Christmas According to Moses

Intro

One of the things I have been wondering about when it comes to worship together is that I think we tend to sway to far in one direction or the other. Services used to be set and you would go through certain things at certain times. The preacher had a schedule given to Him sometimes of what to preach on. Then we swung from that to a more spontaneous style of worship. Going as the spirit leads we like to say. I wonder if we could learn from the past and blend with the present. Hence why I like to do stuff like advent. It is a routine thing we do every year, that many churches do. It is not spontaneous but also not really liturgical, it is a blend of both.

I like to think that it is linking us to bible believing churches all over the world who are going through the same thing leading to the same event, the birth of Jesus.

But one of my struggles in preparing advent content is the story does not change all that much and so what new things do you preach on? In looking for a series to preach through advent I wanted to do something different. I was doing some research and I found an interesting idea. Rather then just focus on the birth of Jesus and what that means I want to go to prophecy and see how it was fulfilled in Jesus.

Did you know that Moses preached the gospel of Jesus as well? Did you know that Moses Spoke of the messiah? Did you kno that Moses even spoke of the messiah? We are going to look into what Moses told the Israelite's and how that was fulfilled in the New Testament. Part of what Deuteronomy is about is a covenant renewal of what happened at Mt Sanai. If Israel was to claim and retain the land promised to them they where to maintain this covenant. The people had wandered in the Desert for 40 years because of the peoples lack of trust in God. Now that they where entering the promised land in order to remain, they needed to live in the covenant that the Lord gave them. We look forward during advent to the birth of Jesus but as we know it is when we look forward also to the second coming of Jesus. The people of Israel had the prophecies of the messiah to help them look forward with hope.

This Advent series on Deuteronomy 18:15-22 will help the congregation see how the Old Testament promise of a prophet is fulfilled in Jesus Christ. As we journey through these weeks, we reflect on God's promises, the authority of Christ's words, His fulfillment of the law and prophets, and our response to Him as the Prophet and Savior of the world. Each week can end with a call to live in anticipation—not only of Christmas, where we celebrate His first coming, but also of His return, where we will see the ultimate fulfillment of all God’s promises.

Raise up Israelite Prophet

Prophecy is a tricky thing. I think it is a word that is thrown around a lot these days when I wonder if we really know what it is that we are referring to. Well in the OT we are told a little about prophesy and what it looked like. Moses is one that is called a prophet, not only that he is someone that we say is a type of the messiah.

What this means is that Moses was someone that looked forward to a deliverer to come, someone promised that would deliver His people. Moses showed a glimpse of what the messiah was going to be like. This is one of the reasons why we can look onto the life of Moses and How it points to our savior that we worship on Christmas.

Deuteronomy 18:15 CSB

15 “The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among your own brothers. You must listen to him.

so how was Moses a prophet and what does that even mean?

A prophet is first of all someone that was called by God and given both specific authority and instruction. We see this in Moses when He was called at the burning bush in Exodus. Moses was not all that willing or at least to scared at first. But Moses was called by God to bring God’s word to His people. The word we now have written down in the scriptures, the revealed divine word of God.

A Prophet according to this passage as well was a messenger of God. Messengers at the time came with the authority of the one that sent them. Often you hear in the words of the prophet this is the word of the Lord.

Deuteronomy 18:16 CSB

16 This is what you requested from the Lord your God at Horeb on the day of the assembly when you said, ‘Let us not continue to hear the voice of the Lord our God or see this great fire any longer, so that we will not die!’

There are other things but the one other thing we are going to go over this advent season is that a prophet speaks truth. The OT tells us that if what the prophet speaks does not come to pass, they are a false prophet.

Deuteronomy 18:17–18 CSB

17 Then the Lord said to me, ‘They have spoken well. 18 I will raise up for them a prophet like you from among their brothers. I will put my words in his mouth, and he will tell them everything I command him.

God’s words would be spoken through this prophet, not just any words. This prophet would be someone special whose commands would come true, not some false prophet. These words are spoken about someone that would come after Moses, other people that would lead the Israelite but i ultimately pointed to the Birth of a messiah, to Jesus.

There where many prophets from the time of Moses to Jesus, the ones truly called by God had their words come to pass. So this Christmas we must be challenged to follow the words that Jesus spoke that where going to come to pass. If advent means to look forward in Hope, what Moses taught us is about the birth of the messiah we must follow the words of Jesus. Those words tell us that He is coming back again.

Looking forward

So we look forward to the New Testament and see did this actually happen? Do you believe the bible is the inspired word of the Lord? Then you must believe that Jesus is who He says He is. And the bible shows us that what Moses prophesied about the messiah did come to pass. So that is what we are going to look at next. Moses did accurately show us the Christmas story.

Jesus was born as was prophesied. by the OT prophets in the way that the OT prophets said that it would happen. Jesus was called and recognized by God.

