Of the Dignity and Character of the Prophetic Office of
Christ.
"...This
is My Beloved Son, in Whom I am well pleased; hear ye Him."—Matthew 17:5.
_______
It
must ever give us infinite comfort, enlarge our expectations, and strengthen
and support our feeble faith, when we gaze upon the
Lord Jesus Christ on high, and contemplate His Person and His glorious
offices. Here, I wish to briefly
consider Him in His prophetic office, to draw forth our attention to view the
surpassing dignity and character of that same office, which He had administered
to the perfect delight of His Father.
Calvin, in his Institutes, while discoursing on the Person of
Christ calls attention to the excellency of His
prophetic office in contrast to the prophets of old with these words: "for
we know that under the Law, prophets as well as priests and kings were anointed
with holy oil*." but with regard to Christ, he quotes, Isaiah, expressly
writing: "The Spirit of the Lord GOD
is upon Me: because the LORD hath anointed Me to preach good tidings unto the
meek; He hath sent Me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the
captives, and the opening of the prison to them that are bound; to proclaim the
acceptable year of the LORD..." (Is. 61:1,2).
[*Exodus 30:25. "holy anointing oil" is a type of the Holy Spirit for
service. See Acts 1:8; 3:20-26.]
"We see that He was anointed by the Spirit to be a herald and
witness of His Father’s grace, and not in the usual way; for He is
distinguished from other teachers who had a similar office." —Which, we know, was in due time expressly revealed to us by "a Voice out of the cloud, which said, This is My Beloved Son, in Whom I am well pleased; hear ye
Him.” (Matt. 17:5b), which confirmed His superiority above all others. (
This superiority and eminency of Christ and His work is presented
throughout for our solemn consideration in the Epistle to the Hebrews, where
the Spirit of God in a singular manner calls forth our utmost attention to the
immense greatness of the Person of Christ in each of His divinely appointed
Offices as the Prophet, Priest and King.
In that abrupt but one of the most sublime prologues in the Scriptures,
He introduces to us these divine mysteries of the offices of Christ in a most
astonishing manner. (c.f. v2,3,8.) For
instance concerning the prophetic office, He presents, first, the Father’s
testimony concerning this whole mode of prophecy or revelation that how "God having spoken in many parts and in
many ways formerly (or, of old) to the fathers in the prophets," and
then, immediately drawing great contrast with Christ, He says, "at the end of these days has spoken to
us in [in the person of the] Son, Whom He has established Heir of all
things," etc. (Heb. 1:1-2.) (Darby Trans.) And farther on, in leading to the third
chapter of Hebrews, having thus shown us the infinite glories, and
excellencies, and merits, and superiority of Jesus Christ over angels and men,
and the everlasting and infinite efficacy of His own Sacrifice upon Calvary, He
at once fixes our gaze upon the Son of God, exhorting us in that admirable
passage: “Wherefore, holy brethren,
partakers of the heavenly calling, consider the Apostle and High Priest of our
profession, Christ Jesus;" (Heb 3:1).
Now, all this is given to unequivocally show us the greatness of
the Lord Jesus Christ, and the great dignity and immense character of His
divine offices, and their boundless use and efficacy.
The
Lord Jesus was eternally the Christ (Anointed) of God—the
"appointed Heir of all things"
(Heb. 1.) He was
sent to preach the good tidings of grace, "to proclaim the acceptable year of the LORD" (Is. 61:1-2; Luke
4:18,19.) "..the law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ." He is "the Way, the Truth, and the Life:" (see John 14:6)—"Who before
Pontius Pilate witnessed a good confession;" (I Tim. 6:13b; John
18:36,37.)—He is the "One
Mediator between God and men, the Man Christ Jesus; Who gave Himself a ransom
for all, to be testified in due time." (see I Tim. 2:5,6.)
We may further observe that His prophetic office is intimated in
His varied Names and titles. For
instance, in
Isaiah, His "Name is called
Wonderful, Counsellor, Mighty God, Father of
Eternity, Prince of Peace." (Is. 9.)
