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Introduction
   Many people have read their Bibles and know that Yahshua is the Prophet like Moses, but they don’t look further than that. In Deuteronomy, Yahweh promised He would send a prophet like Moses to Israel. In this discourse, I will show why Yahshua is the Prophet like Moses in ways never thought before.

Deuteronomy 18:15-19
   Yahweh your Elohim will raise up for you a Prophet like me from among you, from your countrymen; to Him you shall listen. This is in accordance with everything that you asked of Yahweh your Elohim at Horeb on the day of the assembly, saying, “Do not let me hear the voice of Yahweh my Elohim again, and do not let me see this great fire anymore, or I will die!” And Yahweh said to me, “They have spoken well. I will raise up for them a Prophet from among their countrymen like you, and I will put My words in His mouth, and He shall speak to them everything that I command Him. And it shall come about that whoever does not listen to My words which He speaks in My name, I Myself will require it of him.” NASB used throughout.
   Why is Yahshua called the Prophet like Moses? What did they have in common?
   Yahshua and Moses were both born in a hostile time for Yahweh’s people – Moses during the barbaric Egyptian pharaohs’ rule, and Yahshua during the Roman occupation of Judea. At the time of their respective origins, there were civil rulers who were guarded about sustaining their rule and subsequently, their paranoia resulted in the deaths of many babies and young children of Israel. Both Moses and Yahshua stood in jeopardy of being murdered as infants.


Parallels in Birth and in Deliverance
   We read these two parallel accounts in the Scriptures. Exodus 1:22, 2:1-3: Then Pharaoh commanded all his people, saying, “Every son who is born, you are to throw into the Nile, but every daughter, you are to keep alive. …Now a man from the house of Levi went and married a daughter of Levi. And the woman conceived and gave birth to a son; and when she saw that he was beautiful, she hid him for three months. But when she could no longer hide him, she got him a papyrus basket and covered it with tar and pitch. Then she put the child in it and set it among the reeds by the bank of the Nile.
   Matthew 2:13-16: Now when they had gone, behold, an angel of Yahweh appeared to Joseph in a dream and said, “Get up! Take the Child and His mother and flee to Egypt, and stay there until I tell you; for Herod is going to search for the Child to kill Him.” So Joseph got up and took the Child and His mother while it was still night, and left for Egypt. He stayed there until the death of Herod; this happened so that what had been spoken by Yahweh through the prophet would be fulfilled: “Out of Egypt I called My Son.” Then when Herod saw that he had been tricked by the magi, he became very enraged, and sent men and killed all the boys who were in Bethlehem and all its vicinity who were two years old or under, according to the time which he had determined from the magi.
   Pharaoh killed many Israelite infant boys with his decree, and Herod the Great when he discovered he had been tricked by the magi, became very enraged and thereafter, created great travail in Judea with his slaughter of the innocents. Nevertheless, Yahweh delivered both the infants, Moses and Yahshua, from the purpose of these civil authorities.
   A second similarity: Moses and Yahshua also, came out of Egypt – Moses, at first, fleeing to Midian from Pharaoh’s anger, for reason of having slain an Egyptian who had been quarreling with an Hebrew (Exod. 2:15), and then a second time, expelled at the age of 80 together with all Israel (Exod. 12:41) and Yahshua, as a young child returned to Palestine from His family’s exile from Herod, upon the latter’s death (Matt. 2:19-21).


Parallels in Seeking First the Kingdom
   Both Moses and our Master Yahshua gave up riches and the glory of this world for the riches of Yahweh. By faith Moses, when he had grown up, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter, choosing rather to endure ill-treatment with the people of Elohim than to enjoy the temporary pleasures of sin, considering the reproach of Messiah greater riches than the treasures of Egypt; for he was looking to the reward, Hebrews 11:24-26.
   Completing His 40-day fast in the wilderness, Yahshua was afterward hungry, and the tempter returned, taking Him to an exceeding high mountain and showed Him the kingdoms of the world and power and glory of them, and saying, "All these things will I give You, if you will fall down and worship me," (Matt. 4:9). But Yahshua, emptied of Himself that He might do always those things that pleased His Father (John 8:29) rather, took upon Himself the form of a bond-servant (Phil. 2:7).


