John 11:53-57 (Jesus, Our True Prophet, Priest, and King)

Thank you for subscribing to the shepherds church podcast. This is our Lord's Day sermon We pray that as we declare the

Word of God that you would be encouraged Strengthened in your faith and that you would catch a greater vision of who

Christ is May you be blessed in the hearing of God's Word and may the Lord be with you

Well today we're gonna be closing out the

Gospel of John We've been in this gospel now. I think this is the 75th sermon so far in this gospel.

We're in chapter 11 We began maybe two and a half years ago in December of 2019 on this journey and we've been following an

Organizational structure to the Gospel of John where we've been doing it chronologically Now, of course, we've been going verse by verse through the text that's expositional preaching but but we've been noticing that John out of all the

Gospels is The most chronological he tells us of Jesus's beginning of his ministry

He tells us of the end of his ministry and he tells us of the middle and all of those parts in between and we know that because John's gospel is the only gospel that Organizes his material based off of the

Passovers and there's four Passovers in the Gospel of John Which kind of adds up to about 3 .5

years There's the Passover in John 2, which means that Jesus now is entering into public ministry.

That's sort of day one of his public ministry There's a Passover in John 5, which is the second

Passover and ends his first year of ministry There's a Passover in John 7

Which brings the second full year of ministry to completion and then the final Passover where Jesus dies ends his third year of ministry

So if you take John 1 and John 2 which is four to six months and you tack it on to the three -year ministry

That he had he had a three and a half year ministry and we get that from John's gospel Matthew Mark and Luke are telling more of a thematic picture of the of Jesus which is what's one way to tell a story you take all the things that you know about a person and you organize the material in a thematic way to emphasize a theological point

John what we've noticed is organizing his material in a in a chronological way

He's been organizing his material in a way that emphasizes the timing of things And that's why many times he will quote

Jesus as saying my hour has not yet come Now that doesn't mean John is not theological in fact John may be the most theological gospel with more

Old Testament themes and and stuff than Maybe any of the other books of the

Bible like John is just a rich reservoir of theological truth, but I didn't see a theological structuring to the book to where I would say that the book is

Organized based off of theology because it seems so clear that it's organized based off of chronology Even though there's theological concepts in it, but this week

I saw another way to organize the material Another way that the gospel of John is trying to get across this

Information that he's been sharing with us and I think that you will I don't want to speak too highly here But I think you'll be blown away by it.

I think when you see What the Lord allowed me to see in this passage this week when you see it,

I Think it will blow you away Because the gospel is not just organized in a chronological way it is

John 11 he has two weeks left to live John 12. He has one week left to live We know that because the book is chronological

But it's also got a theological structure to it where John is trying to teach us something about the

Messiah the book Even says that's its purpose in John 20 31

He says these things have been written meaning that not everything has been written Some things have been written that are trying to accomplish a purpose and what is that purpose so that you will believe that Jesus is the

Christ? That means Messiah and That by believing in him you have life in his name John wants us to believe in the

Messianic Messiah ship of Jesus and if we believe in those things if we believe who he said he is

Then we will have life in his name We've talked about this many times in this gospel that John is not trying to get us to have academic or mental assent

To a to a subset of data. He's not just saying hey believe in Jesus and then everything will will be made whole

James even says the demons in hell believe and they shudder. It's not just easy believism. It's not just mental assent

It's not just yeah, I agree with what the pastor said No, John is organizing his book to say do you believe that he is the

Messiah and that will give you life in his name?

now Today, we're gonna look at this theological thematic division

That John has structured his book in and what we're gonna see is truly astounding We're gonna see that in this way of organizing his material that John is going to show us that Jesus is not just The suffering servant who dies

But he's our prophet and he's our priest and he's our king

That is what we're gonna see today and to do that we're gonna have to go back into the Old Testament scriptures in order to see it because John out of all of the

Gospel writers and out of all of the New Testament writers is the most Saturated when it comes to the

Old Testament There the most Old Testament book and all of the old and all of the

New Testament is Revelation which is book written by John there's no book in the New Testament canon that has as many allusions to and Illustrations from and just point points that are pointing back to the

Old Testament as the book of Revelation John's gospel is certainly in the upper echelons right there with Hebrews and some other books like John's Writing style is

I want to look back at the Old Testament scriptures so that I can show you the New Covenant realities and if we're gonna understand how

Jesus is our prophet priest and King if we're gonna understand that Being our prophet priest and King is what

Messiah actually means Then we got to go back into the Old Testament and The way that John uses the

Old Testament is astounding to me. It's absolutely astounding in the Old Testament God instituted three

Offices that required anointing now there were different offices in the nation

You could have been in David's court or you could have been you know A Levitical priest or you could have done some duty in the kingdom that didn't require you to be anointed but there were three offices that actually required that you be anointed for them and Those were the prophet the priest and the king

That word anointing in the Hebrew is a Hebrew word called Messiah Moshiach means anointed one

It means the one who has been anointed for the role. So therefore in the Old Testament, there's actually many people who are called

Moshiach and What's so fascinating if you haven't already picked it up that word sounds a lot like an English word that we have currently today

Which is Messiah? so the word for anointed one in Hebrew is

Where we get our English word? Messiah which tells me that to be a

Messiah you need to be an anointed one and that means that you must be anointed to do something and if you can get that and You realize that there's only three offices in the

Old Testament that were anointed for a special purpose then Messiah the definition of the term is prophet priest and king so if we want to know

Jesus as Messiah, we need to know Jesus as prophet priest and king and John is gonna teach us now again

We're gonna go into the Old Testament just for a second because I want to show you how these offices were established if you remember

The nation of Israel was established first when God wrestled with a man named Jacob If you remember in the

Old Testament, he wrestled with Jacob and Jacob said I won't let you go to you Give me a blessing God threw his hip out of socket, which you know,

Jacob was old. So that makes sense I'm just kidding and at the end of that sort of moment

God changes his name from Jacob the surplanter the trickster the the guy who deceives people to Israel the man who wrestles with God Israel was founded in a wrestling match

Which mean from the south that actually? Actually sounds pretty cool After that Jacob is a different man.

Totally different man He and his family his 12 sons become the 12 tribes of this new nation and then with the 70 grandkids that he has that sort of becomes a picture of what the eldership community is gonna look like and that family of 70 during a famine go down to the land of Egypt and they sojourn there for 400 years which

God had already told Abraham previously that was gonna happen Now there's census data in the

Torah that says that about 600 ,000 men of fighting age came out of the land of Egypt.

So that means by you know, you just talk about Men who probably had wives and probably had a few kids and then older men older women who weren't eligible to fight

I mean you're talking probably like 2 .4 million people somewhere around 2 .4

2 .5 million people There's a lot of scholars today that will actually object to that point that there was that many people came out of the land of Egypt but scholars also

Objected Jesus rising from the dead. So I don't put my stock in what they say. I put my stock in what the

Bible says and They left Egypt through many miracles that God worked through this for through this

Midian Shepherd called Moses This 2 .4 million people crossed through the

Red Sea They came out of the Red Sea and into the wilderness they marched in the wilderness led by the the fiery presence of God by by night and the smoke cloud

Theophanic presence of God by day and Eventually they come to the mountain of God Where Moses goes up on top of the mountain to get the law of God because Israel needed structure

They came out of Egypt with no centralized government. No religious system. No formal leadership.

