Advent: Day 5

God's promise of redemption took many different forms in the Old Testament (OT). Most often, they took the form of prophecies about the Messiah to come. These prophecies are throughout the OT. Today we will look at one given by Moses in Deuteronomy 18:15-19:

¹⁵ "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— ¹⁶ 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.' ¹⁷ And the Lord said to me, 'They are right in what they have spoken. ¹⁸ 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. ¹⁹ And whoever will not listen to my words that he shall speak in my name, I myself will require it of him.'"

Nearly fifteen hundred years later, when Jesus called Philip and he went to get his brother Nathanael, Philip exclaimed to his brother, "We have found him of whom Moses in the Law and also the prophets wrote, Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph." (Jn. 1:45) The people who followed Jesus, listened to His teaching, and saw His miracles knew it as well (Jn. 6:14). When Peter addressed the Jews in Solomon's Portico, he too reminded them that Jesus is the prophet who was to follow Moses (Ac. 3:22). And, when Stephen (the first martyr) was before the Sanhedrin charged with preaching Jesus, he told them that Jesus is the prophet Moses promised (Ac. 7:37-38).

The office of prophet is one of the offices that Jesus executes for us as our Redeemer. The Westminster Short Catechism asks in question #23, "What offices doth Christ execute as our Redeemer?" and it answers, "Christ, as our Redeemer, executeth the offices of a prophet, of a priest, and of a king, both in his estate of humiliation and exaltation." Then, to further explain what this means, in #24 it asks, "How doth Christ execute the office of a prophet?" and it answers, "Christ executeth the office of a prophet, in revealing to us, by His word and Spirit, the will of God for our salvation." A prophet told people the will of God. He was God's spokesman. In the OT, there were many prophets, but now that Christ has come there is only one and it is Jesus Himself. Through His Word He informs us of all we need to know about God and His will (2 Ti. 3:16-17), and through His Holy Spirit He gives us wisdom and understanding of it (1 Co. 2:9-12).

This Advent season, remember that you would not know anything about salvation, Jesus, Advent, or God, if it were not for Jesus being your prophet. He is necessary for us to know God and He is also sufficient for us to know God (we need no other prophets in our lives).

By His Grace,
Taylor