Our text is to be found in the
chapter from which we read Deuteronomy chapter 18 and verse 18. Deuteronomy chapter 18 and verse
18. I will raise them up a prophet
from among their brethren like unto thee and will put my words
in his mouth and he shall speak unto them all that I shall command
him. We find that this is in many
ways a repeat of what he said previously at verse 15. The Lord
thy God will rise up unto thee a prophet from the midst of thy
brethren like unto me, unto him ye shall hearken. verse 15 of course it is Moses
himself who speaks very directly to the people concerning what
the Lord God will do in the raising up of this prophet and then in
verse 18 it is God himself who speaks I will raise them up a prophet
he says as he speaks his word directly to them through his
servants Moses. And so here we have that great
promise of Christ as the one who is the true prophet of the
Lord, because these words are in fact taken up in the New Testament. They're quoted in reference to
the Lord Jesus Christ in the third chapter of the Act of the
Apostles. And so there's no disputing there
reference their application to the saviour there in Acts chapter
3 and verse 22 and the following verses Moses truly said unto
the fathers of prophets shall the Lord your God rise up unto
you of your brethren like unto me him shall you hear in all
things whatsoever he shall say unto you and it shall come to
pass that every soul which will not hear that prophet shall be
destroyed from among the people and so on. It is the Lord Jesus
Christ who is being spoken of by Peter in these verses and
so on the authority of the New Testament we can say categorically
that Deuteronomy 18 and verse 18 is a promise, a prophecy of
Christ himself as the true prophet of the Lord. Now, when we think
of the name that is given to the Saviour, the Christ, the
Messiah, the Anointed One, that very name, of course, points
to the three offices that we see so clearly in the Old Testament. the office of the priests. The
priests were to be anointed in Exodus chapter 30 and verse 13. Moses is told and thou shalt
anoint Aaron, thy brother. He is to anoint Aaron, his brother,
to the office of the priesthood. And that holy anointing oil,
of course, was not to be copied by any. It was holy oil that
was used for the separating of the priests of Aaron to their
office. But in the Old Testament, anointing
was not only that that belonged to the priestly office, also
the kings. Saul, the first king of Israel,
was anointed by Samuel in the opening words of the 10th chapter
of the first book of Samuel we read of Saul's anointing and
then subsequently of course in chapter 16 we read about the
prophet goes to the house of Jesse and Jesse's sons are brought
before the prophet but it is David who is chosen as the one
to be the king and so David is also anointed and anointed to
the office of king but then as with the priest and as with the
king so also with the prophets we find out that in regard to
the man who was to succeed the great prophet Elijah He is told
in the first book of Kings in chapter 19, Elisha shalt thou
anoint to be prophet in thy stead. And so Elijah the great prophet
is followed by another who is anointed to his office as prophet
and God himself says, touch not mine anointing, do my prophets
no harm. Here then we see how that in
the Old Testament the threefold office, the prophet, the king,
the priest, all were to be anointed. Now it's interesting to observe
certain individuals in the Old Testament how they served God
not only in one office but maybe in two offices. Aaron, for example,
though he was anointed to be a priest, was also in a sense
more than a priest, he was a prophet as well as a priest. In Exodus
chapter 7 we read of him quite specifically as one who is to
serve as prophets as well as as priest in the opening words
there. The Lord said unto Moses, Say,
I have made thee a God to Pharaoh, and Aaron thy brother shall be
thy prophet. Thou shalt speak all that I command
thee, and Aaron thy brother shall speak unto Pharaoh that he send
the children of Israel out of his land. He is a priest, yes,
that's his primary office. but he is also in a certain sense
spoken of there as one who is a prophet who speaks the word
of God and that is the mark of the prophet is he not that they
speak God's words and also when we think of King David and King
Solomon yes they were those who occupied the kingly office but
we know that those men were also prophets the writings that we have by
those men as they were inspired by the Holy Spirit. David in
the book of Psalms and Solomon in the wisdom literature of the
Proverbs and Ecclesiastes and the Psalms. Are there not prophecies
in their writings? Do they not speak of the Lord
Jesus Christ in their writing? They are amongst those holy men
of God who were moved by the Spirit of God then to speak the
words of God, to give prophetic statements. Yes, they were primarily
kings, but they were also prophets. But then when we come to Moses,
it's quite remarkable because we see that Moses is the one
who in a sense occupies these three offices. He is spoken of
as King in Yeshua. Here at the end of his writings
Deuteronomy of course being the last of the five books of Moses
and in chapter 33 Verse 4, Moses commanded us a
law, even the inheritance of the congregation of Jacob, and
