As eager as our society is to make idols of our fellow man, we are equally ready to tear them down. Perhaps the famous have become too famous; we know too much about them to hold them in awe. Whatever the reason, we delight in seeing the mighty humbled.

This trend is particularly evident in conversation about our political leaders. Coarse jokes and rude insults are the currency not only of comedians, but of talk-show hosts, columnists, and (sadly) pastors. Who can be bothered with propriety when it seems that every politician has invited the slings and arrows of outrageous rhetoric?

Yet such irreverence is out of step with the Bible. We might have remembered the words of Solomon in Proverbs 16:14-15.

A king’s wrath is a messenger of death,
and a wise man will appease it.
In the light of a king’s face there is life,
and his favor is like the clouds that bring the spring rain

But then, we wouldn’t want to be accused of pandering!

Worse, though, is the temptation to employ the same coarse familiarity towards our true King, the Lord Jesus.

He is no king like those of the nations. Rather than exalt himself with pomp and ceremony, he seized a kingdom through humiliation. He allowed himself to be degraded - to be dragged through the muck of our common, evil existence - in order that he might win a perfect kingdom in a world to come.

But we should stand in awe of his humiliation, not find in it an excuse to speak lightly of him. Let us never forget, even as we express his humiliation, where He is now! “…as God-man he is advanced to the highest favor with God the Father, with all fullness of joy, glory, and power over all things in heaven and earth…” And would we, who confess him to be Lord and Christ, speak coarsely or familiarly of his former humiliation?

Here is a King whose wrath is a messenger of eternal death, but whose favor brings the spring rain of God’s blessing. Let us not, whenever we speak of his humiliation, allow ourselves to drift into forgetfulness of who he now is or of where he now sits enthroned.

Labels: Catechism Buzz, Christ, Exalted, King, Priest

Labels: hymns, King, Priest, Prophet, video

We know from Hebrews that "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" (Heb. 1:1-2). The simplest definition of a prophet is found in that very verse: a prophet is someone through whom God speaks. Jesus, then, is not only a prophet but the greatest prophet who ever lived. When Jesus speaks and acts, he is telling us about God.

It is very easy to come to the table with the understanding that a prophet is someone who predicts the future. After all, the prophets did this very thing, and so did Jesus himself. However, they did not do this to be mere fortune tellers, but they did this to tell us something about God. If God told them of impending judgment, it was to teach the people about God's holiness and power. If He told them of good tidings to come, it was to teach the people about His mercy and grace. Prophecy reveals who God is.

If this is true, then who did Jesus say that God is? I have dedicated my life to attempt to teach people all that Jesus teaches us about God, so it is regrettably impossible for me to do that here. I will, instead, pick from one little incident in the life of Jesus that has blown my mind from the first day I read it. In Luke 17:11-19, we learn about ten lepers who were made clean by Jesus. We also learn that only one of them came back to thank Jesus.

What does this teach us about God? It teaches us about His kindness. He healed ten men, knowing that nine of them would never thank Him for it. These nine simply asked to be well, and Jesus said, "Sure, go show yourself to the priest and be well." God does this sort of thing all the time for people who show no gratitude. He feeds the ingrates; He gives them families; He gives them breath. They never say thanks to Him; they only complain. In His mercy, God simply continues to care for them.

Hopefully, that doesn't describe you and me. Instead, we ought to identify with the Samaritan ex-leper who got a clean bill of health from God through the prophet Jesus. It's Jesus' last prophetic words to the thankful man are, "Rise and go your way, your faith has made you well." I hope we both understand that the Samaritan's faith in Christ healed him of more than leprosy. We will spend an eternity giving gratitude for that, as well we should. But look at that first command, "Rise and go your way."

Wouldn't you have expected Jesus to say, "Come and follow me." Or, "Now that you believe, come join my crew." He does not say that. He says, "Go your way." This guy who Jesus saved from leprosy and sin; he didn't have to become an apostle. He didn't have to sell his house if he had one. He didn't have to join Jesus' roving band of friends. He got to "go his way." To be sure, the Samaritan took his testimony with him, and God only knows the good things this healed man did because of his faith in the Christ. But he got to go his own way, back to his little village, and back to the quiet life of normalcy. I love that so much.

My beloved, cleaned-up, child of God and fellow companion, isn't it marvelous that Jesus has made us well simply for us to be thankful? And that a life of gratitude, lived in the way God has made us to go, is sufficient to please His prophetic majesty? What does that teach you about God, I wonder?

Labels: Christ, Jesus, Priest, Prophet, sin

In his book Vintage Jesus, Mark Driscoll ¹ lays out the roles prophet, priest, and king against the backdrop of our modern society in a way that helps me get my arms around what is being said.

Driscoll makes an effective argument that to magnify some of these roles to the neglect of others throws the mission of Jesus out of balance. He uses three examples:

• Prophet + King - Priest = Jesus of Shallow Fundamentalism

The strength of fundamentalism is its keen awareness of Jesus’ prophetic role as bold truth-teller and commander of repentance, along with his role as king who rules and reigns in all authority. However, they are also prone not to appreciate fully the priestly role of Jesus. As a result, God seems primarily cold, distant, stern, harsh, and even cruel.

