Two passages this afternoon, Acts 4, 27 through 28. and Esther 8, 9 through 17. As you're turning there, we've been, in the afternoon services, preaching a series through the Westminster Shorter Catechism, doing catechetical preaching, more doctrinal preaching, and now looking at the offices of Christ in general. God willing, in the next three or four weeks, we'll work through each of the offices, prophet, priest, and king, in particular, But we'll have just a general overview today of the offices of Christ. So our first passage is found in Acts chapter 4, verses 27 through 28. It says this. Let's be attentive now to the reading of God's word. For truly against your holy servant Jesus, whom you anointed Both Herod and Pontius Pilate with the Gentiles and the people of Israel were gathered together to do whatever your hand and your purpose determined before to be done. And now for Esther chapter 8 and verses 9 through 17. It says this. So the king's scribes were called at that time in the third month, which is the month of Sivan, on the 23rd day, and it was written according to all that Mordecai commanded to the Jews, the satraps, the governors, and the princes of the provinces from India to Ethiopia, 127 provinces in all, to every province in its own script, to every people in their own language, and to the Jews in their own script and language. And he wrote in the name of King Ahasuerus, sealed it with the king's signet ring, and sent letters by couriers on horseback, riding on royal horses bred from swift steeds. By these letters, the king permitted the Jews who were in every city to gather together and protect their lives, to destroy, kill, and annihilate all the forces of any people or province that would assault them, both little children and women, and to plunder their possessions. On one day in all the provinces of King Ahasuerus, on the 13th day of the 12th month, which is the month of Adar, A copy of the document was to be issued as a decree in every province and published for all people, so that the Jews would be ready on that day to avenge themselves on their enemies. The couriers who rode on royal horses went out, hastened and pressed on by the king's command, and the decree was issued in Shushan, the citadel. So Mordecai went out from the presence of the king in royal apparel of blue and white with a great crown of gold and a garment of fine linen and purple. And the city of Sushan rejoiced and was glad. The Jews had light and gladness, joy and honor. And in every province and city, wherever the king's command and decree came, the Jews had joy and gladness, a feast and a holiday. Then many of the people of the land became Jews because fear of the Jews fell upon them. May God bless the reading of his word. Let's pray for his blessing on the preaching. Almighty God, we give you thanks for the word of Christ and we pray that it would dwell richly in our hearts. Lord God, we pray that you would teach us of Christ's offices this afternoon and that through the preaching of your word that we would meditate well and adore you and delight in you and worship and worship and glorify you. As you alone, O Lord, are worthy of such sacred consideration and meditation, as you alone have set aside and consecrated this time for your worship. And so we pray, be adored, teach us, instruct us, encourage us, convict us, Lord, build us up in faith and obedience. We pray that in all things that you would be adored. and worshiped as the only true and living God. Through Jesus Christ, we pray. Amen. What offices, our catechism asks, what offices does Christ execute as our Redeemer? Christ, as our Redeemer, executed the offices of a prophet, of a priest and of a king, both in his estate of humiliation and exaltation. This is our consideration this afternoon, and from our text, we'll consider first from Acts 4, 27 through 28, the offices of Christ in general. The offices of Christ, understanding the offices, and then using the passage from Esther 8, 9 through 17, we'll see the offices of Christ on display. And third, Christ's offices, that Christ's offices are mediatorial. The purpose, the aim of this sermon is to provide for us an overview of the offices of Christ. The following sermons for the next few weeks will be more in-depth examinations of what does it mean that Christ is prophet? What does it mean that Christ is priest? What does it mean that Christ is king? But then not just to provide an overview for us as if this were a teaching time, but but truly to bring forth the word, to preach the word to you using a particular case, using a particular text and an odd one at that as a case study for us. And the next weeks we'll use very common texts, but just to show us how true this is throughout all of the scriptures, that even the most unseeming text to us, we can see the offices of Christ on display. But first, we need to understand the offices of Christ. And this is what we have set before us in Acts 4. So having understood, as we've looked at for the last month or so, the hypostatic