The Day of New Beginnings

The Prophetic Christ

 

Ex. 20:
18 ¶  All the people perceived the thunder and the lightning flashes and the sound of the trumpet and the mountain smoking; and when the people saw it, they trembled and stood at a distance.
19  Then they said to Moses, "Speak to us yourself and we will listen; but let not God speak to us, or we will die."
20  Moses said to the people, "Do not be afraid; for God has come in order to test you, and in order that the fear of Him may remain with you, so that you may not sin."
 
Deut. 5:
23 ¶  "And when you heard the voice from the midst of the darkness, while the mountain was burning with fire, you came near to me, all the heads of your tribes and your elders.
24  "You said, ‘Behold, the LORD our God has shown us His glory and His greatness, and we have heard His voice from the midst of the fire; we have seen today that God speaks with man, yet he lives.
25  ‘Now then why should we die? For this great fire will consume us; if we hear the voice of the LORD our God any longer, then we will die.
26  ‘For who is there of all flesh who has heard the voice of the living God speaking from the midst of the fire, as we have, and lived?
27  ‘Go near and hear all that the LORD our God says; then speak to us all that the LORD our God speaks to you, and we will hear and do it.’
28  "The LORD heard the voice of your words when you spoke to me, and the LORD said to me, ‘I have heard the voice of the words of this people which they have spoken to you. They have done well in all that they have spoken.
 
Deut. 18:
15 ¶  "The LORD your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among you, from your countrymen, you shall listen to him.
16  "This is according to all that you asked of the LORD your God in Horeb on the day of the assembly, saying, ‘Let me not hear again the voice of the LORD my God, let me not see this great fire anymore, or I will die.’
17  "The LORD said to me, ‘They have spoken well.
18  ‘I will raise up a prophet from among their countrymen like you, and I will put My words in his mouth, and he shall speak to them all that I command him.
 
One might think initially that the children of Israel committed a shameful act when they requested that Moses speak to them instead of God. “If God speaks to us then we will die,” they said. Israel stood in fear and trembling upon the mountain, afraid of God. They refused to hear Him. This is alluded to in Heb. 12 where it says:
 
8 ¶  For you have not come to a mountain that can be touched and to a blazing fire, and to darkness and gloom and whirlwind,
19  and to the blast of a trumpet and the sound of words which sound was such that those who heard begged that no further word be spoken to them.
20  For they could not bear the command, "IF EVEN A BEAST TOUCHES THE MOUNTAIN, IT WILL BE STONED."
21  And so terrible was the sight, that Moses said, "I AM FULL OF FEAR and trembling."
22  But you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to myriads of angels,
23  to the general assembly and church of the firstborn who are enrolled in heaven, and to God, the Judge of all, and to the spirits of the righteous made perfect,
24  and to Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood, which speaks better than the blood of Abel.
25  See to it that you do not refuse Him who is speaking. For if those did not escape when they refused him who warned them on earth, much less will we escape who turn away from Him who warns from heaven.
26  And His voice shook the earth then, but now He has promised, saying, "YET ONCE MORE I WILL SHAKE NOT ONLY THE EARTH, BUT ALSO THE HEAVEN."
27  This expression, "Yet once more," denotes the removing of those things which can be shaken, as of created things, so that those things which cannot be shaken may remain.
28  Therefore, since we receive a kingdom which cannot be shaken, let us show gratitude, by which we may offer to God an acceptable service with reverence and awe;
29  for our God is a consuming fire.
 
But instead of the Lord rebuking Israel, He said they had spoken well. He had heard the voice of their words and approved. The reason God approved of their request to hear through Moses instead of directly from Him points prophetically to Christ. Moses stood as a mediator between God and Israel. In 1st Timothy we read:
 
5  For there is one God, and one mediator also between God and men, the man Christ Jesus,
6  who gave Himself as a ransom for all, the testimony given at the proper time.
 
Jesus Christ is the one who becomes the ultimate expression of what God has to say to man. Not just historically, but in an ever present manifestation. That’s why the prophecy was given that God would raise up a prophet liken to Moses. This prophecy is referred to again in Acts 2: 
 
20  and that He may send Jesus, the Christ appointed for you,
21  whom heaven must receive until the period of restoration of all things about which God spoke by the mouth of His holy prophets from ancient time.
22  "Moses said, ‘THE LORD GOD WILL RAISE UP FOR YOU A PROPHET LIKE ME FROM YOUR BRETHREN; TO HIM YOU SHALL GIVE HEED to everything He says to you.
23  ‘And it will be that every soul that does not heed that prophet shall be utterly destroyed from among the people.’
24  "And likewise, all the prophets who have spoken, from Samuel and his successors onward, also announced these days.
25  "It is you who are the sons of the prophets and of the covenant which God made with your fathers, saying to Abraham, ‘AND IN YOUR SEED ALL THE FAMILIES OF THE EARTH SHALL BE BLESSED.’
26  "For you first, God raised up His Servant and sent Him to bless you by turning every one of you from your wicked ways."
 
Jesus Christ is The Prophet. All that God has to say to us is expressed through Jesus Christ. This goes beyond what Jesus the Nazarene spoke historically in the Gospels.  God is still speaking today and it comes through Christ the Prophet. In Rev. 19 it says: 
 
10 Then I fell at his feet to worship him. But he *said to me, "Do not do that; I am a fellow servant of yours and your brethren who hold the testimony of Jesus; worship God. For the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy."
 
The prophetic spirit of Christ is to be expressed through His many membered body. We are individually and collectively to be the channels through which God speaks. Christ the Prophet must have His expression through His body. The body of Christ is to be a prophetic community speaking forth all that God has to say. This means much more than the gift of prophecy spoken of by Paul in 1st. Cor. 12 and 14. It’s not about standing and proclaiming “Thus says the Lord!” It means the prophetic anointing of Christ the Prophet rests upon a people in such a way that His life and nature is revealed in the words they speak. John 1:1 tells us Christ IS the Word. We must all learn to move and speak in the prophetic anointing of Christ. 
 
Luke 2:
 
25 ¶  And there was a man in Jerusalem whose name was Simeon; and this man was righteous and devout, looking for the consolation of Israel; and the Holy Spirit was upon him.
26  And it had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not see death before he had seen the Lord’s Christ.
27  And he came in the Spirit into the temple; and when the parents brought in the child Jesus, to carry out for Him the custom of the Law,
28  then he took Him into his arms, and blessed God, and said,
29  "Now Lord, You are releasing Your bond-servant to depart in peace, According to Your word;
30  For my eyes have seen Your salvation,
31  Which You have prepared in the presence of all peoples,
32  A LIGHT OF REVELATION TO THE GENTILES, And the glory of Your people Israel."
33  And His father and mother were amazed at the things which were being said about Him.
34  And Simeon blessed them and said to Mary His mother, "Behold, this Child is appointed for the fall and rise of many in Israel, and for a sign to be opposed—
35  and a sword will pierce even your own soul—to the end that thoughts from many hearts may be revealed."
 
These passages in Luke reveal that Christ is to be a light of revelation to us. He is also to be a light of revelation through us. The one outstanding characteristic of the body of Christ should be the prophetic anointing they move in, because it’s in that anointing that the “light of revelation” comes to people’s hearts.