WEBVTT 00:00:00.460 --> 00:00:04.200 When I think of utter confusion, I think of the 00:00:04.200 --> 00:00:06.860 floor of the stock exchange in New York City. 00:00:08.039 --> 00:00:10.259 Have you ever seen pictures of those people? 00:00:11.439 --> 00:00:16.579 I wonder how their nerves last a lifetime. Everyone 00:00:16.579 --> 00:00:19.460 seems to be yelling and reaching and signaling. 00:00:21.079 --> 00:00:24.480 I completely do not understand what is taking 00:00:24.480 --> 00:00:28.039 place on the floor of the stock exchange. There 00:00:28.039 --> 00:00:31.789 are so many voices to be heard. How does one 00:00:31.789 --> 00:00:37.429 know which voice to listen to? But isn't it the 00:00:37.429 --> 00:00:41.609 same way in life? There are so many voices to 00:00:41.609 --> 00:00:46.070 be heard in our world today. How do we know which 00:00:46.070 --> 00:00:52.149 voice to listen to? I hope that we'll come to 00:00:52.149 --> 00:00:54.950 something of an answer to that question as we 00:00:54.950 --> 00:00:57.469 come to our last in this series of our studies 00:00:57.469 --> 00:01:00.020 in the Pentateuch. a series that we've entitled 00:01:00.020 --> 00:01:02.840 Christmas in the Pentateuch. And, of course, 00:01:02.840 --> 00:01:05.760 today we come to the fifth of the books of Moses, 00:01:05.900 --> 00:01:10.140 the book of Deuteronomy. The portrait of the 00:01:10.140 --> 00:01:14.739 Messiah in the Old Testament is really that of 00:01:14.739 --> 00:01:19.019 filling three significant roles in his relationship 00:01:19.019 --> 00:01:23.420 to his people. There is the office, for example, 00:01:23.420 --> 00:01:29.980 of prophet and priest and what? King, that's 00:01:29.980 --> 00:01:33.859 right. Many of you know that. The Messiah is 00:01:33.859 --> 00:01:37.920 predicted to be one who is a prophet, one who 00:01:37.920 --> 00:01:41.640 is a priest, and one who is a king, all rolled 00:01:41.640 --> 00:01:46.840 into one person. When we think about the Messiah 00:01:46.840 --> 00:01:50.659 being a priest, we think of the book of Exodus, 00:01:50.819 --> 00:01:56.120 where we saw something of the sacrifice of the 00:01:56.120 --> 00:02:01.040 Redeemer. And we think of the book of Leviticus, 00:02:01.159 --> 00:02:05.879 where we saw his perfections. One who was a priest 00:02:05.879 --> 00:02:08.520 had to be cleansed. He had to stand before God 00:02:08.520 --> 00:02:11.900 without any sin on his hands. Thus there were 00:02:11.900 --> 00:02:14.719 appropriate sacrifices for him to offer for himself, 00:02:14.819 --> 00:02:19.860 and then he was to offer for the people. And 00:02:19.860 --> 00:02:22.439 the sacrifices that he offered had to be perfect 00:02:22.439 --> 00:02:25.400 sacrifices, without blemish. Do you remember 00:02:25.400 --> 00:02:31.580 that? Our Lord Jesus Christ is the Messiah priest. 00:02:33.360 --> 00:02:36.939 And as the Messiah priest, he offered himself 00:02:36.939 --> 00:02:43.819 as our sacrifice and then was raised from the 00:02:43.819 --> 00:02:47.000 dead so that he might continue his priesthood 00:02:47.000 --> 00:02:52.439 eternally on our behalf. Last week we talked 00:02:52.439 --> 00:02:56.750 about his reign as the Redeemer. In the book 00:02:56.750 --> 00:03:00.509 of Numbers, we have the prophecy of the star 00:03:00.509 --> 00:03:06.550 scepter, the star that would rise, the scepter 00:03:06.550 --> 00:03:10.949 that would rise in Jacob. We said that that tells 00:03:10.949 --> 00:03:13.250 us that Messiah would be one who would reign. 00:03:13.469 --> 00:03:17.930 Jesus Christ is the Messiah King. And today as 00:03:17.930 --> 00:03:19.990 we look at the book of Deuteronomy, we're going 00:03:19.990 --> 00:03:24.379 to see that he is also the Messiah prophet. The 00:03:24.379 --> 00:03:29.120 Messiah Prophet. This book contains a prophecy 00:03:29.120 --> 00:03:33.479 that relates to his work as the prophet of God. 00:03:35.060 --> 00:03:37.699 Think for a moment of the meaning of prophet. 00:03:39.900 --> 00:03:43.900 Simply, a prophet is someone who speaks on behalf 00:03:43.900 --> 00:03:47.599 of someone else. An example of that is Aaron. 00:03:48.810 --> 00:03:51.370 who was appointed by God in the book of Exodus, 00:03:51.629 --> 00:03:53.949 the seventh chapter, the first verse, to be the 00:03:53.949 --> 00:03:58.590 prophet for Moses. God said to Moses, I will 00:03:58.590 --> 00:04:01.430 make you as God in the eyes of Pharaoh, and Aaron 00:04:01.430 --> 00:04:07.490 will be your prophet, your spokesman. And then 00:04:07.490 --> 00:04:12.370 Moses himself is called a prophet of God in Deuteronomy 00:04:12.370 --> 00:04:17.050 chapter 34 and verse 10. He is called a prophet. 