Moses is not gonna live forever They need something that's gonna bind them together. That's gonna help them be a people in Relationship with God there is sinful people right now with no ability to live in the presence of a thrice.

Holy God So they need structure. They need something and God Begins by giving them a religious system to help them

And he does that through through laws like the Ten Commandments. We get that early in the book of Exodus and Then he does that through Establishing a priesthood also in Exodus through a sacrificial system

Leviticus through feasts and through other things That's also Leviticus. We get this sort of religious system that it's gonna help the people live with God God graciously says that he's gonna come down and dwell in a tent tabernacle and He's gonna give the people priests to represent them.

He's gonna give them sacrifices to sanctify them All of that is gonna be a type and a shadow that looks forward to Jesus Christ from the

Tabernacle to the sacrifices to the feast to the priest all of it Now we know that the priests were installed as mediators between God and man

There was Levitical priests who were who were there to sort of set up the temple tear down the temple move the temple park the temple

Take care of the furniture in the temple They were more like deacons in the Old Testament Time period that they were just taking care of the actual building taking care of the needs of the people like deacons do today

But there's also the line of the priest that came from directly from the line of Aaron to be in Levitical priest you just need to be from the tribe of Levi, but to be in a high priest an

Aaronic priest you had to be from the line of Aaron and Out of all the priests there was one who was called the high priest

The high priest is the one who served the people in the most significant and set -apart way

He's the one who would go into the Holy of Holies once per year to offer the Day of Atonement sacrifice for the people

He's the one who would be intimately involved in the sacrifices that would go into the temple

He was the one who wore the the most elaborate clothing With the jewels and the gemstones in the in the shoulder pads

Which had the twelve tribes of Israel engraved on on this sort of ephod like structure like this man

Was set apart To do an astounding Mediatorial work

To bear his brothers into the presence of God. It was a dangerous role. It was a sacred and holy role and for that The priest had to be anointed

Exodus 28 tells us about this right after Intimate detail is shared about the priest clothing, but you can read about it's fascinating It looks like he's almost armoring up to go into battle through this clothing

There's there's three layers of clothing that he had to wear in order to go into the Holy of Holies Again, it's interesting reading if you'd like to read it's

Exodus 28, but notice how they're anointed. This is what it says in Exodus 28 41 God says you shall put them on Aaron.

That's the clothing and on his sons with him and You shall anoint them first time.

This has happened in the Bible. You shall anoint them and ordain them and Consecrate them so that they may serve me as priests

This is the first time in the Bible that that a particular job is being established that you have to be ordained for anointed for Consecrated for and it's the office of high priest in The Hebrew this word is

Mashiach. This word is Messiah So that Aaron and his sons were

Messiah. They were anointed and I'm not talking about that They're the anointed one and I'm not talking about that.

They are the Messiah just like not all bowl games are the Super Bowl In that sense the thee there is is an exclusive thee it's saying that that Some games are called bowl games, but there's only one

The Super Bowl, right? Well in the same way, there's only one true

Messiah the Messiah But there's a lot of little em Messiahs in the

Old Testament There's a lot of people who are anointed for a particular task and Aaron and his sons after him were anointed as high priest

Now again, this foreshadows the Messiah this this this one Singular role of high priest is going to foreshadow what

Jesus is gonna do for us and where he's gonna bear us into the presence Of God, he's gonna he's gonna offer sacrifice so that we can be saved so that we can be brought into relationship with God He's gonna mediate a new covenant.

Like all of this is about Jesus this Aaron his sons. All of it is

Showcasing who Jesus is gonna be as high priest All of it is foreshadowing the true

Messiah, but we have to recognize that that in a small way

These men were anointed for a special role The first role in fact that is anointed.

That's the first The second anointed role is the enroll of Kings, but you know, it's funny how we get there, right?

Because you've got a priesthood By the time you get to the book of Leviticus, you've got a high priesthood that's functioning and Then you've got

God as king. You've got Israel as a theocracy. They don't need a centralized government Although the book of Deuteronomy does give them laws because they can't live without them so he gives them all kinds of laws to to have a civil government with God as their king and They move into the land of Israel.

They invade it God tells them to go into it to capture it to take it to set up shop there

God will be their king. The high priest will mediate between them and God. That was their system of government

But as we know They didn't do that They didn't honor

God God set up this beautiful relationship where I'm gonna give you this land.

I'm gonna give it to you It's gonna be yours and it's gonna be your descendants land forever, and I'm gonna give you a wonderful Relationship with me.

I'm gonna welcome you like Adam back into the garden You're gonna be in the land flowing with milk and honey.

That's sort of a picture of the Garden of Eden I'm gonna do that for you and I'm gonna be in relationship with you and I'm gonna give you sacrifices to sanctify you and maybe a high priest to mediate for you and I'm gonna do all of this for you and Even though he did all of that They still rebelled against him

After Joshua dies in the book of Judges things go crazy The people spread out to their tribal lands the people of Naphtali go to the land of Naphtali the people of Dan go to the tribal allotted portion that's dedicated to Dan and and then you've got

Manasseh and you've got Joseph. I mean not Joseph Manasseh Ephraim. You've got Benjamin and Judah all of them go to their specific tribal allotments and they lose contact with the high priest and they lose contact with God and They begin doing what is right in their own eyes, that's what the book of Judges is all about they lose connection to their mediatorial representative the high priest and then they lose connection ultimately to their

God and they begin doing what's right in their own eyes so that When you read the book of Judges, it is this dark ugly book where these people are doing disgusting things it mirrors the kind of filth and Depravity that we're seeing today in our society where these people don't know they're left from the right hand and they scream and wail over all kinds of Awful sin the book of Judges is sort of washing machine of idolatry where where it's got different cycles

You know how your washing machine goes through different cycles. That's what the book of Judges is They get prideful and they say look at all that we have look at what we did for ourself not remembering that it was

God Who gave them this land and then they fall into pride and then after pride they bow the knee to idols and then after that God allows them to be to be enslaved by other nations and Then they cry out to God and they say oh my you know,

Lord, please forgive us We look at what we've done and then God will send them a judge who will help lead them out of slavery

He'll lead them away from the Philistines and the Canaanites and then the people will will get comfortable again

And their praise will grow cold again and then they'll fall right back into the same pride same

Idolatry same everything else and they'll fall away back into enslavement back into idolatry

The cycle goes on and on and on in the book of Judges Until eventually you get to the final judge

Who is Samuel? He's the one who wrote the book of 1st Samuel he dies

Maybe one of his his students or one of the men who came after him finished the record in 2nd

Samuel but this man Samuel was the final judge and The people come to him one day and they say we don't want

God to be our king anymore Anymore we want a king like all the rest of the nations and Samuel was distraught

He's thinking himself. How could you reject God as your king? How could you do that?

This is the same people who let the Ark of the Covenant Lay rusting out in the middle of the open field for years under the reign of Saul.

