This, the first sermon in the Advent season of
2025, we're going to look today at Jesus the
prophet, Old Testament prophecies of Jesus and
how they were fulfilled. Our texts are from Deuteronomy
chapter 18, verse 15 through 18, and then Malachi
chapter 3 and verse 1. Hear the word of the Lord
from the book of Deuteronomy in chapter 18 and
verse 15. The Lord your God will raise up for
you a prophet like me from your midst, from the
brethren, from your brethren. Him you shall hear
according to all you desired of the Lord your
God in Horeb in the day of the assembly, saying,
Let me not hear again the voice of the Lord my
God, nor let me see this great fire any more,
lest I die. And the Lord said to me, What they
have spoken is good. I will raise up for them
a prophet like you from among their brethren,
and will put my words in his mouth, and he shall
speak to them all that I command them. And then
over in the book of Malachi, in chapter 3, verse
1. We have here this prophecy first of John the
Baptist, who is a messenger, and then of Jesus,
who is the messenger of the covenant. Behold,
I send my messenger and he will prepare the way
before me. And the Lord whom you seek will suddenly
come to his temple. Even the messenger of the
covenant in whom you delight. Behold, he is coming,
says the Lord. Let's ask the Lord's blessing
on this time together. Father, we praise you
and we give you thanks. It is a blessing to gather
together, Lord, and to open up your word. And
I pray, Father, that as it is preached today,
you would give me the power of the Holy Spirit
that I might speak words that are approved by
you. And we pray that you would open our ears,
Lord, that we might hear and understand again
by the power of the Holy Spirit. We ask this
in Jesus' name. Amen. It is with great joy and
anticipation that we have come to the time of
Advent and Christmas. It's a time of remembering
the longing for the Messiah and of rejoicing
in the good news that Christ has come anew and
afresh and of looking forward to the second coming
of Christ. Now this is the beginning of the church
calendar that revolves around the life of Christ.
It rehearses salvation history and it shows the
sacredness of time. And this has been done for
most of church history. We're not making up things
as we go along, but we are partakers of the church
Catholic. That is, the church universal has set
this in order for many, many generations. And
if you want more information on this and how
the dates were set, let me know. I have some
good articles that explain this, and I can give
them to you. Glenn Sunshine explains it in this
way. He says, Advent is the beginning of the
church year. As we look at its structure, we
discover that it tells the story of salvation
history. Advent is the time prior to Christ,
when God's people were waiting for his coming.
And then we celebrate his birth, and with Epiphany,
his baptism, and the beginning of his ministry.
The focus on Christ's ministry continues through
the events of Holy Week and Easter. And we then
celebrate Ascension and Pentecost, the birth
of the church and the coming of the Holy Spirit.
And the rest of the year up until the final Sunday
before Advent reminds us of the history of Christ's
church. And this today calls for both longing
and rejoicing. of feasting, of songs or plays,
of Advent readings and Advent calendars, lots
of chocolate and fancy desserts, but also repentance
from sin and glad hearts filled with the Holy
Spirit, amazement that God would become flesh
and would dwell among us and that he would create
a new heaven and a new earth wherein righteousness
dwells, a place where wrongs are made right.
And where we experience peace and goodwill. And
yet we long for a greater expansion of that peace
and goodwill. Therein comes the longing in that
we do not yet see all in submission to Christ.
We see around us such conflict. such hatred and
animosity, the despising of kith and kin, even
some working for the destruction of their own
communities or cities and country. Sometimes
we, like Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, look around
us and say, there is no peace on earth, I said,
for hate is strong and mocks the song of peace
on earth, goodwill to men. Advent and Christmas
remind us that God is not dead, nor does he sleep.
The wrong shall fail, the right prevail. With
peace on earth, goodwill to men. And so in confidence,
and yes, with great rejoicing, we rejoice and
celebrate that. Jesus has come. The world is
being made new. For Christ was not only born,
but he has accomplished salvation through his
suffering, his burial, or his death and burial,
and then the resurrection and the ascension.
