Christ is the Prophet, Priest and King

12 March 2002

The evening devotion at Kwasizabantu Mission was taken by Dr Ed Gross who preached on Matt 16: 13-17: "You are the Christ...".

Summary of message:
In this age of deception (see 2Cor 2:11) the main aim of satan is to deceive people with a different Jesus. Just 30 years after the ascension Paul was already concerned that another Jesus was being preached (2Cor 11:3). Satan is still in the business of removing the understanding of who Jesus is.
Many know Christ as the last name or surname of Jesus and they don't know who Christ is. Only one in 10 questioned in American churches are able to say who Christ is. He is the Anointed One spoken of in the Old Testament with a three-fold office of Prophet, Priest and King. The first century Jews knew exactly what Christ meant.

PROPHET: In Deut 18:18,19 we read about Christ's Priestly office. This is the very verse quoted by Peter in Acts 3:22. Many today don't know Jesus as the Prophet as their teacher. They only know Jesus as the One who can save them from hell in the future. They may have "received Christ" but they still follow their traditions and ancestral spirits. They refuse Christ as their Teacher.

PRIEST: In Ps 110 and Is 53 we learn that Jesus is the "sin-bearing Priest." Many Christians only want to know this aspect of Jesus.

KING: In Psalm 2 we are told that Christ is King. The old hymn writers like Fanny Cosby wrote of Christ as Prophet, Priest and King. Hymn writers in her era knew this because every Evangelical group in the middle 18th century referred to the Lord as Prophet, Priest and King.

The problem in our century, and especially in America, is that we try and do to Jesus what we do in business - reduce it to an understandable and easy to receive minimum. All we hear about is "receive Jesus as your Saviour." I used to believe and teach in this way until I came to understand Christ as Prophet, Priest and King.

Many will stand up on the day of judgement and be told (as in Matt 7: 21-23) "I do not know you." They never knew Him!

If we have a different Jesus then it results in a different gospel and often people are demonized. It is because they are a cleanly swept house with no occupant. Jesus is not their King.

In Luke 19: 27 the enemies of Christ are those "who did not want me to reign over them." The Lord will slay them.

In the last verse of Judges we read (Judges 21:25) that they people did as they saw fit because they had no king. Today we have a similar situation - churches full of people who don't want Christ as king.

To be a disciple you must say to Jesus "you are my Teacher - save me from myself." That makes you a disciple. But few go along this road and most choose the broad way to destruction.

Yes, it does matter who Jesus is and "blessed are you" (Matt 16:17) when the Father reveals Him to you.

(Dr Ed Gross is Pastor of Hope Community Church in Pretoria. He is from Pennsylvania in the USA and has a doctorate in Missiology.)