Question: Is Muhammad the prophet mentioned in Deuteronomy 18:18?
Response: In Deuteronomy 18:18 (see also 18:15), the Lord says that this Prophet will be "like you [Moses]", and in verse 19 (see also 18:15), He says that the Prophet will speak "My words" and "in My Name". The only prophet of whom these things have ever been true is our Lord Jesus Christ (Lk.24:19; cf. Deut.34:10! - written before the incarnation; and Matt.21:11; Lk.7:16; 7:36-50; Jn.1:24-27; 6:14-15; 7:40-41). A prophet is both a fore-teller and a forth-teller of the Word of God (according to its Greek etymology confirmed by biblical usage), and there has been no greater Proclaimer of the word of God than the Word of God Himself, our Lord Jesus Christ (Jn.1:1-18; cf. Is.40:1-8). That Jesus is "the Prophet" Moses spoke of in these verses is made clear throughout the New Testament:
1. Jesus' original disciples recognized that He was indeed "the Prophet". "We have found the One whom Moses wrote about in the Law, and whom and the prophets [wrote about]" (Jn.1:45).
2. In Acts 3:19-26 (esp. v.22-23), Peter quotes Deut.18:15-19 as applying specifically to Christ.
3. Only Christ can be a prophet "like Moses", because Moses is a "type" (i.e., analogy) of the coming Savior (cf. Heb.3:1-6). Like Jesus, Moses is the only one who spoke with God "face to face" (Deut.34:10 cf. Ex.33:11; Num.12:8), and there are many other points of comparison wherein we (and the Israelites) were/are meant to learn about Christ from the life and pattern of Moses. For example, Moses came down Mt. Sinai twice [the two advents represented]; ruled Israel [the King's coming reign]; was the instrument of God's deliverance from bondage [as the Messiah was re: sin, and will be re: the nation Israel at the end of the Tribulation]; Moses, along with Elijah, is also one of the two witness of Revelation chapter 11, and corresponds to Jesus at the first advent as Elijah does to John the baptist. Finally on this point, Stephen's speech focusing as it does on Moses, deliberately uses the typology of Moses as a type of Christ to prove to his persecutors that Jesus is the true Messiah about whom Moses spoke: (esp. v.37 with vv.52-53).
4. Jesus the only way of salvation (Jn.14:6). "The One whom God has sent speaks the words of God" (Jn.3:34; cf. Jn.6:68;14:23-24). He is "the Word of God" (Jn.1:1-8; Rev.19:13; cf. Heb.1:1-3). No greater forth-telling or fore-telling of the words of God is possible, therefore there can be no greater Prophet than Jesus Christ.
5. Lastly, Jesus Himself tells us this: "If you believed Moses, you would believe in Me, for I am that One about whom he wrote" (Jn.5:46). This statement is clearly meant to include Deut.18:18.
Yes, Jesus was not only a prophet, but the archetypical and ultimate Prophet predicted by Moses in Deuteronomy 18:15-18. But He was and is much more than a prophet, He is also the Messiah, a fact that many of His contemporaries did not (or refused) to understand. Many of Jesus' countrymen rejected the idea that the Messiah must suffer for them before He ruled over them (Jn.6:14-15; and cf. esp. Is.52-53), and so they distinguished between "the Prophet" and "the Messiah", failing to see that they were One and the same Person, the very One who was with them (Jn.1:20-21; 7:40-41; cf. 6:14-15).
Jesus not only tells us the words of God, He is the Word of God, and the only way to eternal life through faith in Him and His saving work for us on the cross Jn.1:1-14; 14:6; 1Jn.1:1-2).
Muhammad and many others have falsely claimed to be prophets of God (or some god - the distinction is moot). This is a trend which is predicted by scripture to be on the point of intensification as the end times draw ever nearer (1Tim.4:1-4; Tim.3:1-9; 2Pet.2:1-22). The important thing for believers in Jesus Christ to remember is that all prophecy which is really true can be found in the Bible, the written Word of God, the true "prophetic Word" (2Pet.1:19-21), and it is to this prophetic Word, the very thinking of our Lord Jesus Christ, that we should ever turn our attention (1Cor.2:16):
"And I fell on my feet before [the angel] to worship him. And he said to me, 'See that you don't [do that]! I am a fellow servant of you and your brothers who hold onto the testimony of Jesus. Worship God! For the testimony about Jesus is the spirit of prophecy.'"
Revelation 19:10
In Him who is our truth, the One who has the words of God and is the Word of God, our Lord Jesus Christ.
Please see the link: Salvation: God's Free Gift
Hope this is helpful,
Bob Luginbill