And he is now seated at the right hand of God
the Father. And there he will remain and he will
reign until his enemies submit to him. That is,
that they are put under his footstool. And at
that right hand, Christ is now making intercession
for you and me. For every believer, Christ at
the right hand of the Father is making intercession
for us. The good news of the gospel is going
out throughout all the world. And the promise
will be fulfilled that the kingdom of Christ
will cover the earth as the waters cover the
sea. and that the earth will be filled with worshipers
of him, the worshipers of the triune God. This
great work of redemption begins with an angel
appearing to a humble girl named Mary, who became
pregnant through the overshadowing of the Holy
Spirit. This was followed by his birth in a lowly
manger in Bethlehem. In this time of Advent,
all of this is why we both on one hand look for
a great manifestation of his kingdom and we long
for it. And at the same time, we greatly rejoice
and celebrate with singing, with feasting and
giving gifts to one another. For the Sundays
of Advent this year, I plan to look at Old Testament
prophecies of Jesus and then show their fulfillment
in him. Now, there are three offices of Christ.
That is of Jesus as prophet, Jesus as priest,
and Jesus as king. And I'll focus on these three
offices today and in the next two Sundays. And
in these prophecies, I want you all to be gripped,
not only with the fact of Christ's kingship,
not only with the fact of him being prophet and
being priest and being king, but I want you to
be gripped. with the glory of Christ, with his
beauty and with his majesty. I desire that out
of these sermons would come to you a greater
love, more and more of him with all that is in
you. So today, we want to consider the prophecies
of Jesus as a prophet and look at their fulfillment
and what that means for his body, the church.
So first of all, let me define my terms. Point
number one, what is a prophet? A prophet is a
spokesman for God who speaks on behalf of God
to the people. He reveals the words, the nature,
the character, and the desires of the Almighty
to his creation. A prophet was one who moved
by the Spirit of God and thus... his organ or
his spokesman, he solemnly declares to men what
he has received by inspiration, especially concerning
future events and in particular such as relate
to the cause and kingdom of God and to human
salvation. This person was chosen, empowered
by God. He was commissioned by God to deliver
the word, the word of God to individuals, to
kings and to nations. Prophets both foretold,
And they foretold. That is, they revealed God's
word in the form of commandments or instruction
or exhortations. In a way of proclamation. But
they also foretold. In foretelling, they proclaimed
God's will. And they called people to repentance,
to justice, and to covenant faithfulness. This
took place both in preaching. to a multitude
like Ezra, but it also took place individually,
going directly to a person to tell that person
what God thought or said about their deeds. For
example, think of Nathan the prophet coming to
David after David's sin of adultery with Bathsheba
and the murder of Uriah, and he speaks to him
directly, first telling him a story. And then
when David responds to that story, he drives
the point home and says, you're the man of this
story. And David is convicted of his sin and
he repents before the Lord. And we can read his
repentance in Psalm 51. That is forth telling.
But in foretelling, the prophet or the prophetess
would go to someone and tell them what would
happen in the future. So, for example, we think
of Daniel. He goes to Nebuchadnezzar and tells
him the interpretation of his dream and what
would happen to the king. We think of Elijah
who came to King Ahab and he told him there would
be no dew or rain for three years, 1 Kings 17.
Or Agabus in the New Testament who prophesied
about a great famine that would take place in
Acts 11 verse 28. And later he warned Paul that
on his return to Jerusalem, he would be bound
and be delivered into the hands of the Gentiles.
It's in Acts 21. For examples of prophets, there
are many in the scriptures. There's Abraham,
was called a prophet. Moses, Samuel, Nathan,
Elijah, Elisha, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and
many others. There were also female prophetesses
like Miriam, the sister of Moses. She's called
a prophetess in Exodus 15, verse 20 and 21. There's
Deborah in the book of Judges who revealed the
word of God to Barak. There's Huldah who spoke
of the future to aides of King Josiah. And there's
Anna who gave thanks and spoke of Christ at the
temple at the time of the circumcision of Christ.
