Who is The Prophet?

     “Are you the Prophet?”

    As we read through the gospels, there are several places where this question comes up. For instance, the Jewish leaders sent priests and Levites to John the Baptist, asking, basically, “Are you the Messiah, are you Elijah, are you the Prophet?” His answer was a flat and final, “No.” [John 1:21] After the feeding of the 5000, Jesus faced the same suggestion: “Surely this is the Prophet.” [John 6:14] On the last day of the Feast of Tabernacles, Jesus stood up in the temple courts and, in a loud voice, invited people to come to him for a life-giving drink. And what did some people say? “Surely this man is the Prophet.” [John 7:40]

     There are several other Gospel passages that refer to either John the Baptist or Jesus as “a” prophet, but these are the only ones that specify “the” Prophet. It seems like the entire populace knew about this Prophet…leaders, priests, Levites, Pharisees, and “crowd”…but he was distinct from the Messiah. Where did this notion come from?

     The answer is simple and straightforward when we dig into Moses’ writings. [Deuteronomy 18:15-19] This passage gives the picture twice, once from Moses’ perspective and once from God’s, and is well worth quoting:

     "The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among your fellow Israelites. You must listen to him…"

     ”I will raise up for them a prophet like you from among their fellow Israelites, and I will put my words in his mouth. He will tell them everything I command him. I myself will call to account anyone who does not listen to my words that the prophet speaks in my name.”

    It turns out that some of those well-fed 5000 and some of those in the temple courts were right. The ultimate key to identifying The Prophet was “listening to his words.” And the Apostle John begins to lay out that identification in the very first verse of his gospel: “In the beginning was the Word…” Later on, Jesus comments on His own speech: “The words I have spoken to you—they are full of the Spirit and life.” [John 6:63] Peter confirms who The Prophet is when he says, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life.” [John 6:68]

Sad to say, others took a different view: “No, he deceives the people.” [7:12] It seems like the temple guard were convinced; they went back to their superiors without arresting Jesus and were blamed for being deceived, just like the “mob” around them. [John 7:47] Jesus gave credit to His Father for the words He was speaking, just like Moses prophesied: “My teaching is not my own. It comes from the one who sent me.” [John 7:16]

There is only one conclusion that Scripture allows us—Jesus is The Prophet. He is like Moses in countless details (outlined to some extent in Hebrews chapters 3 and 11) yet he is far, far superior to Moses. Moses never claimed any great powers, yet Jesus declared, “Before Abraham was born, I am!” [John 8:58] The superiority of Jesus over Moses is breath-taking. The best thing we can do is worship.

Is Elijah coming back?

    There were three men the Jews of New Testament times were watching for: The Messiah, The Prophet, and Elijah. The others are obviously more important but, for the moment, we want to focus on Elijah; how did the notion get about that he would return? After Moses, he was arguably the greatest prophet in ancient Israel. His exploits are detailed in I Kings 17, 18, 19; and 2 Kings 1 and 2 (all circa 850 BC). Elijah first appears in Scripture announcing to King Ahab a years-long drought. Later, at his pleading, God restores a boy’s life. Still later, he organizes a “contest” with the prophets of Baal, and we know who won that one. The last we know of Elijah is his journey to Jordan, where his faith in his great God allows him and Elisha to cross dryshod. Then, “Suddenly a chariot of fire and horses of fire appeared and separated the two of them, and Elijah went up to heaven in a whirlwind.” (2 Kings 2:11 )

     But, over 400 years later (c.430 BC), Malachi has a further word from the Lord (in fact, these are the last two verses of the Old Testament): “See, I will send the prophet Elijah to you before that great and dreadful day of the Lord comes. He will turn the hearts of the parents to their children, and the hearts of the children to their parents; or else I will come and strike the land with total destruction.” [Malachi 4:5, 6]

     The very last word for the Jews was that Elijah would return. That’s why the leaders in Jerusalem sent priests and Levites to ask John the Baptist, “Are you Elijah?” His quick response was, “I am not.” [John1:21] The leaders discounted him ever after. In fact, when Jesus asked them whether John’s baptism was from heaven or of human origin, they dithered and said, “We don’t know.” [Matthew 21:27]

     Matthew had a higher regard for John the Baptist. He claimed that John fulfilled Isaiah’s prophecy: “A voice of one calling in the wilderness, ‘Prepare the way for the Lord, make straight paths for him.’” [Mat.3:3, from Isaiah 40:3]

     Jesus’ attitude to John is surprising too: “If you are willing to accept it, he is the Elijah who was to come.” [Matthew 11:1] It seems that they were not willing to accept it; the curse came down on the nation in 70 A.D., “I will come and strike the land with total destruction.”

