THE PROPHETIC MINISTRY OF THE LORD JESUS CHRIST
INTRODUCTION: CHRIST AS PROPHET IN MODERN THEOLOGY
Modern christology is very hospitable to the notion of Jesus as Prophet. Whereas a couple of generations back Rudolf Bultmann was demythologising the New Testament and telling us that the historical portrait of Jesus preserved in the writings of the early church is not objectively or factually true, modern theologians argue that it is only via the door of history that we can get any knowledge of Jesus at all. The older quest for the historical Jesus was concerned with the recovery of historical facts from documents which were unashamedly theological. To get the history one had to get behind the theology, behind the interpreted history to the history itself. And most theologians in the first half of this century despaired of finding this Jesus.
This has given way to a new quest for the historical Jesus. Ed Sanders, in his important and influential work Jesus and Judaism, says
"The dominant view today seems to be that we can know pretty well what Jesus was out to accomplish, that we can know a lot about what he said, and that those two things make sense within the world of first-century Judaism"
Jesus and Judaism, p2.
Sanders goes on to argue that there are good grounds for regarding Jesus as a prophet of eschatalogical restoration, one who anticipated the restoration of Israel's fortunes. This type of Messianism views Christ as God's last envoy, one who expected Israel to be restored not necessarily by military means and by force of arms, but by grace.
The concept of prophet is also employed by Geza Vermes in his work Jesus the Jew. Vermes is a Jew himself, and an expert in the discoveries at Qumran, the Dead Sea Scrolls. Vermes sought to place Jesus "into the geographical and historical realities and into the charismatic religious framework of first-century Judaism.." (p9), and he believed that "the reconstruction of the portrait of the historical Jesus has been greatly facilitated by the use of the evidence from the Dead Sea Scrolls" (p12). In this context, Vermes came to examine some of the titles ascribed to Jesus, and devoted a chapter to 'Jesus the Prophet'. Vermes sees Jesus as a hasid, or holy man, who preferred to ascribe to himself the title of prophet, that is, a charismatic figure within first century Judaism, whose teaching mission earned him a reputation as the eschatalogical prophet, a title which, Vermes says, did not survive following the destruction of Jerusalem in AD70.
(1) THE EVIDENCE FROM THE GOSPELS
That Jesus was a prophet and that he was known as a prophet is clear from several references in the Gospel narratives. Both his friends and his enemies acknowledged this.
Mark 8:28ff At Caesarea Philippi the disciples informed Jesus of various opinions concerning him. Some said he was John the Baptist; others said he was Elijah, OR ONE OF THE PROPHETS.
Matthew 21:11 When he rode into Jerusalem, the multitudes said THIS IS JESUS, THE PROPHET FROM NAZARETH
Luke 7:16 With the raising of the widow of Nain's son, we read: "Then fear came upon all and they glorified God saying, 'A GREAT PROPHET has risen up among us", and "God has visited his people".
Luke 7:39 When the sinful woman touched him, the Pharisees said with disdain, "This man, IF HE WERE A PROPHET, would know who and what manner of woman this is who is touching him, for she is a sinner". This reference to the enemies of Jesus shows us that the popular conception of him was that he was a prophet.
Matthew 21:46 "Now when the chief priests and Pharisees heard his parables they perceived that he was speaking of them. But when they sought to lay hands on Him they feared the multitudes because THEY TOOK HIM FOR A PROPHET".
John 4:19 "Sir, the woman said, I can see that YOU ARE A PROPHET"
John 9:17 Finally they turned again to the blind man, What have you to say about him? It was your eyes he opened. The man replied, 'HE IS A PROPHET'
John 6:14 [following the feeding of the five thousand] "then those men, when they had seen the sign that Jesus did, said, "THIS IS TRULY THE PROPHET who is to come into the world".
Luke 24:19 Cleopas and his companion on the Emmaus road described the Saviour to the stranger with them (who was, of course, Jesus Himself) as "Jesus of Nazareth WHO WAS A PROPHET mighty in deed and word before God and all the people".
