What Child Is This? Introducing our Advent Series

We’re going to be taking a brief break from our series in the gospel of Mark. Today we’re starting a 4 week series that takes us through the remainder of advent and the Sunday after Christmas. We’re calling this series “What Child is This?” and we’re considering Jesus’ coming from the perspective of his three-fold office. Think office like a political office, a position of leadership and authority. When Jesus comes as our savior, he performs the functions of three different offices: the office of a prophet, the office of a priest, and the office of a king.

And you’ll notice our preparatory thought in the bulletin these next three weeks will be Questions and Answers from the Westminster Shorter Catechism, one of our theological standards, that explain what it means for Jesus to be our Prophet, Priest, and King. So today, what does it mean for Christ to be 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.”

This is a classic grid for understanding what Jesus does when he comes to save us — his work. And we’re doing this during Advent because when God’s people were waiting for the savior to come, the Messiah, they were waiting for these three things: a Great Prophet, A Great Priest, a Great King. They didn’t necessarily know that one person would come and embody all these at once. Usually in OT these were separate offices. 

But what makes Jesus such a perfect savior is that he comes as a perfect prophet, a perfect priest, and a perfect king. So that’s what we’ll be hearing about over the next three weeks, and then after Christmas we will conclude this series by looking at what it means for Jesus to come as a Son, and what it means for him to be prophet, priest, and king, while in his person being God’s Son. I’m really looking forward to it.

So Today we’ll be considering Christ coming as our prophet, and to do that we will turn to Deuteronomy 18. Deuteronomy is the 5th book in the Bible. You can find our passage on page 151 of your pew Bibles.

The name “Deuteronomy” means “2nd law”. God gave the law to Moses at Mount Sinai, after he brought Israel out of slavery in Egypt. But then due to Israel’s disobedience they are forced to wander in the wilderness for 40 years before entering the land that God had promised to give to Israel’s forefather Abraham. And right before Israel is ready to go into the promised land Moses speaks to a new generation and proclaims God’s law to them a second time (Second Law).

And he tells them now to live, and how to structure their society as a nation that has God as the ultimate head of his people. This section that we’re looking at is part of a larger section from ch16:18-here, talks about different offices, leadership in Israel. So there’s instructions about how judges and kings and priests and prophets are to function in this society. We’ll read starting actually in verse 9 to give a little context that will be important as we consider our passage.

[Read Deuteronomy 18:9-22 and Pray]

The Forbidden Experiment

At different times in history kings have conducted what has come to be known as “the forbidden experiment.” In the forbidden experiment, you isolate a child and never allow them to hear speech from birth.

Often the theory behind these ancient experiments was that children would then on their own speak whatever the original language of humanity was. When Pharaoh Psamtik I did it around 600 BC, one of the two children apparently made a sound that sounded like the word “bread” in the Phrygian language, and so he determined that was humanity’s original language.

James the 4th of Scotland in late 1400s or early 1500s sent two boys to be raised by a mute nurse on a remote island to determine what the original language that the Bible would have been written in was, and the report is that they came out speaking good Hebrew. Probably not the most reliable account. These stories may seem little humorous, or a little naive.

But of course, it’s called “the forbidden experiment” today because it is such a terrible thing to do to a human that no one could ever do it. It’s too cruel. There are stories of victims of abuse who have been isolated. One girl, given the name Genie, was found in LA county in 1970 at the age of 13. She was the victim of total isolation as the result of her father’s abuse from around 20 months old. And while she developed non-verbal communication skills and some social skills, she was never able to develop a spoken language. She had lost the ability to learn language.

For us to thrive and function as human beings, we need to be spoken to. That is a fundamental need we have. So fundamental that we forget it. But this is true for us developmentally. And it’s true for us spiritually. We are not able to live as we ought to live, if God does not speak to us. It’s a fundamental need we have, for God to speak to us and reveal truth to us. Otherwise our souls will be shriveled and distorted.

And that’s why it’s so important for us to understand what prophets are and how it is that Jesus Christ is our prophet. Because before scripture was in its final composed form, the primary way God spoke to his people was prophets in the Old Testament, and Apostles in the New Testament. And so we sometimes call Scripture the Prophetic Word. So as we look at this text today, we’re going to consider the definition of a prophet that this passage gives us. Then we’re going to consider our need for a prophet. And thirdly, we’ll see how Jesus fulfills this passage as The Great Prophet.