It was not until David Came and brought it back to the city of Jerusalem. So this these people did not worship

God and Now they wanted to kick him off his throne Now this is an important important role

This is an important role for the people of Israel because God was going to raise up his son to come from this line

So he needed someone to lead the nation that was going to do it with holiness and reverence and would eventually get down to the place where Jesus Would be born so he chooses to allow

Samuel to anoint a king and then the king is anointed Now the people choose the man named

Saul God allows this and he Mashiach Saul he tells Samuel to anoint Saul It says in 1st

Samuel 9 15 through 17 now a day before Saul's coming the Lord had revealed this to Samuel saying about this time tomorrow

I will send you a man from the land of Benjamin and you shall anoint him to be Prince over my people my people

Israel and He will deliver my people from the hand of the Philistines For I have regarded my people because of their cry has come to me

When Samuel saw Saul the Lord said to him Behold the man of whom I spoke to you the one who should rule over my people and he anointed him

So Samuel anoints this man named Saul with oil. He anoints him for the second anointed Mashiach office of Israel, which is the king

Now as we know Saul did not follow the Lord He turned his back on the Lord and then eventually God says to Samuel honestly just about five chapters later six chapters later

To a go and anoint David Who's gonna be the true king of Israel? first Samuel 16 13 then

Samuel took the horn of oil and anointed him in the midst of his brothers and The spirit of the Lord came mightily upon David from that day forward and Samuel arose and went to Ramah So here we have the second anointing of Israel where all legitimate

Kings are gonna be anointed and They're going to come from the line of David They're gonna be anointed just like the high priest and they were gonna serve

God in a very specific role reigning and ruling over the people of God Again, they're like the priest and the fact that their little

M Messiah's David is called an anointed one in The Psalms and in other places so David is sort of this little

M Messiah participating in the Messianic ministry foreshadowing what the true

Messianic King is gonna look like who is far greater and better than David and When you what you have here is that at the inauguration of David You have

Israel moving from a one -office nation to a two -office nation before they were a priestly the theocracy now

They're a priestly monarchy They have priests that represent them between them and God and they have a king that represents them on the throne in Jerusalem and over the course of their history this goes well at times and then at other times it goes very very poorly

At the end of David's life. He anoints Solomon his son To be king. He doesn't do it he tells the the priest

Zadok to do it for him and they anoint Solomon and then they put Solomon on a donkey and they ride

Solomon into the city of Jerusalem to to the cheers of the people and Solomon sits on the throne of David and what's interesting about Solomon is that Solomon really is a foreshadowing of Christ David is the one who prepared the nation for Solomon who came in and built the temple

Where fire came down from heaven and consumed the sacrifices which never happened under David's leadership

And then you have the nations who are hearing about the wonderful workings of God coming to the city of Jerusalem They're paying tribute to Solomon.

They're making Israel wealthy They're Solomon is is in is being enamored by the world because he represents the one true

God This is sort of a picture of who Jesus is the Prophet John the Baptist prepares the people for Jesus prepares all the

The material for Jesus Jesus comes and establishes the new temple of his own body and now the nations of the world are streaming to him

That's why in a lot of ways Solomon's ministry is a picture of Christ in this anointed role This anointed office is a picture of Jesus But we know like everything in the

Old Testament. These pictures were very very limited The Kings did not obey

God we see this even in Solomon's life Solomon in the beginning of his life is is seeing this Unbelievable blessing that God is giving him

Why is this man in the world who's who's serving God in a way that no one has ever served God before who's seeing the blessings?

of God in a way that no one has ever seen the blessings of God fall upon a King like they did in the early reign of Solomon and then he then he starts packing his palace full of concubines and Then he starts making all of these wives from political alliances

And then we see him bowing down and worshiping their pagan gods even building high places for their pagan gods

We see Solomon acting out the same kind of idolatry that the people have by the end of Solomon's life we see him as sort of a failure and then that sin nature transfers to his son and to his offspring

Solomon the wisest man in all of the Bible has the most foolish and stupid son Who trades in everything that Solomon had built for pride?

He alienates the ten tribes of the north and they they say I'm done with you and they leave You've got

Rehoboam now who's managing the two tribes of the south which are Benjamin and Judah and then you've got

Jeroboam Who was an officer in his army who? Defects from him and who takes the ten tribes with him and establishes an entirely new nation

So now in the history of the Old Testament, you have two nations the nation of Israel, which is the the apostate

Defected country that goes away and totally abandons. God never worships. God never turns to God and God eventually entirely divorces them and then you've got

Judah in the south Who has an up -and -down sort of rollercoaster experience sometimes they worship

God sometimes they don't eventually when we get to the New Testament we see that Jesus Is going to abandon them and it happens in this passage that we're in today

Because the depravity was so wicked in the Old Testament era 60 years after the northern tribes defect and they go to be their own nation

They're so bad So idolatrous so disgusting in their depravity that God anoints a third office the office of prophet

The one who would go and who would call the wicked nation to repent and that really is the role of the prophet

The role of the prophet in the Old Testament is to call the people to repent whenever you see a prophet in the

Bible There's really two reasons that he's there He's there to call the people to repentance and to warn them that God's judgment is coming

Whenever you read books like Isaiah Jeremiah Ezekiel Daniel Habakkuk Amos Obadiah Hosea Zechariah Zephaniah and all of the rest when you read those books

You're reading about an anointed man. Who's been mashiach anointed for a specific role

Who's called to preach repentance to the nation because God is getting ready to send awful judgment upon the people

That is why every single prophetic book exists so that when you get to this place

In the Bible from the reign of Ahab and Jezebel all the way into the end the book of Malachi Israel now is living under a three office state and That begins with Elijah the first prophet

Elijah's a man who worked miracles. He preached God's Word and he called the nation to repentance and all of that transferred to his

To his predecessor number to his successor. Excuse me, Elisha Who also did miracles and preached

God's Word and called the people to repentance and warn them of the judgment to come He just did it twice as much

He had a double portion of the ministry that Ministry of Elijah and Elisha is prototypical of the prophetic era just like David and Solomon is prototypical of who the

Kings should be Elijah and Elisha is prototypical of who the Prophets should be and isn't it fascinating?

that in every era The Prophet the priest in the kingly era God gives two people two witnesses to be their representative

He gives Moses and Joshua as the era of the priest He gives David and Solomon during the era of the

Kings and he gives Elijah and Elisha During the era of the prophets these six men show us more about Jesus Christ and his role as Messiah than anyone else in Scripture Which is why if we want to know who

Jesus is prophet priest and King we should probably we should probably look to these men and See how

Christ is a perfect type They are types of who he is in his perfection

So when we get to this point Israel is a three -state nation By the middle of the hundreds they have anointed high priest

They have anointed Kings and they have anointed prophets who were come who were to come and call them to repentance

All of these are little M Messiah's Now you may be wondering why did

I share all of this? How does this relate to the gospel of John? Why did

I go through all of this information on prophet priest and King and it's because I Want you to know what

Messiah is That's the first reason this office that was instituted by God where Jesus was gonna come and be the perfect Fulfillment of that role.

He's gonna be the one true Messiah well We need to understand what that means and that is the the anointed priest

King and prophet who has set apart for the work of God who is faithful to the calling from God to serve and rescue the people of God.

