Prophets- A Special Kind of Authority
Deuteronomy: Changing Times and Our Unchanging God • Sermon • Submitted • Presented • 44:09
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Prophets- A Special Kind of Authority
Prophets- A Special Kind of Authority
“The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among you, from your brothers—it is to him you shall listen—
just as you desired of the Lord your God at Horeb on the day of the assembly, when you said, ‘Let me not hear again the voice of the Lord my God or see this great fire any more, lest I die.’
And the Lord said to me, ‘They are right in what they have spoken.
I will raise up for them a prophet like you from among their brothers. And I will put my words in his mouth, and he shall speak to them all that I command him.
And whoever will not listen to my words that he shall speak in my name, I myself will require it of him.
But the prophet who presumes to speak a word in my name that I have not commanded him to speak, or who speaks in the name of other gods, that same prophet shall die.’
And if you say in your heart, ‘How may we know the word that the Lord has not spoken?’—
when a prophet speaks in the name of the Lord, if the word does not come to pass or come true, that is a word that the Lord has not spoken; the prophet has spoken it presumptuously. You need not be afraid of him.
Let’s pray and then we’ll dig right in.
(pray)
“The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among you, from your brothers—it is to him you shall listen—
Here we have a special kind of authority being established. A prophet, like Moses … one who speaks with God, who performs signs and wonders. Was Moses perfect? No … he was still human and had faults. But this is a special class, a special kind of person who didn’t come from royalty, didn’t come from any particular lineage, but was raised up by the Lord from among the people.
And God is telling the people they should listen to this person. And we’re told that this is something the people wanted. Verse 16-
just as you desired of the Lord your God at Horeb on the day of the assembly, when you said, ‘Let me not hear again the voice of the Lord my God or see this great fire any more, lest I die.’
If you remember, this is when God gave the people the ten commandments and spoke to them from the mountain. And the people begged that they have someone to stand between them and God.
I don’t know if you’ve ever been really really close to a hot fire. I imagine that’s what it’s like to be close to God … you understand the weight of the glory of his presence and can’t stand to be in his presence because of your sinfulness in the presence of his holiness and goodness. Now for us who are in Christ, Jesus is the one who stands between us and God, but that’s jumping ahead. At this point in time, Jesus hadn’t come, and so God promises he’ll send a prophet who speaks on God’s behalf before the people so they won’t have to stand the direct heat, as you will, from God.
So the Lord answers their petition.
And the Lord said to me, ‘They are right in what they have spoken.
I will raise up for them a prophet like you from among their brothers. And I will put my words in his mouth, and he shall speak to them all that I command him.
And so we have a special kind of authority established. Because the people can not come into direct contact with God in his holiness and because they have asked for an intermediary between them and the Lord, the role of prophet is established.
What is this prophet supposed to do?
Well, the prophet is “raised up” by God. And then that prophet is to speak all that the Lord commands. That’s what these Old Covenant prophets were supposed to do.
And then we get to verse 19, which I think is one of the more interesting parts-
And whoever will not listen to my words that he shall speak in my name, I myself will require it of him.
Moses is saying to Israel, “The whole idea is that there’s a guy who is going to stand between you and God and speak on God’s behalf … but if you neglect him and don’t listen to him, you’re going to face God yourself. The Lord himself will require obedience to whatever the prophet says.”
Can you imagine that? When a person speaks they are speaking with the direct authority of God himself?
That’s pretty crazy.
If this guy says go jump off a cliff, then you should do it because it has the same weight and authority of the Lord speaking. If this guy says go sacrifice Isaac, your only son, then you are to do it. If this guy says go to war with the Philistines, then you do it. It’s as if you receive orders from the Lord himself … because you have.
But how do you tell if a person is really speaking on God’s behalf or whether or not they’re faking it? Wouldn’t this be the perfect way to control the people and get them to do whatever you want?
Well, there are safeguards. Verse 20-
But the prophet who presumes to speak a word in my name that I have not commanded him to speak, or who speaks in the name of other gods, that same prophet shall die.’