00:04:17.769 --> 00:04:22.750 who spoke on behalf of God. Now, when Moses was 00:04:22.750 --> 00:04:27.930 about to pass off the scene, he delivered a series 00:04:27.930 --> 00:04:31.769 of discourses or messages to the people of Israel 00:04:31.769 --> 00:04:38.810 in which he rehearsed before them the history 00:04:38.810 --> 00:04:43.589 of their nation, and he reminded them of the 00:04:43.589 --> 00:04:47.009 important details of the covenant. which they 00:04:47.009 --> 00:04:51.910 had with God. There were a lot of details that 00:04:51.910 --> 00:04:55.509 he covered in those discourses, but among them 00:04:55.509 --> 00:05:00.810 he told them what the tests were for prophets. 00:05:02.509 --> 00:05:05.910 He was their prophet to this point, but now he 00:05:05.910 --> 00:05:09.730 is about to die. How were they to know which 00:05:09.730 --> 00:05:15.189 voice to hear when Moses was dead? And so in 00:05:15.189 --> 00:05:17.970 chapter 13, we'll not read that, but the first 00:05:17.970 --> 00:05:21.970 11 verses of the chapter deal with tests for 00:05:21.970 --> 00:05:26.389 false prophets. But we will look at Deuteronomy 00:05:26.389 --> 00:05:29.910 chapter 18, where we have the same theme covered. 00:05:31.769 --> 00:05:36.230 Only he broadens it now to warn them against 00:05:36.230 --> 00:05:41.389 the practices of the peoples in the land of Canaan. 00:05:43.370 --> 00:05:46.189 They were a people who worshipped pagan gods, 00:05:46.410 --> 00:05:49.949 and as part of their worship, they were involved 00:05:49.949 --> 00:05:57.970 in various occultic practices. Diviners, witches, 00:05:58.490 --> 00:06:04.089 soothsayers, etc. And he warns them in verses 00:06:04.089 --> 00:06:09.329 9 through 14 not to have anything to do with 00:06:09.329 --> 00:06:13.980 that sort of spiritist, occultic... kind of activity 00:06:13.980 --> 00:06:19.379 and then in verse 15 he gives this significant 00:06:19.379 --> 00:06:24.980 statement the lord your god will raise up for 00:06:24.980 --> 00:06:29.579 you a prophet like me from among you from your 00:06:29.579 --> 00:06:34.459 countrymen you shall listen to him this is according 00:06:34.459 --> 00:06:37.079 to all that you asked of the lord your god in 00:06:37.079 --> 00:06:40.870 horeb on the day of the assembly saying Let me 00:06:40.870 --> 00:06:43.129 not hear again the voice of the Lord my God. 00:06:43.230 --> 00:06:45.709 Let me not see this great fire anymore, lest 00:06:45.709 --> 00:06:49.329 I die. And the Lord said to me, They have spoken 00:06:49.329 --> 00:06:53.029 well. I will raise up a prophet from among their 00:06:53.029 --> 00:06:56.730 countrymen like you, and I will put my words 00:06:56.730 --> 00:06:59.910 in his mouth, and he shall speak to them all 00:06:59.910 --> 00:07:03.230 that I command him. And it shall come about that 00:07:03.230 --> 00:07:06.490 whoever will not listen to my words, which he 00:07:06.490 --> 00:07:10.170 shall speak in my name. I myself will require 00:07:10.170 --> 00:07:15.250 it of him. Here we have a promise that God would 00:07:15.250 --> 00:07:19.689 give a prophet in the place of Moses. And in 00:07:19.689 --> 00:07:23.730 one sense, it is a prophecy that God would raise 00:07:23.730 --> 00:07:28.410 up a line of prophets, people who would speak 00:07:28.410 --> 00:07:33.589 on his behalf. But there is in this paragraph 00:07:33.589 --> 00:07:38.220 a messianic meaning. In other words, He is talking 00:07:38.220 --> 00:07:42.120 about more than a line of prophets or the institution 00:07:42.120 --> 00:07:46.079 of the office of prophet. He is talking about 00:07:46.079 --> 00:07:52.480 a person who would, in an ultimate and final 00:07:52.480 --> 00:07:58.500 sense, be the prophet who would follow him. The 00:07:58.500 --> 00:08:04.639 Jews seem to understand it that way. For example, 00:08:05.360 --> 00:08:07.980 If you look at the writings in the Qumran community, 00:08:08.300 --> 00:08:11.079 where they discovered the Dead Sea Scrolls about 00:08:11.079 --> 00:08:16.199 40 years ago now, more than 40 years ago, you 00:08:16.199 --> 00:08:19.060 find that those Essenes living down there in 00:08:19.060 --> 00:08:22.519 the Dead Sea Valley anticipated the coming of 00:08:22.519 --> 00:08:27.519 the prophet. The prophet. And they spoke of him 00:08:27.519 --> 00:08:34.700 in terms of the Messiah. That was a general understanding 00:08:34.700 --> 00:08:39.539 among the Jewish people in that day. We'll not 00:08:39.539 --> 00:08:41.340 take time to look at them, but several times 00:08:41.340 --> 00:08:46.639 in the Gospel of John, the Jews, seeking to understand 00:08:46.639 --> 00:08:51.320 who Jesus was, asked of John the Baptist or of 00:08:51.320 --> 00:08:56.480 him, Are you the prophet? Are you the prophet? 