Wednesday, July 3, 2019

Moses, The First And Greatest Prophet

God spoke to Moses face to face, as a man speaks to his friend. He did not speak to him in visions or dreams or through angels.
Thus the LORD used to speak to Moses face to face, as a man speaks to his friend. When Moses turned again into the camp, his assistant Joshua the son of Nun, a young man, would not depart from the tent. (Exodus 33:11 ESV)
And he said, "Hear my words: If there is a prophet among you, I the Lord make myself known to him in a vision; I speak with him in a dream. Not so with my servant Moses. He is faithful in all my house. With him I speak mouth to mouth, clearly, and not in riddles, and he beholds the form of the Lord. Why then were you not afraid to speak against my servant Moses?" (Numbers 12:6-8 ESV)
And there has not arisen a prophet since in Israel like Moses, whom the Lord knew face to face, none like him for all the signs and the wonders that the Lord sent him to do in the land of Egypt, to Pharaoh and to all his servants and to all his land, and for all the mighty power and all the great deeds of terror that Moses did in the sight of all Israel. (Deuteronomy 34:10-12 ESV)

God will raise another prophet in future from among the Israelites.
The LORD your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among your own brothers. You must listen to him. (Deuteronomy 18:15 HCSB)

How can we recognise this prophet and his message?
You may say to yourself, 'How can we recognize a message the LORD has not spoken?' (Deuteronomy 18:21 CSB)

Two conditions:
1. What the prophet say must come true.
When a prophet speaks in the LORD's name, and the message does not come true or is not fulfilled, that is a message the LORD has not spoken. The prophet has spoken it presumptuously. Do not be afraid of him. (Deuteronomy 18:22 CSB)

2. The prophet must cannot lead you to worship any other gods other than the God of Israel, who redeemed the Israelites from Egypt and led them to the land of Canaan.
"Suppose there are prophets among you or those who dream dreams about the future, and they promise you signs or miracles, and the predicted signs or miracles occur. If they then say, 'Come, let us worship other gods' - gods you have not known before - do not listen to them. The Lord your God is testing you to see if you truly love him with all your heart and soul. Serve only the Lord your God and fear him alone. Obey his commands, listen to his voice, and cling to him. The false prophets or visionaries who try to lead you astray must be put to death, for they encourage rebellion against the Lord your God, who redeemed you from slavery and brought you out of the land of Egypt. Since they try to lead you astray from the way the Lord your God commanded you to live, you must put them to death. In this way you will purge the evil from among you. (Deuteronomy 13:1-5 NLT)

Summary:
Moses received the message directly from God.
The LORD said to Moses, "Come up to me on the mountain and wait there, that I may give you the tablets of stone, with the law and the commandment, which I have written for their instruction." (Exodus 24:12 ESV)

Any prophet that followed after Moses cannot change the message.
See that you do all I command you; do not add to it or take away from it. (Deuteronomy 12:32 NIV)

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