Deuteronomy 18:15-19; St John 1:19-28
In the Name + of JESUS. Amen.
After St John denies that he is neither the Messiah nor Elijah the forerunner, the priests and the Levites inquire whether he is a prophet. His answer to this question is his shortest yet: No. He isn’t the Messiah, but he is both Elijah the forerunner and a prophet, greater than a prophet, even. Our Lord says so. But St John won’t.
John says that he is not Elijah because he won’t take the title for himself. His humility in debasing himself and amplifying his Lord extends even to self-denial of names and titles. Who he is isn’t important. And because they don’t really know what Elijah’s role in the Messianic kingdom will be, partially because they don’t understand or at least they reject who the Messiah will be and what the Messiah will do, John doesn’t want to distract them or confirm some superstitious confusion; some false belief. So he says he’s not Elijah.
In the same way he says he’s not a prophet, though he is. Israel hadn’t seen or heard from a prophet, a true prophet, in four hundred years. Not since Malachi who prophesied that Elijah the forerunner would come before the appearance of the Messiah. But that’s just it. John isn’t a prophet in the way that they think of prophets. The term isn’t used in the New Testament the way it is in the Old; neither of John nor of other prophets. For John has not come to prophecy and foretell of the coming Messiah. Rather, he is the Voice that prepares the hearts of the people for the Lord’s immediate advent; of One who stands among them.
Even more, as the Church catholic has wisely constructed her lectionary, these two texts are read in connection with one another. That is, the promise of the Lord from the second giving of the Law and the testimony of St John the Forerunner: The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like Moses from among their brothers. And I will put My Word in His mouth and He shall speak to them all that I command Him. Is this, in fact, the Prophet to which the delegation from the Pharisees refers when they ask John, “Are you the Prophet?”
Firstly, the Greek text uses the definite article, the, seeming to indicate that the priests and Levites had a specific prophet in mind. The one prophesied in Deuteronomy 18. Our English translations also assume this to be the case. But Greek doesn’t employ the definite article in the same ways as English. Its not always used for emphasis. Often its used to indicate a noun’s case or to bring balance or formality to a clause. Its often left untranslated in English. Not so here, however.
What’s the point of this syntactical tangent? Only to say that commentators aren’t in agreement as to what the delegation are actually asking John. Those who assert that they are inquiring if he is merely a new prophet and not the prophet, claim that such a movement from, “Are you the Messiah?,” to “Are you Elijah the forerunner?” to “Are you the Prophet?” is illogical, since the Prophet is the Messiah. Why would they backtrack after he says he’s not the Messiah or Elijah? It is true that such a line of questioning, from our perspective, would appear to be counterintuitive to the proper Biblical understanding of not only the Prophet, but also the Messiah and Elijah the forerunner. But this presumes that the priests, Levites, and Pharisees understood Biblically who and what role these men were to have in the coming kingdom. But it is clear from the remainder of this and the other Gospels that they did not understand nor receive the true, Biblical role of the Messiah, even when our Lord Jesus put it right on the line for them. So why is illogical to us isn't necessarily so for them. They don’t get it.
Now, who they thought the Prophet to be and what His role was, is somewhat irrelevant. What remains, however, is who is the Prophet promised by the Lord through Moses in Deuteronomy 18? What shall He do? In what or in whom is this prophecy fulfilled? How? And why?
Firstly, though Deuteronomy 18 is a Messianic prophesy, it is also partially fulfilled in every true prophet after Moses whom the Lord raised up. Consider Moses’ immediate successor, Joshua. He is not God. He is only a man, but so was Moses. He comes from among the people. He speaks on God’s behalf. He lead the people into the Promised Land through the Jordan on dry ground. If the people reject the Word of God through Joshua, they reject God and are damned. Joshua, like Moses, is a type of Christ.
So are the other true prophets: Isaiah, Jeremiah, Elisha, Jonah, Ezekiel, Daniel, Ezra. Perhaps this is why its so confusing for the priests and Levites concerning John the baptizer. Lots of people were confused. Once Jesus asked His disciples who people say that He is. They answered, “Some say John the baptist, others say Elijah, and others Jeremiah or one of the prophets.” But who do you say that I am? Simon Peter confessed, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” And Jesus answered him, “Blessed are you Simon, Bar-Jonah! For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but My Father who is in heaven (Mt 16:14-17).
Likewise our Father who art in heaven, revealed this to you in the baptism of His beloved Son, when the heavens were torn open and the Father declared, You are My beloved Son, with You I am well pleased (Mk 1:11). There, in the inaugural waters of the Jordan, Christ is anointed to be your Prophet like Moses. He was raised up from among His brethren, that is, He was born of the Virgin Mary who was of the house and line of David.