union, the incarnation of our Lord Christ, and seeing what it means that Christ is our only Redeemer, that He is the God-man, the Word made flesh dwelling among us, and that He is our Savior. His name is Jesus, for He shall save His people from their sins. Having understood the name of the Lord Jesus, we must understand His title. His title of Christ, Christos, Messiah. And these titles, this title Christos in Greek, Messiah in Hebrew means anointed one. And this is what we see in the text for truly against your holy servant, Jesus, whom you anointed. The Lord Jesus, the servant is the anointed one, the Christ of God. Whence then comes this anointing? Well, it says in our text, your holy servant whom you anointed. And this is drawing us back to the book of Isaiah, particularly the end of Isaiah. What are often called the servant songs. In Isaiah 61, verse one, the first portion of that verse says this, the spirit of the Lord God is upon me because the Lord has anointed me. Here you have the servant saying that it is the Lord, and particularly it is the person of the Holy Spirit who has anointed him, who has made him Messiah, has made him Christ. Your holy servant, Jesus, whom you anointed. Now, the Old Testament, the offices of the Old Testament, particularly those ordinary offices of prophets, priests and kings, they were anointed with oil. So Christ is anointed with the oil of gladness, the Holy Spirit. And while the offices of prophets, priests and kings were anointed by a natural means, by this physical oil being poured out, Christ Jesus was anointed by means above nature, by supernatural means. This is a part of the significance of he was conceived by the Holy Spirit. In this conception, the God-man, the word who takes upon himself our very nature, was anointed from that very moment to be the mediator, to be Christ, to be prophet, priest, and king. It says that he was filled with the Holy Spirit. Indeed, the Lord Jesus was filled with the Holy Spirit all of his days, for in him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily as the God man, but particularly being conceived by the spirit, the spirit of the Lord, the spirit of Jehovah. The third person of the Trinity has anointed the servant, the Lord Jesus, the God man. And so whence this anointing, it is from the Lord himself, your holy servant, Jesus, whom you anointed, whom you have made Christ, whom you have made Messiah, whom you have made to be the anointed one. Now then, how is it that we know about these various offices? When we speak of Jesus, the Messiah, And then we begin to speak of his offices. What are the anointed offices? How is it that we know them? Well, here again, we see something that's very important for us as we read our Bibles. We know the offices of Christ first through story before we know them through systematic theology. As with the children of men, so it is with the children of God. Stories are the great catechism. by which we understand the world, how to believe rightly, and live virtuously in it. This is the whole pattern of scripture. Gerhardus Voss puts it this way in his work of biblical theology. The whole pattern is that you have prophecy, the prophetic word, and then you have the fulfillment, and then you have the interpretive word. So you have a prophecy, and then the thing is fulfilled, And then you have the thing interpreted. This is what it means. This is why this is important. And that's the whole pattern of scripture. The Old Testament, from Genesis to Malachi, you have this prophetic word. The seed of the woman coming to crush the serpent's head. And then in the book of the Gospels, you have the thing itself. The seed of the woman coming, the seed of Abraham, the son of David, the son of God, the son of man. then from Acts to Jude and Revelation is a new prophetic word speaking of things which are yet to come you have again the word interpreted now everything looking back at Both the fulfillment of the thing and the stories that came before the prophecies that came before looking at all that and making sense of it all and so In the Old Testament, we see the stories of these prophets, these priests, and these kings. There is for priests, in the book of Leviticus, there's this setting out, this is how you anoint priests. This is who's able to be priests, this is how you anoint them. But it's just assumed you're gonna have priests. Job, likely living at the time of Abraham, or before the time of Abraham, he's there, he's a priest. Jethro is there in Midian. He's a priest of Jehovah in Midian. There's all of these things going on where you just have these stories popping up. And the Lord is saying this is what a priest is. Why? Because there is a greater high priest coming. Same thing with prophets. It's just understood. The Lord is going to give prophets so much so that in the book of Amos, he says, if I'm going to do something, I'm going to give you a prophet to tell you about it first. Same thing with kings, the Lord, the Lord, no, and established in Deuteronomy 17 or Deuteronomy 