• Prophet + Priest - King = Jesus of Fluffy Evangelicalism

In this form of religion, people know that Jesus speaks the truth as their prophet and loves them as their priest. So when they sin, they know that Jesus will forgive them and still love them. But they still rule over their own life. When they need help, they read the Bible or ask Jesus to serve them. Practically, they don’t see Jesus ruling over them, but rather coming alongside them to help them to achieve their objectives.

• Priest + King - Prophet = Jesus of Social Liberalism

Prone to understand Jesus as our priest, who is filled with grace, love, mercy, and tolerant patience, as well as our king, who rules over all peoples and seeks to extend to them grace, love, and mercy. However, the weakness of typical liberal Christianity is that it fails to fully appreciate the hard-edged role of Jesus as prophet. The sad result is that Jesus is seen as someone who would never offend us, raise his voice, hurt our feelings, speak harshly, or command individuals to repent with a sense of urgency because he is only infinitely patient, tolerant, and understanding.

I think Driscoll’s modern examples hammer home the point that the Catechism wants us to see: it isn’t just about believing in a Jesus, it is about believing in the Jesus—the one from the Bible; the one who takes care of all the things that are needed by us for life and godliness; the one who can save to the uttermost.

Labels: Christ, Jesus, King, Messiah, Priest, Prophet

When Samuel came to anoint David king over Israel, he looked at Eliab, David's older brother and thought that surely the LORD’S anointed was standing before Him (c.f. 1 Samuel 16:6). I want you to notice how, in that passage we see Samuel coming to physically anoint with oil the person whom God had already "anointed" as king. That is, David did not become God's anointed when Samuel poured the oil on him, he was already God's anointed, the pouring of the oil was symbolic of what was already a reality.

We understand the descending of the Holy Spirit upon our Lord in the Jordan in the same way. Jesus did not become God's anointed (The Christ) when the Holy Spirit anointed Him (i.e. descended upon Him and remained), rather when the Holy Spirit came upon Jesus, it testified to John the Baptist - the prophet the Lord had chosen to announce the Christ - that this man, Jesus, was the promised Messiah (the Christ).

Didn't God command Moses to anoint Aaron and his sons as priests, and again did He not command Samuel to anoint first Saul, and then David as king over Israel? We should see in this a common thread - God anoints those whom He intends to lead Israel - these two offices come together in the Christ, our High Priest and King.

Jesus is called the Christ because God has anointed Him, and no one else, to be the High Priest of His people - reconciling them to God through His finished, sacrificial work on Calvary. He now rules over God's people as their King. He was anointed by God to fulfill these offices, and came into the world to do (and has done!) just that.

Labels: Christ, King, mediator, Priest, Prophet

We should keep in mind that the name “Christ” refers to 3 offices – because under the law the prophets, priests and kings were all anointed with holy oil.  To be a “Messiah” is to be an “Anointed One”, so this title was give to the promised Mediator.  And I admit (and talk about in other places) that being a “Messiah” was primarily a kingly calling for Jesus, there is a proper place for seeing these other anointed offices as rightly-anointed offices which are pointed to by this title.

We should not overlook them.

The title “Prophet” is explicitly mentioned by Isaiah when he says this: "The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me: because the Lord has anointed me to preach good tidings unto the meek; he has sent me to bind up the broken-hearted, to proclaim liberty to the captive, and the opening of the prison to them that are bound; to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord," (Is 6:1-2)  We see that the Spirit anoints him to be the one who comes and calls out to people and give them a personal, genuine account of his Father’s grace – and not in the usual way.  He is different than others who have been made prophets.  He was anointed not just for the sake of his own teaching, but for the sake of his whole Body, the Church, so that the Spirit might work through all of it at all times in order that the Gospel might be preached with divine effectiveness.

But this is also certain: Jesus did this so completely, so perfectly, that an end was put to all prophecies – and those who are not contented with the Gospel are therefore tacking on something unnecessary for it, and run down the real Gospel’s authority, when they do so.

Remember that the Voice which shook Heaven when it said, "This is my beloved Son, hear him" gave him a special privilege above all other teachers.  But then this special privilege is passed down fom the head to all its members, as Joel foretold: "Your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, and your young men shall see visions" (Joel 2:28).  Paul said, he was "made unto us wisdom," (1 Cor. 1:30) and again, that in him "are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge," (Col. 2:3) meaning that there is nothing not worth knowing about him or from him, and that when you have faith in him, you may know his true character and all the blessing which that brings to us.  That’s why Paul says, "I determined not to know any thing among you, save Jesus Christ and him crucified," (1 Cor. 2:2).

And most importantly: it is a violation of God’s order to go beyond the simplicity of the Gospel. The purpose of dignity in the title “prophet” in Christ is to teach us that in the doctrine which he delivered is a wisdom which, in substance, is perfect in all its parts.

Labels: Christ, Jesus, King, mediator, Priest, Prophet