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A Display of Christ – (Part IX) by John Flavel

Ver. 22. For Moses truly said unto the fathers, &c.] The Jewish fathers, the Israelites in the times of Moses. The Ethiopic version reads, our fathers. This phrase, unto the fathers, is left out in the Vulgate Latin and Syriac versions, and in the Alexandrian copy: the passages referred to are in Dent. 18:15, 19 a prophet shall the Lord your God raise up unto you; which is not to be understood of a succession of prophets, as some of the Jewish writers think; for the Jews never had a constant succession of prophets, and those they had, were not like to Moses: but of a single prophet, and so the Targums of Onkelos and Jonathan understood it; but not to be applied to Joshua, as somed, or to Jeremiah as others, or to Davidf; but to the Messiah, and which is the Lord Jesus Christ, who answers to all the characters: he was a prophet in every sense, who brought a revelation of the divine will, taught the way, and explained the Scriptures of truth perfectly, and foretold things to come; he was raised up by the Lord God of Israel, and was anointed by his spirit, and sent by him, and that to the people of the Jews, to the lost sheep of the house of Israel; he was the minister of the circumcision: of your brethren; in the Hebrew text in Deut. 18:15. ’tis also said, out of the midst of thee; but as these phrases are synonymous, the apostle here only retains one of them, which suggests that this prophet, the Messiah, should be of Jewish extract; as Jesus was, of the seed of David, and a son of Abraham: like unto me; that is, to Moses, who is, the person speaking, between whom and Christ there is an agreement; the law was given by Moses, and the Gospel came by Christ; Moses was a mediator between God and the people of Israel, and Christ is the Mediator between God and men; Moses, under God, was an instrument of redeeming the people of Israel out of Egypt, and Christ, he is the Redeemer of his people from sin, Satan, and the law, and all their enemies: the Jews have a common saying, “as was the first Redeemer, so shall be the last Redeemer;” and they moreover observeh, that, “as Israel was redeemed in the month Nisan, so they shall be redeemed in the month Nisan;” in the future redemption by the Messiah: let the Jews abide by this; the Messiah Jesus suffered in the month Nisan, and obtained eternal redemption for his people: one of their writers has a notion, that when the Messiah comes, there will be the same disposition of the constellations, as when Moses brought the people out of Egypt, and gave them the law; and that the conjunction will be of Jupiter and Saturn, in the constellation Pisces: there was likewise between Moses and Christ, an agreement in the miracles they wrought, and in other things: him shall ye hear in all things, whatsoever he shall say unto you; all his doctrines are to be believed, embraced, and professed; and all his commands are to be obeyed, and all his ordinances submitted to; and this is hearing, or hearkening, to him in all things, delivered or enjoined by him.

John Gill, An Exposition of the New Testament, vol. 2, The Baptist Commentary Series (London: Mathews and Leigh, 1809), 169.

3:22–23 prophet … like unto me. Jesus is the great Prophet of whom Moses had both spoken and was a type (Lev. 23:29; Deut. 18:15, 19). Our salvation hinges on whether we will listen to His teaching with faith and obedience (Luke 9:35; John 10:4, 27–28).

Joel R. Beeke, Michael P. V. Barrett, and Gerald M. Bilkes, eds., The Reformation Heritage KJV Study Bible (Grand Rapids, MI: Reformation Heritage Books, 2014), 1562.

3:21–24 Early Christians anticipated Jesus’s return to establish his earthly kingdom. In support, Peter, citing Moses (Dt 18:15–19) and the entire prophetic tradition, presented Jesus as a Moses-like prophet.

Stanley E. Porter, “Acts,” in CSB Apologetics Study Bible, ed. Ted Cabal (Nashville, TN: Holman Bible Publishers, 2017), 1351.

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First Branch of Christ’s Prophetical Office (A Display of Christ – Part IX)

“A Prophet shall the Lord your God raise up unto you of your brethren, like unto me: him ye shall ye hear in all things whatsoever he shall say unto you.” — Acts, 3:22

Having shown the solemn preparations, both by the Father and the Son, for the blessed design of reconciling us by the meritorious mediation of Christ, and taken a general view of the nature of his mediation, I proceed to show how he executes it in the discharge of his blessed offices of Prophet, Priest, and King.

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Note this is the last installment in the series. For all in the series cut and paste or type John Flavel Display of Christ in the search box upper right of the landing page.