Prophet of Deliverance

March 7, 2021 Background Scripture: Exodus 12:28 – 50; Deuteronomy 18:15 – 22 Lesson Passage: Deuteronomy 18:15 – 22 The lessons for this quarter focus on the ministry of God’s prophets. God anointed prophets to hear His voice and to speak His words. Often, those words of God described a future action, state, or warning. Sometimes prophets spoke of current events that the hearer(s) would otherwise be totally unaware of except for the word of God. The Background Scripture of today’s lesson describe the prophecy of two of the greatest prophets of God. We attribute greatness to their ministry because of the results that are accomplished by God through them. Moses and Jesus are presented today as fearless prophets of God. Their biblical history does not reflect that view of them during much of the time of their ministries. If it did, it is possible that their reputations might have elevated them to such levels that the people of the day would not have been able to relate to them. Fortunately for us, we have the benefit of some of their history as well as how history has treated their effectiveness over time. We can see how people related to them during their ministry and we can see how people have been affected by those ministries over time. Historically, the first prophet of today’s lesson’s focus is Moses, and the second prophet is Jesus. God used Moses to lead the greatest deliverance of people from the very presence of human bondage. Throughout human history, many nations have enacted emancipation proclamations to end state-sponsored human enslavement. The catch, however, is the people supposedly liberated were essentially required to remain in place after those laws. The new laws were typically manipulated to exact the same amount of “free” labor from the recently liberated, legally. They were free on paper but not much more than slaves—in reality. God used Moses to deliver a nation out of a nation. They were numbered at over six hundred thousand men capable of being a fighting army. The men who were not such, along with women and children, were not counted. It has been estimated that there were over two million people delivered and brought out of Egypt. Their emancipation was absolute. They were no longer under heads-of-state and were therefore free to decide for themselves if they wanted to remain free. That was over three thousand five hundred years ago. The magnitude of that deliverance is still amazing when considered today. The lesson passage revolves around the promise of God to send the second prophet, Jesus. The number of people God delivered through Moses seems insignificant compared to the number of people that are called to deliverance through Jesus. Moses connected Jesus’ ministry to his own in three ways. First, would be his nationality. Like Moses, Jesus would be born a Hebrew. Secondly, Jesus would be of the same order of prophets as Moses. They were both stand-alone fearless prophets not associated with a group or school of prophets. And thirdly, the scale of deliverance wrought by God through both is unparalleled. The numbered delivered through Moses was counted and is not difficult to know. The number of people delivered through Jesus is continuing to add to the total. Yes, Jesus is a prophet like Moses in many respects. And yet, Jesus is unlike any God has or ever will call to deliver His people. Christians are grateful to God that He made Jesus a prophet of deliverance. Robert C. Hudson February 13, 2021