Hugh Martin

Pastor Martin begins an in-depth treatment of Christ's priestly office, explaining that he departs from the traditional prophet-priest-king order because Scripture gives predominance to the priesthood and because the priestly office casts its shadow over the prophetic and kingly functions. He establishes the reality of Christ's priestly office two ways: Christ is specifically called a priest, and His work is described in strict priestly categories. He then unfolds the four essential ingredients of priestly function from Hebrews 5:1: taken from men, appointed for men, in things pertaining to God, to offer for sins.

Pastor Martin drives to the essence of Christ's priestly sacrifice through two key texts: Hebrews 9:14 and Hebrews 7:27 — 'He offered up himself.' He unfolds Christ as both the passive substitutionary victim (Isaiah 53, 1 Peter 2:24) and the active representative priest who bound Himself to the altar with cords of love. Drawing on Hugh Martin, he shows that Christ's death was His grandest doing — not mere passive endurance but the most intense spiritual activity, through the eternal Spirit, offered to God without spot.

Pastor Martin opens the study of Christ's prophetic office by first establishing the biblical concept of a prophet from Exodus 4, Deuteronomy 18, and Jeremiah 1 — a person supernaturally instructed and sovereignly commissioned by God to make known the will of God to men in the very words of God. He then shows from Acts 3 that Jesus is explicitly designated the prophet like unto Moses, and from John's gospel that Christ repeatedly claims the Father has put His words in His mouth.