SSL 10 - Deut. 18:15-22 - REVEALED
LAST WEEK: In Deut. 6:1-9, we studied the commandment Moses gave to the Israelites that became known to the Jews as the Shema, which is a transliteration of the Hebrew word "Hear." In the context of the lesson, the command to hear means to focus all your attention and listen very carefully so that you will understand how to obey it-doing. Reduced to one phrase, the Shema is God's covenant with mankind that we love and obey Him. History shows us that mankind, over the ages, has failed to do this, and has failed miserably. Jesus Christ came to do what we were incapable of doing, and for NT Christians today, recognizing and applying the work of Jesus motivates us toward the love and obedience that the Shema demands and God deserves. Here are the four main points of application we learned from the lesson: (1) The foundation for obedience is hearing God's Truth. The foundation for obedience begins with listening-with hearing the Word. While these verses are addressed to the nation of Israel, they are addressed to parents in particular (v. 2), because of the responsibility of parents in the continuation of faith in their children. The future of Israel depended on this, and for 21st Century Christians, the future of our church depends on this, too. (2) The purpose of hearing the Word is to know the Lord. The point we must hear and learn from this is that we might know God in light of the fact that He is the sovereign creator and holy God of the universe, the Savior of our lives, and the God of redemption and revelation. (3) The nature of obedience grows out of love for God. This is the essential truth that grows out of the knowledge that God is one (v. 4). This means the we should love God with: (a) all of our inner-most being-our heart; (b) all of the life force within us-our soul; and (c) all those things in life with which He has gifted us-our might. In short, we are to love God totally, and give ourselves to Him without any reservation-without holding anything back. (4) The nature of obedience commands us to teach and model the Word to the generations that follow us. We, as adults, aren't truly capable of teaching children (any age, either at home or in church) until we are first following, hearing, obeying, loving, and being occupied with God ourselves. Everything we do and say with our children (including adult children) and grandchildren in the home, in church, and out in the many traffic lanes of life should model what we're trying to teach them-we must model the Word as we teach it.
THIS WEEK: In Deut. 18:9-14, the verses that immediately precede today's lesson, Moses says, "When you enter the land which the LORD your God gives you, you shall not learn to imitate the detestable things of those nations. There shall not be found among you anyone who makes his son or his daughter pass through the fire, one who uses divination, one who practices witchcraft, or one who interprets omens, or a sorcerer, or one who casts a spell, or a medium, or a spiritist, or one who calls up the dead. For whoever does these things is detest-able to the LORD; and because of these detestable things the LORD your God will drive them out before you. You shall be blameless before the LORD your God. For those nations, which you shall dispossess, listen to those who practice witchcraft and to diviners, but as for you, the LORD your God has not allowed you to do so." These are important prohibitions because they go right to the core of 'religious' practices that look to spiritual guidance from sources other than God. These verses should cause us to question any spiritual alternatives to God in today's world, e.g., astrology, nature worship, so-called spiritualists and mediums, etc. Christian pastors and teachers need to make it abundantly clear that such practices are totally contrary to God's will. In today's lesson (vv. 15-22) God will tell the Israelites (and us) where to find our spiritual direction.
Read Deut. 18:15-16 - THE LORD YOUR GOD WILL RAISE A PROPHET
15 "The LORD your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among you, from your countrymen, you shall listen to him. 16 This is according to all that you asked of the LORD your God in Horeb on the day of the assembly, saying, 'Let me not hear again the voice of the LORD my God, let me not see this great fire anymore, or I will die.'
v. 15a: "The LORD your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among you, from your countrymen," - God will raise up a prophet like Moses to give the people spiritual enlightenment and direction. Because this prophet will lead them correctly, they will have no need to rely on false spiritual alternatives that have no power or truth in them. The verse describes several characteristic the will identify this prophet: (1) He will be like Moses. The text doesn't go into great detail on this but we can assume that: (a) Like Moses, he will be faithful to his call; (b) like Moses, this prophet will speak the Word that God gives him; and (c) like Moses, this prophet will call Israel to be faithful to that Word. (2) God will raise up this prophet from among the covenant people-the Israelites, and won't go outside the covenant community to accomplish this. (3) The prophet of this verse would become Messianic in character-so that later, when the people heard Jesus speak. they said, "This is truly the prophet who comes into the world" and "this is truly the prophet" (Jn. 6:14; 7:40). Shortly after the Pentecost, Peter quoted Deut. 18:15 in a sermon, saying, "God, having raised up his servant, Jesus, sent Him to you first, to bless you, in turning everyone of you from your wickedness" (Acts 3:26).
