The Word Made Flesh: Christ Our Prophet

Call to Worship

Psalm 107:1–3 ESV

1 Oh give thanks to the Lord, for he is good, for his steadfast love endures forever! 2 Let the redeemed of the Lord say so, whom he has redeemed from trouble 3 and gathered in from the lands, from the east and from the west, from the north and from the south.

Prayer of Adoration

Holy God, We praise You because You are not silent. You are a speaking God, a revealing God, a God who makes Himself known. You created by Your Word, you uphold all things by Your Word, and you govern history by Your sovereign voice.

We praise You that You did not leave us to wander in darkness or to guess what You are like. You have spoken truth, light, and life.

Lord Jesus Christ, we adore You as the Word made flesh. You are not merely a messenger of truth; You are truth itself. You are not simply a teacher of wisdom; You are the wisdom of God. You are not only a prophet who speaks — You are the living voice of heaven.

We worship You that grace and truth have come through You. We worship You that You have made the Father known. We worship You that Your Word does not fail, does not fade, and does not return empty.

By Your Spirit, turn our hearts upward in wonder, humility, and awe. Let us tremble at Your Word and rejoice in Your voice.

We give You all glory, honor, and praise, now and forever. Amen.

Pastoral Prayer

Sermon

Scripture Reading

John 1:1–18 ESV

1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was in the beginning with God. 3 All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made. 4 In him was life, and the life was the light of men. 5 The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it. 6 There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. 7 He came as a witness, to bear witness about the light, that all might believe through him. 8 He was not the light, but came to bear witness about the light. 9 The true light, which gives light to everyone, was coming into the world. 10 He was in the world, and the world was made through him, yet the world did not know him. 11 He came to his own, and his own people did not receive him. 12 But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, 13 who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God. 14 And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth. 15 (John bore witness about him, and cried out, “This was he of whom I said, ‘He who comes after me ranks before me, because he was before me.’ ”) 16 For from his fullness we have all received, grace upon grace. 17 For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. 18 No one has ever seen God; the only God, who is at the Father’s side, [but Christ] has made him known.

Intro

Cold Open

A strange thing started occuring this year in mid-September. People started selling their homes, their cars, their belongings, and then giving all their life savings away. One American woman gave her life savings to a stranger on the street and said it was all because "God told her to do it."

What happened to cause this?

Well, Joshua Mhlakela, a false prophet from South Africa, predicted that the return of Jesus would come in September and that people should get ready. And people around the world took him seriously.

And before you mock the people for believing it, or shake your head at them, or get angry with Joshua for his lies, you should know that he's not even the latest of a long line, thousands of years long, of people falsely speaking on behalf of God.

It's a line that has been heavily bogged down in recent history by Americans and the ones we influence.

Because we love a prophet.

We love a charismatic speaker who can promise us the world, or escape from the world, in ways that we want to believe. And so we believe them.

They don’t even have to be Christians. We love to follow the person who promises us the world we want to exist.

So we follow the prophetic figure that we like best. And that’s what thousands of people did around the world.

And what do you think happened the day after the promised rapture?

The name of Christ was blasphemed around the world because of these so-called Christians.

There is more at stake than we tend to think when we start following these people.

And this actually raises a very important question: what actually makes someone a prophet?

Is it popularity,

accuracy,

insight,

sincerity,

or confidence with a microphone or a social media account?

Absolutely not.

A prophet is much more than that.

A prophet is not simply someone with ideas, influence, or an understanding of culture.

A prophet is someone who speaks the will of God.

That is the standard we are given throughout the Bible, and it is one that most of what we call “prophecy” today does not meet.

Much of today’s prophecy is therapeutic, philosophical, commercial, political, or emotional.

But it is not from God.

But the existence of counterfeit prophecy should cause us to long for the true prophet all the more. Because prophecy, real prophecy, is the creator of the universe, speaking to and through his creation because of his great love. Real prophecy is God refusing to sit on the sidelines while the history of the world marches on.

Advent, more than any other season, reminds us that God interrupts this noise of our world with His own voice.

So, the voice of a prophet does not speculate or entertain; it declares God’s will and calls people to obedience.

But to understand this, we must consider the context of Israel’s spiritual life.

The nation of Israel had three offices: prophet, priest, and king.

The prophet spoke God’s Word.

The priest stood as the mediator between God and the people, making sacrifices to purify people from their sin.

And the king ruled under God’s authority.

These offices were not cultural inventions, they were ordained by God for his people and they were never supposed to overlap.

But something changed. Hebrews 1:1-4 tells us what changed.

Hebrews 1:1–4 ESV

1 Long ago, at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets, 2 but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed the heir of all things, through whom also he created the world. 3 He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature, and he upholds the universe by the word of his power. After making purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high, 4 having become as much superior to angels as the name he has inherited is more excellent than theirs.