The cost for being a false prophet is death. The cost for following another God and for claiming the same authority as the Lord’s prophet among the people of Israel is death.
That’s a pretty strict guideline, for good cause.
And if you say in your heart, ‘How may we know the word that the Lord has not spoken?’—
(In other words, how do we know if this guy is a false prophet or not)
when a prophet speaks in the name of the Lord, if the word does not come to pass or come true, that is a word that the Lord has not spoken; the prophet has spoken it presumptuously. You need not be afraid of him.
One false prophesy, death. How many people do you know who have predicted the future perfectly every single time?
Sure, there might be someone who is really good at guessing. You’ve all read the reports of so-in-so predicting the outcome of the Superbowl correctly for the past 20 years, or someone who has been lucky with predicting the outcome of events. But are they right for every single circumstance all of the time? Usually those people are speaking from their own authority, or as scripture here puts it “spoken presumptuously”. Only the Lord knows all that the future entails.
The prophet who commands the people with the authority of the Lord but whose prophecies do not come true has no place of authority over the people. God says to Israel, “You need not be afraid of him.”
God knew false prophets would come and try to take advantage of this arrangement. And if Israel were faithful to uphold the law, to test the prophecies of the prophets and see that they were from God, then there would be clear direction for the people, as made clear by the Lord’s chosen representative.
And we see that’s exactly what the Lord did throughout the next few thousand years.
There’s a whole chunk of scripture (hold up chunk of Bible) that is recorded divine guidance and revelation from prophets for God’s people.
And what does this divine direction tell the people of?
Their need for repentance, the coming day of the Lord, and the coming Messiah.
So when Jesus comes, all of those prophets are validated.
How do you know the Old Testament is true? Well, Jesus came, didn’t he? He was born in Bethlehem, check. He was born in the line of David, check. He was led like a lamb to the slaughter, check. He was resurrected from the dead, check. He took away the sins of the people, check.
Jesus fulfilled more than 324 individual prophecies concerning the coming Messiah.
So what does this thick section of scripture from the prophets tell Israel, and tell you?
It informs the reader of sinfulness.
It informs the reader of God’s holy righteousness.
It informs the reader that those who do not repent will face God’s wrath.
It informs the reader that God has a covenant with his people, which he will remember.
It informs the reader that this covenant will be fully ratified through the coming Messiah.
It informs the reader that one day all of sin shall be taken care of and the Lord will reign.
Does this not sound like the gospel message to you?
God’s message for people from the prophets has been the same ever since he sent prophets-
Repent, or perish. Trust in God for salvation or you shall die. And specifically, trust in God for salvation through the Messiah, the Savior, who will come to deal with your own sinfulness.
And the authority of this message, the validity of this message, is backed up by signs and wonders proving that this very word could only come from God himself.
So when Jesus arrived, and performed many signs and wonders during his lifetime, it’s little wonder that the people knew him as a prophet and called him such. Jesus also prophesied many times during his ministry- He told the woman at the well all that she had done; He cursed a fig tree, and it died; He said, “Behold, this temple shall be destroyed and shall be rebuilt in three days, when he was referring to his own death and resurrection; He told Peter that he would deny him three times before the rooster crowed, and it was so … just to name a few.
If Jesus were a prophet come from God, then it’s important to listen to all that he said, including when he says “I am the Son of the Father” and “Whoever rejects the Son will be rejected by the Father” and “repent and believe in me”.
The validity of Jesus as a prophet was backed up by his ministry. He was held to the same standard as the Old Testament prophets- if one thing of his didn’t come true, then he was to be put to death. But when he stood on trial before the leaders of Israel, there was not one accurate thing that the prosecutors could find where he violated the law of God.
This is how we know Jesus truly is and was who he said he was.
And the disciples pick up on this.
Peter when he addresses the Sanhedrin quotes the Deuteronomy passage. He says,
Moses said, ‘The Lord God will raise up for you a prophet like me from your brothers. You shall listen to him in whatever he tells you.
And it shall be that every soul who does not listen to that prophet shall be destroyed from the people.’
And all the prophets who have spoken, from Samuel and those who came after him, also proclaimed these days.
