Yes; Thou art a Prophet, yet more than a prophet; like unto Moses,
unrighteousness, fulness for emptiness, holiness for pollution, rest for weariness, light for darkness, life for death,—all, all in Thee!
5. Thou art the Prophet like unto Moses
Yes; Thou art a Prophet, yet more than a prophet; like unto Moses, yet greater than Moses; the world's true Teacher, both in things past and in things to come: a Prophet such as earth has never seen, 'in whom are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge' (Col. 2:3). Earth needs a prophet, and Thou art He! Man would fain be his own prophet, but he prophesies only folly and deceit: Thou only art what so many among us call 'the Prophet of humanity.' Thou art not 'a teacher come from God,' as Nicodemus called Thee, but the Teacher, the one Teacher of Israel and of the Church; the only Teacher who could ever say, 'I am the Truth.'
Yes, in these last days we need a teacher more than ever; a divine and perfect teacher, in whose skill and instruction we can have fullest confidence, and in whose love we can entirely rest. He who taught the multitude in the days of His flesh is the teacher for us. He who never made one mistake in His teaching; who never refused to teach even the dullest; who never lost His temper with the most froward of His scholars; who never grudged His time and trouble to any one; who never exercised any needless or untender discipline; who was Father, Brother, Teacher, all in one,—this Teacher is ours.
It is He, the Prophet like unto Moses, that says, 'Give ear, O ye heavens, and I will speak; and hear, O earth, the words of my mouth. My doctrine shall drop as the rain, my speech shall distil as the dew' (Deut. 32:1). All that was in Moses is in Him. All Samuel and David, all Isaiah, and Jeremiah, and Ezekiel, and Daniel, all Elijah and Elisha, we find in Him; nothing lacking, nothing unreal, nothing exaggerated, but all wisdom, and earnestness, and gentleness, and calmness. Just such a prophet as we need is He, this Jesus of Nazareth, this Christ of God.