First Sunday of Advent - Jesus as Prophet
Sermon Notes
Series Title: “Jesus as Prophet, Priest, King, and Shepherd”
“Jesus as Prophet”
Like Elijah, Jesus was anointed as a prophet, and He was like no other prophet, ever. Like Aaron, He was anointed as priest, and He was like no other priest, ever. Like David, He was anointed as a king, and He was like no other king, ever.
A prophet is a messenger sent by God, one who speaks for God. He/she witnesses to God, calls people to conversion and the kingdom of God. He/she may also foretell the future.
Israel spoke of their prophets as being anointed with the Spirit for this mission, yet they were often rejected and killed for their message.
Jesus fits this description. He is God - the Word of God in the flesh (John 1.1-5). He called the world to turn from sin and return to the Father, and for this cause He was put to death. In Scripture, Jesus is presented as a prophet. Crowds identified Him as “Jesus the prophet” (Matthew 21.11). He spoke of Himself as a prophet; “No prophet is welcome in his own town” (Luke 4.24). People recognized Him as such; “Never has a man spoken the way this man speaks” (John 7.46). He foretold His passion and resurrection (Matthew 16.21), and He spoke clearly as He described “the last days” (Matthew 24 and 25). Like the prophets before Him, He was rejected and He died for His mission (Matthew 27.54).
He is the prophet spoken of by Moses;
"The LORD your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among you, from your countrymen, you shall listen to him. This is according to all that you have asked of the LORD your God in Horeb on the day of the assembly, saying, ‘Let me not hear again the voice of the LORD my God, let me not see this great fire tomorrow, or I will die.’ The LORD has said to me, ‘They have spoken well.’ 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” (Deuteronomy 18.15-18).
That Moses spoke these words concerning Jesus is confirmed by Peter in Acts 3;
"Therefore repent and return, so that your sins may be wiped away, in order that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord; and that He may send Jesus, the Christ appointed for you, whom heaven must receive until the period of restoration of all things about which God spoke by the mouth of His holy prophets from ancient time.
Moses said, "THE LORD GOD WILL RAISE UP FOR YOU A PROPHET LIKE ME FROM YOUR BRETHREN; TO HIM YOU SHALL GIVE HEED to everything He says to you. And it will be that every soul that does not heed that prophet shall be utterly destroyed from among the people.' And likewise, all the prophets who have spoken, from Samuel and his successors onward, also announced these days.
It is you who are the sons of the prophets and of the covenant which God made with your fathers, saying to Abraham, ‘AND IN YOUR SEED ALL THE FAMILIES OF THE EARTH SHALL BE BLESSED.' For you first, God raised up His Servant and sent Him to bless you by turning every one of you from your wicked ways" (Acts 3.19-26).
In summary:
1. Jesus came to proclaim the person and message of God in the flesh (John 17.3). “He who has seen Me has seen the Father; how then can you say, ‘Show us the Father’?” (John 14.9b). As a prophet, He proclaimed God through who He was (He was God) and what He preached.
2. Jesus preached the kingdom of God; “From that time Jesus began to preach and say, ‘Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand’” (Matthew 4.17). “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life” (John 3.16). In His first public message, He drew from the great prophet Isaiah and proclaimed that He was
God’s anointed one to preach the kingdom message (Isaiah 61.1-3; Luke 4.18, 19).
3. Jesus prophesied the future. He foretold His death and resurrection (Matthew 16.21). He prophesied His coming church (Matthew 16.18). He spoke clearly of the last days (Matthew 24 & 25). He foretold Peter’s three denials (Matthew 26.34).
Applying the Truth to Life
As followers of Christ, we are commanded to “make disciples” (Matthew 28.19) with His authority and be His “witnesses” (Acts 1.8) in the power of the Holy Spirit. As such, it is our mission to proclaim Christ as prophet in this three-fold sense. We are:
1. To proclaim the message of Jesus as the ultimate prophet from God – God in the flesh – Jesus as the Son of God proclaiming the message of the kingdom of God.
2. To proclaim His message of repentance – repent and trust Him. He alone is the answer – He alone is eternal life – He alone offers forgiveness of sin.
3. To proclaim that He alone knows the future and that He is trustworthy. What He says is true, we can believe Him, and we are safe in Him.
Will you and will I acknowledge Him as the prophet from heaven born to Mary and Joseph in that stable near Bethlehem? He and His message are for us and for us to share with others.