The Offices of Christ

Basic Christian Doctrines 26

 

1.   Jesus Was a Real Historical Person.

 

Throughout Christ's ministry, people kept wondering who He was. Jesus asked His own disciples and received various replies (Luke 9:18-20). Our eternal destiny hinges on what we believe about Jesus Christ. The first point is that Jesus was a real person. He lived at a certain time and place. History is measured B.C. and A.D. around Him. He was not a myth and the Gospel accounts of Him are true. Most liberals say that there are so many myths about Jesus in the N.T. that we can know only very little about the real Jesus. They say, "The Jesus of history is not the Christ of faith." They are wrong. We do not need to "demythologize" the Biblical Jesus. We need to believe in Him as a real person exactly as recorded in God's infallible Word. Also, He was not a fairy tale, the figment of an hallucination, or other such nonsense.

 

2.   Jesus is the Center of God's Dealings with Man.

 

Col. 1:18 says that Jesus has the “pre-eminence in all things.”  He is the conduit through which God has all His dealings with Man, yes, even the whole cosmos. God is revealed personally only through Jesus (John 1:18). God created the entire universe through Jesus (John 1:2-3). He is the means by which He reveals and receives glory (Heb. 1:1-3).  This is a Christocentric universe. Christ is the apex, the hub, the center, the ultimate reference point in everything between God and us.

 

3.   The Name Jesus Means Jehovah Saves.

 

When He was about to be born, the angel told Joseph that He was to be named “Jesus, for He shall save His people from their sins” (Matt. 1:13). In Greek, it is IESOUS. In Hebrew, it is YESHUA, or Joshua. As pointed out in the Book of Hebrews, Joshua took the Israelites into the Promised Land after Moses; so Jesus saves from sins which the Law cannot save. Jesus is the Savior. In fact, as we shall see, He is God Himself coming in human flesh to save His people. God did not merely send a Savior - He came as a Savior.

 

4.   Jesus is the Messiah.

 

The angel gave Jesus a second name (Emmanuel), which is more like what we would consider a middle name. “Christ” is not His last name, but the title of one of His offices. Christ in Greek is CHRISTOS. In Hebrew, it is MASIACH, or messiah. Both words mean “annointed one”. Just as O.T. prophets, priests and kings were anointed with oil when they were ordained to their offices, so Jesus was anointed with the Holy Spirit in His ordination at His baptism. This had to do with His office regarding His work, not His person. He was the Son of Abraham (the one who inherited the promises to Abraham, Gal.3) and the Son of David (heir of Davidic throne, Psa. 89). He is Messiah for Jews and Gentiles.

 

5.   Jesus Fulfilled the Prophecies of the Messiah.

 

Long before He was born, Jesus' coming had been promised and predicted by God through His prophets. Gen. 3:15 was the first such prediction, and in some ways is the most important. The O.T. is filled with dozens of others, some clear (Psa.22, Isa. 53), some not so clear. In a way, the whole O.T. spoke about the coming Messiah (Luke 24:25-26, 44-46, Acts 10:43, 1 Cor. 15:3-4). The Four Gospels, especially Matthew, point out how Jesus fulfilled them. Some are to be fulfilled at His Second Coming. These were tangible proofs that Jesus was who He claimed.

 

6.   Jesus is the Great Prophet.

 

Moses predicted a prophet greater than himself would come one day. It was Jesus (Deut. 18:15-19, Acts 3:22). The prophets who were merely human said, “Thus saith the Lord”. Jesus said, “I say to you.” They said, “The Word of the Lord came to me”. Jesus is the Word of God come to us in Person. He is called the LOGOS (Word) in John 1:1, 14 and Rev 19:13.  (Cf. I John 1:1). This refers not so much to the words which Jesus spoke, as to His very person and office as God's personal and highest revelation of Himself (Heb. 1:1-3). Some people then and now think Jesus was only a human prophet. No. He was the Great Prophet. Islam claims that Mohammad was the Prophet. They are sorely wrong.

 

7.   Jesus is the Great High Priest.

 

Evangelicals, especially Calvinists, have noticed that Scripture often speaks of the three main offices of Christ: prophet, priest and king. No one person in the O.T. was ever all three, and Jesus is all three in a unique sense. In each, He is greater than those which came before Him (Matt. 12:6, greater than priests; 12:41, greater than prophets; 12:42, greater than kings). The Book of Hebrews especially explains the High Priestly work of Christ. He is greater than Melchizedek and Levi. He brought a greater sacrifice, typified by all the animal sacrifices. He Himself is the Lamb of God, the great and final sacrifice. The great Shepherd-Priest became a lamb in order to sacrifice Himself.

 

8.   Jesus is Lord.

The third major office is King, or Lord. He is the Lord Jesus Christ. He is Lord of Lords, King of Kings (Rev. 17:14, 19:16; I Tim. 6:15). He is the King of the Jews (Matt. 2:2) and the “ruler of the kings of the Earth” (Rev. 1:5). He is Lord of all (Acts 10:36, Rom. 10:12). Over and over the N.T. states, “Jesus is Lord” (e.g., I Cor. 12:3). He is Lord in two ways. First, He is Lord by virtue of His eternal deity. Second, He is Lord in a special sense by virtue of His becoming the God-Man who humbled Himself to the lowest depths and was exalted to the highest heights (Phil. 2:5-11). He already is Lord now, and will be recognized as such at the Second Coming and the Last Judgment, and forever by all.

 

9.   Jesus is the Second Adam.

 

Romans 5 and I Cor. 15 speak of yet another related office of the Lord Jesus. He is the “Second Adam” and the “Last Man”. Just as Adam was the father and federal head of a race of humanity, so the Lord Jesus is the father and federal head of a new race of humanity. This new race is not biologically new, but is taken out of the first race by election and salvation. Jesus succeeded where Adam failed.

 

10.Jesus is the Only Way to God.

 

Since He is what He is and occupies all these offices alone, especially as the unique conduit between God and Man, it follows that Jesus is the only way to God. “I am the way, the truth and the life. No man comes to the Father but by me” (John 14:6). He is the only door (John 10:9). There is salvation in nobody else (Acts 4:12). He is the only mediator between God and Man, for He alone is both God and Man (I Tim. 2:4). We will die in our sins unless we believe in the person of Jesus (John 8:24). But we will live in Him if we believe the truth about Him. Through Jesus alone we can know God (John 17:3), for Jesus alone knows God perfectly and personally, and it is He who determines who will be granted a personal introduction to His Father (Matt. 11:27).