00:08:57.820 --> 00:09:02.340 They would also ask, Are you the Christ? So they 00:09:02.340 --> 00:09:04.200 seemed to have an understanding that there were 00:09:04.200 --> 00:09:07.139 two people coming, the prophet and the Christ. 00:09:07.799 --> 00:09:12.860 But they understood that this prophecy in Deuteronomy 00:09:12.860 --> 00:09:18.419 chapter 18 was of a particular person of renown 00:09:18.419 --> 00:09:23.240 who would come and minister to the Jewish people. 00:09:24.620 --> 00:09:27.220 The point that I'm making here in this prophecy 00:09:27.220 --> 00:09:34.570 in Deuteronomy is that Moses predicted God spoke 00:09:34.570 --> 00:09:37.750 through him to say that there would come after 00:09:37.750 --> 00:09:44.309 him a prophet whose words must be heeded or else 00:09:44.309 --> 00:09:49.129 there would be judgment from God himself. Indeed, 00:09:49.289 --> 00:09:51.309 Christ was speaking through all of the prophets 00:09:51.309 --> 00:09:55.409 of the Old Testament. But finally, he came in 00:09:55.409 --> 00:09:59.590 flesh himself to the world. And in Acts chapter 00:09:59.590 --> 00:10:04.080 3, Peter, in preaching to a large multitude at 00:10:04.080 --> 00:10:09.200 the temple, tells them about Jesus Christ, whom 00:10:09.200 --> 00:10:12.740 they have crucified, who has been raised from 00:10:12.740 --> 00:10:16.980 the dead. And he quotes this passage from Deuteronomy 00:10:16.980 --> 00:10:21.139 chapter 18 and refers it to the Lord Jesus Christ. 00:10:22.500 --> 00:10:25.120 And so let there be no mistake about the fact 00:10:25.120 --> 00:10:28.120 that when Deuteronomy was written by Moses and 00:10:28.120 --> 00:10:30.460 he recorded these words of a coming prophet, 00:10:31.440 --> 00:10:35.159 It was a prophecy of the coming, not just of 00:10:35.159 --> 00:10:37.759 a line of prophets, not just of many prophets, 00:10:38.200 --> 00:10:43.340 but of the final prophet of God, the Messiah, 00:10:43.700 --> 00:10:48.299 the Lord Jesus Christ. Now in the text you will 00:10:48.299 --> 00:10:51.399 notice that there are several lines, several 00:10:51.399 --> 00:10:55.399 ideas in this prophecy. In the first place, his 00:10:55.399 --> 00:10:58.899 call comes from God. He says the Lord will raise 00:10:58.899 --> 00:11:02.799 up this prophet. His call comes from God. It 00:11:02.799 --> 00:11:06.740 originates with God himself. Secondly, this prophet 00:11:06.740 --> 00:11:10.279 who would come would be of Jewish descent. He 00:11:10.279 --> 00:11:13.080 would come from among them. He would be one of 00:11:13.080 --> 00:11:17.759 the brethren of the Jews. Thirdly, and interestingly, 00:11:18.000 --> 00:11:22.980 he says, he will be like me, Moses says. He will 00:11:22.980 --> 00:11:27.320 be like me. Now, in what respect would the Messiah 00:11:27.320 --> 00:11:31.960 be like Moses? One commentary, I think, says 00:11:31.960 --> 00:11:35.519 it succinctly. The expression specifically means, 00:11:35.779 --> 00:11:40.940 like me at Horeb, mediating a fresh and normative 00:11:40.940 --> 00:11:45.159 revelation of God. Moses was a type of Christ 00:11:45.159 --> 00:11:49.360 both in his life and office. Like Jesus, his 00:11:49.360 --> 00:11:53.200 life was spared in infancy. He renounced a royal 00:11:53.200 --> 00:11:56.720 court to share in the conditions of life of his 00:11:56.720 --> 00:11:59.919 brethren. and he became a captain of salvation 00:11:59.919 --> 00:12:04.820 to Israel. He was faithful, full of compassion 00:12:04.820 --> 00:12:08.320 and love, a powerful intercessor for his people, 00:12:08.480 --> 00:12:12.659 speaking with God face to face and reflecting 00:12:12.659 --> 00:12:16.740 the divine glory. Like Christ, he was a mighty 00:12:16.740 --> 00:12:20.539 prophet in word and deed, a revealer of God's 00:12:20.539 --> 00:12:23.679 will and purpose, a mediator of the covenant, 00:12:23.919 --> 00:12:28.740 and a leader of the people. In all of those respects 00:12:28.740 --> 00:12:33.559 that we've just read about, the Messiah was like 00:12:33.559 --> 00:12:37.259 Moses. The Lord Jesus Christ was like unto Moses. 00:12:39.340 --> 00:12:42.519 And the fourth idea in the prophecy is that God 00:12:42.519 --> 00:12:45.899 would put his own words into the mouth of this 00:12:45.899 --> 00:12:50.039 prophet. And so there would come a prophet whose 00:12:50.039 --> 00:12:53.399 call would originate with God himself, who would 00:12:53.399 --> 00:12:56.179 be Jewish by descent. who would be likened to 00:12:56.179 --> 00:12:59.539 Moses in both life and office, and who would 00:12:59.539 --> 00:13:06.039 have the words of God put into his mouth. Christmas 00:13:06.039 --> 00:13:09.159 in the Pentateuch concludes in this book of Deuteronomy. 