18, that the people would have kings, that Israel is going to have a king. And this is what the king is going to be like. But then we're just given stories of the kings as contrasts and as preparations for the great king of kings and the Lord of Lords. And so Christ is the fulfillment and the perfection, not just of prophet, priest, and king. Christ is the fulfillment and the perfection of every single office that we have in the scriptures. Both of those which have ceased and those which continue. He is the fulfillment of those which have ceased. They've culminated, they've ended in him. And he is the perfection. He's the one who does this work spiritually before his father and providentially through his saints by the Spirit. He does all this work greatly according to his will. Christ is the great prophet. He is not only speaking the word of God. He is the word of God. Christ is the great high priest. He doesn't just make a sacrifice. He is the sacrifice. He intercedes and advocates, not in the temple made by hands, but in the one made without hands. Christ is the great judge. You think of the judges, what one 13th century commentator said, Jesus is the great pugilist. He's the boxer. He's the great judge. He conquers not just our natural enemies. The Lord Jesus has conquered sin, death, Satan, hell itself. Christ is the great king. His rule is supreme. He governs in truth and righteousness. Of Christ alone, it's able to say that he is never ashamed to his people, right? The righteousness exalts a nation and sin is ashamed of her people. Christ never is ashamed to his people. Christ is the great apostle. He is the sent one. Apostella. Oh, that's he is the sent one. He is the one sent by the Father, not just to proclaim salvation, but to be our salvation. Christ is the great evangelist. He is the one who not just establishes churches, he walks among the lampstands. He fills them with the oil of his spirit and he gives to them the light of the gospel. Christ is the great pastor. He is the true and good shepherd who feeds his sheep by the green pastures and still waters of his promises. He is the one who applies the comforting rod and staff of his discipline. He is the one who keeps away the wolves. Christ is the great elder. He is the bishop and overseer of our souls, who cares for us, who watches over us, who exercises judgment in his courts. Christ is the great deacon, the one who gives mercy in abundance. Christ is the fulfillment and the perfection of all of these offices. And so then why focus only on prophet, priest and king as our catechism does? We don't have to only focus there. The Bible speaks about it all. But we focus here particularly because these are, in a sense, the ordinary and primary offices of the Old Covenant. by which the toddler church Israel was instructed in the living object lessons of her ceremonies and circumstances. And when does Christ fulfill these offices? He fulfills them in his humiliation. And he fulfills them in his exaltation. He fulfills these offices in his humiliation, that is, in the days of his lowliness and ministry, and most particularly exemplified in his passion. and all of this for the accomplishing of our redemption. And then he applies them in his humiliation, in his resurrection, his ascension, his session, and his future return, and all of these for the applying of our redemption. And so thus we have the offices of Christ set before us. And the application is actually Quite simple, but at the same time a lifelong application. It is this, how should you read your Bibles? Having the offices of Christ set before you, thinking he is the prophet, the priest, and king, how should you read your Bible? You should read your Bible with this understanding, that the whole of scripture primarily, firstly, foremostly points us to the glory of the triune God, as revealed in the person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ. The whole Bible from Genesis to Revelation points you firstly to the glory of God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. And it shows you that glory through the person and work of Jesus Christ. This was the understanding of the apostles. In Matthew 2, you have this spirit-inspired comment by Matthew commenting on the first two years of Christ's life. And when Herod comes and an angel, Herod is going to seek to destroy Christ and is going to kill all the children under two in Bethlehem and throughout the land. And so an angel comes to Joseph and says, you need to go and depart to Egypt. And then Matthew adds this comment, this history. It says, When he arose, he took the young child and his mother by night and departed for Egypt and was there until the death of Herod, that it might be fulfilled, which was spoken by the Lord through the prophet, saying, Out of Egypt I called my son. And here you have this comment on the history of the birth and early years of Christ, and you have this allusion to the book of Hosea that has for the last 200 or 300 years baffled commentators because they say, well this