The Light of Men

Posted on February 22, 2016 Updated on February 22, 2016

Brief Overview of the Offices of Christ

In the vivid and powerful words of the Princeton theologian, Charles Hodge, “We as fallen men, ignorant, guilty, polluted, and helpless, need a Savior who is a prophet to instruct us; a priest to atone and to make intercession for us; and a king to rule over and protect us.”¹ Christology is surely the sweetest topic in the spectrum of systematic theology, and the threefold offices of Christ are perhaps the most helpful way of understanding the nature of the work of Christ. John Calvin popularized this classification in his Institutes of the Christian Religion (book 2, chapter 15), and it has been commonly used since that time.² It is important that we understand the nature of this classification, being that it is not so much an innovation foreign to the biblical text, as an essentially faithful interpretation of it.

Erickson, in his Christian Theology, repeatedly stresses the need to maintain balance in our view of the offices of Christ: “It will be important to maintain all three aspects of his work, not stressing one so that the others are diminished, nor splitting them too sharply from one another, as if they were separate actions of Christ.”³ Erickson demonstrates how the errors of liberal theology’s moral influence theory of the atonement—which reduces the cross to merely a display of God’s love—is essentially an overemphasis of Christ’s prophetic office at the expense of the other offices.⁴ Biblical balance is vital as we take up the noble task of describing the prophetic nature of our Lord’s work.

Christ’s Prophetic Office Defined

As we venture to understand what is meant by calling Christ God’s prophet, it is important that we clearly define what we do and do not mean.

What we do not Mean

Grudem, in his section on the prophetic office of Christ, carefully points out that Jesus is not predominately presented as a prophet in the Gospels, and is never referred to as such in the epistles.⁵ In fact, Hebrews 1:1-2 seems to specifically avoid calling Jesus a prophet, referring to Him instead as God’s Son, in deliberate contrast, it appears, to a mere prophet. By mere prophet, we mean one such as Elijah who, regardless of the clearly divine blessing on his ministry, received his revelation from without. This non-divine office is what is meant by Muslims, for example, when they call our Lord a prophet. There are many examples of people who seemed, at least at first, to view Jesus this way in the New Testament (e.g. John 4:19, 7:52, 9:17). Jesus, as we will see, is no mere prophet, and is indeed wholly superior in his person and work to any other man called by the title.

While there are many points of similarity between Jesus and the Old Testament prophets—the fact that He was sent by God, related parables (Matt 21:33-41, cf. Isa 5:1-7), often taught in chiasms (Lk 14:11, cf. Isa 22:22), and preached a similar message of both judgment and destruction (Matt 23, 11:20-24, cf. Amos 1-3) as well as salvation and comfort (Matt 5:3-12, 13:44, 46, cf. Isa 40:9, 52:7)—there are notable differences as well.⁶ Not the least of which, as the Son of God, Jesus represents God both truly and fully in a way that a sent servant like an Old Testament prophet could never embody.⁷ Indeed, as the promised divine Servant King, Jesus is both the subject and the source of the Old Testament prophesies (1 Pt 1:10-11).⁸

The fact is, Scripture was written by authors, moved by the Holy Spirit to record in written form God’s perfect revelation to mankind. This grand revelation of God centers on the person and work of Jesus Christ. The Old testament prophets pointed forward to our Lord (1 Pet 1:10-11, Acts 3:22-24, Luke 24:27), anticipating His advent and ministry, and the New Testament writers pointed out the significance of His life in retrospect.⁹ Since it was an unimaginably high and honorable calling the prophets received in foretelling the person and work of Christ, yet the glory of the One to whom they were pointing infinitely outshines that eminent task, it would be a grave mistake to view Jesus Christ as a mere prophet, in the same sense as those that came before Him. While many aspects are shared between them, Our Lord’s prophetic office is wholly other than theirs, as we will see in the following section.

