Christ: Our Prophet

September 18, 2013 Note: the outline for this message and even some quotes come directly from the First London Baptist Confession of Faith (1646) and Gospel Glory by Edward Drapes. Ive tailored them to suit my purposes, but it is not an original work. Were taking a break from Genesis to look at the topic of Christ as our Mediator. As such, He is our Prophet, Priest, and King. In respect of our ignorance, we stand in need of His prophetical office; in respect of our great alienation from God, we need His priestly office to reconcile us; and in respect of our averseness and utter inability to return to God, we need His kingly office, to convince, subdue, draw, uphold and preserve us to His heavenly kingdom. Last week we studied His role as Mediator. Now, lets look at Christ Our Prophet:
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And he shall send Jesus Christ, which before was preached unto you: 21Whom the heaven must receive until the times of restitution of all things, which God hath spoken by the mouth of all his holy prophets since the world began. 22For Moses truly said unto the fathers, A prophet shall the Lord your God raise up unto you of your brethren, like unto me; him shall ye hear in all things whatsoever he shall say unto you. 23And it shall come to pass, that every soul, which will not hear that prophet, shall be destroyed from among the people. 24Yea, and all the prophets from Samuel and those that follow after, as many as have spoken, have likewise foretold of these days. 25Ye are the children of the prophets, and of the covenant which God made with our fathers, saying unto Abraham, And in thy seed shall all the kindreds of the earth be blessed. 26Unto you first God, having raised up his Son Jesus, sent him to bless you, in turning away every one of you from his iniquities (Acts 3:20-26).

What does it mean to be a Prophet?

For I have not spoken of myself; but the Father which sent me, he gave me a commandment, what I should say, and what I should speak. 50And I know that his commandment is life everlasting: whatsoever I speak therefore, even as the Father said unto me, so I speak (Jn. 12:49-50). As a Prophet Christ reveals the will of God and tells us everything we need to know to obey; He never stops preaching the gospel to His people.

Why do we need one?

No man hath seen God at any time, the only begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared him (Jn. 1:18). But we preach Christ crucified, unto the Jews a stumblingblock, and unto the Greeks foolishness; 24But unto them which are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God, and the wisdom of God (I Cor. 1:24).

How is Jesus qualified?

First, He was chosen by God: the prophets under the law were anointed with oil (I Kings 19:16) to show that God had chosen them for a specific task; the priests and kings were anointed likewise. Our great Prophet was anointed with the Spirit (Lk. 4:18). Second, He is sufficient to do it: [In Christ] are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge (Col. 2:3). He was made full of grace and truth and God the Father raised Him up, as it was foretold by Moses, and furnished Him with sufficient abilities to discharge His trust for the fullness of wisdom was in Him; therefore is He called the Counselor. Third: He is God-Man; Unless He had been God, He could never have perfectly understood the will of God; and unless He had been man, He could not suitably have unfolded it in His own person to men.

What does He prophesy?

In general He prophesies everything that may be known or enjoyed about God and about what Hes done for us; what we shall enjoy by Him; what we have done against Him and what we ought to return to Him: It is expedient for you that I go away: for if I go not away, the Comforter will not come unto you; but if I depart, I will send him unto you. 8And when he is come, he will reprove the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment: 9Of sin, because they believe not on me; 10Of righteousness, because I go to my Father, and ye see me no more; 11Of judgment, because the prince of this world is judged (Jn. 16:7-11). First, He tells us of our sinfulness; He convinces of sin. We cant see it otherwise. Secondly, He shows us the happiness of grace; even though our sins are great, the Father's love is greater. We have no hope, but Christ preaches the good news of salvation. We learn of the greatness of our sin and the infiniteness of our offense,

yet the riches of God's grace is made to shine more clearly for He convinces the world of righteousness. Thirdly, this Prophet teaches everything to be believed, even the resurrection of the body and everlasting life, the Father's love to him from eternity, what God is and what Christ is and to believe what He reveals and what will be hereafter. For He convinces the world of judgment. Lastly, He teaches the soul obedience to observe all the commands of Christ, the least as well as the greatest, visible as well as invisible, things to be done in earth as well as to be enjoyed in heaven. He teaches how to behave ourselves while strangers here as well as what we shall enjoy when we reach the city which we now seek; which obedience consists in two things: (1) Love to God so that we deny all things of this world and count them as loss and dung in comparison to Him and (2) love to our neighbor.

How does He prophesy?

Look again at John 16: Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth: for he shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak: and he will shew you things to come. 14He shall glorify me: for he shall receive of mine, and shall shew it unto you. 15All things that the Father hath are mine: therefore said I, that he shall take of mine, and shall shew it unto you (:13-15). The Father teaches by His Son, for the fullness of the Father dwells in Him, and the Son now teaches only by His Spirit; therefore, the Spirit takes of Christ to give to them that are His children. So that it remains clear, there is but one true light, namely, the light of the Father and the Son made manifest by the Spirit. The way He teaches is through the Scriptures. They declare all that was, that is, and that shall be practiced or enjoyed by any. They are the will and law of God. This is a standing law to walk by. They are able to make the man of God perfect unto salvation through faith in Jesus (II Tim. 3:15). The way God reveals His will through the Scriptures is through His ministers, and directly to the soul teaching it by words easy to be understood: he will guide you into all truth. Now the matter revealed is either the mysteries of the Father's love to a poor soul which is hidden from the wise men of the world and this the true light discovers only to the children of the kingdom; or else the matter revealed is the truth of God

barely and nakedly as it is in itself without the souls interest in it to whom it is revealed. And in this sense Saul was among the prophets, and the Spirit of God was upon Balaam, whereby he knew Israel to be blessed, though himself partook not of that blessing. In this sense, the Spirit gives gifts to the rebellious. This is a receiving truth, but not in the love of it from which a man may utterly fall away. Though a man hath all knowledge, yet if he be not a chosen vessel of the Father, and have not the understanding of the Father's love, he may, as Judas, fall away from his profession and go forth and hang himself, as he did. Yea, he may be a cast-away for all that. It is not man's knowledge, but God's love that saves a soul. Christ many times makes use of men for His own glory whose names are not written in the Lamb's book of life. But it is the portion of the chosen, called and faithful ones of God to be taught savingly, knowingly and powerfully through which teaching the wisdom of the world in them and the mystery of iniquity that before had taken the soul captive, are now put to silence and to flight. To these, His words are as a fire going out of His mouth to the consumption of that dross that remains in them whereby they become a pure and refined people. newgracebaptistchurch.wordpress.com