Messiah Priest

Intro

So quick Note if you are following this series…

When I write a series I make a bunch of documents in the beginning with the title of each sermon that way I can see them and I know which one to grab and start working on…

Last week I opened the wrong docunent and wrote last weeks sermon under this week’s title…Even when I exported it and made it into notes I didn’t even notice until I went to write this week…So if you are keeping track…Last week should have been messiah priest and this week is Messiah Prophet…

It doesn’t change last weeks sermon or this weeks but you are going to see the same title two weeks in a row and that was just a simple error on my part…

So where have we been?

This year for christmas we have been walking though all of the ingredients that make up the messiah…

If you were to read the old testament you would see all of these people who were messiah type figures

People who saved their people and elements of all of these people go to make up who Jesus was…

To put it plainly, God wanted people to recognize his son when he sent him, so he sent his son, who would be in the line of Israel’s greatest king, David…

He sent his son in the tradition of Joseph, to be rejected by the people whom he would save

He sent his son like the greatest priest/prophet out there, Moses…And Moses even said…You can expect another one like me

So we begin to form this picture that the messiah is going to be king, but he will also be savor and he will be like an even better priest

Last week we looked at how moses stood between God’s wrath and his people…He interceeded on behalf of his people directly to God

Jesus was entering into that tradition of high priest

The idea is that we need all of these pictures to understand the messiah!

He is king

He is Savior

He is the high priest and

He is a prophet

Jesus is all these things in one

A Commentary, Critical, Experimental, and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments, Vol. I: Genesis–Deuteronomy Chapter 20

The scriptural meaning of the word is, an interpreter of the Divine will

Jesus was popularly regarded as a prophet, with this assessment based on both his mighty deeds and prophetic speeches and predictions[1]. There are numerous reasons for viewing Jesus as a prophet in the Old Testament tradition, including:

- His sovereign teaching authority

- The poetic character of his sayings

- His experience of visions

- Making numerous predictions

- Performing symbolic acts

- Rejecting formal religious rituals in favor of spiritual obedience

- Announcing the imminent arrival of God’s kingdom

- Preaching repentance

- Having a special divine calling

- Receiving divine revelation

- Representing God

- Being conscious of a mission to all Israel

- Participating in the fulfillment of God’s Word[1]

However, Jesus was unique among prophets - he was the Christ who fulfilled a line of Spirit-inspired prophets, the long-awaited prophet like Moses, but also greater than Moses and the prophets. He is simultaneously a prophet and the Son of God, Savior, Messiah, and Lord[2]. Ultimately, Jesus transcends prophetism, as he is the truth to which prophets bore witness, the Son of God incarnate, and the chief and final prophet through whom God has definitively spoken[3].

[1] Walter A. Elwell and Barry J. Beitzel, “Prophecy,” in Baker Encyclopedia of the Bible (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Book House, 1988), 1776–1777. [2] Collin Blake Bullard, Jesus and the Thoughts of Many Hearts: Implicit Christology and Jesus’ Knowledge in the Gospel of Luke, ed. Chris Keith, vol. 530, Library of New Testament Studies (London; New Delhi; New York; Sydney: Bloomsbury T&T Clark; Bloomsbury, 2015), 108. [3] Robert Letham, The Work of Christ, ed. Gerald Bray, Contours of Christian Theology (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1993), 94.

A prophet is fundamentally an authorized spokesperson for God with a message that originated with God, which they are compelled to deliver to those to whom God directed it[1]. In the strict sense, a prophet is one to whom secret things are revealed, whether past, present, or future, to be declared to others[2]. Prophets typically receive divine revelations through dreams and visions, though some (like Moses) experienced more direct communication with God “face to face”[1].

These were extraordinary individuals who had special communion with God, revealed future scenes, served as ministers of the promised Christ, and upheld religion and piety even in the most challenging times[2]. Their divine commission was demonstrated by the excellence of their doctrine, their undaunted courage, integrity of conduct, and the fulfillment of their predictions[2].

Interestingly, there were established schools of prophets where young men were educated under inspired masters in religious knowledge and sacred music, preparing them to be public preachers. God typically chose prophets from these schools, though occasional exceptions like Amos (a herdsman) occurred[2]. These prophets were not only messengers but also types and harbingers of a greater Prophet, often facing persecution, mockery, and even death while courageously speaking truth to power[2].

[1] Walter C. Kaiser Jr., “Prophet, Prophetess, Prophecy,” in Evangelical Dictionary of Biblical Theology, electronic ed., Baker Reference Library (Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1996), 641–642. [2] Richard Watson, “Prophets,” in A Biblical and Theological Dictionary (New York: Lane & Scott, 1851), 785–786.