What we do Mean

While Jesus’ prophetic office has much in common with the prophets’ ministries, His prophetic work altogether eclipses theirs. The Old testament prophets received and spoke the Word of God; Jesus is the Word of God. Other prophets testified to the truth; Jesus is the Truth. The prophets before Jesus not only pointed to Christ as the subject of their words and actions, but typified Him by the very nature of their ministries. In the broad sense of speaking God’s words and revealing Him to us, Christ is the prophet—the archetypical prophet all previous prophets pointed to by the essence of their ministries.

One shared element between the ministries of the Old Testament prophets and Christ’s is that both spoke God’s words to the people (John 14:24). Hodge observes, “When, therefore, the Messiah was predicted as a prophet it was predicted that He should be the great organ of God in communicating his mind and will to men.”¹⁰ Since our Lord has true and full knowledge of God, and all things, and the sinless heart to respond correctly to that knowledge, He always speaks what is true of God and man. Unlike the prophets, however, being God in the flesh, Jesus was uniquely qualified to speak of God on the basis of His own authority.

Another common aspect of ministry between the Old Testament prophets and Jesus is that both served to reveal God to man. Erickson broadly defines Jesus’ prophetic role in terms of this foundational aspect of His person and work (Col 1:15).¹¹ As God in the flesh, all that Jesus does, God does, all that He says, God says, and all that He is, God is. When we see Jesus, we see God (John 14:8-9). While the Old Testament prophets also served to reveal God, their revelatory role was much different that Jesus’. The prophets were mere, sinful men that God used in extraordinary ways by giving them visions to relate, words to speak and write, and actions to perform that served to relate God’s message to His intended audience—in effect showing us aspects of the character of God. Making known the Word of the Living God is certainly a glorious calling, but Jesus wholly supersedes this in that He is the Word of God, the very fount of divine revelation.

A third point of similarity between the ministries of the Old Testament prophets and Jesus’ is that their ministries served to enlighten us with the truth (2 Cor 4:6).¹² Jesus Christ, as the light of the world (John 8:12, 3:19-21), is the source of all comprehension as Hodge boldly states: “He is the source of all knowledge to the intelligent universe, and especially to the children of men. He was, and is, the light of the world. He is the truth. In Him dwell all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge; and from Him radiates all the light that men receive or attain.”¹³ Any true understanding is made possible because of the Light, Jesus Christ. It is in this light alone that men may come to discern the fear of the Lord. The Old Testament prophets testified of this Light, and reflected a small measure of it as though by a dim mirror, but their whole ministries were but a shadow cast by the brilliance of the Light Himself. All the light of Scripture, whether communicated through prophet, apostle, historian, or psalmist—any revelation of God came through the agency of Jesus Christ.¹⁴ During the time of His ministry, not only did Jesus manifest the light through His teachings, but by the very nature of His person—displaying both the communicable and incommunicable attributes of God. To this very day, Jesus is shining His glorious light through the preaching of His Word and the regenerate character of His people, and He will display His light forever by the glory to be revealed in us in God’s presence.¹⁵

When we say Jesus is a prophet, we mean that He speaks God’s words, reveals God to us, and enlightens us in the truth in a way that is similar to, yet infinitely superior to the Old Testament prophets. Our Lord is indeed a prophet, but He is not merely a prophet; He is the prophet.

“Hot and brilliant as the sun is in the heavens, we would never see it or feel its warmth without the radiating beams that come to the earth. So it is with God and his Son, who is the radiance of his glory. Without the Son we remain in the dark regarding the glory of God. But with the sun we have an ideal, indeed, a perfect revelation of God.”¹⁶

Christ’s Prophetic Office Demonstrated

Lets now turn our attention to the Scripture, to see how we have arrived at the formulation previously described as the prophetic role of Christ. In Deuteronomy 18:15-19 we have the revelatory role of Jesus foretold in terms of His ministry as the great mouthpiece of God. In Hebrews 1:1-3a we see Christ heralded as the Son of God—the exact representation of the Father (cf. Col 1:15), and in John 14:9 we have the words of Christ Himself, declaring His unity with and display of the Father. In John 1:1-18 we see Christ interpreted in retrospect by the apostle John as the God-man—the Divine Teacher who speaks the words of His God and illumines mankind with His light.¹⁷ Let’s examine these passages in turn.

