# 18 The Prophet

Joh 1:19 Now this is the testimony of John, when the Jews sent priests and Levites from Jerusalem to ask him, "Who are you?" 20 He confessed, and did not deny, but confessed, "I am not the Christ." 21 And they asked him, "What then? Are you Elijah?" He said, "I am not." "Are you the Prophet?" And he answered, "No."

 22 Then they said to him, "Who are you, that we may give an answer to those who sent us? What do you say about yourself?" 23 He said: "I am 'The voice of one crying in the wilderness: "Make straight the way of the LORD,"' as the prophet Isaiah said."

Today I want to address the second question from the religious rulers addressed to John. They ask, “Are you the Prophet?” Again John answers “No.”

This question arises from what Moses said in  De 18:15 "The LORD your God will raise up for you a Prophet like me from your midst, from your brethren. Him you shall hear,”

Given John’s mode of dress and dynamic preaching, it was an honest question. They didn’t realize that the Prophet spoken of in Dt 18:15 would be One and the same with Christ.

There were hints given during the ministry of Jesus that some were making the connection. For instance, in Luke 7, after Jesus had raised the son of the widow of Nain, the people exclaimed, “A great prophet has risen from among us; and God has visited His people.”

Also, in John 7, after hearing Jesus speak, many from the crowd said, “Truly this is the Prophet,” others said, “This is the Christ.”  

But perhaps the most telling connection flows from what was originally said in  De 18:18,19,  'I will raise up for them a Prophet like you from among their brethren, and will put My words in His mouth, and He shall speak to them all that I command Him. 19 'And it shall be that whoever will not hear My words, which He speaks in My name, I will require it of him.

A prophet speaks forth the words of God and Jesus did this with utmost perfection! He said in  Joh 17:8 "For I have given to them the words which You have given Me;

And in  Joh 8:28b, “I do nothing of Myself; but as My Father taught Me, I speak these things.

And in  Joh 12:48 "He who rejects Me, and does not receive My words, has that which judges him--the word that I have spoken will judge him in the last day.

 49 "For I have not spoken on My own authority; but the Father who sent Me gave Me a command, what I should say and what I should speak.”

Only the Prophet spoken of in Dt 18:15 could make such claims, and He backed them all up with His mighty acts and deeds. Jesus and the Prophet are one and the same, and this is vital for you and I to know because whoever will not hear God’s words as spoken through this Prophet, (Jesus) God will “require it of him.” (Dt 18:15)

Friend, you and I better listen up to the words of Jesus! As He said in  Joh 6:63, they are life! "It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh profits nothing. The words that I speak to you are spirit, and they are life.