A Jewish believer in Jesus writes concerning Deuteronomy 18:18-20. There God tells Moses that he will raise up another prophet like Moses to whom the people must listen, but that the prophet who speaks what God has not commanded shall die. Some Jews point to Jesus' crucifixion as evidence that Jesus was not a true prophet of God and certainly not "the Prophet" of all prophets as Christians claim. "Is there other Scripture," asks this gracEmail subscriber, "that may support or refute the claims in this most important impasse?"

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This objection is as old as the gospel itself. To many Jews of the first century, the spectacle of a crucified Messiah seemed a contradiction in terms. The deliverer would come in power, according to such texts as Daniel 7 and Psalm 110, but the Cross exhibited apparent weakness (1 Cor. 1:22-25). If Jesus hung on a cross he must have been accursed by God, said some (1 Cor. 12:3). They did not perceive that Jesus became a curse for us, to take away the curse of sin and guilt that hung like a heavy cloud over our heads (Gal. 3:13-14). Nor did they remember that Isaiah had prophesied that the Messiah would be pierced for our wrongdoing -- and that observers would view his wounds and mistakenly conclude that God was angry with him (Isa. 53:4-5).

Jesus of Nazareth was indeed the long-awaited Prophet whom God had promised through Moses in Deuteronomy 18 (Acts 3:22-26; see Heb. 1:1-4; 3:4-6). His death did not result from God's disfavor but from God's saving purpose and the evil decisions of human beings according to the ancient prophecies (Acts 13:27-30; Lk. 24:44-48; Acts 13:27-30; 1 Pet. 1:10-12).

Because Jesus pleased God perfectly, it was impossible for him to remain dead -- a reality foreseen by David (Ps. 16:8-11; Acts 2:24-33) and by Isaiah (Isa. 53:10). Indeed, God expressed his pleasure with Jesus by raising him back from the dead (Acts 3:13-15). Jesus' resurrection showed him to be more than a prophet -- the Messiah, the Savior, the very Son of God (Acts 2:36; 3:15, 18; 4:24-26; Rom. 1:4).

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