One Big Book of Advent
Last week we talked about how the story of Jesus’ coming doesn’t begin in the New Testament and doesn’t end with a baby in a manger. The whole Bible anticipates his arrival. The Bible is one big book of Advent!
There are whispers of the Christmas story from Genesis to Revelation. Over these weeks, I want us to listen to several of these “whispers.” We started in Genesis and we’ll end in Revelation at the end of the month.
The First Advent
The first mention of advent in the Bible is only three chapters in, where, after Adam and Eve sin, God promises to send a Savior who’ll defeat evil. After they sin, God promises advent.
Genesis 3:15 says that the seed of the serpent will battle the seed of the woman and the seed of the woman will win. This verse means that God isn’t done with humanity yet. A descendant of Eve would come to undo the damage caused by the serpent.
It also says that the serpent will have offspring like the woman. This doesn’t mean that humans will battle snake people! It refers to the conflict between followers of the Lord and any human or spiritual being who follows the serpent. Anyone who opposes God’s plan is the seed of the serpent.
This means there’s a war raging across the world between the powers of darkness and the followers of God. We know who wins – so we don’t have to fear the outcome. But how do we survive the conflict? How do we make it through this cosmic battle alive and well?
Like any army, we need a general, a leader, someone who’ll direct us through the satanic minefield of this world. We need to know what to do and what not to do. We need orders if we want to live. We need someone to guide us. We need a prophet.
And this is exactly what the Lord promised to give his people in Deuteronomy 18:18. This is the next whisper of Advent, the next indication that God will come to his people. It tells us something of the nature of the One who’ll come, and it tells us something about us. This whisper of advent tells us that God’s people need God’s word to live.
This morning we’ll consider why Israel needs a prophet and who is the prophet. The main point of this text is that God’s people need God’s word to live.
Why Does Israel Need a Prophet?
To understand Deuteronomy 18:18, we need to read it in its context. The Lord promises a prophet like Moses because he knew the Israelites would be tempted to look beyond him for guidance, even looking to demonic sources for help (18:9-14).
In these verses, the Lord is showing Israel their need for a prophet. Veres 9 says that they’ll be tempted to “learn to imitate the detestable ways” (NIV) of the nations already in Canaan. They will struggle to think and act like the people around them.
The Canaanites practiced all sorts of things that were “abominable” or “detestable” to the Lord. The first thing he mentions is child sacrifice (v. 10). That this evil practice is listed first sets the tone for what follows. The next list of practices are horrific and evil (vv. 10b-11).
It must also be said that the list of practices here isn’t out-of-date. As our culture becomes more and more secular, the occult is becoming more mainstream. Just go to Barnes and Noble and see how many books they’re selling on Wicca or Tarot Card readings. Theologian Craig Carter says that we’re living in “a temporary phase between the fall of Christendom and the rise of neopaganism.” As Christian faith recedes, what comes next isn’t a purely rationalistic or science-based worldview. Rather, Carter says, “what comes next is neopaganism, which may include pantheism for intellectual elites but will also include polytheism for the masses, and for many it also includes a fascination with magic, the occult, and the demonic. The line between technology and magic…always was a bit of a blur for most people anyway.” He says that C. S. Lewis was onto this seventy years ago with his science-fiction novel, That Hideous Strength.[1]
People alienated from the living God will often turn to the dark arts. Why? It’s evil and wrong but it makes sense if you think about it. God made us to know him and find our hope and safety in him. Those who don’t know him must therefore look for hope and safety somewhere. Old Testament scholar Christopher Wright says it this way:
“It is a universal human desire to know the unknown, to have some preview of the future, to get guidance for decisions, to exercise control over others, to harm others and ward off the harm others may aim at oneself.”[2]
It’s easy to label those who do these overtly evil things as evil. But in what ways are you, Christian, doing the same things but in different ways? Maybe you’re addicted to the news cycle because you can’t stand not knowing what’s going on? Maybe you gossip and slander because fear drives you to control or harm others? Maybe you seek counsel from ungodly and pagan YouTubers or friends and family before your pastors or fellow church members? Maybe you’re intentionally deceitful in order to control others?
