The LORD your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among you, from your fellow Israelites. You must listen to him. 16 For this is what you asked of the LORD your God at Horeb on the day of the assembly when you said, “Let us not hear the voice of the LORD our God nor see this great fire anymore, or we will die.”
17 The LORD said to me: “What they say is good. 18 I will raise up for them a prophet like you from among their fellow Israelites, and I will put my words in his mouth. He will tell them everything I command him. 19 I myself will call to account anyone who does not listen to my words that the prophet speaks in my name. –Deuteronomy 18:15-19
Throughout the Old Testament, there is the constant prediction that someone amazing is coming. For Abram, as we saw in yesterday’s post, it was the promise of son and legacy that would involve countless descendants.
Moses was unique in Israel’s history and shaped their culture, religion, psyche like no one else. When he spoke, he spoke for God. That’s what “prophet” means–“mouth of God.
Here is the prediction that someone is coming who will speak for God with the words God will put in his mouth. That’s right in line with what Jesus claimed for himself in John 14:10, “Don’t you believe that I am in the Father, and that the Father is in me? The words I say to you are not just my own. Rather, it is the Father, living in me, who is doing his work.”
This prediction comes with a warning–God will call to account anyone who does not obey the words that the coming prophet speaks.
This, the 6th day of Advent, is a moment for us to pause and review our lives. The coming of the Christ leans on us to ask ourselves if we are living in obedience to his voice. We must not imagine that Jesus has come merely as an expression of mild grace to us; he more than a Savior. He comes as a prophet who tells to change our ways, repent of our sins, and follow him.
May God’s prophet be heard fresh in our ears as we prepare our hearts to dwell on his coming again.