Moses prophesied that God would raise up a Prophet from the midst of the children of Israel who would speak the word of God; in His first coming, Christ ministered as the Prophet raised up by God speaking the word of God (Deut. 18:15, 18; Acts 3:22-23).
Hallelujah for our Christ, the all-inclusive and extensive One who is also the Prophet raised up by God! Moses was a prophet – he was the spokesman of God; he spoke to the children of Israel all that God commanded him to speak.
Moses was faithful to God in all His house; this refers not only to him being faithful to God in taking care of His people but especially in him speaking not his own words but all the words that God has commanded him to speak, without leaving one word out.
According to Deut. 34:10, Moses was the greatest prophet in the Old Testament, because there had no arisen a prophet since then like Moses, whom Jehovah knew face to face.
With Moses God spoke face to face, for Moses was not only the friend of God but even more the companion of God, God’s partner in His divine enterprise.
No other prophets, even the other great prophets in the Old Testament, received God’s speaking in a face-to-face way as Moses did, for Moses was God’s companion.
Abraham was God’s friend but he was not God’s companion; Moses was a companion to God in that he was God’s partner, His business associate, one who was absolutely one with God’s enterprise on earth with His people.
For forty years in the wilderness Moses was fully engaged with the divine enterprise; to him God appeared in a face-to-face way.
When he went up to the mountain, he was there for forty days and forty nights face to face with Jehovah, and when he came back his face was shining; he received not only the commandments from God but the element of God was infused into him through the shining shekinah glory of God.
Moses was infused with God’s element and with His word, so when he returned to the people, he was the prophet of God speaking the word of God and shining the glory of God.
We are not Moses; we may not be able to go up on a mountain and have face-to-face time with God in His glory, but we can seek the Lord and have much facetime with Him today.
We need to daily spend time with the Lord to be infused with Him, to have His element wrought into us, and to have His divine revelation shown to us; then, we can go one with Him and speak His words as His prophets today.
God raised up Christ to be the Prophet who Speaks the Word of God as God Commanded Him
When the children of Israel arrived at Horeb and saw that the mountain was surrounded by cloud, fire, thunder, and smoke, they were afraid, and they asked Moses to go on their behalf before God and be His prophet.
Later Moses prophesied, 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).
This Prophet is Christ, who was raised up by God to speak the word of God; Jehovah would put His words in His mouth, and He would speak all that God had commanded Him (v. 18).
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); they wanted Moses to be their prophet, but God provides Christ as the real Prophet who speaks the word of God to His people.
They had told Moses that they couldn’t bear to hear God’s voice (Deut. 5:22; Exo. 20:18-19), and they wanted a prophet so Moses promised that God would fulfill their desire for a prophet.
Moses prophesied that Jehovah would raise up a Prophet from their midst, from among their brothers (Deut. 18:15, 18); this indicates that God would raise up this Prophet through the incarnation of Christ to speak the word of God.
According to John 1:14, the Word became flesh and tabernacled among us, full of grace and reality; He was sent by God and spoke the word of God (3:34).
The Lord testified again and again that His teaching is not His but His who sent Him; if anyone resolves to do His will, he will know about the teaching, whether it is of God or whether the Lord spoke from Himself (John 7:16-17).
Hallelujah, God has spoken to us in the prophets in the Old Testament, but in the New Testament He spoke to us in the Son, who is the Prophet raised up by God to speak the word of God even as God commanded Him to speak!
The fact that Christ was raised from the midst of their brothers (Deut. 18:18) indicates that Christ as the coming Prophet would be human as well as divine (John 1:1, 14; Rom. 8:3).
On one hand He is God Himself, and on the other hand He is a man. If Christ were merely God, He couldn’t have been raised up from among the Israelites (Luke 1:31, 35).
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.
As the incarnated God, Christ put on human nature and became a Jew; thus, He is the Prophet raised up by God “from your midst” as prophesied by Moses.
In Acts 3:22-23 Peter applies Deut. 18:15-19 to Christ, who is God incarnated to be a man; this indicates that Christ is the Prophet promised by God to His people, the children of Israel.
This is a very significant matter. Christ was raised up by God to be the One speaking the word of God; today it is good for us to learn to speak for God by speaking what God speaks to us.
It is good for us to learn not to use our own language when we speak for God, but to use God’s language.
We need to be filled with the Word of God and with the ministry of the age, having a good constitution of the divine language, so that we may speak for God by using God’s words even as He has commanded us.