John 5:46–47 CSB

46 For if you believed Moses, you would believe me, because he wrote about me. 47 But if you don’t believe what he wrote, how will you believe my words?”

Jesus here was claiming the promise of Moses about a prophet that was to come. Jesus claimed that God gave him a job to do a message to spread. But anyone can claim that God gave them a message to spread, how do we know that it is true. There are many people out there that claim that they have a word from God, that God has given them a special message to say. But we know Jesus was different.

Matthew 3:16–17 CSB

16 When Jesus was baptized, he went up immediately from the water. The heavens suddenly opened for him, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and coming down on him. 17 And a voice from heaven said, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well-pleased.”

God Himself declared that Jesus was His son, and if God did that then we can know that Jesus was truly the prophet foretold in the OT. Moses spoke of someone that was to come that would do what he had done and we see that In Jesus. We are going to look into this more through the coming weeks.

Long before Jesus came Moses spoke of Christmas day and said the messiah would speak the word of God to people. Other people recognized it as well. After Jesus raised a young man from the dead the people saw Jesus for what He was.

Luke 7:16 CSB

16 Then fear came over everyone, and they glorified God, saying, “A great prophet has risen among us,” and “God has visited his people.”

The people, although they may not have understood exactly who Jesus was recognized Him as a prophet. Jesus being the fulfillment of a Prophet as Moses foretold has implications for our lives today. As we celebrate the hope that we have in the coming of the messiah, we look forward to who He is and what that means for us. That is why we do this every year. Jesus being born as the fulfillment of prophecy, the great prophet means.

The first thing we need to remember is that the prophets that we read about hear in the Bible where called by God, sent By God and His son Jesus. If we see prophets now that claim to be speaking on behalf of the Lord God, always measure what they say against the word of God. We have a special revelation from God, it is right here in the Bible. Not that God cant speak through people today as well, but it must always line up with the word of God.

Jesus is the fulfillment of God’s redemptive plan. Moses spoke of a prophet like Him that would come. Then that would mean someone that would come to deliver God’s people out of slavery, someone that would show the great glory and power of the Lord God. Jesus was not just a prophet but was the fulfillment of Prophecy. You may say, I know this already, but it is a good reminder for us as well.

Because of this Jesus calls us to repentance and then the holiness. As John the Baptist was baptizing people as a sign of their repentance He promised one that was to come that was greater then Him that was going to call people to repent. He was not scared to tell people that there waS AWAY THAT THEY MISSED, A MESSIAH THAT WAS ON THE WAY but they needed to turn their lives over to Him first.

If Jesus was really the fulfillment of prophecy then we really need to look at this. Repentance is something that does not just stop when we become children of God as well. We tell each other that we need to love others as Jesus loved and meet them where they are at, which is true but at the same time Jesus did not just leave people where they are at he called them to more, he called them to repent.

So we must do this as well, we must call people to repentance for their sin. This is a scary thing to think about sometimes. We are fine building relationships with people but when it comes to sharing our faith and calling people to repent because of the grace of God we sometimes tend to shy away. for sometimes the reaction is one of anger, lost friendships because we are promised that the gospel of Jesus is a stumbling block to those that are perishing.

it even works like this with the people of God. We are to be united as the body of Chris the message of hope that we preach is one for us as well. If Jesus is really who he says he is repentance and forgiveness needs to work for us as well. Holding on to a grudge does not work, it goes against what Jesus came here to preach.

The Birth of Jesus looks forward to our future Hope.

As a Prophet Moses spoke of a time to come where a prophet and deliverer like Him was going to come and save and lead the Israelite's. The future prophet Moses spoke of we know was Jesus and He spoke of a time that was going to come when He would come back again. God may be being patient right now, wishing that none would fall prey to sin but all would choose Him but that patience is running out Jesus is coming back again and this time it will not be as a baby, a forgiver He is going to come back again as a judge. Those that have not given their sins to Jesus and asked Him to be Lord of their lives are going to be held accountable for what they have done.

The Israelite's in the day of Moses where warned the same way, except they paid the consequences for their sins right away sometimes. Do not wait for the patience of the Lord God to run out. But it is alos a time of hope for those that give their lives to Jesus will go to be with Him. And Jesus is coming back. Sure we debate about the timing an what it is going to look like. I do not agree with all of you on some of this and I know you do not agree with me on some of it, but that is okay. As long as we land on the fact that the Lord is coming back and we must be ready.

Did you know that as followers of Jesus we are not off the hook when it comes to our actions. What we do as followers of Jesus will be taken into account when we go to be with Jesus again. As leaders we will be held to a higher standard because of the position that we are called to. We will be rewarded based on what we have done for the Lord while on earth.

Moses foretold of a time when a great prophet and deliver would come to the people of Israel, Jesus was that deliverer that we remember and celebrate. But this means that our lives our going to change because of what Jesus has done for us. So repent and forgive one another as Jesus has forgiven you. Live your life for Jesus as if you are a follower of His.