51.m. Wilderness – 15.s. “But in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son”

 

Deu 18:15-22  “The LORD your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among you, from your brothers—it is to him you shall listen— just as you desired of the LORD your God at Horeb on the day of the assembly, when you said, ‘Let me not hear again the voice of the LORD my God or see this great fire any more, lest I die.’ And the LORD said to me, ‘They are right in what they have spoken. 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. And whoever will not listen to my words that he shall speak in my name, I myself will require it of him. But the prophet who presumes to speak a word in my name that I have not commanded him to speak, or who speaks in the name of other gods, that same prophet shall die.’ And if you say in your heart, ‘How may we know the word that the LORD has not spoken?’— when a prophet speaks in the name of the LORD, if the word does not come to pass or come true, that is a word that the LORD has not spoken; the prophet has spoken it presumptuously. You need not be afraid of him.

 Hebrews 1:1-2    Long ago, at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets,  but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed the heir of all things, through whom also he created the world.

 Hebrews 2:1-3    Therefore we must pay much closer attention to what we have heard, lest we drift away from it.  For since the message declared by angels proved to be reliable, and every transgression or disobedience received a just retribution,  how shall we escape if we neglect such a great salvation? It was declared at first by the Lord, and it was attested to us by those who heard,

 Matthew 17:5     He was still speaking when, behold, a bright cloud overshadowed them, and a voice from the cloud said, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased; listen to him.”

It is here promised concerning Christ, that there should come a Prophet, great above all the prophets; by whom God would make known himself and his will to the children of men, more fully and clearly than he had ever done before. He is the Light of the world, Joh 8:12. He is the World by whom God speaks to us, Joh 1:1; Heb 1:2. In his birth he should be one of their nation. In his resurrection he should be raised up at Jerusalem, and from thence his doctrine should go forth to all the world. Thus God, having raised up his Son Christ Jesus, sent him to bless us. He should be like unto Moses, only above him. This prophet is come, even JESUS; and is He that should come, and we are to look for no other. The view of God which he gives, will not terrify or overwhelm, but encourages us. He speaks with fatherly affection and Divine authority united. Whoever refuses to listen to Jesus Christ, shall find it is at his peril; the same that is the Prophet is to be his Judge, Joh 12:48. Woe then to those who refuse to hearken to His voice, to accept His salvation, or yield obedience to His sway! But happy they who trust in Him, and obey Him. He will lead them in the paths of safety and peace, until He brings them to the land of perfect light, purity, and happiness. Here is a caution against false prophets. It highly concerns us to have a right touchstone wherewith to try the word we hear, that we may know what that word is which the Lord has not spoken. Whatever is against the plain sense of the written word, or which gives countenance or encouragement to sin, we may be sure is not that which the Lord has spoken. (Henry)

From the time of the last Prophet until the coming of Jesus Christ was over 400 years. Can you imagine a time like this? God’s Prophet was among you and proclaiming and declaring what God had to say, and then there was none raised up. It is as if they were left alone to their own whims and establishing some form of godliness after what they thought was right. After one generation there would be little for the common person to know about life with a prophet among them. Every generation after that would just assume the closest they could get to hearing from God would be through the priests. The books of the Law would give these priests hope of God sending a prophet and they looked for it. However after 400 years, it was hard for them to accept it was NOW, when Jesus was born. 

No other prophets are to come. Why?? Because when Jesus died and rose again and ascended into heaven He sent the Holy Spirit to indwell each of us who believe, trust, obey, follow, cling to, and rely upon Him for forgiveness, redemption, and salvation. The Holy Spirit dwells in the heart, mind, and soul of every believer to guide, direct, lead, convict, teach, comfort, and encourage. No other prophet is needed nor will come. And yet, there seems to be a famine in a desire to seek the leading of the Holy Spirit in the lives of far too many Christians. Why?? 

God has given us His Word for us to grow in our knowledge and understanding of His grace, mercy, love, promises, power, might, creation, warnings, blessings, heaven, hell, and judgment. God’s Word is ever-powerful to grow us in the knowledge and understanding. If we were to memorize it all the knowledge and understanding of it would continue to expand in us even if we lived to be one million years old. There will never be a second wasted in the study of it. It is good for the hearts, minds, and souls of all who read, study, and apply it.

I have chosen the way of faithfulness

Psalms 119:30  I have chosen the way of faithfulness; I set your rules before me.

Joshua 24:15     And if it is evil in your eyes to serve the LORD, choose this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your fathers served in the region beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you dwell. But as for me and my house, we will serve the LORD.”

Proverbs 1:29   Because they hated knowledge and did not choose the fear of the LORD,

Luke 10:42    but one thing is necessary. Mary has chosen the good portion, which will not be taken away from her.”

John 3:19-21     And this is the judgment: the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil.  For everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his works should be exposed.  But whoever does what is true comes to the light, so that it may be clearly seen that his works have been carried out in God.”

John 8:45     But because I tell the truth, you do not believe me.

1 Peter 2:2     Like newborn infants, long for the pure spiritual milk, that by it you may grow up into salvation

Deuteronomy 11:18-20     “You shall therefore lay up these words of mine in your heart and in your soul, and you shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes.  You shall teach them to your children, talking of them when you are sitting in your house, and when you are walking by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise.  You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates,

If we are to be kept from sin, it must be by the grace of God exercised through the teaching of his Word.” (Boice)

Men do not drop into the right way by chance; they must choose it, and continue to choose it, or they will soon wander from it.” (Spurgeon)

The fact that  we have free will in “Choosing” our thoughts, actions, and what we say, means we have more than one path in life to pick from.   “Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter.” The wide gate and broad road are all decisions we make.  These choices are decided upon what is influencing our heart, mind, and soul.

Our sinful nature has many “non-God serving, honoring, following, and obeying thoughts and actions to pick from – “Wide Gate” “Broad Road“.  Paul says to take every thought captive.  Our sinful nature has a way of throwing some very non God like thoughts into our head.  Being able to discern that it is not God honoring and taking it captive means we have something to compare the thought against.  “God’s word”.

We are not going to stop all of these thoughts from popping up, but what we do with them we can.  Why does God tell us to “You shall therefore lay up these words of mine in your heart and in your soul, and you shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes.  You shall teach them to your children, talking of them when you are sitting in your house, and when you are walking by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise.  You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates,“?  So we can recognize these non-God honoring, serving, following, and obeying thoughts captive in and through His word.

Pride, hate, selfishness, lust, greed, self-reliance, anxiousness, worry, all have ways of manifesting themselves in reactionary thought.  Having God’s word in our heart, mind and soul – meditating on it in the morning and evening, teaching it through out the day to our children, giving thought to it with the purpose of honoring God at all times will reduce the non-God honoring thoughts and keep our heart, mind and soul from choosing to walk through the wide gate and broad road.