on the Baptism of our Lord

Our Lord Jesus Christ began his public ministry when he was 30 years old, by receiving Baptism from John the Baptist.  Each of the four Gospel writers take note of this event and at least mention in in their respective books.  However for most people it is somewhat of a mystery as to why Jesus asked John to Baptize him. 

There are primarily two schools of though on Baptism.  There are those who believe the Biblical view, that baptism is for the forgiveness of sin.  There are also those who believe it is nothing but symbolic of the change in their life.  The goal of this essay is not to defend the Biblical teaching of Baptism, however it is enough to note that neither of these views explain why Jesus was Baptized.  He had no sin that would be washed away.  There was no change in his life that would be symbolized.  Jesus was sinless for his entire life, and most definitely a believe in God for his entire life. 

In Matthew 3:15, Jesus gives a very brief statement regarding the purpose of his Baptism.  John had just protested saying that he was the one who needed to be baptized by Jesus.  Jesus simply tells him to “Permit it now; for thus it is proper for us to fulfill all righteousness.”  Again, this is not a very clear statement.  Jesus simply states that it is proper to do so. that it will fulfill all righteousness.  Jesus himself was already righteousness, John was the administrator of the baptism and certainly did not receive righteousness by doing so.  Something however did happen here.

 This is the first time that Jesus made a strong association between himself and sinners.  By submitting to a Baptism that he did not need, he was in effect publicly making himself to be viewed as one of us, as one who is under the law.  Even now, whenever someone is baptized, they are joined in the Body of Christ with all others who have received this blessed sacrament.  By receiving John’s Baptism, Jesus connected himself to all the sinners who had received John’s Baptism.  In this act, he expressed his willingness to take the sins of the world upon himself.  He is assuming his redemptive office, as our perfect high Priest.

The other two persons of the Trinity immediatly express their approval of Jesus taking on the office.  The Spirite decends upon him as a dove and the Father Speaks to all present that he is pleased.  John understands this and refers to Jesus as “The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.” 

This is the beginning of Jesus public ministry, and what a fitting beginning it is.  The very Son of God humbles himself and shows us his willingness to take our sins upon himself. 

 SOLI DEO GLORIA

Christ’s Regal Office

Christ’s third and final office is that of a King.  I have kind of struggled with where I wanted to go with this Third and Final office.  There are many different applications and even interpretations of Christ’s regal office.  There are also many errors and misinterpretations that have been made regarding his office. 

I recently read through Second Samuel, and was struck by chapter 5 when David becomes King over Israel.  What did God tell him about his new role as King?  He said that “You will Shepherd my people Israel.”  Israel’s greatest Earthly king was a simple shepherd.  After he became King, he remained a shepherd. 

The most comforting aspect of Christ’s regal office is that of the Good Shepherd.  I had written much about this, but though of a hymn, based on psalm 23, that says it all better than I ever could, so I will simply leave you with that as the conclusion of this look at Christ’s Threefold office.

The King of Love My Shepherd Is
Henry W. Baker

The King of love my Shepherd is,
Whose goodness faileth never,
I nothing lack if I am His
And He is mine forever.

Where streams of living water flow
My ransomed soul He leadeth,
And where the verdant pastures grow,
With food celestial feedeth.

Perverse and foolish oft I strayed,
But yet in love He sought me,
And on His shoulder gently laid,
And home, rejoicing, brought me.

In death’s dark vale I fear no ill
With Thee, dear Lord, beside me;
Thy rod and staff my comfort still,
Thy cross before to guide me.

Thou spread’st a table in my sight;
Thy unction grace bestoweth;
And O what transport of delight
From Thy pure chalice floweth!

And so through all the length of days
Thy goodness faileth never;
Good Shepherd, may I sing Thy praise
Within Thy house forever.

SOLI DEO GLORIA

On Christ’s Sacerdotal Office

Traditionally, the second office of Christ is that of a priest.  In reality, this is his primary office, the one that embodied his primary, that is Saving, work.  Again we will first examine Old Testament Office of Priest in order to better understand Christ’s how Christ fulfilled the office of Priest.

Under the Old testament Law, the Priests has many duties.  The primary duty they had though was to represent the People before God.  Their office was in fact the direct compliment of the prophets who represented God before the people.  The Priests did this in a number of ways.  They were the ones who distinguished between the Clean and Unclean (Lev 10:10).  They were also able to act as judges in legal proceedings (Deut 17:9).  The priests were also responsible for the maintaning temple conditions acceptable to God.  However, the priests most important way of representing the people before God was through the Sacrifices God Commanded.  The priests were responsible for making all sacrifices according to the specifications of the Mosaic Law.  Before the Mosaic law, the patriarchs offered their own sacrifices.  However after instituting his own law, God set aside certain people to do the sacrificing for all the people.  These sacrifices of course did not actually forgive sins, but they pointed to and reminded people of the coming saviour who would sacrifice himself and actually forgive sins.

 Christ is our one and only High Priest.  He too will distinguish between clean and unclean, and be a judge for us when he returns to seperate the sheep from the goats (Matt 25:32).  Jesus too worked to keep Temple conditions acceptable to God when he cleansed it from the moneychangers (John 2:12-17).  As with the Old Testament Priests, Christ’s primary work was sacrifice.  However, instead of simply sacrificing animals he became both the priest, and the sacrifice himself. 

The first part of being a priest and being a sacrifice was to be without blemish (Lev 21:17-23, 22:19-25).  In the Old Testament these were strictly physical characteristics.  For Jesus to become the Great High Priest and for his sacrifice to forgive sins, he had to be perfect in every way.  Christ was able to live a perfect life for us and offer himself as a perfect sacrifice for sin (1 Pet 1:19).  He is the Atoning Sacrifice for our sins (1 John 2:2). 

Christ also continues to represent us to God as a mediator and intercessor. (1 John 2:1).  Through him we have access to God.  Through him we are able to come to God in Prayer as his own sons (Gal 3:26-29).  Christ is our perfect mediator (Rom 8:26).

Through Christ’s Priestly work, we have been Reconciled to God.

 SOLI DEO GLORIA

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

On Christ’s Threefold Office

Christ’s work on earth is commonly said to be divided into three seperate offices. These are the offices of Prophet, Priest, and King. These three also happen to be the three offices of the old testament for which people were anointed. Those anointed were those people whom were set apart by God to perform certain tasks for God’s chosen people. The prophets were set aside to communicate God’s will to the people. The Priests were set aside to be a mediator for men towards God. The Kings were set aside to Rule over the chosen people as God’s representative. The title “Christ” simply means “Anointed”. The Old Testament offices of Prophet, Priest, and King were instituted to point towards Christ and His work. Christ is the culminations of these offices, and as such, the reason none of these offices are still needed to be fulfilled by mere humans.The next three mediations will be on each of these offices of Christ.