Epiphany
Deuteronomy 18:15–20
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— 16just 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.' 17And the LORD said to me, 'They are right in what they have spoken. 18I 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. 19And whoever will not listen to my words that he shall speak in my name, I myself will require it of him. 20But the prophet who presumes to speak a word in my name that I have not commanded him to speak, or who speaks in the name of other gods, that same prophet shall die.'
To whom should we listen? These days it seems everybody's putting something in our ear—politicians, teachers, the media, Hollywood, pastors, bosses or foremen. Half of it we don't believe, and the other half, well, we're a little wary. Chances are we ought to be.
Problem is, most people are just telling us what they think we ought to hear. Like in that kids game Telephone. Remember? People are sitting on the floor in a circle. The first person whispers a message in the next person's ear. That person then whispers the message to the next person. It goes all the way around the circle until the first person finally hears the message again. The message is always different, sometimes not even close—and that's assuming the best case, that every person is trying to pass the message along faithfully. If someone decides to work a little mischief, make up a message of his own, then, of course, all bets are off.
In our text today, Moses, the man God has used for the last forty years to pass along his words to the people of Israel, is about to leave, to die. So the frightening question is to whom should they listen now? Would the Word of God that's been so faithfully passed on to Moses and then by Moses still be passed along faithfully to future generations, even ours? To whom should we listen? In our text, God gives us his answer. Christians, take heart!
The Lord Our God Has Raised Up a Prophet
like Moses to Whom We Shall Listen.
As with Moses, we must listen to this Prophet. As Moses warned, there are plenty of false prophets to whom we might listen. Israel was about to enter the Promised Land, where the inhabitants listened to anything but a faithful word from the Lord. Moses tells the people, "When you come into the land that the Lord your God is giving you, you shall not learn to follow the abominable practices of those nations. There shall not be found among you anyone who burns his son or his daughter as an offering, anyone who practices divination or tells fortunes or interprets omens or a sorcerer or a charmer of a medium or necromancer of one who inquires of the dead for whoever does these things is an abomination to the Lord..." (vv 9–14a).
Fortune-telling, divination, consulting the dead—these were all ways of seeking a word from the gods to get advantage in life. And all of these God says are an abomination—right up there with child sacrifice.
Among us today though, it would also be fortune tellers or horoscopes or Ouija boards or séances. Then there are many today who tell you that all religions are equal. That there are many paths to God. That God by whatever name you know him is a universal god to whom all religions pray. Even some major Christian denominations today proclaim that faith in any religion is acceptable to God, and that the sacrifice of Christ applies for all people who are sincere in whatever they believe, be it in Christ, or Buddha, or Krishna, or whatever.
Right within American Christianity there are some pretty slick false prophets: televangelists or pastors down the street who proclaim such false teachings as giving your heart to Jesus, accepting Jesus into your heart, prosperity gospel—believe and you'll prosper. No doubt many of these are sincere; they mean to pass on faithfully what they think God wants us to hear. But sincere or frauds, either way, words not from the Lord are false and dangerous. We must only listen to a prophet like Moses—a prophet who speaks God's Word. As God also says regarding fortune-tellers and diviners, "...the Lord your God has not allowed you to do this....The prophet who presumes to speak a word in my name that I have not commanded him to speak, or who speaks in the name of other gods, that same prophet shall die." (vv 14, 20).
Things like fortune-telling and Ouija boards are actually inviting the devil to speak to us. And what about those other false teachings? Do we really want to give Jesus our heart, which is at times cold and uncaring? Would Jesus even want such a gift from us? Scripture is clear that it is Christ who has first chosen us; we didn't ask him into our hearts. "You did not chose me, but I chose you and appointed you that you..." (Jn 15:16)!
And as to those promises of prosperity, what about people who believe in Christ but still struggle to pay the mortgage, or miss loved ones overseas, or struggle to feed their families? If believing in Jesus means prosperity and freedom from all sorrow and suffering, why do fellow believers suffer such things?
So, to whom shall we listen? Jesus is the Prophet who, like Moses, speaks God's Word, for his every word is God's. Jesus is the prophet like Moses that God will raise up for you and from among you. It is to him you shall listen..." (v 15). Moses had Jesus clearly in view—even though he wouldn't come for another 1,400 years. Jesus' earthly ministry demonstrated that he was the very Son of God. This morning's Holy Gospel is evidence of that. The people were amazed that Jesus, in word and deed, showed such authority. "They were astonished at his teaching, for he taught them as one who had authority." Even the demon knew exactly who he was: "the Holy One of God" (Mk 1:24).
Jesus is God!—so when he speaks, it's always the Word of the Lord. And, yes, we must listen to him for "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," says the Lord. (vv 18–19).
At the Baptism of Jesus, which we commemorated just three weeks ago, God announced that all are to listen to him. "This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. Listen to him!" The reason we must listen to Jesus is that he is the way of salvation. Jesus has the Word of truth. Everything he says, we can count on: "I love you with all my pure, sinless heart." He says. Jesus has the words of eternal life: "I have chosen you to be mine for eternity," he says. Jesus has the Word of faith: "I am with you, caring for you, even those times that don't seem prosperous at all," he promises. No other prophet but Jesus was raised up to free an entire world from sin, to proclaim eternal life to all believers.
So we must listen to this Prophet, Jesus, who speaks the Word of the Lord to us, but can we? Yes, As with Moses, we can listen to this prophet. The fact is, we could not listen to the Word of the Lord any other way. Forty years before our text, God had come down on Mount Sinai (Mount Horeb) to speak to Israel, and how did that go? The people cried out to Moses, "Let me not hear again the voice of the Lord my God or see this great fire any more, lest I die." (v 16)? The lightning, the earthquake were too frightening. And in saying this, the Israelites were right. Sinful people cannot speak with God face-to-face and live, as God told Moses, "They are right in what they have spoken." (v 17).
Because we're sinful, we couldn't bear to hear the Word of the Lord that way. That's why God himself became a prophet like Moses—truly one of our brothers, "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." (v 18).
Israel asked for God to speak to them through someone they could receive. Jesus is God, certainly enough, but he's also truly one of us, our Brother, a man like you from among your brothers. Jesus veiled his divine glory and majesty in humble flesh, like Moses', like ours. He spoke to us gently, lovingly, in a way we could hear.
But the gentle voice was possible only because of the loud cries of agony as this Prophet like Moses was raised up on a cross. That action took away those sins against which God's voice must be terrifying. That sacrifice reconciled God to us so that now we can stand before him face-to-face.
To this Prophet, then, we can listen. Hear Jesus' words from the cross "It is finished!" These are the words we most want to hear. Hear Jesus' words from the cross, "Father forgive them...." These are the most important words you will ever hear. God raising Jesus up from the dead is his word to us that we are forgiven.
And his Word we still hear today. Where? Here! When words like Moses' in our text are read from the Bible. When the Absolution is pronounced by the pastor, "Your sins are forgiven." When Jesus says, through the pastor, that at this altar you are receiving his very body and blood.
This is what you hear when the Word of God is proclaimed to you—Jesus, the final Prophet who was raised up by his heavenly Father. Amen.