CHRIST’S THREEFOLD OFFICE

The Word of God is very clear about the two-fold offices of Christ: Prophet and Priest. Jesus as a Prophet spoke the Word of God, but He was also the sacrificial Lamb of God, who as a Priest, gave His own body as a substitutional offering for sinful humanity.    It is in the area of His role of King that the Reformed people get it all confused! With their allegorical and amillennial theology they really gum up the works in regard to His position as King.    The Reformed writers take Psalm 103:19 as a messianic passage about Christ ruling in the heavenlies. This helps them claim that His kingship presently is about His reign only in the heavens, and not about His literal, earthly reign (as the son of David) over Israel for 1,000 years in the future. But this passage is not about Christ but about God the Father and His rule over all the creation. The verse reads: "The Lord has established His throne in the heavens; and His sovereignty rules over all."    Unger rightly notes: "This divine rule refers to God's universal kingdom, including the entire creation, which is as eternal as God. ... This kingdom is distinguishable from the mediatorial Kingdom of Christ, which issues from it (cf. 7:9-14) and will finally be merged with it (1 Cor. 15:24)."    The Reformed guys then quote 2 Samuel 7:12-14 that indeed is about Christ's earthly kingship over the nation of Israel, but they allegorize it away and interpret it with an amillennial twist. The verses speak about Solomon, the son of David, establishing his kingly house (lineage), his throne (the right to rule over Israel on earth), and his kingdom (which is made up of a people [Israel] and a land). Quoting Acts 2:30-33, they say Jesus is reigning now, over us, by subduing "our unruly hearts (sanctification) as well as ruling [now] over all men and nations."    How can they so easily distort Acts 2:30-33, and also, Luke 1:30-33? In Luke, the angel Gabriel is speaking to Mary. He says she literally will have a son and call His name Jesus! Then (not allegorically) He will be given by the Lord God "the throne of His father David; and He will reign over the house of Jacob forever; and His kingdom will have no end." Are our hearts called "the house of Jacob" over which He now rules? Is "the throne of David" somehow our heart? How hard does one have to allegorize in order to escape the normal, literal, and natural language found in these verses?    And how the Reformed guys use Acts 2:30-33 (which are about Christ's resurrection and ascension) to show He is establishing His throne and kingdom inside of believers, I can't figure out! They mention also Acts 3:18-21 which is about the literal earthly rule of Christ. The Reformed teachers in no way can "allegorize," "spiritualize," "figure-tize, "or "amillennial-ize" these verses in any form or fashion and have them make sense! When reading these verses we can use what I call "the desert island" interpretation method, that is, if I swim up on a desert island and read these verses in a KJV Bible with no Scofield Notes, and no one to influence me, how would I take them? I would take them in a normal fashion. They are speaking about Christ's earthly millennial rule over the house of David at some future point in history. Plain language with a plain and obvious meaning!    Acts 3:18 speaks of Christ suffering (on the cross). Did this happen literally or figuratively? Literally, of course! Then verse 19 speaks of Christ being sent by the heavenly Father, who "was appointed for you" (the Jewish people). Why would He be coming to the earth for the Jews? The only answer that any Jew would understand has to do with the messianic earthly Kingdom reign! In verse 21, what is the "period of restoration (restoring) that was spoken by the mouth of God's holy prophets from ancient times"? This "restoration" is the restoring of the Davidic Kingdom that the Jews were looking for. "Restoring" has the idea of starting up again. The Davidic kingdom only had two kings: David and Solomon. And then the nation was split by the Civil War. How could this have anything to do with the Gentiles, the Church, with the allegorizing of the Reformed teachers?    End of discussion! One cannot allegorize the kingship of Christ. His Kingdom will be a literal rule, from Jerusalem, over the redeemed Jewish people, and it will cover the entire world!    -- Dr. Mal Couch (12-09)