v. 15b: "you shall listen to him" - The word sama (Heb.) means "hear" and implies that what is heard will be obeyed. So when this prophet arises, the people must listen and obey the Words he brings to them from the LORD God.
v. 16: "This is according to all that you asked of the LORD your God in Horeb on the day of the assembly, saying, 'Let me not hear again the voice of the LORD my God, let me not see this great fire anymore, or I will die.'" - The word "horeb" (Heb.) means desolate region and Sinai and Horeb are different names for the same region-Sinai is the mountain itself and Horeb is the wider wilderness area. The verse refers to the occasion when "the LORD spoke to all your assembly at the mountain from the midst of the fire, of the cloud and of the thick gloom, with a great voice" (5:22). When the people of Israel heard God's voice and saw the mountain burning with fire, they said, "Now then why should we die? For this great fire will consume us; if we hear the voice of the LORD our God any longer, then we will die" (5:25). These people were absolutely terrified, as were James, John, and Peter on the Mountain of the Transfiguration as reported Mt. 17:1-8. Because of the peoples' fear, they requested that Moses serve as their intermediary-to mediate-between them and the presence of God and His Word. Do you see the Christ-type in this? Then people said to Moses, "Go near and hear all that the LORD our God says; then speak to us all that the LORD our God speaks to you, and we will hear and do it" (5:27). Notice the connection between hearing and doing-i.e., obeying. Hearing without doing is disobedience.
TRUTH 1: Moses, as mediator between God and the Israelites, foreshadowed Jesus Christ. When the people of Israel heard God's voice and saw the mountain burning with fire, they were absolutely terrified, and because of their fear, they requested that Moses serve as their intermediary-to mediate-between them and the presence of God and His Word. As Christians, we have both the mediator-Jesus-and His Word-the Bible-and, by design, our lives should be typified by our obedience to the Word.
Read Deut. 18:17-19 - THEY ARE RIGHT IN WHAT THEY HAVE SAID
17 The LORD said to me, 'They have spoken well. 18 I will raise up a prophet from among their countrymen like you, and I will put My words in his mouth, and he shall speak to them all that I command him. 19 It shall come about that whoever will not listen to My words which he shall speak in My name, I Myself will require it of him. 20 But the prophet who speaks a word presumptuously in My name which I have not commanded him to speak, or which he speaks in the name of other gods, that prophet shall die.'
v. 17: "The LORD said to me, 'They have spoken well'" - Talking to them again about what happened at Horeb (v. 16), Moses told them, "The LORD heard the voice of your words when you spoke to me, and the LORD said to me, 'I have heard the voice of the words of this people which they have spoken to you. They have done well in all that they have spoken" (5:28). In short, a follower of God speaks "well" when he or she both hears the Word of the mediator-prophet and obeys. As Christians, we have both the mediator-Jesus-and His Word-the Bible-and, by design, our lives should be typified by our obedience to the Word.
v. 18: "I will raise up a prophet from among their countrymen like you, and I will put My words in his mouth, and he shall speak to them all that I command him." - Moses, as mediator, is now speaking God's Word directly to the people. When Gods says "raise up," it means He's taking covenantal action, and because God controls history, it's a promise that will be a historical certainty. God promised not only to raise up a prophet like Moses but to put "words," i.e., His Word, into the prophet's mouth. The prophet, therefore, will speak only the words that God tells him to speak. Jesus affirmed Himself as God's sent prophet and mediator when He said, "For I did not speak on My own initiative, but the Father Himself who sent Me has given Me a commandment as to what to say and what to speak" (Jn. 12:49). Remember that the Bible is the only divinely-inspired work that contains prophecy; thus, all Biblical prophecy, whether fulfilled or yet to be fulfilled is the same as fact--It has happened or will in fact happen.