he was king in Jezreel, when the heads of the people and the
tribes of Israel were gathered together. Here we have that chapter
in which he pronounced his blessings upon the tribes of Israel. and he is a king, he is king
it says in Yeshua but he is also a priest, well he is numbered
amongst the priests Aaron of course his brother was the one
who was the head of the priestly family in Israel but remember
in the words of Psalm 99 Verse 6, Moses and Aaron among
his priests it says. Exalted the Lord our God and
worship at his footstool for he is holy, Moses and Aaron among
his priests. He is king in Jeshurun, he is
also a priest. But then we know that he is more
especially that one who is set before us as the prophet. He occupies the prophetic office,
does he not? And here in chapter 34, and there
at verse 10 there, arose not a prophet, since in Israel I
come to Moses, whom the Lord knew face to face in all the
signs and the wonders which the Lord sent him to do in the land
of Egypt to Pharaoh and to all his servants and to all his land,
and in all that mighty hand and in all that great terror which
Moses showed in the sight of all Israel. Now the miracles
were those that authenticated his authority as the man who
was God's prophet. He spoke God's words. There arose
not a prophet since in Israel. And all that follow really, they
all appeal to Moses, to the law, to the testament, If they speak
not according to this Word, it is because there is no light
in them. What is it that the prophets
do? Yes, they speak God's Word, but they appeal for their authority
to these books of Moses. The first five books of Scripture,
he is clearly then a great prophet. He is prophet, he is priest,
and he is king. And in all of this, There is
a sense in which we see him as a type of Christ. He anticipates
the Lord Jesus Christ. Verse 15, The Lord thy God will
rise up unto thee, a prophet from the midst of thy brethren,
like unto me, like unto me, unto him ye shall hearken. Christ is that one, of course,
who is the great prophet, priest and king. Moses, in a sense,
might be said to foreshadow Christ. But this difference, of course,
the law was given by Moses. Grace and truth came by Jesus
Christ. He is greater than Moses. Moses was a servant in God's
hands. For the Lord Jesus Christ is
the Son, as we read in Hebrews. I will raise Him up a prophet
from among their brethren like unto thee, and will put my words
in his mouth, and he shall speak unto them all that I shall command
him. Let us for a while consider the
text, considering most particularly the manner of Christ's prophetic
ministry. First of all, with regards to
his prophetic ministry, we might say it is passive and it is active. It is passive and it is active. What does it say here in the
text? God says, I will put my words in his mouth and he shall
speak unto them all that I shall command him. There is the passive,
God puts his words in his mouth and as God puts his words in
his mouth, there is the active, he speaks unto the people all
the words that God commands him. How there must be the passive
first of all, that controls the active really. It's only as God's
words are put into his mouth that he can act as a prophet.
But how necessary is that latter? speaking the words of God if
he is going to rightly occupy the office of the prophets. The Lord came to other men, the
Lord spoke to other men, He spoke to Nebuchadnezzar. In the book of Daniel we are
told how the Lord God came to that great Babylonian emperor
and revealed things to him. spoke to him, of course, by means
of dreams, but it was God's word to him nonetheless. So we read there in Daniel 4,
verse 4, I, Nebuchadnezzar, was at rest in my house and flourishing
in my palace. I saw a dream which made me afraid
and the thoughts upon my bed and the visions of my head Why
so? God was in these things. God
was the one who was speaking to him. But he cannot remember
the dream, he cannot understand the dream. But then comes Daniel,
the interpreter. What does Daniel say? Verse 24
there, this is the interpretation, O King, and this is the decree
of the Most High which is come upon my Lord the King." God is
making known to this man His decree. God is revealing to this
haughty, this proud, pagan emperor His decree. This is the interpretation
of King. This is the decree of the Most
High. which is come upon my Lord the King. He experiences what
we might term the passive aspect, God's word comes to him. But he is not one who is called
to speak the word of God, he cannot understand it. Daniel
must come and Daniel must explain these things to him and interpret
these things for him. But when we see the prophetic
office, you see, we see that these men, they have both the
passive aspects and also the active aspects. And we see it,
for example, in a prophet like Jeremiah. There in the very first
chapter of the book of Jeremiah, verse 9 of chapter 1, Then the
Lord put forth his hand and touched my mouth and the Lord said unto
me behold I have put my words in thy mouth now here is Jeremiah
he is quite passive in this God comes with his word God gives
him his words but with Jeremiah we also see that other aspect
of the prophetic office the speaking of the word of God later you
see He makes his complaints. His ministry is not being received.
