«　WEEK 9　DAY 3　»

　　Deut. 18:15 A Prophet will Jehovah your God raise up for you from your midst, from among your brothers, like me; you shall listen to Him.

　　John 7:16-17 Jesus therefore answered them and said, My teaching is not Mine, but His who sent Me. If anyone resolves to do His will, he will know concerning the teaching, whether it is of God or whether I speak from Myself.

　　In Deuteronomy 18:15-19 Moses spoke concerning Jehovah God's raising up of a Prophet (the coming Christ) like Moses for the children of Israel. Acts 3:22 applies these verses to Christ, indicating that Christ is the Prophet promised by God to His people, the children of Israel. The Prophet was to be from among their brothers (Deut. 18:15a). This indicates that Christ as the coming Prophet would be human as well as divine, that He would be God incarnated to be a man, the God-man. As God, Christ could not be from among the Jews as a brother, but as the incarnated One, the One who has put on human nature and who was a Jew, Christ was from among His brothers. Moses told the children of Israel that they were to listen to this Prophet (Deut. 18:15b).

　　The Prophet raised up by God would be according to all that the children of Israel asked of Jehovah their God at Horeb (vv. 16-17). They had told Moses that they could not bear to hear God's voice. They wanted a middleman, one who could hear God's word and pass it on to them. Because they wanted a prophet, Moses promised that God would fulfill their desire for a prophet. (Life-study of Deuteronomy, pp. 140-141)

　　Deuteronomy 18:18 indicates that God would raise up this Prophet through the incarnation of Christ to speak the word of God (John 1:14; 3:34; 7:16-17; Heb. 1:2a). When the Lord Jesus came, He surely spoke God's word. To speak God's word is to dispense God, to speak God forth into others. (Life-study of Deuteronomy, p. 141)

　　The Old Testament prophet Moses prophesied that Christ would come as a Prophet raised up by God (Deut. 18:15-19). In verse 15 Moses said to the children of Israel,”A Prophet will Jehovah your God raise up for you from your midst.” Moses indicated that God would give Him, the Prophet, the words that He ought to speak and that He would speak to God's people all that God commanded Him. In Acts 3:22-23 Peter quotes Moses' words to indicate that Christ is the Prophet promised by God through Moses to His people. Thus, the fulfillment of this prophecy was confirmed in Acts 3:22-23. Moses said that this Prophet would be raised up”from your midst.”…If Christ were merely God, He could not have been raised up from among the Israelites. However, as the incarnated God, Christ put on human nature and became a Jew. Thus, He is the Prophet raised up”from your midst,” as prophesied by Moses. Christ in His first coming was the Prophet raised up by God. He spoke the word of God (John 1:14; 3:34; 7:16-17; Heb. 1:2) and prophesied many things concerning God's economy, especially concerning the accomplishment of God's economy. Christ was indeed a great Prophet in His first coming. (Truth Lessons—Level Four, vol. 1, pp. 31-32)

　　As the firstborn Son of God being the Word of God (John 1:1) is God's oracle for the speaking and dispensing of God to carry out His eternal economy, so the many sons of God being members of the Word of God are God's oracle, speaking and dispensing God for the spreading of God and the increase of Christ. The firstborn Son of God is the oracle of God, and we are the many sons. This means that all the sons are God's oracle so that God may have a spread and Christ may have an increase. (CWWL, 1994-1997, vol. 5,”The Vital Groups,” p. 83)

　　Further Reading: Life-study of Deuteronomy, msg. 20; CWWL, 1994-1997, vol. 5,”The Vital Groups,” ch. 3; Truth Lessons—Level Four, vol. 1, lsn. 3; CWWL, 1977, vol. 1,”The Kernel of the Bible,” ch. 12