Deuteronomy 18:15-19 records Moses’ words to the people of Israel, declaring to them that God was going to raise up a prophet like himself from among the people (18:15a, 18a). This prophet would be faithful to speak every word God put in His mouth, as God led Him. Moses gave a solemn warning that the people must give heed to the words of his archetype, or face the judgment of God (18:15b, 19; cf. Acts 3:22-23). That Jesus was indeed the faithful prophet promised by God was attested to by the crowds that witnessed Jesus’ miracles (John 6:14), and heard His teaching (John 7:40), as well as the apostles who were witnesses of His resurrection (Acts 3:22-24). In a similar, yet infinitely greater way, and just as Moses anticipated, Jesus rose up from the seed of Abraham and fulfilled His prophetic ministry, speaking God’s Words to the people; and indeed, whoever will not heed His Word will perish.

Hebrews 1:1-3a speaks of Christ as the Son of God (1:2a)—the exact representation of His nature. Jesus, as the Son of God, being in perfect unity with the Father, equal to God in all ways, represented God to the world (1:3). The prophets who came before Him, through whom God spoke “in many portions and in many ways” (1:1) pale in comparison to the Son Himself (1:2-3a). All other revelation, whether through men, angels, creation, providence, or visions, all served to point to Jesus Christ (1:2b-3a, 1 Pet 1:10-11, Acts 3:22-24, Luke 24:27). As the giver and subject of these revelations, our Lord Himself surpasses them insomuch as the potter is greater than the clay. Jesus Christ, being the subject of all previous revelation, is Himself infinitely superior to every other revelation given. Jesus reveals God in an infinitely superior way because Jesus is God in human flesh, as the apostle John records our Lord declaring in 14:9 of his Gospel. Jesus is the God being revealed through revelation. As God in the flesh, His revelation shines with all the marvelous glory of God (Heb 1:3a)! Jesus perfectly images God as His representative before mankind (1:3a, Col 1:15).

In John 1:1-18 the apostle John gives us a beautiful expression of the illuminating nature of our Lord. Jesus is identified as the divine Word (1:1)—the eternally existing (1:2) agent of creation (1:3). This passage also refers to Jesus as the Light (1:4-5, 7-9). As the Light of men (1:4), our Lord enlightened every man as He came into the world (1:9). It is only by the illuminating light of Christ that men can be saved (1:12-13; cf. 3:1-21), and although it is only through the Light which was given to all men that true knowledge can be gained (even the unredeemed through common grace (Col 2:2-3)), this illuminating Light is shone upon God’s elect in a special, effectually saving way (3:7-8; 2 Thess 2:13-14; Eph 1:17, 19, 2:1-6; Deut 30:6; Ezek 36:26-27; Rom 8:30, 11:7). Jesus is the light that shines in the darkness (1:5), and without His illumination, knowledge would be impossible (Col 2:2-3). This Light was most clearly and gloriously displayed through the teaching and deeds of Christ in His incarnation (1:14, 16-17).

This brief section did not even come close to exhausting the Scriptures’ insight into the prophetic office of Christ. Still, taking these few passages together, we arrive at the conclusions described in the previous section. Jesus Christ reveals God by speaking His words and personally imaging Him, and is the only light whereby men might gain true knowledge. This is what we mean when we speak of the prophetic office of Christ, and it is a thoroughly biblical concept.

