"The nations you will dispossess listen to those who practice sorcery and divination. But as for you, the Lord your God has not permitted you to do so." (Deuteronomy 18:14) In yesterday's passage Moses spoke of some of the idolatrous practices of the nations of Canaan and warned Israel to have nothing to do with any of those things. Our text today is closely related to yesterday's text. Moses isn't saying Israel will never have anyone who can tell them what is to come; he is saying that the people must never listen to such predictions unless they are given by a tried and true prophet of the Lord. They are not to consult fortune tellers or mediums. They are not to consult the heavenly bodies (use astrology like heathen nations do) for guidance. They aren't to seek signs when making decisions like the pagans do. They aren't even to listen to a so-called prophet whose predictions come true if his mode of living doesn't prove he loves and obeys the Lord. In Deuteronomy 13:1-3 the Lord warned Israel that it's possible for a false prophet to make an accurate prediction through the powers of darkness but this man's wicked character will be revealed because, as soon as his prediction comes true, he will use his newfound fame to try to entice people away from the Lord. A real prophet will urge people to grow closer to the Lord, not forsake Him in favor of other gods. If we take a look at all the Lord's prophets in the Bible we will see them pointing people toward the Lord and encouraging them to trust and obey Him.
Moses assures the people that the Lord will send them true prophets to guide them. Moses will die before Israel enters the promised land but the Lord will not leave the congregation without spiritual leaders who have a heart for them like Moses does. "The Lord your God will raise up a prophet like me from among you, from your fellow Israelites. You must listen to him." (Deuteronomy 18:15) While Israel is going to have a number of prophets throughout the Old Testament, it is generally believed by the Christian church that this verse refers primarily to a particular person: Christ. Moses certainly expects the Lord to send prophets to guide Israel in each era but the Apostle Peter states that when Moses spoke the words of Deuteronomy 18:15 he was looking forward to the One who would mediate the new covenant between God and man. Moses was the mediator of the first covenant and Jesus Christ will be the mediator of the new covenant. That is why Moses refers to this man as "a prophet like me". In preaching a sermon to the people in which he presented Jesus of Nazareth as the Messiah, Peter stated that the risen and ascended Christ would return and that in the meantime they should heed the words of Christ and repent, for He is the One promised long ago when Moses said, "The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among your own people; you must listen to everything he tells you." (See Acts 3:17-23.) Peter's statement is the reason why the Christian church primarily interprets Deuteronomy 18:15 as a reference to Christ. Many prophets were called between the time of Moses and the time of Christ, but the One whom Moses calls "a prophet like me" is believed by Christians to be the mediator of the new covenant: the Lord Jesus.
Moses reminds the congregation of Israel that they specifically requested a mediator between themselves and God in Exodus 20. "For this is what you asked of the Lord your God at Horeb on the day of the assembly when you said, 'Let us not hear the voice of the Lord our God nor see this great fire anymore, or we will die.'" (Deuteronomy 18:16) When the Lord spoke from the midst of the smoke and fire on the mountain, and while the ground shook and the sound of a trumpet blast rang in everyone's ears, the people begged Moses to speak to God on their behalf so they would not have to hear His thundering voice or behold what little of His awesome presence they were able to glimpse. It all felt like too much for them. They thought it would kill them. Just this slightest hint of the indescribable, unfathomable glory of the holy God was enough to make them believe they'd drop dead if they heard one more word. Moses tried to encourage them not to be afraid. The Lord didn't show up to kill them; He came to speak the words of His covenant to them and to stir up enough reverent fear in them that they would obey the words of the covenant. But they insisted that only Moses should go forward and hear the words of God and deliver His words to the congregation. To put it another way, they asked Moses to be their mediator. They asked Moses to relay the Lord's terms to them and then to relay their response to the Lord.