That is what Messiah means and it's full Now all of these Old Testament men were types of that.

They none of them held multiple offices So it means that they were limited, you know, David was a king, but he wasn't a priest

Aaron was a priest, but he wasn't a prophet all of them. In fact Were incredibly limited in the fact that none of them held multiple offices there's not a single man that I can think of that held more than one office and Of the ones who held that office which are that's also a very limited number

None of them were perfect. David was an adulterer and a murderer Aaron was a people pleaser crowd pleaser who made the golden calf

Elijah was a man who as soon as Jezebel started barking a little bit too loudly He went and hid under a broom tree

None of the ones who were in the Old Testament anointed to serve God in that way lived up to the office

So when we get to the New Testament and we see Jesus as perfect prophet perfect priest perfect King Holding all three roles at the exact same time.

We are to look at that and see the beauty and majesty of Christ He's the one of which all of the

Old Testament prophet priest and Kings pointed to He's the one who now inhabits those roles perfectly eternally for the benefit and for the good of his church

He is the prophet who's called us to repentance and warns us of the coming judgment so that we can come into the presence of God he's the true

King who's been enthroned to reign forever in a kingdom without end so that we've been brought in as citizens

He's the true high priest Who enters into the holy place and offers the only sacrifice that would do to mediate a new covenant between us and God If Jesus is not always

Prophet priest and King then we have no hope That's the first reason why

I shared this with you is so you would understand the theology of what Messiah means so that when John says that I want you to believe that he's the

Christ Greek word for Messiah and Then by believing that you'll have life in his name.

I want you to have life in his name and If you don't believe that he's your prophet your priest and your king

Then you won't have a life That's the first reason The second reason is I really believe that John has organized his gospel intentionally to highlight this intentionally

He's not only organizes his gospel according to the Passover's, but he's also already organizing it

Thematically to show that Christ really is our true prophet priest and King and let me I just want to show you this for a second

We're gonna highlight it now. We'll dig into it a little bit more in just a second, but the first 11 chapters of John Use Prophetic words

Jesus is acting in prophetic ways. What I'm trying to say is that the first 11 chapters of John's gospel are intentionally dedicated to showcasing

Jesus as Prophet and That they are intentionally dedicated to highlighting that he is the true

Elisha that is to come That Jesus is the final prophet

That's gonna bring Judgment upon the people he's the one who's gonna warn them to repent before the awful day of judgment comes and Like the prophets of old they're gonna reject him and they're gonna seek to kill him

I am saying that the first 11 chapters of John is Intentionally the story of Jesus as Prophet and then after John 11 when

Jesus turns his back on Judah, which we will see in a moment and He leaves them and he were any abandons them and he goes to this

Old Testament town called Ephraim The next time we see Jesus in John 12, he's riding into the city is

King So John 12 is the second thematic section of the book of John which is

Jesus as true King If he's the anointed one, he has to be true prophet. That's John 1 through 11.

He also has to be true King That's John 12 but he also has to be priest and What we will see is in chapter 13 of the

Gospel of John things shift Dramatically the verbs that are being used are priestly verbs the way that Jesus is acting is a priestly action

He is doing priestly things. He is giving them new laws from an elevated position in the upper room

Just like Moses on Mount Sinai. He's praying a high priestly prayer just like Aaron in the

Old Testament He is doing priestly things So when I'm telling you is is that the verbs all the way down to the grammar of John's Gospel have three sections

One is prophetic one is kingly one is priestly. John is telling the story of Jesus as high priest and king and prophet he is

Showcasing to us that Christ has fulfilled all three offices and that is the story of him as Messiah That's why knowing who

Messiah is Will make sure that you have life in his name. That's why knowing that he's prophet priest and king is so incredibly important John would organize his material in fact to highlight it

Which is now what I want us to do today That's our introduction by the way now. We're never gonna get to the sermon today.

I want us to see how John 11 The chapter and verse that we are in today is the end of Jesus's prophetic ministry

It's over when we close out John 11 his prophetic ministry is over The second thing that I want us to see is why that matters.

Why does it matter that he closes out his prophetic ministry? Why does it matter that he's king and priest?

That's what I want us to to end with because I want us to end with the gospel of who Jesus is so that we can appreciate that and so that We can love him even more ardently

With that if we walk out of here today with just academic information on prophet priest and king then I failed

What I want what I've been praying for you is That as you hear these facts about Christ today

Some of them you will have heard for the first time today When you hear them, I don't want you to tuck them away in your brain so that you can be smarter than other people

I want you to let them trickle down into your heart. I want you to leave here with a song on your lips

Worshipping Christ because now you understand him in a better way you understand him as prophet and as priest and as king and I want that to have real meaning in your life.

I Want you to know what it means that he's your priest. I want you to know what it means that he's your king

I want you to know what it means that he's the prophet and And I want that to have tangible effect in your life, so with that Let us turn to John 11 54 through 57 as we examine these truths together.

This is what the text says Therefore Jesus no longer continued to walk publicly among the

Jews, but he went away from there to the country near the wilderness Into a city called

Ephraim and there he stayed with the disciples Now the Passover of the

Jews was near and many went up to Jerusalem out of the country before the Passover to purify themselves

So when they were seeking for Jesus, they were saying to one another as they stood in the temple. What do you think?

Will he come to the feast at all? Now the chief priests and the Pharisees had given orders that if anyone knew where he was he was to report it

So that they might seize him Let's pray Lord Jesus we thank you we thank you for the fact that You are our prophet our priest and our

King Lord, we thank you that John's gospel is organized in such a way that would highlight this for us today

Lord We thank you for your Holy Spirit who reveals the truths from the scriptures

Lord. I pray today That as your people That we would understand your truth

Lord I pray that we would understand the roles that you have played in our life Lord.

I pray that that knowing these things Would increase our joy would cause us to worship and Cause us to rest in Our salvation that you have provided Lordly pray these things in Jesus mighty name

Amen, we come to a set of passages today in verses 54 through 57 where Jesus is now ending his prophetic ministry

He's no longer willing to walk publicly among the Jews That ministry is over He's no longer willing to walk among them no longer willing to speak among them the time for words and sermons

And parables and miracles and signs and wonders was over from here on out

You'll find Jesus speaking only in intentional ways and usually only to his disciples

You'll find Jesus not preaching sermons anymore. No more parables. No more signs.

No more wonders No more miracles. All of that is gone because the end of his prophetic era has come

He had spent 11 chapters of the gospel calling the people to repent

Warning them that judgment was coming and like Jeremiah Some of the people heeded the warning some repented some like the

Samaritan believed and they were saved but the majority of the people They rejected him and that rejection happened in a crescendoing sort of way

They rejected him as strong words in John 2 with strong hate in John 5 with strong stones in John 10 and then finally when you get to John 11

They put together a coalition Hell -bent on a strong hate that would come eventually in that week to Jesus's demise

Jesus didn't retreat from the city in John 11 because he was afraid Jesus didn't retreat because his public the public opinion of him had had waned actually

Jesus was becoming more and more popular That's why they were afraid of him as we said last week

They were afraid that his growing popularity would cause trouble with them between them and the Romans Jesus retreated

Because their rejection of him was finally beyond a point of return.