TRUTH 2: When God "raises up" a prophet, He puts His Word in his mouth. The prophet, therefore, will speak only the words that God tells him to speak. Jesus affirmed Himself as God's sent prophet and mediator when He said, "For I did not speak on My own initiative, but the Father Himself who sent Me has given Me a commandment as to what to say and what to speak" (Jn. 12:49).
v. 19: "It shall come about that whoever will not listen to My words which he shall speak in My name, I Myself will require it of him. " - When the prophet speaks and people hear him, God will hold them accountable for obeying the Word the prophet gives them. A good OT example of this appears in 1 Sam. 28:1-18, where the spirit of Samuel (who is now dead, 1 Sam. 25:1) appears to Saul (through a medium, which is clearly prohibited in Deut. 18:9-14) and tells him he will die on the battlefield because he disobeyed God's command to completely eradicate the Amalekites. And if you go back and read the entire story starting in 1 Sam. 15 all the way up to 1 Sam. 28, you'll discover that partial obedience is still disobedience. What this says to you and me is that we are completely responsible to act on God's will once we know it.
TRUTH 3: When a prophet speaks for God and people hear him, God will hold them accountable for obeying the Word the prophet gives them. What this says to you and me is that we are completely responsible to act on God's will once we know it. And we need to remind ourselves that partial obedience or delayed obedience is still disobedience.
Read Deut. 18:20-22 - HOW WILL WE KNOW THE WORD?
20 But the prophet who speaks a word presumptuously in My name which I have not commanded him to speak, or which he speaks in the name of other gods, that prophet shall die.' 21You may say in your heart, 'How will we know the word which the LORD has not spoken?' 22 When a prophet speaks in the name of the LORD, if the thing does not come about or come true, that is the thing which the LORD has not spoken. The prophet has spoken it presumptuously; you shall not be afraid of him.
v. 20: "But the prophet who speaks a word presumptuously in My name which I have not commanded him to speak, or which he speaks in the name of other gods, that prophet shall die.'" - People who speak "presumptuously" are better known as "know-it-alls"-people who claim to have the answer to everything. So the real question is how do we know who truly speaks for God? This verse and the two that follow give a partial answer. This verse acknowledges that false prophets will speak to Israel who will (1) speak presumptuously, that is, speak words that God did not command-pure deception or (2) speak in the name of other gods, which are an abomination. Both of these are rebellions against God that will result in death.
TRUTH 4: False prophets speak presumptuously. Anyone who claims to speak for God, but speaks words that God did not command, is speaking presumptuously, in other words, lying. Falsely presuming to speak for God is the same thing as rebellion against God.
v. 21-22: "You may say in your heart, 'How will we know the word which the LORD has not spoken?' 22 When a prophet speaks in the name of the LORD, if the thing does not come about or come true, that is the thing which the LORD has not spoken. The prophet has spoken it presumptuously; you shall not be afraid of him. If a prophet, either living or dead, predicts something and it is undeniably fulfilled, that speaks for itself, doesn't it? Bible scholars estimate that over 300 OT prophecies were fulfilled by the birth, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. You should keep in mind that unfulfilled Bible prophecies aren't simply predictions but promises of God that are yet to be fulfilled. But for contemporary hearers-that's us-how are we to judge a prophet if their predictions are beyond their life times (or ours)? And what about a conditional prophecy that depends on the repentant faith response of the people of that day to whom it is addressed (e.g., like Jonah and the Ninevites) The evaluation of those who claim to speak for God is not easy. Dr. Bob Utley, a retired pastor, DTS graduate, and noted Bible scholar, suggests these criteria:
(1) Content of the message;
(2) The lifestyle (walk) of the messenger; and
(3) The correlation of the message with other Bible passages;
He notes that false prophets and false teachers are often very dynamic, well-educated, logical, and charming people. In our day and time, here are some of the marks that might identify a potential false speaker:
(1) An emphasis on money;
(2) Sexual permissiveness (that contradicts the Bible); and
(3) A claim to exclusive access to God (presumptuous).
Comment: I seriously doubt that any one of us here today would be taken-in by any of these "presumptuous" false speakers. As Bible-believing evangelicals, we are fairly well grounded in "sound doctrine" and Biblical truth; however, there are many people out there, even believing Christians (Paul talks about them in his letters to churches, doesn't he-brothers or sisters who have gone astray?). We need to be on our guard, not just for ourselves, but for others who might get taken-in by the schemes of these false speakers.
