Sermons Vander Kam on HC Lord's Day 12
Q&A 31A Sermons Vander Kam on HC Lord's Day 12
Q&A 31A31 Q. Why is He called Christ, that is Anointed?
A. Because He is ordained of God the Father, and anointed with the Holy Spirit, to be our chief Prophet and Teacher, who has fully revealed to us the secret counsel and will of God concerning our redemption;
Beloved in the Lord, this is a Lord's Day, of course, that deals also with the Christ of God as also has the former one. And in the former one we dwelt upon this, "why is He called Jesus, why is that His name?" And as I mentioned last week, these are the things that are given to us here in the Catechism as they are also in the Scriptures time and again, in order that we may come to the knowledge of Christ. It deals first of all with His names, then with His offices, then with His natures, and with His states. And these are the things that you and I must look into in order that we may get a full picture of that which is given to us in the Son of God. Because here you are always dealing with the question, "Who is Jesus Christ?" And that is really the fundamental question that the Bible asks, and that is the fundamental question before it places us, and that is, "Who is Jesus Christ?"
And of course, everybody has the answer clear and ready, so that all kinds of answers are given. They all know Him, they all know who He is, but that is not the point. The point is, who is He according to the Scriptures. Now these are the things that you and I must look at very carefully, in order that we may also be able to distinguish properly, and that we may be able to see who He is. That is the question before which He has put the people of His day, at the very end of His life, when He said, "Who do people say that I, the Son of man, am?" That's the question. That is the important question; "Well, He is Jesus -- He is the one who saves -- Jesus saves." You see it on bumper stickers, you see it all over. You don't even have to belong to the church. You can be in the midst of this world and it is Jesus who saves, somehow, somewhat, somewhere. They don't know how but nevertheless they have learned already that Jesus saves.
Now we are dealing with something beloved, of an entirely different nature; that it is indeed Jesus who saves, and there is no other. There is no other name under heaven given among men whereby we are to be saved than in the name Jesus. Now how is it that He accomplishes these things. And we find that there are ever so many names that have been ascribed to Him, and really the Catechism takes up only the one, that is, only the one name, that is, Jesus. Someone has discovered that there were 256 names that have been ascribed to the Son of God in the Bible, in both the Old and the New Testament; 256. No, all of these have been given in order that there might be a fuller revelation concerning Him. In order that we might see Him in various ways, that He is the branch, as Jeremiah is fond to speak of Him. That He is the son of David, that He is the Lion of Judah, etc., etc. And all of those give a certain revelation concerning Him, but now it is still the question of course, how does He accomplish the work to which He is called?
And that is the question beloved, that is here placed before us in this second part, and that is, "Why is He called Christ, that is Anointed. Why is He called Messiah; that is the word Christ; Christus, which means Messiah." That is the name; now why is He Christ. And that is not a second name, that is not another name for Him, no. That is the official name, that is His title, that is the name that He has because of His work, that is the name that has been given Him because of the fact that He is the one who is going to save His people from their sin.
No, that is something beloved, that we are to look into very carefully and that's the reason why I only preach on the first part this morning. And will then also hopefully, the Lord willing, continue with the other two at two different times. And that is, that He is our chief prophet, that He is our only High Priest, and that He is our eternal King. And there is so much that is given to us in these three terms, in these three offices, so that if we begin to understand who Jesus is, and begin to understand what His offices are, then we may also be able to understand our salvation, and may also be able to understand the church, because that is built upon that, you know, and the offices in the church are also built upon that which is given to us in Christ. So that here He is first of all our chief Prophet, and notice that these adjectives that are used are to perfection, so to speak. He is the chief Prophet, because there are others; but He is the chief. He is the only High Priest because there are no others; the only one. And He is our eternal King, while all the others are temporary. So that these adjectives that are used are to perfection. They describe it the way it ought to be done, and here we are then dealing with Him as our chief Prophet. We speak to you this morning on, "Christ, our Prophet."
And then we notice in the first place, the nature of His prophecy; secondly, the manner of His prophecy; and finally the value of His prophecy.
