The Christian faith is based in history. Jesus of Nazareth was a man who lived, died, and came back from the dead.
These are historical claims of fact, and Christianity rests on the truth of these claims. As Paul wrote, “if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is in vain and your faith is in vain” (1 Corinthians 15:14).
Jesus’s resurrection is central to our faith and has scores of implications for Christians throughout the ages. But in this post I want to direct our attention to what Jesus’s resurrection tells us about Jesus himself and the offices he occupies.
Jesus is a Prophet
While it is true that Jesus is The Prophet, the one spoken of by Moses (Deuteronomy 18:15–19), that is not my present concern. In this post, I’ll only argue that Jesus was confirmed as a prophet of God by his resurrection.
Jesus predicted his suffering, death, and resurrection multiple times (see Luke 9:22 and Luke 18:31–33 among other places). Further, the two men at the tomb told the women,
“Why do you seek the living among the dead? He is not here, but has risen. Remember how he told you, while he was still in Galilee, that the Son of Man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men and be crucified and on the third day rise.” (Luke 24:5–7)
These prophecies were a regular part of Jesus’s teaching. His contemporaries recognized that Jesus was a prophet, and the Old Testament teaching on prophets is clear: false prophets can be identified when prophecies do not come to pass.
This means that Jesus’s credibility was on the line on the third day after his death. His resurrection proved that he was a true prophet of God.
Jesus is a Priest
The book of Hebrews spends a lot of time explaining that Jesus is a priest. The author contrasts the priesthood of Aaron (the Levitical priesthood) with the priesthood of Melchizedek and concludes that Jesus is a priest of the second kind.
How was Jesus qualified for this priesthood?
This becomes even more evident when another priest arises in the likeness of Melchizedek, who has become a priest, not on the basis of a legal requirement concerning bodily descent, but by the power of an indestructible life. For it is witnessed of him, “You are a priest forever, after the order of Melchizedek.” (Hebrews 7:15–17)
Jesus’s resurrection proved his “indestructible life”—he was victorious over death and therefore stepped into his eternal priesthood. In his death, Jesus was both priest and sacrifice (Hebrews 7:27), and he now lives to make priestly intercession for his people (Hebrews 7:25).
Jesus is a King
Jesus’s resurrection declared him to be the king of the world.
Paul, a servant of Christ Jesus, called to be an apostle, set apart for the gospel of God, which he promised beforehand through his prophets in the holy Scriptures, concerning his Son, who was descended from David according to the flesh and was declared to be the Son of God in power according to the Spirit of holiness by his resurrection from the dead, Jesus Christ our Lord (Romans 1:1–4)
Paul writes that Jesus was “declared to be the Son of God … by his resurrection from the dead.” The title “Son of God” was, in part, a royal title, so Paul is connecting Jesus’s resurrection to his kingly office. (I have written more about the title “Son of God” and its use in the Gospels; you can find that post here.)
The Centrality of the Resurrection
It is not a stretch to start with Jesus being a prophet, a priest, and a king and end with the fact that he is the prophet, the priest, and the king. In other words, Jesus occupies these offices in a way that is so unique, powerful, and unending that there can be no comparison with other human prophets, priests, or kings.
The resurrection of Jesus starts us down that road. In addition to being a necessity for our faith, Jesus’s resurrection reveals some of the historical and ongoing work that he does for his people.