Even as Moses is facing his own mortality, he is prophesying concerning the human nature of the Christ! He is predicting the Incarnation, the Advent of a prophet unlike any other, it is to Him you shall listen. As the Father Himself reiterates at the Transfiguration of our Lord, This is My beloved Son; listen to Him (Mk 9:7). And who else are present at this incandescent event, but Moses and Elijah! The typological prophet and the type of the forerunner. And now, the Prophet, Jesus Christ.
For the Law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ (Jn 1:17), who was sent from the Father, as the Word made flesh, by whom and through whom all things were made in the beginning. The Word that He speaks is not His own, but the Father’s who sent Him (Jn 14:24). He has put His life giving Word into His mouth, revealing the very Life and Light of the Father together with the Holy Spirit in the fellowship of the Blessed Holy Trinity. He has come from the Father as the bearer of the Divine Name in His own person, in His flesh and blood. His Name is Jesus, for He saves His people from their sins. Listen to Him.
But the priests and Levites and Pharisees would not. Though they knew Moses, they did not believe Moses, or else they would have believed the Christ. But since they didn’t believe his writings, how could they believe Jesus’ words? Therefore Moses shall accuse them before the Father.
Moses also accuses you. With the imminence of his death, Moses retells, reminds Israel of the Law of YHWH, of His covenantal oath which He swore by Himself at Mt Sinai, that He shall take a people for Himself and they shall be holy even as He is holy. He gave them His Word, His commands and promises, in the Torah. The rest of the Old Testament is merely commentary on the Torah, on the first five books. Every prophet after Moses proclaims to the people of Israel, listen to Moses, heed the threats of the Law, return to the Lord your God, for He does not keep anger forever. Return that He may relent and have mercy. For His Word is like an all consuming fire and His Law like a hammer that shatters the stony heart of the sinner in pieces. John comes, the axe blade already laid at the root of the tree. Repent, and bear fruits in keeping with repentance, lest you be cut down and thrown into the fire.
Repent, beloved, but do not despair. For the Lord your God has given you a prophet like Moses, raised Him up from among your brethren, One who shares in your flesh and blood as true Man. He is the One Mediator between God and Man. Jesus Christ. He is Yeshua, YHWH in the flesh, who comes to lead you, His Israel, across the Jordan of His baptism, into the Promised Land.
For He comes, not only as the fulfillment of Deuteronomy 18, the Prophet, but also in fulfillment of Deuteronomy 16 and 17. That is, our Lord Jesus is the fulfillment of the sacrificial system, the Levitical priesthood, and the Old Testament Feasts. His is the Paschal Lamb who blood sets you free. He is the Seed which has fallen into the earth and died, producing a harvest of souls, gathered together by the Spirit; Jesus Christ, being the first-fruits offering and the first-born of the dead. He is the Booth set up for you in whom you rest. For recall Peter’s desire to set up three booths; one for Moses, one for Elijah, and one for Jesus. But after the Father declares, This is My beloved Son, listen to Him, suddenly they no longer saw anyone with them, but Jesus only.
For all the Law and the Prophets prophesied until John. And they all looked back to Moses. But now, the Law and the Prophets are fulfilled in Christ Jesus, the Prophet like Moses. This, beloved, is how and why Christ fulfills this prophesy: for you. That His Torah, His Word may be preached to the ends of the earth and into your ears right now for the full and free forgiveness of all your sins, for your life and salvation, for your assurance and hope. Deuteronomy ends with Moses’ death and the promise lingering. The Gospel accounts end with Christ Jesus’ resurrection and the promised fulfilled. Moses has yielded to Christ. Listen to Him.
For He has established the new testament in His blood. This He gives to you, His Israel, the Church, through the continuing prophetic Office of His Gospel for the forgiveness of all your sins. As the hymn sins, “Anoint them prophets, men who are intent to be Your witnesses in word and deed, their hearts aflame, their lips made eloquent, their eyes awake to every human need” (LSB 682:2). Christen them preachers. That’s your prayer. Give us preachers. A prophet is a preacher. For faith cometh by hearing and hearing by the Word of Christ. But how shall they hear without a preacher (Rm 10:14)? And like St John, they are to preach Jesus only; the whole counsel of His Word. Is this not what He Himself ordains at the close of St Matthew? While going, make disciples from out of all the nations, by means of baptizing them into the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and catechizing them to hold fast to all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, even to the close of the age? (Mt 28:19-20).