They had rejected him and Rejected him and rejected him and to the point to where now it was beyond Return and this is a practical point for you and I to remember

God has been very gracious and very patient to every human being on earth Every single person is without excuse

And there may be someone here today who God has been reminding you of his truth

He's been calling you to repent. He's been warning you of the judgment that is to come and Like the

Israelites you've been spurning his warning. Well, I want to tell you something Every time you hear the gospel is an extreme act of God's grace

You're sinful You do not deserve to be saved We know that so when

God Gives you this beautiful and glorious gospel. It is not only an extreme act of grace for God to give it it is an extreme act of Rebellion to reject it

I'm praying that if you hear this gospel, the Holy Spirit would help you receive it and and turn from your sin and hear and run to Christ Because the

Jews did not and by John 11 their prophetic Opportunity was over God gave them over to their heart and heart just like we see in Romans chapter 1

Now we know that they didn't just reject Jesus. They also rejected John John was the first prophet of the

New Testament era. Just like Elijah of the Old Testament He was the coming Elijah figure who was supposed to prepare the way for Jesus And they rejected him early.

They were sending a delegation to investigate him and John 1 It's the same thing they do to Jesus here in John 11 that delegation was there to Investigate John the delegation

John 11 was to kill Jesus no matter what they're skeptical of God's anointed prophet

Now later, they're gonna arrest John the Baptist they're ultimately gonna kill John the Baptist Which is a typical outcome for the prophet?

So when they get Jesus He's their last shot for repentance If they don't repent under his ministry, then they're gonna have no hope because the grace and mercy of God is over God has sent them prophet after prophet after prophet in the

Old Testament and they Rejected and they rejected and they rejected even to the point where Nebuchadnezzar and Babylon coming and burn their city to the ground and take

Israel away as slaves All the way to the land of Babylon they come back they rebuild they say we're never gonna do that again

We're never gonna spurn the goodness of God again And here they are in the New Testament era in AD 30 doing the same thing again

Rejecting God and unlike in the Old Testament where it was the Babylonians that came soon It's gonna be the

Romans who come and burn their city to the ground like Israel does time and time again

They're rejecting God through rejecting his anointed prophet that begins with John the Baptist and that transfers to Jesus Who was anointed if John's gonna tell the story of Jesus as the final prophet then

Jesus needs to be anointed and he is He's anointed in two ways. He's anointed by his water baptism in By John the

Baptist and he's anointed by the Holy Spirit while he's still at the Jordan River And we learn about this in several different passages in the

New Testament. Luke 4 is a good one The Spirit of the Lord is upon me Jesus says because he anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor

So Jesus is saying that I've been anointed to preach which is a prophetic role

I've been anointed to serve the poor which is a prophetic role I've been anointed to proclaim the release and freedom to the captives

That's a prophetic role and I've been anointed to recover the sight of the blind. That's a prophetic role

That's something that Elisha does in the Old Testament the Prophet Elisha So what we see here is that Jesus is being anointed to preach to proclaim repentance

To warn of judgment and to do miracles. Those are things that Elijah and Elisha did in the

Old Testament. Those are things that all the prophets did which is preaching Jesus is being anointed for the anointed office of prophet and that's happening even here in the book of John John is putting that at the very beginning of his book because he's trying to tell us that that is the theme of his book

We know that because John the Baptist admits this in John chapter 1 that he saw

Jesus anointed as prophet so right at the very beginning of John's gospel John testified saying

I have seen the Spirit descending as A dove out of heaven and he remained upon Jesus I did not recognize him

But he who sent me to baptize and water said to me He who upon use whom you see the

Spirit descending and remaining upon him He's the one who baptizes in the Holy Spirit I myself

John have seen this and have testified that he is the Son of God John is not only telling us that Jesus is the

Son of God here. He's saying he was anointed as the final prophet He saw the Spirit of God coming down on Jesus Anointing him so John is very clearly in the beginning of his book saying

Jesus is anointed and What office because if you're anointed you're anointed to an office?

What office was he anointed to the office of prophet that'll become even more clear as we go The Apostles some of them were standing there when this happened

They admit that they saw this happen to they admit that they saw Jesus being anointed acts chapter 10 verse 38 through 39

It says, you know of Jesus of Nazareth how God anointed him Anointed him with the

Holy Spirit and with power and how he went about doing good works and healing All who were oppressed of the devil for God was with him.

That's a prophetic Ministry that Jesus had and we were all witnesses of all the things that he did in the land of the

Jews and in Jerusalem So Jesus is claiming to be an anointed prophet in Luke 4

John sees it in John 1 He sees that happen the Apostles also see it and report about it later in the book of Acts and the way that John is organizing his gospel

By putting this up front John the Baptist baptizing

Jesus that's implied in the gospel of John and then the Holy Spirit coming down and anointing him as Prophet we see that John is emphasizing that Jesus is this sort of final

Prophet that has come to call the people to repent now, that's not enough to prove it yet That's just a very surface level overview

But when you when you start to see how John deals with the Old Testament themes You're gonna actually believe that this is very intentional by John so far

All I've proved is Jesus has been anointed as prophet I have not proven yet that John has written his gospel chapters 1 and 11 to be the story of Jesus as true prophet now

We're gonna do that And we're gonna do that by saying who was the first prophet. It was Elijah Elijah was the first prophet and he was the forerunner to a man named

Elisha There was only two prophets in the Old Testament who performed miracles. That was Elijah and Elisha.

They're the only ones out of those two You have Elisha who is who gets a double portion?

He's the only prophet in all of the Bible Who performs as many miracles as he does?

He explicitly is Anointed with oil for the office of his of his predecessor

Elisha actually is the only prophet who's anointed with oil in the Bible now

We know that the prophets were anointed offices But he's the only one who's explicitly commanded to be anointed with oil and he's the only one

The only one of the prophets that we see the Holy Spirit also coming upon him and him having a dual anointing

In the same way that when when David was anointed in the Spirit fell on him when Elisha was anointed the

Spirit fell on him He has a dual anointing, but it doesn't in there The comparisons do not in there between Jesus and Elisha and John the

Baptist and Elijah for instance Malachi the last book in the Old Testament says that John the coming

Messenger is going to be the new Elijah So he is intentionally comparing the coming final

Prophets with the first two prophets Malachi is doing that on purpose He's saying that John the

Baptist will be like Elijah and Jesus will be like Elisha John the Baptist ministry

He's gonna prepare the way for Jesus just like Elijah's ministry prepared the way for Elisha. Why is Malachi doing that?

Because he's showing a Bookend to the prophet to the ministry of the prophet just like David was the first King.

