Prophetic Office of Christ

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.

Pastor Martin traces Christ's prophetic function across four periods of redemptive history: preparation (theophanies, the Angel of Jehovah, and the Spirit of Christ in the Old Testament prophets, 1 Peter 1:10-11, 3:18-20), manifestation (the incarnation, John's testimony, the Mount of Transfiguration, and Christ's own authoritative preaching), explanation (the apostolic writings as the completion of Christ's teaching through the Spirit), and expansion/culmination (the preserved Scriptures and the standing office of pastor-teacher in the church).

Pastor Martin shows that Christ is uniquely fitted to be the great prophet of His church, not merely because He was appointed, but because of who He is. He opens two of three planned arguments: the unequal dignity of His person (from John 1:14-18 and John 3:11-13, the God-only-begotten who comes out of the bosom of the Father), and the unrivaled authority of His position as mediator (the Father having given Him all things). He draws out implications for our understanding of Scripture, for refusing the tyranny of men over conscience, and for the simplicity of true biblical worship.

Pastor Martin explores the corporate implications of Christ's prophetic office, especially in the realm of authority. Since Christ alone is the supreme prophet of His church, five enemies must be resolutely resisted: ignorance of the words of Christ (Matthew 22:29), indifference to the words of Christ (Hosea 8:12), unbelief (Luke 24:25), human tradition that negates God's commandment (Mark 7:8-9), and fanaticism that claims revelation beyond the closed canon. The whole application is intensely pastoral, grounding Trinity Baptist's commitment to systematic exposition, reading of Scripture, and progressive reform according to Scripture.

Pastor Martin opens up the corporate implications of Christ's prophetic office, focusing on the first of two great dangers: undervaluing the ministry of the Word. Building on Ephesians 4 he argues that the pastor-teachers Christ gives to His church are nothing less than the appointed instruments through whom Christ Himself, as great Prophet, continues to speak to His people. To despise or trivialize the preaching of those whom He sends is to reject Christ Himself, while to recognize them as His gifts is to encounter the living Christ in the proclamation of His Word.

Pastor Martin completes his treatment of the corporate implications of Christ's prophetic office by warning against the opposite error from undervaluing the ministry: idolizing the ministers themselves. He uses Matthew 23, the noble Bereans of Acts 17, and Paul's command not to become bondslaves of men to plead that God's people honor the ministry of the Word without ever surrendering the right of private judgment under Scripture. The sermon urges critical, Berean-like listening that holds fast only to what is genuinely from God, lest lazy hearers be led into the tyranny that always follows uncritical attachment to human teachers.

Pastor Martin opens up another dimension of Christ's prophetic office: not only does Christ bring His Word to the outer ear through inspired Scripture and faithful preachers, He also exercises an inward, sovereign ministry by which He opens the eyes of the heart so that men and women savingly perceive the beauty and power of the truth. From Luke 24, the Emmaus account, Lydia in Acts 16, and 1 John 5:20, he demonstrates that Christ alone gives this understanding, and then draws out three practical implications: a spirit of dependence (expressed in prayerfulness), a spirit of fear lest we sever the inward work from the written Word, and a spirit of gratitude when Christ does open our eyes.