Now, some of the prophets wrote books of the
Bible, which we see in the books from Daniel
through Malachi in the Old Testament, quite a
number of books. There's some that are called
major prophets, like Isaiah and Jeremiah and
Ezekiel, and then some called minor prophets,
and that does not have to do anything with their
importance, but it has to do with the length
of the book. Isaiah, Jeremiah, and Ezekiel are
quite lengthy, and the rest of them, like Micah
and Nahum and Amos and Zechariah and Zechariah,
and a whole number of others, their books are
much shorter. All prophets. But now the prophets
had to be 100 % accurate. They could not lead
the people to worship other gods, even if signs
occurred, Deuteronomy chapter 13. In fact, so...
Important was this, that if a prophet led to
other gods, to the worship of other gods, they
were to be put to death, God says in his law.
And which Elijah did that, if you recall the
story of over 400 prophets of Baal who gathered
together around the altar on Mount Carmel and
after... Elijah clearly won that battle there
and the Lord entered by fire to his prayer. He
had all of the prophets of Baal slaughtered.
They were to be put to death. This was very important.
Now also, God speaks that if there was a false
prophet who would presume to speak a word in
God's name, but prophesied falsely, in other
words, it didn't come to pass, they were to be
disregarded and God said that they would die.
And from that, we gather that he probably meant
an early death because we don't necessarily read
of a civil penalty in the Old Testament about
it. Now that is subject to some interpretation.
Now the prophets also studied and searched carefully.
We read of companies of the prophets in 1 Samuel
19 and the sons of the prophet who had a place
where they studied in 2 Kings 2 verse 3. There's
also Jericho in 2 Kings 2. These were the ones
who knew about Elijah's departure and acknowledged
Elijah as his successor. But 1 Peter also says
that these prophets as that they had the spirit
of Christ as they searched diligently. He says,
of which salvation the prophets have inquired
and searched diligently, who prophesied of the
grace that should come unto you, searching what
or what manner of time the spirit of Christ,
which was in them, did signify, when it testified
beforehand the sufferings of Christ. and the
glory that should follow. 1 Peter 1, verse 10
and 11. So just summing this up, a biblical prophet
is God's authorized spokesperson who confronts
people with God's word, calls them to repentance
and obedience, warns of judgment, offers hope
of restoration, and also, at a number of times,
reveals future events. So with his background
and foundation, I now want to turn to see how
Jesus was predicted to be a prophet and how he
fulfilled that office. Again, our desire today
is to magnify Christ, to show his offices, to
show his glory and his beauty. So we'll begin
with the prophecy from Moses. Number two, the
prophecy from Moses about Jesus as prophet. Now,
Moses is the most illustrious and renowned prophet
in the Old Testament. It is recorded of him in
Deuteronomy chapter 34 that Joshua the son of
Nun was full of the spirit of wisdom because
Moses laid his hands on him. But since Moses,
there has not arisen in Israel a prophet like
Moses whom the Lord knew face to face. in all
the signs and wonders which the Lord sent him
to do in the land of Egypt, before Pharaoh, before
all his servants, and in all his land, and by
all that mighty power and all the great terror
which Moses performed in the sight of all Israel.
Through the leadership and the prophetic gifts
of Moses, he confronted one of the greatest powers
on earth at that time, the Pharaoh of Egypt.
Moses was the instrument of God to bring great
signs and wonders. And he stretched out his staff
at the command of God to bring down 10 horrific
plagues that not only devastated the land of
Egypt, but it also showed them the futility of
their gods. I don't have time to get it in today,
to go through it today. But each one of those
plagues attacked a false god of Egypt, a separate
one. Every one of them. George Grant has an excellent
lecture on that if you want to hear it. Moses
led the great exodus out of Egypt and for 40
years he led and he shepherded the children of
Israel through the wilderness to the Jordan River,
which they would then cross after his death and
conquer the land of Canaan for 40 years. And
he began when he was 80 years old. He started
when he was 80. 40 years he lived in Egypt as
a son of Pharaoh. 40 years he lived in the wilderness.
And 40 years he led the children of Israel through
the wilderness. This man. who was a faithful
leader and prophet, he gave this prophecy in
Deuteronomy 18. So this is Moses writing by the
inspiration of the God, which we already read
this verse, but again, he says, the Lord your
God will raise up for you a prophet like me.
