Jesus Christ: Prophet, Priest, and King

I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning
and the end, the first and the last. Rev. 22:13

Jesus Christ has a three fold ministry as Prophet, Priest, and King. These are the three Old Testament offices which give us great insight as to what kind of Messiah He would be:
Prophet...spoke to man for God (Jn 12:49,50)
Priest...offered sacrifices to God for man
King...ruled and governed men in the stead of God.

Jesus Christ holds all these offices by the appointment of and anointing by God the Father, Isa. 61:1-3; Lk. 4:18,19.
“Christ” means anointed one of God.
That Jesus is the Christ was divinely revealed to Peter, Matt. 16:16.
Peter reiterated this later in his first sermon calling Jesus Lord and Christ, Acts 2:36.

CHRIST THE PROPHET
About 1,400 years before Christ’s incarnation in Bethlehem, God spoke to Moses about the coming Prophet, Deut. 18:18.
...and in Acts 3:18,22,26 Peter preached that Christ was the fulfillment of God’s promise. See also Jn. 1:45; 5:46; and 6:14.

Of all the Old Testament prophets, Jesus was unique because He spoke as God and For God to mankind. None else could do this. In Islam, Jesus is accounted as just another of the prophets. This does no honor Christ, but it degrades and blasphemes Him.
In Luke 4:18, Jesus speaks of being anointed for His work. When did this take place? At His baptism when Jesus officially entered into His work as a Prophet, Matt. 3:16,17

This work was very important because as the Prophet:
- Jesus authenticated the Old Testament prophets, Lk. 24:44
- Jesus spoke for God as God with all authority, Matt. 5:20,22,26,28,32, 34,39,44; 28:18-20
- Jesus put His seal of approval on the Word of God, Matt. 5:18; 24:35; Jn. 10:35

Jesus referred to Himself as a prophet, Lk. 13:33.

A prophet also foretells the future, and this Jesus did any times:
concerning the end times, Matt. 24,25
concerning His arrest, trial, death, and resurrection, Mk. 8:31; 9:31; and 10:33,34

Jesus also foretold His return, Mk. 14:62; Jn. 14:1-3

There is no margin of error for a true prophet of God, Deut. 18:20-22
Modern day fortune tellers and so-called psychics boast of a 25% accuracy rate, but in the Old Testament days a prophet with a 99% rate would have been stoned to death.

Jesus Christ was that Prophet whom God spoke of to Moses. His prophetic ministry began at His baptism, and ended at His resurrection having spoke the Word of God to mankind and fulfilled His own predictions of His death and resurrection.

CHRIST AS PRIEST
In His present ministry in Heaven, Jesus Christ is our Great High Priest who is interceding with God on our behalf, Heb. 4:14,15.
Christ is the only mediator between God and Mankind, I Tim. 2:5.
In the Old Testament, the priest had a three fold pattern:
to bless, to intercede, and to make sacrifices for the people of God

In doing this, Christ reconciled us to God by offering Himself as the sacrifice for sins, Eph. 5:2, Heb. 7:27; 8:3; 9:11,15,26-28; 10:4,10,12.
As our Great High Priest, Jesus reconciles, interceded for ands blesses us.

As we have seen in a previous lesson, Christ is a priest after the order of Melchizedek, (and not after the order of Aaron) Heb. 7:21,..that is, a royal priest or Priest/King; the priest on His throne. It was unheard of in the Old Testament for a man to serve as a priest and a king of Israel. When King Saul offered up a sacrifice on his own, he was punished by God, I Sam. 13:8-14.

CHRIST AS KING
In the past and as the Prophet, Jesus Christ proclaimed the Word of God.
In the present as the Priest, He ministers the Word of God, In the future as King, He will rule by the Word of God, I Tim. 6:15

Jesus is still fulfilling His office as Great High Priest and is not now the king.
Satan is now the ruler of this age, Jn. 14:30; Eph. 2:2
But one day Satan will be defeated and deposed by Christ, Ps. 110:1;Matt. 22:41-46; Heb. 1:13; 10:12,13; Rev. 21:1-8.
To clarify; Jesus was born King of the Jews (Matt. 2:2) and died as the King of the Jews, Matt. 27:37.
Christ’s kingship was also prophesied: by Jacob, Gen. 49:10; by Balaam, Num. 24:17,19; by David, Ps. 2:6-8, by Isaiah, Isa. 9:6,7 and by Jeremiah, Jer. 23:5,6.
When Christ assumes His throne He will be the king of all nations and all people, Ps. 72:11,17-19; Rev. 5:9-13.
Jesus is now the Head of the Church, (Eph. 5:23) He is never called the king of the church, but when He returns it will be to defeat His enemies and set up His kingdom and rule as the sovereign King of kings and Lord of Lords.

