Please turn in your Bibles to the book of Deuteronomy chapter 18. Deuteronomy and chapter 18. I'll read verses 15 through 18. The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among you. From your countrymen you shall listen to him. 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 lest I die. And the Lord said to me, they have spoken well. 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." We are looking today at Moses as a type of Christ to come. There are events, circumstances in the life and the work of Moses which resemble and point forward to the coming of Jesus. And God has ordered it to be this way, to create the anticipation and the hope of faith in His people and the Savior to come, and that His Old Testament people would recognize His appearing when He came. This is one of the great passages here of Moses as a prophet, as a type of Christ, the great prophet who is to come. Moses is the shadow. Christ is the fulfillment and the substance. And here, the great prophet of Israel, Moses, tells us of a greater prophet to come in Jesus Christ. In verse 16, Moses recounts what had happened back at Mount Sinai when the Lord came upon the top of the mountain and the mountain burned and smoke ascended like the smoke of a furnace and the people were filled with fear. So they asked the Lord that he would no longer speak to them in this manner from the top of the mountain, but he would speak to them through Moses. And we have a fuller account of what happened back in Exodus chapter 20 found in Deuteronomy chapter 5. And we'll turn back there for just a moment tonight in Deuteronomy and chapter 5. In the First part of the chapter, Moses recounts how God spoke the Ten Commandments from the mountain back at Mount Sinai. And then we read in verses 22 down through verse 28. In verse 22, these words, the Lord spoke to all your assembly at the mountain from the midst of the fire. of the cloud and of the thick gloom with a great voice, and he added no more. And he wrote them on two tablets of stone and gave them to me. And it came about when you heard the voice from the midst of the darkness while the mountain was burning with fire that you came near to me, all the heads of your tribes and your elders, And you said, behold, the Lord our God has shown us His great, 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, and yet He lives. 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 shall die. 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? Go near and hear all that the Lord our God says. Then speak to us all that the Lord our God will speak to you, and we will hear and do it. And 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." So here we see in verse 25 that the people saw the fire burning on the top of the mountain. They heard the voice of God himself speaking. And the terror of the entire scene was so overpowering they thought they would die. And so in verse 27, they requested Moses and they said to Moses, go near and hear all that the Lord our God says. So they wanted Moses to go up upon the mountain in the midst of the glory cloud and the consuming fire. You go near to the Lord, they said, and come and speak to us all that he says, and we will do what he commands. They wanted Moses to be God's prophet. They wanted Him to go upon the mountain to hear the Word of God, then come down and speak to them, and they promise at the end of verse 28, 27, their own obedience. They say, whatever He says, we will hear, and we will do it. In verse 28, the end of the verse, God says that He is well pleased with what they have spoken. And so he is willing to condescend, to grant their request and speak to them through Moses. And then in verse 29, now the Lord speaks again in verse 29 and he says, oh that they had such a heart in them. that they would fear me and keep my commandments always, that it may be well with them and with their sons forever. And so the Lord here in verse 29, he expresses his great desire for his people, that they would have such a heart in them, that they would fear him, keep his commandments always. And this longing of God's heart continued throughout the entire Old Testament period, and it continues even today. And we find it in many places. Psalm 81 in verse 13, he says, oh, that my people would listen to me, that Israel would walk in my ways. But we know the conclusion, that the people could not give themselves such a heart of obedience. And the Old Testament, the Old Covenant failed to give them that heart. And so God would have to bring a new covenant in which the Lord would give them that new heart of obedience to walk carefully in His ways. In verse 30, now God says to Moses, go and say to them, return to their tents. And so the people return. But then in verse 31, the Lord says to Moses, but as for you, He says, stand here by me, stand here by me in my glory upon this mountain so that I may speak to you all the commandments and the statutes and the judgments which you then shall teach them that they may observe them in the land which I give to possess. So on the top of that mountain, Moses would ascend into the cloud of glory There he would hear the word of the Lord, and as God's prophet he would come down, and then he would teach God's word to the people. In response to the people's request in verse 25, that God would no longer speak to them in this way, back in Deuteronomy chapter 18, And verse 18, God made that promise of another prophet who would come greater than Moses. We'll turn back there, Deuteronomy chapter 18. The Lord was pleased with their request. He said they have spoken well. He desired it because it was to lead to His beloved Son coming into the world. He said, they have spoken well, because now I will raise up that greatest of all prophets in my beloved son. 