In this post, I want to complete a teaching on Christ’s mediatorial work exercised through His three roles of prophet, priest and king. We conclude with Christ as King.
As I established in the last few posts, Jesus Christ is our mediator to help reconcile us to God. Jesus does this difficult work in three ways: He represents God to us (as a Prophet) , He represents us to God (as a Priest), and He reigns over the church on behalf of the Father (as our King).
We have a lot of funny ideas about royalty, and we get this from stories and fables we have been told, many of which are made into movies. Interestingly, on more than one occasion the strength of a king has been connected to the king of beasts, the lion. This should not surprise as as the Bible does the same as the very King about which the Bible is written was referred to as the Lion of Judah. This title began all the way back with Jacob and the blessing of his sons in Genesis 49:8-9:
"Judah, your brothers shall praise you; your hand shall be on the neck of your enemies; your father's sons shall bow down before you. Judah is a lion's cub; from the prey, my son, you have gone up. He stooped down; he crouched as a lion and as a lioness; who dares rouse him?"
The Bible ends with a recognition that the blessing of Judah was prophetic and predicted the coming of the King of Kings through Judah’s lineage. Revelation 5:5 records:
"And one of the elders said to me, 'Weep no more; behold, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has conquered, so that he can open the scroll and its seven seals'."
The Bible is truly a royal book about kings and kingdoms, and in particular one specific king, the King above all other kings. The Bible contains 2,526 uses of the Hebrew term translated as “king” and 118 of the Greek term (Beeke & Smalley, 1112). In fact, the very first human, Adam, was placed in the garden and created by the Trinity to be a king on earth in that he was created to “have dominion” over every other living thing (Gen. 1:26-28). Remember, Adam is a type of Christ, Jesus Christ being the second Adam who fixed what Adam had broken through sin. This means that Christ came to redeem Adam’s kingship as well, being the perfect and everlasting King.
Jesus didn’t just come to fulfill Adam’s role as king over everything on earth, but he also came as the fulfillment of a covenant made with King David. I will speak in more detail in a future posts about the significance of the Davidic covenant, but for the sake of our current topic of Christ’s mediatorial work, we need to remember that God established an everlasting covenant with King David in 2 Sam. 7:12-16.
Christ Our King
Biblically speaking, what was the role of the king under God? The first responsibility of a ruler or king was to be an embodiment of the people before God in community. Kings were intended to help create community with God. Adam accomplished this task as he walked with God and tended the garden, naming the animals and caring for his wife. David was chosen over Saul because he was a man after God’s own heart. This meant that he would lead the nation towards God in community.
The second responsibility for a king was to be a representative of God to the people of God, a shepherdly task. Kings were intended to lead their houses and nations in the direction of God. Adam failed to lead his wife toward God, choosing instead to follow her lead in disobedience. David had several failings in his personal purity and fatherly leadership that eventually lead to a broken nation under Solomon’s sons.
We have to remember that God did not design the role of king to act independently from Him. This is important to remember in a cultural context in which we have been granted the right to help choose our governing leaders. Do we pursue candidates that will lead us toward community with God? This can be a difficult task indeed.
Before God gave Israel a king, Samuel the prophet led the nation under God’s authority. Samuel was the result of Hannah’s faithful prayers for a child, and Samuel was the anointer of King Saul, and King David from whom would come Jesus. Listen to the end of Hannah’s prayer of thankfulness in 1 Samuel 2:9-10
“He will guard the feet of his faithful ones, but the wicked shall be cut off in darkness, for not by might shall a man prevail. The adversaries of the LORD shall be broken to pieces; against them he will thunder in heaven. The LORD will judge the ends of the earth; he will give strength to his king and exalt the horn of his anointed.”
Before Saul was anointed, Samuel warned Israel that in wanting a human king, they were rejecting God as king, and that earthly kings would be a great burden on the people rather than a great blessing (1 Samuel 8). We must keep in mind that in allowing Israel to have a king, God did not surrender His authority but in His sovereignty established a kingly line through which Jesus would come to reign forever.
