Deuteronomy 18:15-19
Moses was not just a prophet but the mediator of the covenant at Sinai, a deliverer who led Israel out of Egyptian bondage, a lawgiver who received and communicated God’s law, and an intercessor who pleaded for Israel’s forgiveness.
The prophet promised here would be like Moses, an Israelite who would speak God’s words with authority and mediate between God and His people. The likeness points to a greater figure who would embody and surpass Moses’ roles.
Jesus, as the ultimate mediator, deliverer, lawgiver, and intercessor, fulfills this in a manner that transcends Moses’ ministry.
In Acts 3:22-23, Peter, preaching to the crowd in Jerusalem, says, For Moses truly said to the fathers, ‘The Lord your God will raise up for you a Prophet like me from your brethren. Him you shall hear in all things, whatever He says to you. And it shall be that every soul who will not hear that Prophet shall be utterly destroyed from among the people.’ Similarly, Stephen, in his defence before the Sanhedrin in Acts 7:37, says This is that Moses who said to the children of Israel, ‘The Lord your God will raise up for you a Prophet like me from your brethren. Him you shall hear.’ These references confirm that Jesus is the prophet to whom Deuteronomy pointed.
Like Moses, Jesus serves as the mediator of a covenant, but His is the new covenant, sealed in His blood. Where Moses mediated the law, which revealed sin but could not fully atone for it, Jesus, as the Mediator of a better covenant (Hebrews 8:6), offers Himself as the perfect sacrifice; He is the Mediator of the new covenant, by means of death, for the redemption of the transgressions under the first covenant, that those who are called may receive the promise of the eternal inheritance (Hebrews 9:15).
Moses delivered Israel from physical slavery in Egypt, but Jesus delivers all who believe from the bondage of sin and death; for if we have been united together in the likeness of His death, certainly we also shall be in the likeness of His resurrection, knowing this, that our old man was crucified with Him, that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves of sin. For he who has died has been freed from sin. (Romans 6:6-7). Therefore, if the Son makes you free, you shall be free indeed (John 8:36).
Moses’ role as lawgiver also finds its fulfillment in Jesus, who did not come to destroy the Law or the Prophets; He did not come to destroy but to fulfill (Matthew 5:17). Unlike Moses, who received the law from God, Jesus declares, But I say to you, revealing His divine prerogative as the ultimate Lawgiver.
As an intercessor, Moses pleaded for Israel’s forgiveness when they sinned. Jesus, however, intercedes eternally as the high priest who always lives to make intercession for His people (Hebrews 7:25). Who is he who condemns? It is Christ who died, and furthermore is also risen, who is even at the right hand of God, who also makes intercession for us (Romans 8:34).
Deuteronomy emphasizes the command to listen to the prophet, a directive echoed in the Transfiguration, where God declares of Jesus, This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased. Hear Him (Matthew 17:5).
To listen to Jesus is to` heed His teachings, trust in His redemptive work, and follow His call to discipleship. In a world filled with competing voices and ideologies, we are called to anchor our faith in Christ’s words, because it is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh profits nothing. The words that He speaks to us are spirit, and they are life (John 6:63).
Jesus’ role as the mediator of the new covenant invites us into a personal relationship with God, marked by forgiveness and transformation through the indwelling Holy Spirit. This relationship empowers us to live out the ethical demands of Christ’s teachings.
God, who at various times and in various ways spoke in time past to the fathers by the prophets, has in these last days spoken to us by His Son, whom He has appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the worlds; who being the brightness of His glory and the express image of His person, and upholding all things by the word of His power, when He had by Himself purged our sins, sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high, having become so much better than the angels, as He has by inheritance obtained a more excellent name than they (Hebrews 1:1-4).
Ask God to:
- Give you a heart that submits to the teachings of Jesus Christ and follows His Word above all other voices.
- help you to fully grasp the depth of Jesus’ sacrifice and live in the grace and forgiveness secured by His blood.
- keep you watchful and ready for Christ’s return, living as a faithful witness in this world.