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 them. And not only would God raise up this great prophet to speak his word, But as we will see, God will raise up this great prophet to take his word and put his words into the hearts of his people with the power of the Holy Spirit so that they would have that heart of obedience as the father had desired. And we see the fulfillment of this passage of the greater prophet who is to come. in John's gospel in John chapter one. And we'll turn tonight to the gospel of John and chapter one. And in the first 18 verses of John's gospel, we have what is called the prologue, the introduction to his gospel. And in this prologue, John will show us Jesus as the greatest of all prophets, the prophet who is greater than Moses himself. We'll read verse one, in the beginning was the word, And the Word was with God, and the Word was God. And then down in verse 14, And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth. John bore witness of Him, and cried out, saying, This was He of whom I said, He who comes after me has a higher rank than I, for He existed before me. For of His fullness we have all received, and grace upon grace. For the law was given through Moses, grace and truth were realized through Jesus Christ. No man has seen God at any time. The only begotten God who is in the bosom of the Father, He has explained Him." John introduces to us Jesus whom he calls here the Word, in verse 1. John does not begin his gospel as the other gospel writers do by telling us the story of Jesus' birth. But John brings us back to the very beginning, to the origins, and tells us where Jesus is from. He begins verse 1 with the same words that the Bible itself begins back in Genesis chapter 1, the phrase, in the beginning, points us back before there was any creation or any created thing to the origins of the universe which we call eternity. Genesis chapter 1 spoke of God as having eternal existence. In the beginning, God. John speaks here of the person of the Word having eternal existence. In the beginning was the Word. Genesis chapter 1 spoke of the first creation. In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. But that first creation has been ruined by sin, and so John here speaks of a new creation that is coming through the person of the Word. In the beginning was the Word. We read in verse 2 and 3, he says, he was in the beginning with God. All things came into being by him and apart from him, nothing has come into being that has come in to being. He is speaking here of the word, the Lord Jesus. There never was a time when the word was not. He was before every created thing in the entire universe and he is the source of all created things. And there is nothing that has ever come into being which does not depend upon him for its existence. Verses four and five, in him was life and the life was the light of men. And the light shines in the darkness and the darkness did not comprehend it. All life All physical life, all spiritual life, all light and all truth in this world comes from Him. The Word was before the creation, not part of the creation. The Word is the source and the origin of all things, and He upholds all things now by the Word of His power. John Calvin writes on that expression in verse 1, in the beginning was the Word, He says John sends us to the eternal sanctuary of God and teaches us that the word was, as it were, hidden there before he revealed himself in the outward workmanship of the world. So we may read verse one in this way. In the beginning, in the beginning from eternity, before there was any created reality, the word, the word was already there. The Word, in the second phrase, in the beginning was the Word, and then he says, and the Word was with God. The Word and God, two distinct persons. The Word is Jesus. God here is God the Father. The Word was with God, which means the Word was towards God, to mean that Jesus and God the Father were in the closest and the most intimate possible relationship, so that there was nothing between them, no barrier, no separation. The Word always was directed toward the Father in this personal and intimate fellowship with Him. And the whole existence of the Word was to be in this eternal companionship with the Father. It was not merely that they were in the same location and near one another. It was not only that they were face to face with one another, but they were always and from eternity in this living communion between the Father and the Son. So that the father loved the son and delighted in him and the son loved the father and rejoiced in him as well. Two distinct persons in this perfect eternal union with one another in the one God. We