Who Is That Prophet Like unto Moses?
ARE MR. DOWIE’S CLAIMS TRUE?—NO. 3.
Who Is That Prophet Like unto Moses?
IN Mr. Dowie’s own paper, of June 8, published over his own signature, are the following declarations and claims:— For more than two years we have taken the responsibility before the church and the world of being the Messenger of the Covenant. . . . The Scriptural and logical issue of our action was the declaration as Elijah the Restorer, which we made in the Chicago auditorium before about seven thousand persons last Lord’s day afternoon. . . . The “restoration of all things” was to be accompanied by the prophet, of whom God spake to Moses in Deut. 18:15–22. The Messenger of the Covenant, and Elijah the Restorer, and that Prophet of whom Moses spake, are all one and the same person. The declaration that we are that person is either . . . a great blasphemy, or a tremendous fact of the utmost importance to the whole world. Which is it? These claims naturally raise the following questions:—- Who is the Elijah that is to come? and how is he to come?
- Who is the Messenger of the Covenant?
- Who is that Prophet like unto Moses?
- What does restoration of all things include?
- What are the Biblical credentials?
In the last two numbers of the SIGNS OF THE TIMES the first two questions have been answered, our readers must themselves judge with what success. We plead only this: Take no man’s dicta; rely wholly on the Word of God. What does that teach? Who Is That Prophet Like unto Moses?
This is the prophecy of Moses:— “The Lord thy God will raise up unto thee a Prophet from the midst of thee, of thy brethren, like unto me; unto Him ye shall hearken. . . . And the Lord said unto me, . . . I will raise them up a Prophet from among their brethren, like unto thee, and will put My words in His mouth; and He shall speak unto them all that I shall command Him. And it shall come to pass, that whosoever will not hearken unto My words which He shall speak in My name, I will require it of him.” Deut. 18:15–19. We are not left in doubt as to its application. The apostle Peter makes very clear the meaning of the prophecy. In preaching Christ to Jews, he exhorts them to “Repent ye therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, when the times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord; and He shall send Jesus Christ, which before was preached unto you.” Acts 3:19, 20. Now when and by whom was Jesus before preached unto them? Peter tells us in these words: “For Moses truly said unto the fathers, A Prophet shall the Lord your God raise up unto you of your brethren like unto me; Him shall ye hear in all things whatsoever He shall say unto you. And it shall come to pass, that every soul which will not hear that Prophet shall be destroyed from among the people.” Verses 22, 23. Peter further emphasizes this by saying that all the prophets have likewise “foretold of these days,” of Christ Jesus; that God promised unto Abraham—“In thy Seed [Gal. 3:16] shall all the kindreds of the earth be blessed,” and concludes by saying: “Unto you first God, having raised up His Son Jesus, sent Him to bless you, in turning away every one of you from his iniquities.” Verses 24–26. There is not one reference to John the Baptist, or to anybody else save the Son of God; the whole discourse of the apostle focuses upon the one central object,—Christ Jesus the Saviour of men. That prophet was to be a man. From among thy brethren, like unto me, said Moses. These words can not refer to Jesus. He was not raised up “from among men.” He came down from heaven, and was conceived by the Holy Ghost in the sinless womb of a sanctified woman, Mary, who became His blessed, holy, virgin mother. Jesus was not “like unto Moses,” for, as the apostle says, “The law was given through Moses; grace and truth came by, or in the person of, Jesus Christ.” Moses was a medium of God’s power. Christ is Himself the Power and Wisdom of God, being God Himself manifest in the flesh. The prophet of whom Moses spoke was to be one whose message came from God, who, Himself said, “I will put My words in His mouth, and He shall speak unto them all that I shall command Him.” But Jesus Christ our Lord did not speak the words that were put into His mouth, for He spake by His own divine authority, which was that of the indwelling Father and Spirit; words which were in themselves divine, and He declared these words to be in themselves “spirit and life.” In the case of the prophet, the words were imparted from without to fallible man, altho they were infallible words; for God said, “Whosoever will not hearken unto My words, which He shall speak in My name, I will require it of him.” 1. It is not even intimated in the prophecy by Moses that the Person to come was to be like unto Moses in all things. The likeness pertained to but one thing,—the prophetic gift,—the receiving, the imparting, the authority. Moses was a prophet like no other. God spoke not to him by dream or vision, as He did to other prophets, but face to face, as a man talks with his friend, revealing to His servant His similitude. Num. 12:6–8; Ex. 33:11. In him God placed authority. From