On Christ’s Prophetic Office

The word prophet brings many different ideas to our minds. The most common of these is the idea of a prophet foretelling the future. In fact, the idea of “Biblical Prophecy” almost exclusively brings this idea to mind. This is a rather limited view of prophecy. In the Old Testament, the prophets were not simply fortune tellers, but they were people whom God chose to use as his messengers.

The foremost job of a prophet was to relay God’s message to the world. The Lord explains this by analogy in Exo 7:1-2. It is more explicitly stated in Exo 4:10-17, and Deu 18:1. Prophecy was therefore any communication from God, transmitted through man, not just the telling of the future. One other distinguishing mark of the prophets was that miracles were performed through them. Through Moses, the Lord parted the Red Sea (Exodus 14). Through Elijah, the Lord raised the son of the widow of Zarephath. (1 Kings 17). Through Elisha, 100 people were fed by 20 loaves of bread. (2Ki 4:42-44)

These two main features of Prophets point to Christ. Christ was able to do both of these things, not only through the Power of God, but as only God himself can do. Any time Jesus taught, told parables, or performed miracles, he was fulfilling his duty as a Prophet. The Old Testament Prophets were only able to Prophecy through Divine Inspiration. (2Pe 1:21). Christ was able to preach and teach by his own power and authority (Mat 23:8-10, Luk 24:19, Luk 4:32).

Likewise, the Old Testament prophets were only able to perform miracles by the power of God. Christ could do this by his own power. It is also worth mentioning that the miracles of Jesus frequently outdo the miracles of the prophets. Moses may have parted the Red Sea, Jesus was able to walk on top of the water (Mat 14:25). Elisha fed 100 men with 20 loaves of bread, Jesus fed more than 5000 with only five loaves and two fish (Mat 14:13-21). Elijah may have raised the son of a widow, Christ eventually raised himself from death. All of these things point to the fact that Jesus was not only a prophet, but that he was The Prophet.

The most important aspect of Christ’s Prophetic office is the message that he taught. He of course taught about many different things, from humility to the true nature of Love, but his primary message was that of his work to reconcile man to God. Just as it is with the Christian Church today, Christ’s main message was the Gospel. He taught that he was the Way, The Truth, and the Life (Joh 14:6). He taught that he was the Vine, from whom our faith and its fruits are based (Joh 15:1-5). Jesus proclaimed himself as the Bread of Life (Joh 6:35-40). As a prophet, Jesus spoke about himself and his work to save us and reconcile us to God.

There is no more fitting message for the Son of God to proclaim. He did this actively while on Earth and continues to work this message through the Church today. Praise be to God for sending his Son to be the ultimate prophet and to spread the eternal Gospel of his perfect life and death on the Cross of Calvary.

SOLI DEO GLORIA