Luke 22:64 [in the context of Jesus' trial, scourging and crucifixion], "Now the men who held Jesus mocked him and beat Him, and having blindfolded him they struck him on the face and asked him saying, 'PROPHESY, who is it that struck you?' This was obviously a taunt and a mockery of the opinions that people had about Jesus.
These passages show that increasingly during his ministry, as he advanced towards the cross, the popular view of Jesus was that he was a prophet, if not THE prophet, who was expected to come into the world.
This coincided with the view Jesus had of his own role in the world. He regarded himself as one who had come to fulfill a prophetic role, in the style and after the manner of the prophets of the Old Testament. The following passages highlight this for us:
Mark 6:4 With the appearance of Jesus first in the synagogue, many were offended. "But Jesus said to them, 'A prophet is not without honour except in his own country, among his own relatives, and in his own house'".
Luke 4:25-7 The rejection at Nazareth provoked a hostile response -- the native crowd would have killed him if they could. Their offence in particular was taken at the association of himself with Elijah and Elisha as the prophets sent to particular places. He said of himself in this context, "No prophet is accepted in his own country"
Luke 13:33 Jesus' response to Herod, and the news that Herod wished to kill him was "..I must journey today, tomorrow and the day following, for it cannot be that a prophet should perish outside of Jerusalem".
Vermes looks at this evidence and says
"..the belief professed by his contemporaries that Jesus was a charismatic prophet rings so authentic .. that the correct historical question is not whether such an undogmatic Galilean concept was ever in vogue, but rather how, and under what influence, it was ever given an eschatological twist"
Jesus the Jew, p90
In other words, for Vermes the concept of prophet is acceptable when applied to Christ, although Vermes has difficulty with the outcome of his prophetic ministry, and the effects it had in the lives of others, specifically, in the confession of the church. However, it is the content of Jesus' prophetic ministry that remains the crucial issue. That he was acknowledged by others, and understood by himself to be in some sense a divine messenger is clear. The question for us must be -- what content can we pour into the concept of Christ as our Prophet?
In the gospel narratives the prophetic role of Jesus is associated with three things:
(1) the miracles
Nicodemus wished to speak to Jesus because he recognised that no man could do the miracles Jesus did unless God was with him (John 3:2). It was for this reason that he addressed Jesus as Rabbi. It may be that Nicodemus thought that Jesus could be placed on the same level as himself. But at the same time the signs, the wondrous works, testified to God's special messianic work in Jesus Christ. He not only spoke, he performed miracles. There were words, and there were deeds. The miracles were authentication that God was with Jesus, and was in some sense speaking through him. Indeed, the incarnation and the resurrection, the guardians of Jesus' earthly (prophetic) ministry, were both miraculous. There was something here which was other-worldly, the irruption of the divine power into the realm of human need.
(2) the parables
However we might evaluate or define the concept of parable, the parables were clearly a unique teaching tool and aid in the ministry of our Lord. He took everyday occurrences and used these as analogies for communicating the message of his kingdom. Archbishop Richard Trench, in his work on the Parables, argues in the introduction that Christ in the parables employed all the resources of this world in order to teach men about a higher world. This is "a visible world to make known the invisible things of God" (Notes on the Parables, p16). There is an interesting parallel between the words of God to Isaiah at the commencement of his prophetic ministry in Isaiah 6:10, where the hearts of the people would be hard and their ears closed to the revealed will of God from Heaven, and the specific purpose of the parables, as Matthew 13:13ff describes: "I speak to them in parables, because seeing they do not see, and hearing they do not hear, nor do they understand". Indeed, Jesus saw this as a fulfilment of the Isaiah prophecy. This great Prophet will have a similar result among men. Many would hear, and believe. But many would hear, and even see the miracles (cf. John 12:37-41), and still refuse to believe.
(3) the authority of the Old Testament
Jesus accepts the Old Testament as the authoritative word of God. He has not come to destroy the law or the prophets, but to fulfil them. He opens Isaiah and says that the word is fulfilled in the ears of the people. Prophecy has been realised. The day of the Lord -- the eschaton (the day of the last things) has been ushered in. The world is the stage for the continuing, and consummate revelation of God. The prophetic ministry of Jesus is undergirded by, and continues, the prophetic ministry of the Old Testament.
