<p>3:23 <i>And it shall be, that every soul that shall not listen to that prophet shall be utterly destroyed from among the people</i>- Those who would not accept Jesus as Messiah were to be &ldquo;destroyed from among the people&rdquo;, using a very similar phrase to the LXX of Gen. 17:14, where the uncircumcised man was to be &ldquo;cut off from his people&rdquo;. Col. 2:11 speaks of circumcision as another type of baptism, in that only the circumcised were in covenant with God: &quot;The uncircumcised... that soul shall be cut off from his people&quot; (Gen. 17:14). We either &ldquo;cut off&quot; the flesh, or God will cut us off. The circumcision / baptism allusion was really saying 'Accept Christ or perish'. The language of destruction &quot;from among the people&quot; connects with how the Lord Jesus was also &quot;from among the people&quot; (:22). Exactly because of His humanity, He is our appropriate judge; or as John records it, He has authority to execute judgment exactly because He is the Son of Man (Jn. 5:27).</p>