notice that little verb was, which means continuously and always. The word was with God. So the phrase means the word was continuously always abiding with the Father. He was, in verse two, he was in the beginning. He was in the beginning, but he was not just in the beginning, but he was in the beginning with Him. The same phrase, always, eternally in fellowship with Him. The last and the climactic phrase at the end of verse one, and the Word was God, a clearer, more emphatic statement of the full deity of Jesus there could not be. The full equality of the Word with the Father is the undeniable meaning of John's words here. It cannot be watered down in any way, and what John is saying is that everything which can be attributed to God can be attributed to the Word as well. The Word was God. Why does John use this name for Jesus and introduce Him as the Word? The Word means the self-revelation of God, the self-communication of God. The Word is that way in which God reveals who He truly is. In His innermost thoughts and desires, they come to be known through the Word, the self-revelation of God, which is found in the person of His Son. Just as people reveal themselves to one another by the words they speak, so the Father reveals Himself in His beloved Son, who is His Word, the full revelation of the glory of God. The name, the Word. involves more than just giving of information and knowledge. It involves the communication of life. So that to come to know the person of the word is to come into eternal life. This is eternal life, Jesus said. John 17 verse three, that they may know thee and the only true God and Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent. In the beginning was the word and the word was with God and the word was God. And then down in verse 14, Now John tells us of the incarnation of the Word. And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, or the Word became flesh and the Word is that he tabernacled among us. And then John tells us what he and the other apostles saw in Jesus when he was among them. In his life, in all of his words, in his mighty works, in his death and resurrection, he says, we beheld his glory. Glory is the only word that could describe Him, and it was the highest possible glory there could be. Glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth. The only Son from the eternal Father has come and become man in human flesh, and He is full of grace and truth. We remember the glory which Moses saw. in which the sons of Israel saw on Mount Sinai. They saw the glory of the Lord, the Shekinah cloud of glory as it rested upon the mountain, a theophany, a pre-incarnate appearance of Christ, the glory of the Lord. But now the glory of the Lord in that cloud has come down in the person of the Lord Jesus Christ. Jesus is the eternal word. in the beginning with God. Jesus is the incarnate word who has become flesh to dwell among us, and Jesus is the center of the written word which we have in the scriptures. In verse 15, John tells us of John the Baptist. He said, John the Baptist bore witness of him and cried out, saying, this was he of whom I said, he who comes after me has a higher rank than I, for he existed before me. Now, Jesus said that John the Baptist was the greatest of all the Old Testament prophets, even greater than Moses. In Matthew chapter 11 and verse 11, Jesus said, truly I say to you, among those born of women, there has not arisen anyone greater than John the Baptist. Jesus said John the Baptist was the greatest. And here, John the Baptist says that Jesus is greater than he of a higher rank, a greater prophet than him. So we may say it this way, that Moses was the greatest of the Old Testament prophets until the time of Malachi. But John the Baptist was even greater than Moses, not because John received more revelation than Moses, but because John was the forerunner of Jesus, and he was the last Old Testament prophet to point forward to his coming. John was as if at the dawn of the light of Christ as the Son of God came in his incarnation and in the full glory of God. The dark shadows of the old covenant were disappearing. The full light and the glory of God was now come in the person of Christ, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. Then John tells us in verse 16, for of his fullness we have all received, and grace upon grace. All the treasures of God's grace for all believers are stored up in our Lord Jesus Christ. He has not a created fullness, but he has an infinite divine fullness that overflows in abundance without end because of his divine being as God. The fullness of the Holy Spirit without measure is found in him and whatever need we may ever have, we may come to him for out of his fullness, all of our needs may be met. He needs nothing from us. He looks for nothing from us. All He desires from us is for us to come in our emptiness so that He might fill our emptiness out of His fullness. God has so ordered the way of salvation that we have no store. We have no store of grace within ourselves. He has put all store of grace into Christ so that He might keep it for us, that we might continually go to Him for our daily needs in our emptiness. For of His fullness we have all received, John says, all