(2) PASSAGES WHICH SHED LIGHT ON THE REVELATORY NATURE OF JESUS' WORK
This point is specifically made in Hebrews 1:1 -- God has spoken to us in his Son. At the very least, that makes his Son a prophet. There are other passages which shed light on this for us.
John 1:1-18 Especially v18: No-one has seen God at any time. The only begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, He has declared Him. The Prophet has come to us to declare the God only he knows to men and women who do not know him. Eternal life is to know God (John 17:3), and apart from revelation we cannot know God. It is because Jesus has spoken that we can have true, even if we cannot have exhaustive, knowledge of God.
John 7:16-17 Jesus answered them and said, My doctrine is not Mine, but His who sent Me. If anyone wants to do His will, he shall know concerning the doctrine, whether it is from God, or whether I speak on My own authority.
This is an interesting passage, in which Jesus claims that his doctrine, far from being original, was derived. He came not to speak on his own behalf, but on behalf of another; and not to speak his own thing, but what he had been given to speak. The terms Jesus uses in this passage are exactly the criteria on which Old Testament prophecy is to be judged. He is the spokesman of Jehovah.
There is clear subordinationism in these words. Jesus speaks as one under authority. Several heresies in the course of the Christian church centred around the relation of Jesus to God. There were men in the course of the church's history who taught unashamed subordinationism -- that Jesus is somehow less than God. The reality is that Jesus is God, and there is no God but Jesus. In terms of Person, there is absolute equality between Jesus and God: "I and the Father are One". In terms of Work, however, Jesus speaks as an inferior: "My Father is greater than I". That is why he says here that the doctrine he preaches is derived from a superior source. He sees himself as one under authority, who has a duty to obey. He is God's covenant servant, covenant spokesman, and covenant prosecutor. He has an obligation, a debt to discharge. Jesus' prophetic role is a vital element of mediatorial work, in which he is the servant, in addition to being the eternal Son, of God.
John 8:28-29 You both know Me and you know where I am from; and I have not come of Myself, but He who sent Me is true, whom you do not know. But I know Him, for I am from Him, and He sent Me.
This again is the language of duty, and the language of obligation. The prophet is the sent one. Just as the Old Testament prophets were commissioned in God's name, so is Jesus. We too are under obligation to listen to him for this is God's authentic and authenticated spokesman.
John 12:44-50 Especially vv49-50: "For I have not spoken on My own authority but the Father who sent Me gave me a command what I should say and what I should speak. And I know that His command is everlasting life. Therefore, whatever I speak, just as the Father has told Me, so I speak."
In this passage there is an explicit connection made between what Jesus was commissioned to say, and the life that is God's to give to sinners like us. It is by listening to God speaking through Jesus that life can be found and can be enjoyed by us.
Matthew 11:27 All things have been delivered to Me by My Father, and no one knows the Son but the Father. Nor does anyone know the Father but the Son, and he to whom the Son wills to reveal Him.
Two elements of the prophetic ministry of Christ are brought to our attention here: the indispensable nature of that ministry, and the sovereign grace of God working through it. Apart from this prophet, we could not know the Father. Through the revelation of the Old Testament, the church learned about the Father. But through the Son-prophet we can truly KNOW the Father. And it is because Jesus willingly reveals God to us that we can rejoice in what is disclosed to us in his revelation and ministry.
John 17:6,26 I have manifested your name to the men whom you have given me out of the world ...I have declared to them your name, and will declare it, that the love with which you loved me may be in them, and I in them.
The prophetic ministry of the Lord is here revealed within the body of his priestly prayer -- an interesting combining of the two roles. He declares to the Father here not only what he has done FOR his people as priest ("I have finished the work"), but also what he has done IN his people as prophet ("I have declared to them your name"). The Lord Jesus has opened the door in which love flows between saved sinner and Saviour, and he has done it by fulfilling a prophetic function.