Those are our three points: 1. The Definition of a Prophet, 2. The Need for a Prophet, and 3. The Great Prophet.

And I’ll Say right now, that in the background of this sermon, I’m drawing a lot from a book on this topic called Prophet, Priest, and King by one of my professors, Richard Belcher. It’s very helpful and readable. Just wanted to mention that up front.

1. What is a Prophet?

Here’s the definition that this passage gives for a prophet: A Prophet is someone called by God from among God’s people to faithfully speak what God has commanded him to speak.

We can break that definition down into three sub-points about prophets.

Called by God

This is the first thing mentioned about this prophet Moses is speaking about. He is someone “The Lord your God will raise up.” And then God himself says the same thing in verse 18, “I will raise up for them a prophet.” Prophets don’t appoint themselves as prophets. They are called.

Moses didn’t decide to speak certain things and say God told him. He didn’t want to be God’s spokesman. No, God called Moses. And you see this play out in the lives of other prophets, we are told about some of their callings. Samuel in 1 Samuel 3, Isaiah 6 you find Isaiah’s call, Jeremiah 1, Ezekiel 3. Prophets are called by God.

From among God’s people

Prophets are called from among God’s people. v15 God will raise up a prophet “from among you, from your brothers”; and again, verse 18 God says I will raise up a prophet “from among their brothers.” God’s people should expect to find prophets rise up from within Israel. You look at OT, prophets were all home-grown. They “grow up in the church.” You don’t have a prophet from Babylon or Assyria coming to Israel with a message from God. Because God has revealed himself to his people. Which leads us to the third part of our definition. What does a prophet do?

To faithfully speak what God has commanded him to speak.

God says in verse 18 about this prophet that he is raising up, “I will put my words in his mouth, and he shall speak to them all that I command him”

There’s two parts to this.

First, God speaks to prophets.

“I will put my words in his mouth.” Prophets are given revelation from God to speak to people. Sometimes it happened through dreams or visions or they heard words spoken to them. There were multiple ways for this to happen. But God communicated truth to these prophets.

And second, the prophet’s responsibility.

“He shall speak to them all that I command him.” The prophet receives a word from God, and he has to reveal that word to others. He must speak what has been revealed to him. Even if it’s a hard word. And you see in Jeremiah 20 Jeremiah struggled with this part of his calling, because the message he had to bring was so hard. And Ezekiel is warned twice that he is a watchman for Israel, and if he fails to tell people what God has told him to say, blood will be on his hands. A prophet must be faithful to speak what God has spoken to him. That’s his responsibility.

Note: what’s Israel’s responsibility? If he is a good prophet, they listen to him. That’s the only option. Because the prophet is speaking the Word of God. So you see, verse 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” and again v19 God says, “whoever will not listen to my words that he shall speak in my name, I myself will require it of him.” or as the NLT says, “I will personally deal with” him. When God speaks, we must listen. Or we’ll have God to deal with. We’re morally obligated to respond correctly to God’s Word.

This is the basic description of a prophet: Someone called by God from among God’s people to faithfully speak what God has commanded him to speak. And when he speaks, God’s people must listen. This was basically the blueprint for all future prophets in Israel. This is what a prophet is.

2. Why do we need a prophet?

There are two main reasons this passage indicates why we need a prophet.

1st, we need a prophet from God because there are so many lies about God.

You see these lies about how to hear from God or influence him come from both outside God’s people and from within the ranks of God’s people.

a. Lies from Outside God’s people

Verses 9-14 describe lies from outside God’s people. Moses warns the people of Israel to not do any of what he calls “the abominable practices of those nations” that are in the promised land. All that these practices that you see listed here were ways that other nations had for discerning the will of gods or trying to gain a god’s favor or even ways to influence a god: child sacrifice, divination, fortune-telling, interpreting omens, sorcery, charms, being mediums or necromancers or inquiring of the dead. All ways to try to figure out god’s will or get him on your side.

But none of these ways of trying to discern God’s will come from God. They are all men trying to work their way up to god. Now we might look at some of them and say, “that’s terrible: child sacrifice.” And it is. But God calls all these things abominable. Because they all are man’s way of trying to pry into the spiritual realm without guidance from God. They’re all man in essence saying, “we can determine the truth on our own and be judge of it.” It ultimately puts mankind in the place of God as determiners of truth.

