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December 11, 2002
Midweek Advent #2
Acts 3:17-22
Pastor Robert Raasch

See in Jesus the Prophet Foretold of Old

1. A Prophet Like the Others
2. A Prophet Who Speaks As God

(Acts 3:17-22 NIV) "Now, brothers, I know that you acted in ignorance, as did your leaders. {18} But this is how God fulfilled what he had foretold through all the prophets, saying that his Christ would suffer. {19} Repent, then, and turn to God, so that your sins may be wiped out, that times of refreshing may come from the Lord, {20} and that he may send the Christ, who has been appointed for you--even Jesus. {21} He must remain in heaven until the time comes for God to restore everything, as he promised long ago through his holy prophets. {22} For Moses said, 'The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among your own people; you must listen to everything he tells you.

Can you tell me, what do you think of when you hear the word "prophet"? (No, I don't mean the kind of "profit" that corporate America is so interested in making.) I mean prophet, as in P-R-O-P-H-E-T. What picture comes to your mind when you think of that kind of prophet? Do you think of some guy with a gray beard, dressed in a flowing robe, holding a scroll in his hand or carrying a sign that reads, "The End is Near!" Or maybe when you hear the word prophet you think of that guy in the office who has the uncanny ability to pick the winning football team each week or someone who seems to always time the stock market just right. You think to yourself, "Man, that guy is a prophet!" The word prophet probably conjures up different pictures in different people's minds. And yet, I wonder how many of you, when you heard the word prophet, thought of a little baby wrapped in strips of cloth, lying in a manger. Today in this our 2nd midweek Advent service, we want to take a little closer look at that baby, as he's presented in the pages of Holy Scripture and:

See in Jesus the Prophet Foretold of Old

We'll see, first of all that he is, in many ways,

1. A Prophet Like the Others

Secondly, we'll see that Jesus in one way is unlike the others. For while the other prophets spoke for God, Jesus in fact is:

2. A Prophet Who Speaks As God

The text we have before us is part of the message that the Apostle Peter delivered to the crowd of Jews that had gathered after Peter had healed a crippled beggar. The people were astonished that this fisherman from Galilee was able to perform such a miraculous healing. But Peter said to them, "Men of Israel, why does this surprise you? Why do you stare at us as if by our power or godliness we had made this man walk? It is Jesus' name and the faith that comes through him that has given this complete healing to (this man), as you can all see." In other words, Peter uses this healing as an opportunity to point the people to Jesus-the very same Jesus whom these Jews in Jerusalem had handed over to be killed. Peter goes on to tell them, "You disowned the Holy and Righteous One and asked that a murderer be released to you. You killed the author of life, but God raised him from the dead" (Acts. 3:14).

But notice that Peter then tells them, "Now brothers, I know that you acted in ignorance, as did your leaders." With those words, Peter is not excusing the actions of the Jews on Good Friday. Rather, he was simply acknowledging that these Jews obviously did not understand who Jesus really was. And from that point on, Peter attempts to show these Jews from their own Old Testament scriptures that Jesus was the Prophet foretold of old. Peter points them back to a statement which Moses made to the Children of Israel, way back in Deuteronomy 18. Moses told them, "The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among your own people; you must listen to everything he tells you." In other words, God was promising that one day he was going to send to this world a prophet who would be similar to the Great Prophet Moses, in fact similar to all the prophets God appointed. You might say that: (I.) Jesus is a Prophet Like the Others.

Now, maybe that raises a question. Exactly what is a prophet? We said earlier that some people would probably define a prophet as anybody who can foretell the future. Someone who, by divine revelation or otherwise, can talk about what hasn't yet occurred. But really, that's not God's definition of a prophet. In the pages of Holy Scripture a prophet is someone who speaks for God or someone who relays a message from God to man. In other words, rather than speaking to his people as a voice from heaven or by writing his testimony across the sky, God chose to speak to and through human messengers. St. Peter puts it this way in his second epistle: "Men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit." Or you think of what God said to Jeremiah when he called him to be his prophet. God said, "You must go to everyone I send you to and say whatever I command you…Now I have put my words in your mouth" (Jer. 1:7,9). Or God's words to the prophet Ezekiel, "Son of man, listen carefully and take to heart all the words I speak to you. Go now to your countrymen in exile and speak to them. Say to them, 'This is what he Sovereign Lord says'" (Eze. 3:4).

Now let's understand that "what the Sovereign Lord says" on any given occasion may involve a number of different things. Sometimes God used his prophets to expound on event that had taken place in the past. In the first three chapters of Deuteronomy, for example, God had his prophet Moses review the history of Israel from the time they left Egypt until they were ready to enter the Promised Land. Other times God used his prophets to offer a revelation concerning the present. Remember the announcement that the prophet Nathan made to King David after David had committed adultery with Bathsheba? When David's anger flared against this imaginary rich man who had stolen his neighbor's pet lamb, Nathan spoke for God, "David, you are the man!" And then after David acknowledged his sins, Nathan again spoke as a representative of God. He told David, "The Lord has taken away your sin" (2 Sam. 12:13). In that case, the prophet was announcing a present reality.

And yes, there are times when God uses his prophets to speak of future events. For example, God said through the prophet Isaiah that a virgin would be with child and give birth to a son. God announced through the prophet Daniel the rise and fall of the Persian and Grecian empires. And through the prophet Joel God looked ahead to both the Day of Pentecost and the entire New Testament era.