CROWNS FOR CHRISTIANS

There are five crowns mentioned in Scripture which are promised to God's children upon certain conditions.
They may be won or they may be lost...Rev. 3:11
They are spoken of as prizes...I Cor. 9:24
They are described as crowns of gold...Rev. 4:4
Crowns must be distinguished from salvation which is the gift of God freely given for trusting Christ.
Salvation is never earned nor deserved, it is a gift.
Crowns, or rewards, are earned for faithful service rendered that are promised by Christ Himself, Rev. 22:12

Every Believer will stand in the “Bema” judgment, or the judgment Seat of Christ, II Cor. 5:10
This is not a judgment on our sins, that was settled at the cross.
We stand before God justified by faith, Rom. 5:1
and without condemnation, Rom. 8:1

I. THE INCORRUPTIBLE CROWN...I Cor. 9:25
This crown is given to those who are temperate in all things and who are not indulging the appetites of the body, in order that they may faithfully preach the gospel to all men, whether Jew or Gentile, whereby at least some shall be saved, v. 16-27

II. THE CROWN OF REJOICING...I Thess. 2:19
This crown is given to those who win souls for Christ, whether by personal work, by preaching the gospel, or by passing out tracts.

Daniel said that "they that be wise shall shine as the brightness of the firmament; and they that turn many to righteousness as the stars for ever and ever" Dan. 12:3

Every soul saved through the prayers and efforts of the servant of Christ will be a part of his crown of rejoicing when he stands before the Judgment Seat of Christ and is rewarded according to his labors.

III. THE CROWN OF GLORY...I Peter 5:4
This is the crown which is given to faithful pastors who have willingly cared for the flock of God as overseers, not as lords and not for the sake of financial gain, but as a shepherd who cares for his sheep.
Such pastors practice what they preach and are examples to others. They feed the flock with the Word of God, "rightly dividing the word of truth," so that they will grow in grace and become fruitful in their lives and labors.
They warn the flock against false teachers and the prevalent errors of the day, encouraging them to contend earnestly for the faith (Jude 3,4).
All such pastors and teachers will receive a crown of glory which will not tarnish or fade away.

IV. THE CROWN OF RIGHTEOUSNESS…
II Tim. 4:8
This crown is given to all those who love the appearing of Christ.
They are trusting Christ for salvation and loving Him because He loved them,
They are also looking forward to the personal coming of Christ in glory and power, when they will be caught up with other Christians in the clouds to meet Him in the air I Thess. 4:14-17



Because of this blessed hope, they endure afflictions, fight the good fight of faith, and speak the truth in love. They are loyal and faithful to Christ at all times, for they know not when He may appear for His own. All such are to receive a special crown.

V. THE CROWN OF LIFE...James 1:12; Rev. 2:10
This crown is given to all who endure trials and temptations even unto death for Jesus' sake. "They loved not their lives unto the death" Rev. 12:11.

Many of those who receive this crown, such as Stephen, James, John, Peter, Paul, Jan Huss, William Tyndale, Hugh Latimer, and many others, are martyrs for the sake of Christ. (Read Foxe's Book of Martyrs.)

The crown of life is to be distinguished from the gift of life, which is mentioned in Jn 4:10;5:24, Rom. 6:23, and Eph. 2:8.
Eternal life is a free gift from God to all who believe on His Son. "He that hath the Son hath life" I Jn 5:11,12

But those who receive eternal life through faith in Christ may also receive the crown of life in addition, if so be that they suffer for Him even unto death.

Don’t have the attitude of, “Well, I don’t care about the rewards, as long as I make it to Heaven that will be reward enough for me.” It’s not about you, even in the case of rewards, it’s still all about Jesus.
Rev. 4:10...The crowns we receive are just our gift back to Christ for all He has done for us.