The Gematria of 40
   The number 40 figures significantly in the lives of the Lawgivers, Moses and Yahshua. Both Moses and Yahshua fasted for 40 days and 40 nights, taking neither food nor water before they commenced their ministries. In Scripture, 40 is the number of trials and testing or a punishment for disobedience – like when,
      • Moses was “baptized” in the Red Sea, and Yahshua in the Jordan River and afterward, for 40 days,
      • Moses was atop Sinai, fasting 40 days and 40 nights, when he received the written Torah engraved on stone tablets, (Exod. 34:28; Deut. 9:9);
      • Yahshua was driven in the wilderness by the Spirit to fast 40 days and 40 nights before commencing His ministry, (Matt. 4:1-2);
      • Israel was chastened for forty years, a year to a day the spies were surveilling Canaan, wandering in the wilderness until all who were above the age of 20 upon their departure from Egypt, died for their rebellion … being prevented from crossing the Jordan to the Promised Land, (Num. 14:33-34).

   Incidentally, a Biblical fast requires an abstention from food and water. A water fast is not a Biblical fast. And for those who choose not to fast, let them consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that is to be revealed to us, Romans 8:18 but that a period of fasting enables one to look only at Yahshua, the originator and perfecter of faith, Who for the joy that was set before Him, endured the stake (Heb. 12:2). Hopefully we all in faith like Moses and our Master Yahshua, are willing to set aside the cares of this world considering it nothing compared to the glory set before us.


The Law (Torah) and a Stiff-necked People
   Both Moses and Yahshua taught the Law of Yahweh. Moses taught the letter of the Law, necessary because he was speaking to a stiff-necked people who had tempted Yahweh ten times (Num. 14:22). Yahshua came to embellish the Law with the Spirit. Interestingly, the Law was given to Moses on Shavuot (Pentecost) and the Holy Spirit, the Promise of Abba Yahweh (Luke 24:49) was also dispatched on Shavuot (Pentecost). Yahshua had said He had not come to abolish the Law, but to fulfill (Matt. 5:17), that is, to embellish the Law with the Spirit. Fulfil is G.4137, pleroo, meaning to fill up, perfect, fully preach, i.e., establish.
   But if a stiff-necked people who saw all the works of Yahweh in Moses’ day, witnessing His love and mercy, could not obey or even understand the letter of Yahweh’s Law which is more physically applicable, how could it be thought they should understand the spiritual things of Yahweh’s Law? It would have been like trying to feed a newborn baby a well-done steak when it could barely handle milk.
   For both Moses and Yahshua became frustrated with a stiff-necked, unbelieving people. Unfortunately, in the matter of the waters of strife (Num. 20), Moses’ disobedience to Yahweh’s command to speak to the rock instead of replying to this stiff-necked people – as in, “Listen now, you rebels; shall we bring water for you out of this rock?” (Num. 20:10) – and striking the rock, he was denied entry into the Promised Land.
   Yahshua, too, dealt with stiff-necked people, saying, for example, to one Pharisee, If I told you earthly things and you do not believe, how will you believe if I tell you heavenly things? John 3:12 and even to His disciples on one occasion, "You unbelieving and perverse generation, how long shall I be with you? How long shall I put up with you?" (Matt. 17:17) – though compassed about with the like infirmities, He remained ever “holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners” (Heb. 7:26).


Believe Me for the Works’ Sake
   Yahshua is the prophet like Moses in the miracles they each performed. As Moses contended with Yahweh about the people not believing him, Yahweh replied,
   “Now put your hand inside the fold of your robe.” So he put his hand inside the fold, and when he took it out, behold, his hand was leprous like snow. Then He said, “Put your hand inside the fold of your robe again.” So he put his hand into the fold again, and when he took it out of the fold, behold, it was restored like the rest of his flesh. “So if they will not believe you nor pay attention to the evidence of the first sign, they may believe the evidence of the last sign. But if they will not believe even these two signs nor pay attention to what you say, then you shall take some water from the Nile and pour it on the dry ground; and the water which you take from the Nile will turn into blood on the dry ground,” Exodus 4:6-9.
   Likewise, Yahshua in reply to one of His disciples, Philip, said, The Words that I speak to you I speak not of Myself: but the Father that dwells in Me, He does the works. Believe Me that I am in the Father, and the Father in Me; or else believe Me for the very works’ sake, John 14:11.


