As we have examined the OT background of the Threefold Office we have seen that this pattern was a part of the original creation and was also expected of Israel as a whole. Individually, each of these offices within Israel anticipated the coming of one who would fulfill these roles in ways that mere men never could. The OT prophets anticipate that (1) God will be revealed in a way that was beyond the ability of any normal prophet (Isa. 40:9), (2) the people will be cleansed and their sins atoned for in a ways that were beyond the work of any normal priest (Jer. 33:8), and (3) the enemies of the people will be defeated and that they will be shepherded in ways that were beyond the abilities of any normal king (Isa. 11:4; 40:1-11).
It is with these expectations in mind that we come to the events of the New Testament. The Gospel of Luke makes it clear that Jesus’ birth comes in fulfillment of the OT promises of the coming of Messiah, the Anointed One of God (Luke 1:32-33; 2:29-32). While we do not know much about the early life of Christ, we know that He was fully human in the manner of Adam and Eve pre-Fall, not as we ourselves are as their children who have inherited the guilt of their sin as well as their sinful nature. It is one of the primary goals of Luke’s Gospel to establish Jesus as the Second Adam, something that his genealogy in Luke 3 does by concluding with Adam, “the son of God.”
Luke has already described the beginning of Jesus’ public ministry in the first part of chapter three, emphasizing the fact that He is anointed with the Holy Spirit and that God speaks of Him as His beloved “son.” The prophets had anticipated that the Spirit of the Lord would be upon Messiah (Isa. 11:2) and they anticipated that He would come to defeat the enemies of God’s people (Isa. 11:4). However, we are informed by Luke that Jesus is not led to Jerusalem to conquer the Romans, but is instead driven into the Judean wilderness where He was continually tempted by Satan.
This testing of Jesus recalls the experience of Adam and Eve in the Garden (Gen. 3) as well as Israel’s wanderings in the wilderness (Ex. 16-17; Numbers 1-38) respectively, where they were tested by God. While Jesus was tested continually, three specific temptations are mentioned in the text of Luke 4:1-13. In Jesus response to each of these, He demonstrated Himself to be the fulfillment of the Threefold Office in contrast to both Adam and Israel who had each failed when tested. First, as Prophet, Jesus accurately speaks the Word of the Lord, quoting from the book of Deuteronomy in response to each of Satan’s temptations. Second, as Priest, Jesus guards His own holiness by obeying the Word of the Lord and worshiping God alone. Finally, as King, Jesus refuses to submit Himself to the enemy, ruling over Him instead by remaining faithful to God the Father and proving Himself to be the Savior that the nation of Israel and the rest of humanity desperately needed.
Join us this Sunday as we come together to worship Jesus, our Savior who as defeated our enemy and delivered us from the dominion of darkness!
Soli Deo Gloria.
-Thomas