Moses saying, like me, from your midst, from
your brethren, him you shall hear according to
all you desire to the Lord your God in Horeb
in the day of the assembly. And God confirms
this because God then responds to Moses. When
Moses says this, the Lord says, probably in an
audible voice, he says, what they have spoken
is good. I will raise up for them a prophet like
you from among their brethren. And I will put
my words in his mouth and he shall speak to them
all that I command him. And it shall be. That
whoever will not hear my words, which he speaks
in my name, I will require it of him. This is
the first and the clearest prophecy of Jesus
as a prophet in the Old Testament. Like Moses,
the prophet to come would be a prophet, a king,
a mediator, and the head or chief of the people
of God. Moses reveals that Almighty God says,
I will put my words in his mouth. and he shall
speak to them all that I command him. And Jesus
says over and over again in his ministry, all
that the Father tells me, that do I speak, that
do I do. I do what the Father says. He communicates
it to me. Now in the New Testament, this passage,
this prophecy of the coming prophet is affirmed
several times. In speaking of Jesus as a prophet.
It is first of all quoted in Acts chapter 3 and
verse 22. That is in Peter's sermon at Pentecost.
And Peter quotes from it directly. Saying this
Jesus is that prophet. Again in another sermon.
Stephen's sermon. Which was to his Jewish accusers.
Just before he was put to death. Recorded in
Acts chapter 7. Stephen also quotes this verse
directly, that Jesus is that prophet of whom
Moses prophesied. There are not many others in
the Old Testament that speak in quite that direct
way about Jesus being a prophet. But, number
three, we're going to also consider prophecies
that speak of certain prophetic gifts that Jesus
would have. There are quite, there are a number
of these. I'm not going to be able to get through
them all. And these are prophecies about Jesus
gifts, the gifts that he would have. And they
fall into that of the office of a prophet. Remember
that a prophet both proclaims. I mean, again,
some of their gifts were different. Some of them
mostly foretold, but many of the prophets also
proclaimed the word of God or preached it in
that way. And so in Isaiah chapter 61, we look
at how Jesus is the anointed one who will both
preach and proclaim the good news. Isaiah 61
is a very key phrase. Why is, or verses, why
is this? Well, it's because, as we'll see in
a moment, Jesus actually speaks these words in
the midst of a synagogue and says, today this
is fulfilled in your ears. So it's a very important
prophecy. We'll turn to this in Isaiah chapter
61, beginning in verse one. The spirit of the
Lord Jehovah, the Lord God Jehovah is upon me
because the Lord has anointed me to preach good
tidings to the poor. He has sent me to heal the
brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives,
and the opening of the prison to those who are
bound, to proclaim the acceptable year of the
Lord. Now Jesus stopped there, but the prophecy
continues. And the day of vengeance of our God,
to comfort all who mourn, to console those who
mourn in Zion, to give them beauty for ashes,
the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise
for the spirit of heaviness, that they may be
called trees of righteousness, the planting of
the Lord, that he may be glorified. Now I want
to especially point out here that the office
of a prophet, that of preaching and proclamation,
is very much in this passage, along with the
other blessings that flow from it. It speaks
of him who would be anointed, and this anointing
came upon Jesus at his baptism, By John the Baptist.
John the baptizer was out baptizing. And he had
a number of followers. He prophesied. He was
the forerunner of Jesus. And he prophesied that
there would be one coming. Of whom he. That is
John the Baptist. Would not be worthy to even
tie his shoes. Or to fasten the latchet of his
sandal. And during that time Dennis. He was baptizing
one day. Jesus comes. And Jesus tells him. that
he is to baptize him, that John is to baptize
him, Jesus. And so John the Baptist at first
objects, but then he does so, and then picking
up in Matthew chapter 3, when he had been baptized,
Jesus came up immediately from the water, and
behold, the heavens were opened to him, and he
saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove
and alighting on him. And then suddenly a voice
came from heaven saying, this is my beloved son
in whom I am well pleased. By this, Jesus received
the supernatural anointing and imprimatur in
a very visible and an audible way as John saw
the descending of the spirit in the form of a
dove. It descended out of the open heavens. He
says, I saw this heaven open and the spirit comes
down like a dove and it alights on Jesus. And
then right at this time, a voice comes from the
heaven. Can you imagine the incredible sound
that that must have been as God speaks out of
heavens, out of the heavens? And he says. This
is my beloved son. He identifies Jesus as the
beloved son and that the father is well pleased
with him. What an anointing. This is incredible.
