The Living Word (Deuteronomy 18:18)

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.
—Deuteronomy 18:18

This is so good. This is God speaking through Moses as a prophet. So remember, the responsibility of a prophet is to speak faithfully on God’s behalf, to hear God’s Word, and to speak God’s Word. And that’s what Moses has done in his life up to this point. God had called him to be a mouthpiece for him. This goes all the way back to Exodus 3, and Moses even saying, “Who am I? I can’t speak.” And God says, “I’ll give you the power to speak. I’ll give you my word.” It’s what it means to be a prophet.

Deuteronomy 18:18 teaches that Jesus is the ultimate prophet.

And yet here in Deuteronomy 18, God through Moses is promising another prophet to come who will have God’s Word in his mouth and will speak all that God commands him. And the more you study this passage, the more you realize this is not just talking about any prophet. This is ultimately talking about Jesus. Now, I want to be clear because Muslims, for example, believe Jesus is a prophet. Most every Muslim I talk to and have the opportunity to share the gospel with tells me, “Yes, I believe that Jesus is a prophet as one who speaks on God’s behalf.”

And he is. He is the ultimate prophet. He is the Word made flesh. At the same time, he’s more than just a prophet. He’s more than Moses or Isaiah or Jeremiah or Ezekiel or numerous other prophets we might list from the Old Testament because Jesus perfectly reveals God’s Word, not just with his mouth, but in the flesh as God himself, as Colossians 1-2 say, he’s the image of the invisible God. All the fullness of deity dwells in him. He is the perfect representation of God because he is God in the flesh.

Deuteronomy 18:18 teaches us to prioritize God’s Word above all.

And what that means for us, well many things, but first and foremost, it means we need his Word to bring life to us. And I just want to encourage you today and lead us to pray that God would help us to prioritize, treasure, value, and meditate day and night on the Word of God, knowing that we need his Word, ultimately revealed in Jesus, to live today. So we pray, oh God, we praise you for revealing yourself to us. We praise you for not leaving us in the dark regarding who you are, who we are, and how you made us, and what you made us for, and how to live. Jesus, we praise you as the Word made flesh, as the Son of God and Son of Man in whom all the fullness of deity dwells bodily.

We praise you as the Word whose words bring life to us. And so we pray today, God, I pray for every single person listening right now, amidst all the words, all the messages that we will hear or look at on a phone today or in any facet of our life, on a screen, or hear in conversations with people. God, we pray that over and above every word we might read or hear spoken today, we would prioritize your words above all of them.

This verse encourages us to share God’s truth with boldness and love.

Lord, we pray that you would make us people who love your Word, who listen to your Word, who memorize your Word, and meditate on your Word and live according to your Word and share your Word. God, help us to speak words of life to people around us today. Help us to encourage other followers of Jesus with your Word today. God, we pray that your Word would be in our mouths, that we would faithfully speak on your behalf.

And God, for people around us who don’t know you, help us to speak your Word today in the power of your Spirit.

Prayer for the Changgar People

And God, we pray for the spread of your Word to all the peoples of the world. We pray specifically today for the Changgar people of Pakistan, for nearly 400,000 Muslim men, women, and children who don’t know your Word, who think Jesus is just a prophet, God, we pray that the good news of Jesus, the Savior, and Lord, Jesus as God would spread to the Changgar people and that they would receive your Word and find life in your Word. God, we pray for them even as we pray for this reality in our lives. Help us to live today with your Word, active and at work in and through us. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.