Those who don’t know the Lord must seek help and guidance from somewhere because God made us as dependent creatures. The Lord knows that Israel needs direction and that they’ll be tempted to fit in with the nations already in Canaan. So he warns them about seeking counsel apart from the Lord.
So why does Israel need a prophet? Because Moses will die but the battle between the two seeds won’t. It’ll rage on. God’s people therefore need someone to expose his lies and schemes, to lead and guide them. They’re about to enter a culture full of people who don’t know God and are doing things he hates. How will they live and flourish?
They’ll need a prophet. Why do they need a prophet? Because God’s people need God’s word to live.
Who Is the Prophet?
So who is the prophet? Verses 15 and 18 say that the prophet will be like Moses and will come from “among Moses’ brothers,” meaning that he’ll be an Israelite. This means that Mohammed can’t be God’s last and most authoritative prophet because he wasn’t an Israelite.
So who’s the prophet? At the end of Deuteronomy, Moses dies and the editor of the book says that Joshua was leading the people faithfully (34:9). But then it says that no prophet like Moses has come (vv. 10-12). Joshua is doing a great job, but he’s not the promised prophet. Who is?
The Lord sent dozens of prophets to his people over the next thousand years, from Samuel to Isaiah to Daniel to Malachi. They spoke God’s word to God’s people. But not once is a prophet said to be this “prophet like Moses.” So who is he? Did he ever come?
In John chapter 1, it says that John the Baptist was preaching that Jesus was God’s Son. Interestingly, people asked him if he was the Messiah and he said he wasn’t. So they asked him, “What then? Are you Elijah?” He said, “I am not.” Then they asked him, “Are you the Prophet?” And he said, “No” (1:19-25).
Then at the end of the chapter, Jesus goes to Galilee and calls Philip to follow him and Philip goes and tells Nathanael, “We have found him of whom Moses in the Law and also the prophets wrote, Jesus of Nazareth” (1:45).
For year after year, God’s people waited for the prophet like Moses to come. But for generations he did not come. Until finally, in an obscure region of the Roman Empire, Philip says, “We have found him!” At long last, the advent of the prophet like Moses!
Jesus Like Moses
Jesus is the prophet like Moses. How is he like Moses? How is he a prophet?
He’s like Moses in that he was sent into a specific situation of need to bring God’s word to God’s people and to confront the political authorities. He predicted events beforehand and interpreted them afterwards. He interceded for his people and loved them to the point of death, like Moses, dying before he saw the full fruition of his work.
Like Moses, Jesus was sent out into the wilderness after crossing through the water and was tempted by the evil one to disobey God. Like Moses, Jesus gave his people God’s law (Matt. 5:1ff), redeemed his people by blood, “tabernacled” among them so that he could initiate a new exodus (Lk. 9:31).
Peter understood this, saying in one of his early sermons that Jesus was this “prophet like Moses” and that “all the prophets” pointed forward to him (Acts 3:22-24).
Jesus the Prophet
How is Jesus a prophet? A prophet in the Bible is someone who proclaims God’s word. Jesus said that he had to go preach in all the towns “for that is why I came out” (Mk. 1:38). Jesus was sent to preach God’s word about God’s kingdom.
This is why, at the Transfiguration, the Father says, “This is my beloved Son; listen to him” (Mk. 9:7). Jesus came to tell us God’s word. As Hebrews says, “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” (1:1-2).
Why should we listen to him? Because he’s God’s Son, the image of the invisible God, the creator and sustainer of all things. “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” (1:3).
We should listen to Jesus because Jesus is God. To say it another way, Jesus brought God’s word and is God’s word. “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God…And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us” (Jn. 1:1, 14).
To ignore Jesus is to ignore God. To dismiss Jesus’ word is to dismiss God’s word.
Jesus’ Disciples Listen to His Word
This means that Jesus’ disciples are those who listen to his word. By “listen” I mean “obey.” Merely hearing words with our ears isn’t what he’s after. He’s after heart-level hearing, the kind of hearing that changes your life.
This is why part of the Great Commission is teaching Jesus’ people “to observe all that he has commanded us” (Mt. 28:20). Jesus says that his followers obey his commands.