This came on Jesus at his baptism. Now after
the baptism and the temptation in the wilderness,
Luke tells us that Jesus returned in the power
of the spirit to Galilee and then to Nazareth.
where he was brought up. He went into the synagogue
and he stood publicly to read the scriptures.
Many times they would allow visitors to stand
and to read the scriptures. And this time Jesus,
returning there to his old hometown, he stood
and he read the scripture. And he turns to this
passage in Isaiah and he reads it. And all the
eyes of the congregation are fixed on him. What
is he going to say about this? And then he begins.
Today, the scripture is fulfilled in your hearing.
In other words, he's saying, I am the one who
speaks. I am the one this passage is speaking
of. This scripture is now fulfilled. This prophecy
has been answered. And he continues. to speak
gracious words to them. Now, we are not given
all of the contents of this speech until they
begin to question, how can this be? How can he
speak in such a way? How can he make these confident
assertions? Don't we know him? He's the son of
Joseph. This can't be. And they begin to question
him. But they even get so mad because Jesus tells
him that this good news would also include the
Gentiles. And so all those in the synagogue were
filled with anger and wrath. They rise up and
they thrust him out of the city. They lead him
to the brow of a hill and they're getting ready
to throw him over the hill and crush him to death.
But Jesus... The scripture says this in such
a calm way. You can see the mad mob. They're
rushing up to the top of the hill, ready to grab
him and throw him over. And the scripture just
says, he passed through the midst of them and
went his way. It's just such an incredible passage
there. Very calmly, he passes through and is
gone. In Luke 7, we then have the record that
Jesus continues to go throughout the land. And
what does he do? He fulfills the gift of a prophet.
He preaches the word and he gives them the good
news. And then he comes to a place where there's
a dead son, the son of the widow Nain, the widow
from Nain. And he raises this son from the dead.
What happens again? Fear come upon all. has risen
up among us. God has visited his people. This
report about him went throughout all Judea and
the surrounding region. The fame just spread
abroad about this great prophet. Everywhere he
goes, this preaching continues and the other
things that Isaiah prophesied happened. John
the Baptist even goes through a time of doubt
and he sends two of his disciples to Jesus saying,
Are you the coming one or do we look for another?
The servants arrived at a time when, the scripture
says in Luke 7, at that very hour, he cured many
of infirmities, afflictions, and evil spirits.
To many, he gave sight. And so Jesus answered
and said to them, that is to John's service,
go and tell John the things you have seen and
heard. What? What things? That the blind see,
the lame walk. the lepers are cleansed the deaf
hear the dead are raised and the poor have the
gospel preached to them and blessed is he who
is not offended of me again what an incredible
testimony of Jesus as prophet and seeing all
of these deeds truly Jesus fulfilled this prophecy
from Isaiah 61 in a very distinct and clear way
the second one the second gift that we see is
that Jesus is the spirit -filled one who will
bring justice. We see this in Isaiah chapter
42, one through four. This is again a prophecy.
Behold, my servant whom I uphold, my elect one
in whom my soul delights. I'm just going to say
here, Isaiah is prophesying the words of God
personified. This is God speaking through the
prophet Isaiah. My servant, It's referring to
God's servant. I have put my spirit upon him,
God says. He will bring forth justice to the
Gentiles. He will not cry out nor raise his voice
nor cause his voice to be heard in the market.
