There was a time in Israel when no prophets spoke for God. During those long years after the Exile, prophecy seemed dead. There were no prophets and none were expected. All the people could do was to look back for comfort to the times when God had sent an Amos, an Hosea, an Ezekiel. Those were the good old days, when the word of the Lord was heard in the land. But now they were gone ... and the long wait for the messenger of the Lord had begun.

Our problem is quite different, it seems. We may be living in a time when the word of the Lord is restrained. But there is a "prophet" on every street corner. They are everywhere.

We live in a time ridden with "prophets." There is a real over-supply problem, prophet-wise: all of them claim to speak the real truth, of the real religion, on behalf of the real god. We run into them everywhere we look, leaders of one movement or another - the Phil Donahue Show, the evening news, the Religion Section of Time. There are the "prophets" of American civil religion, lecturing us on God and country, wearing an American flag in their lapels where a cross ought to be. At the same time, the "prophets" of the religious left are yelling at us too, telling us to get the U.S. out of East Timor and condemning American policies on most everything. The "prophets" of a "feel good today" church charm us with positive thoughts brought from a college campus somewhere that looks like a cross between Cypress Gardens and Forest Lawn. Wherever we turn, we and our church are accosted by self-appointed prophets, all arguing with each other, and all claiming to speak for God.

Beyond the church, other prophets are also calling for recognition. There are all kinds of other religious groups - more and more of them, it seems. And they all have their prophets. Some sects keep dividing like amoeba, each splinter group led by a "prophet" who is constantly surrounded by big, mean-looking bodyguards all wearing sunglasses. New religions have also sprung up, each with a leader who is revered as a prophet-like figure, come from God. These new cults surprise us with their popularity. There is Yankee Stadium filled to overflowing with people come to hear Reverend Moon prophesy to them. Then there are all the "human potential" movements, offering new ways to become more freed-up and mellowed-out, each one led by a "prophet" of the new wave. Somehow, they all seem to collect on the West Coast and are heralded by the National Enquirer at a rate of about one a week. It’s true. There are more "prophets" now than ever before, all of them claiming truth, claiming to speak for the people, most claiming to speak for God. The trouble is, most of them just seem to be speaking for themselves.

Given all these self-anointed prophets, it is obvious that the question must be raised as to real prophecy. Who are the true and who are the false prophets? "Will the prophets of God please stand up?" Some would insist, though, that we leave things pretty much like they are.

"Shouldn’t we look for the good in everybody?"

"If someone says he or she is a prophet, well, okay."

"It would be rather illiberal of us to presume to judge among the prophets anyway."

And so the prophets continue to parade before us - Ayatollahs carrying assault rifles, revolutionaries wearing berets, evangelists waving Bibles - all claiming to speak the truth, to speak for the people, to speak for God.

Now the interesting thing is that scripture is quite aware of this question of true and false prophets. Biblical faith is much more rigorous than we are. The covenant people are called to discern not only among spirits, but among prophets. For if a prophet is truly from God, and speaks on God’s behalf, then we are called to listen and respond. The prophetic word changes the world and creates a new world by its power. So, to discern among the prophets is really to raise the questions of covenant identity. Who are we? How shall we live?

Who are God’s prophets? In our Old Testament lesson, these questions are addressed directly. Within Deuteronomy is a deep concern about who we are as God’s people - and, therefore, who the true prophets are.

Who is a prophet? Our lesson instructs the covenant people how to discern among the prophets. A prophet, Deuteronomy proclaims, will (first of all) be like Moses.

"The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among you."

Moses, who spoke these words, was a leader of Israel and the prototype of the prophets. So if we are going to look in the right direction for a true prophet of the Lord, it is important to know how it was that Moses was the prophet par excellence.

What was it about Moses that made him a prophet? Well, for one thing, Moses stood as an intermediary between God and the people. When God appeared before Israel at the holy mountain, the presence of the Lord was unbearably overpowering.

"And you came near and stood at the foot of the mountain, while the mountain burned with fire to the heart of heaven, wrapped in darkness, cloud, and gloom. Then the Lord spoke to you out of the midst of the fire ..."

