1. Please pray with me. May the words of my mouth and the meditation of our hearts be pleasing in Your sight, O Lord, our Rock, and our Redeemer. Amen. The message from God’s Word today is taken from Deuteronomy 18:15-20, it’s entitled, “Prophecy from the True Prophet,” dear brothers and sisters in Christ.
2. To whom should we listen? These days it seems everybody’s putting something in our ear—politicians, pastors, teachers, bosses or foremen or team leaders. Half of it we don’t believe, and the other half, well, we’re a little wary. Chances are we ought to be.
3. The problem is most people are just telling us what they think we ought to hear. Like in that kids game Telephone [which we played in the children’s message]. Remember? People are sitting on the floor in a circle. The first person whispers a message in the next person’s ear. That person then whispers the message to the next person. It goes all the way around the circle until the first person finally hears the message again. The message is always different, sometimes not even close—and that’s assuming the best case, that every person is trying to pass the message along faithfully. If someone decides to work a little mischief, make up a message of his own, then, of course, all bets are off. I would think that if someone tried to play the game with the phrase: Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers, A peck of pickled peppers Peter Piper picked; If Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers, Where's the peck of pickled peppers Peter Piper picked? In the game of telephone that message probably wouldn’t turn out so well.
4. In our text today, Moses, the man God has used for the last forty years to pass along his words to the people of Israel, is about to leave, to die. So, the frightening question is to whom should they listen now? Would the Word of God that’s been so faithfully passed on to Moses and then by Moses still be passed along faithfully to future generations, even ours? To whom should we listen? In our text, God gives us his answer. Christians, take heart! The Lord our God has raised up a prophet like Moses to whom we shall listen. We receive prophecy from the true prophet.
5. As with Moses, we must listen to this Prophet. As Moses warned, there are plenty of false prophets to whom we might listen. Israel was about to enter the Promised Land, where the inhabitants promised anything but a faithful word from the Lord (Deut. 18:9–14a). Fortune-telling, divination, consulting the dead—these were all ways of seeking a word from the gods to get advantage in life. And all of these God says are an abomination—right up there with child sacrifice.
6. Among us, it could also be fortune tellers or horoscopes or Ouija boards or seances. But it could also be some pretty slick false prophets: televangelists or pastors down the street who proclaim such false teachings as giving your heart to Jesus, accepting Jesus into your heart, prosperity gospel—believe and you’ll prosper. No doubt many of these are sincere. They mean to pass on faithfully what they think God wants us to hear. But sincere or frauds, either way, words not from the Lord are false and dangerous. We must only listen to a prophet like Moses—a prophet who speaks God’s Word (Deut. 18:14, 20). Things like fortune-telling and Ouija boards are actually inviting the devil to speak to us.
7. Moses was raised up by God to be a prophet among his people. Many other prophets were sent by God. They were true. Others, speaking on their own, were false. There have been plenty of false prophets in the world—and especially in the world today—who’ve failed with their prophecies. Take, for instance, Jeanne Dixon, who proclaimed herself to be a psychic. She gained attention when she correctly predicted the assassination of the new president. That came true when President Kennedy was assassinated in 1963. Most of her predictions, though, have proven false—such as her prediction that a comet would devastate the earth in the 1980s.
8. Prophecies are more than predictions. Moses prophesied that a true prophet “like me” would be raised up to proclaim the truth of salvation (Deut 18:15). Take heart! He was right! Jesus prophesied that he would be crucified and on the third day be raised from the dead. Take heart! Not only did he do it, but he did it for us!
9. And what about those other false teachings? Do we really want to give Jesus our heart, which is at times cold and uncaring? Scripture is clear that it is Christ who has first chosen us; we didn’t ask him into our hearts. “(Jesus said) You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit and that your fruit should abide, so that whatever you ask the Father in my name, he may give it to you.” (Jn 15:16)! And as to those promises of prosperity, what about people who believe but struggle to pay the mortgage, miss loved ones overseas, struggle to feed their families? Jesus is the Prophet who, like Moses, speaks God’s Word, for his every word is God’s (Deut. 18:15).
10. Moses had Jesus clearly in view—even though he wouldn’t come for another 1,400 years. Jesus’ earthly ministry demonstrated that he was the very Son of God. Today’s Holy Gospel is evidence of that. The people were amazed that Jesus, in word and deed, showed such authority. And the demon knew exactly who he was: “the Holy One of God” (Mk 1:24). Jesus is God!—so when he speaks, it’s always the Word of the Lord.
11. And, yes, we must listen to him (Deuteronomy 18:18–19). At the Baptism of Jesus, just a few weeks ago, God announced that all are to listen to him. The reason we must listen to Jesus is that he is the way of salvation. Jesus has the Word of truth. Everything he says, we can count on: “I love you with all my pure, sinless heart.” Jesus has the words of eternal life: “I have chosen you to be mine for eternity.” Jesus has the Word of faith: “I am with you, caring for you, even those times that don’t seem prosperous at all.” No other prophet but Jesus was raised up to free an entire world from sin, to proclaim eternal life to all believers.
12. So, we must listen to this Prophet, Jesus, who speaks the Word of the Lord to us, but can we? Yes, as with Moses, we can listen to this prophet. The fact is, we could not listen to the Word of the Lord any other way. Forty years before our text, God had come down on Mount Sinai (Mount Horeb) to speak to Israel, and how had that gone (Deut. 18:16)? The lightning, the earthquake were too frightening. The Israelites were right (Deut. 18:17). Sinful people cannot speak with God face-to-face and live. Because we’re sinful, we couldn’t bear to hear the Word of the Lord that way.
13. That’s why God became a prophet like Moses—truly one of our brothers (Deut. 18:18). Israel asked for God to speak to them through someone they could receive. Jesus is God, certainly enough, but he’s also truly one of us, our Brother. Jesus veiled his divine glory and majesty in humble flesh, like Moses’, like ours. He spoke to us gently, lovingly, in a way we could hear. But the gentle voice was possible only because of the loud cries of agony as this Prophet like Moses was raised up on a cross. That action took away those sins against which God’s voice must be terrifying. That sacrifice reconciled God to us so that now we can stand before him face-to-face.
14. To this Prophet, then, we can listen. Jesus’ words from the cross “It is finished!” are the words we most want to hear. God raising Jesus up from the dead is his word to us that we are forgiven. And his Word we still hear today. Where? Here! When words like Moses’ in our text are read. When the Absolution of the forgiveness of our sins is pronounced. When Jesus says, through me as your Pastor, that at this altar you are receiving his very body and blood. This is what you hear when the Word of God is proclaimed to you—Jesus, the final Prophet who was raised up by his heavenly Father. Amen. Now the peace of God that passes all understanding, guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus, until life everlasting. Amen.
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