GENERAL SUBJECT
CRYSTALLIZATION-STUDY OF DEUTERONOMY
Message Seven
Christ——the True Prophet Typified by Moses
Scripture Reading: Deut. 18:15-19; Acts 3:22-23
I. Prophets are God's spokesmen——Deut. 18:15; Amos 3:7; Isa. 6:1-8:
A. The function of the prophets is to speak for God——1 Cor. 14:31; 2 Tim. 4:2.
B. According to the Bible, the main function of a prophet is not to predict things that are coming but to speak for God and to speak forth God by God's revelation——Amos 3:7; Exo. 4:10-16.
C. God, who is a speaking God, spoke in the Old Testament to people in many portions and in many ways in the prophets——Heb. 1:1:
1. God is hidden, but through the speaking of the prophets, God Himself and His intention are made known——Isa. 45:15, 19; 1:1-2a; 6:1-8.
2. Prophets receive God's revelation directly and are borne by the Spirit of God to speak for God and speak forth God——2 Pet. 1:20-21:
a. No prophecy was ever borne by the will of man——v. 21.
b. Man's will, desire, and wish, with his thought and exposition, were not the source from which any prophecy came.
c. The source was God, by whose Holy Spirit men were borne, as a ship is borne by the wind, to speak out the will, desire, and wish of God.
d. No prophecy of Scripture is of the prophet's or the writer's exposition, for no prophecy was ever borne, or carried along, by the will of man; rather, men spoke from God while being borne by the Spirit——vv. 20-21.
D. A false prophet is one who speaks a word presumptuously in God's name, which God did not command him to speak——Deut. 18:20-22.
II. Moses was a prophet, and as a prophet, he typifies Christ—— v. 15:
A. In his forty years of leading the children of Israel, Moses continually spoke to them for God; especially in Deuteronomy, Moses repeatedly spoke God's words to the children of Israel——1:1, 9-11, 18; 4:1-2; 5:11; 6:1-9.
B. Moses, as the spokesman of God, was like an aged, loving father speaking to his children with much love and concern——30:1-14:
1. Although it was Moses who spoke, he did not speak his own words; he spoke God's words——32:1-47.
2. He spoke for God, spoke forth God, and spoke God into the children of Israel——11:8-25.
C. Moses was a person not only soaked and saturated with the thought of God but also constituted with the speaking God Himself; therefore, the word that proceeded out of his mouth was the word of God spoken through this one spokesman——Exo. 34:29-35; Num. 12:6-8:
1. For forty years Moses served as God's spokesman, speaking for God, speaking forth God, and predicting; every word that he spoke became God's word——Deut. 10:12-22.
2. He predicted that the children of Israel would forsake God and be cast by God into all the nations but that when they would repent and turn to God, He would gather them from the nations——29:25-28; 30:1-3.
3. As such a prophet, Moses is a type of Christ——Acts 3:22-23.
4. Moses spoke to the children of Israel all that God had commanded him to speak; likewise, the Lord Jesus spoke all that the Father commanded Him to speak—— John 12:49-50.
III. The Old Testament prophet Moses prophesied, saying, "A Prophet will Jehovah your God raise up for you from your midst, from among your brothers, like me; you shall listen to Him"——Deut. 18:15:
A. Jehovah would put His words in the mouth of the Prophet, who would speak all that God commanded Him——v. 18b.
B. The Prophet raised up by God would be according to all that the children of Israel asked of Jehovah their God at Horeb——vv. 16-17:
1. They had told Moses that they could not bear to hear God's voice——5:22-28; Exo. 20:18-19.
2. Because they wanted a prophet, Moses promised that God would fulfill their desire for a prophet.
C. Moses prophesied that Jehovah would raise up a Prophet from their midst, from among their brothers——Deut. 18:15, 18a:
1. This indicates that God would raise up this Prophet through the incarnation of Christ to speak the word of God—— John 1:14; 3:34; 7:16-17; Heb. 1:2a.
2. From the midst of their brothers (Deut. 18:18a) indicates that Christ as the coming Prophet would be human as well as divine—— John 1:1, 14; Rom. 8:3:
a. If Christ were merely God, He could not have been raised up from among the Israelites——Luke 1:31, 35.
b. As God, Christ could not be from among the Jews as a brother, but as the incarnated One, the One who put on human nature and was a Jew, Christ was from among His brothers.
c. As the incarnated God, Christ put on human nature and became a Jew; thus, He is the Prophet raised up "from your midst," as prophesied by Moses——Deut. 18:15, 18.
3. Acts 3:22-23 applies Deuteronomy 18:15-19 to Christ, who is God incarnated to be a man, indicating that Christ is the Prophet promised by God to His people, the children of Israel.
IV. In His first coming, Christ ministered as the Prophet raised up by God——Acts 3:22-23; 7:37:
A. Through incarnation Christ became the Prophet to speak the word of God—— John 3:34.
B. Christ is the Word of God and the speaking of God——1:1; Rev. 19:13; Heb. 1:2a:
1. When Christ was on the earth speaking for God and teaching people, His teaching was not His own but was according to what the Father had taught Him—— John 7:16; 8:28b.
2. He did not speak from Himself; as the Father spoke to Him, so He spoke——12:49-50.
3. As God's Prophet, Christ spoke for God, spoke forth God, and revealed God to the disciples——Matt. 11:27.
C. During His earthly ministry, Christ also prophesied, predicted, by declaring the things that are coming—— John 16:12-13; Matt. 24:2——25:46.
D. Today Christ as the Prophet is in us still speaking for God to reveal God and speaking God into people——Rom. 8:10; 2 Cor. 13:5; Col. 1:27.
V. As a prophet typifying Christ as the true Prophet, Moses might have spoken something of his own feeling, but even this became the word of God; his speaking in Deuteronomy was like Paul's speaking in 1 Corinthians 7:
A. Because Paul was a man constituted with God, his opinion became a part of God's word as the divine revelation in the New Testament:
1. In his speaking, Paul was one with God; therefore, what he spoke was God's speaking——6:17; 7:25.
2. The principle is the same with Moses' speaking in Deuteronomy.
B. First Corinthians 7 conveys the spirit of a person who loves the Lord, who cares for the Lord's interests on earth, who is absolutely for the Lord and one with the Lord, and who in every respect is obedient, submissive, and satisfied with God and the circumstances arranged by Him.
C. Because Paul was one with the Lord, when he spoke, the Lord spoke with him; thus, in 1 Corinthians 7 we have an example of the New Testament principle of incarnation——vv. 10, 12, 25, 40:
1. The principle of incarnation is that God enters into man and mingles Himself with man to make man one with Himself; thus, God is in man, and man is in God—— John 15:4-5.
2. In the New Testament the Lord becomes one with His apostles, and they become one with Him and speak together with Him; thus, His word becomes their word, and whatever they utter is His word——1 Cor. 2:12-13.
3. The principle in 1 Corinthians 7:10 is the same as that in Galatians 2:20, the principle of incarnation——two persons living as one person.
4. In 1 Corinthians 7:25 and 40 we see the highest spirituality—— the spirituality of a person who is so one with the Lord and permeated with Him that even his opinion expresses the Lord's mind.
5. If we are saturated with the Spirit, what we express will be our thought, but it will also be something of the Lord because we are one with Him; this is the experience of Christ as the Prophet living in us to speak for God and to speak forth God—— 6:17.