It was too awesome, too overwhelming, too much divine presence. So Moses becomes the prophet who stands between God and the people. But notice this! The prophet intercedes on behalf of the whole covenant, for all the people of God. Amos will call Israel to repentance. He will say to all the people, "Let justice roll down like waters, and righteousness like an everflowing stream." Hosea will speak of God’s steadfast love for Israel. Even after they have turned away, God will still love them as a mother loves her children. Jesus will proclaim the Good News of God’s reign to all

of Israel and will seek out those who are lost. A prophet is concerned for God’s people. A prophet loves God’s people - even while speaking for the burning anger of God, a prophet calls the covenant people to be reconciled to their merciful God.

A prophet, like Moses, is also a law-giver. Deuteronomy portrays Moses as giving instruction to the people as to God’s law. This prophet is teaching Israel how to live righteously before the Lord. There are to be three cities of sanctuary where one who has killed someone accidentally may find haven. Distinctions between foods which are clean and unclean are taught to the people. Above all, the Ten Commandments of the Lord God are proclaimed before the people by Moses, the prophet of the Lord. And a prophet like Moses will be raised up from among the people: another law-giver, who will teach God’s people at the beginning of the new age. We will see him in the midst of the people, up on the mountain, saying,

"Blessed are the poor in spirit for theirs is the Kingdom of heaven.
Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted ...
Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied."

A prophet like Moses will bring the law of God to Israel. There will be a new Moses who will bring forth a new covenant.

A prophet like Moses will also lead the covenant people from bondage. The prophet whom God raises up will again act to save Israel. Just as Moses led the children of Israel through the Sea, so a new prophet will once again work to set the people free. There will be a new Passover which will set us free and establish us a: God’s own. This prophet like Moses will go on before us, from death to new life, from shame to glory. You know that Passover - that new Passover - with its crown of thorns and flogging, that walk to Calvary, the victim carrying his cross. Then, "they nailed him to the tree" and later on, "they laid him in the tomb." And for three days, only the sign of Jonah. But our new Moses went on before us. "And on the third day was raised from the dead." From death to life. By the power of God - that Exodus God - the cross stands empty and he is not in the tomb. "He is risen, and he is going on before you ..." Yes, that’s the One. The prophet of the Lord, a new Moses, God’s only Son! Bringing with him a host of people, through the waters ... from death to life, freed from bondage.

The prophet of the Lord will also show another clear sign of that calling. God’s prophets will not serve other gods. They will not speak in the name of other gods, but only of the God of Israel. So we won’t hear a prophet of the Lord speak as if God cares only for America. It wasn’t a prophet of the Lord who delivered the invocation at the Orange Bowl half-time while a football field-size American flag was unfurled. There weren’t many prophets of the Lord at those White House services blessing our policies in Vietnam. And you are not likely to see a prophet of God making more of "Independence Sunday" than Easter.

The prophets of the Lord serve no other gods, not those of this nation or any other. The new covenant in Jesus Christ is not a national covenant, not a racial covenant, not an ideological covenant. These gods have been cast down from their throne by the death and resurrection of Christ. And a faithful prophet will speak only in the name of this one true Lord.

There is one other test of a true prophet. Moses announces a quite obvious way to discern among the prophets. Has the word of the prophet come true? Has that word come to pass? It seems simple enough, but it’s a test some people will avoid applying to their favorite "prophet" because they have become too secure within the would-be world. In James Michener’s novel Space, an unscrupulous character, Dr. Strabismus, preys on people’s anxieties by prophecying the arrival of visitors from outer space. Only his organization, Universal Space Associates, has been able to establish contact with the "little men" and therefore prevent a global disaster. Money pours in to Strabismus as he predicts and then postpones their arrival repeatedly. One of his most ardent supporters, ironically, is the wife of a U.S. senator who is a strong proponent of American space efforts. Along with many others, the senator’s wife cannot bring herself to conclude about Strabismus what Moses cautioned concerning prophets: "... if the word does not come to pass ... the prophet has spoken it presumptuously." Has the word come true? If not, it is not worthy, it is not the word of the Lord.

Now a word has been spoken to us. It is a prophetic word which claims to be "Good News," spoken by the new Moses to the new Israel.

I am the good shepherd;
I know my own and my own know me, ...
and I lay down my life for the sheep ...
So there shall be one flock, one shepherd.

His word is true. It can be trusted. It will never fail.