A Prophet like Moses

Shadows of Jesus  •  Sermon  •  Submitted   •  Presented   •  20:49
0 ratings
· 20 views

There are many prophets in the Old Testament but only Moses was used as a shadow of Jesus. In Acts 7:35-37, the similarities between Moses and Jesus are striking and they reveal wonderful truths about our savior.

Files
Notes
Transcript
Sermon Tone Analysis
A
D
F
J
S
Emotion
A
C
T
Language
O
C
E
A
E
Social
View more →

The man Moses

Moses is considered one of the greatest heroes of the Bible. He spoke to God in the burning bush, confronted the ruler of all Egypt and demanded through 10 miraculous plagues that he let God’s people go, he parted the Red Sea, spent over a month in the presence of the glory of God on Mount Sinai, and led the people of Israel in the wilderness for 40 years.

But have you ever stopped to consider how human he was? He was a Hebrew baby raised by Egyptian royalty. When he saw an Egyptian beating a Hebrew slave, he murdered the Egyptian, apparently thinking that he would be considered a hero and champion of his people. But instead of being celebrated, he was rejected. In his fear, he abandoned his people and ran away and hid in the wilderness of Midian for 40 years. When God called him to lead the Hebrews out of slavery, Moses wanted nothing to do with it and gave every excuse he could think of to stay in his place of comfort.

In this light, suddenly Moses starts to sound a lot more like you and me, a sinful and selfish human who doesn’t want to leave his comfort zone. Yet it was this man that God used as a shadow of the One who was yet to come.

Moses the Shadow

In Acts 7:35-37, Stephen was standing before the Sanhedrin, the council of Jewish religious leaders, giving a history of Israel’s rebellion against God when he gets to the part of the story about Moses. While talking about Moses he quoted from Deuteronomy 18:15-19. Here’s what that passage says:

“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— 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.’ 17 And the Lord said to me, ‘They are right in what they have spoken. 18 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. 19 And whoever will not listen to my words that he shall speak in my name, I myself will require it of him.

In this Deuteronomy text about 1,400 years before the coming of Jesus, God tells Moses something incredibly significant: There will be another prophet like you who will speak what I tell him. Now, there were quite a number of prophets after Moses…Samuel, Nathan, Isaiah, Ezekiel, Jonah, Nahum, ect. But none of them were quite like Moses. Let’s take a look as just what kind of prophet Moses was.

We learn a lot about Moses in Acts 7 but we will focus on verses 35-37. What we learn first from these 3 verses is that he was rejected by his people. Moses killed an Egyptian in an attempt to save one of his fellow Hebrews and he expected to be celebrated because of it but instead he was rejected as a murder and one unfit to lead.

But, this same Moses, 40 years later, God sent back to the Hebrews as a ruler. Moses was the man God used to free his people and lead them out of Egypt; the people followed and obeyed Moses and submitted to his judgements just as if he were a king.

Moses is also described as a redeemer. To redeem is to set free or to deliver or to liberate, especially in the sense of purchasing one out of slavery, and this is just what Moses did. God through Moses redeemed the Hebrews by taking them out of slavery and giving them their freedom.

And if all this wasn’t enough, Moses was a prophet who performed signs and wonders. God used Moses to perform the 10 plagues of Egypt, part the Red Sea, bring water from a rock, and heal those afflicted by venomous snake bites.

As far as I know, there is only one other prophet who was rejected, a ruler of his people, a redeemer of his people, and one who performed signs and wonders and his name is Jesus!

Jesus the Prophet like Moses!

1400 years after Moses, the prophet like Moses prophesied by God came into the world.

Jesus was a prophet rejected by his people. He was rejected by the people in his hometown of Nazareth (Mark 6:1-6) and by the Jewish people as a whole (Luke 23:18).

Jesus is the ruler of the people of God which consists of all those who have faith in Jesus. He is the King of kings and the Lord of lords (Revelation 19:16) and the Judge of his people (Acts 10:42).

Jesus is a redeemer (Galatians 4:4-5). Through his death, Jesus, God in the flesh, purchased our freedom from sin and death by paying the price owed by our wickedness. He took on himself the wrath of God and suffered and died as the perfect sacrifice so that we might be free.

And Jesus certainly performed signs and wonders. He healed the sick, cast out demons, made the lame to walk and the blind to see, multiplied food, turned water into wine, and he raised the dead to life.

Jesus the Redeemer

Without a doubt, Jesus is the prophet like Moses that God would raise up from the people in order to redeem his people from their slavery.

In Galatians 4:3-5 Paul said, “3 Even so we, when we were children, were in bondage under the elements of the world. 4 But when the fullness of the time had come, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the law, 5 to redeem those who were under the law, that we might receive the adoption as sons.”

This Christmas season, we get to remember that Jesus, God himself, humbled himself beyond imagination so that he might redeem broken, messy, imperfect, undeserving people like you and me. As the Hebrews were once slaves to Egypt, all people are slaves to sin and death. But along came this tiny baby born with the animals who changed everything.

If you are a Christian you can say with the Apostle Paul, “ 17 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, 18 and, having been set free from sin, have become slaves of righteousness.” (Romans 6:17-18)

My heart is broken by those many people who do not know that they are slaves to sin and refuse to believe it, instead choosing to believe in the goodness of man and man’s ability to improve himself. Scripture is clear in verses like Romans 3:10 that no one is righteous and no one seeks God and Romans 1:18 that the wrath of God is revealed to those who suppress the truth in unrighteousness. So many people this Christmas season will celebrate and speak messages of peace, hope, and joy while jingling the chains of slavery to the beat of their favorite songs. The world needs Jesus her redeemer which is where Christians come into play.

As Christians, we are the vessels God has chosen to proclaim the good news of Jesus. God has removed our spiritual blinders so that we may see our own need for salvation, receive forgiveness, and proclaim that same message to those around us, that Jesus is the one who was to come, he is our redeemer and ruler and that only in Jesus can there ever be peace on earth and goodwill toward men.

Conclusion

This Christmas, remember that Jesus is your redeemer. He is your Savior who was immensely yet joyfully inconvenienced for your benefit. His are words of life and transformation and it’s to him we are to listen and obey and worship both now and forevermore.

Related Media
See more
Related Sermons
See more