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More than a Prophet?

Was Jesus the Messiah just a good man, a great moral teacher, and a prophet like the many who had come before Him, or was Jesus something more than all of these things? 

The Bible's account of the life of Jesus the Messiah shows us that He is the supreme example of a servant.  His role as the suffering servant was foretold centuries before His birth.  When His disciples were lured by the temptation toward worldly greatness, Jesus made His purpose clear:

"Jesus called them together and said, 'You know that those who are regarded as rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their high officials exercise authority over them. Not so with you. Instead, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first must be slave of all. For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.'"
                                              (Mark 10:42-45 NIV)

Another witness recorded that Jesus the Messiah "... made Himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant ..."  (Philippians 2:7  NIV)

 

Is this great servant-teacher more than a prophet?  Let us honestly consider the following statements:

Jesus Himself is the message     A prophet is entrusted with a message from his Lord.  His obedience depends on his delivering that message to people.  Jesus, however, is the Word of God.  One of Jesus' own disciples, an eyewitness, recorded these words:

"In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning ... The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth."      (John 1:1-2 and 14 NIV)

"Jesus answered, 'I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.'"                           (John 14:6 NIV)

"That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked at and our hands have touched--this we proclaim concerning the Word of life. The life appeared; we have seen it and testify to it, and we proclaim to you the eternal life, which was with the Father and has appeared to us."       (1 John 1:1-2 NIV)

Jesus is not limited by time     A prophet is intimately connected to his own generation, his own place and time.  Jesus was almost stoned by the Jews for this striking claim, "I tell you the truth," Jesus answered, "before Abraham was born, I am!"  (John 8:58 NIV)  One of the two thieves crucified with Jesus repented on the cross.  Jesus said this to him, "I tell you the truth, today you will be with me in paradise."  (Luke 23:43 NIV)

Jesus is the Judge     All other prophets need to appeal to their Lord for mercy in this life and on the Day of Judgment.  Jesus claims to be the judge Himself on the Day of Judgment, as in these words, "I tell you the truth, a time is coming and has now come when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God and those who hear will live. For as the Father has life in himself, so he has granted the Son to have life in himself. And he has given him authority to judge because he is the Son of Man."  (John 5:25-27 NIV)

Jesus is the fulfillment of everything the prophets foretold     After His resurrection from the dead, Jesus appeared to His disciples.  In a conversation with two of them who didn't recognize Him, when they expressed their confusion at what had happened, we find these words, "He said to them, 'How foolish you are, and how slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken! Did not the Christ have to suffer these things and then enter his glory?' And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he explained to them what was said in all the Scriptures concerning himself."  (Luke 24:25-27 NIV)  (See also Prophecies about the Messiah)

Jesus is the King     Many times in the Holy Injil Jesus the Messiah presented Himself as a king with a kingdom, the Kingdom of God.  One example is Jesus' prophecy about the final judgment:  "The Son of Man will send out his angels, and they will weed out of his kingdom everything that causes sin and all who do evil."  (Matthew 13:41 NIV)

Jesus' words are eternal     A prophet appeals to the words of another (his Lord).  In speaking about His own words, Jesus the Messiah says, "Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away."  (Mark 24:35 NIV)

Jesus is the mediator     Far from being simply a spokesperson for His Lord, Jesus bridges the gap between the Almighty Lord and humankind.  "For there is one God and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself as a ransom for all men--the testimony given in its proper time."  (1 Timothy 2:5-6 NIV)

Jesus is called by names which cannot be used for a mere prophet      The titles and names ascribed to Jesus in the Holy Bible are a powerful statement that He is more than a prophet.  Some of them are:  the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End, the First and the Last, the Heir of All Things, the Horn of Salvation, the Redeemer, and the Savior.  (For a more complete list, see Names of Jesus Christ.)

Jesus could not have been simply a good man or just a prophet     The following is a quote from C.S. Lewis, who was a professor at Oxford University:

I am trying here to prevent anyone saying the really foolish thing that people often say about Him: "I'm ready to accept Jesus as a great moral teacher, but I don't accept His claim to be God." That is the one thing we must not say. A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher. He would either be a lunatic--on a level with the man who says he is a poached egg--or else he would be the Devil of Hell. You must make your choice. Either this man was, and is, the Son of God; or else a madman or something worse. You can shut Him up for a fool, you can spit at Him and kill Him as a demon, or you can fall at His feet and call Him Lord and God. But let us not come away with any patronizing nonsense about His being a great human teacher. He has not left that open to us. He did not intend to.
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