Christ in His Prophetic Office

“For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified.” 1 Corinthians 2:2.

At the center of the Christian faith is Jesus Christ. He is the linchpin of all our theology, belief, and devotion. He is the most excellent subject that can ever be studied or contemplated. In describing the wonders of Christ, the Apostle Paul wrote that he preached “Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and folly to Gentiles, but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God.” To those outside of the Christian faith, so much devotion to one man simply appears foolish. But to those who have beheld Him in all his glory, who have evaluated the misery of their state of sin and fallen into the gracious arms of Christ’s grace, He is truly the power and wisdom of God.

As Christians, we must not content ourselves with trivial contemplations on Christ. It is a sweet thing to joyfully rest in the simplicity of Christ our Lord and Savior, but it is a sweeter thing still to give ourselves to know him in all of his excellencies. It is like a man who inherits a grand estate on many acres of wooded land. That man would not content himself to simply see the estate from a distance. As the owner, he would explore every room of the house, he would examine the paintings on the walls, and the intricacies of the stonework. He would survey the land and explore the open fields, the waterways, the condition of the trees. So it is with the hungry Christian. We have become inheritors of grace, and it behooves us to explore all there is to know about our precious Savior.

Historically, Christ is often referred to in his three-fold office of prophet, priest, and king. If we are to grow in the graces of Christ, we ought to have an increasing sense of these primary functions of Christ. We ought to be able not only to see these offices in Scripture but to comprehend how they fit together in the life of Christ. It is his prophetic office that I will explore in this post, with the intention of later posts to address his priestly and kingly offices.

When referring to Christ’s prophetic office we might divide this doctrine into two branches. The first branch having to do with Christ as revealing God’s will. The second branch having to do with his illuminating our understanding. For these divisions and the general flow of these notes, I am tracing John Flavel’s classic work Christ in His Three-fold Office.

Branch 1: Revealing God’s Will to Men

Moses said, ‘The Lord God will raise up for you a prophet like me from your brothers. You shall listen to him in whatever he tells you.” Acts 3:22

The above verse is a statement made by the Apostle Peter as he quoted Moses from Deuteronomy 18:15.   The Old Testament saints looked forward to a prophet who would come and reveal the will of God to them. This indeed is what Christ has accomplished. He is the ultimate prophet (or as some have referred to him as the “prince of prophets”) who spoke the very words of God to mankind.

We notice in the verse above that Moses spoke of a prophet “like me.” Christ was like Moses in more than one sense. We are told of Moses that he spoke to God “face to face” (Exodus 33:11) bringing the concerns of Israel to God and receiving God’s response for the people. In like manner, Christ is our ultimate intermediary who stand interceding for us at the right hand of God the Father (Romans 8:34). Likewise, the prophet Moses led the people out of slavery in Egypt and into the Promised Land. Christ, as the greater Moses, has lead his people out of spiritual slavery to sin, Satan, and death, and into life everlasting. Christ is the prophet that leads us to the greater Promised Land. The scriptures say that “Moses was faithful in all God’s house as a servant, to testify to the things that were to be spoken later, but Christ is faithful over God’s house as a son” (Hebrews 3:5).

Christ spoke God’s Word and revealed God’s heart to men. He not only spoke through the sermons he gave, the parables he told, and the lessons he taught, but he his life was a living testimony of the will of God. “For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes” (Romans 10:4). As a prophet he further interpreted God’s Word for men and brought clarity. When the Sadducees and Pharisees brought a divisive question regarding the resurrection to Christ, he stated the matter plainly that indeed the dead are raised (Mark 12:18-27).

This branch of Christ’s prophetic office implies a few key considerations. First, it demonstrates to us that we are in constant need of God’s revelation. The Bible is not in alignment with Eastern traditions that speculate that truth is discoverable within ourselves. Rather, Christ’s prophetic office reveals that without God’s external revelation, we are utterly lost. And it further implies that Christ is the fountain of all knowledge and the source of all truth. In Christ “are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge” (Colossians 2:3).

We would do well to ask the question ‘How has Christ given this knowledge.’ This is a question that every Christian should interest themselves with, for it is one thing to know that Christ is the prophet who holds the keys of all knowledge, it is another thing entirely to know how to find and receive his knowledge.

Scripture reveals that Christ the prophet has spoken in different ways, “Long ago, at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed the heir of all things, through whom also he created the world” (Hebrews 1:1). In the days of the Old Testament, he normally spoke through the mouth of lesser prophets. Christ sent his word forward from heaven for men, and that word was delivered through the mouth of Noah, Abraham, Isaiah, Elijah, and many other prophets. He spoke his will to the Saints of the Old Testament through the Urim and Thummim, that great mystery of God’s oracles under the Old Covenant whereby the people of God discerned the will of God (Exodus 28:30, 1 Samuel 14:41, Ezra 2:63).