So what does he say in chapter 20 and verse 9? I will not make
mention of him nor speak any more in his name but his word
was in my heart as a burning fire. shut up in my bones and
I was weary with forbearing and I could not stay. In other words,
having received God's word, he must speak God's word. Why? Because
this man Jeremiah is called to that office. He is the Lord's
prophet. And therefore receiving the word
of God passively, he must speak the word of God actively. And
what was true in Jeremiah, not surprisingly, we see was also
true in the case of the man Moses. Moses also is one who receives
God's Word and then speaks the Word that he has received. In Exodus chapter 4 verse 11,
the Lord said unto him, Who hath made man's mouth or who maketh
the dumb, or deaf, or the seeing, or the blind, have not I the
Lord? Now therefore, go, and I will
be with thy mouth, and teach thee what thou shalt say." God
gives him the words. And Moses must actively speak
the words that God has given to him. We are considering, of
course, the Lord Jesus Christ. I will raise him up a prophet
from among their brethren like unto them. And I will put my
words in his mouth, God says, and he shall speak unto them
all that I shall command him. And so when we come to the New
Testament and we consider the Lord Jesus Christ, we see this
very thing again. He doesn't come to speak his
own words. Though, of course, he is God. He is the eternal Son of God.
He is equal with the Father, but here we see him, of course,
in the outworking of the covenant, that covenant of grace in which
he is God's servant. And so he comes to serve God. How does he serve God? He serves
God here in the office of prophet. at the end of John chapter 12.
For I have not spoken of myself but he says the Father which
sent me he gave me a commandment what I should say and what I
should speak and I know that his commandment is not everlasting
whatsoever I speak therefore even as the Father said unto
me so I speak. For he comes you see as God's
servant, as God's prophet And we see it time and time again
there in John's Gospel. As my father hath taught me,
he says, I speak these things. He only speaks the things that
God has taught him. Again in chapter 15, he says this, all things that I
have heard of my Father, I have made known unto you. The end of verse 15 there in
the 15th chapter of John. This is the Lord Jesus Christ
then in his prophetic office. There is the passive, he receives
God's words and he speaks God's words. And we see it even in
the opening verse of the last book of Scripture, the opening
verse of the Revelation. It is the revelation of Jesus
Christ which God gave unto him to show unto his servants. You
see what's being said there? It is a revelation from God which
is given to the Lord Jesus Christ and why has God given this revelation? In order that he might show it
unto his servants. He is, I say, the great prophet.
In these last days, God has spoken unto us by his son. And so in his prophetic office
we see the passive on the one hand, the receiving the word
of God, the active on the other, the speaking the word of God. I will put my words in his mouth,
he shall speak unto them all that I shall command him. but then also with regards to
this prophetic office of the Saviour, we can observe that
it is both immediate and immediate, or we can say it is both direct
and indirect. Now, as I said at the outset,
here we see God speaking in both these ways concerning the Prophet. In verse 18 God speaks directly. Verse 18 is in the first person,
I, God says. I will raise them up a prophet. And this prophet will speak all
that I shall command him. That is a direct word, God speaks. But then you see in verse 15,
that's God speaking indirectly. It's God's Word, but it's God's
Word now as it comes through Moses. Moses speaks. The Lord thy God, he said, shall
raise up unto thee a prophet from the midst of thy brethren
like unto me. Unto him ye shall have. And this
is how Christ exercises his prophetic ministry. He speaks immediately.
Sometimes he speaks immediately even in the Old Testament. before
the Incarnation? Do we not see Him there as the
great angel of the Lord, these Theophanies as they are called,
wherein Christ was pleased to appear to a man like Abraham? He speaks to him as he appears
to him, does he not? Remember in Genesis 18 the Lord
appeared unto him in the plains of Mamre and he sat in the tent
door in the heat of the day and he lifted up his eyes and looked
and those three men stood by him. These three men, they come
to him but then we see subsequently how that two of these men depart
from him and one of these men is left with Abraham. In verse 22 there, the men turned
their faces from thence and went toward Sodom. Now we know from
chapter 19 that the men that went toward Sodom were two of
those. There came two angels to Sodom and to Eban and Lot
sat in the gate of Sodom and Lot seeing them rose up to meet
them and he bowed himself with his face toward the ground and
so on. But there were three men that came, you see. Two have
gone to Sodom, what of the third man? Well, the third man continues
with Abraham and speaks to Abraham. Verse 23 there in chapter 18.