King Solomon wrote Proverbs as a kingly manual for his sons. He stated this in Proverbs 8:13–16:
"The fear of the LORD is hatred of evil. Pride and arrogance and the way of evil and perverted speech I hate. I have counsel and sound wisdom; I have insight; I have strength. By me kings reign, and rulers decree what is just; by me princes rule, and nobles, all who govern justly."
Daniel, in speaking for God to the king of the of Babylon, stated this in Daniel 2:20-22:
“Blessed be the name of God forever and ever, to whom belong wisdom and might. He changes times and seasons; he removes kings and sets up kings; he gives wisdom to the wise and knowledge to those who have understanding; he reveals deep and hidden things; he knows what is in the darkness, and the light dwells with him.”
Jesus isn’t just a king in a metophorical sense. He really is the king of the global kingdom of his church. Romans 14:17 says,
"For the kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking but of righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit."
Jesus was very clear about his authority as a king during his trial under Pilate in John 18:37:
"Then Pilate said to him, 'So you are a king?' Jesus answered, 'You say that I am a king. For this purpose I was born and for this purpose I have come into the world—to bear witness to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth listens to my voice'.”
Jonathan Leeman, in his book Church Membership, How The World Knows Who Represents Jesus, stated it this way: “Picture, if you will, a globe with all the nations of the world mapped out on it. Now picture one little embassy of light. It’s gathering of Christians, gathered together in the name of their King, Jesus. Then the point of light divides itself into two, then four, then eight, and so it goes. A new nation is growing, a nation set inside nations. This new nation leaves the boundary lines on the map where they are, but it cannot be contained by the map’s lines. The line makers don’t have the authority to stop these unworldly citizens. The points of light cross all boundaries, spreading everywhere like yeast through dough, or like stars appearing one by one as the night sky darkens. These are the churches of Christ and their members. The world has never known anything like them" (Leeman, 32-33).
How will Jesus rule and reign in the future? He will return victoriously and king revealed as Lord of lords and King of kings John saw in his vision Jesus standing in the middle of seven golden lamp stands representing the churches mentioned in Revelation. It was a vision of Christ’s kingly authority over the global church (Rev. 1). “When we go to the Holy Scriptures to discover how “the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has conquered,” we find “a Lamb standing, as though it had been slain” (Rev. 5:5-6 ESV). Just as the Passover lamb was central to Israel’s exodus and victory over Egypt, so Christ crucified is central to the spiritual exodus of God’s saints from all nations and their victory over Satan and this world (12:11)" (Beeke & Smalley, 1119).
Emulating Christ's Roles
How do Christ’s three roles relate to one another? He never acts merely as prophet, but always as mediator. The three aspects flow out of his mediation. He is still performing in these three roles with us as his church today in our individual lives. “With respect to each aspect of Christ’s threefold office, we may speak of his finished and continuing work—redemption accomplished and applied” (Beeke & Smalley, 1117).
So if we are emulate Jesus in our lives, how do we emulate and represent Christ’s threefold office?
We are called to reveal God (prophetic) - Adam revealed God’s glory.
We are called to worship God (priestly) - Adam worshiped God.
We are called to represent God (princely) - Adam exercised dominion.
Galatians 4:6–7 reminds us,
"And because you are sons, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, 'Abba! Father!' So you are no longer a slave, but a son, and if a son, then an heir through God."
Romans 8:12–17 likewise says,
"So then, brothers, we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh. For if you live according to the flesh you will die, but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live. For all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God. For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, 'Abba! Father!' The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs—heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him."
Stephen Charnock stated: “The efficacy of this divine Passover delivers men from a spiritual captivity, under the yoke of sin and the irons of Satan, instates them in the liberty of the children of God, whereby they become a holy nation, a royal priesthood. (Charnock, 4:514).
References
Charnock, Christ Our Passover, in Works, 4:514. Cited from Beeke and Smalley, 1120fac
Joele R. Beeke & Paul M. Smalley, Reformed Systematic Theology Vol. 2 (Crossway. Wheaton, Il. 2020) pg. 1112
Jonathan Leeman, Church Membership, How The World Knows Who Represents Jesus. (Crossway. Wheaton, Ill. 2012)
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