In the past, God spoke through the prophets. Now He speaks through His Son. The early church recognized this immediately, and the Reformers emphasized it clearly. Christ fulfills all three offices— He speaks as the Prophet, He purifies as the Priest, and He rules as the King.

Advent reminds us that God did not send another prophet, priest, or king. He came Himself. He came to speak, to save, and to reign.

So our Advent series is going to focus on these threefold offices of Christ as prophet, priest, and king.

Today, we begin at the place where His ministry begins: with His voice. Before He performed miracles, before He ascended a throne, He opened His mouth to declare God’s will.

And long before Bethlehem, God had promised this to Israel through Moses in Dt 18:15: “The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me… Him you shall listen to.” (Deut. 18:15)

I.Understanding the Prophet

Now, we need to understand that in the Bible, a prophet is not primarily a fortune-teller.

He is not a spiritual meteorologist predicting storms in your future. He is not a religious hype-man offering visions and vibes. He is not a mystical figure giving private insights for personal gain.

A prophet is, at his core, is not a fore-teller, but a forth-teller.

His job is not to guess what might happen—it is to declare what God has already said and what God requires.

Yes, sometimes prophets speak about the future. That’s real. That happens. But that’s not the centerpiece of their ministry. The heartbeat of the prophetic office is:

To declare the unchanging will of the living God and call His people back to obedience.

That’s why when you read the prophets—separated by centuries, cultures, and crises—they sound like they’re singing the same song.

Because God does not change.

Now, Moses told Israel in Deuteronomy 18:

“The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me… to Him you shall listen.”

That should set off messianic alarm bells in our minds.

But then, the last chapter of Deuteronomy drops a quiet bomb. Deuteronomy 34:10 says:

“And there has not arisen a prophet since in Israel like Moses, whom the Lord knew face to face.”

Elijah wasn’t the one. Isaiah wasn’t the one. Jeremiah wasn’t the one. Malachi closed the Old Testament and Israel was still waiting.

But then, in Matthew 17 on a mountain centuries later, something changes.

As usual, Peter is talking too much. Moses and Elijah are literally standing with Jesus. And God the Father cuts through the noise and says:

“This is my beloved Son… Listen to Him.”

That is the authentication of God the Father Himself.

Brothers and sisters, Jesus is not simply one more prophet in a long line of spiritual voices.

He is the True Prophet.

He does not guess or test theories.

He speaks with authority because He speaks as God.

He doesn’t put on a show to manipulate and sell spiritual experiences.

He declares the will of God and calls people to repentance and faith.

And that’s exactly why He clashes with our age.

Because we live in a world overflowing with what could only be called spoiled prophets.

Not just religious ones who shout “Thus says the Lord” while building empires for themselves.

But secular ones, too. Voices who promise clarity without obedience. Redemption without repentance. Transformation without surrender.

They offer paths to fulfillment, healing, and meaning.

And people line up screaming “take my money!”

Because we are starving for someone to tell us what is true.

But none of them speak life. None of them speak with divine authority. None of them speak as the Word made flesh.

But Christ does.

And that’s why this matters so much.

He is not merely a good teacher we admire or quote. He is not a moral example to follow whenever we see fit.

His words are the lifeblood of our salvation.

And if we don’t listen to Him, we will have nothing but noise.

II. Christ’s Prophetic Authority

A natural question follows from what we’ve said so far: how can we know that Jesus speaks with this kind of authority?

Many people speak confidently. Some speak persuasively. But confidence and clarity alone do not make someone a prophet.

True authority has to come from God, and the authority of Jesus is not just claimed, it is demonstrated.

First, consider the way Jesus speaks.

Moses went up the mountain to receive the Law and then delivered it to the people. Jesus goes up the mountain and declares the Law. That difference matters. Moses said, “Here is what God told me.” Jesus says, “You have heard it said… but I say to you.”

Jesus is not commenting on God’s Word. He is speaking as the very source of that Word. He speaks with an authority that does not appeal to anyone higher than Himself.

And He does not only teach the Word of God. He embodies it.

Grace and truth are not merely ideas to Jesus; they are lived realities. He does not only talk about mercy, He touches lepers and restores them. He does not merely define love, He weeps over Jerusalem and rejoices when sinners repent. He does not only describe obedience, He lives it perfectly. This is why the Gospels repeatedly tell us that people were amazed at the authority with which He taught.

Second, His miracles confirm His authority.

These miracles are not entertainment or illustrations. They are signs. They are visible demonstrations that God’s power is at work in Him.

John 6:14–15 tells us that after the feeding of the multitude, the crowds said, “This is indeed the Prophet who is to come into the world.” They were not foolish or naïve. They recognized that something supernatural was happening.

