YESHUA—Prophet or Priest or King?
Quite possibly, you may have struggled as I. So let’s just get it (the struggle) out there on the table.
- Maybe it bothers us when the world refers to Jesus as just a ‘prophet’ rather than as the Messiah & Son of God.
- Maybe it bothers us when the world does not recognize Jesus as the Chief Priest.
- Maybe it also bothers us when the world does not claim Jesus as the KING of kings.
Primarily it has always bothered us because quite possibly we struggle to understand our Savior & Redeemer as a prophet-like man. Thus, we find ourselves in a dilemma:
YESHUA (Hebrew name for JESUS)—Prophet or Priest or King?
The Answer: YES!
The prophet Moses wrote the book of Deuteronomy, so let’s begin there.
“The LORD said to me, “They have spoken well.
(Deuteronomy 18: 17-19 NASB)
I will raise up a prophet from among their countrymen like you, and I will put My words in His mouth, and He shall speak to them all that I command Him.
It shall come about that whoever will not listen to My words which He shall speak in My name, I Myself will require it of him.”
The four Gospels reveal Jesus, the Son of man.
There were some disciples of Jesus who were withdrawing, who were choosing to walk away from the Truth. At that time, Jesus asked His chosen twelve:
“You do not want to go away also, do you?”
(The Gospel According to John 6: 67b-71 NASB)
“Simon Peter answered Him, ‘Lord, to whom shall we go? You have words of eternal life.
We have believed and have come to know that You are the Holy One of God.’
Jesus answered them,
“Did I Myself not choose you, the twelve, and yet one of you is a devil?”
“Now He meant Judas the son of Simon Iscariot,
for he, one of the twelve, was going to betray Him.”
I love this passage for numerous reasons, and I will explain why, but first let me share a chorus from a commonly, known Christmas carol, one we have probably sung every year since we were old enough to memorize lyrics.
“O come, let us adore Him,
O come, let us adore Him,
O come, let us adore Him,
Christ the Lord!”
“O Come, All Ye Faithful”—John Francis Wade
HIM—CHRIST THE LORD!
- God of God.
- Light from Light.
- Son of man, born of a virgin.
- Son of Father God, begotten, not created.
- Word made flesh.
In studying the Old Testament prophets, men like Abraham, Moses, Samuel, Nathan, Elijah, Isaiah, & Jeremiah—we see the truth of Moses’ recording of the Mosaic Law & John’s Gospel as we read the words of Simon Peter.
“Lord, to whom shall we go? You have words of eternal life.
(The Gospel According to John 6: 68-69 NASB)
We have believed and have come to know that You are the Holy One of God.”
- At the end of Moses’ life, he spoke of the One to come, another ‘prophet’ who would speak the TRUTH.
- While some were falling away from following Jesus, we see the apostle Peter’s declaration of the TRUTH.
- We see throughout the entire Bible how prophets proclaimed what was to come & then we see how the TRUTH proclaimed actually did occur just as they prophesied.
“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
(The Gospel According to John 1: 1-5 NASB)
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.
In Him was life, and the life was the Light of men.
The Light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it.”
Notice how our Lord Jesus Christ proclaimed the TRUTH about Himself—
Jesus prophesied when He proclaimed—
- His death on the cross,
- His burial in the tomb &
- His resurrection after three days
Jesus prophesied how He was the Great High Priest when He—
- Tore the temple veil in two pieces,
- Revealed that those who believe in Him could now have direct access to Him through prayer.
- Made the way for us to know God.
- Created a direct access through prayer, so that we no longer need the earthly priest to intercede for us because Jesus Himself speaks to the Father on our behalf when we pray.
Jesus prophesied that He is the KING of kings & LORD of lords, just as He said—
- He came to earth, just as He proclaimed He would through the Old Testament prophets.
- He came as a babe in a manger, just as the angel of the LORD revealed to Mary, Joseph, & the shepherds.
- He came as the Messiah, just as the LORD promised Simeon he would see the Messiah before his death.
- He came as the atoning sacrifice, just as the LORD instructed the apostle Paul to preach.
YESHUA—JESUS: Prophet & Priest & King!
- The prophet Moses declared the Word of the LORD.
- The Word made flesh proclaimed by the apostle John.
- “You have words of eternal life.” the chosen disciple Simon Peter proclaimed to Jesus.
- The Word of God tells us He is coming again! Why would we not believe the TRUTH!
In closing, the apostle Paul was led through the Holy Spirit of God to write this epistle to the church at Philippi.
“More than that, I count all things to be loss in view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them but rubbish so that I may gain Christ,
and may be found in Him, not having a righteousness of my own derived from the Law,
[the Mosaic Law given to the prophet Moses]
but that which is through faith in Christ,
the righteousness which comes from God on the basis of faith,
- that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection
- and the fellowship of His sufferings,
- being conformed to His death;
in order that I may attain to the resurrection from the dead.”
(The Letter of Paul to the Philippians 3: 8-11 NASB)