“I will raise up for them a prophet like you from among their brothers. And I will put my words in His mouth and He shall speak to them all that I command Him. And whoever will not listen to my words that He shall speak in my name, I myself will require it of him.”
– Deuteronomy 18:18–19
So Deuteronomy 18:18–19 is extremely important, not just to this part of Deuteronomy, but to the entire Bible, because it’s a prophecy of a coming prophet like Moses. And the more we read, particularly these verses right around here, Deuteronomy 18, 15-19, including the last two verses of that passage that I just read, the more we start to realize this is not just any prophet that God is speaking about, but this is a prophecy specifically of Jesus, a prophet to come.
This Verse Asks us To Share The Gospel
God, use us to share the gospel today with people near and far from us.
We see many titles given to Jesus in the Bible. He is Lord and Savior and King. He’s our great High Priest, but He’s not just Savior, He’s not just Lord, He’s not just King and He’s not just a priest. The beauty of Jesus is He brings together all of these pictures in Himself, and He is also a prophet.
Now, we have to be careful whenever we use that title for Jesus because Islam, for example, says Jesus was a prophet along with many other profits. But Jesus is not just any other prophet because Jesus perfectly reveals the Word of God. Even here in Deuteronomy 18:18–19, the way we see Deuteronomy saying, “He shall speak to them all that I command Him,” perfectly Jesus is the Word of God. That’s the picture we have specifically in John, “The Word became flesh and dwelt among us.” Jesus is the revelation of God.
Deuteronomy 18:18–19 Reminds Us We Are Held Before God
And so when we read Deuteronomy 18, we see a picture, one, of the importance of God speaking His Word to His people and the importance of prophets like Moses and many others in the Old Testament. Then in the same time, Deuteronomy 18 causes us to look forward in the Bible to the perfect prophet to come, Jesus, the revelation of God’s Word.
And did you hear verse 19? “Whoever will not listen to my words that He shall speak in my name, I myself will require it of him.” In other words, every single person’s life hinges on how they respond to this Prophet. Every single person will be held to account before God based upon how they respond to the words of Jesus.
And so we pray. Lord Jesus, you are our Savior. You are our King. You’re our great High Priest. Even as we were praying, according to Deuteronomy 17, you are the sacrifice for our sins, the perfect sacrifice for our sins. You’re the risen and exalted and sovereign Lord and King over all.
This Verse Praises God For His Titles And Attributes
We praise you for all of your titles and attributes that we see in the Bible. We praise you because you’re the center of the Bible. Everything in the Bible points toward you. We exalt you, Jesus. We love you, Jesus. And we praise you today, specifically based on Deuteronomy chapter 18 as the perfect Prophet, as the revelation of God’s Word.
And Jesus, we know that we will all be held to account before God based on how we respond to your Word. So help us Lord Jesus today to live according to your commands, to live according to your Word, to meditate on your Word day and night, and to put it into practice in our lives. May we be faithful to listen and obey your Word.
Deuteronomy 18:18–19 Prays For The Brahui People Of Pakistan
And God, we pray that you would help us to be faithful to spread your Word. We think about the unreached people that we pray for every day, so often on this podcast, the Brahui people of Pakistan. Today, three million of them in Pakistan. This nomadic people who have little to no access to the gospel. Most of these three million men and women and children have never even heard your Word.
God, we pray that you would use us to change that. God, we pray that you would use our churches, our lives and our families to make your Word known among them. They will be held to account. They have sinned against you, like all of us have, and they need the good news, the Word of your grace through Jesus, the perfect Prophet, Priest and King.
Deuteronomy 18:18–19 Prays That Jesus’ Name Is Known
So God, we pray that you would help us to make the name of Jesus known among all the nations, among all peoples, among people right around us. God, use us to share the gospel today, we pray, and people far from us. God, we pray that you would help us to make the good news known of the Prophet whose Word is perfect, and the Prophet upon whom every single person’s eternity hinges.
Jesus, we exalt you as the prophets spoken of centuries before you even came, as the perfect Prophet, the unique Prophet unlike any other, the revelation of God’s Word. And we pray that you would help us to live in obedience to you. In your name, Lord Jesus, we pray. Amen.
David Platt serves as a pastor in metro Washington, D.C. He is the founder of Radical.
David received his Ph.D. from New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary and is the author of Don’t Hold Back, Radical, Follow Me, Counter Culture, Something Needs to Change, Before You Vote, as well as the multiple volumes of the Christ-Centered Exposition Commentary series.
Along with his wife and children, he lives in the Washington, D.C. metro area.
