The Previous Section: Christ Taught and Kept the Torah
In Deuteronomy, we see Moses speak of Jesus, the Messiah to come. Christ then references this same prophecy to the Pharisees, stating that they hold the Law in such high esteem, yet don’t see the fulfillment of it right in front of them. In essence, by not believing in Him, they are disobeying the Torah, for Christ tells them that the Torah speaks of Him.
Deuteronomy 18:15 reads:
“18 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.”
Deuteronomy 18:15 ESV
And it is Christ who spoke all that the Father commanded, as we read in John 15:15-16:
15 No longer do I call you servants, for the servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all that I have heard from my Father I have made known to you. 16 You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit and that your fruit should abide, so that whatever you ask the Father in my name, he may give it to you.
John 15:15-16 ESV
The Deuteronomy reference to a Moses-like prophet, is clearly Christ in hindsight. Moses led the exodus from Egypt, and Christ leads the 2nd exodus from the nations (Is 11:9-13) as the scattered Northern House gentiles are grafted in to Israel (Rom 11:19-23). Moses brought the old covenant law to the people according to the promise, and so too, did Christ bring in the new covenant to the people according to the promise (Heb 8:6). Moses had access to God as a kind of intermediary for the people, and Christ is our intercessor (Heb 7:25). A messiah figure was feared by the rulers of the day, and the rulers of both Moses and Christ’s time killed all male firstborn in response to prophecy (Exodus 1:22, Matthew 2:16). They both fasted 40 days prior to receiving revelation (Exodus 24:18, Matthew 4:2). And since this prophecy is written in the Torah, those who do not believe in Christ, are already violating the Torah. Christ speaks of this truth in John 5, where He states that if they do not believe the Torah (a reference to Deuteronomy 18:15), how will they believe Him?
37 And the Father who sent me has himself borne witness about me. His voice you have never heard, his form you have never seen, 38 and you do not have his word abiding in you, for you do not believe the one whom he has sent. 39 You search the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; and it is they that bear witness about me, 40 yet you refuse to come to me that you may have life. 41 I do not receive glory from people. 42 But I know that you do not have the love of God within you. 43 I have come in my Father’s name, and you do not receive me. If another comes in his own name, you will receive him. 44 How can you believe, when you receive glory from one another and do not seek the glory that comes from the only God? 45 Do not think that I will accuse you to the Father. There is one who accuses you: Moses, on whom you have set your hope. 46 For if you believed Moses, you would believe me; for he wrote of me. 47 But if you do not believe his writings, how will you believe my words?”
John 5:42-47 ESV
We see further confirmation of Christ fulfilling the Deuteronomy 18:15 prophecy in Acts 3, where Peter quotes it to the multitude of unbelievers;
22Moses 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. 23 And it shall be that every soul who does not listen to that prophet shall be destroyed from the people.’ 24 And all the prophets who have spoken, from Samuel and those who came after him, also proclaimed these days.
Acts 3:22-24 ESV
Further, in Acts 7, Stephen references the Deuteronomy 18:15 prophecy as an indirect reference to Christ during his narrative of the history of Israel, and how Moses was treated similarly to Christ;
35 “This Moses, whom they rejected, saying, ‘Who made you a ruler and a judge?’—this man God sent as both ruler and redeemer by the hand of the angel who appeared to him in the bush. 36 This man led them out, performing wonders and signs in Egypt and at the Red Sea and in the wilderness for forty years. 37 This is the Moses who said to the Israelites, ‘God will raise up for you a prophet like me from your brothers.’ 38 This is the one who was in the congregation in the wilderness with the angel who spoke to him at Mount Sinai, and with our fathers. He received living oracles to give to us.
Acts 7:35-38 ESV
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