Again, in Isaiah lxi :1, 1, Christ's consecration to the prophetic office, together with its sacred and gracious functions, is emphatically set forth: (see Luke iv :16-2t, where Christ applies this passage to himself). In order, then, to sustain this part of his mediatorial office, and thus work out the redemption of the world, we may see the necessity there was that Messiah should be both God and man. It belongs to a prophet to expound the law, declare the will of God, and foretell things to come: all this was done, and that in a singular and eminent manner, by Christ, our prophet (Matt. V :21, C1C.: John i:8). All light comes front this prophet. The Apostle shows that all ministers are but stars which shine by a borrowed light (2 Cor. 7). All the prophets of the Old, and all the prophets and teachers of the New Testament, lighted their tapers at this torch (Luke xxi:15). It was Christ who preached by Noah (I Pet. iii:to), taught the Israelites in the wilderness (Acts vii:37),and still teaches by his ministers (Eph. iv :it, 12). On this subject Bishop Butler (Analogy, part ii. ch. v.) says: 'He was, by way of eminence, the prophet, "the prophet that should come into the world" (John vi:t4) to declare the Divine will. He published anew the law of nature, which men had corrupted, and the very knowledge of which. to some degree, was lost amongst them. He taught mankind. taught us authoritatively, to live soberly, righteously, and godly in this present world, in expectation of the future judgment of God. He confirmed the truth of this moral sys tem of nature, and gave tts additional evidence of it, the evidence of testimony. He distinctly re vealed the manner in which God would be wor shiped, the efficacy of repentance, and the re wards and punishments of a future life. Thus he was a prophet in a sense in which no other ever was.' Hence the force of the term d Moor, by which St. John designates Christ.
But, on the other hand, had the second person of the Trinity come to us in all the majesty of his Divine nature. we could not have approached him as our instructor. The Israelites, terrified at the exhibitions of Deity. cried out that the Lord might not so treat with them again; it was then that he, in gracious condescension to their feel ings, promised to communicate with them in future through a prophet like unto Moses. The Son of God, in assuming the form of an hutnble man, became accessible to all. Thus we perceive the connection of Christ's prophetic office—he be ing both God and man—with the salvation of man. On this subject Chrysostorn (//omi/. cxxxiv. tom. v. p. 860) remarks: 'A mediator, unless he has a union and communion with the parties for whom he mediates, possesses not the essential qualities of a mediator. When Christ, therefore. became Mediator between God and man (i Tim. ii. etc.), it was indispensable that Ile should be both God and man.' Macarius also (Hama. vi :97) on this question more pointedly observes: 'The Lord came and took his body from the virgin; for if he had ap peared among us in his naked divinity, who could bear the sight? But he spoke as man to us men.' Again, the Redeemer was not only to pro pound, explain. and enforce God's law, but it was needful that he should give a practical proof of obedience to it in his own person. Now, if he had not heen man. he could not have been sub ject to the law: hence it is said, Gal. iv:4, 'When the fullness of the time was come. God sent forth his son, made of a woman, made under the law ;' and if Ile had not been God, he could not, by keeping the law, have merited forgiveness for us, for lie had done btu what was required him. It was the fact of his being very God and very man which constituted the merit of Christ's obedience.
(2) Priest. Moreover, in working out the mighty scheme of redemption the mediator must assume the office of priest.
To this office Christ was solemnly appointed by God (Ps. cx :4 ; Heb. v :10), qualified for it by his incarnation (Heb. x :6, 7), and accomplished all the ends thereof by his sacrificial death (Heb. ix:11, 12) ; as in sustaining his prophetic charac ter, so in this, his Deity and humanity will be seen. According to the exhibition of type and
declaration of prophecy, the mediator must die, and thus rescue us sinners from death by de stroying him who nad the power of death. 'But we see Jesus,' says the Apostle (Heb. :9), 'who was made a little lower than the angels for the suffering of death, crowned with glory and honor, that he by the grace of God should taste death for every man. Forasmuch, then, as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he also him self likewise took part of the same, that through death he might destroy him who had the power of death, that is, the Devil.' On the other hand, had he not been God he could not have raised himself from the dead. 'I lay down my life (he says, John x:17, 18), and take it up again.' He had not had a life to lay down if he had not been man, for the Godhead could not die; and if lie had not been God, he could not have ac quired merit by laying it down ; it must be his own, and not in the power of another, else his voluntarily surrendering himself unto death—as he did on the charge that he, being only man, made himself equal with God—was an act of suicide, and consequently an act of blasphemy against God! It was, then, the mysterious union ot both natures in the one person of Christ, which constituted the essential glory of his vicari ous obedience and death.
Nor are the two natures of Christ more ap parent in his death than they are in the inter cession which 'he ever liveth to make' in behalf of all who come unto God by him (Heb. vii :25). The author of the Epistle to the Hebrews teaches us (cc. vii, ix) how the high-priest, under the Levitical dispensation, typified Christ in his in tercessory character; as the high-priest entered alone within the holiest place of the tabernacle once a year with the blood of the sacrifice in his hands, and the names of the twelve tribes upon his heart, so Christ, having offered up him self as a lamb without spot unto God, has gone into glory bearing on his heart the names of his redeemed. We may, then. ask, with the Apostle (Rom. viii :33), 'Who shall lay anything to the charge of God's elect? It is God that justifieth, who is he that condemneth? It is Christ that died, yea rather, that is risen again, who is even at the right hand of God, who also maketh in tercession for us.' In this part of his mediatorial work God's incommunicable attributes of omnis cience, oninipresence, and omnipotence are seen. He must therefore have been God, and on the ground of his being able, from personal experi ence, to sympathize with the suffering members of his mystical body, he must have been man ; being perfect God and perfect man, he is, then, a perfect intercessor.
(3) King. We come, lastly, to notice Christ's mediatorial character as king. The limits of this article will not admit of our even alluding to the varied and multiplied passages of Scripture which delineate Christ as 'Head over all things to the church' (see Ps. ii :6 ; xlv ; Isaiah xx-xn : 1; Dan. ix :25 ; Col. i :17, 18, etc.). Suffice it here to say that Christ could not, without the concurrence of his Divine nature, gather and gov ern the church, protect and defend it against all assailants open and secret, and impart to it his Holy Spirit, to enlighten and renew the minds and hearts of men and subdue Satan—all these are acts of his kingly office.
Such, then, is the work of Christ's mediatorship —salvation revealed by him as prophet, procured by him as priest, and applied by him as king— the work of the whole person wherein both na tures are engaged. Hence it is that some of the ancients speaking of it, designate it 'a Divine human. operation' (see Dionys. Areopag. Epist /V. ad Caitlin, Damascenus, iii. 19). For a more ample view of this important subject see Flavel, Panstratia of Shanzier, vol. iii. fol. Genev. vii. 1, in which the views of the Romish church are ably controverted. See also Brinsley (John), Christ's Mediation, 8 vols. Lond. 1657. (See jESUS CHRIST.) j. W. D.