How powerful is Christ’s Word? When Luke Short was a hundred years old, he remembered a sermon of John Flavel he had heard when he was fifteen. Though several decades had passed, the memory of that sermon on the horrors of dying under God’s curse powerfully converted Short to Christ. What a mighty word this is that waits 85 years but still has power!

Jesus Christ is “anointed with the Holy Ghost, to be our chief Prophet and Teacher” (Heidelberg Catechism, Q. 31). How does Christ exercise this prophetic office?

Flavel said,

His prophetical office consists of two parts; one external, consisting in a true and full revelation of the will of God to men ... The other is illuminating the mind,  and opening the heart to receive and embrace that doctrine.Works, 1:118-19

Consider Christ’s glory in this work.

1. Our Prophet is glorious because He declares God’s Word with God’s authority.
   
   We must listen to whatever He says to us (Acts 3:22-23), for Christ’s message is simply what the Father gave Him to speak (John 7:16; 8:28; 12:49; 14:10, 24). So God says to us, “This is my beloved Son: hear him” (Mark 9:7). As Flavel said, “His commands are to be obeyed, not disputed” (Works, 1:120). If you will not listen to the voice of this Prophet, then He is not your Savior and you are lost (John 10:26-28).
    
2. Our Prophet is glorious because He speaks in the entire Bible.
   
   Whenever the Word of God came to man, the Son of God was present, for He is the Word (John 1:1). He alone reveals the Father (John 1:18; Matt. 11:27). His Spirit testified through the Old Testament prophets (1 Pet. 1:11). In the writings of the New Testament apostles, Christ is speaking (2 Cor. 13:3).
   
   Flavel wrote, “All the prophets of the Old, and all the prophets, pastors, and teachers of the New Testament, have lighted their candles at his torch.” Works, 1:123
    
3. Our Prophet is glorious because He illuminates hearts by the Spirit.
   
   Illumination overcomes our inability to receive the truths of Scripture. Luke 24:45 says that Christ “opened ... their understanding, that they might understand the scriptures.” Until Christ opens our minds, we are “slow of heart to believe” (v. 25). Without the Spirit, we are not able to spiritually receive the truths of the Word (1 Cor. 2:14).
   
   Flavel wrote, “And it is well observed, that it is one thing to open the Scriptures, that is, to expound them, and give the meaning of them ... and another thing to open the mind or heart, as it is here” Works, 1:131

Whenever the Bible is read or taught, our Prophet is speaking (Luke 10:16). Are we listening? Some years ago I knew a minister who believed in universalism the idea that everyone goes to heaven. I emailed him Matthew 7:13-14, which says that few will be saved. His answer was, “I guess I just disagree with Matthew.” No, he was rejecting the Word of Jesus Christ. Far better to have the attitude of Eliza Hewitt: “More about Jesus in His Word, holding communion with my Lord; hearing His voice in every line, making each faithful saying mine.” That is a heart opened by the Lord to listen (Acts 16:14).

Has Jesus opened your heart to the Word? Perhaps these terrifying words apply to you:

Yet the LORD hath not given you an heart to perceive, and eyes to see, and ears to hear, unto this day.Deut. 29:4

If you are still blind, call out to Jesus even now in the words of the blind men in the Gospels: “Jesus, thou Son of David, have mercy on me!”

If Christ has illuminated you, then pray for more of His Spirit’s light (Eph. 1:15-19). Every time you open your Bible or hear a sermon, may Psalm 119:18 be on your lips, “Open thou mine eyes, that I may behold wondrous things out of thy law.” The best way to glorify this Prophet is to depend on Him constantly to know and embrace the truth. Christ is the truth.