3:44. Yes, that would be AM. That’s what the clock said when dad awoke with a little hand touching his face. "I need to go to the bathroom" said little Bubba. "Thanks, son, for the breaking news bulletin."

Bubba was four at the time. The family home had just been remodeled and one bathroom was now at the end of a long hallway. When you’re four years old and wandering around the house in the middle of the night, a new hallway looks five miles long, not to mention all the new hiding places for monsters just waiting for a little kid to walk by so they could have a quick midnight snack.

"Please come with me daddy," pleaded Bubba. Dad said, "Thanks for the invitation, but believe it or not, I’m a bit tired. You go ahead." Little feet shuffled away. Then they stopped. Then they shuffled back. "Daddy?" "Yes Bubba." "Please go with me." Okay. So dad crawled out of bed and they walked together. Dad relinquished, because Bubba had never been this way before.

In the Book of Deuteronomy, Israel is on the verge of a new journey. The nation had traveled from Egypt to Sinai and from Sinai to Kadesh-barnea. After forty years in and around Kadesh-barnea, Israel traveled north on the King’s Highway, around Edom, through the plains of Moab, and now, on the east bank of the Jordan River looking west into the Promised Land, the people knew that in all their travels they had never been this way before.

This river crossing, this hallway into the Promised Land, looked five miles wide, with rocks everywhere and monsters behind those rocks, waiting to eat an unsuspecting Israelite for a midnight snack. After all, the spies that had been sent to scope things out some forty years earlier had reported that "The land, through which we have gone to spy it out, is a land that devours all its inhabitants, and all the people that we saw in it are of great height." (Num 13:32)

So in fear, Israel rebelled against God and Moses. They decided they should pick a new leader and go back to Egypt. Moses assured them that the Lord was on their side and that they would be able to conquer this land. But they would have none of it. In anger at their lack of faith and their rebellion against Him, God determined He would wipe them out and start over.

Moses managed to intervene on the people’s behalf, and God forgave them. The people had seen his miracles and experienced the miraculous delivery from slavery in Egypt. But they had disobeyed and tested God ten times. No one over twenty who had been counted in an earlier census and who had treated God with contempt would see the land promised to their forefathers. Only two men, Joshua and Caleb who had followed God wholeheartedly, would inherit the Land. So Israel wandered in the wilderness for forty years, bodies falling in the desert, until that generation had all died.

For forty years there had been no circumcision. There had been no Passover. Getting across the Jordan River seemed like a huge problem, and the walled city of Jericho was looming in front of them. Making matters worse, was the fact that the Amalekites and Hittites and Jebusites and Amorites and the Canaanites all lived in this country they were about to invade and inhabit. It seemed like amonumental task ahead of them, and they had never been this way before.

You know that sinking feeling you get sometimes? Maybe you’re facing a situation that has your stomach tied up in knots. Maybe you see someone in a hopeless situation and know there’s nothing you can do. Maybe it’s a financial setback or a spouse or aged parents who are suffering from dementia. Maybe some of us are facing a future that’s so painful and so private that it’s known only to our God. Whatever our hallway may be, we mutter under our breath, "I’ve never been this way before."

Through Moses, God gave the Israelites specific instructions on what not to do when they did finally enter the Promised Land. In the verses just before our text, God warns them not to imitate the detestable ways of the nations there. They were not to practice infant sacrifice, divination, sorcery, witchcraft, casting spells, or consulting the dead through mediums. Anyone who did those things would be considered detestable by the Lord.

But the people didn’t rid the land of those people like they were supposed to. They ended up being influenced by them, and the temptation to follow their pagan practices finally cost them their land. Most of the nation of Israel disappeared. We’re tempted to allow the world around us to lead us astray. Satan whispers in our ears and lies to us.

He says the same things to us as he did to the people of Israel. "Don’t take any chances. Say no to courage and yes to caution. Expect the worst. Think about every possible peril, focus on the dangers and worry yourselves with ‘What if?’" Satan and the world offer only lies. Who will lead us into the future?

