January 11, 2023: Deuteronomy 18:19 - I Will Require it of Him
“And it shall be that whoever will not hear My words, which He speaks in My name, I will require it of him.” - Deuteronomy 18:19
Moses was speaking directly to the nation of Israel. He had just told them what God had told him, “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.” Now, God, through Moses, was telling them that if they do not listen to His Prophet that He will raise up for them, God will hold them accountable for their actions.
It is estimated that Deuteronomy was written sometime between 1400 and 700 BC. Thus, it was written at least 700 years prior to the birth of Jesus Christ. God was telling His people long before Jesus, Emmanuel - God with Us - was born, so that when He was born, they would know whether the prophets who prophesied His birth were in fact true prophets, and this includes the Messianic prophecy made by Moses. There are many prophecies of the birth, ministry, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. I have included several key prophecies below.
The nations shall be blessed through Jacob’s offspring - Jacob is part of Jesus’ genealogy (Genesis 28:14)
The Scepter (royal or imperial power or authority) shall come from the tribe of Judah (Genesis 49:10)
Born of a virgin and He shall be called Immanuel (God-With-Us) (Isaiah 7:14)
David’s offspring will have an eternal kingdom - David is part of Jesus’ genealogy (2 Samuel 7:12–13)
The Christ would be born in Bethlehem (Micah 5:2)
Messiah will end up in Egypt (Hosea 11:1)
Jesus would teach in parables (Psalm 78:1-2)
Messiah would be a stone that causes people to stumble (Isaiah 8:14)
Messiah would be preceded by a forerunner (Isaiah 40:3-4)
Jesus would be betrayed for 30 pieces of silver (Zechariah 11:12-13)
Jesus’ hands and feet would be pierced (Psalm 22:16)
Jesus would be resurrected (Psalm 16:10, Psalm 22, Job 19:23-27)
As these prophecies were fulfilled, it would become clear that the prophets who prophesied them were called by God to prophesy. My prior devotional discussed Deuteronomy 18:17-18 and the prophecy God gave to Moses. During the time of Jesus’ ministry, He performed a miracle by feeding 5,000 men with only five loaves of barley and two fish. The men whom He fed had remembered what God had told Moses in Deuteronomy 18:15 and 18, ”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.” After Jesus had fed the 5,000 men, as well as all the women and children who had come with them, the men recalled the prophecy spoken of by Moses and said, “This is truly the Prophet who is to come into the world.” (John 6:14)
However, most Jewish people rejected Jesus as their prophesied Messiah, including the Jewish leaders, the scribes, Pharisees, and Sadducees, the latter of whom did not believe in resurrection. Only a small minority of Jews then and now have accepted Jesus as their prophesied Savior. They did not hear His words that He spoke on the authority of God the Father. After Jesus was betrayed by Judas Iscariot and arrested, He had to appear before the Sanhedrin, to Caiaphas the high priest, the chief priests, the elders, and all the council who sought to put Jesus to death. During the questioning of Jesus, He kept silent. Caiaphas then said to Jesus, “I put You under oath by the living God: Tell us if You are the Christ, the Son of God!” Jesus then answered him, “It is as you said. Nevertheless, I say to you, hereafter you will see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of the Power, and coming on the clouds of heaven.” Caiaphas then “tore his clothes, saying, ‘He has spoken blasphemy! What further need do we have of witnesses? Look, now you have heard His blasphemy! What do you think?’ They answered and said, ‘He is deserving of death.’ Then they spat in His face and beat Him; and others struck Him with the palms of their hand, saying, ‘Prophesy to us, Christ! Who is the one who struck You?‘“ (Matthew 26:65-68)
The Jewish leaders and any Jewish person who studied the scriptures at that time certainly knew of the prophecies about the coming of their Messiah and had seen them fulfilled. They had heard Him speak during the time of His approximately three year ministry, and they had seen Him perform many miracles. Yet, during one of Jesus’ religious trials, the Jewish leaders heard Him tell them with His mouth the answer to their question when they asked if He was the Christ, the Son of God. And yet, they did not believe Him and had Him put to death by the Romans by crucifixion. God had told His people hundreds of years before that He would hold them accountable if they would not hear Jesus’ words that He would speak in God’s name. And God has.
When Israel as a nation rejected Jesus as their prophesied Messiah and after His death and resurrection, God chose the apostle Paul, who formerly was a Jewish Pharisee named Saul who persecuted Christians until He was converted to Christianity on his way to Damascus and God changed his name to “Paul,” to bring the message of salvation through faith in Jesus Christ to the Gentiles, the non-Jews. Paul wanted the Gentiles not to be arrogant in their salvation and not to consider themselves better than the Jews. He also wrote in the book of Romans, “I say then, has God cast away His people? Certainly not! For I also am an Israelite, of the seed of Abraham, of the tribe of Benjamin. God has not cast away His people whom He foreknew.” (Romans 11:1-2) Paul spoke to the Gentiles of a remnant of Israel that would be saved by their faith in Jesus Christ: “Even so then, at this present time there is a remnant according to the election of grace.” (Romans 11:5) Paul goes onto say, “For I do not desire, brethren, that you should be ignorant of this mystery, lest you should be wise in your own opinion, that blindness in part has happened to Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in. And so all Israel will be saved, as it is written: 'The Deliverer will come out of Zion, and He will turn away ungodliness from Jacob; for this is My covenant with them, when I take away their sins.’ ” (Romans 11:25-27)
The remnant of Israel’s salvation will only come when, as prophesied in Zechariah 12:10, “And I will pour on the house of David and on the inhabitants of Jerusalem the Spirit of grace and supplication; then they will look on Me whom they pierced. Yes, they will mourn for Him as one mourns for his only son, and grieve for Him as one grieves for a firstborn. In that day there shall be a great mourning in Jerusalem, like the mourning at Hadad Rimmon in the plain of Megiddo.” Thus, we see that while the majority of the Jewish people rejected Jesus as Messiah, and sadly, they went to their graves in unbelief and will be separated from Jesus for eternity in hell, there is a time coming when a remnant will be saved when their eyes and ears will be opened to the truth, and they will turn to Him and be saved. “As it is written, ‘Behold, I lay in Zion a stumbling stone and rock of offense, and whoever believes on Him will not be put to shame.’ ” (Romans 9:33)
And since Jesus came not only to offer salvation to Israel but to all nations (Luke 2:30-32, John 3:14-18), as God told Israel, “And it shall be that whoever will not hear My words, which He speaks in My name, I will require it of him.” (Deuteronomy 18:19) Are you hearing His words, have you put your faith and trust in Jesus Christ as Your Savior? I pray you do, before it’s too late. ✝️