Bible Story of the Day: Prophet
The Bible Story of the Day series identifies Jesus in scripture through prophecies and representations, and how these verses impact our lives today.
https://hubpages.com/religion-philosophy/Bible-Story-of-the-Day-Prophet
Scripture is the story of Jesus, from Genesis to Revelation. There are over 400 prophecies and representations of Jesus in the Old Testament alone. The Old Testament pointed forward to the coming Christ, and the New Testament points back to Jesus. The Bible is a record of redemption through Jesus Christ who conquered sin and death when He died on the cross and resurrected three days later. The New Testament was written almost 2000 years ago. Some of the Old Testament was written over 4000 years ago. The Bible Story of the Day not only shows Jesus throughout scripture but shows how scripture is relevant to our lives today. Seeing Jesus in scripture is a major step into understanding who our God is, and how He impacts and affects our lives in every moment. I pray that the Holy Spirit opens your mind to understanding the verses and how they affect your life and gives you a better understanding of our Lord Jesus Christ. I will post a link to the chapter that each passage is from, so that you can read further on your own.
Deuteronomy 18:15-17
15 “The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among you, from your countrymen, you shall listen to him. 16 This is according to all that you asked of the Lord your God in Horeb on the day of the assembly, saying, ‘Let me not hear again the voice of the Lord my God, let me not see this great fire anymore, or I will die.’ 17 The Lord said to me, ‘They have spoken well. (NASB).
“Whether a succession of prophets be included in this promise or not, we are sure that it is primarily intended as a promise of Christ, and it is the clearest promise of him that is in all the law of Moses. It is expressly applied to our Lord Jesus as the Messiah promised, (Matthew Henry Commentary). Moses wrote Deuteronomy. The reference in the first verse (v15) is stating a prophet like Moses and that the prophet would be from the people’s “countrymen”, which meant the prophet would be a Jew. He would be a descendant from Jacob (Israel). The passage gives a mental image of Moses standing before the nation of Israel telling them that they will be given a prophet because they asked for one and God was pleased with their request. As Matthew Henry’s Commentary points out, it is not clear whether this was a promise of multiple prophets or is it was just speaking of Jesus, but it is clear that the passage is speaking about Jesus. Moses was not being boastful when he said the prophet would be like him. There are numerous comparisons to Jesus and Moses, and none of which are by accident. It was God’s divine providence to provide the nation of Israel a man that would closely represent the coming Messiah.
The New Testament has numerous references to this particular passage from the Old Testament. Jesus Himself mentions this passage in John 5. The New Testament verses are below:
John 6:14, “Therefore when the people saw the sign which He had performed, they said, “This is truly the Prophet who is to come into the world.”
John 5:45-47, “Do not think that I will accuse you before the Father; the one who accuses you is Moses, in whom you have set your hope. 46 For if you believed Moses, you would believe Me, for he wrote about Me. 47 But if you do not believe his writings, how will you believe My words?”
1 Peter 1:11, “seeking to know what person or time the Spirit of Christ within them was indicating as He predicted the sufferings of Christ and the glories to follow.”
Acts 3:22, “Moses said, ‘The Lord God will raise up for you a prophet like me from your brethren; to Him you shall give heed to everything He says to you.”
Acts 7:37, “This is the Moses who said to the sons of Israel, ‘God will raise up for you a prophet like me from your brethren.”
Scripture confirms scripture. There is no authority in this world that can provide proof of scripture other than scripture itself. Anything that is used to validate scripture becomes the higher authority by default. That does not mean that archaeological finds or other ancient text cannot support what is said in scripture. The proof however must come from scripture. What proof do we have that the ancient text we are reading is real? There would need to be some way of proving that evidence. The cycle becomes endless and the chain of proof becomes infinite or impossible. This is why belief that scripture is the infallible word of God is necessary. John, Luke, and Paul wrote scripture about the verses written by Moses.
Why does it matter that Moses said a prophet would be brought up and that it was Jesus? First, we see a promise of God fulfilled. How do we know someone will do something they say? Because they did before. God made a promise and we have the evidence in scripture that He kept His promise. He has promised us eternal life through salvation provided by Jesus on the cross. How do we know He will keep His word? Because He has kept His word before. Second, Jesus explains that the Law of Moses condemns and accuses but Jesus provides grace and hope of eternal life. Jesus came as a prophet, among many other titles. He told us what is to come and how to achieve a right relationship with God. He has told us of the victory we already have and the resurrection of the dead. We know our future, because Jesus has told us. There are two roads: one to salvation and one to spiritual death.
https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=deut+18&version=NASB