Christ’s Prophetic Office Applied

In order to apply the doctrine of the revelatory office of Christ, we will imagine an all too common scenario, and answer some hypothetical questions involved in such a situation. We will be ministering to a woman who is processing the death of her 18 month old child. The four questions she is struggling through are: “Is God really good? Did God kill my baby? Is my child in heaven? Why did God let this happen?” We will answer each question in light of the truth that Jesus Christ reveals God to us by His words, nature, and enlightenment with the truth.

The first question our grieving mother asks is, “After seeing the death of my little girl, how can I still affirm the goodness of God? Is God really good?” Overall, we supply the answer that yes, God is good, and is able and in fact does work all things, even incredibly difficult things to beneficial ends on behalf of His people.

First we consider how Jesus’ revelation of God through the words He spoke answers this woman’s doubts of God’s goodness. Jesus, by the words He spoke and inspired, unequivocally affirmed the goodness of God. Jesus commanded us to love our enemies (Matt 5:44) so that we might be like our Father in heaven, who gives sunshine and rain to both the righteous and the unrighteous. God is the giver of life and every good gift men receive (Jam 1:17), for the benevolent purpose of causing our happiness (1 Tim 6:17) so that we might in turn worship Him with thankful hearts for His generosity. All of these truths come either directly from Jesus’ incarnate mouth, or through the inspiration of His Spirit. God is benevolent toward all His creatures, especially His covenant people.

Second, we see how our Lord’s revelation of God through His very nature answers the question of God’s goodness. Jesus, as the Son of God, was God in the flesh—everything Jesus did, God did. Therefore, three things Jesus did on earth offer clear proof of God’s goodness. When we look at Jesus we see Him welcoming all who came to Him in humility; healing their diseases, and maladies. He never turned anyone away that came to Him in humble trust. This is a clear picture of the good, merciful heart of God. Jesus showed tenderhearted compassion to all, even to His enemies. Also, consider the fact that He came and preached good news to those with ears to hear. He spent Himself so that others might know and love the truth. This shows God’s goodness. The most obvious display of the good nature of God that Jesus made was in His substitutionary life, death, and resurrection. Jesus went to the cross, willingly accepting the sin of His people as His own, and suffering the penalty for their sins in their place—indeed suffering more than any person that has ever lived. Jesus’ willingness to do this on behalf of unworthy sinners reveals the goodness of God. Indeed, how could we question His goodness in light of His sufferings on our behalf?

Third, Jesus, in enlightening us with the truth, reveals God’s goodness. Through what took place in the gospel, we can see that God both desires and designs suffering to good ends both for Himself and His people. First, we must see that God designed Jesus’ sufferings. Peter, in Acts 2:23 explicitly states that Jesus was delivered over to death according to “the predetermined plan and foreknowledge of God”. Second, we need to realize that God brought this about in order to accomplish good. In sending Jesus to suffer, God was displaying benevolence to Jesus, in that He would be exalted above all (Eph 1:20-22; Matt 28:18; 1 Cor 15:25) as a result of His work on the cross, and that as a result of His suffering (Isa 53:10-12), He will see the salvation of His beloved bride. This all results in a wondrous display of the glory of God, and it comes through the prophetic office of Christ, as these truths about the person and work of God are illumined for us. By illuminating us with the truth, Jesus reveals that God is good, and that He both desires and designs suffering to good ends—what evil men intended out of hatred, God indented for good. If God could intend that greatest of all evils for good, what possible suffering could we not affirm the goodness of God in?

The second question our suffering mother asks is, “Did God kill my baby? Is He to blame for this tragedy?” In short, we affirm that death is a result of sin, namely Adam’s sin in the case of infants, yet God is sovereign over all things (Rom 5:12-14). Even though God is sovereign over death, He is never at fault (legitimately chargeable with wrongdoing) when people die.

