When the three disciples were with Christ "in the holy mount" where He was transfigured before them, there came a voice out of the cloud, a voice from heaven, which said: "This is my beloved Son ... hear Him!" (Matthew 17:5; Compare Matthew 17:5 and 2 Peter 1:17-18)
These words proved that Jesus was the one of whom the Lord spoke, when He said to Moses, "I will raise them up a Prophet from among their brethren, like unto you, 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 whoever will not hearken unto my words which He shall speak in my name, I will require it of him." (Deuteronomy 18:18-19)
In the words, "a Prophet from among their brethren, like unto you," we have the hope of the Gospel--the hope which the Gospel holds out to mankind. "the Man Christ Jesus," (1 Timothy 2:5) the one Mediator between God and man, was "in all things ... like unto His brethren," (Hebrews 2:17) from among whom He was taken; and therefore we know that every man may, if he will, be in all things like unto Him. He was made like us, not that He might know what man is, but that we might see what man ought to be, and what we may be. "Then You spoke in vision to your saints, and said, I have laid help upon One that is mighty; I have exalted One chosen out of the people." (Psalm 89:19)
Who is this "One that is mighty"?
• It is the helpless Babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, and lying in a manger;
• It is the boy of twelve who got lost in the crowd;
• It is the faint and weary traveler by the wayside well;
• It is the "Man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief," (Isaiah 53:3) offering up prayers and supplications with "strong crying and tears," (Hebrews 5:7) asking for strength, because He said, "I can of my own self do nothing." (John 5:30)
• It is the man fainting beneath the heavy cross, and then stretched upon it; this is the Mighty One--the Man of the people. This mighty One was born of a woman, and was subject to all the infirmities and disabilities of other men, born of women. He is partaker of the same flesh and blood that all other men are, and is of himself as weak as the weakest of them; for no man can possibly be weaker than not to be able to do anything. Therefore since God is no respecter of persons, (Acts 10:34) we know that every person, every one of His brethren, may be a mighty one: "strong in the Lord, and in the power of His might;" (Ephesians 6:10) "Strengthened with all might, according to His glorious power." (Colossians 1:11)
Jesus had no power on earth to resist and overcome sin, that we may not have. He had no advantage over us; when He came to this earth, He "emptied himself," (Philippians 2:7, RV) and became wholly like those whom He would redeem. If it had been otherwise, He could not have been a perfect Saviour; for He saves us by His life,--His life in complete touch with ours. If there were a point where His life did not touch ours, just there He could no nothing for us; and since we must be saved as a whole or not at all, it is evident that if in a single point He failed in establishing a connection with us, He could not save us at all. "He [is] a merciful and faithful High Priest in things pertaining to God, to make reconciliation for the sins of the people," (Hebrews 2:17) because He was "in all things ... like unto His brethren." (Hebrews 2:17) "This Jesus has God raised up, ... [And] ... being by the right hand of God exalted, and having received of the Father the promise of the Holy Ghost," (Acts 2:32-33) He sheds the same power upon His brethren. What He has attained to, all may gain through Him.
This is beautifully and forcibly set forth in the term frequently applied to Christ, namely, "the firstfruits." He is the first-fruits of the harvest that is to be gathered at the end of the world. A sample sheaf has been selected, and by it the whole crop is to be tested. He is the first; in all things He has the pre-eminence, and always will have; yet to all eternity He will still be "One of the people." (Psalm 89:19)
Christ was a Prophet like unto Moses, yet those who professed to believe Moses would not listen to Him. "We know that God spoke unto Moses; but as for this fellow, we know not from whence He is," (John 9:20) [they said.]
Thus is it today. Men are holding fast to a dead past, refusing to accept the living present. They know that the truth was proclaimed years ago, and there they take their stand, sure, as they think, of being safe. Looking backward, instead of forward and upward, they lose the light which shines now,--the same light that shone then, only brighter, as we get closer to it. And so we have the anomaly of men standing close to the light, and yet in far greater darkness than many who are far away.
Let us give heed lest even today that come upon us, which God spoke through the prophet so many long years ago: "Behold, you despisers, and wonder, and perish: for I work a work in your days, a work which you shall in no wise believe, though a man declare it unto you." (Acts 13:41)
The Prophet still speaks: Hear Him.--Present Truth, August 21, 1902--Deuteronomy 18:9-22
E.J. Waggoner