretend prophetic message for their own profit, God says not to worry about them. In v20 God says they will die. In v21 God says they’re words won’t come true. Thus in v22 God says to not fear them at all.
So there it is. God will raise up a prophet like Moses to speak God’s Word to God’s people, and to Him the people will listen. A question that arises at this point is this: does this speak of one prophet to come or is this speaking of many prophets to come? I think we should say ‘yes.’ This is God officially instituting the what can be called the prophetic office, where after Moses the first prophet of, God would raise up more prophets like Moses. Think of Joshua, Samuel, Isaiah, and Jeremiah, and the rest. So many would be called by God to carry out this work among God’s people. But ultimately there is indeed a single future and greater Prophet in view, the Messiah Himself.
Which leads to our second heading…
A Prophet Greater than Moses
While I could take you to many texts that show this reality coming about, I’ll only take you to two passages today.
First, Hebrews 1:1-3, “Long ago, at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed ethe heir of all things, through whom also he created the world. 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.”
This is very clear. God once spoke to His people though the prophets at many times and in many ways. But now does God do this anymore? No. Is He then done speaking? No. Now, God has spoken through His Son. Jesus, then, is the Prophet Greater than Moses through whom God is revealing Himself to His people. On this John Calvin comments saying, “God, by providing His people with an unbroken line of prophets, never left them without useful doctrine sufficient for salvation, yet the minds of the pious had always been imbued with the conviction that they were to hope for the full light of understanding only at the coming of the Messiah.”[1]And we could go further. As Israel was to be different than the world then, now the Church is to be different as well. The Church is to be tethered to Christ. We’re to look to God, learn from God, hear from God, come to God, and grow in God through Jesus Christ and through Him alone. To Him the Church must listen, and to Him the Church must submit. And sadly, though many have and will come in His name today preaching a false message, we must ever remain in the true message of Christ. Where do we find that? In the Word, the Spirit inspired deposit of truth given to us through the Apostles.
All of this and more is clarified for us in Hebrews 1.
Second, Luke 9:31. This passage is right in the middle of the transfiguration. The moment when Jesus revealed His glory to James, Peter, and John. As the three of them beheld the transfigured Christ, they saw Moses and Elijah, and Luke says in 9:31, “And behold, two men were talking with him, Moses and Elijah, who appeared in glory and spoke of his departure, which he was about to accomplish at Jerusalem.”
This might seem a strange passage to go to, but hear me out. In v31 Moses and Elijah are speaking with Jesus about His “departure” that Jesus would soon accomplish in Jerusalem. The word departure is a curious translation because in Greek the word is literally the name of the second book of the Bible, Exodus. So, there on the mount of transfiguration Moses and Elijah are speaking with Jesus about His Exodus. That’s what v31 says. Do you see the meaning of that? Jesus is the Greater Moses. As Moses led God’s people out of slavery under Pharaoh in Egypt, so too Jesus came to carry out an Exodus in Jerusalem. Jesus is the prophet who will save His people from a greater slavery in sin, defeat a greater Pharaoh in Satan, and bring His people into a greater redemption and freedom in His salvation where they will worship Him forever! Jesus is indeed the greater Moses, the Prophet who we have always waited for.
Now, since all of that is true…what does this mean for us?
It means, we can and we should expect Jesus to be our Prophet. The Westminster Shorter Catechism in question 24 says, “How does Jesus execute the office of a prophet? Christ executes the office of a prophet in revealing to us, by His Word and Spirit, the will of God for our salvation.” Of all we expect Jesus to do and to be for us, we should expect him to be the prophet He is. Meaning, we should expect Him to teach us rightly. To speak what is true. To reveal the Father to us, and to ever keep doing these things for us until He returns.
Since Jesus is our Prophet it means, we must always hear and heed His Word. In short, we are to be a people of the book. Scripture defines everything for us, so we must seek to be mastered by it.
Since Jesus is our Prophet it means, we must always be aware of phonies. As the bad guys in the Home Alone movies were known by their trade mark (wet bandits / sticky bandits), so too all false teachers are known by…what? False teaching. Church, know the Word, live in the Word, then you’ll be able to guard yourself and those around you from phonies.
Conclusion:
Guys, expectations really matter. Christmas as commercial season overpromises and under-delivers. If that’s your expectations, Christmas will leave you unfulfilled and disappointed. But, if you align your expectations with Scripture, and lean into Christmas as the season of remembering and rejoicing the mercy of God in the sending of His Son for us…and in particular Jesus coming to be the true and greater Moses, the Prophet long awaited, our hope and joy will be renewed.
[1] John Calvin, The Institutes of the Christian Religion, 2.15.1-2.