is about Christ going into Egypt, not coming out of Egypt, and this is talking about Israel, not Israel and the Exodus, not Christ and his birth. This is a collective, not a personal promise. And the question is, and they wrestle, how is it? It's because they've forgotten to read their Bibles like the apostles. Jesus Christ, as the king and head of his church, is in union with his church, is so united to his church that these things which are spoken of about Israel find their culmination in the life and work of Jesus Christ. The whole Bible is about showing us the glory of God, and how do we know the glory of God? Because of Christ, you can only know the father through the son. And so when you read your Bible, read it like the apostles, the whole thing, is about Christ. This is the understanding of our Lord himself. Luke 24, 44, it says, then he said to them, these are the words which I spoke to you while I was still with you, that all things must be fulfilled, which were written in the law of Moses and the prophets and the Psalms concerning me. There that reference to Moses, Prophets and Psalms. That's the whole Bible. That's Tanakh. That's the Torah, the first five books. That's the Nevi'im, the prophets. And that's Ketuvim, the writings, which the Psalms was the predominant part. So the whole Old Testament, Christ is saying all of these things were about me and are fulfilled in me. Read your Bible like Christ, like the apostles. And you say, this is hard. Yes, it is. Do you understand it? Does it fit your scientific modern mind? No, you should change your mind. Metanoia, repentance means a changing of the mind. We should read our Bibles the way that the Bible reads itself. The only infallible interpreter of scripture is the Scripture itself. And so, how should you read your Bible, particularly the Old Testament, to see it's all about God and it's revealed in the person and work of Jesus Christ? Now, how? The question is, how? How is the person and work of Christ seen in the Scripture? You can see it in the forest and you can see it in the trees. You can see it in the forest. I think of stepping back and taking a look at the whole arc of a story, the story of David and Goliath, for instance. And here you have this shepherd humiliated, whose brothers do not love him, whose brothers scorn him and mock him, standing up against this unbeatable foe who is blasphemously castigating Jehovah and his people. and in the least likeliest of way, in a way that only this one individual can, not with the sword and power of man, not with the armor of Saul, but in the way that only he could do, comes and defeats this foe by crushing his head. That is the story of the gospel. The shepherd born in abject humiliation, unknown whose brothers the Jews scorn him and mock him and here is the foes Satan death hell sin blaspheming the Lord railing against the Lord And not with the power and sword of man, but only in the way that the God-man, only the only way man could be saved by the God-man being righteous and dying upon a cross and rising from the grave, crushing the head of the serpent giant. The whole arc of the story, it may not be the little details, But the whole story itself teaches us of the personal work of Christ. Even the structure of a book itself. Let me give you an example. The book of Matthew. Matthew is structured around five discourses. There are five speeches that make up the whole book of Matthew. And then there's things that happen around those speeches. Why is that significant? Because the whole point of Matthew is to show that Jesus is the new Moses. He's the greater Moses. Here are five books. Here are five words spoken, one discourse for each book of the Torah. And here you have Christ, the one greater than Moses, the prophet whom Moses spoke of coming and being the Messiah, the son of God, the son of Abraham, the son of David. So sometimes it's the big picture. Sometimes it's the trees. Not just the forest. Sometimes it's the trees. Sometimes it's a name like Joshua or Miriam or the Hebrew meaning of the names like Noah, who means rest. Noah means rest. And and as it was in the days of Noah, so shall it be in the coming of the son of man when he shall come. And what does he give to his people? Eternal rest. The eternal Sabbath. Sometimes it's details like Moses throwing in a tree into the bitter waters and making them sweet. And so we have Christ who, by the tree of his cross, makes the bitterness of the curse sweet to us by the gospel. So whether it's through the forest or whether it's through the trees, the whole of the scriptures are to show us the person and work of Christ so that we may see the glory of the triune God. Now, how then can you cultivate this grace of meditation? How then can you grow in your Bible reading? As Pastor Kent mentioned here, this is the time of year when a lot of people set out to read their Bibles in a year. And it's good to read your Bible. You must read your Bible, but you must also meditate on your Bible. You must understand it. A meal has