You are the sons of the prophets and of the covenant that God made with your fathers, saying to Abraham, ‘And in your offspring shall all the families of the earth be blessed.’
God, having raised up his servant, sent him to you first, to bless you by turning every one of you from your wickedness.”
Peter appeals to all the things that the prophets have spoken up until this point. If anyone respected the word of the Lord as laid forth plainly and as defended by many signs and wonders, then they should know the validity of Jesus Christ, the servant, who came to turn his people from wickedness and lead them to righteousness and peace. The prophets serve as a signpost and as solid evidence to the testimony and witness of Jesus Christ. Their work is indispensable to the validity of the gospel.
(pause)
So what does this passage about prophets have to do with us today?
I conducted a word study on the word “prophet” in the New Testament.
It occurs 146 times.
Many of those times are in the Gospels, where either Jesus is referred to as a prophet or he is quoting from one of the Old Testament prophets. There are other times when the New Testament authors refer back to the Law and the Prophets, meaning the Old Testament writings, or the scriptures.
And then there are a few times when prophet is mentioned regarding the people of God in the church.
Just as the prophet Joel had said,
“And it shall come to pass afterward, that I will pour out my Spirit on all flesh; your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, and your young men shall see visions.
It’s this very passage that Peter quotes when he speaks to Israel during Pentecost, saying that what the prophet Joel said had come true.
The Holy Spirit has been poured out richly upon the church, including the gift of prophesy, given to both men and women, old and young, servant or master.
We know of a saint named Agabus who prophesied a famine would come upon the land, and it was so. He also went up to Paul and took Paul’s belt and bound himself saying, “Thus will the owner of this belt be bound in Jerusalem”, and it was so. We have reference of Phillip’s daughters who prophesied.
The gift of prophesy is given by the Spirit to those whom the Lord appoints in the church.
We’re even instructed by Paul to “earnestly desire” the gift of prophesy
Pursue love, and earnestly desire the spiritual gifts, especially that you may prophesy.
Though he lays out the order and form that prophesy would look like in a church service.
And just so you are all clear and because I don’t want you to be uninformed, there’s a debate among the church as to how prophesy is exercised, whether or not it was one of those gifts that ceased after the time of the apostles or whether it continues to this day. Historically, Baptists come from a line that so safeguarded the authority of God that they limited what was seen as prophesy, because to them the word of God is scripture, infallible and imperishable.
But here’s where we need to make an important distinction- There are some prophesies that are scripture. But there are some prophesies which are not recorded in scripture. Does that mean that they were any less the word of God, given to a person for a particular time? Not at all. But it does mean that there’s a difference between the authoritative, infallible testimony of God’s Scripture and the prophetic word that a person receives.
Just like the Old Testament prophets were to be tested in what they said, so in this age of the new covenant, the church age, the words of a prophet are to be weighed and measured.
In no way, shape, or form should a prophet from the church ever contradict the scriptures or Christ. All that they say in prophecy shall be measured and weighed by the church leaders and the people, to test the validity of what is spoken.
We receive this instruction in 1 Thessalonians 5-
Do not quench the Spirit.
Do not despise prophecies,
but test everything; hold fast what is good.
There is a stream of influence in church history that so desires to protect the authoritative word of God that it lowers the gift of prophesy and says it no longer exists. But looking at scripture, looking at the clear instruction to not despise prophesies and looking at the clear directions given as to how to incorporate prophesy into church worship and how we ought to seek it out, I don’t see any clear indication that the gift of prophesy has ceased.
We do have this from Romans 12:6,
Having gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, let us use them: if prophecy, in proportion to our faith;
Prophesy, when exercised, is exercised according to the measure of one’s own faith. If we do not have faith that God will speak miraculously through the Holy Spirit, then why should we see signs of it? If we do not make room and provision for the gift to be exercised, why should we expect it? If we operate under the assumption that this gift from God has ceased, then I don’t see any reason why it should be seen among God’s people, if indeed prophecy is exercised according to the proportion of one’s faith, as stated in this verse.
