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JESUS THE GREATEST VOL. 2
By Pastor Glenn PeaseIn volume one we looked at how the Book of Hebrews exalted Jesus as the greatest inevery category in the first few verses. In this volume we want to see that this is thetheme of the whole book, and all the way through Jesus is exalted as the greatest. Jesusis never just great along with many other great persons. He is always the greatest inevery way, and everything surrounding His being and His deeds is the greatest.
CONTENTS
I. CHAPTER ONE. THE GREATEST PROPHETII. CHAPTER TWO. THE GREATEST PARADOXIII. CHAPTER THREE. THE GREATEST WORSHIPIV. CHAPTER FOUR. THE GREATEST MANV. CHAPTER FIVE. THE GREATEST WARNINGVI. CHAPTER SIX. THE GREATEST FOCUSVII. CHAPTER SEVEN. THE GREATEST RESTVIII. CHAPTER EIGHT. THE GREATEST CHANGERIX. CHAPTER NINE. THE GREATEST RUNNERX. CHAPTER TEN. THE GREATEST RUNNER IIXI. CHAPTER ELEVEN. THE GREATEST INTERCESSOR
I. CHAPTER ONE. THE GREATEST PROPHET
F. F. Bruce in his commentary on Hebrews concludes (Jesus) "is the prophetthrough whom God has spoken His final word; He is the priest who has accomplished aperfect work of cleansing for his people's sin; He is the King who sits enthroned in theplace of chief honor alongside the Majesty on High." Everyone agrees that Jesus is theprophet, priest and king in Hebrews, and this means that he sums up the wholerevelation of God. But the fact is, we hear more about Jesus being the priest and kingthan we do about Him being the prophet of God. I have to confess that in 34 years of preaching I never dealt with this subject, and I do not recall ever reading a message onJesus as a prophet. It is not a popular theme, but it is more significant than we realize.Hebrews begins by saying that the prophets were the spokesmen for God in the past,and that Jesus is the final spokesman of God in these last days. He is the final and theultimate prophet, for He speaks God’s final answer to man.God told Moses, who is considered the greatest prophet in Judaism, that He would sendanother prophet like him, and Christians have always considered this as a reference to
 
Jesus. It says in Deut. 18:18,
"I will raise them a Prophet from among their brothers, like you
(Moses), and will put my words in his mouth; and he shall speak to them all that I shallcommand him. And it shall come to pass, that whoever will not listen to my words which heshall speak in my name, I will require it of him." Jesus was the very Word of God, and Hiswords carried the most important message God ever spoke to mankind. Eternal life is inHis words, and failure to listen to them and obey them leads to eternal rejection. It is amatter of life and death that we hear and heed this prophet who spoke, not just to Israel,but to all mankind, and who sent His church into all the world to teach them to obey allthat He has commanded. No other prophet had such a powerful message, and no otherprophet had such a universal message to all people. Jesus was, without a doubt, thegreatest prophet. Isaac Watts wrote,Great Prophet of my God,My tongue would bless Thy Name,By Thee the joyful newsOf our salvation came,The joyful news of sin forgiv’nOf hell subdued, and peace with heav’n.Deuteronomy ends with these interesting verses.
"
And there has not arisen since inIsrael a prophet like Moses, whom the Lord knew face to face, in all the signs and thewonders, which the Lord sent him to do in the land of Egypt to Pharaoh, and to all hisservants, and to all his land, and in all that mighty hand, and in all the great and awesomedeeds which Moses performed in the sight of all Israel." A prophet like Moses had to havemore than words from God. He had to have deeds of miraculous wonder. Jesus fulfilledthis image perfectly as He went about daily doing miraculous deeds as no one else inhistory has ever done. Elijah and Elisha did miracles too, but not on the scale of Jesus. Henot only talked to God face to face as Moses did, but He was the very face of Godconfronting mankind. Never before, and never again has there been a prophet like Jesus inboth word and deed. After He fed the 5000 we read in John 6:14, “After the people saw themiraculous sign that Jesus did, they began to say, ‘surely this is the Prophet who is to comeinto the world.’” He was the second Moses in the eyes of those who saw His wonders. Thosewho heard his wisdom say the same thing in John 7:40, “Surely this man is the Prophet.”No one had ever come to fulfill the prophecy of one like Moses until Jesus, and the peopleknew He was the one. The leaders of Israel should have known as well, for in Rabbinicliterature there is a much repeated principle: “As the first redeemer (Moses), so the finalredeemer (the Messiah).” They should have known He was the final Prophet fulfilling thepromise to Moses.There are a number of ways that Jesus parallels Moses. Both had their lives threatenedas babies and they needed to be rescued from tyrants. Both reflected the glory of God onthe mountain. From the mountain where he talked to God Moses gave the people the lawof God. From the mountain Jesus gave the new law in the Sermon on the Mount. It isinteresting that both of them fasted for 40 days and nights before giving the TenCommandments and the Sermon on the Mount. Exodus 34:28 says, “Moses was there withthe Lord forty days and forty nights without eating bread or drinking water. And he wroteon the tablets the words of the covenant-the Ten Commandments.” Moses fed the peoplewith the manna from heaven. Jesus fed the multitude with bread he created by heavenly
 
power. Moses led the people in the wilderness as they headed to the promise land. Jesusleads us through the wilderness of time to the ultimate promise land of heaven. There arenumerous parallels, and Arthur Pink comes up with 75 of them in his final chapter on hisstudy of Exodus. The point is Moses was the greatest in the Old Testament, and Jesus is thesecond Moses, who becomes the greatest Prophet of all time.Here is a list of the testimonies of the people who recognized that Jesus was the prophet:Jesus asked his disciples, “Who do people say the Son of Man is?” and they answer, “Somesay John the Baptist; others say Elijah; and still others, Jeremiah or one of the prophets.”Matt. 16:14"And when he would have put him to death, he feared the multitude, because they countedhim as a prophet." Matthew 14:5 (compare with Matthew 21:26)"And the multitude said, This is Jesus the prophet of Nazareth of Galilee." Matthew 21:11"But when they sought to lay hands on him, they feared the multitude, because they took himfor a prophet." Matthew 21:46"And he said unto them, What things? And they said unto him, Concerning Jesus of Nazareth, which was a prophet mighty in deed and word before God and all the people:"Luke 24:19"The woman saith unto him, Sir, I perceive that thou art a prophet." John 4:19"Then those men, when they had seen the miracle that Jesus did, said, This is of a truth thatprophet that should come into the world." John 6:14"Many of the people therefore, when they heard this saying, said, Of a truth this is theProphet." John 7:40"And there came a fear on all: and they glorified God, saying, That a great prophet is risenup among us; and, That God hath visited his people." Luke 7:16"They say unto the blind man again, What sayest thou of him, that he hath opened thineeyes? He said, He is a prophet." John 9:17John the Baptist was the greatest born of woman Jesus said, but this greatest man of theOld Testament said he was not worthy to stoop down and until his shoes, as he refers toJesus in Mark 1:7. Everyone who knew Jesus personally knew He was the greatest prophetever, and many who only saw his works and heard his words knew it too.Peter makes it perfectly clear that Jesus was this promised Prophet in Acts 3. He had just healed the crippled man at the gate called Beautiful, and this led to a crowd gatheringin amazement. Peter spoke to them and quoted the words of Moses in verses 22 and 23,“For Moses said, The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from amongyour own people; you must listen to everything he tells you. Anyone who does not listen tohim will be completely cut off from among his people.” Peter says that Jesus is thatprophet and by His power the man had been healed. He said all of the prophets spoke of 
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