00:13:10.940 --> 00:13:14.740 The promised Redeemer's overarching and supreme 00:13:14.740 --> 00:13:24.480 purpose would be to reveal God to man. It is 00:13:24.480 --> 00:13:29.480 John who seems to pick up on this theme in a 00:13:29.480 --> 00:13:32.820 special way. You remember that John, when he 00:13:32.820 --> 00:13:35.759 begins his gospel, does not say anything about 00:13:35.759 --> 00:13:41.399 the birth event of the Lord Jesus. He begins 00:13:41.399 --> 00:13:46.500 by giving Jesus a title. He says, in the beginning 00:13:46.500 --> 00:13:55.500 was the what? The Word, the Logos. John selected 00:13:55.500 --> 00:13:58.299 a word that was not uncommon in that day. It 00:13:58.299 --> 00:14:02.919 was a word that philosophers used. It meant the 00:14:02.919 --> 00:14:08.919 expression of an idea. But John, when he chooses 00:14:08.919 --> 00:14:12.419 that word, gives it a new meaning, a personal 00:14:12.419 --> 00:14:17.139 meaning. Because the word that he talks about 00:14:17.139 --> 00:14:20.519 is not merely an idea, some abstract concept. 00:14:21.840 --> 00:14:27.100 but he describes the word, the logos, as being 00:14:27.100 --> 00:14:33.860 a person. And after giving us a number of details 00:14:33.860 --> 00:14:38.399 about this word, this logos from God, he says, 00:14:38.460 --> 00:14:44.960 and this word became flesh and dwelt among us. 00:14:45.720 --> 00:14:51.200 And we beheld his glory, the glory as of the... 00:14:51.580 --> 00:14:56.419 one and only of the Father, full of grace and 00:14:56.419 --> 00:15:03.059 truth. And then in verse 17, he identifies the 00:15:03.059 --> 00:15:10.200 Word as Jesus Christ. He says the law came through 00:15:10.200 --> 00:15:21.860 Moses, but grace and truth. came through Jesus 00:15:21.860 --> 00:15:28.440 Christ. He says, no man has seen God at any time. 00:15:28.759 --> 00:15:30.919 Well, we think, what about Isaiah? Didn't he 00:15:30.919 --> 00:15:34.600 see God on the throne? What about Moses himself? 00:15:34.759 --> 00:15:38.899 Didn't he see God in that burning bush? And the 00:15:38.899 --> 00:15:41.480 answer to that is yes, God did appear in various 00:15:41.480 --> 00:15:44.460 ways in the Old Testament. But John's point is 00:15:44.460 --> 00:15:47.940 that no man has seen God's essence at any time. 00:15:51.049 --> 00:15:55.830 But he says, the only begotten God who is in 00:15:55.830 --> 00:16:01.230 the bosom of the Father. That's a strange expression, 00:16:01.450 --> 00:16:05.409 isn't it? We get the understanding of it from 00:16:05.409 --> 00:16:07.850 what John tells us later in his gospel about 00:16:07.850 --> 00:16:11.049 his position to the Lord Jesus Christ reclining 00:16:11.049 --> 00:16:19.090 close to his bosom at the Last Supper. That indicated 00:16:19.090 --> 00:16:25.679 a place. of particular dearness. It was a position 00:16:25.679 --> 00:16:31.519 of intimacy, of closeness. And what John tells 00:16:31.519 --> 00:16:36.460 us about Jesus Christ is that he was in a unique 00:16:36.460 --> 00:16:40.919 position of dearness to the Father, who is in 00:16:40.919 --> 00:16:46.379 the bosom of the Father. He has declared him, 00:16:46.580 --> 00:16:53.590 says John. He has... explained him. And so John 00:16:53.590 --> 00:16:57.210 is the one who fulfills for us this Christmas 00:16:57.210 --> 00:17:04.890 idea that the Word of God became flesh and dwelt 00:17:04.890 --> 00:17:09.710 among us. The Messiah's revelation of God was, 00:17:09.910 --> 00:17:15.309 in the first place, personal. It was not merely 00:17:15.309 --> 00:17:18.130 the passing along of some word. It was not an 00:17:18.130 --> 00:17:23.460 idea that was given. The Messiah's revelation 00:17:23.460 --> 00:17:30.839 of God was personal. When God sent His Son into 00:17:30.839 --> 00:17:33.279 the world, He did not send Him as a professor 00:17:33.279 --> 00:17:37.519 in a theological seminary. Maybe we can be very 00:17:37.519 --> 00:17:42.240 glad about that. It was not that Jesus passed 00:17:42.240 --> 00:17:46.220 along some ideas that He had learned about God. 00:17:46.259 --> 00:17:51.019 That isn't the point. The point is that He came 00:17:51.019 --> 00:17:58.380 and declared to us God Himself. It was a personal 00:17:58.380 --> 00:18:05.200 revelation of God that He gave. John's choice 00:18:05.200 --> 00:18:08.519 of words here is so interesting. He says in John 00:18:08.519 --> 00:18:19.819 1 .18, He, the Son, led Him forth. He, the Son, 00:18:19.980 --> 00:18:25.359 exegeted the Father. He narrated the Father. 00:18:27.299 --> 00:18:38.539 He told us the story of Him in His life. God 00:18:38.539 --> 00:18:40.640 spoke in the Old Testament through many means. 