the saints have received out of His fullness, apostles and every believer. No believer is above this need of receiving grace from the Lord Jesus, no matter who one may be. Whatever gifts, whatever graces one may have had in the past, no matter how long one has been on the narrow way, we must always go to him. And out of his fullness, we all receive. We all receive, but we never exhaust the fullness that is found in Jesus. The oceans never run dry. The sun continues to shine and send out its light. And so there is always grace to be found in our Lord Jesus Christ, the fullness of His love and mercy and His compassion upon us. It is eternal. It is unchanging out of His fullness we all receive. And then John says at the end of verse 16, and grace upon grace, meaning every possible help, every strength, every aid, whatever we may need to live the Christian life, not just upon one occasion do we receive out of His fullness, but we receive one grace after another grace, and then grace upon grace, whatever our needs may be to the very end. So we should never be content We should never be content as if we have received all that we need from him because there is always more grace for us to receive out of his infinite fullness, out of his fullness, out of his fullness we all receive and grace upon grace from the beginning to the end. The word grace here could also mean grace as opposed to merit. Whatever we receive from him, it is by his grace and his grace alone, and it is not by any merit that is ever found in us. The Christian life begins by grace, and it continues by grace alone to the very end. Out of his fullness, we have all received, and grace upon grace. Then he tells us in verse 17, for the law was given through Moses. Grace and truth were realized through Jesus Christ. And now John begins to contrast Moses and Christ. The great prophet Moses with the greater prophet, the final prophet in Jesus to show us the superiority of Christ over Moses. He does not speak here in absolute terms, but in relative terms. Because the grace of forgiveness and the truth of eternal life, those things were revealed through Moses, though they were seen in dark shadows and dimly revealed. For the law came through Moses, but grace and truth has been realized now through Jesus Christ. In Jesus Christ and in the glory of his person and all that he has accomplished, we see most clearly the grace and truth of God, the love, the mercy, and the way of salvation is more fully and clearly revealed in him. Moses was a great prophet. We do not diminish the revelation that came by him. But the emphasis of his ministry was upon the law. And the law could only command and bring a curse and bring death. The law could never offer forgiveness. The law could never give eternal life. The law could never give strength to live by it. But Christ has come now and he has exceedingly surpassed Moses and he has come in grace and in truth fully realized in him. The law brought condemnation, Christ has brought mercy and forgiveness. The law brought judgment, Christ has brought eternal life and salvation. The fullness of God's grace towards sinners has now been realized through our Lord Jesus Christ. Not that there were no commandments that came by Jesus, but the emphasis, the center of all of his great work was the revelation of the grace and truth of God the Father through the gospel and the way of his salvation for the law came by Moses, was given through Moses. Grace and truth were realized through Jesus Christ. Christ is to be preferred over Moses. And then he continues this contrast between Moses and Christ in verse 18. In the beginning of the verse, he says, no one has seen God at any time. John is looking back here to what took place in Exodus chapter 33. When God said to Moses, you cannot see my face, for no man can see me and live. That was Moses' experience, that he could never see God, for no man can see God at any time and live. There is an incomparable glory and majesty in the essence of God, which no man has ever seen or can see. or come to the full knowledge and the complete understanding of Him, the finite can never see and embrace the infinite glory of God. But in contrast to Moses, no man can see God, the Son of God, the only begotten. He now is introduced in verse 18. In contrast, because he is the one who has always known the Father and been with the Father in this intimate fellowship with the Father from eternity, the only begotten Son, the only begotten God. And from him, there is knowledge that he reveals to us for our salvation, and it only comes through him. In the middle of verse 18, the only begotten God, who is in the bosom of the Father, He has explained Him. Some of the older Bibles read the only begotten Son. It makes no real difference in our understanding because Both phrases speak of the Lord Jesus in this context. The better translation seems to be the only begotten God. The only begotten God. The Son of God who is God. Who is in the unique relationship as the only Son of the Father. John tells us that he is in the bosom of the Father. He has always been there and he will always be. In the bosom of the Father, even after His incarnation in His divine nature, He was always still in the bosom of the