A bruised reed he will not break and smoking
flax he will not quench. He will bring forth
justice for truth. He will not fail nor be discouraged
till he has established justice in the earth
and the coastlands shall wait for his law. One
of the chief duties of prophets in the Old Testament
was a call for justice. It was where they would
expose wrongdoing. They would expose abuse of
power and they would call for justice. They would
see oppression and they would cry out against
it, whether to the king or to the prince or even
to the people. They prophesied God's word, commanding
princes and kings to do justice. We see this
in Amos chapter 5, 14 and 15. Seek good and not
evil that you may live. So the Lord God of hosts
will be with you as you have spoken. Hate evil,
love good, establish justice in the gate. It
may be that the Lord of hosts will be gracious
to the remnant of Joseph. And again, then a little
bit later in the passage in verse 24, Amos cries
out this wonderful saying, but let justice run
down like water and righteousness like a mighty
stream. Micah, in Micah chapter six in verse
eight, he cries out to the people to whom he
is preaching. And he says, who has shown you,
oh man, what is good? And what does the Lord
require of you? but to do justly, to do justly,
to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.
Prophets called out for justice. Amos did it.
Micah did it. Many others did it. And so Jesus
also is going to call out for justice. Now, as
a prophet, Jesus had the son of God without measure,
and he brought justice to the Gentiles. Matthew
testifies that this was fulfilled. quoting this
passage in Isaiah 42 in Matthew 12, verse 15
through 18. It says, but when Jesus knew it,
he withdrew from there and great multitudes followed
him and he healed them all. Yet he warned them
not to make him known that it might be fulfilled,
which was spoken by Isaiah the prophet saying,
behold, my servant whom I have chosen, my beloved
in whom my soul is well pleased. I will put my
spirit in him. He will declare justice. to the
Gentiles. He will not quarrel nor cry out nor
will anyone hear his voice in the streets. A
bruised reed he will not break and smoking flax
he will not quench till he sends forth justice
to victory and in his name Gentiles will trust.
Jesus quotes this very passage regarding himself.
Now in bringing justice to the Gentiles, Jesus
brings truth and reconciliation. Truth and reconciliation
before a holy God. He brings salvation from sin
and he makes a clear and a new heart. This is
what Jesus does. But the justice that he brings
does not just stop with salvation. We get hung
up on that so many times where we just focus
on the salvation. Now salvation is glorious.
The work of God by the Spirit in our hearts making
us new people, washing us from sin and cleansing
us. This is wonderful. It is glorious. But it's
not the only thing that God is about. It is not
the only thing that Jesus proclaims in bringing
justice to the Gentiles. He brings truth and
reconciliation, but He also brings a reordering
and a renewing of life. He brings justice to
a people and to a society. brings and he proclaims
good law that does not punish the innocent nor
reward the guilty he even establishes according
to Romans 13 his civil ministers as servants
who will know the difference between good and
evil and they will praise the good and use the
sword appropriately This is why Isaiah prophesies
of Jesus that he will not fail nor be discouraged.
What does he say? Till he has established justice
in the earth and the coastlands or the isles,
if you use the King James, they shall wait for
his law. This prophet not only proclaims peace,
but he brings it and he brings us his law and
he brings justice to the world through. his administration.
This is our prophet who is also a king, which
we'll get to a little later in Advent season.
Number three, how this is also a description
of Jesus. He is the prophet who will bring light
to the darkness and also to the Gentiles. Isaiah,
again, Isaiah is one of our favorite books here.
We keep quoting from it. Isaiah has so much to
say about the coming of the Messiah. So this
is the voice of the Redeemer. Isaiah here is
prophetically speaking. This is what Jesus is
going to say. Listen, O coastlands, to me and
take heed, you peoples from afar. The Lord has
called me from the womb, from the matrix of my
mother. He has made mention of my name. He has
made my mouth like a sharp sword. In the shadow
of his hand, he has hidden me and made me a polished
shaft. In his quiver, he has hidden me. And he
said to me, you are my servant, O Israel, in
whom I will be glorified. Then I said, I've labored
in vain. I've spent my strength for nothing and
in vain. Yet surely my just reward is with the
Lord and my work is my God. But now the Lord
says. who formed me from the womb to be his servant,
to bring Jacob back to him so that Israel is
gathered to him. For I shall be glorious in the
eyes of the Lord and my God shall be my strength.