But they misunderstood what the signs meant. They understood the power of the miracle but missed the purpose. They saw the bread, ate their fill, and wanted more. But they failed to see the Bread of Life standing before them.

This leads directly to Jesus’ “I Am” statements.

When Jesus says, “I am the bread of life,” He is not speaking in metaphor alone. He is making a claim no prophet before Him could make. He is claiming divine identity. He is revealing His role as Messiah. He is making it clear that salvation does not come through systems, rituals, or philosophies, but through Himself.

Jesus makes something painfully clear in John 6.

He says, “All that the Father gives Me will come to Me.” That is not a suggestion. It is a promise. Those whom God gives do not eventually wander their way to Christ. They come because they are given.

But then He says something just as strong: “No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him.”

That means salvation does not begin in human desire. It does not begin in human effort. It does not begin in a human decision. Dead hearts do not choose life. Blind eyes do not open themselves.

And then Jesus tells us why. “It is the Spirit who gives life.”

Faith is not self-created. It is not conjured up by effort or intelligence. It is given by the Spirit of God when He makes a dead heart alive.

That is what Christ’s prophetic Word does. It does not just tell us what God wants. It tells us what we are—and why we need Him more than we ever realized.

So what is the proper response to the True Prophet?

Not admiration. Not curiosity. Not simply being impressed.

The proper response is faith, repentance, and obedience. When Christ speaks, neutrality is not an option.

III. Hearing the True Prophet: Three Assurances

This is not only theology to understand or doctrines to admire.

These truths are proclaimed in order to be obeyed and they are designed to give real stability to real believers.

When we hear the voice of the True Prophet, we receive assurance.

And Scripture gives us at least three ways Christ’s word steadies the believer.

Assurance of Salvation

First, we have assurance of salvation.

Acts 3 reminds us that Jesus is the Prophet that Moses promised would come. John 6 shows us how salvation actually takes place.

Jesus says, “All that the Father gives Me will come to Me, and whoever comes to Me I will never cast out.” The foundation of salvation is not our grip on God, but God’s hold on us.

Your salvation is not held together by your consistency, your discipline, or the strength of your spiritual habits.

It rests on Christ’s finished work. He stands before the Father not pointing to your failures but declaring what He has accomplished on your behalf.

This is part of Christ’s ongoing prophetic ministry. He speaks the truth of your reconciliation before the Father. That means your salvation is not fragile. It is not borrowed. It is not temporary. It is secure because it is upheld by Christ Himself.

Assurance of Sanctification

Second, we have assurance of sanctification.

Christ does not save His people and then leave them unchanged. He continues to speak in order to shape His people.

The primary place where this happens is not through private experiences or isolated spirituality, but in the life of the local church. God has designed the church to be the setting where His Word is preached, taught, explained, and applied.

This is why expository preaching matters. When the Bible is opened and its meaning is made clear, the church is not simply receiving the thoughts of a pastor. The church is hearing the prophetic testimony of Jesus Himself.

Paul writes in Colossians 3, “Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly.” That kind of dwelling is not superficial. It reaches deeply into the heart. The Spirit of God uses the Word of God to produce real change in the people of God.

This is how holiness grows: through sustained exposure to truth, over time, by the work of the Spirit.

Assurance of Stability

Third, we have assurance of stability in a confusing world.

At the end of the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus gives a simple picture: two houses built on different foundations, facing the same storm. One stands. One collapses. The difference is not intelligence, sincerity, or good intentions. The difference is the foundation.

Jesus says that the one who hears His words and acts on them is like a wise man who built his house on the rock.

We live in a world full of loud voices and unstable foundations. There are many messages about truth, identity, morality, and meaning. Many of them promise life and freedom, but they are not grounded in the Word of God.

The Word of Christ does not shift with culture. It tells us who we are, how God designed us to live, and what real flourishing looks like. It gives clarity about marriage, sexuality, family, discipleship, and holiness.

It functions like a lighthouse in a storm. It does not remove the storm. It does not calm the winds. But it gives a fixed point of reference. Those who build on Christ’s Word do not drift because they are anchored to something that does not move.

So if Christ is the True Prophet, and His Word gives assurance of salvation, and His Word continues His work of sanctification, and His Word provides stability in a restless world…

then the only honest question left for us is this: what will we do with His voice?

Responding to the True Prophet

You cannot hear the voice of the True Prophet and remain neutral. Scripture gives no category for passive listeners. When Christ speaks, a response is expected.

That response is simple in concept, but demanding in practice.

First, we are called to listen attentively.

That may sound obvious, but most of us live surrounded by noise. We fill our lives with commentary, entertainment, and constant distraction. Even spiritual content can become a way of avoiding the direct voice of Scripture.

To listen to Christ means allowing His Word to interrupt our assumptions. It means giving His voice a level of authority that silences competing voices. It means opening the Scriptures even when they expose our pride or confront our habits.