Abraham drew near and said, Wilt thou also destroy the righteous
with the wicked? The Lord has spoken, you see. those men turned with their faces
towards Sodom and Abraham stood yet before the Lord and then
Abraham and the Lord they conversed together the Lord is speaking
directly to him we know how the Christ in his ministry said of
Abraham how he desired to see my day and he saw it for the
day of Christ he saw it of course when he was there on Mount Moriah
in Genesis chapter 22 when he was commanded to offer up his
son, his only son Isaac. But again there in that 22nd
chapter we see that the Lord spoke quite clearly to him, quite
directly to him. Chapter 22 and verses 11 and
12, the angel of the Lord calls to him from heaven. He is to
stay his hand, he is not to kill his son, he is to take that ram
that is caught by its horns in the thicket and to offer that
in the place of his son Isaac. But the Lord spoke to him. The
Lord speaks to men directly. The angel of the Lord comes to
them. We see it in the book of Judges in Judges chapter 6 and
verse 11 following. As the angel of the Lord came
to Gideon. That was Christ. In chapter 13 the angel of the
Lord comes to Menoah's wife and then to Menoah the parents of
Samson. They saw the angel of the Lord,
they heard, he spoke to them. And of course when we come to
the New Testament it is quite clear that the Lord Jesus Christ
is there exercising his ministry in an immediate sense. After that John was put into
prison, we are told in the opening chapter of Mark's Gospel how
that Jesus came into Galilee preaching the Gospel of the Kingdom
and saying repent and believe the Gospel. The Kingdom of Heaven
is at hand. The Lord's exercise is a very
immediate and direct ministry throughout the Gospel. He is
there as that great preacher. When Nicodemus speaks to him
in the third chapter of John, what does he say? We know that
thou art a teacher come from God. He was there as a teacher,
as a preacher. It's that great salvation that
he's spoken of in Hebrews which at the first began to be spoken
by the Lord. or the Lord spoke, he is the
great prophet who speaks of salvation. But then his prophetic ministry
might also be said to be mediated. Mediated through men. In that
sense it's indirect. Yes, the great salvation which
at first began to be spoken by the Lord, says Paul, But then
he goes on to say, oh it was confirmed unto us by them that
heard him. By them that heard him. The apostles,
you see. They were those who were enabled
by the Holy Ghost to continue that ministry of the Lord Jesus. And isn't that the promise that
Christ gives to them? when he speaks of the ministry
of the Holy Ghost the Comforter in John 14 and verse 26 he says
this the Comforter which is the Holy Ghost whom the Father will
send in my name he shall teach you all things and bring all
things to your remembrance whatsoever I have said unto you and so through
them the Lord speaks his words. They are enabled to recall, to
remember his preaching and to repeat his teaching. His prophetic
ministry in that sense is mediated through the apostles. But the
Lord Jesus Christ is that one who is also preaching through
the prophets of the Old Testament. It's not just in the New Testament
that we see his ministry exercised in an indirect fashion. That's
certainly the case with regards to the Old Testament. The testimony
of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy. Now, Peter reminds us of that
ministry that prophets exercised in the opening chapter of his
first general epistle. He speaks of the Old Testament
prophets. Verse 10, he speaks of the salvation,
of which salvation the prophets have inquired and searched diligently
who prophesied of the grace that should come unto you, searching
what or what manner of time the Spirit of Christ which was in
them did signify, when he testified beforehand the sufferings of
Christ and the glory that should follow. They spake as they were
moved by the Holy Spirit, but the Holy Spirit is in them and
with them as the Spirit of Christ. And those Old Testament prophets
are therefore speaking the words of the Lord Jesus Christ. His
word is being mediated through those prophets of the Old Testament. Yes, He speaks directly sometimes. He appears. There are these theophanies. He comes to Abraham, He comes
to others. But normally in the Old Testament, the word of Christ
is mediated through the prophets. He speaks indirectly. In the
New Testament he clearly is speaking so directly throughout the Gospels. That's a record that we have
in the Fourfold Gospel of all that Jesus began those to do
and to teach. But then also we have the Acts
of the Apostles and the New Testament Epistles and even through to
the Book of the Revelation and it's all the Word of Christ.
