The prophet from your midst
Torah Portion: Shoftim (Judges) D’Varim (Deut.) 16:18-21:9
Haftorah Reading: Isaiah 51:12-53:12
Messianic Scripture Matthew 5:38-42; Acts 3:13-26; I Timothy 5:17-22
Today I want us to look at a couple of scriptures from our Torah portion this week. Much of my material will come from an article I read this week called, “The Mysterious Prophet” from First Fruits of Zion.
In Deut. 18:15 we read, “The L-rd your G-d will raise to you a prophet from your midst, from your brothers, like me, to him shall you listen.” We need to look also at Deut. 34:9-10 where we see the same promise of a prophet to come whom the L-rd knew face to face. So who is this person, this prophet?
Some say they were talking about Joshua. Some say it was not a single person but a succession of prophets. However, when we look at this closely we can see a few qualifications that fit only one person. This person would need to be a prophet who heard directly from G-d like Moshe did. He would need to fill the role of Redeemer of Israel as Moshe was. He would need to be a man of unsurpassed humility like Moshe was. So who have we heard of, who have we known that fits all of these roles? This prophet was faithful to His calling as Moshe was faithful to his. The early apostles understood that this prophecy of a prophet like Moshe was referring directly to Yeshua.
We read these words in Hebrews 3:1-3, “Therefore holy brethren, partakers of a heavenly calling, consider Yeshua, the Apostle and High Priest of our confession; He was faithful to Him who appointed Him, as Moses also was in all his house. For He has been counted worthy of more glory than Moses.”
I share this with you today to make clear to us that we have put our faith in a Jewish Messiah who walked the hills and valleys of Israel. At times the church has covered up His Jewishness and replaced it with a person who had little or no connection with the land of Israel or with the Jewish people. This has caused us, and generations before us, to lose our connection to the roots and foundations of our faith. This has resulted in a practice of paying little attention to the Hebrew scriptures. This has caused us to miss the connection between our life as believers and the roots of our faith in Judaism. Some do not realize that Yeshua and His disciples lived their lives as devout Jews, worshiping in the Temple in Jerusalem, celebrating the Sabbath each week along with all the Biblical festivals of Israel.
I mention all this because, in my opinion, we have missed so much in our walk of faith mainly because we have, in some ways, only known half of the story. Each day we have the opportunity to dig deeper into the history of our faith and devote time to seriously search for what truths scripture has to teach us.
Please continue to pray for Jo and her extended family as they all recover from Covid. May each of you have a blessed week.