The way in which He does it beloved, is this, that it is entirely different from anyone else, and that it is also by nature something that is different. Because of the fact that we hear already in the Word of God in John, for example, that He speaks of Him as, "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God." And then a few moments later He speaks of Him, "and the Word became flesh." What a strange statement! The Word became flesh. He is speaking concerning a person. He is speaking concerning the Christ. And that is, the Word, the Logos. And I know that there are ever so many philosophic implications, I know that; but nevertheless, it is this, that He is first of all, and foremost, called the Word. That is, He is the communication between God and man.
We have the Scriptures, and that is the greatest thing that has ever been given to us. We have that Bible 'in toto', we have it complete. We have it so that we have already the last days and already looking into eternity, we have there the history of Israel. We have the history of the church of Christ, and we have Jesus Christ presented in His fullness.
And now, what about Him as a prophet. Well that is the one who makes known to us the secret things of God. The secret things concerning our redemption; notice that. He is going to come in a way in which nobody else ever has. The words had to laid in Isaiah's mouth, and they had to be laid in Jeremiah's mouth, and in all the others. This one speaks out of Himself, and he speaks the word of God; that is the nature of it, and he does not come again in order that he may now duplicate that which has already gone before. But He is going to come with a word, with the word of God in a way in which it has never come before. He is going to come with it in such a way beloved, so that thereby is made known the secret of our redemption; nobody else could bring that.
Because He was in that secret council of God, that council of redemption of which Psalm 2 speaks. When there there is that council of Father, Son and Spirit, and there the foundations are laid for the redemption of God's people. He was there; and now, says the Catechism, He makes known to us the secret of our redemption. Notice, not all secrets, but the secret of our redemption. And He was there, He made it. He was there when it was drawn up, and He is the one who has also taken it upon Him to fulfill it, to accomplish it, so that He is the only one who is able to make known to us the secret of God concerning our redemption.
So that the word that He is going to come with beloved, is something that is so special, something so different. It is going to be so much different from anything that has come before that here we are dealing with something totally new. It has already become something of course, to which we are accustomed. That the words of Jesus Christ are so very well known, so well known that we no longer even have to guess at it, as to who spoke these words. It is the Christ, it is Jesus. He spoke the words, the glorious words of the Sermon on the Mount. He spoke the glorious words in the parables; He spoke the glorious words in that High Priestly prayer. And so you can go on and on. And the words of Jesus Christ have a very special meaning. It's part of the Scriptures, it's part of the Scriptures. But nevertheless, the Christ has come with the secret will of God concerning our redemption. And He has opened it to us, and we would not have known it. We would not have known what had gone on. We would not have known, for example, that it is all the sacrifices of the Old Testament that are pointing forward unto the Christ. Yah, there is somewhat of a feeling of that. There is something in that sacrificial offering, that is now going to teach us, teach these Israelites at that time that there is a redemption to come but, how can the blood of bulls and goats ever cleanse my soul? And Christ comes to give to us the secret will of God concerning our redemption.
They pointed forward to Him, and that he is the center of it all, He is the heart of it, the heart of the Scriptures, and that He is able to speak to that. And He makes that known to us. And all of the prophets converge upon that, for let us realize that in Him all these different things converge; all the various parts of Scripture converge upon Him. Now that is the nature of His prophecy. His prophecy comes in a way so that; God has already spoken of it in Deuteronomy 18; if they will not listen to that One, that great prophet, like unto you, He says to Moses, but from among His people, so that He is going to be like Him, anyone that will not listen to Him shall be cut off from Israel; there's no room for him anymore. Anyone who does not listen to the voice of Jesus Christ is cut off, there's no place for him. If they will not listen to the voice of God when it is proclaimed by the mouth of God Himself; and then there is no hope.