00:18:41.920 --> 00:18:46.660 God spoke through theophanies, appearances. God 00:18:46.660 --> 00:18:50.819 spoke through angels. that did His bidding. God 00:18:50.819 --> 00:18:53.880 spoke through prophets and other representatives 00:18:53.880 --> 00:18:58.440 who spoke on His behalf. But uniquely, God spoke 00:18:58.440 --> 00:19:01.799 to us through His Son, the promised prophet of 00:19:01.799 --> 00:19:07.460 Moses. In Hebrews chapter 1, the writer says, 00:19:07.599 --> 00:19:11.859 God in former days spoke in a variety of means 00:19:11.859 --> 00:19:17.549 through many different people. in many different 00:19:17.549 --> 00:19:23.130 ways, in bits and pieces. But in these last days, 00:19:23.190 --> 00:19:29.289 He has spoken to us by His Son. The point of 00:19:29.289 --> 00:19:31.589 the writer is that God could say nothing more 00:19:31.589 --> 00:19:35.869 than what He has now said. The Son has perfectly 00:19:35.869 --> 00:19:42.680 expressed to us all that God is. There is nothing 00:19:42.680 --> 00:19:45.339 more that needs be said. There is nothing more 00:19:45.339 --> 00:19:49.759 that can be said. The Son has personally told 00:19:49.759 --> 00:19:54.359 us of the Father. So much so that when Jesus 00:19:54.359 --> 00:19:58.000 spoke to his disciples there at the supper table, 00:19:58.140 --> 00:20:05.799 he said to them, he who has seen me has seen 00:20:05.799 --> 00:20:11.250 the Father. He was a personal. revelation of 00:20:11.250 --> 00:20:15.130 God. But secondly, he was the perfect revelation 00:20:15.130 --> 00:20:22.930 of God. The perfect revelation of God. Somebody 00:20:22.930 --> 00:20:25.349 out here says, I need to get a message to the 00:20:25.349 --> 00:20:30.329 pastor. And so he or she calls the usher over 00:20:30.329 --> 00:20:34.390 and says, come here, and gives the message for 00:20:34.390 --> 00:20:38.160 the pastor. And the usher writes it on a card 00:20:38.160 --> 00:20:40.599 or the usher waits until a point in the service 00:20:40.599 --> 00:20:44.440 and comes up and says, the lights are on on a 00:20:44.440 --> 00:20:49.220 blue Hyundai. The license number is. That's a 00:20:49.220 --> 00:20:52.420 simple message. Sometimes it gets a little messed 00:20:52.420 --> 00:20:54.720 up. It comes out as a Honda rather than a Hyundai. 00:20:55.920 --> 00:20:57.720 But, you know, there's not a lot of difference. 00:20:59.180 --> 00:21:04.190 The license plate number may be off. My point 00:21:04.190 --> 00:21:06.569 is that when there's a message passed along that 00:21:06.569 --> 00:21:11.650 way, something can get lost very easily. But 00:21:11.650 --> 00:21:16.230 nothing was lost when the Son came into the world 00:21:16.230 --> 00:21:20.309 to reveal the Father to us. Nothing was lost 00:21:20.309 --> 00:21:27.670 in the transmission of that truth. Paul, writing 00:21:27.670 --> 00:21:31.730 to the Colossians, says, He is the image of God. 00:21:32.430 --> 00:21:37.470 Speaking of Christ, the image of God, the icon 00:21:37.470 --> 00:21:43.869 is the word. An icon is the resemblance of something 00:21:43.869 --> 00:21:50.589 to a prototype from which it's derived and in 00:21:50.589 --> 00:21:56.410 whose essence it shares. Christ shares in God's 00:21:56.410 --> 00:22:01.559 real being and is a perfect manifestation. of 00:22:01.559 --> 00:22:06.059 that being. He is the perfect resemblance of 00:22:06.059 --> 00:22:13.299 God. He perfectly passed on to us all about God 00:22:13.299 --> 00:22:18.019 that you and I need to know. The writer of Hebrews 00:22:18.019 --> 00:22:21.039 says it similarly but uses a different word. 00:22:21.140 --> 00:22:25.480 He says, and he is the exact representation of 00:22:25.480 --> 00:22:31.500 God's substance. The word there is Our word character. 00:22:32.839 --> 00:22:39.640 He is the character of God's substance. This 00:22:39.640 --> 00:22:43.059 word refers to an engraved character or an impress 00:22:43.059 --> 00:22:48.900 made by a dye or by a seal. Have you seen that 00:22:48.900 --> 00:22:51.579 rather weird commercial on television? I think 00:22:51.579 --> 00:22:55.299 it's for some cold remedy. In which a person 00:22:55.299 --> 00:22:57.480 is walking down a hallway and there are these 00:22:57.480 --> 00:22:59.900 faces that come out of the walls. Have you seen 00:22:59.900 --> 00:23:03.880 that? Which one I'm talking about? People's faces 00:23:03.880 --> 00:23:06.880 are impressed in this whatever it is. And you 00:23:06.880 --> 00:23:10.000 can see their face in the side of the wall. I 00:23:10.000 --> 00:23:12.779 have no idea what they're advertising. I just 00:23:12.779 --> 00:23:15.259 noticed the weirdness of what they put on the 00:23:15.259 --> 00:23:20.039 screen. But you see what happens there is there's 00:23:20.039 --> 00:23:22.400 an image that is made. There's an impress that 00:23:22.400 --> 00:23:26.019 is made. And the result is you can see that person's 00:23:26.019 --> 00:23:31.900 face. God is invisible. God cannot be seen by 00:23:31.900 --> 00:23:36.619 our eyes unless he chooses in some way to manifest 00:23:36.619 --> 00:23:40.440 himself. Our eyes cannot behold God. No man has 00:23:40.440 --> 00:23:42.359 seen God's essence at any time. It's impossible. 