Moses promised the Israelites "The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me." Because Moses had also rebelled against God and done things his way rather than the way God told him to, he too was under divine judgment and unable to lead Israel into the Promised Land. So he promised another prophet just like himself. The Lord knows that long dark hallways are not conquered by promising stuff like "I’ll be with you in spirit." Some mystical, abstract, vague presence does no good. Just ask any four year old. Dark hallways need a real person with a loving and authoritative voice.

Joshua was the first of these prophets who was like Moses and spoke the Lord’s words to the people. Joshua led Israel safely into the Promised Land. Other prophets like Moses included Samuel, Elijah and Elisha. These prophets were the Lord’s voice, leading Israel in her journey of faith. In contrast to other offices given to the people by the Lord, jobs like judge, king, or priest, the prophets were the final authority.

Of course, the final fulfillment of the Lord’s promise of a prophet like Moses is Jesus. Jesus is a prophet greater than Moses. Jesus not only speaks the truth, he is the truth. He not only speaks God’s Word, he is God’s Word made flesh. Jesus not only knew the Father face to face, he is the face of the Father.

Moses longed to see the Lord’s glory, while Jesus is the glory of the Father. Moses led Israel to the brink of the Promised Land; Jesus completely finished what He began.

Some who heard Jesus did their best to muzzle his voice and silence his teaching. When their evil scheming and underhanded treachery failed, they finally employed the traitor Judas and the puppet Pilate. They used whips and thorns, nails and a spear. "There!" they thought. "He will never speak again."

But three days later, the Prophet spoke "Peace to you." (Lk 24:36) "Receive the Holy Spirit." (Jn 20:22) "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me." (Mt 28:18)

Unlike Joshua and Samuel and other prophets, Jesus carried out all of the Father’s promises. When he rose from the dead, he put the "Yes" and the "Amen" behind all of what the Father had said.

Alive on the third day, Jesus lives to lead us by his Word. The monsters of sin and selfishness are slain by his Word. Unclean spirits submit to his teaching. The enemy, the devil, must bow to his Word.

Jesus leads us by the Gospel proclaimed, the baptismal deliverance remembered, and the body and blood of the Eucharist celebrated. "This is the feast of victory for our God." With confident hope, we await our final journey, the resurrection of the body, and the life of the world to come.

Just as the Lord provided Moses as well as many other prophets to lead Israel, so the Lord provides us His final Prophet – Jesus – whose death and resurrection empower us to march forward in faith.

Because of the cleansing blood, resurrection joy, and the power of the Holy Spirit working through the Means of Grace, many people standing on the east bank of their own personal "Jordan Rivers" have dared to march straight ahead.

In 2 Corinthians 2:14, Paul tells us why; "But thanks be to God, who in Christ always leads us in triumphal procession." Whatever your dark hallway might be, listen, God is calling. He says, "Go," and he guarantees that you will never, ever have to go it alone. "The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet me from among you, from your brothers – it is to him you shall listen.

In the hymn "A Mighty Fortress is Our God," Luther describes our chief enemy in our Christian journey. "The old evil foe now means deadly woe; deep guile and great might are his dread arms in fight; on earth is not his equal…. Though devils all the world should fill, all eager to devour us….. This worlds prince may still, scowl fierce as he will."

The devil comes to steal and kill and destroy. We see him in our rear view mirrors. As tempter he chases after us screaming, "Whatever it is you want to do, just do it. Have some anger floating around? Act on it. Have some fantasies? Go ahead, full throttle. Have some gossip? Let it fly. There are no limits, no consequences, and no responsibilities.

When we give in to these temptations and deceptions, the devil then plants his foot on our necks and tells us, "Now that you have done this, seen this, drank this, smoked this, God is finished with you."

But praise be to God, that is not true. One little word can fell him. The devil is defeated by the all-powerful Word of the Prophet like Moses whom God sent. Our Prophet, Priest and King, Jesus Christ, who died so that the repentant heart can know forgiveness. So that all who have faith in the blood and work of Christ on the cross can rest in the promise of salvation. Christ himself assured us of those things when he declared from the cross "It is finished." May that promise bring each of you peace as you pass through your long, dark hallway. Amen.