And that they will also realize this is indeed the Word. And that is the thing that is to be stressed in our day especially, that it is indeed the Word. And that it is not a camouflage of the Word of God, so that it sounds like it but really it isn't. But there are ever so many religious things about it that are stated but nevertheless, it isn't really the Word of God. Because you must realize that the prophetic office is this, not to foretell the future, that is a secondary matter -- they did that too at times -- but that's not the important thing. That's why Samuel who never foretold the future, and Moses who didn't foretell the future really, are also counted among the prophets. And it is not only an Ezekiel and Daniel who did foretell the future, but a prophet is one who declares the Word of God; that is the prophetic office. Who declares the Word of God. And that the Christ of God did. In fact, he comes with that Word constantly and exclusively. There is no other word that He speaks, but He speaks that which has been given to Him because that which comes up in Him He is God Himself.
And He is therefore the Chief Prophet. All the others that have surrounded Him prior to His coming, or those who were there at the time of His coming, or those who come after; they all go back to Him. He is the Word made flesh, and that is the One who has spoken, and that is the One who makes known to us the secret concerning our redemption.
Now that that is made known, remember that in the New Testament, when the term secret is used; Paul uses it different times, the secret of God; even the Psalmist uses it, in Psalm 25 for example, the secret of Jehovah is for those who fear Him. That secret is not something that is secretive in our sense of the word, but it is that which was not made known prior to the coming of Christ, and now is made known. That's why Paul can also speak of secrets that have now been divulged, that have now been made clear. That is the way He comes. That is the nature of His prophecy. He is different from the others, but at the same time, all of these also are in full agreement. They all come with that Word, and with that Word alone. Christ even holds Himself to that Word, to that Word of God. Notice, there are so many preachers in our day who must have something more than the Word. Even Christ held Himself only to that Word. And then we will get into the parables some other time.
Someone accused me once of not using enough illustrations; I think he is correct, perhaps. But then the argument was used that look, Jesus did. He used all kinds of illustrations in the parables. I said to him, "you know, if I would use illustrations that way, you'd never understand me again." Because that of course, was the purpose of the parables. That seeing, they might see, and not perceive. And hearing, might hear and not understand. And that is given in both the Old and the New Testament; so then you'd never understand him again. So then finally the disciples say to Him, "Now speakest Thou to us plainly, and no longer in parables."
Secondly, notice the manner in which He prophecies.
The manner of it beloved, is unique. It is something that is so different than anything else that they have ever heard, so it is so different from, for example, the teaching, the prophesying of the Pharisees and of the Scribes. And therefore they also say at the close of the Sermon on the Mount that He speaks with authority and not as the Scribes and not as the Pharisees. He came in a very unique way. He says, "They have said to you of old time thus and thus, but I say unto you"; so that He even corrects those who have taught them before; He corrects it. He is able to do that because He comes with a very unique prophecy. He comes with a prophecy that is going to stand.
He sees by the leaders, the preachers of the day, of the New Testament, early New Testament time, and that these are the ones who are always telling them this is true because of the fact that Rabbi so-and-so said it, and Rabbi so-and-so also underscored it, and it was always on the basis of what the rabbis had said. But this is the One who came and said, "but I say unto you, this is it, this is the Word of God, this is the Word that you are to obey, this is the Word that you have to accept." And therefore He comes in a very unique manner.
He comes in such a manner as they had never seen it. They had never heard an Isaiah preach of course, they had never heard an Amos preach. But nevertheless, they had never heard anything like it as when Jesus of Nazareth comes, and he now takes them by the hand, so to speak, and leads them through the Scriptures. Because that's what he does too. He comes in such a way so that it is different. He interprets, and He is the Divine interpreter of the Old Testament. And He makes it clear to them, He makes known the secret will of God concerning their redemption. And so then everything points to Him and He verifies it and declares it and makes it clearer than what it was, so that the common people heard Him gladly.
He comes with the Sermon on the Mount and there are such depths that they are unfathomable, you cannot see the depths of that which He gives, and at the same time so simple. He comes in such simplicity; He makes it so simple to the people that it is, like with the Sermon on the Mount which we have become so accustomed but it is well to study it again very carefully sometimes; because he comes there with such things beloved, that defy the thinking of any individual, so deep and yet seems so simple. That is an art. He had the technique, He had everything, He had the content, He had everything that was necessary for the people. And He uttered before them the Word of God as it should have been uttered already years and years before.
