Jesus: Prophet

     What comes to mind when we hear the word, "prophet"?  We usually think of someone who foretells the future, don't we?  Although this has sometimes been a part of the role of a prophet, there is much more.
     For many prophets in the Old Testament, visions of the future are simply secondary means to reach a primary purpose.  That purpose is to denounce the sins of mankind and pronounce the doom which will come as a result.  The goal is to turn people back to God before it is too late.
     Another related function of a prophet is to simply reveal the will of God.  Those who have turned their backs on God must be made aware of what they are doing.  So a prophet is often synonymous with a teacher or a preacher.
     Deuteronomy chapter 18 gives us some guidelines for evaluating true and false prophets.
     "But the prophet who shall speak a word presumptuously in My name which I have not commanded him to speak, or which he shall speak in the name of other gods," verse 20 suggests, "that prophet shall die."
     "And you may say in your heart, 'How shall we know the word which the Lord has not spoken?'" the passage continues.
     "When a prophet speaks in the name of the Lord, if the thing does not come about or come true, that is the thing which the Lord has not spoken.  The prophet has spoken it presumptuously; you shall not be afraid of him."
     This is some advise we should keep in mind in the midst of numerous false prophecies today.  But that is not the point we want to examine now.  The point comes from another part of the same chapter.
     "The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among you, from your countrymen," Moses reveals in verse 15, "you shall listen to him."
     Like many prophecies in the Bible, we have no trouble understanding them as long as we go to the Bible for the explanation.
     Peter delivers the first gospel sermon in Acts chapter two.  In the next chapter he has an opportunity to present a second sermon.  In Acts 3:22 the apostle quotes the passage from Deuteronomy.  From the context it is not hard to see that the prophecy involves Jesus, the greatest prophet to ever carry the message of God.
     Although the Jewish people were slow to accept Jesus as the promised Messiah, they were sometimes able to recognize Him as the prophet who had been promised.
     "This is of a truth the Prophet who is to come into the world," they proclaim in John 6:14.
     "This certainly is the Prophet," they state in John 7:40.
     In Mark 6:14-15 the people try to decide just which prophet this is, assuming that a former prophet has been resurrected.
     "A great prophet has arisen among us!" the people say fearfully in Luke 7:16.
     In Luke 24 two disappointed disciples are leaving Jerusalem after the crucifixion.  Although they are not able to recognize Him, Christ walks with them along the way.  In verse 19 they describe the crucified Jesus as a great prophet.
     The Samaritan woman who has a discussion with the Lord in John chapter four also acknowledges in verse 19 that He is a prophet.  But she is able to understand something that most of the others seem to miss.  You see, the word "Messiah" or "Christ" means, "the anointed one."  In the Old Testament three groups of people were anointed: priests, kings and prophets.  The problem for most of the Jews was that they were expecting something other than what God planned to send.
     In John 4:25 the woman begins to realize that Jesus is the Messiah.
     One problem that Jesus faced was that, since He was not what the people expected or wanted, even those who recognized Him as a prophet did not heed Him.
     "No prophet is welcome in his home town," Jesus points out in Luke 4:24.
     And, as Jesus prepares to return to the Jewish holy city for the last time in Luke 13: 31-35, He understands that it is because, as a prophet, He is to die in Jerusalem.
     "It cannot be that a prophet should perish outside of Jerusalem," He says in verse 33.
     "O Jerusalem, Jerusalem," He adds in the next verse, "the city that kills the prophets and stones those sent to her!  How often I wanted to gather your children together, just as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you would not have it!"
     So Jesus sticks with His role as a prophet from the beginning to the end.  But how well does he carry out this role?  

     As we have already seen, one of the primary roles of a prophet is to reveal the will of God.  This being the case, Jesus is God's own choice as His spokesman.
     "God, after He spoke long ago to the fathers in the prophets in many portions and in many ways," we read in Hebrews 1:1-2, "in these last days has spoken to us in His Son, whom He appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the world."
     Not only does Jesus reveal to us the word of God, but He also actually reveals God.
     There are at least three words which are used in the New Testament to describe Jesus as the representation of God.  These words are "Word," "Son" and "Image."  When each of these is used it is presented along with the idea that Jesus was actively involved in the creation.
     "In the beginning was the Word," we read in John 1:1-3, "and the Word was with God and the Word was God.
     "He was in the beginning with God.  All things came into being through Him; and apart from Him nothing came into being that has come into being."
     "And He is the image of the invisible God," Colossians 1:15-17 points out, "the first-born of all creation.
     "For in Him all things were created, both in the heavens and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities - all things have been created through Him and for Him.
     "And He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together."
     "In these last days (God) has spoken to us in His Son," we have already read in Hebrews 1:2, "through whom also He made the world."
     "And He is the radiance of His glory and the exact representation of His nature," the next verse continues, "and upholds all things by the word of His power.  When He had made purification of sins, He sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high."
     Jesus reveals the will of God.  He also reveals God Himself.
     "Lord, show us the Father," Philip requests in John 14:8.
     "Have I been with you so long," Jesus responds in the following verse, "and yet you have not come to know Me, Philip?  He who has seen Me has seen the Father; how do you say, 'Show us the Father'?"
     Although Jesus existed in the form of God, we learn in Philippians 2:5-11, He lowered Himself to the position of a man, and even a servant of men, in order to reveal to us the will of God.  Not only this, but He also submitted to doing the will of God.  Perhaps this is what really makes Him the greatest prophet of all time.
     "My teaching is not Mine," Jesus explains in John 7:16-17, but His who sent Me.  If any man is willing to do His will, he shall know of the teaching, whether it is of God, of whether I speak from Myself."
     According to John 3:16, it is the will of God that all be saved through faith in Jesus.
     "For I have come down from heaven," Jesus states in John 6:38-40, "not to do My own will, but the will of Him who sent Me.  And this is the will of Him who sent Me, that of all that He has given Me I lose nothing, but raise it up on the last day.
     "For this is the will of My Father, that every one who beholds the Son, and believes in Him, may have eternal life; and I Myself will raise him up on the last day."
     And, as Jesus has already explained in John 3:36, belief in Him is synonymous with obedience to Him.
     "He who believes in the Son has eternal life;" Jesus promises in this verse, "but He who does not obey the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him."
     The great prophet came to reveal to us the will of God.  And this will is that we believe in and obey the truth, so that we can be set free.

Unless otherwise noted, "Scripture taken from the NEW AMERICAN STANDARD BIBLE(R), (C) Copyright 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission." (www.lockman.org)