00:23:42.740 --> 00:23:45.619 But the Son is impressed in human flesh, and 00:23:45.619 --> 00:23:54.180 we see God in the Son. He is God clothed in flesh 00:23:54.180 --> 00:23:59.519 and blood and humanity. So that we can see God 00:23:59.519 --> 00:24:05.079 in Christ. He is the exact representation of 00:24:05.079 --> 00:24:12.019 God's invisible substance. Then Paul uses a different 00:24:12.019 --> 00:24:14.539 word yet in Philippians chapter 2 and verse 6. 00:24:15.900 --> 00:24:19.960 He speaks of the Son of Christ being in the form. 00:24:20.799 --> 00:24:27.279 of God, the morphe of God. The word means the 00:24:27.279 --> 00:24:35.220 outer display of an inward substance. He uses 00:24:35.220 --> 00:24:36.779 the same word a little bit later in the same 00:24:36.779 --> 00:24:40.519 text when he speaks about him coming in the form 00:24:40.519 --> 00:24:45.000 of a servant. The very substance, the very heart 00:24:45.000 --> 00:24:49.329 of Jesus Christ was that of a servant. And we 00:24:49.329 --> 00:24:55.130 see it in his life. He was the servant of the 00:24:55.130 --> 00:25:01.410 Lord. And he is also the form of God. His very 00:25:01.410 --> 00:25:05.990 essence inwardly is that he is God himself. And 00:25:05.990 --> 00:25:09.210 he gives us in his outward demonstration of life 00:25:09.210 --> 00:25:14.190 what God is like. He is the form of God. Perfectly 00:25:14.190 --> 00:25:19.940 revealed. All that God is was manifested in the 00:25:19.940 --> 00:25:25.400 person of the prophet that Moses foretold, the 00:25:25.400 --> 00:25:29.420 Messiah, whose revelation of God was not only 00:25:29.420 --> 00:25:37.839 personal but perfect. Finally, we want to say 00:25:37.839 --> 00:25:40.059 regarding this revelation of God through the 00:25:40.059 --> 00:25:45.180 Messiah that it was final. There is nothing more 00:25:45.180 --> 00:25:50.640 that needs now be said to us from God. God has 00:25:50.640 --> 00:25:54.599 finished His revelation when He spoke through 00:25:54.599 --> 00:26:00.079 His Son. There is not another prophet who will 00:26:00.079 --> 00:26:05.440 surpass Him. There is not another book that will 00:26:05.440 --> 00:26:10.670 supersede the Bible. Christ is described to us 00:26:10.670 --> 00:26:14.490 by John in verse 14 and again in verse 18 as 00:26:14.490 --> 00:26:20.930 the monogenes, that is, the one of a kind. He 00:26:20.930 --> 00:26:24.009 is absolutely unique. There is nothing, there 00:26:24.009 --> 00:26:29.410 is no one like him. His revelation of God is 00:26:29.410 --> 00:26:33.750 without parallel, and it can never be repeated 00:26:33.750 --> 00:26:38.500 again. He has come, He has spoken, it is final. 00:26:42.380 --> 00:26:45.079 And thus the reason we battle with those who 00:26:45.079 --> 00:26:47.619 claim that God has given some revelation beyond 00:26:47.619 --> 00:26:54.039 this book. Or that God has spoken through some 00:26:54.039 --> 00:27:00.440 other prophet after Jesus Christ. For He is the 00:27:00.440 --> 00:27:05.759 final prophet of God. The fulfillment. of that 00:27:05.759 --> 00:27:10.140 prophecy in the book of Deuteronomy. Moses was 00:27:10.140 --> 00:27:14.279 the greatest of the Old Testament prophets. There 00:27:14.279 --> 00:27:19.059 is none that surpassed him. But Jesus Christ 00:27:19.059 --> 00:27:24.240 did surpass him. You see, Moses spoke with God 00:27:24.240 --> 00:27:28.359 face to face. Boy, that's an amazing statement 00:27:28.359 --> 00:27:35.319 to me. Moses spoke with God face to face. In 00:27:35.319 --> 00:27:39.859 Exodus chapter 34, verse 10. Chapter 33, rather, 00:27:40.220 --> 00:27:42.880 verse 11. In Deuteronomy chapter 34 and verse 00:27:42.880 --> 00:27:46.880 10. Numbers 12 and verse 8. We see that he spoke 00:27:46.880 --> 00:27:57.019 with God face to face. But Jesus Christ is the 00:27:57.019 --> 00:27:59.960 very face of God itself. That's the difference. 00:28:01.769 --> 00:28:05.410 Moses spoke with God face to face. Jesus Christ 00:28:05.410 --> 00:28:15.029 is the face of God. The two are set in contrast 00:28:15.029 --> 00:28:18.670 in Hebrews chapter 3, where both are declared 00:28:18.670 --> 00:28:22.509 by the writer to have been faithful. But Moses, 00:28:22.569 --> 00:28:30.980 as a servant in his house, the son as... The 00:28:30.980 --> 00:28:35.700 son over his house. They're different in that 00:28:35.700 --> 00:28:40.079 way. And the son is greater than the servant. 