Covenant – Prophet Priest and King

Prophet Priest and King

Within the life of every nation, there are certain officials and offices that move the nation along. Here in the U.S., we have senators, governors, mayors, the president, supreme court judges, and the list goes on and on. In God’s nation of Israel, he gave them three main offices: prophet, priest and king. These offices meant more than economic security, healthcare prosperity, and national defense. God gave the offices of prophet priest and king in order to reveal himself and give leaders to guide the nation to know God.

Now, it’s true that the nation had different types of leaders than these three. I think of Nehemiah who was described as a governor. My mind wanders to the judges who saved Israel on multiple occasions before they had a king. Even Esther provided some form of leadership during exile as queen of another nation. All of these examples are of people God used to bring the nation to repentance from sin into relationship with God. But in comparison to broad strokes in the Old Testament, God mainly used the prophet priest and king to lead his people to salvation.

Prophet

There seems to be a lot of confusion in our day as to what a prophet actually is. Many think of prophecy and think of predicting the future. The average image is more like the freaky Ghost of Christmas Future than an actual biblical prophet. But, in the Bible, the prophet of God was much more interested in forthtelling than foretelling. To be true, some of the proclamation that prophets were given by God involved future actions like Jeremiah predicting coming judgment in Jeremiah 19. Still, the main objective for a prophet was to hear the Word of God and proclaim it. In some sense, the prophet was the first preacher.

The most understandable picture of a prophet to me in the Bible is within the relationship of Aaron and Moses in the book of Exodus. When God called Moses to lead his people out of captivity, Moses complained that Pharaoh and Israel would not listen to him. But God proclaimed in Exodus 7:1, “See, I have made you like God to Pharaoh, and your brother Aaron shall be your prophet. You shall speak and your brother Aaron shall tell Pharaoh to let the people of Israel go.” So Moses spoke to Aaron, and then Aaron spoke to the people. This is exactly the relationship of the prophet with God and Israel. God spoke to the prophet and the prophet, in turn, speaks to Israel communicating on behalf of God.

In short, the prophet spoke the Word of God to the people of Israel. Whether it was Moses giving them the blessing and cursing of the covenant, Jeremiah speaking of impending judgment, Isaiah giving hope in a restored Israel, or Hosea declaring Israel an adulterous whore; God gave the prophets His Word and they proclaimed what God wanted the people to hear.

Priest

Of the three offices, priest is the easiest to identify for me. When I think of the word priest, I picture the Roman Catholic Church. I think of confession. I hear the words, “Father, forgive me for I have sinned,” with the reply, “How long has it been since your last confession?”

I don’t agree with Roman Catholic theology, but the fact that the priest is available for repentance from his congregation does help me grasp the idea of priest in the life of Israel and the covenant. The priest was the mediator between God and man. When an Israelite wanted to offer a sacrifice for repentance; the priest was there. When he came to give an offering of thanksgiving; the priest was there. When he would come to worship and give to God in the Temple; the priest was there. The priest was available on behalf of Israel to welcome them into the presence of God.

God’s grace is evident in all the prophets and kings; Grace to give us the very Word of God through the prophets and Grace to lead the nation in righteousness through the king. But, seeing the priest mediate between God and man, grace abounds. In the priest, we understand God’s provision for tainted, dirty sinners to experience the presence of God.

Don’t talk to me about dead ritual or dry information in the book of Leviticus, Deuteronomy, and parts of Exodus. I don’t see it and that’s not the pathos of these parts of Scripture. Rather, these sections tell us of the availability of a righteous God given to unworthy people. I picture an Israelite filled with shame after screwing over a brother and stealing from his flock, hurting his family, or taking a sacrifice to Baal because his crop isn’t producing like God promised. Now, this Israelite weeps as he finds out that he can return and repent from the priest. I think of Jacob cheating Esau, Jeremiah weeping for the exile, Hosea burdened for Gomer, and Nehemiah praying for repentance as they all had hope through the priest and the sacrificial system to still experience God despite their sin. God deals with sin and he did it through the priesthood.

The priest was set up from the origins of Israel. As God gave the covenant to Moses in Exodus, he set apart Aaron and his sons to be his priests in Exodus 28 and 29. God consecrated them, set them apart to represent Israel before him. Even their clothes bore witness to their purpose. Exodus 28:29, “So Aaron shall bear the names of the sons of Israel in the breastpiece of judgment on his heart when he goes into the Holy Place, to bring them to regular remembrance before the Lord.”