1 John 5:20 And we know that the Son of God has come and has given us an understanding, that we may know him who is true; and we are in Him who is true, in His Son Jesus Christ. This is the true God and eternal life.
The Old Testament prophets were there so that the people would have "an understanding", so that they would know about God, about themselves, and about their relationship to Him. In the same way, the Son of God fulfills this role, and gives us an understanding of the One who is true.
In all these passages, we have clear biblical evidence for the function of Jesus as the great Prophet sent from God.
(3) THE OFFICES OF CHRIST
Reformed theology has always highlighted the three-fold office of Christ as our Mediator -- the so-called munus triplex (munus means a labour, triplex means threefold): Jesus is Prophet, Priest and King. But while the priestly and kingly offices have been at the forefront of view, little has been written on the prophetic office of Christ.
What is the justification for taking of offices? The term is a convenient way of discussing the special role Jesus assumes and undertakes as the Mediator of God's covenant. He is the Messiah, the Christ, the anointed one. The Bible tells us that the Holy Spirit without measure belongs to him, and his being filled with the Holy Spirit is a unique qualification for divine service. So John 3:34 -- "He whom God has sent speaks the words of God, for God does not give the Spirit by measure. The Father loves the Son and has given all things into His hand". Colossians 2:9 reminds us that "in Him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily..." so that the incarnation has not modified the possession of that fullness, although it has altered the mode in which that fullness resides in him. Nonetheless, a special anointing was necessary in respect of the public role of service that Christ was to render to God. We have already noted his appropriation of Isaiah 61:1 to himself -- "The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me, because the Lord has anointed me to preach good tidings to the poor ... ". All the functions he performed (preaching, proclaiming, opening, healing, comforting, consoling, giving, are the verbs used of him in Isaiah 61:1-3) required a particular anointing. Peter also sheds light for us on this in Acts 10:36-38, where he explicitly connects the revelation of God's word with the anointing of Jesus:
"The word which God sent to the children of Israel, preaching peace through Jesus Christ -- He is Lord of all -- that word you know which was proclaimed throughout all Judea and began from Galilee after the baptism which John preached: how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power, who went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with him..."
Just as the prophets of the Old Testament were charismatic figures, that is, they were not only given the word but the charisma, the gift of proclamation, the ability as well as the substance of the prophetic message, so Jesus, the eschatological prophet, was given the equipment necessary to reveal God to us. At his baptism, his public ministry was inaugurated. The carpenter turned preacher. He embarked upon his prophetic role in a new dimension of power and anointing. He was truly the set apart one.
It is perhaps important for us to appreciate the necessity of the threefold nature of our Lord's Messiahship, as the official executor of the covenant. Sin had blinded our minds to the truth of God's word -- we were darkened and alienated in our minds. Sin had left us guilty before God, subject to the penalty and punishment of the law if justice was to be administered in a God-honouring and God-satisfying way. And sin had left us in bondage, slaves to its dominion and lordship, subject to its power and its constraints and restraints.
But grace is equal to, and greater than the power of sin. Jesus Christ stands before us as the Prophet who is able to give light into sin-darkened minds, the Priest who is able to offer guilt-removing sacrifice, and the King who is able to break the power of sin and bring us under his own Lordship and under the dominion of His own grace. We were once the servants of sin, as Paul says in Romans 6:17, but we obeyed from the heart the doctrine given us, and the doctrine was imparted to us by Jesus Christ, the Prophet of God.
Christ had been appointed Mediator from all eternity, within the covenant of redemption. God set him apart to be a Saviour, and gave him a work to perform. Attached to that work were promises, the fulfilment of which were absolutely conditional upon his full obedience to the will of the Father. From this point of view, therefore, the covenant of redemption between Father and Son was a covenant of works; Jesus was to finish his work if he was to enjoy the blessings of God's promises. It was, for example, for the joy set before him that he was willing to endure the cross (Hebrews 12:2).
