Our Prophet, Priest, & King series begins where all things in Scripture begin, Genesis 1-2. As we examine the commands of God to mankind in the Bible’s first chapters, the categories of the Threefold Office begin to take shape.

In Gen. 2:15-17, God addresses the man, commanding him to “work” and “keep” the Garden. Interestingly, these terms are repeated later in the Old Testament in relation to the priestly work of the Levites in the Tabernacle. Adam, like a priest, was to guard his own holiness as well as to protect the Garden (the place where God was worshipped) from being defiled by sin. He could only do this by honoring and obeying the Word of the Lord.

Having received the Word of the Lord, Adam was also to speak it to his wife and the children that they were eventually to have. This position of proclaiming God’s Word and calling God’s people to hear and obey it is remarkably similar to the later role that the Old Testament prophets played.

Finally, Adam and Eve were blessed by God and given dominion over the earth (Gen. 1:28). This kingly role consisted of stewarding the natural world as well as shepherding and leading the children that God was to bless them with. All of this would be done for God’s glory and for the good of the rest of creation.

The Fall of man described in Genesis 3 can be understood as a failure in each of these categories, necessitating the coming of one who would succeed where our first parents failed. Through Christ, the ultimate Prophet, Priest, and King, we can be restored to God so as to become His people that keep ourselves according to his Word in a priestly way, proclaim His Word to ourselves and others in a prophetic way, while also stewarding the areas of responsibility that He has entrusted to us in a kingly way.

Join us this Sunday as we gather to hear the Word of the Lord proclaimed and to celebrate the Lord’s Table together.

Soli Deo Gloria.

-Thomas