And that’s not the biblical way. We don’t determine truth. And we don’t get truth by looking to people who claim to have the truth. God is very clear, you need to listen to the right source. Read verse 14 into verse 15 again: “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. 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.”  God picks the person, and he reveals to that person his truth. And we listen. We don’t go to horoscopes or tarot cards or seances. Because God has not revealed the truth there. He’s given us the prophetic word. These are outside sources of lies.

b. Lies from Inside the People of God

There are also sources of lies that spring up from among God’s own people. Verses 20-22 describe the process that God’s people go through in discerning if a prophet is a true prophet or a false prophet. And the principle is this: test all prophets, listen to true prophets, and violently reject false prophets.

God knows that there will be false prophets. And there are two kinds of false prophets: (1) prophets who claim to speak in the name of the true God but don’t, and (2) prophets who speak in the name of another god. And both kinds of false prophets have one fate: end of v20: “that same prophet shall die.” Now that probably sounds harsh. But Israel’s society is a theocracy. A Nation-State with God as the ruler. False prophecy is a form of high treason. Lying to others about what God has and hasn’t said is a matter of spiritual life or death for the hearers. Claiming divine authority behind your words is one of the weightiest things a person can do. Now your words are binding eternally upon lives and souls.

Now, how can you tell if a prophet is speaking God’s word or not? Well, there’s one simple test God gives here: verse 21-22, “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.” It’s simple: if a prophet says “x will happen” and instead y happens, they’re lying.

So you see clear examples of this in the Old Testament. In 1 Kings 22 Ahab asks 400 prophets how a certain battle will go, and they all say, “Go get ‘em Tiger!” But there’s one prophet, Micaiah, who Ahab doesn’t want to ask, because he always says negative things. But the other King going to war with Ahab says, “why don’t you ask him.” And Micaiah says, “If you go to this battle, you’re gonna die.” Ahab doesn’t like that, so he locks him in prison. And he says, “Feed him meager rations of bread and water, until I come in peace.”” And Micaiah said, “If you return in peace, the Lord has not spoken by me.” Micaiah knows the drill. If what he says doesn’t come true, God hasn’t spoken through him.

What happens? Ahab goes into battle disguised as another soldier. And the text says that at random a certain man (“some guy”) shoots an arrow and hits Ahab. And he dies in battle. The 400 prophets were false, Micaiah was true.

It’s that simple. God’s prophets speak words that come true. Sometimes you had to wait hundreds of years to see the words come true (though they often had other prophecies that were fulfilled sooner to boost their credibility). And it should also go without saying, part of this depends also on the premise that the prophet is speaking things that are in line with what God has already revealed in his word. God’s prophets speak the truth.

So if a prophet’s words didn’t come true, he was proven false. And God says, you don’t need to fear a false prophet. He may sound persuasive or clever, and he may gather a following and be popular. But the prophet you need to truly fear is the true prophet. Because he speaks the Word of God.

This is the first reason we need a prophet: there are many false voices out there, inside and outside the church. And so we need God to give us his true word, through a reliable spokesman. That’s why we need a prophet. Now there’s a second reason we need a prophet.

2nd, we need a prophet because of our sinful separation from God

The other reason we need a prophet comes in verse 16. “The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet… 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.’

You see, when God showed up at Mt Sinai, and he gave the 10 commandments, he spoke those words in the hearing of the whole people of Israel gathered about the base of the mountain, with Moses closer to God. And after God spoke the 10 commandments the people said to Moses, “You speak to us, and we will listen; but do not let God speak to us, lest we die.” (Exodus 20:19).

Now you might be tempted to think, “The people of Israel were just wimps.” But God says in verse 17 “They are right in what they have spoken.” God says, “No, they are right . They would die.” It is appropriate for these people to fear for their lives when they hear the voice of God.

Here is a fundamental reality about us as fallen human beings. We cannot be near to God. God’s voice alone would destroy us. This is what sin has done to human beings. We were made for close intimate fellowship with God. But now, God, in his majesty and holiness and greatness, if he were to simply speak to us, like he did on Mt Sinai, it would destroy us.