that he'd been mediated through his apostles. But there is a
sense in which we have to recognize that the Lord Jesus Christ does
still come and speak to men. He speaks, does he not, through
the preaching of the Word. That's the amazing thing, not
that there are any prophets as there were in the Old Testament
or the New Testament. Nevertheless, the Lord has given
to us this office of the ministry. And oh, the reformers recognise
the importance of that. Oh, that noble martyr, Bishop
Latimer, a great preacher at the time of the Reformation,
said it. God hath given this office of the ministry to save
us by himself. Let us maintain this. The Lord Jesus Christ, does he
not come in the preached word? Does he not tell us concerning
his sheep that they know his voice? And they follow him and
he gives to them eternal life. How do they know his voice? They
discern his voice. They know not the voice of strangers
but they know the voice of Christ. They discern it even in the preached
word. For as that word came to the
church at Ephesus there in what we now call Turkey. He hath not
so learned Christ if so be that you have heard him and been taught
by him as the truth is in Jesus says Paul to them and yet Christ
is never there his ministry is to the lost sheep of the house
of Israel his ministry is confined to the land of Palestine how
did they learn Christ? how did they hear Christ? through
preaching all the word of the Lord comes you see through the
ministry, he speaks to men still. Here we see then something of
that ministry of the Lord Jesus Christ. It is passive and active, he receives
the words from God, he speaks the word of God. Sometimes he
speaks in a direct fashion as we have it here in verse 18,
I will raise him up a prophet. Sometimes he speaks indirectly,
as we see it in verse 15, the Lord thy God will raise the upper
prophets, says Moses. But then, a third aspect with
regards to this ministry of Christ as the great prophet. It is both
external, it's outwards, but it's also inward. Now it is outwards,
it's in the words. in the Word. It's here in the Scriptures that
we are to be looking for the Lord Jesus Christ. Is that how
we come to the Scripture? We don't just come to feed our
minds, we don't just come to do a Bible study, not that those
things are unprofitable, but we come for something more than
that. Or we want to We want to meet with Christ. We want to
find the Saviour. We want to hear His voice. He said to the Jews, search the
Scriptures. In them you think that you have
eternal life, but these are they that testify of me. The Bible
speaks of Christ. But more than that, Doesn't the
Lord Jesus Christ Himself speak to us in the Scriptures? As we come unto the sound of
His words, are we those who desire that He would come and speak
to us? The Scriptures and the Lord bear
one tremendous name, the written and incarnate Word in all things
of the style. Remarkable is it not? This is
the Word of God. That's one of the names that
we give to the Bible. Oh yes, it's the words of men,
but these men are so brought upon by the Spirit of God, that
they are not speaking their own words. Remember those words in
Peter, they speak as they are moved, and the verb is a very
strong one, the idea of them being born along, carried along
by the Spirit of God. The same word that is used of
what happened when Paul suffered shipwreck. There at the end of
Acts, in the New Testament, as he's making that journey to Rome.
A new rocket and a great storm blows up and the mariners cannot
control the ship and it speaks about they had to let the ship
drive. It's the same word that Peter
uses concerning those holy men of God. They were brought along,
they were driven of the Spirit just as that Boat is at the mercy
of the elements. It's carried along by the winds
and the waves. So those holy men of God are
carried along by the Spirit of God. They are speaking God's
words. That's what the Scripture is. It's the Word of God. And then the Lord Jesus Christ
is the Word of God. Here is the Word of God inscripturated
in Christ. We have the words incarnate the
words was made flesh dwelt among us and we beheld his glory the
glory of the only begotten of the Father full of grace and
truth all the same name is given to
the scriptures as is given to the Lord and Christ's name is the name
which is above every other name And don't God, you see, has exalted
his words, his inscripturated word above all his name. Oh, are we those who come to the
word of God, we have such a high view, such a high doctrine of
what the scripture is. We don't just come in some academic
way that we might understand it. I mean, that is the danger.
When we study the scripture, that's the danger of Bible college,
theological college, it just becomes a textbook. The Bible
is more than a textbook. We're to be those who would desire
that we might hear, meet with Christ and hear the voice of
Christ. And that we might be profited. That's why God has
given His Word. It's profitable with Him. It's
profitable. How is He profitable to us? well
we are told concerning Israel in the wilderness it did not
profit them not being mixed with faith in them that heard it or
that there might be in us that mixing of faith that mixing of
faith and so you see this ministry, this prophetic ministry of the
word of the Lord Jesus Christ is not only outward in the word
of God it must also be inward inward in our hearts and inward
by the Spirit of God. And so Paul, when he writes to
the Thessalonians, reminds them how the Gospel came to them.
