Our Marvelous Prophet
Our Marvelous Savior • Sermon • Submitted • Presented
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Introduction
Introduction
Read Deuteronomy 18:15-19
Deuteronomy 18:15–19 (ESV)
“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— 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.’ And the Lord said to me, ‘They are right in what they have spoken. 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. And whoever will not listen to my words that he shall speak in my name, I myself will require it of him.
Hebrews 1:1–4 (ESV)
Long ago, at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed the heir of all things, through whom also he created the world. He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature, and he upholds the universe by the word of his power. After making purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high, having become as much superior to angels as the name he has inherited is more excellent than theirs.
Superheroes -
Throughout history, we have been fascinated with superheroes
The myths of Gilgamesh, Hercules, Odysesus and Perseus
The legends of King Arthur and Robin Hood
The early superheroes of Zorro, the Lone Ranger, and The Scarlett Pimpernell, and Popeye
To the Comic book heroes of Marvel and DC such as Superman, Captain America, Wonder woman, Batman, and many others.
It is interesting to note that the comic book superheroes, who have been the subject of our blockbuster summer movies for the last nearly 3 decades, found their beginnings and popularity at the end of the 1930s as the world was experiencing the second great war and the Great Depression.
All of these stories reveal a truth that all of our hearts instinctively know, our world is broken and we need a hero to fix the problem.
Over the next few weeks, as we approach Easter, we are going to focus on what God’s Word has to say about the Savior that God has provided to rescue us from the sin and brokenness of this world and the role He has come to fulfill in our lives as His people. My prayer is that we will grow in our love for, trust in, and worship of Jesus Christ as we see that He alone is Our Marvelous Savior!
Throughout the history of God’s people in the Old Testament, God established three offices of men who would serve His people in leading them, providing for them, and revealing the Lord to them.
Those offices are the Prophet, Priest, and King. Each office had a unique role in serving God’s people and bringing them to a greater knowledge of and obedience to YHWH God.
As we walk through this, we will see that Jesus Himself is the fulfillment of all three of these offices as He came to earth in the fullness of human flesh, as He lived, taught, served, died, and rose again!
A Prophet like Moses…
A Prophet like Moses…
Moses was a man God called and used to bring redemption to His people, to show His glory and His character through, and to speak to His people His law and commands for life and godliness.
Moses was considered to be the greatest prophet in the history of Israel. He was not perfect, but he was a man who was faithful to follow God and to lead God’s people to know and worship Him.
Moses was an Israelite man, who through God’s providence for him, grew up in Pharaoh’s household, but ran away when we killed an Egyptian taskmaster for beating one of his fellow Hebrews. He would then spend the next 40 years in the wilderness, where he would get married, raise a family, and spend his time as a shepherd.
As he was out shepherding, he noticed a strange sight, a bush that was on fire but that was not burning up. As he approached, God spoke to Moses, told him to remove his sandals for he was standing on holy ground. It was through this bush that God would commission and call Moses to be the prophet and rescuer of His people who had been enslaved for over 400 years.
Moses would deliver the message God gave him to give to both Pharaoh and the Israelites, God would demonstrate His glory and His character, and God would accomplish salvation for His people.
At the time of this passage in Deuteronomy, the Israelites have seen all that God has done through Moses. They know he has been the prophet who has communicated and demonstrated God’s presence with them and now he is getting ready to die.
What are the people going to do without Moses?
Moses has been God’s representative to the people.
Deuteronomy 18:16–17 (ESV)
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.’ And the Lord said to me, ‘They are right in what they have spoken.
God’s people could not directly communicate with God. His glory that was on display in His voice and presence were too much for a sinful people who could not bear the perfect holiness of God.
They needed a prophet who would communicate with God and pass on His message to the people.
Moses himself, was part of God’s mercy and grace to His people who needed to know who He is, but could not stand in His presence.
So through Moses, God is promising to send another prophet like Moses to the people, someone who would continue to communicate with God and pass on His messages to the people.
In a sense, every true prophet of God was a prophet like Moses. Moses was the start of a line of messengers that God would send to communicate with His people. To let them know Who He is and What He Expects from them.
But while every true prophet of God was a prophet like Moses, there is only One who perfectly fulfills this promise.
The True Prophet Reveals the Words and Character of God
The True Prophet Reveals the Words and Character of God
First, we need to see that a true prophet of God reveals the glory of God. While God has revealed certain truths about Himself in the natural creation, we do not know all we need to know to live in a right relationship with God.
General revelation -
Romans 1:18–20 (ESV)
For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth. For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse.
We have enough information about God to condemn us for not seeking Him and worshipping Him as He deserves. But general revelation is not enough for us to know what we need to know about who God is.