First, Jesus’ function of revealing God through the words He spoke and the words He inspired in the rest of Scripture speaks to this question. First, we need to see that mankind experiences death because of our sin. God promised that in the day Adam sinned, He would begin to die. The apostle Paul spoke, in Romans 5 of the fact that the guilt of Adam’s sin is imputed to mankind in such a way that even infants, who may or may not have had the opportunity to commit actual sin, still suffer death because they inherit the guilt of Adam’s sin. It is because of human sin that children die. Second, we need to affirm that God is sovereign over all things, including death. Ephesians 1:11 plainly states that God “works all things after the council of His will.” Taking into consideration what we observed Jesus to say in the previous section, we arrive at the conclusion that God is sovereign over all things, and God is good, intending all things for the good of Himself and His people.

Second, we find the question of God’s trustworthiness in the face of death (and by implication His sovereignty and moral innocence in it) answered by Jesus’ display of God’s nature through His actions. In the Garden of Gethsemane, on the night before His crucifixion, we see Jesus both acknowledge God’s sovereignty over His coming suffering, and entrust Himself to His good care. In His distress, Jesus prayed, “My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from Me; yet not as I will, but as You will.” (Matt 26:29) What Jesus’ nature certainly reveals about God in this episode is that He is trustworthy, even when according to His will we are made to suffer. Jesus knows God truly and exhaustively, and therefore the fact that he considered Him worthy of total trust reveals that He is totally pure and trustworthy, even in the darkest situations. It’s helpful at this point to be reminded that the situation Jesus faced was the darkest one anyone has ever or will ever experience. Jesus, in revealing God’s nature by His actions, shows us that God is good and trustworthy, even in the face of an apparently (or actually, in Jesus’ case) unjust death.

Third, by enlightening us with the truth of God, Jesus answers the question of God’s involvement in and culpability for the death of human beings. As we just saw, Jesus, by His actions affirmed God’s sovereignty over His own sufferings and death. Again, in the Gethsemane passage, Jesus both acknowledged God’s sovereignty over His coming suffering, and entrusted Himself to His good care on the eve of His death. By His prayer, “My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from Me; yet not as I will, but as You will.” (Matt 26:29), Jesus affirms the truth of God—He is sovereign over His suffering. Jesus affirms that His coming death is God’s will, and even affirms that God has the ability to stop it by asking Him to let the cup pass from Him if possible. Jesus reveals to us the knowledge that God is sovereign over death, and that He is good and trustworthy in the midst of it. Like Job, one of Jesus’ types, we must affirm, “…The LORD gave and the LORD has taken away. Blessed be the name of the LORD” (Job 1:21b), and give the same response he had to this truth—“Through all this Job did not sin nor did he blame God.” (Job 1:22)

The woman’s third question, “is my child in heaven or in hell?”, can be responded to by the doctrine of the prophetic office of Christ as well. To summarize our answer, Jesus reveals that God is just, and will do what is right. While we cannot give a concrete answer to what God does with those who die in infancy due to the bible’s silence on the issue, we can affirm with certainty that God is trustworthy, and can be counted on to do whatever is absolutely right. We can rest in Him, despite our gnawing questions, knowing that when we are in eternity, with the full knowledge of how He chose to deal with those who died in infancy, we will be in total, confident, worshipful agreement with Him; knowing that He acted justly.

First, in speaking God’s words, whether during the time of His earthly ministry, or by the inspiration of other men, Jesus reveals that God is just. Deuteronomy 32:4 declares of God, “The Rock! His work is perfect, For all His ways are just; A God of faithfulness and without injustice, Righteous and upright is He.” God is right in all He does and will do. Further, Abraham appeals to God with these apt words, “…Shall not the Judge of all the earth deal justly?” (Gen 18:25b), and God responds favorably to that appeal to His righteousness.¹⁸ Jesus revealed through His inspiration of the biblical writers that everything God does, He does in righteousness. That being the case, we can trust Him completely to do what is right, no matter what He determines is the right thing to do.