As soon as man fell, the covenant of grace took up the strain of man's impoverished condition, and the promise of salvation was embedded in the history of the world. In Genesis 3:15 God promised that the seed of the woman would bruise the serpent's head. That was an intimation that a Mediator had been found, whose appearance on the stage of history hundreds of years later would bring in everlasting salvation.
In his History of the Work of Redemption, Jonathan Edwards summarises thus:
"...the light that the church enjoyed from the fall of man, till Christ came, was like the light which we enjoy in the night; not the light of the sun directly, but as reflected from the moon and other luminaries; which light prefigured Christ, the Sun of righteousness that was afterwards to arise...That promise in Genesis 3:15 was the first dawn of gospel light after the fall in prophecy; so the institution of sacrifice was the first hint of it in types. The former was done in pursuance of Christ's prophetical office; in the latter, Christ exhibited himself in his priestly office...
God soon after the fall began actually to save the souls of men through Christ's redemption. In this, Christ, who had lately taken upon him the work of mediator between God and man, did first begin that work, wherein he appeared in the exercise of his kingly office, as in the sacrifices he was represented in his priestly office, and in the first prediction of redemption by Christ he had appeared in the exercise of his prophetical office..."
The Old Testament prophets, according to 1 Peter 1:11, exercised their ministries through the Spirit of Christ working in them, revealing the will of God as a preparation for the final, great, work of the Saviour. The message of salvation was the same across all the Testaments, but with the coming of Jesus, Spirit and Word combined in One Person, and the Mediator came as the great Prophet of the covenant. Old Testament prophecies were fulfilled in Him, and He continued the divine revelation by bringing clearer light into the experience of men.
(4) HOW DOES CHRIST FULFIL THE ROLE OF A PROPHET?
The Catechisms ask the question: How does Christ execute the office of a prophet? What does he do to fulfil this particular role? And, more importantly, how do we enjoy the benefits of this aspect of his Mediatorial work?
I wish to answer this question by following the outline of Archibald Alexander Hodge in his Outlines of Theology, in Chapter xxiv, 'The mediatorial work of Christ'. He is averse to using the term offices of Christ, and prefers to speak of "three functions of the one indivisible office of mediator. These functions are abstractly most distinguishable, but in the concrete and in their exercise they qualify one another in ever act. Thus, when he teaches, he is essentially a royal and priestly teacher, and when he rules he is a priestly and prophetical king, and when he either atones or intercedes he is a prophetical and kingly priest" (p395).
There is justification for this argument that while the offices of Christ as Mediator can be distinguished from each other, they can never be separated. It is a MUNUS triplex , a threefold work that is nonetheless one single work of redemption. Hodge argues that the role of prophet is undertaken by one qualified by God and authorised by him to speak for God to men. The foretelling of future events is only incidental to this. The work is one; but the aspects of it, and the roles Jesus assumes are distinct, and ought to be treated distinctly.
Hodge suggests that there are five aspects to Christ's prophetic and revelatory work. His prophetic role is:
(1) IMMEDIATE
(2) MEDIATE
(3) EXTERNAL
(4) INTERNAL
(5) EXERCISED IN SUCCESSION OF STAGES OF DEVELOPMENT.
(1) Christ is a Prophet IMMEDIATELY.
That means that in his own person he reveals God. In order to reveal God to us, He does not need to say anything. He is the revealer of God in his very person. The prophets of the Old Testament existed, and God made prophets of them. They spoke, and sometimes they acted, in order to reveal the mind of God to men. The revelation through them was subsequent to their own existence.
But Christ is different. He is the brightness of the Father's glory and the express image of his person (Hebrews 1:3). He is the Logos, the Word (John 1:1ff). This is something native and natural to his Sonship. It is of the very essence of his Sonship. Since He is God of very God, all that He is in himself is a revelation of God to us. In his teaching, therefore, he reveals God by drawing attention to himself. To borrow a word from James Montgomery Boice in his excellent Foundations of the Christian Faith, Christ's teaching is "egocentric". It is a sin for you and me to be egocentric. It would have been a sin for Christ not to be. Those who know Him know the Father (John 14:9). Eternal life is to know God, even Jesus whom he has sent (John 17:3). The prophets revealed God by turning the minds of men away from themselves to another. Christ, the last great prophet, reveals God by turning the minds of men to Himself. Boice quotes John Stott who contrasts Jesus with other religious teachers from this aspect: "They are self-effacing; he is self-advancing. They point away from themselves and say, 'That is the truth as far as I perceive it; follow that.' Jesus says, 'I am the truth; follow me'".