Jesus is the last King Aaron was the first priest Jesus as the final priest in the same way

Elijah and Elisha were the first prophets John the Baptist and Jesus are the final you get this book ended view there

We see John compared to Elijah in more ways than that He's the one who dresses like Elijah with his camel -haired footy pajamas

He's the one who eats the the chocolate -covered crickets just like Elijah does

He's the one who who goes to the people of power and infuriates them with the message of God He's the one who's eventually killed by the people of power

He's the one who his ministry is eclipsed by his successor almost everything in John's life except for his manner of death

But he was he was killed early just like Elijah died early Elijah died with the chariot of fire

John the Baptist died with his head beheaded but almost every aspect of their ministry Elijah and John the

Baptist are related to one another in Such a way that Malachi can say that that this man

John will be the coming Elijah the Pharisees when they come to John the Baptist and John one asked him if he's the

Elijah that is to come John one is highlighting that the ministry of Elijah is here and that the end of the prophets has come and it will come through Christ and We know that Because not only is

John the Baptist related to Elijah Jesus is related to Elisha in John's gospel

Just like Elisha followed after Elijah Jesus follows after John the

Baptist and these two men's ministries Elisha and Jesus are entirely connected in the gospel of John and They're entirely

Correlated look at this. This is from a Old Testament scholar named Bruce Waltke who compares

Jesus to Elijah And he comes up with an astounding list of things that Jesus and Elisha both did their ministries being intentionally coordinated

By God, but also by the author John who's writing these things listen to this

When it comes to Jesus and Elijah Waltke says They are both appointed to be a prophet by a current and active prophet

They are both anointed to serve their credit by their predecessor. They both received the

Spirit of God on the other side of the Jordan They both are surrounded by more disciples than their predecessors.

They both are itinerant miracle workers They both give life in a landfill with death. They both cleanse lepers.

They both heal the sick. They both defy Gravity in water Elijah causes an axe head to float on the water.

Jesus causes himself to float on the water Do you see the correlations here? Both reverse death by raising young boys both restore the sons to their mothers both help widows in desperate circumstances both provide for the impoverished

Elisha does it by giving oil multiplied oil to a to a Impoverished widow

Jesus gives multiplied bread to an impoverished crowd To a hungry crowd both of them feed the hungry both of the minister to the

Gentiles both prepare sinners to meet God Both sit at the table with sinners and fellowship both have a disciple who betrays them for money the

Hasi betrays Elisha Judas betrays Christ both of these

Disciples of theirs are cursed Ghazi with lifelong leprosy Judas with eternal hell as the son of perdition and both

Elisha and Jesus Have their tomb Producing life if you remember in the

Old Testament a soldier falls dead on The battlefield and they throw him in the tomb of Elisha and his body strikes the bones of Elisha and he comes back to life

Anyone who falls upon the rock who is Christ Will be made new and be made alive through his resurrection these men's lives

Are entirely coordinated. There's no coincidence here. There's a symmetry

Just as Elijah and Elisha began the prophetic era Jesus and John will end the prophetic era

So there's no more prophets that are needed you may have went to a church in the charismatic tradition or Pentecostal tradition that called so -and -so a prophet and so -and -so of this and that and Somebody got a word from the

Lord and somebody did this and they're gonna prophesy about that. They can't because that era is over if John is

Elijah and Jesus is so highly coordinated with Elisha the ministries over It's closed

It's been Bookended in a perfect way with Jesus being the final and perfect prophet the one who ends all prophetic ministry

There is no more word from the Lord that's coming because we have the word of the

Lord that has come in the 66 books of the Bible There's no more need for a new prophet to raise up to call the people to repentance

We've got the words of God that have called us to repentance That's why the gospel is the power of God for repentance

Jesus ends the ministry of the prophet both both John And Elijah are forerunners

Both have Jesus and Elisha both are anointed twice They're only prophets that ever happened to both have a life given death.

I mean all of this is intentional If John wanted to show Jesus as the final prophet who ends all prophets

I can't imagine a better way than the way that he did it And and if that were not enough

Jesus is being correlated with Elijah in in an astounding way in the gospel of John that I think that That once you see it, you'll be blown away by Because not only is

Jesus and Elisha and John and Elijah not only are they compared in a general way

The first five miracles of Jesus that we're going to look at today The first five miracles that john records in his gospel are the first five miracles of Elisha in the old testament

What I mean is when Jesus does his first miracle. It was the first miracle that Elisha did in the old testament

There's a correlation there. Let me explain Elisha's first miracle is when the red sea or sorry when the when the

Jordan river was parted And when the spirit of god fell on him in second kings 2 14

Now, what is the first miracle of Jesus? What's the first miraculous thing that happens in the life of Jesus when the waters of the

Jordan same river are parted same verb? Jesus goes down in baptism. And then what happens the spirit of god descends on him

So the first miracle of Elisha and the first miracle of Jesus are basically the same kind of miracle

Why would the author of John do that? Well, obviously because it happened but also because he's wanting us to remember that Jesus is the better Elisha He's saying that this is not a coincidence

I'm describing all of the things that Jesus did in his life to show you that Jesus Intentionally came to to be the final prophet and if he's going to be the final prophet

He would he would sort of channel the ministry of Elisha. That's the first miracle. What's the second miracle?

The second miracle of Elisha is recorded in second kings 18 through 22 where Elisha is called

He's called to this place where there's this stagnant water source and he tells them to go grab a bowl of water

And to draw it out And it will be purified and when they drink it, it will be to the blessing of the crowd

That's the exact same thing that happens to Jesus in his second miracle He is called to this place that runs out of wine

He takes a stagnant water source these six empty pots He tells the the waitress or the waiter to go and dip

Out of it with a bowl just like elijah told them And then he gives it to the head waiter who tasted and said this is the best wine i've ever had

And then the party continues and everyone is blessed Jesus is doing the same thing. Elijah did in his second miracle and jesus's second miracle.

He's telling them to draw out water Which now he's made into wine because he's better than elijah

Elisha He doesn't just purify the water. He makes it wine. He's the new covenant king who does things better than elisha.

It's the same miracle though the third miracle Is recorded of elisha is recorded in second kings 23 through 25.

He leaves the city the leading city The city of prominence and then he goes out to the mocking and the jeering of these young men

Who basically call him a bald head? They laugh at him and you know elisha they didn't have just for men in those days apparently so elisha

Gets angry that they're mocking him And he turns with a sort of focused fury and he calls down curses upon them and they're attacked by two hungry bears

They're mauled to death Now we look at that and we say how in the world is that correlated to jesus's third miracle?

Well, jesus comes into a leading city He is mocked and jeered not by uneducated boys, but by educated pharisees jesus responds with with this penetrating fury that we're not

We're even a little uncomfortable when we think about jesus getting a whip chasing people out of the temple overturning tables

He responds with the same kind of focused fury that elisha does and then what does he do? He calls down curses upon them so that not only bears are going to come and rip the people apart

The romans are going to come and they're going to burn the city to the ground kill probably Nearly a million jews and then they're going to export the rest of them back to the city of rome jesus's curse

Accomplishes more fury than elisha's does We might think that elisha is pretty angry when he when he curses them and they get eaten by bears

Jesus curses jerusalem and they get devoured by the romans all of them. Not just a handful of boys the whole city

Jesus's miracle is accomplishing more because he's More powerful. He's better. He's the final and greatest prophet.