Water, Blood, Wine
   In the Scriptures, we find a correlation among three words: water, blood, and wine. As one of the first proofs to authenticate Yahweh’s commissioning of Moses and Aaron, we read this report:
   Then Yahweh said to Moses, “Say to Aaron, ‘Take your staff and extend your hand over the waters of Egypt, over their rivers, over their streams, over their pools, and over all their reservoirs of water, so that they may become blood; and there will be blood through all the land of Egypt, both in containers of wood and in containers of stone,’” Exodus 7:19.
   In John 2:1-10, Yahshua with His mother Miriam and His disciples are attending a marriage at Cana, when His mother announced to Him, the caterer had run out of wine. He took of the water reserved for rites of purification and made wine – in Hebrew culture, called “the blood of the vine.” So, we infer that Yahshua turned water to wine/blood of the vine. See our in-depth study called, The Controversy: Wine or Grape Juice for Passover?


The Brazen Serpent
   Another parallel between Moses and Yahshua is the bronze serpent. We read in the narrative of Numbers 21:4-9, Then they set out from Mount Hor by the way of the Red Sea, to go around the land of Edom; and the people became impatient because of the journey. So the people spoke against Elohim and Moses: “Why have you brought us up from Egypt to die in the wilderness? For there is no food and no water, and we are disgusted with this miserable food.” Then Yahweh sent fiery serpents among the people and they bit the people, so that many people of Israel died. So the people came to Moses and said, “We have sinned, because we have spoken against Yahweh and against you; intercede with Yahweh, that He will remove the serpents from us.” And Moses interceded for the people. Then Yahweh said to Moses, “Make a fiery serpent, and put it on a flag pole (stake); and it shall come about, that everyone who is bitten, and looks at it, will live.” So Moses made a bronze serpent and put it on the flag pole (stake); and it came about, that if a serpent bit someone, and he looked at the bronze serpent, he lived.
   In referring to this wilderness experience, Yahshua said, And just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, John 3:14.
   Just like the bronze serpent, Yahshua was lifted up on a stake and just like the bronze serpent anyone who obeyed Yahweh and believed His promise by looking upon the bronze serpent, would live, so also does looking on, believing in, and trusting Yahshua – lifted upon a torture stake – affect their eternal life.
   So, as it was in the wilderness with them who chose not to look upon the brazen serpent to facilitate life, neither will any who choose not to look upon, believe, and trust Yahshua – lifted upon a torture stake but now, risen from the dead and seated at the right hand of the Father to make intercession for as many as would (Rom. 8:34) – not have life, but rather die in their rebellion and sin (Eph. 2:1). They died and not only did they die but they died in rebellion and sin.


Conclusion
   As we read earlier, we MUST HEAR the prophet like Moses. The word Shema, translated as hear, means to actively hear or to act upon what we hear. In essence, to obey. Those who don’t obey Yahshua, but deliberately continue in defiance will find themselves falling into the hands of the Living Elohim which is Terrifying:
   For if we go on sinning willfully after receiving the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, but a terrifying expectation of judgment and the fury of a fire which will consume the adversaries. Anyone who has ignored the Law of Moses is put to death without mercy on the testimony of two or three witnesses. How much more severe punishment do you think he will deserve who has trampled underfoot the Son of Yah, and has regarded as unclean the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified, and has insulted the Spirit of grace? For we know Him who said, “Vengeance is Mine, I will repay.” And again, “Yahweh will judge His people.” It is a terrifying thing to fall into the hands of the living El, Hebrews 10:26-31.



-Brother Lucas Bentley


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