We need God to speak, but we can’t bear to listen.

So what hope do we have of hearing from God? Of receiving truth from God? What hope do we have of knowing his law, his will, his promises to us, if we can’t even have a conversation with God? Well he must bring his word down to our level. He has to make his word speak through the voice of a man. Which is what happened with Moses. Moses alone drew near to God, heard from God, and spoke the word of God to the people of God. And future prophets would hear from God and speak to the people like Moses.

But what’s interesting is that there really wasn’t a prophet exactly like Moses. Maybe you noticed that also in the description of a prophet here. Moses says, “The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among you” (verse 15). God says to Moses in verse 18, “I will raise up for them a prophet like you from among their brothers.”

What does it mean for prophets to be “like Moses”? Primarily it refers to the uniquely close relationship Moses had to God.

In Numbers 12 God says, “If there is a prophet among you, I the Lord make myself known to him in a vision; I speak with him in a dream. 7 Not so with my servant Moses. He is faithful in all my house. 8 With him I speak mouth to mouth, clearly, and not in riddles, and he beholds the form of the Lord.

Prophets received visions and dreams, but Moses met with God on Mt Sinai, and in the tent of meeting, face-to-face. He looked upon God. That’s what it means to be like Moses. To be someone who looks upon God. And at the end of Deuteronomy, after Moses dies, this is what it says, Deut 34:12 “And there has not arisen a prophet since in Israel like Moses, whom the Lord knew face to face.”

This is what we need. A prophet that fits the description we’ve already heard, and on top of that, one who knows the Lord face-to-face. Because we need God’s perfect truth mediated to us in a man. Because we cannot look upon God or listen to God and live.

3. The Great Prophet

See, this passage speaks about all the prophets who will come after. But it’s very clear, Moses is speaking about a single figure, A Prophet. The Prophet. “To Him” — to this individual — “you shall listen.” And people were looking for this special prophet to come. If you remember from the beginning of our sermon series in Mark, John the Baptist is a prophet, and he prepared people for Jesus coming with his preaching. In the gospel of John people ask him, “Are you the Prophet?” (John 1:21), and John said, “No.” People were looking for The prophet. They thought John might be it.

Now, they thought Jesus was a prophet too. But always just a prophet. Not The Prophet. And in fact, other people claimed that Jesus was a prophet. They recognized that Jesus spoke God’s word and interpreted God’s law. He made future predictions, about the destruction of the temple. And most significantly about his death and resurrection.

So when Jesus asks his disciples, “Who do people say that I am?” The answer is “Some say John the Baptist, others say Elijah, and others Jeremiah or one of the prophets” (Matt 16:14). A prophet.

And today many people are willing to call Jesus a prophet or a good teacher. Muslims, even some Jews, Buddhists, Hindus, the average unbelieving person in America who says Jesus is a good teacher. A prophet.

Even when his disciples didn’t fully understand who Jesus was, they knew he was a prophet. On the road to Emmaus, his disciples say to Jesus in disguise that they believed “he was a prophet mighty in deed and word before God and all the people” (Luke 24:19). A prophet.

But eventually the disciples understood. You see Peter in Acts 3 and Stephen in Acts 7 recognize Jesus as The Prophet that the prophets, and that Moses foretold. Jesus isn’t just a prophet. He is The Prophet. And we see Jesus fits this description of a prophet so well.

He is called by God

At his baptism Jesus is anointed with the Spirit. Prophets being set apart and called by God were sometimes anointed with oil. Jesus is anointed with the Spirit. And God speaks and says, “This is my beloved Son.” God proclaims his special status.

He is “from among you, from among your brothers.”

Jesus comes to the people of Israel from within Israel. He’s not an outsider in that way. He’s a Jewish man. It’s saying, “This Prophet will be someone from among you, the people of Israel, from among your brothers.” Jesus satisfies that criteria.

And he faithfully speaks all that God has given him to speak.

Jesus, especially in the gospel of John, will say things like “the Son can do nothing of his own accord, but only what he sees the Father doing. For whatever the Father does, that the Son does likewise,” John 5:19. Or John 8:28: “I do nothing on my own authority, but speak just as the Father taught me.” John 14:10: “The words that I say to you I do not speak on my own authority, but the Father who dwells in me does his works.” Or John 12:49-50: “I have not spoken on my own authority, but the Father who sent me has himself given me a commandment—what to say and what to speak. And I know that his commandment is eternal life. What I say, therefore, I say as the Father has told me.”