to not just be ingested, it has to be chewed. And so how can you grow in this kind of meditation as you read the scriptures and seek to understand them? Well, there's four things here. First, you need to pray. Even in worship we pray as we see this pattern in scripture. We pray that God would bless his word We that's not just a perfunctory thing where we read the Bible and then we pray that God will bless the preaching because that's what we always do we genuinely desire for God to bless his word before you open your word pray and ask God to bless your reading to give you understanding and And then you have to practice this. You have to continuously do this day in and day out. Offer the morning and evening sacrifice. Go to the word. And you must do this with two things, consistency and efficiency. You must be consistent. The same thing is true of family worship, and the same thing is true of any common discipline. Whatever it is you want to do, It's a little day, a little every day is far better than tons scattered at random. So whether it's your private worship, whether it's family worship, sitting down and reading and praying together as a family, whatever it may be, a little every day is far better than tons scattered at random. But you also must be efficient, learn good skills. And the Psalms speak of our desire to play skillfully before the Lord. How is it in the new covenant that the priests of God, the priesthood of believers play skillfully before the Lord? It is by obeying and praising him well to the best of our abilities, growing in our abilities to praise the Lord and to adore him and to serve him. And so grow in your ability If there are helpful questions you can ask as you go through the scriptures, read the scriptures, ask questions like what doctrine is being taught? What promise is being held forward? What command is being instructed? That's simple faith, hope and love. What what doctrine, what command, what promise with the commands? You can ask, is there anywhere that this is positively portrayed? This commandment is obeyed, particularly in the life of Christ, so that I can understand this. Is there anywhere that this command is disobeyed by sinful men? And we see the judgment of God play out. When you're reading a narrative, you can ask, what is there? Is there an office that's being exercised? And what does that teach you about Christ executing that office? There are thematic things like how does a husband treat his wife? And so what does that teach you by comparison or contrast of how Christ treats his church? How does a father treat his children? And by comparison or contrast, what does that remind you of the father treating his children, the heavenly father? You can ask, is there any way that this event is mirrored or is alluded to in the gospels or in the book of Acts? How does this or that detail demonstrate the work of Christ? When you read through the Psalms, and when you sing through the Psalms, And when the Psalms are preached to you, because those are the three things you're supposed to have with the Psalms there to be read, there to be preached and there to be sung with all of those, ask this question. What does it mean that Christ saying this? What does it mean that Christ saying this and that he's saying it with understanding about himself? When he sings, I, what does that mean? When he joins in with the we, what does that mean? Cultivate the grace of meditation by prayer, by practice, by conversation. Think of in family worship, how fathers are to sit their children down, read the Bible, and then apply the Bible to their lives, to the lives of their children, of his wife. To sit down and apply the word, not just abstractly, but what it means, what it needs to be applied in the lives of those you know. And then to sit down in conversations across the table and say, this is what I've been learning. This is what I've been reading. These are questions that I have. Send those questions off to someone who might give you an answer or begin to endeavor to find the answer yourself. But be in conversation about particularly on the Lord's Day, this holy day. Pray, practice, converse about these things, and then pray some more. Because we need the grace of God in all of us. Seek for him to cleanse out and make you forget the things that are wrong, that you think, to correct you, and then also to guide you into the truth. So those are the offices of Christ generally. Now, our last two points, briefly, the offices of Christ in display in our text. And for this, we'll go back to Esther. As you're flipping back to Esther, if you are, by way of reminder, Esther, you have the story of the Persian king who casts out Vashti and has another queen. The Lord has favor upon Padasa, or Esther, and she is installed as the new queen. And there's Haman, who is the Agagite, who is hating of the Jews and desires to, because Mordecai, the Jew, is faithful, wants to kill all the Jews, and the Lord foils his plans, the great reversal of the eucatastrophe of the end of the Book