He says, not in word only. Our Gospel came unto you, not
in word only, but in power, and in the Holy Ghost, and in much
assurance. Oh friends, this surely is how
we should desire that God's word should come to us, by the Spirit.
By the Spirit. There might be that mixing of
faith. Where does faith come from? Where does saving faith
come from? We cannot of ourselves produce
saving faith. It is the gift of God itself.
By grace I say through faith that of yourselves it is the
gift of God. It is that faith that is of the
operation of God. This is why we deny duty faith
as if man can perform a certain duty and somehow or other he
can believe of himself. He cannot. It's an impossibility. Saving faith is the gift of God,
the work of God, in the soul of a man, how we need the Holy
Spirit then to come. It is the Spirit that quickeneth,
the flesh profiteth, nothing says profit. The words that I
speak unto you, they are Spirit and they are life. That's what
we need, that the Lord Jesus Christ as the great Prophet should
come and speak those words to us that are Spirit and that are
life. and that we might be receiving
it or do we desire to be humbled before the word of God we don't argue with it we bow
before the authority of it there are passages that are difficult
for us to understand but we see that the fault is not in the
scripture the fault is within us Our understanding, you see, must
be enlightened. Oh, our poor minds! What are
they when we think of the consequence of Adam's fall, Adam's sin? Our
poor minds are so dark and so alienated from God. But when
the word comes, you see, and comes from this great prophet,
the Lord Jesus Christ, in Ephesians chapter 1, Paul's prayer at verse 17, that
the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give
unto you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge
of Him, the eyes of your understanding being enlightened, that ye may
know what is the hope of His calling and what is the riches
of the glory of His inheritance in the saints. You see what we
need? is what we should pray for, that
God would grant to us that spirit of wisdom and revelation in the
knowledge of Christ the eyes of our understandings being enlightened
these poor dark minds of ours and not only to have an enlightened
mind and an understanding but also to be those who have an
obedient will What is the promise that God gives to Christ in the
New Covenant? Thy people shall be willing in
the day of thy power. We need to be made of willing
people. We have no free will. By nature
our wills are in bondage to what we are. We are sinners. Free will, the very notion of
it, is so ridiculous. when we consider what the scripture
says concerning man's state, man's condition as a sinner he
is dead in trespasses and sins and his will is in bondage to
what he is as a sinner but if the son shall make you free he
shall be free indeed and this is that one you see, the great
prophet he doesn't just come to give And in life and understanding
he comes also to free the will, to make the will obedient. Not
only that, he comes also, does he not, to remove us? Oh, how
the heart, the heart of man must be removed. Why? What are our hearts by nature? They are evil. Evil above all
things. They are desperately wicked,
that's what the scripture says. God sees the condition of the
hearts of all men and what is the remedy? God says he will
give to his children a new heart. This shall be the covenant that
I will make with the house of Israel after those days saith
the Lord. I will put my law in their inward
parts and write it in their hearts and will be their God and they
shall be my people. Oh, God must come, you see, He
must deal with the heart. He must come, He must deal with
us in the very depths of our souls. And now we are to be those
who are so humbled under His Word, under the authority of
the Scriptures that with meekness, with meekness we receive it.
Meekness is the only way of receiving it, and receiving it as the engrafted
or the implanted word that is able to save our souls. All this gracious ministry then
that this great prophet exercises. We sang of it just now in our
first and our second hymn, but thinking especially of that second
hymn that we sang number 126 ago, It speaks of His gracious words to sinners. He doesn't come to break a bruised
reed or to quench a smoking flax. What tenderness! Sweet is Thy
speech, and heavenly grace upon Thy lips is shed by God with
blessings infinite as crowns Thy sacred head gird on thy sword,
victorious prince, ride with majestic sway. Thy terror shall
strike through thy foes and make the world obey. God's promise is this, I will
raise them up a prophet from among their brethren, all is
like unto his people, you see. Not only as a priest, but also
as a prophet is from among his brethren, And I will put my words in his
mouth, God says, and he shall speak unto them all that I shall
command him. God grant that we might know
him then as that one who is our great prophet. The Lord bless
his word to us.