In the life and incarnation of Christ, Christ himself taught us face to face. He took on flesh, and lived among us. He spoke, and as He spoke, the very mouth of God spoke the precious words of God. And how wonderful were his teachings, like honey dripping from the honeycomb. The crowds gathered and hung on his words as they learned of true godliness from God incarnate. His teaching had not one drop of error, not a single note of falsity. His word was true, because He is ultimate truth. He then sent forth New Testament Apostles to declare His Word and to record His word in the pages of Scripture. As the prophets of the Old Testament, the words they spoke were the very words of God, with no mixture of error at all. Therefore, we can say that God speaks today through His Word. Therefore Christ, the great prophet, has not finished speaking, for his Word—the Bible— “is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart” (Hebrews 4:12).

As a prophet, Christ revealed God’s Word to men, and continues to do so through His word.

Branch 2: Illuminating Our Understanding to Receive and Embrace Him

“Then He opened their understanding” Luke 24:45”

Secondly, Christ functions in his prophetic office by illuminating our understanding—opening our hearts and minds—in order that we might properly understand His word and embrace him as Lord. It is important that we have our theology shaped by this branch of doctrine, lest we believe falsely that simply spreading and diffusing the word of God will cause men to believe. No! Christ must first open the heart of man, and then that man may properly believe the word of God. This is why Christ counsel us to buy from him “salve to anoint your eyes, so that you may see” (Revelation 3:18). Only by his salve, applied by the healer himself, can correct our eyes to see properly and believe.

The passage quoted above occurred after Christ appeared to his disciples upon his resurrection. That passage explicitly informs us that the disciples did not believe even after witnessing him and seeing his wounded hands and feet. It is only after he “opened their understanding” that their hearts were fully changed. In other words, Christ in his prophetic office not only reveals to truth to us, but of equal importance he reveals truth in us. “…I will put my laws into their minds, and write them on their hearts, and I will be their God, and they shall be my people” (Hebrews 8:10). A naturally learned man may become an expert in all things pertaining to the Bible, obtaining an external knowledge of the text itself that outshines many pastors, and yet he may not believe the words to be true. In the same way a child may sit under the biblical instruction of their parents every day for years and yet never believe. There is no mechanism to obtain this belief, no earthly means to form faith in ourselves. Only Christ’s Word, plunged by Christ himself like a dagger into our heart, can change the heart of stone to a heart of flesh (John 6:44, Romans 8:7). This is the great work of the Holy Spirit in our regeneration.

Pause and consider the great weight of this branch of doctrine. Consider our spiritual state before we believed. We were utterly helpless. Our sin had so deceived our heart, rendering us incapable of choosing God, of finding God, of obeying God by our own strength. We were not simply disobedient; rather we were enemies of God (Romans 5:10). Had God not intervened our eternal damnation would be the just consequences of our life before a holy God.

Does this mean man in his misery can do nothing? Yes and no. Yes, there is no action any of us can take to effectually save ourselves. And yet no, we can put ourselves in a position to encounter God. We can pray to him, though one may be his foulest enemy. You can plead prayers of repentance for sin, and cast yourself at the mercy of Jesus Christ. These are by no means effectual, but God by his mysterious providence often orchestrates events in our lives to bless these measures as part of the process of his regenerating work in our hearts. In previous generations, this season of sitting underneath the law of God, was often called Preparatory Grace.

Before we move on from this branch of doctrine, consider once more the awesome reality of what this means. This helps us understand the depth of sin’s influence on our life. Sin functions as a great thick fog that has grown over our heart, that makes us incapable of seeing the path to God. We are utterly lost. But Christ is the prophet who enters into the fog, grabs our hand, and leads us out. This is grace upon grace!

Closing Remarks

Christ held three offices, one of which we have surveyed here in this post, prophet. As prophet Christ not only reveals God’s wisdom to humanity, but he further causes belief in his elect by pushing that knowledge into their hearts in a saving way. What divine and mysterious love, that has so condescended on men, that we mere creatures, can be so intimately known and loved by our maker! May we cry out with the Psalmist, “Teach me, O LORD, the way of your statutes; and I will keep it to the end. Give me understanding, that I may keep your law and observe it with my whole heart. Lead me in the path of your commandments, for I delight in it” (Psalm 119:33-35)