Father. In the place of that most intimate love and fellowship with the Father, He is not just with the Father, but He is in the bosom of the Father. With all the affection and the delight of the Father upon Him, coexisting with him from eternity in union with him in the one God, so that the Son knows all the character, all the attributes, all the glory of God, and the Son knows the heart, the will, the eternal counsels of the love and mercy of God. He is the only begotten God. Who is the only son. In the unique relationship with the father so that no one knows the father more intimately and no one knows the father more completely and exhaustively than the son who is in the bosom of the father. And at the end of verse 18, he has explained him. That is what he has come to do in the incarnation. He has come to declare him. He has come to reveal the father to us, to make the father known to us. This is his qualification to be the greatest of all the prophets, the final prophet of God, that he has come from the bosom of the father in the eternal intimate fellowship of love and knowledge of the Father in heaven. Moses was most highly esteemed and a very great prophet. Moses alone could go up on Mount Sinai into the glory cloud. The Lord would speak to him there in that cloud as with no other man. But what is that? What is that compared to the only begotten God, the Son of God from eternity in the bosom of the Father, in the brightness of all the glory of God in heaven? Moses had true revelation, but he never saw God. Christ alone has seen him. and comprehended Him completely and known Him fully in all His glory from eternity. Moses descended from Mount Sinai. Christ has descended from heaven from the bosom of the Father to explain Him to us. Moses came from that cloud of glory on the top of Sinai. Jesus has come from the true glory of God, from his throne in heaven. Moses knew fellowship with God. Jesus knew the Father in the perfect unity of the one God from eternity. What greater prophet could there ever be for us in this world than our Lord Jesus Christ, the only begotten God, in the bosom of the Father, who has come to explain Him to us. So this shows us the certainty. This shows us the surety of all that He has spoken to us. What more solid ground could there be for our faith than to rest our souls upon the words of the only begotten God who has come down from heaven and become a man and spoken his promises to us? This is our eternal happiness and comfort because there is truth in everything that he has said. My hope is built on nothing less than Jesus' blood and righteousness. I dare not trust the sweetest frame, but wholly rest on Jesus' name. Whenever we meet a new person, there are several questions we might like to ask. We would ask, for example, what is your name? Where are you from? And what do you do? These are the questions John is answering in regard to the Lord Jesus in this opening prologue of his gospel. If we were to ask the Lord Jesus, what is your name, that you might be God's prophet? He would say, my name is the word, the self-revelation of God to man. If we were to ask him, where are you from? He would tell us, I am from the throne of God, with God, from the very bosom of God, and I have come down into this world to speak what he has commanded me. If we were to ask him, what do you do? He would say, I have come from the father to explain him to you. and to reveal to you all of his will and his counsels and all of his eternal promises, could there be anyone more fit to be God's prophet than our Lord Jesus Christ? Ambrose, there was a man named Ambrose who was one of the early church fathers, and he wrote a hymn that captures the thoughts here of John's prologue, and it's found in our hymn book, number 56. We'll sing it in a few moments. I'll read the hymn to you. O splendor of God's glory bright, from light eternal bringing light, Thou light of light, light's living spring, true day, all days illumining. Once we become Christians, all of our days are illumined by this light of our Lord Jesus Christ. Then he begins to speak of what the light does to us as Christians in the new life. He says, come, very son of heaven's love, in lasting radiance from above, and pour the Holy Spirit's ray on all we think or do today. And now to thee our prayers ascend, O glorious Father, without end. We plead with sovereign grace for power to conquer in temptations hour. Confirm our will to do the right and keep our hearts from envy's blight. Let faith her eager fires renew and hate the false and love the true. Oh, joyful be the passing day when thoughts as pure as morning's ray With faith like noontide shining bright, our souls unshadowed by the night. Dawn's glory gilds the earth and skies. Let him, our perfect morn, arise. The word in God, the father one, the father imaged in the sun. The Son of God came down from heaven, from the bosom of the Father, to reveal all that the Father has for us. The Pharisees wondered how could a man forgive sins when they heard Jesus say, my son, my daughter, your sins have been forgiven. Here is the answer why he could forgive sins. He is the only begotten God who has come down from the bosom of the Father, and he has explained Father's will. This