Special Revelation - is how God has revealed Himself through the ministry of the prophets through history and through the written record of His revelation in His Word and primarily, as we will see, in the revelation of Himself in Jesus Christ.
He reveals the Character, Glory and Words of God
He reveals the Character, Glory and Words of God
So a true prophet of God first and foremost reveals who God is.
Moses
Moses
God commissioned Moses to go to Pharaoh to tell him to let the Israelites go free. He even told him on multiple occasions that Pharaoh would not listen to Moses.
What we begin to see is a showdown between Pharaoh and God. When Moses goes to Pharaoh to deliver God’s message, Pharaoh replies:
Exodus 5:2 (ESV)
But Pharaoh said, “Who is the Lord, that I should obey his voice and let Israel go? I do not know the Lord, and moreover, I will not let Israel go.”
God reveals His Character Through Moses
God reveals His Character Through Moses
So what follows is God answering this question, both for Pharaoh’s sake as well as for His own people’s sake. There is a series of 10 plagues that occur so that everyone can see that YHWH is the Lord over all creation. He alone is worthy to be worshipped.
But not only did God show His character to Pharaoh and the Israelites through the plagues, He also demonstrated His character to His people in the wilderness as He provided for all their needs. He provided water from a rock, manna or bread from heaven and quail for meat. God allowed the Israelites to plunder the Egyptians and they left with all kinds of gold and jewelry.
God provided for and cared for His people.
He also revealed His Commands through Moses.
He also revealed His Commands through Moses.
After being released from Egypt, as they enter the wilderness, they get to Mount Sinai and spend quite a bit of time there. Moses will go up and God will talk with Him and give Moses His Words.
In Exodus 19, God does speak to the entire assembly of His people at the foot of Mt. Sinai. But after that encounter, the people were frightened by the voice of God, so going forward, God will only talk with Moses directly, and Moses would serve as a messenger between God and the people.
After spending 40 days and nights up on the mountain, Moses received from God the law that was a sign of the covenant between God and His people.
This was part of God’s grace to the people. Instead of trying to guess how to live in right relationship with God, God Himself, gives them the way to live rightly. They do not have to guess or try to figure out the mind of God. God tells them Himself through the ministry of Moses.
He also showed His glory to His people through Moses.
He also showed His glory to His people through Moses.
After talking with God in Exodus 34, Moses comes down and the people can see the glory of the Lord in the face of Moses.
Anytime Moses spent time with the Lord, he would come out with his face shining. The glory of the Lord was so bright that Moses reflected God’s glory. In fact, his face shone so bright it frightened the people so Moses would wear a veil over his face after speaking with the Lord.
Through Moses, God displayed His power, character and glory.
Part of the job of every prophet was to communicate the character and nature of God to the people. As the people themselves received God’s Word through a prophet, they did not know who God was apart from the ministry of the prophet. But every prophet like Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and the others, were pointing us forward to a better prophet.
Jesus
Jesus
That better Prophet is Jesus. He is the Hero we have been waiting for because He is the One who will perfectly reveal to us the God we were created to Worship!
Just as God revealed His character and glory through the ministry of Moses, so He has revealed His character and His glory in the person and work of Jesus!
Hebrews 1:1–3 (ESV)
Long ago, at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed the heir of all things, through whom also he created the world. He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature, and he upholds the universe by the word of his power. After making purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high,
John 14:8–10 (ESV)
Philip said to him, “Lord, show us the Father, and it is enough for us.” Jesus said to him, “Have I been with you so long, and you still do not know me, Philip? Whoever has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’? Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me? 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.
Everything Jesus said and did while He was on this earth
was a perfect image of Who God is! Jesus is the perfect prophet because He was more than just a prophet, He is God Himself who has come to us!
God veiled Himself in human flesh, knowing that in our sin, we could not simply behold His unveiled glory. But Jesus displayed the glory of God in all He said and did.
Jesus is Our Marvelous Savior because He came to reveal to us what our sin has blinded us from seeing and knowing. We cannot know the truth apart from a prophet telling us what the truth is and Jesus is the Prophet like Moses, but He is the Prophet Who is also Immanuel, God With Us! When we hear and see Jesus, we are hearing the voice and God and seeing Him in person!
This is good news for us because the truth, which has been hidden from us, has been revealed to us.
The parable of the blind men and the elephant.
The parable of the blind men and the elephant.
A group of blind men heard that a strange animal, called an elephant, had been brought to the town, but none of them were aware of its shape and form. Out of curiosity, they said: "We must inspect and know it by touch, of which we are capable". So, they sought it out, and when they found it they groped about it. The first person, whose hand landed on the trunk, said, "This being is like a thick snake". For another one whose hand reached its ear, it seemed like a kind of fan. As for another person, whose hand was upon its leg, said, the elephant is a pillar like a tree-trunk. The blind man who placed his hand upon its side said the elephant, "is a wall". Another who felt its tail, described it as a rope. The last felt its tusk, stating the elephant is that which is hard, smooth and like a spear.
