The people of God witnessed amazing and terrifying things while they traversed the wilderness for 40 years, as told in Deuteronomy. As they enter the new, promised land, they receive instructions on how to live, but timidly tell Moses they don’t want to hear directly from God anymore, or they will die. Moses brings the request to God and then relays His answer to them in this passage:
“The LORD your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among you, from your brothers—it is to him you shall listen— just as you desired of the LORD your God at Horeb on the day of the assembly, when you said, ‘Let me not hear again the voice of the LORD my God or see this great fire any more, lest I die.’
And the LORD said to me, ‘They are right in what they have spoken. I will raise up for them a prophet like you from among their brothers. And I will put my words in his mouth, and he shall speak to them all that I command him. And whoever will not listen to my words that he shall speak in my name, I myself will require it of him.”
(Deuteronomy 18:15-19, ESV)
Fast forward to the beginning of the gospel of Jesus, Messiah, the Son of God. (Mark 1:1) We see John the Baptist preparing the way in the wilderness preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins and Jesus comes to John (his cousin) to be baptized. After returning from his temptations in the wilderness, he begins to preach the Gospel of the Kingdom of God while traveling to the surrounding towns and cities. As a prophet, He comes speaking the words of his Heavenly Father:
“I have not spoken on My own, but the Father who sent Me has commanded Me what to say and how to say it. And I know that His command leads to eternal life. So I speak exactly what the Father has told Me to say.” (John 12:49, ESV)
Jesus spends time alone in prayer, interceding for his people, healing, making whole, and is obedient to his heavenly Father. He casts out demons, performs various miracles and forgives sins all by the power of God at work in him. Everyone is talking about him and his teaching--the word is out. They want to know, could he be the Messiah? “And early in the morning all the people came to him in the temple to hear him.” (Luke 21:38, ESV)
The crowds pursued him and tried to persuade him not to leave. “But Jesus told them, “I must preach the good news of the Kingdom of God to the other towns as well, because that is why I was sent.” (Luke 4:43, ESV)
We see in Matthew 21:10-11, when he enters Jerusalem, the whole city is stirred up saying, ““Who is this?” And the crowds said, “This is the prophet Jesus, from Nazareth of Galilee.””
As we walk through scripture in the coming days and weeks, think of the word repentance and the metamorphosis or sea change underlying the meaning of the word. The Hebrew word for sin is chet meaning to ‘go astray.’ Repentance, translated from Hebrew means return. The idea, then in Jewish thought, is to return to the path of righteousness.
He came not only opening physical eyes but spiritual, as well. He taught the bigger picture. The coming eternal Kingdom of God where all of these things can be summed up in one word-- that is, restoration.
The Kingdom of God will be established on earth. Where the first Adam failed, Jesus succeeded. Jesus the King of Kings, ruling from the throne of David with peace and righteousness. War will be no more. On that day, justice will reign.
Righteousness shall be the belt of his waist, and faithfulness the belt of his loins. The wolf shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the young goat, and the calf and the lion and the fattened calf together; and a little child shall lead them. The cow and the bear shall graze; their young shall lie down together; and the lion shall eat straw like the ox. (Isaiah 11:5-7, ESV)
Peace to you.