He is god fourth miracle Now that we've seen the first three have been correlated the fourth miracle

Elisha in second kings chapter four verse one through seven. He ministers to a downcast woman

A woman who's an outcast in her society where the community has rejected her and she's in danger of starving to death so she

You know, she's trying to feed her son She's she's rejected and elisha comes in and tells her to go to all your neighbors get as many pots as you can

Bring them back. You're going to pour out of this pot From the only pot of oil you have left you're going to pour it and it's going to fill up all of these pots full

Of oil then you're going to go and sell it and you're going to have enough money to live So elisha provides this woman with a never -ending supply of oil to rescue her in her

Rejection depravity or not depravity. Um, uh destitution Jesus in john chapter four

He goes to the samaritan woman Who's also rejected by her community?

And he offers her living water And what does he do just like elisha sent her out into the community to go get

To go get pots to come back so that that oil the never -ending oil could be poured into that She is told to go to the community and to bring them back.

They're the pots They're the pots that jesus is going to pour living water into and when they get back they all get saved so elisha

Tells this woman to go get all these pots so that you can have oil so that you can sell it so that you can be Spared jesus tells her to go get the town they come back and jesus fills all of them with living water

One gives never -ending oil one gives never -ending eternal life They're the same miracle, but jesus is clearly better Because he's showcasing that the greatest prophet that old testament israel had was elisha

Many people give elijah more credit than elisha Did more miracles healed more people raised more people from the dead than anyone else, but even he

Doesn't compare to jesus. Jesus's ministry is better and greater and it correlates perfectly.

John is tracking with elisha By saying that jesus is better. Jesus is better.

His miracle is better. Every miracle is correlated That's just the first four John is doing this intentionally in his gospel one by one by one the next miracle.

Let's go one more The next miracle of elisha is in second kings 4 8 through 17 where he heals an influential woman or her son

She's an influential shunammite She's a powerful woman in her community And elisha has this relationship with her and then he and his his disciple ghazi they leave

And then her son falls ill So she she goes to elisha and she says please come back and heal my son

She pleads with him until he finally says fine. I'll go he goes he lays prostrate on this boy's body

He prays over him and then the boy is healed the boy is resurrected. What is what happens to jesus in his fifth miracle?

He's traveling an influential nobleman from the city Comes to him and pleads with him says my boy is sick.

Just like the shunammite woman And then jesus who is greater than elisha doesn't have to travel back to the man's home.

Jesus says I've healed him now go Do you see what's happening here?

Elisha heals a boy as his fifth miracle After the mother comes and pleads with him jesus heals a boy after the father comes and pleads with him

But jesus doesn't have to go Jesus is like yahweh in the fact that he can speak healing from a distance and it happens elisha is just a man

Elisha is the greatest prophet in the old testament, but he's still just a man. Jesus is the god man who heals

Who heals the nobleman's son from a distance all of this? Is john showing us that jesus is the greater more perfect elisha

And he's doing it one by one by one. All of jesus's miracles in the gospel of john are

Are greater miracles than their corresponding counterpart in the life of elisha and they all happen in chronological order

There is no way that this could possibly be a coincidence both men Heal a sick person by a pool

Both men multiplying loaves of bread both men float on something on water Both men are prophetic preachers both men call for repentance both men

Warned about the coming judgment and both men brought life out of the grave. There is no way that john is doing this accidentally

There's no way that john has has the elijah John the baptist preceding jesus and then telling the story of jesus as the new and better elijah

There's no way that's accidental if john's not intentionally trying to say that jesus is the final and greatest prophet

All of this is working together to tell the story that jesus is the final and greatest prophet

I was talking to a friend of mine out west He lives in texas and I was telling him some of these details and he says wow

It seems like that's not coincidental and indeed he's right That is how john arranged his book the first 11 chapters are about jesus coming

To call the people to repentance to warn them of the judgment to come his miracles are perfectly coordinated with the old testament prophet

Elisha and in the end jesus shows that he's the final greatest and best prophet

He's our true prophet He's our true anointed prophet Which is where we get to our passage today in john 11

After all that preaching and all those healings all those miracles all that warning The people finally rejected him for the last time

Just like all the prophets were rejected. Jesus is rejected and jesus now will retreat abandoning judah

Just like god abandoned israel in the old testament Verse 54 says of john chapter 11.

Therefore jesus no longer continued to walk publicly among the jews But went away from there to the country near the wilderness into a city called ephraim and there he stayed with his disciples his disciples

The prophetic ministry of jesus is over in john 11 He abandons the jewish people

After a thousand years Since david and 830 years since the first prophet was sent

The ministry of the prophets is now over when jesus is no longer willing to continue with judah

He leaves judah and he goes back to ephraim which that is highly significant detail in the narrative

And has massive covenantal Significance think about it. Jesus has just left dead judah

The spiritually dead judah the judah that hates god the judah that rejects jesus Jesus has just left that dead nation the nation that was filled with two tribes benjamin and judah and then he goes to ephraim

Did you did you know in the old testament that the that ephraim was the covenantal name for israel

The 10 tribes. So what is jesus doing? Jesus leaves dead judah And he goes to the city named after dead israel.

He's showing that all 12 tribes now are dead Israel the 10 tribes died when none of or when the assyrians came in and destroyed them and And burned their cities to the ground and that ended in the old testament

The 10 tribes were lost all 10 tribes gone in the new testament or in the old testament

When we get to the new testament, there's only two tribes left judah and benjamin. Jesus goes to them

He calls them to repentance and they reject him and he abandons them. So now he they're all dead

So why does he go to ephraim? The place that was named after old testament israel, why does he go there?

Because with all 12 tribes being dead Spiritually speaking with jesus abandoning judah and benjamin

Jesus is going now to establish a brand new nation He's going to ephraim the name given to the nation of israel to start a new israel

He's taking his 12 disciples with him as the as the new foundation for a new 12 tribes

You remember the nation was began by jacob Who had 12 sons who became the 12 tribes of israel now jesus as the true and greater jacob is going back to the place

Called israel ephraim with his 12 disciples to begin a new nation And if you think about it, what does a new nation need?

A new nation needs a king Jesus spent 11 chapters in the gospel of john calling the people to repent some did some were saved

Some became a part of his nation. Some became citizens in his kingdom the majority of the nation that rejected him

So jesus retreats and he goes to the city of ephraim with his 12 disciples and he begins a new nation

And he comes into the city of jerusalem his final time in john chapter 12, and he doesn't come in anymore as prophet

He doesn't come in preaching. He doesn't come in doing miracles. He comes in as king If you remember

The way that the gospel of john is organized i'm telling you is telling the story of prophet priest and king John 1 through 11 is telling you about the prophet.

John 12. He's anointed again We remember he that there's only three anointed offices

He's already anointed by john the baptist and the holy spirit to be the prophet. He's anointed by mary In john chapter 12 to be the king

And then after he's anointed king he rides into the city on a donkey Just like solomon

He rides into the city on a donkey to the cheers of the people and they say long live the king just like solomon

So jesus is compared to the second prophet. Elisha. He's compared to the second king solomon

He foreshadows that he's going to be lifted up on a cross in john chapter 12, that's his throne. That's the cross He even says in john chapter 12 that he's going to draw all people to himself

Who are going to be citizens of his kingdom people from every tribe tongue and nation that's john 12 that's kingly language

You don't find anything in john 12 With jesus as the prophet you find jesus being king

And when they reject him in john 12, he leaves again just like he did in john 11 He leaves with his 12 disciples.

