Grace, mercy, and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ! Amen. This is the first sermon in our Advent, in which we will come to understand what we are saying when we call Jesus the Messiah. The Hebrew word messiah and its Greek equivalent, christ, both mean “anointed one.” There were three types of “messiahs,” or anointed ones in the Old Testament: prophets, priests, and kings. Most people did not hold even one of those offices. Those who did rarely held two. And nobody—absolutely nobody—held three offices until Jesus the Messiah. Today we begin with Christ’s office as Prophet.
What does the word prophet mean? Whenever I ask a room of confirmation students that question, they usually answer, “Somebody who can tell the future.” And that is partly true. Real prophets, speaking under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, are often able to see into the future. This is certainly true of Jeremiah the prophet, who foresaw the destruction of Jerusalem, or Isaiah the prophet, who spoke often in his prophecy of the birth of Jesus—and of his death.
Yet the work of God’s prophets involves more than merely telling the future. In addition to foretelling, prophets also speak forth-tellingly, that is, they speak out about the present situation as well. In fact, the bulk of Biblical prophecy is this category of forthtelling, usually by way of either warning or promise. The prophet speaks warning when he calls people either to repent or to face God’s judgment as a consequence for their sins. They speak God’s promises when they reassure God’s people that he is with them and for them and will rescue and deliver them from whatever danger or threat is at hand.
This work of foretelling and forthtelling was the hallmark of God’s holy prophets throughout the Old Testament. Some of them, such as Isaiah, Jeremiah, Daniel, and Ezekiel, wrote long books with many chapters. Others, such as Hosea and Jonah, wrote shorter books. (Obadiah’s prophecy is less than one page long!) Some of the most famous prophets dominate the stories of Israel’s kings, such as Samuel in the lives of Kings Saul and King David, or Elijah during the time of King Ahab. These prophets served sort of like the conscience for the king, when the king had difficulty telling right from wrong for himself. Some prophets are anonymous, such as the unnamed “man of God” (1Kings 13).
Yet of all the Old Testament prophets, none is greater than the prophet Moses, who led the children of Israel out of slavery in Egypt to the Promised Land. Moses also wrote the first five books of the Bible, known as the Torah, or the Books of Moses. God did mighty signs by Moses’ hand, including the ten plagues on Egypt, the parting of the Red Sea, and water from the rock. Moses was one of the few people in history with whom God spoke face to face and they lived to tell about it. Not until the coming of Jesus was there any other prophet like Moses.
During Moses’ farewell speech to Israel, he gave them a strange promise: after he died, God would raise up another prophet like him to speak God’s Word to Israel. “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” (Deut. 18:15, ESV).[1] Someday—some unspecified day in the future—God would send another prophet like Moses to Israel, and whatever he said they were to hear and obey. Ever since that promise was given, Israel waited in anticipation of who that prophet would be—or, as they came to call him, The Prophet. Quite notably, when the Jewish Council sent a delegation to find out who John the Baptist was, they asked him, “Are you the Prophet” (John 1:21), to which John answered, “no.” Of course, John the Baptist was a prophet, but he wasn’t The Prophet. That office belongs only to Jesus.
“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…” (Heb. 1:1-2). God used to speak to us by the prophets, but now he has spoken to us by his Son. Jesus is the Prophet like Moses. And yet he is also greater than Moses. Moses was faithful in God’s house as a servant. Jesus is faithful as a Son (Heb. 3:5-6). “For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ” (John 1:17).
“Grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.” Ultimately, God’s Word of Law, spoken by Moses, can only condemn us for our many sins. As the Lutheran Fathers wrote in the Formula of Concord: “The Law always accuses” (lex semper accusat). When we hear Moses—in particular, the Ten Commandments—we shudder because of our wickedness. But when we hear the Word of Jesus Christ, the Word become flesh, then we take comfort and joy, hearing that Christ died to forgive our sins and rose again to give us life instead of death—the just deserts of our sin. That is why the apostle Peter told Jesus, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life” (John 6:68). Jesus’ word brings healing and mercy—a far better Word than the word of Moses.
We do not always like to hear what the Bible tells us. We don’t like taking orders, and we don’t like being told we’re wrong. But if we are willing to confess our sins, then God will forgive our sins for the sake of Jesus his Son. And then we hear the Word of Jesus, the Prophet like Moses: “Neither do I condemn you. Go and sin no more” (John 8). In the name of Jesus. Amen.
[1] All Scripture references, unless otherwise indicated, are from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version.