of Esther, where Haman is hanged on his own gallows, and the Jews are able to defend themselves when they were to be eradicated. And here you have Mordecai writing out the decree of the king. The king has given him all authority, and he's able to write this decree that is going to bring salvation and joy to the people of Judah. So how do we see the offices of Christ on display? Well, we see the office of prophet on display. What is he doing? He's speaking the word. He's giving forth the word. He's issuing a decree. The word is going forth with authority. A Mordecai's decree carries an authority with it. How much more the incarnate word, the one who says, I say unto you, that is to say, I, the Lord, say myself, the Lord says, I say unto you, the word of God is the word of Christ. The law of God is the law of Christ because he owns it. Christ is God. The people marveled that he spoke with authority, not as their scribes. This is because he has all authority in heaven and earth. So Mordecai issues the word with authority. How much more so the Lord Christ. And so, friends, when you think of the prophetic work of Christ, just think of here this case. Israel wasn't going to defend themselves on other any other basis other than it was said that they could. They were going to defend themselves. They were going to go on the offensive. Why? Because the word was given. And so too, friend, rely on the word of God. Quips and catchphrases may be entertaining, but they are not commanding light to conquer darkness. Clichés and platitudes may be sentimental, but they are not comforting in the valley of the shadow of death. The Word goes forth with authority, and the Word goes to all people. You see, it's translated into all these languages, and it goes to all different kinds of people. It goes to the top governors, and it goes all the way to the Jews, and to all the other people. And do we not see that the Word of God, the Word of Christ, goes forth to all people? Christ, the great prophet, speaking forth, even in the height of His humiliation, When unbeknownst to Pilate, the truth was held forth and proclaimed through all the languages of the world, the king of the Jews. He was the king. He is the king of the whole world. And in his exaltation at Pentecost, the word is being preached to all the tongues of all those gathered in Jerusalem as the first fruits of a worldwide harvest. The word of Mordecai and the word of Christ going forth through every language. And so friend, as you pray and you're praying for missionaries, you're praying for missions work. Remember also to pray for the translation of the Bibles into the languages of the people. Pray for the work of Bible societies, missionaries who are diligent and faithful in their labors to bring the word to the tongue of that people. The word goes forth particularly to the church. It says that to the Jews in their own script and their own language, so that the Jews would be ready on that day to avenge themselves. The word goes forth to the church for their encouragement. How much more so with Christ, we have promises held forth to us in the Lord. When the Lord gave the oracles against the nations and he's going to destroy Nineveh, he's going to destroy Edom, whatever it is, he gives that to Israel. He gives that to Judah. He doesn't give that to that nation. Why? Because he's encouraging his people. I haven't forgotten about you. Do you draw encouragement from the word when you read your Bible? Are you encouraged? Are you encouraged to face each situation with faithfulness and confidence in the goodness of God? so that they would take up action, so that they would know this is how you're to respond. Mordecai gives the word so that Israel knows what to do. When you read the word of God, do you take note of the commandments? Do you take note of what the Lord would have you to do and store them in your mind? And as the word of God went particularly to the Jews, let us be diligent to pray that it would continue to go to the Jews. that the steady trickle and the stream of Jews which are being converted to Christ now would become a great river. How delightful it's going to be when however many years from now, as God would have it, that there are established synods in every nation. There's the church in America. There's the church in Scotland. There's the church in Germany. There's the church in India. There's the church in Ukraine and China, wherever it may be. And there's the National Synod of Israel right among them. Notice that the word not only goes forth with authority to all people, particularly to the church, but it goes forth swiftly. The couriers rode on royal horses. They went out. They hastened. They pressed on by the king's command. This is what we're taught. This is how we're taught to pray that the word of Christ would go forth. Second Thessalonians three, it says, finally, brothers pray that the Lord may speed ahead. The word of the Lord may speed ahead and be honored. Are you swift in your obedience to the word of God? As we considered