John's use of the Logos idea in the opening words of his chapter is extremely interesting. Karl Barth defines it exactly when he says "this word was not, like all other words, a created human word, merely relating to God, merely speaking from God and about God. As the Word it is spoken in the place where God is, namely en arche [in the beginning], in principio of all that is". Leon Morris, in his volume on John in the New International Commentary on the New Testament series, warns against a twofold misinterpretation of the Logos, the word. The first is that we regard it as static, a doctrine, or a revelation of truths about God. The Word is not static. It is life, not just information. Christ is Prophet not because he gives us information about God but because he is the only God there is. He is creative, and imparts true knowledge that is personal knowledge. The second misinterpretation is that we think of the word as simply an attribute of God. The Word is Jesus, and Jesus is the Word. There is nothing in God that is not in this Word. We must always have a Christ-orientated theology, and a God-orientated Christology, a doctrine of God weighted Christwards, and a doctrine of Christ weighted Godwards.
Logos is an important concept in Greek philosophy, yet John's usage cuts across all Greek ideas, as Leon Morris reminds us. The Greek gods were virtually unknowable and certainly unpredictable, detached and far away. But our God became incarnate in Jesus, and entered into our world. Jesus thus was the great Prophet, in whom word and act combine. The word is enfleshed and dwells among us. His very presence is a revelation. This idea is raised to its highest level in John's vision of Revelation, where the new Jerusalem has no need of the sun to lighten it, for the Lamb is the light thereof. In him was life, and his life was the light of men.
(2) Christ is a Prophet MEDIATELY.
Jesus reveals God to us through the mediation of the Holy Spirit. He was anointed with the Spirit, and the promise of the Spirit was given him by the Father (Acts 2). He sends forth the Spirit with Pentecost power, and young men see visions and old men dream dreams. His sending out the Spirit is the assurance we have of an infallible and inspired New Testament. Events and conversations surrounding Christ are recalled with accuracy because the Spirit leads into truth and brings to the remembrance of the writers of the New Testament the things taught by Jesus.
The Holy Spirit inspired the writings of Scripture, but also, as the Confession reminds us, gives us the infallible assurance of their truthfulness and trustworthiness. He endows the apostles with the ability to preach and write infallibly, to prophesy; and in doing so he continues the exercise of his prophetic ministry. In all of these things, Jesus is revealing to us, by His Word and Spirit, the will of God for our salvation.
(3) Christ exercises his prophetic office EXTERNALLY
By this Hodge means that he addresses the understanding, through his words and works. He preached. He wrought miracles. He spoke parables. And in all of these he addressed the minds of men. So Jonathan Edwards:
"When he preached, he did not teach as the scribes, but as one having authority; so that his hearers were astonished at his doctrine. he did not reveal the mind and will of God in the style of the prophets as, 'Thus saith the Lord', but in such a style as this, "I say unto you', 'Verily, verily, I say unto you'. He delivered his doctrines, not only as the doctrines of God the Father, but as his own doctrines..."
History of Redemption, Works, Vol 1, p576.
Psalm 45:2 promised that the one fairer than the sons of men would have a fulness of grace in his lips. The way grace was to be mediated was through his mouth. What he said was what brought grace to men. They wondered at the gracious words which proceeded from him. It is by listening to him that grace is given to us. The prophetic work of Christ and its effect hinges first, not upon the use WE make of the Word, but upon the use HE makes of the Word. And because He speaks, we ought to say to him, "Speak, Lord, for your servant hears."