Why does Jesus keep saying this. He’s emphasizing that when you hear Jesus, you don’t hear anything that is just from a guy. Everything, EVERYTHING Jesus said is from God. Everything Jesus said perfectly reflects God’s truth, his will, his Word.

Now how is that possible? Because Jesus is God himself. John 1 says, Jesus is the Word of God. He’s the perfect revelation of God. And He is the only person who can claim that he’s not only like Moses, but that he exceeds Moses in his closeness to God.

John 1 says “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God.” And that word “with” – it not only indicates that he’s “with” God, but also that the Word was “towards” God. Facing God. Face to face with God. Not just “with” God in his presence, but “intimately with God.” And in John 1:18 it says Jesus is “at the Father’s side,” again, not just referring to being with God, but in the bosom of the Father. The one who the Father holds close to his chest.” He is lovingly, intimately acquainted with the Father. He is nearer than Moses ever was. From all eternity.

And the Word became flesh. And dwelt among us. We can now hear the voice of God Himself and not die. Because God now speaks just like you and I do.

He has a larynx with vocal cords. He expels air from his lungs, and forces that air through a glottis, the space between the vocal folds in your larynx, and those folds or cords vibrate and produce sound that resonates in a way entirely unique to him, due to the length of his neck, the shape of his head, and other factors, and those sounds are shaped by his soft palate and tongue and hard palate to create speech, words. And with entirely human speech, God speaks!

And The Prophet’s first cry on this earth was a baby’s crying. He expelled fluid from his lungs and began breathing and he cried. Every cry the cry of the Word made flesh.

And God shows us in those infant cries his love for us. That the Son, the eternal Word, would stoop so low, to a stable, to a manger, as an infant, so that God might speak to us face to face, so that we might hear, believe, and have life with God.

Jesus is a prophet like no other. The very exact revelation of God in human form. And like Moses said in verse 15, God the Father speaks to Jesus’ disciples at his Transfiguration, when Jesus’ divine glory briefly shines through his human flesh. God says, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased; listen to him” (Matt 17:5). God is pointing us to Deuteronomy 18:15: “it is to him you shall listen.” Listen to Jesus.

What does that entail? Certainly seeing what he says in the gospels. But more than that. Jesus says in John that he will send his Spirit to lead the disciples into all truth.

And in fact, what is true about the Son, that he perfectly reveals the Father, is true about the Spirit as well. Just as Jesus says he only says what the Father gave him to speak, he says, “When the Spirit of truth comes…he will not speak on his own authority, but whatever he hears he will speak… He will glorify me, for he will take what is mine and declare it to you. All that the Father has is mine; therefore I said that he will take what is mine and declare it to you” (John 16:13-15). The Spirit speaks the Father and the Son’s word, and continues Jesus’ prophetic ministry. So the entire New Testament scriptures, which are Spirit-inspired, are the Words of Christ. They are the Words of The Great Prophet.

And so is the Old Testament. It says in 1 Peter 1:10-11 that the Spirit of Jesus is the one inspiring the prophets of the Old Testament as they predict his coming. Old Testament and New Testament are the prophetic Word of Christ.

So you listen to Jesus by listening to his Word. Recognizing that in this word, the Lord is speaking to you. Listen expectantly, listen attentively.

Listen for what you must believe. You know, we must believe what Jesus preached. We must listen to this prophet’s sermons. And Jesus’ preached himself. He said, “come to me.” He said, when I am lifted up (on the cross), I will draw men to myself.” Christ prophesied about himself. Listen to this Prophet. And believe in him. He’s the only prophet who you should not only believe what he says, but you should believe in him.

Believe what Moses said, but don’t believe in Moses, don’t trust in Moses. In a similar manner, believe a preacher when he preaches God’s Word, but never believe in that preacher. But believe in Jesus.

Jesus doesn’t come as a baby at Christmas just to give us warm feelings. He comes to reveal to us, by his word, as the Word made flesh, and by his Spirit, God’s will for our salvation. Through faith in his name.

What child is this? He is the Great Prophet. Listen to him. Believe in him.