     Elijah appeared briefly, very privately, at the transfiguration with Moses and Jesus, but there are Bible scholars who think that Elijah must still return with a public display. Their reference is Revelation 11:3:-- Two witnesses in a future reign of terror behave much like Elijah did in the Old Testament—and they die! Elijah never died in the O.T. Could one of these witnesses be Elijah? It’s interesting to speculate, but that’s all we can do. It does raise the possibility that mankind may indeed, yet see him!

David--- a man after God's own heart???

      I've read all the stories of David in Scripture and if I were transported back to his day, I wouldn't trust him behind my back! Particularly think of his interaction with Uriah and Bathsheba (2 Sam.11:1-27)---coveting, adultery with another man's wife, then murder of her husband! David broke at least three of the ten commandments in that short time frame. (Exod. 20) The prescribed punishment was “both the adulterer and the adulteress are to be put to death.” (Lev. 20:10) For murder, “Anyone who kills a person is to be put to death as a murderer only on the testimony of witnesses.” (Num. 35:30) There were other problems too: He took the protection and hospitality of Achish, king of Gath, but raided the towns around and killed every man and woman so Achish wouldn’t find out. (1 Sam.27:6-12) Later on, he sent his own daughter Tamar to disgrace, nor did he punish his sons, Amnon and Absalom. (2 Sam.13:7; 2 Sam.14:23-24) One final example: David was told not to count the fighting men but he did anyway and seventy thousand died of plague as a result. (2 Sam.24:1-2)

     David’s judgment against himself in the matter of Bathsheba (albeit, given unknowingly) was, “As surely as the Lord lives, the man who did this must die! “ (2 Sam. 12:5) By all rights David and Bathsheba should both have been executed, but Nathan told him, “The Lord has taken away your sin. You are not going to die… But… you have shown utter contempt for the Lord…” (2 Sam.12:13-14)

     Now this is where Psalm 51 comes in; this is where we may start to see an answer to the question in our title. The heading from ancient times reads, “A psalm of David. When the prophet Nathan came to him after David had committed adultery with Bathsheba.” David begs for mercy from God; he admits his transgressions, his iniquity, his sin, his evil, his guilt. What other words could he use? Then he begs for mercy from God, blotting out of his transgressions, washing, cleansing, joy, gladness, rejoicing, a pure heart, a steadfast spirit, deliverance, and especially the presence of God’s Holy Spirit.

      David was completely shattered. There was nothing left of his pride, his arrogance, or his “entitlement”. Remember what he did at this time? The baby conceived with Bathsheba was born sickly so David “pleaded with God for the child. He fasted and spent the nights lying in sackcloth on the ground… On the seventh day the child died.” This is where David's attitude turned around. Now he cleaned himself up and “went into the house of the Lord and worshiped.” If this isn't when he wrote Psalm 51, it is at least an expression of his experiences of that time.

      Psalm 51 continues with heartfelt promises---David will “teach transgressors your ways”, his “tongue will sing of your righteousness”, his “mouth will declare your praise”, above all, he sacrifices “a broken and contrite heart.” Samuel had told King Saul that “the Lord has sought out a man after his own heart…because you have not kept the Lord’s command.” (1 Sam.13:14) The apostle Paul paraphrased that to read, “I have found David son of Jesse, a man after my own heart.” (Acts 13:22) To help understand what that means, centuries later, Jeremiah got a promise from the Lord about Israel: “I will give you shepherds after my own heart, who will lead you with knowledge and understanding.” (Jer. 3:15)

        We know David was a prophet (Acts 2:29-30). It seems that in his senior years, David did get more “knowledge and understanding.” Look at Psalm 110. Jesus Himself quoted this passage and gave David credit for “speaking by the Holy Spirit” when he spoke about his Lord being his Son. (Mark 12:36) Then look at Psalm 22: this is another Psalm of David. This perhaps more than any other Scripture, brings us closest to the heart of God. This is the thoughts and words of God suffering for man’s sin. This is Jesus, Himself, on the cross: “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?...All who see me mock me...all my bones are out of joint...they pierce my hands and my feet...He has done it!” (Psalm 22:1-31)

     In the final analysis, we know that David was “a man after God’s own heart," not because Samuel or Paul tell us so but simply because he’s the man who wrote Psalm 22!

"Only One is Good"

         When I was a student at Lakehead University, a minister from a liberal denomination came to give several lectures on Christianity. As I remember it, he was very interesting, but the only item that stuck was his comment on Matthew 19:16-22 (See also Mark 10:17-22; Luke 18:18-23). He suggested that Jesus was denying He was God. “Why do you call me good? There is none good but one, that is God.”