00:28:41.599 --> 00:28:44.980 The servant is a part of his house. He's in his 00:28:44.980 --> 00:28:51.319 house. The son is over it all. Jesus Christ surpasses 00:28:51.319 --> 00:28:58.579 Moses. Moses gave the law. And hear me. The law 00:28:58.579 --> 00:29:04.059 was holy. righteous and good. The Word of God 00:29:04.059 --> 00:29:10.900 says so. But the law was also preliminary. The 00:29:10.900 --> 00:29:15.779 law was preparatory. We might say it this way. 00:29:16.059 --> 00:29:25.759 The law was given to introduce us to God. John 00:29:25.759 --> 00:29:30.380 says, though the law came by Moses, Grace and 00:29:30.380 --> 00:29:37.319 truth came through Jesus Christ. Grace is set 00:29:37.319 --> 00:29:41.920 in contrast to law. In the law, the approach 00:29:41.920 --> 00:29:48.400 to God was by obedience. And because that was 00:29:48.400 --> 00:29:53.039 not possible for sinners, God in His grace provided 00:29:53.039 --> 00:29:58.240 a covering, an atonement for the sins of believers. 00:29:59.559 --> 00:30:02.500 so that they could be permitted a relationship 00:30:02.500 --> 00:30:07.880 with Him. But under grace, the approach to God 00:30:07.880 --> 00:30:13.680 is by faith. The approach to God is through receiving 00:30:13.680 --> 00:30:18.740 the gift of righteousness, which God has made 00:30:18.740 --> 00:30:22.700 available through Christ's sacrifice. A sacrifice 00:30:22.700 --> 00:30:27.119 that is final. A sacrifice that is once for all 00:30:27.119 --> 00:30:35.410 for sins. Grace and truth came by Jesus Christ. 00:30:36.609 --> 00:30:40.009 If the law was given so that we might be introduced 00:30:40.009 --> 00:30:45.309 to God, grace and truth came so that we might 00:30:45.309 --> 00:30:54.190 be intimate with God. One writer says, Christ's 00:30:54.190 --> 00:30:57.329 incarnation was the full manifestation of grace 00:30:57.329 --> 00:31:01.039 and truth. because it was the greatest possible 00:31:01.039 --> 00:31:05.220 expression of God's compassion for people and 00:31:05.220 --> 00:31:07.819 the most perfect way of conveying the truth to 00:31:07.819 --> 00:31:14.440 their understanding, the Incarnation. That which 00:31:14.440 --> 00:31:18.279 came by Jesus Christ is God's final statement. 00:31:22.119 --> 00:31:27.380 What Moses gave was true, but it was only the 00:31:27.380 --> 00:31:33.380 introduction. What Jesus has given is final. 00:31:34.220 --> 00:31:41.579 It is finished in Christ. He is the prophet predicted 00:31:41.579 --> 00:31:47.440 by Moses who would come after him. A prophet 00:31:47.440 --> 00:31:53.460 whose words we must listen to. God says if we 00:31:53.460 --> 00:31:55.599 will not listen to the words of that prophet, 00:31:55.759 --> 00:32:01.190 he himself will require it of us. So to spurn 00:32:01.190 --> 00:32:04.289 or to ignore what God has said in Jesus Christ 00:32:04.289 --> 00:32:09.869 is to turn from the only provision that God has 00:32:09.869 --> 00:32:12.789 made for us to have a relationship with Him. 00:32:13.930 --> 00:32:17.109 The purpose of the Redeemer was to reveal God 00:32:17.109 --> 00:32:22.109 to us, not merely so that we would have theology 00:32:22.109 --> 00:32:27.289 to study. No, no, no. I am not knocking theology 00:32:27.289 --> 00:32:31.190 or the study of theology. But he came for more 00:32:31.190 --> 00:32:34.329 than that we might have a theology. It was so 00:32:34.329 --> 00:32:39.150 that we might be saved. So that we might be intimate 00:32:39.150 --> 00:32:43.289 with God. So that we might have a relationship 00:32:43.289 --> 00:32:49.109 with this glorious God who revealed himself on 00:32:49.109 --> 00:32:56.410 Mount Horeb and on Mount Calvary. We must either 00:32:56.410 --> 00:33:00.589 pay attention to this revelation in Jesus Christ 00:33:00.589 --> 00:33:06.250 or lose our souls. That's what it boils down 00:33:06.250 --> 00:33:11.769 to. What does it mean to give heed to the words 00:33:11.769 --> 00:33:16.150 of this prophet? It means to more than sit in 00:33:16.150 --> 00:33:22.890 church and listen to a sermon. To give heed to 00:33:22.890 --> 00:33:28.410 the words of this prophet means to give one's 00:33:28.410 --> 00:33:33.019 life, to them, to these words. To entrust one's 00:33:33.019 --> 00:33:37.980 soul to these words. To live with this prophet 00:33:37.980 --> 00:33:46.099 as the Lord of one's life. When you and I do 00:33:46.099 --> 00:33:50.039 less than that, God says I will require it of 00:33:50.039 --> 00:33:56.160 you. And so today, as we bring to a close this 00:33:56.160 --> 00:33:59.769 Christmas season, And we think of the promises 00:33:59.769 --> 00:34:04.109 of the Redeemer. We think of His perfection. 