Deuteronomy 18:9-22
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“When you enter the land which the Lord your God gives you, you shall not learn to imitate the detestable things of those nations.
God’s call to the people to be distinct from the world.
God was going to allow them to take over these nations, but in the same breath they were not to allow the evil of those nations to take over them.
And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect.
Therefore I urge you, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship. And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect.
The people of God are always to be distinct from the world.
“There shall not be found among you anyone who makes his son or his daughter pass through the fire, one who uses divination, one who practices witchcraft, or one who interprets omens, or a sorcerer,
“There shall not be found among you anyone who makes his son or his daughter pass through the fire, one who uses divination, one who practices witchcraft, or one who interprets omens, or a sorcerer, or one who casts a spell, or a medium, or a spiritist, or one who calls up the dead.
Here Moses lists the different things these people were involved in.
These nations would have been characterized by idolatry, evil, and sin.
And the tendency is that people become like the people they are around.
This happens.
But as believers we must remain distinct from the world.
Listen to what he goes on to say.
“For whoever does these things is detestable to the Lord; and because of these detestable things the Lord your God will drive them out before you. “You shall be blameless before the Lord your God.
Deut 18:12
Two important truths here.
God is going to drive these people out before you because of their sin.
Its for their sin that God is doing this.
These people are not innocent parties. They are wicked, and they are worshipping other gods.
And God is going to punish these nations for this.
We see a similar saying from God in
Therefore consider the members of your earthly body as dead to immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and greed, which amounts to idolatry. For it is because of these things that the wrath of God will come upon the sons of disobedience, and in them you also once walked, when you were living in them. But now you also, put them all aside: anger, wrath, malice, slander, and abusive speech from your mouth.
The wrath of God is coming upon the disobedient.
He said it in . He says it again in .
As believers, as the people of God we can’t live in the same sin for which God is storing up his wrath.
Verse 13 is key here.
“You shall be blameless before the Lord your God.
Blameless. Faultless. Innocent.
We are to remain distinct from the world, and righteous before God.
Will we fail in this? Yes. But this is the goal.
Why? He goes on.
“For those nations, which you shall dispossess, listen to those who practice witchcraft and to diviners, but as for you, the Lord your God has not allowed you to do so.
Deuteronomy 18:
The Lord determines our actions.
The Lord will speak truth to His people.
“The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among you, from your countrymen, you shall listen to him. “This is according to all that you asked of the Lord your God in Horeb on the day of the assembly, saying, ‘Let me not hear again the voice of the Lord my God, let me not see this great fire anymore, or I will die.’ “The Lord said to me, ‘They have spoken well. ‘I will raise up a prophet from among their countrymen like you, and I will put My words in his mouth, and he shall speak to them all that I command him. ‘It shall come about that whoever will not listen to My words which he shall speak in My name, I Myself will require it of him.
WHo do you think this prophet he is referencing is?
The singular pronoun emphasizes the ultimate Prophet who was to come.
John Macarthur says this.
Both the OT (34:10) and the NT (; interpret this passage as a reference to the coming Messiah, who like Moses would receive and preach divine revelation and lead his people.
“Moses said, ‘The Lord God will raise up for you a prophet like me from your brethren; to Him you shall give heed to everything He says to you. ‘And it will be that every soul that does not heed that prophet shall be utterly destroyed from among the people.’
“This is the Moses who said to the sons of Israel, ‘God will raise up for you a prophet like me from your brethren.’
Macarthur goes on in his study notes.
interpret this passage as a reference to the coming Messiah, who like Moses would receive and preach divine revelation and lead his people (cf. ; ; ; ; ). In fact, Jesus was like Moses in several other ways: 1) he was spared death as a baby (; ); 2) he renounced a royal court (; ); 3) he had compassion on his people (; ); 4) he made intercession for the people (; ); 5) he spoke with God face to face (; ); and 6) he was the mediator of a covenant (; ).
(cf. ; ; ; ; ).
In fact,
Jesus was like Moses in several other ways:
1) he was spared death as a baby (; ); 2) he renounced a royal court (; );
3) he had compassion on his people (; );
4) he made intercession for the people (; );
5) he spoke with God face to face (; ); and
6) he was the mediator of a covenant (; ).
‘It shall come about that whoever will not listen to My words which he shall speak in My name, I Myself will require it of him.
Deuteronomy 18:
This is key. People will held accountable to how they receive or do not receive this prophet.
then we come to the passage i referenced today.
‘But the prophet who speaks a word presumptuously in My name which I have not commanded him to speak, or which he speaks in the name of other gods, that prophet shall die.’ “You may say in your heart, ‘How will we know the word which the Lord has not spoken?’ “When a prophet speaks in the name of the Lord, if the thing does not come about or come true, that is the thing which the Lord has not spoken. The prophet has spoken it presumptuously; you shall not be afraid of him.
In light of this, many false prophets would arise.
:20-
The test was truth or falsehood.
Did what they say come true.
Jesus’s coming was the coming of the ultimate true prophet.
He is the prophet of .
How do we know that?
For one, The New Testament tells us this.
‘And I will grant wonders in the sky above And signs on the earth below, Blood, and fire, and vapor of smoke. ‘The sun will be turned into darkness And the moon into blood, Before the great and glorious day of the Lord shall come. ‘And it shall be that everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.’ “Men of Israel, listen to these words: Jesus the Nazarene, a man attested to you by God with miracles and wonders and signs which God performed through Him in your midst, just as you yourselves know— this Man, delivered over by the predetermined plan and foreknowledge of God, you nailed to a cross by the hands of godless men and put Him to death.
“Therefore repent and return, so that your sins may be wiped away, in order that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord; and that He may send Jesus, the Christ appointed for you, whom heaven must receive until the period of restoration of all things about which God spoke by the mouth of His holy prophets from ancient time. “Moses said, ‘The Lord God will raise up for you a prophet like me from your brethren; to Him you shall give heed to everything He says to you. ‘And it will be that every soul that does not heed that prophet shall be utterly destroyed from among the people.’
Also, remember what happened at the Transfiguration.
Six days later, Jesus took with Him Peter and James and John, and brought them up on a high mountain by themselves. And He was transfigured before them; and His garments became radiant and exceedingly white, as no launderer on earth can whiten them. Elijah appeared to them along with Moses; and they were talking with Jesus. Peter said to Jesus, “Rabbi, it is good for us to be here; let us make three tabernacles, one for You, and one for Moses, and one for Elijah.” For he did not know what to answer; for they became terrified. Then a cloud formed, overshadowing them, and a voice came out of the cloud, “This is My beloved Son, listen to Him!” All at once they looked around and saw no one with them anymore, except Jesus alone.
Two, Because everything he spoke in prophecy came to be.
The Jews then said to Him, “What sign do You show us as your authority for doing these things?” Jesus answered them, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.”
And He began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders and the chief priests and the scribes, and be killed, and after three days rise again.
Will we repent? Will we listen to him?
is a warning still in effect for us today.
‘It shall come about that whoever will not listen to My words which he shall speak in My name, I Myself will require it of him.