The Lord mercifully granted their request. He did not reprimand them for being too afraid to approach the visible manifestation of His presence on the mountain. I think He was pleased by their reverent fear, for this was evidence of their willingness to regard Him as holy. Moses tells the congregation, "The Lord said to me: 'What they say is good.'" (Deuteronomy 18:17) The Lord provided a mediator for the first covenant and He intended to provide a mediator for the second covenant, promising Moses, "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." (Deuteronomy 18:18-19)
The Lord will call more than one prophet from among the Israelites but a specific person appears to be indicated here. The Lord seems to be speaking of a singular man, not about a number of prophets. He said He would raise up someone like Moses, someone who will mediate a covenant between Himself and man. Who mediated the new covenant? Jesus of Nazareth, who presented Himself as the fulfillment of Jeremiah 31:31 in which the Lord said, "The days are coming when I will make a new covenant with the people of Israel and with the people of Judah." On the night before the crucifixion Jesus took the bread and the cup and said these represented His body that would be broken for mankind and His blood that represented the new covenant. (Luke 22:19-20) The Lord said this prophet would be called from among the Israelites, and Jesus of Nazareth was an Israelite of the tribe of Judah. The Lord said He would put His words in this prophet's mouth and that this prophet "will tell them everything I command them". Jesus made it clear He was not speaking messages of His own but that He was delivering the very words given to Him by God: "For I did not speak on My own, but the Father who sent Me commanded Me to say all that I have spoken." (John 12:49) The Lord said He would call to account anyone who did not listen to the words this prophet would speak in His name, which is why the Apostle Peter warned his listeners, "Anyone who does not listen to Him will be completely cut off from their people." (Acts 3:23) Peter was quoting the warning of the Lord given to the people by Moses in our portion of Deuteronomy today.
Because there will be men who claim to be prophets but are not, the Lord must warn the people about not being deceived. The penalty for being a false prophet is death because this is such a heinous crime against the souls of their fellow man. It is also a capital offense if a man who has been a true prophet decides to perpetrate a lie upon his fellow man by speaking words "from the Lord" that the Lord did not speak. In addition it is a capital offense to speak false prophecies in an effort to lure people into idolatry. "But a prophet who presumes to speak in My name anything I have not commanded, or a prophet who speaks in the name of other gods, is to be put to death." (Deuteronomy 18:20)
The people need to know how to test a prophecy. "You may say to yourselves, 'How can we know when a message has not been spoken by the Lord?' If what a prophet proclaims in the name of the Lord does not take place or come true, that is a message the Lord has not spoken. That prophet has spoken presumptuously, so do not be alarmed." (Deuteronomy 18:21-22) It seems as if this is common sense and we might wonder why the Lord would have to say, "If a man makes a prophecy that doesn't come true, he is not a prophet." But even in our own day we have people making predictions---often very detailed predictions that include specific dates and times---that are not coming true and yet there are people still following their words. Even though the predictions did not come true in the manner in which they were supposed to and even though they didn't come true on the day they were suppose to happen, there are still people who believe these things are going to take place instead of coming to the logical conclusion, "These are false prophecies spoken by false prophets."
If the prophecy did not come true in the way it was spoken of by the "prophet" then the Lord says, "Do not be alarmed." The Lord is telling us, "This person has been proven false. Don't listen to any more of his predictions. Don't be alarmed by anything he is saying. He is not speaking on My behalf or warning you of anything I have told him to warn you about. Completely disregard his words and don't be afraid of anything he says is coming. He does not know what is coming! He has not been called by Me and is not speaking on My authority. Don't give him another thought. Don't let his so-called predictions take up any more of your time or any more space in your heads."
Many have been deceived, from Moses' day up until our own day, by false prophets. This does not have to happen! The Lord gives us clear guidance in His word for avoiding being taken in by false prophets. We can easily test the words of anyone who claims to be a prophet. Did what the person said would happen actually happen? Did it happen in the manner in which he said it would happen? Did it happen on the date he said it would happen? If not, this person is clearly a false prophet and nothing he says can be trusted. He is a deceiver. He is operating either under the power of his own ego, or he is delusional due to a mental disorder, or he is doing the bidding of the evil one who has never been anything but a liar. (John 8:33)
I would like to add that a true prophet doesn't keep moving the goalposts. A true prophet doesn't say, "Okay, I misinterpreted some of the details. This thing is still going to happen but not on the date I predicted. That date has come and gone without this thing coming true but now it's going to happen on such-and-such date." When the Lord calls a prophet, He is fully capable of making sure that prophet clearly understands what He is saying. The Lord doesn't allow a true prophet to tell people that a thing is going to happen in April when the Lord actually intends it to happen in July. The Lord gave us the test for a prophet because He wants us to avoid being deceived, and that test is, "If what a prophet proclaims in the name of the Lord does not take place or come true, that is a message the Lord has not spoken." Period. Failure to have his prophecy come true automatically disqualifies a person as a prophet called by the Lord, the same way as speaking in the name of another god disqualifies a person as a prophet called by the Lord.
The Lord loves us and doesn't want us to be deceived by anyone or anything. When a person is deceived, he or she might make bad decisions that affect the rest of their lives. Lies can ruin lives. Lies can ruin a person's relationship with those around them. Lies can come in between a person and the Lord. The Lord wants to keep us from falling for lies and that's why He's provided very clear ways to test the words of anyone who claims to be delivering a prophecy.
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