1Jn 1:18; ²1 Pet 1:10–12; ³Heb 1:1–2; ⁴Jn 15:15; ⁵Acts 20:32; Eph 4:11–13; Jn 20:31

Many of us think of a prophet as being a person who foretells the future. This is because many Old Testament prophets did indeed, under the inspiration of God, predict what would happen in the future, and many of us know the prophets largely by the predictions that they made.

A prophet in the full biblical sense, however, is more than one who speaks about the future. He is, rather, the mouthpiece or spokesman of God. And more often than not, the message that God appoints to His prophets to speak unto His people is not predictions about the future, but proclamations and instructions that relate to the present as well as the eternal life of the people. A prophet, in order words, is more a forth-teller, than a fore-teller.

The Lord Jesus Christ was a Prophet in this full biblical sense. This is not to say that He did not in His earthly ministry, foretell the future, for He did. For example, He spoke about the coming devastation of Jerusalem in A.D. 70, and His prophecies were fulfilled to the letter. But Christ did far, far more as a prophet of God. In fact, He was the prophet par excellence, for He alone has seen God, has the mind of God, and is able to declare God as God Himself (Jn 1:18).

His prophetic office was announced through Moses in Deuteronomy 18:18-19—

This prophecy has to do with the incarnation of Christ as the God-Man. But we must realise that His ministry as a prophet was carried out "in all ages," and not just during the time He walked upon the earth, when He spoke to the people directly.

As the Prophet of God unto His Church, Christ revealed unto the Church, in all ages "the whole will of God, in all things concerning their edification and salvation." He himself told His disciples: "All things that I have heard of my Father I have made known unto you" (Jn 15:15b). What is the purpose of His revelation to His Church? It is that they might be edified, or built up unto spiritual maturity (cf. Eph 4:13-14), and that they might enjoy eternal life in His name (cf. Jn 20:31).

But how did Christ execute His work of revealing the will of God to His Church? He does so by "His Spirit and Word, in diverse ways of administration."

When the Scripture speaks of "the Spirit of Christ" (1 Pet 1:11), we must think of Him as the Holy Spirit; and likewise the Holy Spirit is the Spirit of Christ, for Holy Spirit is sent not only by the Father (Jn 14:26), but by the Son (Jn 16:7). And He is sent in the name of Christ (Jn 14:6), and the content of His ministry of truth is said to come from Christ (Jn 16:13-14). So when our catechism teaches us that Christ executes His prophetic office by His Spirit, what it is saying is that He executes it by the Holy Spirit’s ministry of revelation (1 Pet 1:10-12), inspiration (2 Pet 1:21), reminder (Jn 14:26) and illumination (1 Cor 2:9-12).

Christ also executes His office by way of His Word. His Word was brought to His people by the supernatural revelation of truth in the mind of His prophets, by dreams, by visions, by extraordinary providence (see Heb 1:1-2), by the proclamations of His prophets and priests in the Old Covenant and by apostle and ministers in the New Covenant (Eph 4:11ff). But most of all, Christ execute His prophetic office by giving us the written Word and the ability to understand it by the illumination of the Holy Spirit.

It is no wonder that the Lord Jesus Christ is called "the Word" (Jn 1:1).