Now, you realize that down through the centuries God's people have recognized all these prophecies as instances of God speaking to man through his chosen instruments, the apostles and the prophets. God's people therefore grabbed hold of these words of the prophets for what they really are-namely, the timeless words and promises of God. Words and promises which still apply to our lives today.

I mean, think about it. The prophets didn't write their messages from God on Post-It notes. They did not regard these as messages from God to be jotted down on little scraps of paper and then thrown away. No, the prophets recognized that they were recording God's timeless truths. The Masorites, who were charged with meticulously copying the words of the Bible, recognized the same thing. And I trust that by God's grace, you and I see the words of the Old Testament and the New Testament the very same way, namely as the true Word of God.

What a blessing it is to be able to gather here today and say, "Thus says the Lord," rather than, "Ohhmmmm. I'm waiting for a message here. I think it's coming in now. I hope it's from God." My friends, you and I you are looking for a revelation from above, then look no further than right here in the Bible, God's Word, revealed to us through God's chosen apostles and prophets.

And yet, it still must be said that even though the prophets of old were the faithful messengers of God, they still had one major limitation. Not one of them had the authority to speak on his own. Every prophet was totally dependent upon God for the message to share. Or to put it another way, all the true prophets of old spoke for God. There was only one prophet in the history of the world who spoke as God. Let's turn our attention to Jesus, II. The Prophet Who Speaks as God.

I think you know that throughout his earthly ministry, Jesus made it clear that he was more than just a spokesman for God. He in fact spoke as God. Remember Jesus' words to the Jews of his day, "Before Abraham was born, I am" (John 8:58). Jesus was there announcing himself to be God. Or think of John's words regarding Jesus. John writes, "In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God" (John 1:1). In that passage, the term "the Word" is a reference to Jesus, for John later says, "the Word became flesh and lived for a while among us." In other words, Jesus is the living, breathing, walking, talking Word of God. He not only speaks for God. He speaks as God.

Now, think about what that means for our lives today. In a sense, Jesus Christ has given us a window into the heart and mind of God Himself. St. John puts it this way, "No one has ever seen God, but God the only Son, who is at the Father's side, has made him known" (John 1:18). Think about that. As you and I stumble through the fog of life, as we wonder, "Man, why is this happening to me? What does God have in store for me? What does he expect of me? How does God feel about me?" As you and I find ourselves wondering, "Where do I stand with God Almighty?" Jesus steps forward and says, "Wait a minute. You don't have to wonder about where you stand with God. I'll tell you exactly what God thinks about you right now."

"On the one hand," Jesus says, "God thinks that you are a selfishly spoiled, lazy and arrogant man, woman or child. You are guilty of hurting people with the words you use and hurting people with the words you refuse to use. You have proven yourself to be untrustworthy, deceitful and bullheaded. You have lusted after things you cannot have and you have refused to honor God with the things you do have." God knows it and Jesus says that you and I deserved to be punished for it. That's the first thing that Jesus tells you about the heart and mind of God. Jesus reveals to you and me that God is a just God who hates every sin. And if you want to see that justice in action, then look at Jesus as he twists strands of rope into a whip and violently drives the money-changers out of the temple in John, chapter 2.

Fortunately for you and me, Jesus wants us to know more about God than that he's just. Jesus also wants us to know that God is gracious and merciful. Jesus desperately wants us to know that in spite of our repeated sins, God still loved us enough to offer the ultimate sacrifice for us. In Christ's perfect life and innocent death, God has declared you and me, and in fact, the whole world to be free from the guilt and punishment of our sins forever. Let's face it. That's mighty good news! That's news which Jesus, the Prophet, is determined to share with all mankind. In fact, do you remember how Jesus identified himself when he paid a visit on the synagogue in Nazareth? He opened the scroll of Isaiah to chapter 61, verse 11 and 12 and read these words, "The Spirit of the Sovereign LORD is on me, because the LORD has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives and release from darkness for the prisoners."

With those words, Jesus is identifying the most important message he or any other prophet of God will ever announce. Even though Jesus certainly took time to preach the law, the real heart and core of his preaching was the gospel, that is, the good news that God has opened the gates of heaven for all sinners by offering up his Son on the Cross of Calvary. That is God's #1 message for all eternity.

The question is, what are you and I going to do about it? Well, I think that the Apostle Peter has a pretty good word of advice to offer. Peter quotes these words of Moses, "The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among you own people; you must listen to everything he tells you." Listen to everything Jesus tells you. That's how God invites you to respond. Sometimes that means repenting of a sin that you're holding in your heart, as Peter tells his listeners, "Repent, then, and turn to God, so that your sins may be wiped out, that times of refreshing may come from the Lord." Or maybe for you it means taking to heart God's promise that he will be with you, even if someone you dearly loved no longer will be. Or maybe listening to Jesus means allowing him to help you decide who you are going to date, where you are going to go this weekend, what you are going to do.

My friends, the bottom line is this. God's Son came into this world to do more than just die for us. He also came to speak to us. During this Advent season, as you peer into that manger through the eyes of faith, I pray that you will see more than just a baby. I pray that you will also see a prophet. I pray that you will see The Prophet, for in His Word, you and I have peace and hope and life eternal. Amen.