Obedience is often minimized because we’re saved by grace. But God’s grace is meant to literally change us.
Jesus saves his people by grace and then expects them to listen and obey. The gospel isn’t, “I’ve got Jesus therefore I’m good,” with nothing required of you. The word of God is designed to cut us like a two-edged sword (Heb. 4:12). If God’s word never wounds you, you aren’t listening carefully enough.
It’s easy to hear the word and think, “Thank God for Jesus because I thought I was going to have to do something there for a second!” We think, “Thank God Jesus paid it all!” But we forget the next phrase of the hymn, “All to him I owe.”
You can’t use believing in Jesus as an excuse for disobeying God. God didn’t send his Son to get killed so we could disobey him. “Jesus paid it all” so that we can give our all to him.
What Commands Do You Need to Obey?
Where is God’s word wounding you? Which of Jesus’ words do you need to obey?
What about Jesus’ commands to love our enemies (Mt. 5:44), or to do whatever we have to do to kill lust in our lives (5:27ff), or to lay up treasures in heaven instead of storing them up on earth (6:19ff), to not be anxious (6:25ff), to treat others the way you want to be treated (7:12), or perhaps the most basic command of all, “Repent and believe in the gospel” (Mk. 1:15)?
What about all the “one another” commands meant to shape our life together as a church:
“Forgive one another” (Eph. 4:32).
“Encourage one another” (1 Thess. 5:11).
“Show hospitality to one another without grumbling” (1 Pet. 4:9).
“Confess your sins to one another” (Jas. 5:16).
“Pray for one another” (Jas. 5:16).
“Love one another” (Jn. 13:34).
To put my main point more precisely, God’s people need to obey God’s word to live. God wants to give his people his word because he loves them and wants them to live. We must obey to live in the fullness and power and peace that Jesus purchased for us on the cross.
The Obedient Dies for the Disobedient
Jesus was more than Moses, as Hebrews says. He is “worthy of more glory than Moses” because he’s the builder of the house and not the house itself. Moses was faithful as a servant, but Jesus is faithful as a Son (3:1-6). Jesus is like Moses and greater than Moses.
Jesus is the prophet like Moses, but greater than Moses because, unlike Moses, he perfectly obeyed God. Deuteronomy 18:18 says that the prophet will “speak to them all that I command him.” The prophet will perfectly say what he’s told to say. He’ll obey fully.
This means that Jesus, the prophet like Moses, never asks us to do what he himself hasn’t done. He obeyed his Father even when it cost him his life. We follow someone who knows what obedience costs.
Jesus never did anything wrong and always did everything right and the powers that be killed him for it. Why would he allow that? Because he was paying the price we owe. Deuteronomy 18:19 says that whoever doesn’t listen to God’s word will be held accountable. We haven’t listened or obeyed, so we’re accountable. We deserve judgment.
But in mercy, God sends his Word, his Son, to not only speak to us but also to die for us. The best sermon he ever preached was him on the cross for the sins of the world. Even the Roman centurion knew that something strange and wonderful was happening as Jesus hung there dying.
The innocent aren’t supposed to die for the guilty, but Jesus did. God sent his Son to die for people who think obeying God isn’t that important, people convinced they can do whatever they want and God will just sweep it under the rug. On the cross, the obedient died for the disobedient.
Jesus came as the prophet like Moses because God’s people haven’t obeyed God’s word. So he obeyed in their place and took the punishment of their disobedience for them. He rose from the dead signaling that the Father perfectly accepted his work so that now anyone who turns to him and away from their sin will be counted as righteous in him and given the Spirit so that they can finally start obeying the Lord because they want to not because they have to.
Jesus is the promised prophet, bringing us God’s word. Are you listening to him? Where is his word wounding you? Which of his words do you need to obey?
[1]Craig A. Carter, Contemplating God with the Great Tradition: Recovering Trinitarian Classical Theism (Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2021, 237-8 and note 2.
[2]Christopher J. H. Wright, Deuteronomy, Understanding the Bible Commentary Series (Grand Rapids: Baker Books, 1996), 216.