For someone who believes Jesus is God, that really grated. I investigated, and found that what Jesus meant the young man to understand was, “Yes, I am good, because yes, I am God.”

In Matthew’s version of the incident, the young man asks Jesus what he needs for eternal life. Jesus quotes #5, 6, 7, 8, and 9 of the ten commandments, as well as “love your neighbour as yourself.” He leaves out the command against coveting (#10) because if the man sold everything and gave it all away, that would be taken care of. He also leaves out the commands about worshipping God (#1, 2, 3, and 4), These would all be covered if he did all the rest and followed Jesus.

Taking this Scripture as a whole and looking at the way the ten commandments are woven into the story, there is no doubt that Jesus is subtly assuring us that He is God. It is also a warning about how hard it can be to let go of some things, and prefer the love of Jesus. He assures His followers that they will get a hundred times more, plus eternal life, by following Him.

 

Number	Commandment	Matthew 19	Mark 10	Luke 18
1	No other gods	-	-	-
2	No graven image	-	-	-
3	Honour the Lord’s name	-	-	-
4	Sabbath day	-	-	-
5	Honour parents	✔	✔	✔
6	No murder	✔	✔	✔
7	No adultery	✔	✔	✔
8	No stealing	✔	✔	✔
9	No false witness	✔	✔	✔
10	No coveting	-	-	-
Extra		“Love neighbour”	“No defrauding”	-

"Preserved"

CN Tower at midnight

   On the evening of December 31, 1999, Joy and I drove to the outskirts of Toronto and caught the subway to downtown. From the station, we walked to the Toronto Star parking lot on Lakeshore Boulevard. After about 10 pm, in twos and threes, and fives and sixes, crowds started to flood into the lot. By 11:30, there must have been two thousand people packed in, shoulder-to-shoulder, with hardly room to breathe.  

At the stroke of Y2K midnight, a wave of fireworks burst from the CN Tower above us, and lit up the sky, as the new year and new millennium began. What momentous events we looked forward to, even as more fireworks flashed above the harbour from a nearby barge out on Lake Ontario. What excitement! What applause! How we cheered!

But then the show was over. No follow-up. What do 2000 people do now? They make for the exit. What if that exit is barely two lanes wide? The crush of people became almost unbearable―shoulder-to-shoulder we walked, and front-to-back with strangers pressing against us on all sides. I pulled my wife tight up against me and we balanced as best we could in an uncontrollable river of bodies. One stumble, one fall would mean death.

We got through the exit, the river became a delta, the current eased, and we caught our breath back near our subway stop. A late-night ride, a half hour drive, and we were home, safe in bed by two in the morning. God is good. That’s His character. He was especially good to us that night and we are deeply grateful. How close were we to disaster? Too close! I read of identical tragedies where deaths occurred at sports events or in burning hotels or restaurants. I now know what it means. I now avoid anywhere I might meet huge uncontrolled crowds.

A similar event also occurred in the Bible, but with much more serious consequences. Read 2 Kings 7:1-2, 16-20. Back in the days of Elisha, the Arameans were besieging Samaria and they had the city completely sealed up; people were starving. Elisha prophesied a huge supply of barley and fine flour for the next day—the king’s advisor mocked and basically said, even God couldn’t do it! When the siege was lifted and the news of the huge food supply spread through the city, the crush of people trying to get out destroyed him. He was trampled to death in the city gate.

For some reason, I keep coming back to Pascal’s wager. Why was the advisor so adamant against the prophecy? If we look at probabilities, he might have said the apparent probability of plentiful food was 1% and no food was 99%. But, like modern-day atheists, he should still have covered that low probability. Why leave that 1% gap? Investigate! Be really sure! God can step in and override all probabilities! This advisor made a gigantic mistake and lost his life.

Who digs pits?

I once owned a book on Biblical demonology; I never read it but the title, sitting there on my bookshelf like a little demon itself, so subtly oppressed me that I eventually had to just throw it out. The subject of digging pits is a little bit in that category— some pit stories in Bible times were really bad. For instance, Joseph was dropped into a pit before his brothers sold him as a slave, into Egypt. [Gen.37:24] Then there was Benaiah, one of David’s mighty men, who went down into a pit to kill a lion they had trapped there. [2 Sam.23:20] A third example is Jeremiah who was lowered into a muddy pit by order of King Zedekiah; the only way Ebed-Melek could get him out was to lower ropes and rags; Jeremiah put them under his arms and Ebed-Melek was able to drag him out of the muck. [Jer.38:11]

There is quite a variety of words used in Scripture for pits, some literal, but many metaphorical. Sometimes the Hebrew word means a cistern, dungeon, fountain, or well [953 and 875]. Sometimes it means corruption, destruction, ditch, or grave [7845]. Throughout the Bible there are over 70 references to pits. We don’t want to get into all the metaphorical meanings. We just want to see why anyone would be digging a pit.

