BE CAREFUL WHO YOU LISTEN TO

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In Christ, Mark

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The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.

"The nations you will dispossess listen to those who practice sorcery or divination. But as for you, the Lord your God has not permitted you to do so. The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among your own brothers. You must listen to him. For this is what you asked of the Lord your God at Horeb on the day of the assembly when you said, ‘Let us not hear the voice of the Lord our God nor see this great fire anymore, or we will die.’"

“The Lord said to me: ‘What they say is good. I will raise up for them a prophet like you from among their brothers; I will put My words in his mouth, and he will tell them everything I command him. If anyone does not listen to My words that the prophet speaks in My name, I Myself will call him to account. But a prophet who presumes to speak in My name anything I have not commanded him to say, or a prophet who speaks in the name of other gods, must be put to death.’"

“You may say to yourselves, ‘How can we know when a message has not been spoken by the Lord?’ If what a prophet proclaims in the name of the Lord does not take place or come true, that is a message the Lord has not spoken. That prophet has spoken presumptuously. Do not be afraid of him."

Deuteronomy 18:14-22

This ends our reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.

As we have continued to read about God’s guidance to the Israelites in advance of their entry into the Promised Land, we have most recently seen Him instructing His people on what not to worship in Canaan as well as to who they should and shouldn’t associate with. As we love further into chapter 18, we see the Lord cautioning them on who they were and weren’t supposed to listen to. Look again at those words here:

"The nations you will dispossess listen to those who practice sorcery or divination. But as for you, the Lord your God has not permitted you to do so. The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among your own brothers. You must listen to him. For this is what you asked of the Lord your God at Horeb on the day of the assembly when you said, ‘Let us not hear the voice of the Lord our God nor see this great fire anymore, or we will die.’"

“The Lord said to me: ‘What they say is good. I will raise up for them a prophet like you from among their brothers; I will put My words in his mouth, and he will tell them everything I command him. If anyone does not listen to My words that the prophet speaks in My name, I Myself will call him to account. But a prophet who presumes to speak in My name anything I have not commanded him to say, or a prophet who speaks in the name of other gods, must be put to death.’"

“You may say to yourselves, ‘How can we know when a message has not been spoken by the Lord?’ If what a prophet proclaims in the name of the Lord does not take place or come true, that is a message the Lord has not spoken. That prophet has spoken presumptuously. Do not be afraid of him."

Deuteronomy 18:14-22

Here, we find God telling the Israelites that they would be dispossessing nations who listened “to those who practice sorcery or divination”, two practices that He didn’t permit Israel to be a part of. The Lord didn’t want His people listening to them and so we see Moses letting his brothers and sisters know who they were give their ears to. For it had been the voice of God that the people had heard ever since leaving their Egyptian enslavement and it was that voice (and that voice only) that they were to listen to in the future. That voice could be heard directly or as we see in these words, through an appointed messenger:

“The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among your own brothers. You must listen to him.”

Indeed, the Lord had told Moses, “I will raise up for them a prophet like you from among their brothers; I will put my words in his mouth, and he will tell them everything I command him” and He always does what He says He will do. In the past, He had spoken through Moses and would soon do the same through Joshua who would lead the Israelites into Canaan but many other spokespeople were to follow. Some would be legitimate while others would be counterfeit (i.e. false prophets).

So how would Israel know if they were dealing with a prophet who was truly speaking a message from the Lord?

The final portion of our passage answers that question.

For scripture tells us that if what a “prophet proclaims in the name of the Lord does not take place or come true, that is a message the Lord has not spoken”. This was the litmus test that served as an assurance for Israel, a way to know who they should and shouldn’t believe.

There would always be a potential danger that someone could come forward and lead Israel astray, falsely speaking on behalf of the Lord and so we find Him showing His people, past and present, how they could check the reliability, validity, and believability of the prophet. If what he or she (there were prophetesses in the Bible) said came true or took place, then the message was from the Lord. Otherwise, the message was false and fabricated.

Today, there are plenty of people who claim to be sharing messages from the Lord. Some even choose to label themselves as prophets or prophetesses. Unfortunately, as in biblical times, not all of them are legit and so we need to apply the same principles that we read here in Deuteronomy and test everything before we believe it or trust the messenger. The only difference is that we have the Bible which is the complete and inerrant Word of our Lord. Everything He says to us is found within the sixty-six books between Genesis and Revelation.

Given this, there is no need for anyone claiming they have some additional word from God that isn’t contained or supported by the Word He has already given. If someone does share something, stating that the Lord provided them the words they speak or write, we should pray over what we read or hear, asking for the guidance of the Holy Spirit. Additionally, we should be getting into God’s word to validate what we’ve been told. Using these two things in tandem will expose falsehood and assure that we won’t possibly be led astray.

In the end translation, God’s cautionary warning stands true. As believers, we need to be careful about who we listen to.

Amen.

In Christ,

Mark

PS: Feel free to leave a comment and please share this with anyone you feel might be blessed by it. Send any prayer requests to TheChristianWalkPrayers@gmail.com.