In the Name of the Father + and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
In the Name + of JESUS. Amen.
After St John denies that he is neither the Messiah nor Elijah the forerunner, the priests and the Levites inquire whether he is a prophet. His answer to this question is his shortest yet: No. He isn’t the Messiah, but he is both Elijah the forerunner and a prophet, greater than a prophet, even. Our Lord says so. But St John won’t.
John says that he is not Elijah because he won’t take the title for himself. His humility in debasing himself and amplifying his Lord extends even to self-denial of names and titles. Who he is isn’t important. And because they don’t really know what Elijah’s role in the Messianic kingdom will be, partially because they don’t understand or at least they reject who the Messiah will be and what the Messiah will do, John doesn’t want to distract them or confirm some superstitious confusion; some false belief. So he says he’s not Elijah.
In the same way he says he’s not a prophet, though he is. Israel hadn’t seen or heard from a prophet, a true prophet, in four hundred years. Not since Malachi who prophesied that Elijah the forerunner would come before the appearance of the Messiah. But that’s just it. John isn’t a prophet in the way that they think of prophets. The term isn’t used in the New Testament the way it is in the Old; neither of John nor of other prophets. For John has not come to prophecy and foretell of the coming Messiah. Rather, he is the Voice that prepares the hearts of the people for the Lord’s immediate advent; of One who stands among them.
Even more, as the Church catholic has wisely constructed her lectionary, these two texts are read in connection with one another. That is, the promise of the Lord from the second giving of the Law and the testimony of St John the Forerunner: The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like Moses from among their brothers. And I will put My Word in His mouth and He shall speak to them all that I command Him. Is this, in fact, the Prophet to which the delegation from the Pharisees refers when they ask John, “Are you the Prophet?”
Firstly, the Greek text uses the definite article, the, seeming to indicate that the priests and Levites had a specific prophet in mind. The one prophesied in Deuteronomy 18. Our English translations also assume this to be the case. But Greek doesn’t employ the definite article in the same ways as English. Its not always used for emphasis. Often its used to indicate a noun’s case or to bring balance or formality to a clause. Its often left untranslated in English. Not so here, however.
What’s the point of this syntactical tangent? Only to say that commentators aren’t in agreement as to what the delegation are actually asking John. Those who assert that they are inquiring if he is merely a new prophet and not the prophet, claim that such a movement from, “Are you the Messiah?,” to “Are you Elijah the forerunner?” to “Are you the Prophet?” is illogical, since the Prophet is the Messiah. Why would they backtrack after he says he’s not the Messiah or Elijah? It is true that such a line of questioning, from our perspective, would appear to be counterintuitive to the proper Biblical understanding of not only the Prophet, but also the Messiah and Elijah the forerunner. But this presumes that the priests, Levites, and Pharisees understood Biblically who and what role these men were to have in the coming kingdom. But it is clear from the remainder of this and the other Gospels that they did not understand nor receive the true, Biblical role of the Messiah, even when our Lord Jesus put it right on the line for them. So why is illogical to us isn't necessarily so for them. They don’t get it.
Now, who they thought the Prophet to be and what His role was, is somewhat irrelevant. What remains, however, is who is the Prophet promised by the Lord through Moses in Deuteronomy 18? What shall He do? In what or in whom is this prophecy fulfilled? How? And why?
Firstly, though Deuteronomy 18 is a Messianic prophesy, it is also partially fulfilled in every true prophet after Moses whom the Lord raised up. Consider Moses’ immediate successor, Joshua. He is not God. He is only a man, but so was Moses. He comes from among the people. He speaks on God’s behalf. He lead the people into the Promised Land through the Jordan on dry ground. If the people reject the Word of God through Joshua, they reject God and are damned. Joshua, like Moses, is a type of Christ.
So are the other true prophets: Isaiah, Jeremiah, Elisha, Jonah, Ezekiel, Daniel, Ezra. Perhaps this is why its so confusing for the priests and Levites concerning John the baptizer. Lots of people were confused. Once Jesus asked His disciples who people say that He is. They answered, “Some say John the baptist, others say Elijah, and others Jeremiah or one of the prophets.” But who do you say that I am? Simon Peter confessed, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” And Jesus answered him, “Blessed are you Simon, Bar-Jonah! For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but My Father who is in heaven (Mt 16:14-17).
Likewise our Father who art in heaven, revealed this to you in the baptism of His beloved Son, when the heavens were torn open and the Father declared, You are My beloved Son, with You I am well pleased (Mk 1:11). There, in the inaugural waters of the Jordan, Christ is anointed to be your Prophet like Moses. He was raised up from among His brethren, that is, He was born of the Virgin Mary who was of the house and line of David.