So the father says to Jesus, it is too small
a thing that you should be my servant to raise
up the tribes of Jacob and to restore the preserved
ones of Israel. I will also give you as a light
to the Gentiles that you should be my salvation
to the ends of the earth. From this passage in
Isaiah, we get to hear a conversation between
God and Jesus that is not found in the New Testament.
It's a conversation between God the Father and
Jesus and how God the Father tells him, I am
going to give you as a light to the world. I
am sending you not just for the tribes of Jacob
and not just to restore the preserved ones of
Israel. I will give you a light to the Gentiles
that you should be my salvation to the ends of
the earth. Now one of the roles of a prophet.
Is to enlighten. Remember the foretelling that
happens. That enlightens people about what things
are going to happen. But also the foretelling.
It's the revealing of the mind in the will of
God. And so in both of these. Both the foretelling
and the foretelling. The prophet is bringing
light. He's enlightening the mind. And Jesus
is no exception to this. He brings great light.
In fact he is even called the light. And the
light to the Gentiles. So in bringing the word
of God and declaring it to the people or in foretelling
something in the future, he brings light. And
Jesus does this in a most excellent and a blessed
way, even as prophesied by Isaiah in this passage.
Not only did Jesus minister to Gentiles and outcasts
himself. But he gives Peter instructions to go
to Cornelius' house so that the Gentiles would
believe and be baptized and thus added to the
church. And then on the road to Damascus, when
Paul was traveling to imprison Christian believers,
he is knocked to the ground by a great light
that shines around him. And Jesus speaks to Paul,
audibly saying, Saul, Saul. Whom are you persecuting?
Why are you persecuting me? It is hard for you
to kick against the goats. Paul recounts in Acts
26, he says, I said, who are you, Lord? And he
says, I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting. But,
and then he gives Paul commission. This isn't
found in all of the accounts of the Damascus
Road experience, but Paul's recounting this here.
I believe it's to Agrippa in Acts 26. He says,
I am Jesus whom you are persecuting, but rise
and stand in your feet, for I have appeared to
you for this purpose, to make you a minister
and a witness both of the things which you have
seen and of the things which I will yet reveal
to you. I will deliver you from the Jewish people
as well as from the Gentiles to whom I now send
you. to open their eyes in order to turn them
from darkness to light and from the power of
Satan to God, that they may receive the forgiveness
of sins and an inheritance among those who are
sanctified by faith in me. Those are Jesus' words
to Paul. So Jesus not only is a prophet, Not
only is he a light to the Gentiles, but he also
commissions his apostles to be lights to the
Gentiles. And we've just read the account, the
very clear account of how Jesus personally spoke
to Paul, giving him this commission to bring
light to the Gentiles. And so we say again, Jesus
is a true prophet and he brings light to those
who live in darkness. Well, we could look at
a number of others, but we don't have time. The
testimony, number four, that Jesus was this prophet
is found in a whole number of places in the scriptures.
And I put a number of them on the outline sheet.
Matthew 21, verse 11, and 21, verse 46, Luke
7, verse 16, John 4, verse 19, John 6, verse
14, John 7, verse 40, and John 9, verse 17. I'm
only going to read two. Matthew 21, 10 and 11.