There are three occasions when Jesus comments on literal pits. The first is a sheep falling into a pit [Mat.12:11]; the second is blind people leading other blind people and both falling into a pit [Mat.15:14]; the third is a

An ancient winepress

landowner who plants a vineyard and digs a pit for a winepress [Mark 12:1]. Only the latter explains why a pit would be dug, but our introduction indicates some other reasons. Pits were dug for water catchment, including cisterns—a great deal of Palestine is rainless for months on end. Pits were dug to trap game like antelope, or marauding lions (witness Benaiah’s pit). Pits were dug to catch the juice as grapes were trampled at harvest time.

The worst pits of all were dug for defensive purposes. Julius Caesar used these in Gaul 75 years earlier. In his case vicious sharpened stakes (now called punji sticks) were mounted in the pit to impale hapless attacking warriors.

Some of these pits could be inconvenient but some were deadly. A deep cistern (Jeremiah), a trapping pit (Benaiah), or a defensive pit were the worst. In fact, there was a penalty for digging an unprotected pit. Exodus 21:33 says, “If anyone uncovers a pit or digs one and fails to cover it and an ox or a donkey falls into it, the one who opened the pit must pay the owner for the loss and take the dead animal in exchange.” And Psalm 7:15 talks about someone who digs a hole but the trouble and violence they cause “comes down on their own heads.”

There were hundreds of winepresses and cisterns around the country—so the danger was real. From my own teenage days, I remember an abandoned shallow well in an abandoned field. The wooden cover was starting to rot and it could have been deadly if you came on it in the dark unawares. And this is Jesus’ main point—pits are dangerous. We must be aware and avoid them.

        Today following bad leaders and believing false doctrine is just like falling into a pit. Be careful not to fall into the pit of ‘spiritual punji sticks’. But Jesus can protect you! He is the only One we can trust. 

The Sign of Jonah

            Then some of the Pharisees and teachers of the law said to him, “Teacher, we want to see a sign from you.”

He answered, “A wicked and adulterous generation asks for a sign! But none will be given it except the sign of the prophet Jonah.” Matthew 12:38-39. (also Mat.16:4)

You remember Jonah, the prophet from northern Israel. In fact, he was from Gath-Hepher, 5 km north of Nazareth and 1 km from Cana, in Galilee. God assigned him, around 760 BC, to preach to Nineveh, 1100 km to the north in Assyria. He tried to run, headed south 160 km to Joppa, and took ship for Tarshish, another 3000 km west. A great storm blew up, and he had to sacrifice himself to save his fellow passengers and sailors. He was thrown into the sea and swallowed by a huge fish that took him back north and, after three days, threw him up on the beach. He then walked to Nineveh, preached repentance, and the city was saved.

Now look at the Lord’s reference to this event in Matthew 12. Some Pharisees and teachers of the law are asking for a sign about who He is and His authority. He says no sign will be given, but “the sign of the prophet Jonah”.

For a long time, I had trouble with this. How would the story of Jonah prove anything about Jesus at that time? Then I realized that a sign is something you look forward to, but when you see it, it confirms everything. For instance, in Bethlehem, the shepherds were told that they would find the Messiah as a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger. They found Him and knew they had the Right Baby. Luke 2:12, 16.

John the Baptist had a promise, so he watched the dozens or hundreds he baptized, and when the Spirit came on Jesus and remained as a dove, he knew he had the Right Man. John 1:33.

So, signs can range from quite obvious, to quite obscure. What is the parallel between Jonah and Jesus? At the time Jesus gave the sign there was no visible parallel. The sign of Jonah is extensive: he sacrifices himself to save his fellows, he’s gone for three days, then he’s back in action again, and his mission results in repentance, conversion and the salvation of an entire city.

We hardly need to spell out the parallel with Jesus. In the week after the crucifixion, the sign of Jonah was obvious to anyone who looked. Jesus was talking specifically about His resurrection when He said, “the Son of Man will be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.” In a word then, “the sign of Jonah”, when applied to Jesus, is “resurrection”. Put as simply as possible, the sign says, “He’s alive!”

But we should go further. When I look at my contemporaries in church, I realize that I and they are coming up very quickly to our own “three days in the heart of the earth.” Thank God, the sign of Jonah applies to us as well, though— “By his power God raised the Lord from the dead, and he will raise us also.”                  1 Corinthians 6:14