Acts 3:22-26 For Moses truly said to the fathers, A prophet shall the Lord your God raise up to you of your brothers, like to me… Note — I. THE APPROPRIATENESS OF GOD REVEALING HIMSELF THROUGH A HUMAN BEING. For man is the Divine image, and hence God reveals Himself to man through a man, otherwise we could have no knowledge of God. The office of prophet is the most appropriate way of revealing God's will. When we carry on this line of thought we are landed in the idea that an incarnation of God alone could adequately convey to man the mind and nature of God. II. A SINGLE PROPHET AFTER THE SIMILITUDE OF MOSES IS TO BE THE MEDIATOR FOR THE AGES. Now, only one Person answers this description, and that is Christ. He is incarnate God. God's Spirit He alone could take, and through its gift to men in the different ages make them the channel of Divine revelation (ver. 24). As a matter of fact "the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy," and the prophets were His instruments in the history of the Church. God has spoken in these last days by His Son; and the prophets between Moses and Christ were really the inspired messengers of the one great Prophet. This is the idea of Peter (1 Peter 1:11). III. THE LIFE AND DEATH OF JESUS, THEREFORE, BECOME THE CLIMAX OF DIVINE REVELATION. The previous revelations were but shadows of this. A human history became the embodiment of Divine thoughts, mercies, and self-sacrifice. The blaze of Divinity that was intolerable at Sinai becomes not only bearable but entrancing in the face of Jesus Christ. "We beheld His glory," but it did not scare men as on the holy mount. IV. DISREGARD OF THE WORDS OF JESUS IS PUNISHABLE BY DEATH (ver. 23). "If any man love not the Lord Jesus Christ, let him be anathema." If disobedience to Moses was visited in many cases by death, how much more disloyalty to Christ (Hebrews 10:28-31). The gospel has penalties of the severest kind for its rejection, as well as bliss beyond compare for its reception. The alternative is thus clearly set before us. (R. M. Edgar, M. A.) Parallel Verses KJV: For Moses truly said unto the fathers, A prophet shall the Lord your God raise up unto you of your brethren, like unto me; him shall ye hear in all things whatsoever he shall say unto you. |
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