Christ our prophet

Question 23 answers that Christ as our Redeemer executes the offices of a prophet, of a priest and of a king, both in his humiliation and in his exaltation; Question 24, that he executes the office of a prophet in revealing to us, by his Word and Spirit, the will of God for our salvation.

Unknown engraver, Synagogue Ruins at Tell Hûm, a Supposed Site of Capernaum, 1890 · Source

This week's questions

What offices doth Christ execute as our Redeemer? Christ, as our Redeemer, executeth the offices of a prophet, of a priest, and of a king, both in his estate of humiliation and exaltation.
Question 23

How doth Christ execute the office of a prophet? Christ executeth the office of a prophet, in revealing to us, by his Word and Spirit the will of God for our salvation.
Question 24

Questions 21 and 22 told who the Redeemer is (last week); from Question 23 the catechism asks what he does. Question 23 names his three offices together, and Question 24 opens the first of them. The offices of priest and king come next week in Questions 25 and 26, and his two estates the week after, in Questions 27 and 28.

The Anointed and his three offices

The old prophet Samuel anoints the young David, who kneels bare-shouldered, while Jesse's household crowds round to watch. — Paolo Veronese, The Anointing of David, c. 1555 (Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna) · Source

‘Christ’ means the Anointed One. In Israel prophets, priests and kings were anointed, and the Larger Catechism says our Mediator is called Christ because he "was anointed with the Holy Ghost above measure" to execute all three offices Larger Catechism, Q. 42. Question 23's proof texts show them in turn. In the first, Peter applies to Jesus the prophet like Moses whom Moses foretold (Acts 3:21-22); in the next, Christ does not take the glory of the high priesthood on himself but is appointed by God (Hebrews 5:5-7); the next two sing of the King set on Zion (Psalm 2:6) and of the child whose government will have no end (Isaiah 9:6-7).

The three offices are not three separate jobs but three sides of one redemption. John Calvin taught that to know why the Father sent Christ and what he brings us, we must look to his offices as prophet, king and priest Calvin, Institutes 2.15; the church calls this his threefold office. And he carries it out in both estates. Hebrews says that in the days of his earthly life he offered prayers "with loud cries and tears" (Hebrews 5:7), and Peter says that heaven must take him in until the restoration of all things (Acts 3:21). The one humbled on earth and the one exalted in heaven are the same prophet, priest and king.

This is not a Reformed peculiarity. The Catechism of the Catholic Church explains that ‘Christ’ means the anointed, and teaches that as Christ is priest, prophet and king, the whole people of God has a part in all three Catechism of the Catholic Church, 436, 783. The Orthodox and Lutheran churches also confess Christ as prophet, priest and king. Prophet, priest and king, in the Christian Doctrine course, treats the three offices at length.

By his Word and Spirit

The first proof text of Question 24 shows who this prophet is:

No one has ever seen God, but the one and only Son, who is Himself God and is at the Father’s side, has made Him known.
John 1:18

The Greek for ‘made known’, , means to tell out, to explain. No one has seen God, and the Son has made him known: both stand in one verse. The way to know God is opened in the Son. Matthew Henry, an English minister, writes: "no man can know God, except as he is made known in the only begotten and beloved Son" Matthew Henry.

He was at work as prophet before he became man. The next proof text says that the Spirit of Christ in the prophets of old foretold his sufferings and the glories to follow, and that these things are now announced by those who preached the gospel by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven (1 Peter 1:10-12). One Spirit spoke through the prophets and speaks through the preachers. So the Larger Catechism says that Christ reveals God's will to his church "in all ages, by his Spirit and word" Larger Catechism, Q. 43.

He teaches us as friends, not servants:

No longer do I call you servants, for a servant does not understand what his master is doing. But I have called you friends, because everything I have learned from My Father I have made known to you.
John 15:15

The last proof text says where that teaching is now: "these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in His name" (John 20:31). Christ speaks today in the written word and in its preaching, opening our hearts by his Spirit. The Heidelberg Catechism adds that because we share his anointing, we are called Christians "in order that I also may confess his name" Heidelberg Catechism, Q. 32. Those who learn from Christ the prophet become people who speak his name.

How the Old Testament points to him is the subject of The Scriptures that point to Christ, in How to Read the Bible, and the Reformed Faith course's Christ alone, glory to God alone honours his offices; see also Is Jesus the Messiah? and What did Jesus teach?

To ponder this week

A boy in a red cap sits at a desk with a sheaf of papers, pen held to his chin, lost in thought, an inkpot hanging from the desk's edge. — Rembrandt van Rijn, Titus at His Desk, 1655 (Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen, Rotterdam) · Source

Where will I sit and listen to Christ the prophet this week, and what is he saying there to me? It may be Sunday's sermon, or a chapter of the Bible opened in the morning. Before you listen, ask briefly for the Spirit's help; afterwards, write down one thing he made known to you.

Practice

Practice 1 of 6
According to Question 23, what offices does Christ execute as our Redeemer?
Practice 2 of 6
Which of Question 23's proof texts says that Christ, in the days of his earthly life, offered prayers with loud cries and tears?
Practice 3 of 6
According to Question 24, how does Christ execute the office of a prophet?
Practice 4 of 6
According to 1 Peter 1:10-12, who in the prophets of old foretold the sufferings of Christ and the glories to follow?
Practice 5 of 6
In John 15:15, why does Jesus call his disciples friends?
Practice 6 of 6
What is true of the teaching that Christ holds three offices and that believers share in them?

Reading to the end marks it read; tap to switch it.

Source

John Calvin, Institutes of the Christian Religion 2.15 — 1559. To know why the Father sent Christ and what he brought us, we must look above all at three things in him, the prophetic office, the kingship and the priesthood: the Anointed's office set out in these three.
Catholic Church, Catechism of the Catholic Church 436, 783 — 1992. 'Christ' means the anointed (436); Christ was anointed by the Father with the Holy Spirit as priest, prophet and king, and the whole people of God shares in these three offices (783).

Lessons from the Bible, the church's creeds, the Westminster Shorter Catechism and the Reformed confessions, the Fathers and classic commentary. They teach the Catechism as the Reformed churches' own, a week at a time, and present both sides where the Reformed differ, and other traditions' views, fairly. Scripture quotations: BSB.