To truly institute a New Covenant, he must have authority equal or greater and apart from Moses.

Basics

1. Principles
   1. A covenant cannot be modified or annulled after it has been properly established [Gal 3:15]
   2. A disciple cannot be greater than his master [Mat 10:24-25; Luk 6:40; Joh 13:16]
2. Most Essential Facts About the Prophet Like Moses
   1. He will have direct communion with God
   2. He will have unmatched power
   3. He will be a mediator between God and Israel

Deductions

1. He will bring about a New Covenant
   1. Moses primarily mediated the Old Covenant. (Therefore, the prophet like Moses would also mediate a Covenant but this cannot be the Old Covenant that Moses mediated. Why? It cannot be the Old Covenant because after Moses, only the sons of Aaron can stand in that office. Therefore, the Covenant he will mediate has to be a different, a new covenant.)
   2. He will replace the Aaronic priesthood (since he is going to be a mediator like Moses)
2. He will abolish the Law of Moses, the Old Covenant
   1. Since he is bringing a New Covenant
   2. Since he is bypassing the Aaronic priesthood
   3. Bring a New Covenant demands that he abolishes the Old Covenant (the Old Covenant makes all under it transgressors, therefore, the goal of the New cannot be truly fulfilled in the presence of the Old)
3. He is the only one of his kind apart from Moses and there will not be another after him
   1. He will live forever
      1. Since God does not speak of another Prophet of his kind after him—the prophecy only speaks of one prophet, a particular prophet that will be like Moses.
      2. Since the need for a mediator which he is filling remains forever, therefore, he has to live forever to fulfill it,
      3. Confirming this is the fact that Moses himself almost lived forever [Deut 34:7]
   2. He will be greater than Moses
      1. In power, since he will live forever
      2. In authority over Israel, since he will abolish the Law that was instituted on Moses’ authority
   3. The time of his coming
      1. He will be raised after the Israelites have entered the land of Canaan (since the prophecy was told them as they were about to enter the land)
      2. He will be born under the Law of Moses, thus he will be under the Law of Moses
      3. He will be present before and in the last days of Israel when they turn to God
4. His relationship to Israel
   1. He will be revealed before Israel had returned to God and will remain with them forever
   2. He will be the One they follow in the Last Days
   3. Under him all the purposes of God will be fulfilled
   4. Under him the Israelites will be priests of God to the nations [Exo 19:5]

Paradox—Haman vs Mordecai paradox

1. Basic Principles
   1. To institute a New Covenant
      1. He must have authority over Israel equal to Moses or greater, like a king.
         1. The people cannot give him since they already gave it to Moses (and he passed it on to the Aaronic priests)
         2. Even if he was a king from David’s line he could not abolish the Law
            1. However, since David’s rule is independent of the Law, a new covenant can be made with him.
            2. Nevertheless, it will not automatically annul the Law
         3. Abolishing the Law is impossible!
         4. Even if he establishes as New Covenant, it has to be backdated
            1. It must cover the generation of Moses until he was revealed
            2. It must cover generations from Abraham and beyond because the Covenant is to be for Abraham as well.
            3. Therefore, he has to have authority older than the Law
         5. The Paradox
            1. So how can a prophet arise in Israel, born under the Law, and bring Israel into a New Covenant with God?
               1. He has to have an authority over Israel independent of Moses. Such is the Davidic authority, it has its root in Jacob
            2. How can his covenant cover even the generation of Abraham? This is demanded if those generations will not be cut off
               1. He has to have authority over even Abraham and all

• The Law is still a problem and so it must be abolished. So how?
  1. The only way is death. Therefore, he has to find a way to kill the people and yet have them be alive.
     1. The old covenant is binding, it cannot be annulled. Not even Moses or the original elders of Israel can annul it.
     2. Only the dead can be free from the Law of Moses, but death that is not what is sought.
  2. He has to be someone from the past

1. Challenges with someone from the past
   1. The dead cannot live again. Neither Abraham or Isaac or Jacob can come from the past because they have died and they cannot come and die again [Heb 9:27; Ecc 12:7,14; Job 14:12,14].
   2. In addition to this, there is the challenge of identification. That is, even if they came today, how would we recognize them? Nevertheless, there is no possibility of their reincarnation.

• The only person who can be all of this is the Angel of Yahweh.

Angel of Yahweh?

1. This authority requirement is fulfilled in the Angel of Yahweh
2. He has never been a human and died/decayed
3. He can be legally identified by His power
   1. But can’t the same power or even greater be given to anyone of God’s choice?
   2. No. Not that magnitude of power.
      1. God doesn't just give power, he gives it purposefully. For example, if there was need for deliverance from Egypt and the purpose of announcing Yahweh to the world and of receiving covenant from Yahweh, there would have been no Moses. God doesn't do things simply because He can.
      2. As we see in Samuel and Elisha, once power is given, it is given.
      3. The level of power the Angel of Yahweh had is creation level power, it is more or less absolute. Except God is planning another creation, an entirely separate one , then there will never be another person, man or spirit equal to this Angel in power. Why? Because there is no need.

• The age in which he (i.e., Jesus) came was one that God had withdrawn prophets from. (John the Baptist was able to come because he had been prophesied, but no other prophet could really arise of such a caliber. As a matter of fact, John the Baptist exercised no power [Joh 10:41])

1. Therefore, a prophet with such great power couldn’t have gotten it based on any criteria or attribute in his then lifetime.

1. In fact, the Law identifies him as a Prophet like Moses
2. He is Lord of Israel and of Moses and even of the patriarchs before Moses
3. His authority is greater than that of Moses
4. Listening to the Prophet agrees with the command to listen to the Angel of Yahweh sent with Israel

Confirmation

1. The Lord of All the Earth is the Angel of Yahweh, and is the One Jacob said would come from Judah’s line and would have the obedience of the nations
   1. Except He is God the Father, the Lord of the Earth has to be a man to forever be lord of the earth. Man has been predetermined to have dominion over all the earth, i.e., Lord of the earth.
   2. The Angel of Yahweh was the One Abraham referred to as the Lord of All the Earth.
      1. Jacob's words tell us that Abraham and Isaac related with the Angel of Yahweh as their God.
         1. So where did Abraham ever relate with the Angel of Yahweh?
      2. When Yahweh appeared to Abraham, Abraham did not pay any attention to the angels that came with Yahweh. This means that neither of them was the Angel of Yahweh.
      3. Therefore, it is Yahweh whom they accompanied that is the Angel of Yahweh.

• It was he that Jacob was speaking of who would rule from Judah and would have the Obedience of the whole earth

1. Because of God’s plan to bring in all the nations through Israelites as His priests, the prophet like Moses was not only going to be over Israel but was going to be over the whole world.
   1. Also, while the Law is a covenant with Israel, it is actually binding on the whole world.
2. The Prophet Like Moses is therefore the same person as the One Jacob spoke of who would have the obedience of all the nations and is thus the Angel of Yahweh who appeared to Abraham.