God's people have spent a lot of time investigating everything the Bible tells us about Jesus the Christ. And they’ve had many years to do it – about 2,000 of them, in fact! And it makes sense that Christians want to know as much as they can about him – he is the man who saved the entire world, after all! As they studied the Scriptures, they noticed something very interesting about the work Jesus did during his time here on Earth.

As you read the Old Testament, the first half of the Bible, you'll notice that God had three special jobs that he gave to the leaders of his people. God gave them prophets: people who spoke God's Words to his people. He gave them priests: men who offered sacrifices and prayed for God's people. And he gave them kings: men who ruled over and defended God's people.

As you look at the life of Jesus, you'll start to see that he actually did all three of these jobs. Like a prophet, he spoke God's Words to his people. Hebrews 1:1-2 says, “In the past God spoke to our ancestors through the prophets at many times and in various ways, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son (Jesus)...” Like a priest, he sacrificed and prayed for his people. Hebrews 5:6 describes Jesus as being “a priest forever.” And like a king, he ruled over and defended them. Eph. 2:10 tells us that there will be a day when “at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth…” Talking about Jesus as a prophet, priest, and king is a helpful way to remember all the different things he accomplished during his days here on Earth.

Countless numbers of great men did these jobs before Jesus. Elisha was a mighty prophet. Ezra was a brave priest. And David was the greatest of Israel’s kings. There were also many horrible men who held these positions. Jonah was a grumpy prophet. The brothers Hophni and Phinehas were dreadful priests. And Ahab was the worst king there’s ever been!

But none of these men ever did their job better than Jesus did it. No prophet ever spoke God's Words like Jesus did. No priest ever offered a sacrifice like Jesus did. And no king ever ruled over and defended his people like Jesus did. For the next three questions, we'll look more closely at how Jesus performed these three important jobs.

Heb. 1:1-3; Rev. 1:5; Matt. 13:57; Heb. 5:5-10; John 18:37