Moses’ countenance beamed forth the indwelling glory of God’s word received by faith, but a glory to the sinful overawing and fearsome. Deut. 5:31, 32; Ex. 34:29–35; 3:10, 14; 4:15, 16; 7:1. The passages here cited, and many others, teach us clearly that God used Moses as His own spokesman, and as He used no other. And in that office of Moses there was the very authority of God. To receive it as from God meant life; to reject it meant death. Deut. 30:15–20. Our Lord bears witness to the same fact. In speaking of the unbelieving Jews, He said: “Do not think that I will accuse you to the Father; there is one that accuseth you, even Moses in whom ye trust. For had ye believed Moses, ye would have believed Me; for he wrote of Me. But if ye believe not his writings, how shall ye believe My words?” John 5:45–47. Christ’s words were received from God the same as those of Moses. If they had received the words of Moses as from God, they would have received in those words not mere law, but grace and truth, even as believers receive in Jesus Christ. 2. Mr. Dowie says that Jesus was not raised up from among men. But the Word reads of Him: “And there shall come forth a Rod out of the stem of Jesse, and a Branch shall grow out of his roots.” “And in that day there shall be a Root of Jesse, which shall stand for an Ensign of the people. . . . His rest shall be glorious.” Isa. 11:1, 10. “His Son Jesus Christ our Lord, which was made of the seed of David according to the flesh.” Rom. 1:3. “Born of a woman, born under the law.” Gal. 4:4. “For both He that sanctifieth and they that are sanctified are all of one; for which cause He [Christ] is not ashamed to call them brethren.” “I [Christ] will declare Thy [the Father’s] name unto My brethren.” As His brethren trusted in God, so did He. “I will put My trust in Him.”7“Forasmuch then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, He also Himself likewise took part of the same. . . . In all things it behoved Him to be made like unto His brethren.” Heb. 2:11–17. He “hath raised up a horn of salvation for us in the house of His servant David.” Luke 1:69. “And the child grew,” and “increased in stature.” Luke 2:40, 52. All these truths show conclusively that Jesus was raised from the midst of His brethren. 3. The above scriptures, and others also, clearly evidence that there was no immaculate conception, as Mr. Dowie indicates. To be born, not of the holy woman, but of “a woman,” one of a class, to be “made” of “the seed of David according to the flesh,” to be “in all things” “like unto His brethren,” shows that He bore the same flesh, having the same desires and tendencies as theirs, but over which His faith was ever triumphant. In this is our hope. By the unscriptural theory of an immaculate conception, Christ is put far away; and this error is supplemented by a second, that there must be saint or priest or overseer as a go-between to enable the sinner to get to Christ. It is a soul-destroying, man-glorifying falsehood. Sinner, Christ came clear down to you, was made one with you physically, that you might be made one with Him spiritually. He was as truly man as He was truly God. He was as truly the Son of man as He was the Son of God. He says, “Come unto Me.” That means, O sinner, that you, by virtue of Infinite Goodness, can come yourself even unto, in actual touch with, Jesus Christ, not less your Brother than your God. 4. The message of Christ came not forth from Himself, but from God, for the very reason that He did not manifest Himself, but the Father. He “emptied Himself.” He said, “I can of Mine own self do nothing; as I hear, I judge. . . . I seek not Mine own will, but the will of the Father which sent Me” (John 5:30); “My doctrine is not Mine, but His that sent Me” (7:16); “I have not spoken of Myself; but the Father which sent Me, He gave Me a commandment, what I should say, and what I should speak” (12:49). And true belief in Jesus the Prophet and Teacher must reach beyond the Prophet to the One who sent Him. “Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth My word, and believeth on Him that sent Me, hath everlasting life.” John 5:24. The great Prototype, Jesus, met in every respect the great archetype, Moses, but was as much greater and fuller as He was more perfect than “Moses, the man of God.” “Unto Him ye shall hearken,” declares Moses. Deut. 18:15. “Him shall ye hear in all things,” said Peter. Acts 3:22. “Hear ye Him,” said the Father, speaking from heaven. Matt. 17:5. But Mr. Dowie takes this prophecy of Moses, which so clearly applies to Christ Jesus as teacher and prophet, and applies it to himself, that he may fasten his fallible, unscriptural teaching on those who will listen to him instead of the Word, or who will take the Word as strained through his autocratic coal-sack. Who was the Prophet like unto Moses? All the scriptures that have any bearing upon it answer emphatically, Christ Jesus our Lord. Whether, therefore, Mr. Dowie has announced a great fact, or perpetrated an ignorant blasphemy, let the reader judge. “What does the restoration of all things include?” and “What are the Biblical credentials?” we will answer next week.