Deuteronomy 18

What gives a person identity and worth? For many people, their possessions define them, particularly their land and housing that they own and can pass on to the next generation.

It could not be that way for the Israelites. The Lord was the ultimate owner of the land in which they lived. Especially the Levites, the tribe of priests and tabernacle servants in Israel, could not find their ultimate meaning in their land. They did not have a triba1 territory of their own. The priests had their portion of the sacrificial offerings and the rest of the tribe had the privilege of serving God in their appointed participation in the life of the tabernacle. In this way, as God Himself had told them, the Lord was their inheritance. But what did that even mean?

Even if they could not answer that question, they needed to trust God and not give in to covetousness. They certainly could not safely imitate the Canaanites that they would soon dispossess from the land. The Canaanites offered up their own children as burnt offerings to God. They inquired into spiritual realms through the use of diviners, enchanters, fortune tellers and those who communicated with the spirits of the dead. All of these defiling practices were prohibited by God.

The way to know the will of God and the truth about spiritual realms would come from the Lord's Word. In his day, Moses explained the Lord's will to the tribes of Israel. He was the appointed prophet of God, the authoritative spokesman of God's Word. But his time on earth would soon be done. He pointed Israel to another prophet who would take His place.

This coming prophet would arise from their own number, “from your brothers,” the Israelites. Moses recognized the obvious possibility that a fellow Israelite might claim to be this great prophet presumptuously. How were they to tell whether this man was the true prophet?

“When a prophet speaks in the name of the LORD, if the word does not come to pass or come true, that is a word that the Lord has not spoken; the prophet has spoken it presumptuously. You need not be afraid of him.”

Think of the predictions that Jesus made, the things that He said would “come to pass.” He told His disciples about His suffering, death, and resurrection on the third day. He told them about the establishment of His church, that the gates of hell would not prevail against it. He told them about the destruction of the temple in Jerusalem. He told the disciples that they would be His witnesses in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and to the uttermost parts of the earth.

These things were all true. They have all happened.

This Jesus is more than a prophet. He is the fulfillment of thousands of Old Testament expectations concerning a coming One who would be Savior and Lord.

Jesus fulfills all of the requirements that Moses gave concerning the future prophet who would come. We need to listen to Him. He has given us a new identity and an eternal worth far beyond any of the riches or lands that we could gather together in this world.