He retreats again because now they've rejected him as king They rejected him as prophet in john 11

They reject him as king in john 12 and his triumphal entry when they don't bow down and submit themselves under his rule

He retreats again With his 12 disciples to the upper room And then the language shifts to the fact that he is their priest

John 13 in the very beginning of the passage jesus Is overseeing the passover meal like a priest

And then he gets down from the table And he washes his disciples feet just like a priest

And you're saying well, you know That's jesus being a servant leader. That's jesus setting an example for the church that has nothing to do with high priesthood

Oh, yes, it does the word there for wash

Is a word that is only used about 17 times in the old testament same word in the in the septuagint the greek version of the old testament

And almost every time that that word is used it has to do with high priestly washing Jesus gets down from his table and he washes his disciples feet just like aaron got down and washed his son's feet.

It is striking Look at what it says in exodus 30 18 through 21 after the priests have been anointed with oil

This is what it says. You shall also make a laver of bronze With his base of bronze for washing and you shall put it between the tent of meeting and the altar and you shall

Put water in it aaron and his sons shall wash Their hands and their feet from that When they enter the tent of meeting they shall wash with water so that they will not die

Or when they approach the altar to minister by offering up and smoke a sacrifice of fire to the lord

So they shall wash their hands and their feet so that they will not die And it's a perpetual perpetual statute for them for aaron and for his descendants throughout their generations.

Jesus is the final aaron the final priest Gets down from his passover table

And he washes his disciples feet just like aaron was commanded to wash his son's feet

Jesus is washing his disciples feet to purify them for priesthood Remember in the new testament.

It says that every single christian has been washed Every single christian has been made a priest. We are a kingdom of priests in a holy nation

Jesus washes his disciples and he commands his disciples to wash each other's feet because this has priestly significance

Jesus is creating a new priesthood under him He also in that same passage, he says, you know, because i've done this some of you are clean

And yet judas is unclean only a priest Can call someone clean or unclean?

Do you see how the verbs are in john 13 are entirely priestly verbs whereas in john 12?

That's not the case because he's talking about jesus as king and john 1 through 11 That's not the case. He's talking about jesus as prophet the words change in john 13 because now he's talking about jesus as the final priest

And now he's talking about jesus as the final priest After he washes their feet He pronounces some of them clean and some of them unclean

There's other examples he provide he presides over the passover meal as priest He gives them a new commandment in john 13 34 as priest

He comforts them like a priest would comfort his people john 14 1 through 6 He teaches them how to live new covenant lives in chapters 14 through 16 and in the climax of this section in john 17

After he prays this high priestly prayer he leaves and he goes to a garden just like the high priest and The time where he would be going into the holiest place of the temple

Which was decorated like a garden to mediate a new covenant for the people the old testament priests would go to a garden temple

Now jesus is going to the garden to be arrested so that he can Mediate this new covenant with god's people.

All of this is is john being very intentional He's saying that in the first 11 chapters i've showed you how the people rejected him as true prophet

I'm showing you how the people rejected him as true king and then in john 18 when he's arrested in the garden

He's showing us how jesus is rejected as true priest Which leads to the crucifixion?

The crucifixion can seem like this great moment of defeat But it's the crucifixion

Where god installs jesus As true prophet priest and king for his church, you see what we would be tempted to think

Is that the jews rejected him as prophet they rejected him as king they rejected him as priest then he dies and it's all over But all of that was a part of the plan of god

Because when jesus rises from the dead in victory He's not the priest of judah

He's not the king of judah. He's not the prophet of judah God gives him a new kingdom a kingdom that will never end

He makes him king over that kingdom priest over that kingdom prophet over that kingdom so that you and I today are now the beneficiaries of his threefold high priestly high kingly high prophet office

You see all of this is important And the reason why i've went into all of these details is to show you that john is very carefully and very intentionally

Telling the story of jesus as prophet priest and king, but I want you to see what that means for you

I want you to see that that what that means For you as people who serve this great messiah.

He's our prophet We've been brought into relationship with him by the spirit of god descending on us just like it ascended on him

We've been anointed by the spirit just like he was anointed by the spirit because he's true prophet He sent his spirit to preach the gospel to us he sent his spirit to Resurrect us to new life so that we could repent from our sin

And avoid the wrath that is to come and be brought under his leadership of truth He's our true prophet

Who anoints us to serve him? He's our true priest who anointed us in baptism and who cleansed us with his blood and who offered

Himself up as a sacrifice to us on the cross He's our true priest that that dealt with our sin by becoming sin for us who dealt with the curse that we had by becoming

A curse for us. He's the one who mediated a new covenant between us and god He's the one who served us on the cross as high priest

Offering himself up as the final and perfect sacrifice And he's our king

Because he brought you and I into citizenship in his kingdom he put us on a mission he made us his ambassadors

He called us to go to the nations. He put his enemies under our feet He's told us to put his banner on every single square inch of this earth.

He's called us to extend his dominion He's called us to chase down the gates of hell until they fall at our feet

He's called us to make disciples of all the nations and we're going to do that work until the very end has come

John tells his gospel as the story of The prophet the priest and the king who israel rejected but who god through christ work on the cross

Has accepted us to be his slaves He's now our prophet.

He's now our king. He's now our priest and we gain everything from him If jesus is not your prophet

You don't repent if jesus is not your high priest You're never cleansed if jesus is not your king and you're not a citizen all these things are they matter for you

John organizes this gospel in such a way to highlight the fact that these things are for you You and I would have been just like the people of israel who rejected jesus

You and I would have been just like the people of judah who hardened our hearts against his priesthood and his kingship and his prophetic

Office, we would have done all of that But god by his unimaginable grace has chosen to save you

And make you the beneficiary of all that christ has done I pray that as we close

That you would see how christ has served you He served you as prophet.

He served you as priest and he served you as king And you now gain all these great gifts

Because our great god has given us a great messiah, I pray that you would worship him

I pray that you thank him And I pray that you would see these things In a new way

Let's pray Lord, we thank you that the gospel of john is so deep and so rich that we can see so many wonderful truths being found

In its pages lord, I pray today that we would see Not just how john organized his gospel

But we would not only see the fact that the jews have rejected him as prophet priest and king But lord, we would

I pray that what we would see is that we would be That we would worship him as prophet priest and king

Because of his crucifixion on the cross Because of his resurrection from the grave because of his ascension to the right hand of god lord

I pray that we would see his mediatorial work in these three ways I pray that we would see that he's the one who brings us truth like a good prophet

He's the one who brings us healing like a true priest and he's the one who brings us Belonging and citizenship as a true king lord.

I pray for anyone here today Who's struggling with truth? I pray they would see jesus as their true prophet

For anyone here today who's struggling with healing for anyone here today who's struggling with pain for anyone here today

Who's struggling with their sin and their guilt and their shame lord. I pray they would see jesus as true priest And lord anyone here today who's struggling with not knowing what to do as a christian not knowing where to fit in as a christian not knowing where to serve not knowing where to Where to minister not knowing how to live as a member of this great kingdom that they would see jesus as their true king

And Lord, I pray that all of us, as we look to Him in that threefold office, that we would find our place in His kingdom and we would serve