And when he was coming to Jerusalem, all the
city was moved, saying, Who is this? So the multitude
said, This is Jesus, the prophet from Nazareth
of Galilee. And then in John chapter 6 and verse
14. Then those men, when they had seen the sign
that Jesus did, they said, This is truly the
prophet who is to come. into the world he was
recognized as the prophet he was a prophet mighty
indeed and word before god and all the people
luke 24 brings this out as this is the account
of the disciples this is not the apostles i think
it was a couple others cleopas was one i forget
the name of the other but they were on the road
to emmaus and as they were walking along this
was after jesus death jesus appears to them And
he starts walking together with them, but they
don't recognize him as Jesus. And so he sees
that they're sad. And so he asks them, why are
you sad? Well, haven't you heard all the things
that happened? And Jesus is very wise. He just
says, what things? And so then they start telling
him about how that... that this, they start telling
him the things concerning Jesus of Nazareth,
that he was a prophet. He was mighty in deed
and word before God and all the people. And this
happened to him, that he was put to death. And
so then Jesus opens up the word of God. Of course,
that was the Old Testament at that time. And
he just goes through and he expounds all the
passages as they're walking along of the prophecies
concerning him. But they still don't know it's
Jesus. Until they come to the house where they
were headed. They sit around the table. They
break bread together. And in the breaking of
bread, Jesus becomes manifest to them. And then
poof, he disappears. Just like that. And they
looked at one another and said, didn't our hearts
burn when he was talking? We knew there was something
really special about this, but they didn't know
it was Jesus. He was a prophet, mighty in deed
and word before God. This prophet, says Adam
Clark, is the Lord Jesus who was in the bosom
of the Father and who came to declare him to
mankind. Every word spoken by him is a living
and infallible oracle from God himself and must
be received and obeyed as such on pain of the
eternal displeasure of the Almighty. This is
the prophet Jesus. When Jesus ascended into heaven,
he gave the Holy Spirit to his people. They go
everywhere preaching the word of God. He gave
them the great commission to take it to the ends
of the earth and to disciple the nations. But
Jesus still executes the office of a prophet.
The Westminster Larger Catechism asked this question.
How does Jesus now execute the office of a prophet?
The answer is this. He executes the office of
a prophet in his revealing to the church in all
ages by his spirit and word in various ways of
administration. He reveals the whole will of
God in all things concerning their edification
and salvation. Christ continues to be in the
office of a prophet because he is the one who
is. John chapter 1. He revealed his word to holy
men who spoke and wrote as they were moved by
the Holy Spirit. And we have that word with us
in the Holy Scriptures. And as we read them,
Jesus speaks to us. He proclaims the truth to
us as we read his word. And the Holy Spirit illuminates
us. So Jesus speaks to us in the word. The Holy
Spirit enables to understand it. That's how it
works. He is the word of God. We can know the
whole will of God for us in everything, for our
edification and for our salvation. Alexander
Hodge put it this way. Christ was the personal
word of God incarnate. He who had eternally been
in the bosom of the father and known the father.
And consequently, he is the mediatorial prophet.
In that original foundation or fountain of revelation
of which all other prophets are the streams.
He is the prophet of all prophets. He is the
teacher of all teachers. He, Simon Peter said,
has the words of eternal life. Now I leave you
with this question. And it's something that is
worthy of a much greater study. And that is this
question. How might we, as imitators of Christ,
fulfill this role? Is there any kind of a place
for us to fulfill this role, the role of a prophet?
Votie Bauckham put in his book, What He Must
Be If You Were to Marry My Daughter. He speaks
about the role of being Christ followers, how
that we also have a role, especially the father
in the home, of being a prophet, a priest, and
a king. He puts it this way. He stresses family
worship, catechizing children, arguing that fathers
bear primary responsibility for their spiritual
formation of their children, which is true. And
so in that way, in a small way, we take the prophetic
gift that Jesus had and we also look to us as
well as we seek. What do we do to our children?
We enlighten them. We bring the truth of them.
We explain the scriptures to them. The father's
life must align with his teaching, avoiding hypocrisy
that exasperates children. Ephesians 6 and verse
4. Fathers, point back to the one who made you,
embodying God's purposes in relationships. And
indeed, in that way, we also see our own prophetic
role as fathers. But in that, I would also include
mothers where you teach your children as well.
Proverbs speaks about both the law of the father
and the law of the mother. You mothers also have
a wonderful way to communicate the truths of
God to your children and also from older women
to younger women and other opportunities. Though
you do not stand in the pulpit and proclaim in
the way that we do, in the way that men can,
yet you also have this great gift from God. to
speak in that way to those whom God has given
to you. I leave that for application today. I
hope that this has been a blessing to you in
understanding the prophetic role of Jesus Christ
and how he fulfilled it. Let's pray.