is my blood of the covenant, he said, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins. And the son of man did not come to be served, but to serve and to give his life a ransom for many. And Jesus said, and perhaps we should look just a couple of verses here in John's gospel. Jesus said in chapter five and verse 25, 24, Chapter five in verse 24, he said, truly, truly, I say to you, he who hears my word and believes him who sent me, the father who has sent me, he has eternal life and does not come into judgment, but has passed out of death and in to life. Over in chapter six, The Jews in chapter six in verse 32, they thought it was Moses who gave them the bread out of heaven. Jesus said, chapter 6, in verse 32, he said, truly, truly, I say to you, it is not Moses who has given you the bread out of heaven, but it is my Father who gives you the true bread out of heaven. And verse 35, he said, I am the bread of life, and he who comes to me shall not hunger, and he who believes in me shall never thirst. And then he tells us of the Father's will. In verses 38 through 40, he says, I have come down from heaven, not to do my own will, but the will of Him who sent me. I know my Father's will, who sent me down to this world. And what is His will? Verse 39, and this is the will of Him who sent me. that of all that he has given me, I lose nothing, but raise it up on the last day. For this is the will of my father, that everyone who beholds the son and believes in him may have eternal life. And I myself will raise him up on the last day. John chapter 11, verse 29, he said, I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me shall live even if he dies, and everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die. John chapter 14 and verse six, I am the way and the truth and the life, and no one comes to the Father but through me. Back in the book of Exodus chapter 34, we read that when Moses went up on Mount Sinai, The skin of his face shone because of his speaking with God. So Aaron and all the sons of Israel, when they saw Moses, they were afraid to come near him. So whenever Moses went in before the Lord to speak with him, he would take the veil off until he came out. And whenever he came out and spoke to the sons of Israel what God commanded, he would replace the veil over his face until he went in to speak with him again. Moses' face shone with this dazzling glory from just a brief time in the presence of God in that cloud upon the mountain. and he had to cover his shining face with a veil when he came down from Sinai. But what would have been the brightness of Jesus' face in the presence of God in heaven from all eternity if he had not covered his glory with the veil of his humanity? when he came down into this world to explain the Father to us. Moses came down with tablets of stone with laws written on them. Jesus came down from heaven with grace and truth in the gospel. Moses could only command, do this and live. Jesus could say, I have accomplished all things. I have finished all things that you might live. Moses could only speak outwardly to the ears of the people. Jesus can speak inwardly to the hearts of his people. Moses was only a dim shadow. Christ, the fulfillment and the substance of all the revelation of God for our salvation. Back in Exodus chapter 20 at Mount Sinai. When the people said to Moses, speak to us yourself and we will listen, but let not God speak to us lest we die. And then in Deuteronomy 18 and verse 18, God promised, I will raise up a prophet from among your countrymen like you. Little did those people know that their request would come to its fulfillment in the coming of the Son of God from heaven. the word that became flesh and dwelt among us. So what greater qualifications could there ever be for God's prophet to come and speak to us? Jesus could say, he who has seen me has seen the father and I am in the father and the father is in me and he is our great prophet. as believers in him. So let us follow all of his commands and let us go to him for every grace and let us trust every word that he has spoken for our salvation and let us love and rejoice in him. The words that I have spoken to you, he says, I do not speak on my own initiative, but the father abiding in me does his works. Hebrews chapter one tells us he is the radiance of his glory, the exact representation of his nature. He is the image of the invisible God and all the fullness of deity dwells in him. Let's pray together. Father and gracious God in heaven, O Lord Jesus, we thank you for your coming into this world and all the revelation that you have given to us in the gospel, the promises of your salvation, the grace of forgiveness of our sins, and the promise of eternal life. Thank you, Lord Jesus, that you have accomplished all things for us. And we pray that your word would find a dwelling place in all of our hearts, that we might know your peace and your grace to abound within us. We ask your blessing now upon your word tonight, and we pray that you would be with us throughout this week and guard us in every way. Our safety, watch over us from heaven as the great shepherd of the sheep. and lead us along the way to eternal life. We thank you now and we pray in Jesus' name. Amen.