Listen to the One God Has Sent

Unto him ye shall hearken.

Deuteronomy 18:15

Read Deuteronomy 18. Focus on verses 9 through 19. Also read Acts 3:12 through 26. Israel is not left to obtain guidance by copying the divination practices of neighboring peoples. Moses prohibits those practices and speaks of a prophet the Lord will raise up from among their brothers. The people are to listen to him. The promise answers a remembered need. At Horeb, the people had feared hearing God's voice directly. God says He will put His words in the prophet's mouth. Guidance comes through His initiative and authorized speech, not through a technique for obtaining hidden information. The chapter also requires discernment about prophetic claims. A person cannot simply use God's name to make whatever message they wish. The promise of a true spokesman does not remove responsibility to distinguish what the Lord has and has not spoken. In Acts 3, Peter explicitly applies Moses' words to Jesus. For Christians, the passage therefore reaches beyond a general hope for helpful teachers. God has sent His Son, and listening to Him is central to a faithful response. Peter is not presenting Jesus merely as another helpful religious expert. He speaks of the One rejected and killed whom God raised from the dead. The promise through Moses helps identify Jesus within God's continuing work, with a claim greater than our choice of a favorite adviser. That difference can disappear in a crowded spiritual marketplace. We gather an encouraging phrase from one speaker, a prediction from another, and a picture of Jesus that fits what we already want. The sources are treated as interchangeable ingredients in a personal collection. Christian faith gives Jesus a different place. He is not one voice waiting for us to decide whether it suits the mood. Other teachers are to be assessed in relation to Him and the apostolic witness, rather than placed beside Him as competing owners of revelation. This need not make us contemptuous of learning or unwilling to hear a question. It asks us to be clear about the center of our faith. Who do we believe Jesus is? Does our answer include His death and resurrection, His authority, and God's call to turn toward Him? Listen to the descriptions you use. “A good teacher” is true but incomplete within Peter's sermon. “Someone who helps me feel better” is too small. The One God has sent is not defined solely by the service we currently want from Him. Moses' promise and Peter's proclamation direct attention toward a particular Lord within God's revealed history. Let them give substance to your answer about Jesus. A faith centered on Him has more to receive than an inspiring opinion: it has the good news of the risen One to whom its allegiance belongs. Put It into Practice Write a plain sentence answering, “Who is Jesus?” Read Acts 3:12 through 26 and expand your answer wherever the passage exposes an incomplete description.

Does the way you describe Jesus make Him sound like a preferred adviser or the risen Lord God has sent?

Father, thank You for sending Your Son and raising Him from the dead. Keep my view of Jesus from shrinking to the role I find most convenient. Let His identity and authority give a clear center to the faith I profess. Amen.