So that it is a unique ministry wherewith Him comes and it is a very unique prophesy. It is also very simple. It's simplicity is such that it is given to us in such a way so that a child is able to understand it. Because we are dealing with a secret of God concerning our redemption. And do you know, that of all that which is in the Bible our redemption is the simplest part, the easiest to understand. There are ever so many difficulties in the Bible, ever so many problems, but not concerning our redemption; that is very simple. "Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved." Now you can't put it simpler than that. And that is the Word of God. Now here you come then with this simplicity, that simplicity with which He comes so that a child is able to understand it. John speaks of that, and John the apostle was very close to Him. That was the apostle whom He loved, as you know. But he is also in character and in speech, so close to Him, so that when you read John's writings you are dealing with something that is very, very much like that which you find of Jesus Himself.
And there you have all these things given so simply. "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. By Him were all things made and without Him was nothing made that was made. In Him was life and that life was the light of men." And so you could go on, and there are all these monosyllabics, all those one syllable words. They are so simple and at the same time there isn't a philosopher who was able to delve into the depths of it. It is like an ocean steamer that steams along the top, skims along the top, and as you are onboard, yah, you're going over the top, but you think to yourself, what enormous depths lie under us. So it is with the Word.
That is the Word of Christ. What enormous depths. The Word was God. And the Word became flesh. But it's very simple. And once more, what is the manner of it; it is authoritative. He comes with a word and says, "Thus saith the Lord." That is the way the prophets had also come in the Old Testament, all those that have been given to us, all those whose prophecies are recorded for us. That is the way they came; Isaiah does not come with his own words, and neither does Ezekiel or Amos or any of the others. But they always came with them in this way, "Thus saith the Lord." That is that thing that is lacking today. It no longer comes authoritively. They were not able to show the secret will of God concerning our redemption the way Jesus was able to. But they were able to say, seeing that the words had been laid on their lips, they were able to say, "Thus saith the Lord." And that is the note that is absent today. And the one's idea is this, and the other's idea is just as good, and no one knows anymore where they are.
While it is to be this, that we listen to this great prophet, our Chief Prophet, who comes to us with the Word of God and demands attention, and demands obedience, and demands this, that we shall bow before Him in humble humility. In humility realizing that it is our God who is speaking. Now that is the way He comes, and that is the manner whereby He carries out the work as Chief Prophet. He is the last prophet really, but at the same time He also calls Him in the New Testament church unto the present day, that prophetic office, the ministry of the Word that is to go on and deal with His Word and His Word alone; that Word that He has given us in the Scriptures, and that that Word is to be made known, to be made public to the church, to the whole world, but especially to the church, that this is the Word of God. "Thus saith the Lord." That's the way He comes to us.
And we believe in Jesus Christ, that is, Chief Prophet. That is the One who has spoken the Word of God to us. That is the One who has formed that secret will concerning our redemption, and has now made it known.
And finally, notice its value.
Well, when we deal with the value of that prophecy of Christ beloved, of course you are standing before something that is never to be finished. It is so broad and it is so great and it is so deep that there is no end to it. The value of the prophecy of Jesus Christ is such that it is unending. That value is so great that without it we would sink, without it we would die, without it we would have nothing, without that Word. Without that Word that we have here before us, that Word of which He is the author. He was also the one who was already speaking through a Moses, through an Isaiah, and the others. He was the one who was speaking through them and now He comes in person, the Word of God made flesh, and now He speaks; and that value of that! He draws all of these strands together. We didn't know how to put it all together. We didn't know how to get all of these various issues together. We didn't know how Genesis and Isaiah and the Psalms and Zechariah all fit together. He draws them together in His person, because they all spoke of these.
