Long ago God used prophets to deliver His message. This message was not delivered all at once; instead, God gave out portions at various times as needed (I Peter 1:10-12). The method of delivery also varied with situations. With Moses, God spoke directly, but with most prophets, the meaning was hidden from even the prophet delivering the message (Numbers 12:6-8).<\/p>\n
In contrast, the New Testament was taught by one person \u2013 Christ Jesus (John 14:6). The apostles and prophets delivered Jesus\u2019 words, clarifying the message.<\/p>\n
\u201cThese things I have spoken to you while abiding with you. But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all that I said to you<\/i>\u201d (John 14:25-26).<\/p>\n
\u201cI have many more things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. But when He, the Spirit of truth, comes, He will guide you into all the truth; for He will not speak on His own initiative, but whatever He hears, He will speak; and He will disclose to you what is to come. He will glorify Me, for He will take of Mine and will disclose it to you. All things that the Father has are Mine; therefore I said that He takes of Mine and will disclose it to you<\/i>\u201d (John 16:12-15).<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
Jesus\u2019 teachings came in these last days. There are no further eras in the world. Jesus came at the cumulation of all prior teachings to bring God\u2019s final remarks (Galatians 4:4;\u00a0Ephesians 1:10;\u00a0Jude 3). Jesus brings together all the loose ends of the past. By declaring that these are the last days, the writer declares that\u00a0Isaiah 2:2\u00a0and\u00a0Micah 4:1\u00a0have been fulfilled. It would bring to mind that it is at this period that God declared, \u201cAfterward the sons of Israel will return and seek the LORD their God and David their king; and they will come trembling to the LORD and to His goodness in the last days<\/i>\u201d (Hosea 3:5).<\/p>\n
Jesus\u2019 position in the world is greater than any prophet of the past. He is the heir of all things; that is, everything that exists is for his benefit and ultimately belongs to him. No human prophet could ever make such a claim.<\/p>\n
God also made the world through Jesus. This is actually a bold claim to a Jewish audience. The Old Testament starts out stating that God created the heavens and the earth (Genesis 1:1). We see the Spirit of God moving in the creation in\u00a0Genesis 1:2. But where is the Son? It is in John that we are given a hint. Jesus was the Word (John 1:1-3), through which all things came into being. When we look back at the creation, each day involves God declaring and it became so. Jesus was the Word of God bringing into existence the creation (Colossians 1:16). The Hebrew writer hints at this when speaking of the\u00a0word<\/i>\u00a0of Jesus\u2019 power.<\/p>\n
To be at the Creation also implies that Jesus pre-existed all things (Colossians 1:17). No human prophet has a life that reaches back to before the beginning of the world. And Jesus\u2019 involvement continues as the world is upheld by his power.<\/p>\n
What was delivered in the past through prophets was a mystery. It was an incomplete revelation. Not so the revelation of Christ. For example, we see only bits and pieces of God\u2019s nature in the Old Testament, but in the New Testament Jesus is the exact representation of God and shows God\u2019s full glory (John 1:14;\u00a0II Corinthians 4:4;\u00a0Colossians 1:15,19;\u00a02:9). Thus, it was not a second-hand revelation but God revealed himself directly to mankind (II Corinthians 4:6). Jesus could do this because he was there with God in eternity.<\/p>\n
While the prophets of the past spoke about the problem of sin, they could not offer a solution for it, only that sin would be conquered in the future. However, Jesus was the solution to the problem of sin (John 1:29;\u00a0I John 3:5). It is by his death that we were purged and made free of sin (I John 1:7;\u00a0Romans 6:3-7).<\/p>\n
While the prophets each have died, Jesus did not remain dead. He is alive, reigning in heaven at the right hand of the Father (Mark 16:19;\u00a0Romans 8:34;\u00a0Ephesians 1:20-22;\u00a0Colossians 3:1;\u00a0I Peter 3:22).<\/p>\n
Questions:<\/h3>\n
\n
- Islam and Mormonism both claim to have prophets whose words supersede the teachings of Jesus Christ. How reasonable are these claims?<\/li>\n
- List out eight characteristics of Jesus that makes him superior to all human prophets.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tPrior Lesson\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tLetter to the Hebrews\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tNext Lesson\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/a>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Christ is Better than the Prophets Text:\u00a0Hebrews 1:1-3 Long ago God used prophets to deliver His message. This message was not delivered all at once; instead, God gave out portions at various times as needed (I Peter 1:10-12). The method of delivery also varied with situations. With Moses, God spoke directly, but with most prophets,…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":671,"menu_order":2,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-691","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":41016,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/bible-studies\/how-to-live-in-a-hostile-world-a-study-of-i-peter\/the-salvation-of-christians\/","url_meta":{"origin":691,"position":0},"title":"The Salvation of Christians","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"December 22, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"The Salvation of Christians Text: I Peter 1:3-12 Study Questions: What has God begotten us to? Why is it living? Since we were born again, when was the first time? 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How many\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":65176,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/bible-studies\/fundamentals-of-christianity\/church-universal-governance\/","url_meta":{"origin":691,"position":2},"title":"Church (Universal) Governance","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"December 29, 2023","format":false,"excerpt":"Church (Universal) Governance The building of God's house - Ephesians 2:19-22 The purpose of the church is to make the wisdom of God known - Ephesians 3:10; I Timothy 3:15 Authority The Father He is the head - I Corinthians 11:3 He is supreme - I Corinthians 15:24-27 The Son,\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":695,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/bible-studies\/letter-to-the-hebrews\/christ-is-better-than-angels-because-of-his-deity\/","url_meta":{"origin":691,"position":3},"title":"Christ is Better than Angels Because of His Deity","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"February 12, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"Christ is Better than Angels Because of His Deity Text: Hebrews 1:4-2:4 A Greater Name (Hebrews 1:4-5) Not only is Jesus superior to the prophets who brought the message of God in the past, but he is also superior to the angels who often delivered that message to the prophets\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":66131,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/bible-studies\/the-gospel-accounts-a-chronological-harmony\/pharisees-and-lawyers\/","url_meta":{"origin":691,"position":4},"title":"Pharisees and Lawyers","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"January 23, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"Pharisees and Lawyers Reading Assignment: Luke 11:37-54 \u00a0 Did you understand what you read? Where do these events take place? What had Jesus not done before eating? What do Pharisees do while leaving the inside undone? What did Jesus mean by saying \"Give that which is within as charity?\" Was\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":5864,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/bible-studies\/matthew-mark-luke-and-john-old-testament-or-new-testament\/jesus-was-the-last-old-testament-prophet\/","url_meta":{"origin":691,"position":5},"title":"Jesus Was the Last Old Testament Prophet","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"July 16, 2003","format":false,"excerpt":"2.6 Jesus Was the Last Old Testament Prophet Quote: \"Jesus was an Old Testament 'prophet' not a New Testament 'evangelist.' Jesus never preached the New Testament 'gospel' in MMLJ -- before the cross. He never produced one New Testament 'Christian.'\" Answer: Jesus was more than an OT \u201cprophet,\u201d He was\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/691","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=691"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/691\/revisions"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/671"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=691"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}