Listen

The Lord your God will raise up a prophet like me from your community, from your fellow Israelites. He’s the one you must listen to. That’s exactly what you requested from the Lord your God at Horeb, on the day of the assembly, when you said, “I can’t listen to the Lord my God’s voice anymore or look at this great fire any longer. I don’t want to die!”

Deuteronomy 18:15-16

Think

Moses reminded the people how fearful they were when God spoke to them on Mount Horeb from a roaring fire. They never wanted to experience that again. I imagine none of us would want to have experienced that either! They wanted God to speak to them only through Moses. Of course, Moses would die one day, so God promised to send them another prophet like Moses. As they were to listen to Moses, so they must listen to the prophet who was to come. In Jesus’ day, the Israelites were still looking for the prophet like Moses. The followers of Jesus came to believe that he was the promised one. The first clue may have been when, like Moses, Jesus went up on a mountain and taught them the word of God. You can read it in Matthew 5-7. With his words and actions, he challenged them to follow God’s word, to care for and love others. After Jesus’ resurrection, Peter affirmed to the crowds that Jesus was the promised one they had been seeking (Acts 3:22).

LaMon Brown

Question to Ponder:

Why do you think that the early followers of Jesus believed that he was the promised one who would be like Moses?

Pray

God, help me to listen to Jesus and believe what he says.

Amen.

Go

I live today in the love and truth of my Lord, Jesus Christ.