(1.) One of the first and most palpable predictions which we have of the prophetic character of Christ is that of Moses (Deut. xviii, 15):" The Lord thy God will raise up unto thee a prophet from the midst of thee, of thy brethren, like unto me ; unto him ye shall hearken." That this refers to Christ we are assured by the inspired apostle Peter (Acts iii, 22). Again, in Isaiah Ixi, 1, 3, Christ's consecration to the prophetic office, together with its sacred and gracious functions, is emphatically set forth (see Luke iv, 16-21, where Christ applies this passage to himself). In order, then, to sustain this part of his mediatorial office, and thus work out the redemp- tion of the -(vorld, we may see the necessity there was that Messiah should be both God and man. It belongs to a prophet to expound the law, declare the will of God, and foretell things to come : all this was done, and that in a singular and eminent manner, by Christ, oiu- prophet (Matt. V, 21, etc. ; John i,8). All light comes from this prophet. The apostle shows that all ministers are but stars which shine by a borrowed light (2 Cor. iii, 6, 7). All the prophets of the Old, and all the prophets and teachers of the New Testament, lighted their tapers at this torch (Luke xxi, 15). It was Christ who preached by Noah (1 Pet. iii, 19), taught the Israelites in the wil- derness (Acts vii, 37), and still teaches by his ministers (Eph. iv, 11, 12). On this subject bishop Butler {Anal- ogy, part ii, ch. v) says : " He was, by way of eminence, the j^rophet, ' the prophet that should come into the world' (John vi, 14) to declare the divine will. He pub- lished anew the law of nature, which men had corrupt- ed, and the very knowledge of which, to some degree, was lost among them. He taught mankind, taught us authoritatively, to live soberly, righteously, and godly in this present world, in expectation of the future judg- ment of God. He confirmed the truth of this moral system of nature, and gave us additional evidence of it, tile evidence of testimony. He distinctly revealed the manner in which God would b? worshipped, the efficacy of repentance, and the rewards and punishments of a future life. Thus he was a prophet in a sense in which no other ever was." Hence the force of the term o \c- yoc, by which John designates Christ. See Prophet.
But, on the other hand, had the second person of the Trinity come to us in all the majesty of his divine nat- ure, we could not have approached him as our instruc- tor. The Israelites, terrified at the exhibitions of Deity, cried out that the Lord might not so treat with them again ; it was then that he, in gracious condescension to their feelings, promised to communicate with them in future through a prophet like unto Moses. The son of God, in assuming the form of an humble man, became accessible to all. This condescension, moreover, enabled him to sympathize with his clients in aU their trials (Heb. ii, 11, 18; iv, 14, 15). Thus we perceive the con- nection of Christ's prophetic office — he being both God and man — with the salvation of man. On this subject Chrj-sostora {Homil. cxxxiv, tom. v, p. 860) remarks : "A mediator, unless he has a union and communion with the parties for whom he mediates, possesses not the essential qualities of a mediator. When Christ, there- fore, became mediator between God and man (1 Tim. ii, etc.), it was indispensable that he should be both God and man." Macarius, also (Ilomil. vi, 97), on this ques- tion more pointedly observes : " The Lord came and took his body from the virgin ; for if he had appeared among us in his naked divinity, who could bear the sight*'' But he spoke as man to us men."
Again, the Redeemer was not only to propound, ex- plain, and enforce God's law, but it was needful that he should give a practical proof of obedience to it in his own person (comp. Kom. v, 19). Now, if he had not been man, he could not have been subject to the law; hence it is said. Gal. iv, 4, " When the fulness of the time was come, God sent forth his son, made of a wom- an, made under the law ;" and if he had not been God, he could not, by keeping the law, have merited forgive- ness for us, for he had done but what ^vas required of
MEDIATOR
24
MEDIATOR
him. It was the fact of his Ixintc very find and reiij man which constituted the hk rit of Christ's (il)p(lionce. (2.) Moreover, in workinii out tlie nii;;hly scliomc of redemption the mediator must assume Ilie oHico of piiest. To this office he was solemnly appointed hy (Jod (Psa. ex, 4; lleb. V, 10), being qualified for it l)y liis incarna- tion (Heb. X, 6, 7), and he accomplished all the ends thereof bv his sacrificial death (Heb. ix, 11, 1-2); as in
sustaining his pi-ophetic character, so in this, liis Deity > and humanity will be seen. According to the exhibition of type and declaration of prophecy, the mediator must die, and thus rescue us sinners from death by destroy- ing him who had the power of death. " But we see Jesus," says the apostle (Heb. ii, 9), "who was made a little lower than the angels for the suffering of death, crowned with glor\' and honor, that he by the grace of God should taste death for every man. Forasmuch, then, as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself likewise took part of the same, that through death he might destroy him wlio had the pow- er of death, that is, the devil." On the other liand, had he not been God he could not have raised himself from the dead. "I lay down my life (saith he, John x, 17, 18), and take it up again." lie had not had a life to lay down if he had not been man, for the (iodhead could not die; and if he had not been (iod, he could not have acquired merit by laying it down : it must be his own, and not in the power of another, else his volunta- rily surrendering himself unto death — as he did on the charge that he, being only man, made himself equal with God — ^vas an act of suicide, and consequently an act of blasphemy against God ! It was, then, the myste- rious union of both natures in the one person of (Christ which constituted the essential glori) of his vicarious obedience and death.