The entire book of Leviticus is dedicated to priestly duties, expectations, and procedures. Leviticus shows how the priest is to offer sacrifices for sin, thanksgiving, and peace. The priests are instructed in different feasts that bring together Israel for worship. In short, Leviticus is a manual to show God’s provision for making dirty people clean.

After Genesis 3, man understood by knowledge and experience that they were separated from God and righteousness. The priest is God’s grace to Israel to welcome them home to his presence despite the fact they didn’t deserve it.

King

The nation of Israel spiraled out of control when they had no central hope, no leader. In fact, a whole book of the Word of God, Judges, was written to show the state of Israel without a king. They sought for their own gain, whatever prospered them at the time. Many times this meant trusting in other nations or other nations’ gods (Judges 2:13; 2:19; 3:7 4:1 6:1 13:1. Judges summarizes the time without a king simply as “everyone did what was right in his own eyes.”

Now, contrast that with the hope built within the king for salvation in later books of the Bible. In Isaiah 9, the people who have walked in darkness for so long will see a great light, and it is very interesting where this light comes from. Listen to Isaiah 9:6-7, “For to us a child is born, to us a son is given; and the government shall be upon his shoulder, and his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Of the increase of his government and of peace there will be no end, on the throne of David and over his kingdom…” The very hope of Israel’s messiah was bound up in the coming of a king!

The book of Chronicles is a gospel centered overview of Israel’s history starting at Adam looking all the way to the end of the exile. The chronicler looks through Israel’s entire history and shows God’s grace and salvation to a people who do not deserve it. It’s a very. Chronicles is very hope filled and one of my favorite books in the Bible. But do you know where all the hope for knowing God comes from in Chronicles? Salvation comes from the king and the temple. The king led in righteousness and the temple brought the presence of God. The reader sees that either the king brought reform and repentance like David (1 Chronicles 13:3) or will lead the people to idolatry like Rehoboam (2 Chronicles 12:1).

The last important point to understand with the king is to see God’s covenant narrowed toward King David. 2 Samuel 7 and 1 Chronicles 17 record the covenant the God made with David. Now, this is not a different covenant than God made with Abraham, but rather it’s the same covenant narrowed. If you read these two chapters (and obviously I want you to) you see the same promises given to David that were given to Abraham: 1) a land for the people 2) an offspring that will save and 3) a great name among the earth. From this time forward, you see the hope of Israel wrapped up in the line of David and the Son of David.    

The Big Deal

We just talked a lot about three offices in a nation far removed from our own. So, it can really be a temptation to get frustrated and say ‘who cares?’ It reminds me of the typical college kid that goes to class. In that season of life, their perspective is narrowed to the weekend. So they may sit in class with their shades drawn fighting to stay awake and continually think (or say out loud if they have no social awareness), “dude, who cares.” But, as they continue to live, grow up, and assume responsibility in their respective fields; the education that sunk in through the years comes to mind and suddenly they seem to care. As we practice building our faith through reading the Old Testament, we will find that we seem to care more and more.

Why is it important to understand the role of Prophet Priest and King? So many times as readers of the Bible, we identify with the prophet priest and king when we should identify with the ones who followed the prophet priest and king. The difference is in seeing God’s grace through these offices, or seeing a moral example to follow from the men who held these offices. We should see the Prophet Priest and King as God’s provision to lead his people to salvation instead of mere example. God’s provision leads to faith and life, example leads to law and death.

The Fulfillment- Prophet Priest and King

Jesus is the Prophet Priest and King of the Covenant. Jesus is the Prophet of the Covenant. Mark, in his Gospel, says that people recognized Jesus taught, not like a scribe, but like one who had authority (Mark 1:22). Matthew showed that Jesus gave his law in Matthew 5-7. Many times, Jesus is called teacher and people mistook him as a mere prophet (Mark 8:28). Like the Prophets who proclaimed the Word of God, Jesus perfectly taught us the Word of God, his very life.

Jesus is the Priest of the Covenant. The entire book of Hebrews is dedicated to the perseverance of Christians because Jesus is our High Priest. We can enter to the Throne of Grace because Jesus went before us as our Priest (Hebrews 4:14-16).

Jesus is the King of the Covenant. Many times the Gospels call Jesus the Son of David referring to the promise that God would secure David’s son’s throne forever (Matthew 1:1; 9:27; Mark 12:35; Luke 1:32).

Any reading of the Old or New Testament that does not see Jesus as the anticipated or revealed Prophet, Priest, and King is inadequate.