00:34:05.109 --> 00:34:07.789 And we think of His sacrifice and His reign. 00:34:10.190 --> 00:34:15.590 And we think of His purpose in coming. Let's 00:34:15.590 --> 00:34:18.710 be sure that our lives are being lived in accordance 00:34:18.710 --> 00:34:21.789 with these words that God has given through this 00:34:21.789 --> 00:34:25.309 prophet. that we understand that Jesus Christ 00:34:25.309 --> 00:34:28.869 is the very Son of God, the very God of very 00:34:28.869 --> 00:34:34.929 gods, that he himself has borne our sin, that 00:34:34.929 --> 00:34:37.230 he has been raised from the dead now to be our 00:34:37.230 --> 00:34:43.170 priest and to be our Lord. And let's bring our 00:34:43.170 --> 00:34:46.650 lives up to that measurement and say, Lord, wherein 00:34:46.650 --> 00:34:50.449 my life is not conformed to your words, to what 00:34:50.449 --> 00:34:54.210 you have revealed. Lord, bring my life into conformity 00:34:54.210 --> 00:34:57.969 to that today, because I want to give heed to 00:34:57.969 --> 00:35:04.150 your words. I want to live with you as the Lord 00:35:04.150 --> 00:35:12.409 of my life. Let's pray together. Dear friend, 00:35:12.449 --> 00:35:15.170 God has nothing more to say to me or to you than 00:35:15.170 --> 00:35:21.630 that he has said in his Son, Jesus Christ. We 00:35:21.630 --> 00:35:27.570 cannot play with this challenge. We cannot toy 00:35:27.570 --> 00:35:34.349 with it. We dare not spurn it or ignore it. We 00:35:34.349 --> 00:35:39.250 must be serious about what God has said. God 00:35:39.250 --> 00:35:43.630 has said in His Son that He loves us. Oh, how 00:35:43.630 --> 00:35:47.349 He loves us. He has said in His Son that He is 00:35:47.349 --> 00:35:52.719 a God of great compassion. who desires to come 00:35:52.719 --> 00:35:58.659 to us, embrace us, to make our lives here meaningful, 00:35:58.840 --> 00:36:01.880 and to take us to heaven to live with him for 00:36:01.880 --> 00:36:08.860 eternity. He is a God who loves us. And in the 00:36:08.860 --> 00:36:11.280 most wonderful way, he has demonstrated that, 00:36:11.380 --> 00:36:18.119 through his Son. Have you responded to what God 00:36:18.119 --> 00:36:21.920 has done for you, friend? Have you trusted Jesus 00:36:21.920 --> 00:36:25.219 Christ as your Savior? Received Him into your 00:36:25.219 --> 00:36:30.519 life for the cleansing of your sin? And if you've 00:36:30.519 --> 00:36:33.539 done that, are you living today in conformity 00:36:33.539 --> 00:36:38.000 to what the Son has said? Is the Son of God truly 00:36:38.000 --> 00:36:42.860 the Lord of your life? Are His words the words 00:36:42.860 --> 00:36:50.369 by which you live? Oh, I pray that if not, At 00:36:50.369 --> 00:36:52.889 the end of one year, near the beginning of another, 00:36:53.110 --> 00:36:56.730 you as a Christian would say to this prophet 00:36:56.730 --> 00:37:02.190 of God, Lord, you have the words of eternal life. 00:37:04.469 --> 00:37:09.150 And I yield myself to you. Take every part of 00:37:09.150 --> 00:37:13.869 my being, all that I am, and conform me. Make 00:37:13.869 --> 00:37:16.710 me the person you want me to be. Fill me with 00:37:16.710 --> 00:37:18.969 your strength. Fill me with your glory. Fill 00:37:18.969 --> 00:37:22.789 me with your compassion and grace. And in this 00:37:22.789 --> 00:37:28.929 new year before me, may I grow and develop and 00:37:28.929 --> 00:37:34.989 become more the person you want me to be. I hope 00:37:34.989 --> 00:37:36.929 that's your prayer and your heart's desire today, 00:37:37.050 --> 00:37:42.349 Christian friend. Father God, write that upon 00:37:42.349 --> 00:37:47.889 our hearts. And may our hearts... Not be hard, 00:37:48.130 --> 00:37:53.530 not be calloused, not be cold, but be warm and 00:37:53.530 --> 00:38:00.230 tender and moldable in your hands. And write 00:38:00.230 --> 00:38:05.929 upon our hearts your word for us, your will for 00:38:05.929 --> 00:38:13.050 our lives, the depth of your love. And give us 00:38:13.050 --> 00:38:18.869 hearts. gladly, willingly responding to the Lordship 00:38:18.869 --> 00:38:24.889 of Christ. God, make us individually and make 00:38:24.889 --> 00:38:28.630 us together as a church the people of God you 00:38:28.630 --> 00:38:34.090 want us to be. And may this year find us living 00:38:34.090 --> 00:38:38.809 out the words of God to one another and to our 00:38:38.809 --> 00:38:43.090 community, especially to those without knowledge. 00:38:44.230 --> 00:38:48.849 of what you've said through your son. In his 00:38:48.849 --> 00:38:49.489 name I pray.