We no longer have to guess or come up with what sounds good to us. We have solid, objective truth we can base our lives upon!
The True Prophet Reveals the Purposes of God
The True Prophet Reveals the Purposes of God
But Moses did not just reveal the character and words of God in his ministry. There is something even more vital that God revealed through Moses back in the Exodus. God revealed His purposes for His people through Moses.
He reveals the plan of God for Salvation
He reveals the plan of God for Salvation
Moses
Moses
In the ministry of Moses, when God called to Him from the burning bush, God gave him the mission of redeeming His people from slavery. Yes, God is displaying who He is for both Pharaoh and the Israelites. But He is also displaying His glory by purchasing salvation for His people.
Now Moses Himself could not accomplish salvation, but he was used by God to display God’s power and to overthrow the power of Pharaoh.
In this, Moses is unique from the other OT prophets because he was used in such a direct way to bring salvation to his people. The other prophets spoke of how God would save His people, but they were not directly used in bringing redemption in the way God used Moses.
And it is important to notice that God brings salvation to Israel before He gives them His law. They became His people out of grace, not out of obedience to the law, which they would not have been able to do as slaves in Egypt.
Then He gives them His law by His grace and gives them the freedom from slavery in Egypt to be able to obey the law He gave.
Jesus
Jesus
But here is where Jesus is the better prophet, the better Moses.
Just as God used Moses to bring salvation to His people, now God Himself has come in the person and work of Jesus to bring salvation to His people. But this is not simply a salvation from physical enslavement to a physical enemy.
We are all slaves to sin.
John 8:34–36 (ESV)
Jesus answered them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, everyone who practices sin is a slave to sin. The slave does not remain in the house forever; the son remains forever. So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.
We have been enslaved by sin and as such, apart from the miraculous work of Christ on the cross, we cannot be set free from our desire to continue to live in sin.
And yet, Christ has come to take upon Himself the penalty of our sin so that we can be set free from sin and set free to righteousness!
Romans 6:17–18 (ESV)
But thanks be to God, that you who were once slaves of sin have become obedient from the heart to the standard of teaching to which you were committed, and, having been set free from sin, have become slaves of righteousness.
Jesus is our Marvelous Savior because He is the perfect Prophet who has freed us from Sin! While Moses died to his former life in Egypt and while he was willing to die for confronting Pharaoh, Christ is the better prophet like Moses who has come to set us free from slavery, not to Egypt, but to our sin. He was not just willing to die to face an enemy like Pharaoh, He actually became obedient to the point of death, even death on the cross to overcome the enemy of sin and death.
He alone has the power to free our sinful hearts from its natural desires and cause us to faithfully and obediently follow God.
In the Sermon on the Mount that we have looked at, we have seen how Jesus has expounded upon the law. It is no accident how Jesus gave this sermon from a mountain, as Moses came down from the mountain to deliver God’s law.
The difference is that while Moses had physically freed the Israelites from their slavery in Egypt, they were still slaves to sin and could not obey the law that was given.
The Prophet Jeremiah spoke of the day when the Prophet like Moses would come and bring the true law of salvation and freedom to His people.
Jeremiah 31:31–34 (ESV)
“Behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah, not like the covenant that I made with their fathers on the day when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, my covenant that they broke, though I was their husband, declares the Lord. For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the Lord: I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts. And I will be their God, and they shall be my people. And no longer shall each one teach his neighbor and each his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’ for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest, declares the Lord. For I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more.”
Jesus is the better prophet, because He has actually given us God’s law written upon our hearts rather than on tablets of stone. Now we have the desire and freedom to follow and obey God because Jesus is the prophet who laid down His life for His people!
He reveals the plan of God for Sharing the Gospel
He reveals the plan of God for Sharing the Gospel
So what do we do once we are set free from sin? What does this mean for us?
It means that if we have been set free by our perfect Prophet, Savior and God, and if His Words are the Words of God Himself, then we would do well to listen and obey the Words He speaks.
Jesus, as our Perfect Prophet, gave us a final Word before He ascended back to the Father.
Matthew 28:18–20 (ESV)
And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”
He is calling us to be little prophets to the world we are living in. Because of what He has done for us, if we are in Him, then He has placed His Holy Spirit within us and wants to speak His Word through us.
We get to be a prophet like Him as we are used by Him to reveal who God is to a lost world around us. We get to help reveal the truth of the Gospel to those around us, and in so doing we get to join in the line of prophets who communicated God’s truth to a lost and hurting world!
Conclusion
Conclusion