There is a beautiful example of this in Luke 24, on the Emmaus road. There, two disciples enrolled in the school of Christ. Their textbook was the Scripture, their lesson Christ, their teacher the risen Lord. That was when their heart burned within them, when the best teacher unfolded the best subject from the best textbook. The work of preaching the Gospel is to continue that work, and Christ continues to exercise his mediatorial work as prophet by revealing to us, through the word, and to our understanding, the very truth of God.
(4) Christ exercises this office INTERNALLY.
That is, he is able to open hearts and minds. This goes beyond the power of any Old Testament prophet. Christ illuminates as well as informs. He opens the Scriptures, but he also opens the understanding. Spurgeon says that in the first of these he has many helpers, but in the second he stands alone.
The power of the Gospel can only be attributed to this. The prophetic work of Jesus Christ opens men's hearts, minds and souls to the Gospel. Revival is nothing but the individual illumination of many who before were ignorant to the truths of the Gospel. In his 'Thoughts concerning the Revival of Religion in New England', Jonathan Edwards highlighted the following among the effects of the glorious work of God among them:
"There has been a very great sense of the certain truth of the great things revealed in the gospel; an overwhelming sense of the gory of the work of redemption and the way of salvation by Jesus Christ; of the glorious harmony of the divine attributes appearing therein, as that wherein mercy and truth are met together, and righteousness and peace have kissed each other. a sight of the fulness and glorious sufficiency of Christ, has been so affecting as to overcome the body. A constant immoveable trust in God through Christ, with a great sense of his strength and faithfulness, the sureness of his covenant and the immutability of his promises, made the everlasting mountains and perpetual hills to appear as mere shadows to these things" (Works, Vol 1, p377).
So it is in the experience of everyone who has the eyes of their understanding opened to see the truth of the word of Christ. He shines into hearts to give the light of the glory of the knowledge of God in the face of Jesus. That is how he reveals the will of God to us. So 1 John 2:20 -- "you have an anointing from the Holy One, and you know all things".
Is there a confusion of the role of the Holy Spirit and that of Christ here? No; the New Testament can go as far as to say that the Lord is that Spirit (2 Corinthians 3:17). Paul makes this explicit in Romans 8:17 "You are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. Now if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he is not His. And if Christ is in you, the body is dead because of sin, but the Spirit is life because of righteousness".
Paul elaborates in 1 Corinthians 2:6-16, on the wisdom from on high. The mystery of God was hidden, the wisdom which the rulers of the world did not have when they crucified the prince of Glory. These things, Paul says, God has revealed to us by the Spirit, through whom we have the mind of Christ. That is a glorious possession to have -- the very life and the very mind of the Saviour, who is truth.
(5) Jesus is Prophet in three successive stages of Development.
These stages of Christ's mediatorial development are before his incarnation, during it, and ever afterward in glory. Or, as the Catechism puts it, he is prophet 'both in his estate of humiliation and exaltation'. He shall lead his people to living fountains of waters, where they will progress and grow in appreciation of who their Saviour is and what their Saviour has done.
(5) WHAT IS THE CONTENT OF JESUS' PROPHETIC MINISTRY?
2 Peter 1:3 -- "...His divine power has given to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him who called us by glory and virtue". We do not have exhaustive knowledge, but we do have true knowledge and we have sufficient knowledge for life and for godliness, in this world as well as in our relationship to God. Jesus has revealed God to us. That is what the prophets did in the Old Testament, and it is what Jesus does still. As a result, we have:
(1) A specific view of history -- God in the world
History is not the product of forces which we cannot marshal or control. It is not some arbitrary river, cutting a course for itself wherever opportunity affords. Jesus has shown us that God is at work in the world, from beginning to end. Like the Old Testament prophets, Jesus has revealed that God is in his creation, working out his own purposes of grace. He has something to say to us about the past, in the present, and for the future. We have roots in the past, purpose in the present and hope for the future. The ministry of Jesus, our great Prophet, opens our eyes to the workings of him for whom and in whom, and by whom are all things. Jesus has shown us that God will be glorified and that Christ will have the pre-eminence. We have a world view; for us mankind is on the stage of history and we are not simply in the audience -- we are part of the drama. God is not simply the director; in Christ he is an actor too. And though we may not know when the curtain will fall, we know that God is in control of every movement and that every action has a meaning in his great design.