And here’s where the rubber meets the road. We have to come and recognize the authority of prophesy in your life.
Recognize the Authority of Prophecy
Recognize the Authority of Prophecy
If God were truly leading you and guiding you, would he not possibly at some time give you a dream or a vision, or speak a miraculous word to you from the voice of a preacher or another believer that cuts to the very heart of the issue that you are currently facing? Maybe you’ve had that kind of divine encounter before, but just didn’t know how to categorize it.
I believe I faced it myself, when as a young man in high school I was debating where my life should lead, and in a span of about a week almost every Christian I knew came up to me and said, “Have you ever considered going into ministry?” “You’d make a real good teacher someday” “Have you ever thought about being a pastor”. During that time it was very clear the message that the Lord had for me during that time.
For my mom, it was a clear voice from the Lord saying which church she should go to. It ended up being the church where she met my father, and as a result my brothers and I were born. But it was a direct revelation given in a very clear manner for a very specific purpose at a very specific time.
It is not unheard of for pastors when preaching and filled with the Holy Spirit to make reference to something which they otherwise would not have known about, and it be entirely true of a listener in the congregation. That is prophesy.
If we quench the Spirit and deny the special working of grace that is prophesy, then we are missing out on something special.
So recognize the authority of prophesy. As Paul writes, earnestly desire it. Studying for this message today has opened up a whole can of worms regarding this very topic, so if you want to learn more or you are seeking guidance, please talk to myself or Marcus and we can sit you down and walk you through scriptures regarding prophesy in the New Testament.
But as a rule for all believers, just as we are to recognize the authority of prophesy, we are also called to test it according to Christ and according to the scriptures.
Test the Prophecy
Test the Prophecy
Just as Israel was called to test the prophets to see if their word were truly from God and were authoritative, we as the church also have a litmus test.
We’re instructed to “test the spirits” to see if they are truly from God-
Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, for many false prophets have gone out into the world.
By this you know the Spirit of God: every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God,
and every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God. This is the spirit of the antichrist, which you heard was coming and now is in the world already.
Prophesy, in it’s true form, will never deny Christ or the word which he came to uphold.
Here is your litmus test (holds up Bible).
Know it well so that you can test the voices of authority that come your way, lest you be led to destruction by a false prophet, like so many have … like the Muslims, the Mormons, the Jehovah’s Witnesses. Test the prophecy that is given.
And in the same token, just as we are to recognize the authority of prophecy and are called to test the prophecy, we are also called to prophesy.
Prophesy
Prophesy
Exercise the spiritual gift that is given to you.
I mentioned earlier in the sermon the correlation between the message of the prophets and the gospel message. And thinking back to our sermon text, this one verse stood out to me, verse 19:
And whoever will not listen to my words that he shall speak in my name, I myself will require it of him.
God’s testimony, his word, has gone out into the whole world. His Word, Jesus Christ, has come. And if people don’t come to accept the word of God from the voice of God’s prophets, God himself will require the admission of Christ as Lord on the day of judgment, where every knee will bow on heaven and on earth. Either they will have someone to withstand the heat of God’s holiness for them, or they will be required to burn in his presence.
Our mission as disciples, as those who are sent out by Jesus into the world to proclaim the gospel, is a mission of prophesy. We are calling out sin, calling out the need for a savior, and directing people to Christ so that they might be saved, that on the day the Lord requires a testimony of them they might proclaim the righteousness and salvation of Jesus, rather than be faced with the judgment that their own sin and actions have merited.
I can’t help but compare the mission of the church in vocalizing the gospel of Christ to the crying out of the Old Testament prophets in their day.
We must be ready to speak forth God’s word when it is given to us.
And that requires a preparation of our hearts, making sure that we are walking with God and able to be filled with the Holy Spirit, that we are not quenching him.
Conclusion
Conclusion
Summary: This section is about the Lord establishing a rule for prophets, that 1) the people should listen to them, otherwise be held personally accountable before God and 2) the test of a false prophet is whether or not his prophecy comes true (false prophets or ‘prophets’ who speak in the name of another God are to be put to death).