Christ does not speak to be admired. He speaks to be obeyed.

Second, we are called to trust completely.

Trusting Christ is not a partial act. It is not cautious agreement or intellectual approval. It is placing full weight on His Word. It is building your life on His promises as something that cannot move.

Every other voice eventually fails under pressure. Every other system shifts with culture. But when you place your trust on Christ’s Word, you are standing on something stable. His Word does not revise itself. It does not apologize. It does not diminish its claims.

It stands.

Third, we are called to live faithfully.

Hearing without obedience is a form of self-deception. Scripture makes that clear. If the Word is heard and nothing changes, it was not really heard; it was analyzed, evaluated, or stored.

Obedience is not perfection, but it is direction. It is a consistent turning of the life toward Christ’s will rather than our own instincts.

This kind of life is not lived in isolation.

God has not designed Christianity as a private project. The local church is the setting where this response becomes concrete and visible. This is where the Spirit uses the written Word to shape living hearts.

This is where Scripture, the Word of God is read, explained, applied, and pressed into life. This is where the prophetic ministry of Christ continues through faithful preaching. When the Word is preached rightly, the church is not hearing the thoughts of a man. The church is hearing the voice of the True Prophet, Jesus Christ

Conclusion

Christ is not just someone we remember with fondness, or a legacy to carry on. He is alive, enthroned, and active.

He distributes the blessings of His saving work. He gathers His people. He overcomes His enemies. He governs history. He is carrying everything toward the day of His return.

The Advent season is not a season for weak sentimentality or nostalgia.

It is a season to prepare, to pay attention, to listen to the words the Prophet has spoken and to repent, turn back, and believe Him.

God has given one true light in His Son. The Magi followed that light God provided and found the Jesus Christ. And as we’re about to sing, they brought gifts fitting for the God-man who is our prophet, priest, and king. Gold for a king, frankincense for the prophet to offer up as a pleasing aroma to God, and myrhh for when the prophet would inevitably be killed for speaking the Word of God and laid in a tomb.

I want to leave you with a quote from the 19th century Dutch theologian, Herman Bavinck.

He said:

The law and the prophets have been fulfilled and in Christ as their end and goal reached their destiny.

The law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ (John 1:14).

He is the truth (John 14:6), the substance (Col. 2:17) in whom all the promises and shadows have been realized. In him all things have been fulfilled.

He is the true prophet, priest, and king; the true servant of the Lord… the true sacrifice (Eph. 5:2), the true circumcision (Col. 2:11), the true Passover (1 Cor. 5:7), and therefore his church is the true seed of Abraham, the true Israel, the true people of God (Matt. 1:21; Luke 1:17; Rom. 9:25–26; 2 Cor. 6:16–18; Gal. 3:29; Titus 2:14; Heb. 8:8–10; 1 Pet. 2:9; Rev. 21:3), the true temple of God (1 Cor. 3:16; 2 Cor. 6:16; Eph. 2:21; 2 Thess. 2:4; Heb. 8:2, 5), the true Zion and Jerusalem (Gal. 4:26; Heb. 12:22), its spiritual offering, the true religion (John 4:24; Rom. 12:1; Phil. 3:3; 4:18; etc.).

Nothing of the Old Testament is lost in the New, but everything is fulfilled, matured, has reached its full growth, and now, out of the temporary husk, produces the eternal core.

It is not the case that in Israel there was a true temple and sacrifice and priesthood and so on and that all these have now vanished. The opposite, rather, is true: of all this Israel only possessed a shadow, but now the substance itself has emerged.

Friends,

Christ, the Word of God in the flesh, has come. The True Prophet still speaks.

Let us listen. Let us obey. Let us rejoice.

Let’s Pray

Confession and Repentance

Holy God, You have spoken through Your Son, and we confess that we have often listened to other voices instead of Yours. We have softened Your truth, delayed our obedience, and trusted ourselves more than You.

Forgive us.

Lord Jesus, True Prophet, we turn from every false hope and every false authority. Give us hearts that hear, believe, and obey. Strengthen our faith, deepen our repentance, and shape our lives by Your Word.

By Your Spirit, make us a people who tremble at Your truth and rejoice to follow You.

We trust You alone.

In Jesus’ name, Amen.

Scriptural Assurance

John 3:16–18 ESV

16 “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. 17 For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. 18 Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God.

Benediction

May the Word of Christ dwell in you richly. May your ears be quick to hear His truth and your hearts eager to obey His voice.

May the Father keep you, the Son speak grace over you, and the Holy Spirit give you grace to walk in His ways.

And as you go, may you rest not in shifting voices, but in the Living Word who became flesh and dwelt among us.

Go in peace, listening, trusting, and rejoicing in Christ. Amen.