In the book of Proverbs, He is seen as the "Wisdom." In the
writings of John, He is revealed as the Logos* "The Word" (John 1:1,14; Acts 10:36; I John 5:7)—"The Word of Life" (I John 1)—"The Word of God." (Rev.
19:13.)—"the Amen, the Faithful and
True Witness" (see Rev. 1:5; 3:14.)
Christ is both the Revealer, and in Himself the full Revelation of God.
(John 1:18; Heb. 1.) In the incarnation
of Christ, God Himself has spoken to us, not through any intermediate agency as
He did in the former ages, but directly, as the Son. (Heb. 1)
[*Contrary
to what the infidels say about "logos" attributing it to Greek
philosophy (Platonic and such), or even Babylonian origin, the reader should
note that all this is a fabricated lie, which was vigorously contended by
infidels in an attempt to show that the apostles applied philosophical ideas to
develop the doctrines of the Scripture.
According to their false conception, their "logos" is merely
an idea, impersonal, inferior and subordinate to the Creator, although, it was
later refined by them to closely imitate, (to counter the true Logos), what the
apostle by divine inspiration reveals in John 1. But the Scriptures reveals "the
Word" as the Only-Begotten Son of God, Jesus Christ, the very God from all
eternity, the Creator and Redeemer, Who in due time, The Word made flesh. "The Word" is one of the eternal
Names of Christ. (see Rev.19:13.)
"In the beginning was the Word." Therefore, all these ideas regarding
"logos" by these philosophers, whatever they may be, are
falsehoods. The O.T. intimates Christ as
the Word and as Wisdom in Proverbs.
Compare Psalm 33:6 "By the word of the LORD were the heavens
made;" etc. with John 1:3, Heb. 11:3 and II Peter 3:5. Furthermore, the expression "The word of
the LORD" occurs numerous times in the O.T, which intimates especially in
light of the N.T the Mediatorship of Christ prior to
Incarnation. (Some commentators note
that it is Memra in Aramaic, used in the Targums (Aramaic paraphrases of the O.T.) for God.) "The Word -- so termed Psalm 33:6, and
frequently by the seventy, and in the Chaldee
paraphrase. So that
So,
let it be observed that it is "in
Him" and "by Him"
only, God is revealed to creatures. For
"No one hath seen God at any time;
the Only-Begotten Son, Which is in the bosom of the Father, He hath declared
Him" (John 1:18.) And it is
Christ alone who has declared: "I am
the Way, the Truth, and the Life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by Me."
(John 14:6b.) "And this is Life Eternal, that they might know Thee the only true God,
and Jesus Christ, Whom Thou hast sent." (John 17:3.) "And
we know that the Son of God is come, and hath given us an understanding, that
we may know Him that is true, and we are in Him that is true, even in His Son
Jesus Christ. This is the true God, and
Eternal Life." (I John 5:20.)
He is the Word, before all time, and was in* the beginning (John
1.) All knowledge is bound up in Him and
emanates from Him. He is "Alpha and Omega" (Rev. 1). But, if anyone should inquire, that if the
Creation or nature too bears witness to Him, it should be very easy to show
that person, from the Scriptures, that Christ is the Creator of the worlds
(Universe) (Heb. 1), and that the whole creation unequivocally bears witness to
the glory of Jesus Christ the Son of God, though an infidel denies it. (Psalm
19.)
[*"In
the beginning" speaks of the preexistence of Christ before all time,
before creation (John 1). Whereas
"from the beginning" as in I John, speaks of the Incarnation of
Christ.]
