January 31, 2018 Wednesday

““The LORD your God will raise up for you a Prophet like me from your midst, from your brethren. Him you shall hear, “according to all you desired of the LORD your God in Horeb in the day of the assembly, saying, ‘Let me not hear again the voice of the LORD my God, nor let me see this great fire anymore, lest I die.’ “And the LORD said to me: ‘What they have spoken is good. ‘I will raise up for them a Prophet like you from among their brethren, and will put My words in His mouth, and He shall speak to them all that I command Him. ‘And it shall be that whoever will not hear My words, which He speaks in My name, I will require it of him. ‘But the prophet who presumes to speak a word in My name, which I have not commanded him to speak, or who speaks in the name of other gods, that prophet shall die.’” (Deuteronomy 18:15-20 NKJV)

            Are you afraid of God and being in His presence?  Does the picture of fire and glory of God cause you to turn away from God?  In reality it should!  It is dangerous to play with either the fire of evil or with the glory of God seen in fire!

            The difference in the fire of evil is that is destroys us by burning up all that is good and leaves us empty and alone with only our desires and lusts while the fire of God burns out the evil and wrong, the dross, and purifies us so we can realize that on the other side of the fire is God’s presence!

            God will raise up a prophet!  We are used to thinking of Moses, the Old Testament prophets or John the Baptizer as prophets.  But the gift of prophecy is both a foretelling and a telling forth.  This means that while some prophets will tell God’s plan for the future some will tell forth the Good News of God and the calling of God for us to go through the fire of redemption to come near to the God who has always been near to us.

            God demands us “to speak a word in My name” and to prophesize to those around us of the need to receive the hope promised in the good news that will keep us from the fire of evil and also of our need of going through the fire of God’s redemption and sanctification!  God requires it of us!  There is no one who having received God’s grace who isn’t REQUIRED to speak to those around them the hope and NEED of God’s grace through the Good News in Jesus.

            God also gives a warning that is two-fold for it warns us from calling others to gods that are not God and for those who speak in God’s name untruths.  The cold warning is very plain – “that prophet shall die”!

            Why is God so brutal about this?  Because the reality is either one causes the eternal death of those who follow their prophecies!  God can require no less of the blind guides than of those who follow!

            As you share God’s prophesy to those around you remember with all seriousness that we walk between two fires and one leads to destruction and one leads to God!  Through scripture and the Holy Spirit discern the true prophets and not only listen and learn but also pass on the message of hope God’s offers to us and through us!