When He is speaking to those two that have gone to Emmaus that night, I tell you, that is an experience, "When He opened to us the Scriptures," with which He is so familiar, because He wrote them Himself. And now makes clear to us the secret will of God concerning our redemption. Not all secrets, no, there are ever so many left; but the secret will of God concerning our redemption. That has now been made known. And the value of that! You are not able to place a price upon it of course, because it is far beyond the cost of rubies, it is far beyond the cost of anything that is here on earth. It is so great, so great in value that we realize that we are dependent upon the Christ, that He brings it all together. And that is of course, also the only way in which we are going to be able to study the Scriptures properly. That we see them in their totality, that we see them in their interrelationships, and that we don't only take a piece here and a piece there, and then have marred the Scriptures in such a way that we can never see the whole again.
He is our Chief Prophet; He is the one to whom we are to listen; and as we listen to Him, then we listen to the whole Word of God. Then we listen to that Word from beginning to end. Then we listen to this, that He has already spoken in paradise; "that I will put enmity between thee and the woman." Then we listen to Him as He speaks in the Psalms, in the history, in the worship of the Israelites, in the prophecies, in the wisdom literature, in all of that which is given to us. He speaks, and He speaks so clearly, and this the Word of God. And its value is such that it is beyond anything that you can imagine. That is the way He comes to us. That is our Chief Prophet.
That is the reason why He is called Christ, that is, Anointed. The others were anointed as symbols, and they were anointed with oil. He says the Word was anointed directly with the Spirit; directly. That does not take anything away from that symbolism with the others, but here it is directly. So that the full measure of the Spirit of God descends upon Him, fills Him. And He speaks, and He speaks in such a way so that they hang upon His every word; and they'd better. Because these are the words of life, and outside of that is death.
That is the Word. That is the Word of God. That is the Word that He has spoken and that He has not spoken in vain. That is the Word that He has spoken and expects that we are going to listen to it and that we are going to bow before it, and that we are going to acknowledge it as being indeed the Word of God. That it is not of the machinations of men, and that it is not this, that we have a husk and a kernel, but that it is this, that it is all the living Word. Now that is the Word that goes on beloved, and has gone on from the very beginning of time, so that He has spoken to Adam already in paradise, has spoken to him already before the fall took place. And that He is still speaking and that He is speaking yet in the New Testament church, and that that is the Word that still goes forth, goes forth on mission fields, and that He accomplishes great things; that those who had hearts of stone have received hearts of flesh, that are able to respond to the promptings of the Spirit. That is the mighty Word that goes out; "it is like a hammer," says Jeremiah, "whereby stones are dashed to pieces."
That is the Word of God. And this is its real, its Chief Prophet. And that is the Word that still goes out in this New Testament time. And that we are privileged to hear that Word yet from Lord's Day to Lord's Day. That is the greatest privilege that can come upon any people; it is beyond anything that we could ever ask or think, that we have that Word of God. Because by that Word we are to live, and by that Word we can die, and not by anything else. That is that Word of comfort; He is Jesus - absolutely. Who saves His people, but He is also Christ, that is, Anointed One. And otherwise I wouldn't know who I was, because He tells me that as a Christian, and that is the second question of this Lord's Day, "why are you called a Christian?" because of course, that I am bound to Him, who is the Christ. That makes me Christian. And if I don't see His offices in their proper order, and in their proper perspective, then I won't know who I am. And therefore our Prophet, the Chief Prophet of God, who has made known to us the secret will of God concerning our redemption and has given us so much more; has given us everything, who speaks to us in such a way that our souls are filled, that it is the food for the soul, that it is our spiritual food and drink, and that it is also that comfort which we have, in which we can rest for this time and for the time to come. That is Jesus Christ, as our Chief Prophet. Amen....
We give thanks unto Thy name, heavenly Father, for that which Thou hast made known to us, for Thy grace upon us, for that glorious Word. That we may know Jesus Christ, that we may know Him in His beauty, that we may know Him in His office, that we may know Him in all that He does. Apply Thou this Word unto our hearts by the operation of Thy Spirit. Grant us Thy favor further, be near to us the remainder of this day. Grant that we may keep this day holy to Thee. And that in this evening we may again come together to listen to that which Thou hast to say to us. Forgive our sins, and hear us in Jesus name. Amen....
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