(2) A specific view of the church -- God in his people
The prophet teaches us that God is building his church, gathering in his kingdom. To be sure, he bids us do our work. He calls us to witness and commissions us to make disciples. He sends us out as sheep among wolves and makes us salt and light. But he does so in the context of God's great purpose of grace. The prophet says -- "Verily, verily, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the ground and dies, it remains alone, but if it dies, it produces much grain" (John 12:24). He tells us that his death will be fruitful. He is the grain of wheat that dies alone. But out of it will come a people redeemed and saved. Only through the prophetic word of Jesus can we have optimism for the church, confidence in our evangelism and the hope of revival blessing in the world. He taught us that the church is greater than the sum of its constituent members -- it is Christ's church, and the gates of hell cannot prevail against it.
(3) A specific view of ourselves -- God in our personal lives
The prophet has told us that God will meet all our needs. He bids us look to the fowls of the air, which toil not, neither do they spin; yet the Heavenly Father feeds them. He bids us examine the lilies, whose matchless beauty not even Solomon can approximate to. He bids us recall that our heavenly Father knows what we have need of before we ask. He asks us to bear before our minds' eye constantly that the needs of all his people is met out of the Father's inexhaustible supply. Through his ministry to us, we have every right to walk in light, and to know the care and keeping of God along the way.
(6) HOW HAS JESUS SEALED UP THE PROPHECY (Daniel 9:24)?
We have already referred to Daniel's great vision of Messiah. The context is interesting -- Daniel, in Babylon, was studying the prophecy of Jeremiah, who had prophesied that seventy years would see the divine purpose executed on Jerusalem in Babylon. As prophet studies prophet, the vision of the Great Prophet emerges, the one who will be priest and king, who will effect the reconciliation and bring in the everlasting righteousness. He will seal up the vision and the prophecy.
There will be consummation and completion. The final chapter will be opened with his advent and concluded by him. God will have said the last word.
Spurgeon has a beautiful comment on these words of Daniel 9:24 in his sermon entitled, SHUTTING, SEALING AND COVERING, or MESSIAH'S GLORIOUS WORK:
"..by fulfilling all the visions and the prophecies of the Old Testament in Himself, He ends both prophecy and vision. He seals up visions and prophecies so that hey shall no more be seen or spoken; they are closed, and no man can add to them; and therefore -- and this is the point to note -- the gospel is forever settled, to remain eternally the same... Brethren, there always was something better yet to come in all times till Christ arrived; but after the best there cometh none .. Rejoice in this, beloved. God makes you righteous in Christ and with Christ, and in order that you shall never be perplexed with change, He sets aside all other teachers, that Christ may be your all in all"
Jesus Christ, the History, Ceremony and Prophecy as told in the Old Testament, pp664-665
Conclusion: What is this to us?
Matthew Henry suggested that two questions are vital in interpreting Scripture -- What is this? And What is this to us? In our reading of the Scriptures there must be exegesis and exposition -- both the drawing out of the Bible's meaning, and the application of the Bible's truth to our daily lives. Regarding the prophetic office of Jesus, we have asked -- What is this? Now we must ask -- what does it mean to us that Jesus is the truth of God? Let me quote from O.T. Allis in his concluding remarks to The Unity of Isaiah, published in 1950:
"Why are the hearts of Christians failing them for fear in these difficult and dangerous post-war days? Is it because they have no sure word of Prophecy to guide them?.. Is it because they have allowed those who are wise in the wisdom of the world to deprive them of the glorious and gracious promises of the Word of God?... If so, they will do well to give heed to.. the words of Him who said of the Old Covenant, 'Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law till all be fulfilled' (Matthew 6:18), and of the New Covenant, 'Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away' (24:35). A church which rests securely on the Bible as the Word of God and gives earnest heed to the challenge and promise of the Great Commission need have no fear for the future, however dark and threatening that future may be".
The Unity of Isaiah, pp124-5
May we learn more and more to live by faith in the Son of God, who loved us and gave himself for us!
