In Mark 8:29, Jesus asked His disciples this exact question; “But who do you say that I am?” Peter very quickly and correctly answered, “You are the Christ!”
This week, we find that Zechariah, in chapters three and four, previews this Messiah who is both a priest and a king. While Joshua and Zerubbabel have particular roles; priest and king respectively, neither of them can fulfill both at the same time. This is only found in Jesus.
Hebrews 1:3-4 provides us with a most excellent picture of how Jesus fulfills both of these at once; “He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of His nature, and He upholds the universe by the word of His power. After making purification for sins, He sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high, having become as much superior to the angels as the name He has inherited is more excellent than theirs.”
The encouragement from the sermon this week is that we have a priest-king who can sympathize with our sufferings as human beings but yet is so powerful that He reigns over this world. So, we can come to His throne with even the most minute of human requests while knowing that He is supremely able to take care of it in His will because of His grace.
The challenge this week is to answer the same question that Jesus posed to his disciples; who do you say that I am? If our confession is that He is THE Christ, our priest-king as outlined in Hebrews, then we can have confidence that we have already been given His righteousness and thus also submit to His Sovereignty. Will we do both?