recently, just as the couriers hastened in sending forth the decree of Mordecai, just as the shepherds were quick to leave everything and seek out the newborn king, are you delaying in your obedience, or are you swift to repent? To notice sins that you've committed in the reading of the word, realize I've been relying on myself. I've been lying. I've been boastful. I've been seeking my own way. I've been lazy, whatever it may be, and to quickly put that away and turn to the Lord and see Christ's office of prophet. We see his office as priest. We see his office as priest. He is interceding. Mordecai is interceding for the people. Here, he's doing it in a civil sense. We often think of the priestly work as interceding ecclesiastically, religiously. But the analogy holds forth. You have an intercession on behalf of the people. And this is what Mordecai is doing. He intercedes by his word. He puts forth his position. He uses his position. to intercede for the people. So Christ intercedes for us as the advocate by the father. Think of that beloved of the Most High, child of the Almighty, the judge of the world stands as your advocate and friend. He intercedes by his action. And here we have the great contrast in our text with Mordecai and Christ. Christ does not call his people to fight their own battles. But he wages war on our behalf. He has crushed the serpent's head. The son of God was revealed for this purpose to destroy the works of the devil. And what is more, not only has he destroyed the works of the devil, he has been for us the substitute before the father. He has taken upon himself the wrath, which all of those who look to him, the wrath which we deserve for our sins. He has become our sin so that in turn, through faith, we receive his righteousness. With grace upon grace, he acts as prophet, he acts as priest, and we see his kingly work here. Mordecai goes out from the presence of the king and he is robed in royal apparel. His authority is matched by his glory and how much more the Lord Jesus Christ. He is the son of man, clothed with a long robe, with a white golden sash across his chest. His head and his hair were white as white wool, white as snow. His eyes like flame of fire, his feet like burnished bronze, refined as a furnace. His voice like the sound of many waters. In his right hand he held seven stars. From his mouth came a sharp, two-edged sword. His face was like the sun, shining with full force. But friend, not just the authority of our king, but the glory of our king. We live in a day in which our kings, our magistrates, our governors are not dignified. They are not glorious. They do not provoke in us the same measure of stature and dignity and worth as which our forefathers and the early fathers of this country, the kings of yesteryear, put in our minds. Our king has a glory which is matched with his authority. That when he is seen, there is no other response than to bow and to worship. such as the glory of our King. And as we've seen his offices on display in this text, friends, you must receive by faith the whole Christ, not just a partial Christ. You must receive the Lord Jesus as prophet, priest and king. So many today want Christ as a priest and a king, but not as their prophet. This is the heresy of Rome. This is the heresy of those who want the traditions of men and not the word of Christ to be their law. So many want Christ to be their prophet and their king, but not their priest. This is the heresy of liberalism, which loves to have a Jesus who is a good teacher and a moral example, but not the son of God dying on a cross for our sins. So many more want Christ, who is a prophet and a priest, but never a king. And friend, this is the heresy. This is the sin which plagues so many evangelical and reformed churches today. They love. So they say they love the word of God. They believe in the gospel of Christ. But as soon as their wills are crossed with the will of Christ and his word, they pursue their own courses. So many despising charity and call to patience, despise the Lord as his kingly rule by being schismatic and being quick to flee rather than to pursue reformation. The staff of the shepherd, they would follow, but they would flee from his rod. The gifts of the father, they delighted, but his discipline they distressed. The comfort of the Spirit they rejoice in, but in his conviction they quench. The sermons of ministers they hear with gladness, but when they tender their counsel or censure with admonition, they find another pastor more suited to their sensibilities. This is lawlessness. This is anarchy against the kingship of the Lord Jesus Christ. Take him as he is, prophet, priest, and king. There is no other. hear his word, believe upon him, and follow his ways. And lastly, Christ's offices are mediatorial. We see this in our text. We see this with first regard to the distinction between the immediate authority of God and the mediatorial work of Christ. So what is the source of his authority? What do we see in the text? It's helpful. Mordecai