What words are in our mouth are very important, for it is through the words that we speak that our thoughts are conveyed.
Christ is the Prophet Speaking the Word of God in us: He Reveals God and Speaks God into Man
In His incarnation – in His first coming – Christ ministered as the Prophet raised up by God (Acts 3:22-23; 7:37).
We may know that Christ came as the Savior, the Redeemer, the Healer, and so many other things, but how often do we consider that He came to minister as God’s Prophet who came to speak for God, speaking the word of God into man.
Through incarnation Christ became the Prophet to speak the word of God (John 3:34); Christ is both the Word of God and the speaking of God (John 1:1; Rev. 19:13; Heb. 1:2).
He is the Word of God coming to be flesh, and His name is the Word of God; He is both the constant Word of God (that is from eternity to eternity) and the instant and living speaking of God.
When Christ was on earth speaking for God and teaching people, His teaching was not His own; He spoke and taught according to what the Father had taught Him (John 7:16; 8:28).
Again and again the Lord said that His teaching is not His, but His who sent Him; when others lift up the Son of Man, they will know that He does nothing of Himself but as the Father has taught Him, so He speaks.
The Lord Jesus had lengthy private times with the Father to be taught by Him; He was face-to-face with the Father, and the Father was teaching Him what to speak, what to do, and what not to do.
The Son was reliant on the Father’s speaking on a moment-by-moment basis; how much more we need to be dependent on His speaking within us!
The Lord Jesus didn’t speak from Himself; as the Father spoke to Him, so He spoke (John 12:49-50).
Moment-by-moment the Lord took the Father as His source; He was with the Father, He was in constant fellowship with the Father, and He always spoke only what the Father spoke, enquiring of the Father what to say next and what to do next.
As God’s prophet, Christ spoke for God, He spoke forth God, and He revealed God to the disciples (Matt. 11:27). If we read the four Gospels we will see that Christ as the Prophet spoke for God and spoke forth God into people.
During His earthly ministry, Christ also prophesied in the sense of predicting the future, declaring the things that are coming (see John 16:12-13; Matt. 24:2-25:46).
He spoke concerning the end times and the destruction of Jerusalem.
Hallelujah, 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)!
Christ as the Prophet of God is in our spirit; He is one spirit with us, He speaks to us, and in our spirit we are joined to Him.
This speaking One is intimately connected to us, for in our spirit there’s a heavenly ladder connecting the heavens to the earth.
Jesus Christ as the Prophet is alive; He is in us, He is still speaking the word of God, and He still reveals God to us by speaking God into us.
He is speaking, charging, commanding, and revealing God into us, speaking God Himself into us until we are fully one with Him to also speak the word of God to others.
We need to open to His speaking, listen to Him, be infused with the word of God, and be those speaking the word of God to others even as He commands us to speak.
Hallelujah, Jesus Christ as the Prophet is in us today speaking for God to reveal God and He is speaking God into people! We open to Your inner speaking, Lord, and we want to be one spirit with You in everything we speak. We come to You in Your word; speak to us, speak into our being, and infuse us with Your element. Lord, we want to have more facetime with You, more lengthy face-to-face time with You in Your word daily so that we may receive Your word, be infused with Your element, and be able to speak the word of God even as God has commanded us. Amen, Lord, may we not speak in and of ourselves but may we speak one with You, even speak Christ to others! We want to be one with You to speak for God, speak God’s word, and speak God into people!
References and Hymns on this Topic
- Inspiration: the Word of God, my enjoyment in the ministry, the message by bro. Minoru Chen for this week, and portions from, The Conclusion of the New Testament, msgs. 22, 69, 90 (by Witness Lee), as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, Crystallization-Study of Deuteronomy, week 7, Christ — the True Prophet Typified by Moses.
- Hymns on this topic:
– Thou art the Prophet raised by God, / With pow’r for God to speak; / Like Moses, Thou God’s plan hast shown, / That we God’s will may seek. (Hymns #193)
– Take time to behold Him, / Speak oft with Thy Lord, / Abide in Him always, / And feed on His Word. / Wait thou in His presence, / Submissive and meek, / Forgetting in nothing / His blessing to seek. (Hymns #643)
– Thou, living Word, didst flesh become, / With man on earth hast trod; / And all Thy words and conduct here / Expression gave to God. (Hymns #58)
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