Even as Moses is facing his own mortality, he is prophesying concerning the human nature of the Christ! He is predicting the Incarnation, the Advent of a prophet unlike any other, it is to Him you shall listen. As the Father Himself reiterates at the Transfiguration of our Lord, This is My beloved Son; listen to Him (Mk 9:7). And who else are present at this incandescent event, but Moses and Elijah! The typological prophet and the type of the forerunner. And now, the Prophet, Jesus Christ.
For the Law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ (Jn 1:17), who was sent from the Father, as the Word made flesh, by whom and through whom all things were made in the beginning. The Word that He speaks is not His own, but the Father’s who sent Him (Jn 14:24). He has put His life giving Word into His mouth, revealing the very Life and Light of the Father together with the Holy Spirit in the fellowship of the Blessed Holy Trinity. He has come from the Father as the bearer of the Divine Name in His own person, in His flesh and blood. His Name is Jesus, for He saves His people from their sins. Listen to Him.
But the priests and Levites and Pharisees would not. Though they knew Moses, they did not believe Moses, or else they would have believed the Christ. But since they didn’t believe his writings, how could they believe Jesus’ words? Therefore Moses shall accuse them before the Father.
Moses also accuses you. With the imminence of his death, Moses retells, reminds Israel of the Law of YHWH, of His covenantal oath which He swore by Himself at Mt Sinai, that He shall take a people for Himself and they shall be holy even as He is holy. He gave them His Word, His commands and promises, in the Torah. The rest of the Old Testament is merely commentary on the Torah, on the first five books. Every prophet after Moses proclaims to the people of Israel, listen to Moses, heed the threats of the Law, return to the Lord your God, for He does not keep anger forever. Return that He may relent and have mercy. For His Word is like an all consuming fire and His Law like a hammer that shatters the stony heart of the sinner in pieces. John comes, the axe blade already laid at the root of the tree. Repent, and bear fruits in keeping with repentance, lest you be cut down and thrown into the fire.
Repent, beloved, but do not despair. For the Lord your God has given you a prophet like Moses, raised Him up from among your brethren, One who shares in your flesh and blood as true Man. He is the One Mediator between God and Man. Jesus Christ. He is Yeshua, YHWH in the flesh, who comes to lead you, His Israel, across the Jordan of His baptism, into the Promised Land.
For He comes, not only as the fulfillment of Deuteronomy 18, the Prophet, but also in fulfillment of Deuteronomy 16 and 17. That is, our Lord Jesus is the fulfillment of the sacrificial system, the Levitical priesthood, and the Old Testament Feasts. His is the Paschal Lamb who blood sets you free. He is the Seed which has fallen into the earth and died, producing a harvest of souls, gathered together by the Spirit; Jesus Christ, being the first-fruits offering and the first-born of the dead. He is the Booth set up for you in whom you rest. For recall Peter’s desire to set up three booths; one for Moses, one for Elijah, and one for Jesus. But after the Father declares, This is My beloved Son, listen to Him, suddenly they no longer saw anyone with them, but Jesus only.
For all the Law and the Prophets prophesied until John. And they all looked back to Moses. But now, the Law and the Prophets are fulfilled in Christ Jesus, the Prophet like Moses. This, beloved, is how and why Christ fulfills this prophesy: for you. That His Torah, His Word may be preached to the ends of the earth and into your ears right now for the full and free forgiveness of all your sins, for your life and salvation, for your assurance and hope. Deuteronomy ends with Moses’ death and the promise lingering. The Gospel accounts end with Christ Jesus’ resurrection and the promised fulfilled. Moses has yielded to Christ. Listen to Him.
For He has established the new testament in His blood. This He gives to you, His Israel, the Church, through the continuing prophetic Office of His Gospel for the forgiveness of all your sins. As the hymn sins, “Anoint them prophets, men who are intent to be Your witnesses in word and deed, their hearts aflame, their lips made eloquent, their eyes awake to every human need” (LSB 682:2). Christen them preachers. That’s your prayer. Give us preachers. A prophet is a preacher. For faith cometh by hearing and hearing by the Word of Christ. But how shall they hear without a preacher (Rm 10:14)? And like St John, they are to preach Jesus only; the whole counsel of His Word. Is this not what He Himself ordains at the close of St Matthew? While going, make disciples from out of all the nations, by means of baptizing them into the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and catechizing them to hold fast to all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, even to the close of the age? (Mt 28:19-20).
In the Name of the Father + and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
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