Who Is This?
When Jesus entered Jerusalem for the final time before his crucifixion, crowds of people gathered together to honor him with shouts of adoration. Some people laid their clothing down in the road as a sign of respect as others praised God and blessed Jesus in loud voices. This apparently caused quite the commotion in Jerusalem. Matthew tells us that the whole city was stirred (Matthew 21:10, NIV). This is the kind of thing that would have been the lead story on the evening news, or the kind of video that would go viral on social media. It got the whole town talking!
But not everyone really understood what was going on. Some people in Jerusalem had no idea who Jesus was and what the fuss was about. So they asked the obvious question: “Who is this?” (Matthew 21:10, NIV)
Pause for a moment and consider how you would answer that question if you were one of the disciples who knew the truth about Jesus. It’s one of the most important questions a person will ever ask because so much hinges on the answer. Is he a good moral teacher, but nothing more? Is he a deranged lunatic with delusional thoughts about being the son of God? Is he nothing more than a liar and a conman who strung people along? Or is he simply a legend who never actually existed as a historical figure? If any of these are true, then we’re wasting our lives following him. But if Jesus is who he says he is—then we’re wasting our lives if we ignore him.
So Who is Jesus, really?
The Bible gives us a plenty of titles that apply to Jesus: Lord, master, teacher, savior, Son of Man, Messiah, King of Kings, and Son of God… just to name a few. Jesus is all of those things, and more. But that’s not the way the crowds answered the question. In this instance, they responded by saying “This is Jesus, the prophet from Nazareth in Galilee” (Matthew 21:11, NIV).
One of the most important things we need to know about Jesus was that he was a prophet, sent by God, to share God’s word with God’s people.
The Role of a Prophet
A lot of people associate prophets and prophecy with making predictions about the future — especially the end times. And there certainly is an element of truth to that. But those kinds of futuristic predictions are just a small piece of the puzzle — certainly not the main focus of Biblical prophecy. A good, simple definition of a Biblical prophet is a person who has been sent by God to deliver a specific message to an individual or a group of people. Generally they delivered one of two messages: challenge or comfort.
1. Challenge — Very often the prophets would be sent to deliver a wake-up call to the people. Get right with God before it’s too late! Ezekiel 14:6 is a good example of that. So is Jonah’s sermon to the people of Nineveh.
2. Comfort — But the prophets also brought a message of hope, especially in times of turmoil and disaster. God did not want his people to think that their situation was hopeless. The prophets would remind people of God’s goodness and encourage them to keep their hope fixed on God, even in dire cirudmstances. Jeremiah 29:11 is a good example of that.
When prophets spoke these messages, they weren’t sharing their own thoughts or their own opinions. They were sharing God’s words. And it was imperative that the people understood it that way. So to prove their authenticity, the prophets would often be empowered to perform incredible signs and wonders. Think of Moses and the ten plagues, or Elijah and the fire consuming the altar. Another test was whether or not the prophet’s words actually came true (See Deuteronomy 18:21-22).
Going back to the Palm Sunday story… when the people in Jerusalem were told that Jesus was the prophet, they were being told that Jesus was a messenger, sent by God, to share God’s word with God’s people. And they were being told that Jesus had proven his credibility through miracles and a track record of speaking the truth.
This is very much in line with a few key things Jesus said during his ministry:
“For I did not speak on my own, but the Father who sent me commanded me to say all that I have spoken,” (John 12:49, NIV).
"Why do you call it blasphemy when I say, ‘I am the Son of God’? After all, the Father set me apart and sent me into the world. 37 Don’t believe me unless I carry out my Father’s work. 38 But if I do his work, believe in the evidence of the miraculous works I have done, even if you don’t believe me. Then you will know and understand that the Father is in me, and I am in the Father,” (John 10:36-38, NIV).
Jesus isn’t just “a” Prophet — He’s “the” Prophet.