writes in the name of King Ahasuerus. And so it is with the Lord Jesus Christ. Essentially, immediately, as He is, as true and very God, the Divine Word, the Eternal Son, He has all authority, together with the Father and the Spirit. The Father is almighty, the Son is almighty, the Spirit is almighty, but there are not three almighties, there is one almighty God in three persons. But as the God-man, as the second Adam, as true God and true man, Jesus Christ is specifically given all authority in heaven and on earth as a reward of the covenant of grace. Because He has done what He said He would do, all authority as the God-man is given to Him. He is the Son of Man to whom the Ancient of Days sits at His right hand. He is the Son who the Father says, I have given you all things and put them under your feet. And the authority of Christ is total and infinite. He has all authority. He has authority to rule and to overrule. to take those who will sit at his feet and hear of his ways and to raise them up. And those who make themselves high and will not be sitting at his feet, he will make into their footstool, his footstool. Christ has been given authority by the Father as the God man, and he executes this authority with a purpose. It's not just that Jesus Christ has all authority. It's why he has all authority. You see this in Isaiah 63. The spirit of the Lord God is upon me. The Lord has anointed me. Why? To bring good news to the poor. to bind the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, the opening of the prison to those who are bound, to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor, the day of vengeance upon our God, to comfort those who mourn, to grant to those who mourn in Zion, to give them a beautiful headdress instead of ashes, the oil of gladness instead of mourning, the garment of praise instead of a faint spirit. Like Mordecai, he exercises the Lord Jesus exercises his authority to protect the church. To protect her, all authority, all things have been placed, he's been made the head of all things to the church for the church, for her protection and to advance his kingdom so that at the end of the story, you notice many of the people became Jews because of the fear of the Jews fell upon them. In Acts 5 and throughout the book of Acts, the fear of the Lord falls upon the people. And from that fear of the Lord, God increases their number every day. God in Christ Jesus exercises authority with a purpose to spread his glory throughout the whole world. Use another example. You have in the book of Ezra, you have three men, Haggai, Jeshua and Zerubbabel, prophet, priest and king. And they all gathered to build the wall of the temple to fortify and to build the church. This is what Jesus Christ does. He builds upon himself as he builds us upon himself as the cornerstone. And he brings many sons to glory. He advances that kingdom out into every region of the land. And so as we apply this, the purpose of this kingship, the purpose of this priesthood, the purpose of this prophetic work, what great comfort there is. To know that all things are for the glory of God, which is our greatest joy and highest aim. To know that all things are for our good, even as they are there. Mordecai is interceding for Judah while they're in exile. Christ intercedes for us in the strain and tempest of our pilgrimage under the sun. And to know that this is true, always this Jesus that is preached to you is not just abstract. He is the same yesterday, today and forever. He is the God who says to all who believe him, and so do you believe in him? But he says this very thing, my father and your father, my God and your God, would you have this Christ today? Would you trust in him today? Christian, would you be comforted by him today? Have you received the spirit by grace and continue in your own works? Are you comforted by grace and then persevering by your own works? It can never be be comforted now by the grace of God in Jesus Christ. This is for you. This is for you each and every day. And what great joy there is in this Lord Jesus Christ. It says that the Jews had light, had gladness, had joy, had honor. They had a feast and they even called it a holiday. A good day, it says in the Hebrew. What great cause there is to rejoice this day, every day, each and every Lord's Day. To rejoice in the Lord always. Again, I say rejoice. Friend, do you find cause to rejoice in the Lord? Are you troubled? Are you having a hard time finding a cause to rejoice even when you are near death? There is cause to rejoice. Christ has died, he is risen, and he will come again. And to all who cling to him, he has given a spirit of adoption. He calls you his own so that he says, and you say to him, I am my beloved's and my beloved is mine. May God bless his word to us. Let's pray. Father, we give you thanks for your word, and we ask that you would be merciful to us and apply these things to our lives, that we would love you with our whole heart, soul, mind, and strength as we pray through Jesus Christ. Amen.