THE ONE LIKE MOSES

The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among you, from your countrymen, you shall listen to him (Deuteronomy 18:15).

Moses said, "The Lord your 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"  (Acts 3:22).

I am currently reading through the book of Deuteronomy.  Reading this inspired me to write this advent meditation.  One of the foundation stones of Christian apologetics is the fulfillment of prophecy.  It was essential for the apostles, preachers and teachers of the New Testament to show how the coming of Jesus, the Christ, fulfilled the prophecies of the Old Testament.

Fourteen hundred years before Christ, Moses prophesied that God would raise up a propet like himself.  In the apostle Peter's second sermon, he says that Jesus is the one like Moses.  Being like Moses was one of the necessary qualifications of the Messia that people were looking for (John 1:45).  There are many similarities between Jesus and Moses.  The following list only contains the salient similarities:
1. They were both born under difficult circumstances in which their lives were in danger.
2. They both came out of Egypt.
3. They both enjoyed intimate communication with God (Deut. 34:10 & John 1:18).
4. Moses was the mediator between God and His people.  Jesus is the great mediator between God & His own (Hebrews 4:14-16).
5. Moses delivered Israel from slavery.  Jesus is the great deliverer from sin.
6. Both Moses and Jesus were miracle workers to credential their authority.  Moses parted the waters of the Red Sea; Jesus calmed the storms on Galilee.  Moses brought manna from heaven; Jesus multiplied the loaves and the fishes to feed the fultitudes.  Moses turned the waters of Egypt to blood; Jesus turned the water to wine at a wedding feast in Cana.  Truly, Jesus Christ is the only one who fulfills the prophecy of Moses.  So, as both Moses and God said (Matthew 17:1-5) we must listen to Jesus.

Our Father's Love,
Tom

WHAT IS LIFE?

And you he made alive, when you were dead through the trespasses and sins in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience (Ephesians 2:1-2).

I came that they might have life and have it abundantly (John 10:10b).

I typed into my search engine, What is life?  Anticipating a lot of Christian references in answer to my question, I was shocked to find not one.  There was, however, a science text written in 1944 with that question as the title as well as a hit single by George Harrison with that tital in 1971.  Thus, I titled this "bullet" with that question.

A dictionary definition of life goes something like this, 'Life is the condition that distinguishes animals and plants from inorganic matter.  Life grows, reproduces, has functional activity and continually changes until death.'  All living things die while inorganic matter will never live, thus inorganic matter can never die.  The Arapaho Indians had a saying, "Only the rocks live forever.*"

I. Life is a loving relationship with God (Luke 15:32).  When the lost son came home he passed from death to life.

II. Life is the awareness that God knows all and He strengthens all who wait on Him (Isaiah 40:27-31).

III. God defines life differently; not as the world defines it--note Ephesians 2:1-2.  "But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness and all these things will be added unto you" (Matthew 6:33).

Life is Jesus Christ.

Our Father's Love,
Tom

*From James Michener's Centennial
**Factoid from Forbes magazine October 12, 2013: Forty people per day are accidently deemed dead by the Feds each day.

America Needs Farmers

Back in the early 1980's, Iowa's legendary coach, Haden Fry, wanted to support the moral of Iowa's farmers during the farm crisis so, as a result of his concern, from that time to this day, Iowa Hawkeye football helmets have sported the "ANF" decal. No land-grant university in the country did anything similar, which might say something about where their true sentiments lie. In all the intervening years, I have not had an Iowa Hawkeye ANF t-shirt or sweat shirt. If my own family does not step up to the plate and buy me one for Christmas, I will get one for myself. Just letting my request be known. Tom