Jesus wants us to know that he is a prophet, sent by God. The crowds in Jerusalem believed in him, but they weren’t the only ones to acknowledge Jesus as a prophet. Many others came to realize the same thing about him. Here’s a few examples:
The disciples on the road to Emmaus: “He was a prophet, powerful in word and deed before God and all the people” (Luke 24:17-19, NIV).
A crowd of people who witnessed Jesus raise a dead man back to life: “A great prophet has appeared among us” (Luke 7:16, NIV).
The Samaritan woman at the well: “Sir, I can see that you are a prophet” (John 4:19, NIV).
Obviously, not everyone shared this conviction about Jesus. The Pharisees and teachers of the Law refused to believe that Jesus was a prophet. They felt that a prophet would never associate with sinners the way Jesus did and never come from a place like Nazareth in Galilee. They believed he was a false prophet who was to be killed according to the Law of Moses.
But the reality is that Jesus really was a prophet. And not just “a” prophet, but the prophet that God has been promising. And that takes us back to an important promise God made to the people of Israel during the time of Moses:
“18 I will raise up for them a prophet like you [Moses] from among their fellow Israelites, and I will put my words in his mouth. He will tell them everything I command him. 19 I myself will call to account anyone who does not listen to my words that the prophet speaks in my name.” -Deuteronomy 18:18-29, NIV
God was promising that one day in the future, he would send another prophet like Moses. God would put his words into the mouth of this prophet, and the people would be held accountable for the way they responded to his message. Later on, in Deuteronomy 34:10-12, the Bible tells us a little more about this future prophet:
“10 Since then, no prophet has risen in Israel like Moses, whom the Lord knew face to face, 11 who did all those signs and wonders the Lord sent him to do in Egypt—to Pharaoh and to all his officials and to his whole land. 12 For no one has ever shown the mighty power or performed the awesome deeds that Moses did in the sight of all Israel.” -Deuteronomy 34:10-12, NIV
This prophet would arise from Israel, would be like Moses, would see God face-to-face and would perform signs and wonders that demonstrated the mighty power of God. And this prophet would speak the very words of God to all of God’s people.
Who does that sound like to you?
The Apostles Knew that Jesus was The Prophet God had Promised.
When the Apostles began preaching the Gospel message about Jesus, their first audiences were all Jews who knew about the promise God made to Israel during the time of Moses. So as they told their fellow Jews about the death and resurrection of Christ, they argued that Jesus was the prophet (and the Messiah) that God had been promising all along:
19 Repent, then, and turn to God, so that your sins may be wiped out, that times of refreshing may come from the Lord, 20 and that he may send the Messiah, who has been appointed for you—even Jesus. 21 Heaven must receive him until the time comes for God to restore everything, as he promised long ago through his holy prophets. 22 For Moses said, ‘The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among your own people; you must listen to everything he tells you. 23 Anyone who does not listen to him will be completely cut off from their people.” -Acts 3:19-23, NIV
Summary
Jesus is a prophet, sent by God, to share God’s word with God’s people. He has proven his credibility through a long list of miracles. And now it’s our responsibility to honor him and obey his message.
My takeaway-
“There is something that God wants me to know, feel, or do differently because of what I am about to read.”
God wants me to know that Jesus is the ultimate prophet. I often think of Jesus as my Lord and Savior who has certainly fulfilled prophecy, but I don’t often dwell on his role as a prophet. Yet obviously, he truly was the authoritative voice of God, speaking words of comfort as well as challenging his listeners with words of admonition.
I am grateful for his authority as a messenger of God, and that Jesus’s message as a prophet continues to impact my life today, thousands of years later. I am comforted by the fact that he is the “Prince of Peace”, particularly during the hustle-bustle of the holiday season, and I am challenged by his words of admonition to “take up my cross daily”, putting to death those things that can hold me back in my relationship with him and other people, knowing that ultimately this if for my own good!
“They went to Capernaum, and when the Sabbath came, Jesus went into the synagogue and began to teach. The people were amazed at his teaching, because he taught them as one who had authority, not as the teachers of the law.”
Mark 1:21-22