Second, Jesus reveals God through His very nature, and helps shed light on the question of the eternal state of those who die in infancy. The prophet Malachi called Jesus “the sun of righteousness” in Malachi 4:2. Such a title is given because righteousness is intrinsic to Jesus’ nature, and as such—to God’s. God can be trusted to do what is right in all situations.

Third, the doctrine of the prophetic role of Jesus can speak to this question in its enlightening aspect. The cross of Jesus Christ demonstrated the perfect justice and righteousness of God (Rom 3:21-26). The sins of every sinner that God ever has or ever will save were perfectly atoned for at Calvary. If God were truly just, we would expect that every sin would need to be answered for. It is the testimony of the Scriptures that every sin will be answered for—either Jesus stood in your place, receiving every bit of wrath your sin deserves, or you will personally pay for them in hell. This is the case because God is just, and the person and work of Jesus enlightens us in this truth. Since God is just, and all He does is done in perfect righteousness, we can trust Him to make the right call regarding those who die in infancy, whatever that call might be—so instead of agonizing over this unanswerable question, we need to trust God, resting in His righteousness.

The fourth and final question our mourning mother poses is, “Why did God let this happen?” In short, our answer is that although we perhaps cannot understand every aspect of how it is so, God allowed this to happen for your good and His glory.

First, through the verbal aspect of Jesus’ prophetic office, we see this question answered. When asked why a man was born blind, Jesus responded, “It was neither that this man sinned, nor his parents; but it was so that the works of God might be displayed in him.” (John 9:3) Our good and benevolent God does everything He does for His own glory, and the good of His people (Rom 8:28). This man was born blind so that God might use his suffering in a way that brings honor to Himself. We must trust that, just as Jesus said, God has our very best interests, and His own glory in mind in the midst of our suffering. Far from being mutually exclusive, these two things are actually synonymous—the very best thing for us is to glorify God!

Second, Jesus reveals God’s nature and sheds light on the question of why things like the deaths of believers’ little girls happen today. Shortly before His crucifixion, Jesus was able to affirm that His Father had designed His sufferings for His own glory. When faced with the dread of His coming sacrifice, Jesus refused to ask God to save Him from that hour, but instead asked God to glorify His name through the His sufferings. (John 12:27-28) God has designed even your suffering after the loss of your daughter to glorify His name. Just like Jesus in His distress, you can glorify God in the midst of this unspeakable tragedy. While we cannot glorify the righteousness of God as a substitutionary sacrifice for the sins of others, we can glorify God in our suffering by responding correctly to it. Jesus glorified God in His suffering by confessing His goodness and trusting Him without reservation. This is an opportunity for you to do the same. Whatever reasons God may have in mind for this tragedy, because of what Jesus revealed of the nature of God, we can be certain of this—you have the privilege of making God look glorious in the midst of your pain by responding correctly to this tragedy—the same way Job did when God took his children—with worship (Job 1:19-20). Jesus, knowing God fully and responding as He did when God called Him to die, revealed that God is deserving of such a response.

Finally, Jesus answers the question of why God allows the death of the children of believing parents through the illuminating aspect of His prophetic office. The revelation that Jesus made of God in the gospel is the greatest indicator of God’s ability to bring benevolent, God glorifying results from suffering. The suffering Jesus went through in His penal substitutionary atonement was the greatest amount of suffering anyone has ever endured, yet it produced the greatest blessing of any action ever performed. As a result of this greatest instance of suffering, God was glorified as sin was decisively denounced, and the vessels of mercy were redeemed for all eternity. God intended, and brought about the greatest blessing ever bestowed from the greatest suffering ever endured. If God was able to produce the most marvelous good imaginable from the most appalling suffering possible, God is able to do the same in this instance as well. Jesus enlightens us with the truth that God designs our suffering for our good and His glory. The person and work of Jesus also reveals that not only does God have the power to carry out His benevolent intentions for the suffering of His people, but as certainly as Christ is risen, He will.

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bibliography

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