Now
all this exposes the pretensions of man; the philosophers and scientists who
pretend to know about the Cosmos, and the truths pertaining to nature, and yet
deny the very witness of Creation to the Lord Jesus Christ, the Creator and the
upholder of "all things by the word
of His power" (Heb. 1; Col. 1 &c.) —"For the invisible things of Him from the creation of the world are
clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal
power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse: Because that, when they
knew God, they glorified Him not as God, neither were thankful; but became vain
in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened. Professing themselves to be wise, they became
fools." etc. (Romans 1:20-22.)
Hence, therefore, we ought not to seek wisdom and knowledge
anywhere else but in Christ. For "In Whom are hid all the treasures of wisdom
and knowledge." (Col. 2:3.) The
apostle, therefore, having set forth, in the preceding verses (Col. 1), the
primacy and supremacy of Christ over all creation including over those
intervening "principalities and
powers in heavenly places" (Eph. 3; Matt. 28:18; Col. 1:15-17; I Peter
3:22 &c.), exhorts the saints at Colosse, who
came under the corrupting influence of Gentile philosophy, Gnostic heresies,
ritualism and mysticism with these words: "As ye have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in Him:
Rooted and built up in Him, and stablished in the
faith, as ye have been taught" etc. —"For
in Him dwelleth all the fulness
of the Godhead bodily." (see Col. 2:6-10.)
The philosophers of the world, both ancient and modern, from the
East and the West, have given us nothing but mere human speculations on the
questions pertaining to the origin of the Universe, the human destiny, life and
death; Though they speak of different schools of
thought, yet their message is one, a falsehood:
"salvation-by-attainment" in contrast to the Gospel which proclaims
salvation not by works of human merit, but by grace alone through faith in
Christ. The
infidels—the Paines
and Voltaires of the
world who tried every thing to confound
Christianity, to destroy the Way; —the great luminaries of Arts and
Sciences etc., whom the world holds in high esteem,
in short, all this world's combined wisdom and counsel, which was set against
God and His Christ was confounded and brought to naught at the Cross. (Psalm 2;
I Cor.1-2.)
All was displayed mightily at the cross. All was settled there
on Calvary.—Here, man's wisdom was confounded, and
man in Adam was set aside,—Satan's power
overthrown,—God's glory maintained by the
atonement of Christ,—His holiness, truth and
righteousness vindicated,—His justice satisfied,—sin condemned in the
flesh. Here too, the incomprehensible love of God in all its fulness
against the wickedness and perfect hatred of men was palpably demonstrated
toward guilty and condemned sinners, to the wonder and astonishment of all
creation, and finally, the ultimate triumph of Christ over all His foes, "..having spoiled
principalities and powers, He made a shew of them
openly, triumphing over them in it." (Col. 2:15.) In a word, all that the Scriptures set forth
concerning the glorious work of redemption was wrought by Christ on the cross to
the glory of God.
To again remark, that the great purpose of His prophetic office is
to teach us that apart from Christ, there is nothing worth knowing, for Christ
"in Whom are hid all the treasures
of wisdom and knowledge."; and that the doctrine, as Calvin says:
"which He delivered is substantially included a wisdom which is perfect in
all its parts." and that which consists nothing but "Christ crucified, unto the Jews a stumblingblock,
and unto the Greeks foolishness; But unto them
which are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God, and the wisdom
of God." (see I Cor. 1:23,24.)
For this same reason, Paul, furthermore, says, “For I determined not to know any thing among
you, save Jesus Christ, and Him crucified." (I Cor. 2:2.) We are therefore entitled to forget
everything, nay, "not to know
anything" but this; and indeed, my brethren, there is no greater truth
in the entire universe than "the
Gospel of God," (Romans 1; Acts 4:10-12),—the same Gospel which expressly and unequivocally bears witness "concerning His Son Jesus Christ our Lord"
(Romans 1), also now discloses to us that which has been hidden from past ages
and from generations, even "the
mystery of the Gospel" (Eph. 6:19) —Christ
and the Church,—the survey and contemplation
of all of which must ever move us to not only "count our richest gain but
loss, and to pour contempt on all our pride." (
L.P. [Dec
13, 2016]