What Moses Said About the Coming Messiah
Deuteronomy 18:15-22
The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among your fellow Israelites. You must listen to him. For this is what you yourselves requested of the Lord your God when you were assembled at Mount Sinai. You said, “Don’t let us hear the voice of the Lord our Go anymore or see this blazing fire, for we will die.”
Then the Lord said to me, “What they have said is right. I will raise up a prophet like you from among their fellow Israelites. I will put my words in his mouth, and he will tell the people everything I command him. I will personally deal with anyone who will not listen to the messages the prophet proclaims on my behalf. But any prophet who falsely claims to speak in my name or who speaks in the name of another God must die.”
But you may wonder, “How will we know whether or not a prophecy is from the Lord?” If the prophet speaks in the Lord’s name but his prediction does not happen or come true, you will know that the Lord did not give that message. That prophet has spoken without my authority and need not be feared.
The last words in the books of Moses tell us:
Deuteronomy 34:10-12
There has never been another prophet in Israel like Moses, whom the Lord knew face to face. The Lord sent him to perform all the miraculous signs and wonders in the land of Egypt against Pharaoh, and all his servants, and his entire land. With mighty power, Moses performed terrifying acts in the sight of all Israel.
So What’s the Point?
The last words of the books of Moses tell us that the Lord sent mighty miracles and signs to prove Moses was sent by God to the people of Israel. In Deuteronomy 18:15-22, as Moses was addressing the children for the last time, he told them that in the future, God would send them a prophet like himself that they must listen to or face God’s wrath. So let’s examine Moses’ personal history, including the signs and wonders, and see if we can find any fellow Israeli who might compare to him.
Moses lived from
1526 BC to 1406 BC
Moses Characteristics
When Moses was born, the evil king of Egypt ordered all newborn Israeli baby boys killed as soon as they were born.
Moses was adopted
into the family of the
king of Egypt.
(Pharaoh).
Moses’ Hebrew mother
was paid by the royal
family to take care
of him when he was a
baby.
Moses was forced to flee from Egypt to keep from dying at the hand of the Egyptian king.
God ordained Moses to
his life’s mission as
Israel’s deliverer in
the desert wastelands
of Mt. Sinai.
Moses spent forty
days on Mt. Sinai without food as
he was receiving
God’s directions
for Israel.
Moses’ first miraculous
sign to the Egyptians was turning the water
of the Nile into blood.
Jesus Characteristics
When Jesus was born, the Roman-appointed king of Israel, Herod, ordered all baby boys
in Bethlehem
killed.
Jesus was adopted by
Joseph, a descendant of the king of Israel --
(David).
When Jesus was born,
his mother and father were brought gold by kings of the East to
take care of him.
Jesus' parents fled to
Egypt to keep him from
dying at the hand of King Herod.
God ordained Jesus to his life’s work as Israel’s
deliverer in the desert wastelands of Judea near Jericho.
Jesus fasted and was
tempted by the devil on the mountain top for forty days as he was being prepared
to be Israel’s deliverer.
Jesus' first miraculous
sign to the Israelis was turning the water into
wine at a wedding.
The Ten Plagues
Jesus raises Lazarus from the grave
Moses’ Messiah Conclusions
These very interesting similarities between Moses and Jesus appear to meet the criteria Moses gave the Israelis about the prophet to come after him. Unlike the various prophets sent by God to warn Jacob’s children about the coming judgements, Jesus and Moses shared these unique parallels that cannot be easily dismissed. Moses also said the Lord’s criteria for the coming prophet included miracles that would prove God sent that person. The New Testament is full of eye witness accounts of Jesus' mighty miracles, including raising the dead back to life, opening the eyes of the blind, healing the sick of diseases like leprosy, and feeding huge crowds of thousands with just a few pieces of bread and fish.