JESUS—THE PROPHET LIKE MOSES
“The Lord your God will raise up for you a Prophet from among your own people—one of your brothers—and you must listen to Him. This is what you asked of the Lord your God at Mount Horeb on the day the people gathered, when you said, ‘Don’t let us hear the voice of the Lord our God again or see this great fire anymore, or we will die.’ And the Lord said to me, ‘What they have said is right. I will raise up a Prophet from among their brothers, one like you, and I will put My words in His mouth. He will speak to them everything I command Him’” (Deuteronomy 18:15–18).
When Moses climbed Mount Sinai, the mountain trembled beneath the weight of glory. The summit blazed like a forge in heaven, and the air itself seemed alive with holiness (Exodus 19:18). That mountain was more than a geographical location. It was a meeting place between frail humanity and eternal majesty. There, God gave a man His words written in fire and thunder. Yet even then, hidden in that smoke and glory, God whispered of another Prophet to come—one greater than Moses, one who would not just speak the Word but be the Word (Deuteronomy 18:15; John 1:14).
Jesus is that Prophet. The fulfillment, not the echo. The substance, not the shadow. Moses was a servant in the house; Jesus is the Son over it (Hebrews 3.5–6).
The Call and the Fire
Moses first met God in the desert when he saw a bush that burned but was not consumed (Exodus 3:2). It was as though creation itself had caught fire with the presence of its Maker, and yet it endured. That bush was a prophecy of the Christ to come. For Jesus too would burn with the holiness of God, carrying divinity in the frailty of flesh. And yet He would not be consumed. The fire of deity dwelt safely within the bush of humanity.
The Lord told Moses to remove his sandals because the ground had become holy. In Christ, the ground of our hearts becomes holy. When Jesus dwells within us, ordinary people become burning bushes, aflame with divine purpose yet unconsumed by the fire.
The Deliverer and the Cross
When God sent Moses back to Egypt, he went with a rod in his hand and heaven’s authority in his heart. That rod parted seas and shattered chains. Moses stood before the waters, and they fled from his command (Exodus 14:21). Yet when Jesus came, He did not raise a rod but a cross. With outstretched arms, He parted the sea of sin and opened a path through death itself.
Moses delivered Israel from Pharaoh’s whip. Jesus delivers souls from Satan’s grip. Moses led them out of Egypt’s brick pits. Jesus leads us out of the bondage of sin. Pharaoh’s armies drowned in the Red Sea. The hosts of hell were disarmed at the cross (Colossians 2:15). What Moses did with a rod of wood, Jesus did with a tree of Calvary.
The Law and the Grace
Moses ascended Sinai to receive the Law, the Word carved in stone (Exodus 31:18). When he descended, his face shone with reflected glory (Exodus 34:29). He carried commandments that revealed the holiness of God and the sinfulness of man. But when Jesus climbed another mountain—the Mount of Transfiguration—His face shone not with reflected light but with light from within (Matthew 17:2). He was not a mirror; He was the Sun. Moses gave the Law that could reveal guilt. Jesus gave grace that could remove it (John 1:17).
Moses placed the Law inside the Ark. Jesus placed the Law inside the believer’s heart (Jeremiah 31:33; Romans 8:4). The tablets of stone have become tablets of flesh, and the same finger that wrote on Sinai now writes upon the soul.
The Intercessor and the Mediator
Moses interceded for the people when they sinned. He stood in the gap when the wrath of God threatened to destroy them (Exodus 32:11-14). He pleaded, “Yet now, if You will forgive their sin. But if not, blot me out of Your book.” That was the heart of a shepherd willing to die for his sheep. But there was one greater still. Jesus did not merely offer to be blotted out—He was. He bore our sins in His own body on the tree (1 Peter 2:24). He did not just stand in the gap; He became the bridge.
Moses lifted his hands to intercede for Israel in battle, and when his arms grew weary, Aaron and Hur held them up (Exodus 17:12). Jesus intercedes with hands that never grow weary, for they are nail-scarred hands of eternal priesthood (Hebrews 7:25).
The Wilderness and the Word
Moses led the people through the wilderness—a place of testing, manna, and murmuring (Exodus 16:4). Jesus too entered the wilderness, not to murmur but to conquer (Matthew 4:1). Where Israel failed, He prevailed. He fed the multitudes with bread, showing that He was the true manna that came down from heaven (John 6:35). Moses struck the rock and water flowed. Jesus was struck at Calvary and living water flowed from His side (John 19:34; 1 Corinthians 10:4).
Every miracle of Moses was a signpost pointing toward Christ. The serpent lifted on a pole in the desert (Numbers 21:9) found its fulfillment when Jesus said, “As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up” (John 3:14). Moses lifted a symbol. Jesus lifted salvation.
The Glory and the Face
When Moses asked to see God’s glory, the Lord said, “You cannot see My face, for no man shall see Me and live” (Exodus 33:20). Yet in Jesus, that glory became visible. The invisible became flesh. He is “the brightness of God’s glory and the express image of His person” (Hebrews 1:3). To look at Jesus is to see what Moses longed for but could only glimpse.
Imagine standing before a sunrise after a long night. That’s what Israel experienced when Jesus came. The Law was like the moon—bright, yet borrowed light. Grace and truth came like the dawn. The shadows fled, and the full day appeared.
The Death and the Promise
Moses died within sight of the Promised Land (Deuteronomy 34:5). He could see it, but he could not enter. The Law could bring you to the border of salvation, but it could not take you across. Only Jesus could lead us in. Moses was buried in a hidden grave. Jesus rose from an open one. Moses’ tomb was guarded by God. Jesus’ tomb was opened by God (Matthew 28:2).
Even in his death, Moses pointed to another. On the Mount of Transfiguration, Moses appeared beside Elijah, speaking with Jesus about the “exodus” He would accomplish at Jerusalem (Luke 9:31). The old prophet who once led slaves out of Egypt now stood beside the Savior who would lead souls out of death. The shadow met the substance, and all heaven sang.
The Prophet and the Heart
The people once said, “Never again has there arisen in Israel a prophet like Moses” (Deuteronomy 34:10). They were right—until Bethlehem. The baby laid in a manger was the Prophet like Moses, yet infinitely more. He was not merely a messenger of God’s Word; He was God’s Word made flesh. He was the new Moses who would lead a new exodus.
If Moses’ rod could split the sea, how much more can Christ’s cross split the chains of sin? If manna could sustain a nation, how much more can His Spirit sustain the soul? If Moses could turn aside from a burning bush, how much more should we turn aside from every lesser thing to look upon the blazing beauty of Christ?
The Lesson and the Life
So what does it mean for us, here and now? It means we must live as people of the greater covenant, not clinging to the fading glory of Sinai but walking in the radiant grace of Calvary. To be a follower of Jesus is to be a disciple of the Prophet like Moses—one who still speaks, still leads, and still brings water from the rock of His own mercy.
When the road feels like wilderness, remember the manna. When the sea stands before you, remember the staff. When the mountain seems too high, remember the fire that never consumes. The same God who led Moses by cloud and fire now leads you by His Spirit. The same Christ who fulfilled every shadow of the Law now walks beside you as your daily companion.
And one day, like Moses, we too will climb our mountain. We’ll see the Promised Land not from afar, but face to face. Only then will we fully understand how every wilderness, every Red Sea, every burning bush was leading us to one place—to Jesus, the Prophet like Moses, the Deliverer who never fails.
Bryan Dewayne Dunaway
