Lesson for January 7, 2026
The Names and Titles of Jesus
Lesson 1
There are over 50 names or titles of Jesus in the Bible. We will explore them from both the Old Testament and the New Testament. These titles give us great insight to the Person of Jesus, and His role as the Savior of the world. His uniqueness is clearly seen in the names He is called and the titles He is given.
Prophet
Deuteronomy 18:18, “I will raise up for them a prophet (Jesus) from among their countrymen like you (Moses), and I will put My words in his mouth, and he shall speak to them everything that I command him.” This verse in Deuteronomy was repeated by Peter in Acts 3:22 and Stephen in Acts 7:37, which is a clear indication that it was a prophecy about Jesus. A prophet was a person chosen by God to speak on behalf of God, the message he had received from God. Prophets were God’s specially called messengers. They were “holy men of God who spoke as they were moved by the Holy Spirit.” (II Peter 1:21) The prophet’s job was to call the people back to God and to the truth of God’s Word. It involved warning them of the consequences of their actions and a call for repentance (a change of mind). At times, it was a message of God’s plan for the future of His Kingdom.
Prophets were men through whom God spoke His message of love for mankind and warned them of the consequences of their sins. The heart of their message was God’s promise of eternal redemption through the coming of Jesus Christ the Messiah. (Matthew 21:11; Mark 6:4; Luke 7:16; John 4:19) The test of the prophet was practical and simple: “When the word of the prophet shall come to pass, then shall the prophet be known, that the Lord has truly sent him.” (Jeremiah 28:9) True prophecy has in it no contradictions. It must always agree with what is already known about God. (Matthew 7:15-23; Mark 13:21-23; Jeremiah 14:13-18, 28; 1 Kings 22:5-28).
Christ’s message to the world was one of salvation. He encouraged people to believe in Him for eternal life. He explained that He was God in the flesh sent to deliver them from their sin. He also prophesied about future events such as His death, burial, and resurrection. He predicted the betrayal of Judas, the denial of Peter, the destruction of Jerusalem, and the dispersing of the Jewish race. He prophesied the coming of the Holy Spirit and the Church. (Matthew 16:21; Mark 8:31; Luke 22:21, 19:41-44, 21:20-24; John 14:25, 16:5-7)
Priest
Hebrews 5:10, “Being designated a high priest according to the order of Melchizedek.” Jesus Christ is our royal High Priest, forever. In order to become our High Priest, Christ had to become true humanity. Jesus Christ represented us before God on the Cross, and now in Heaven before the throne of God. By becoming our High Priest, Jesus Christ became our mediator to God. (I Timothy 2:5-6)
As believers in the Church Age, we belong to Christ’s priesthood. This priesthood is far superior to any that existed in the past. (Hebrews 7) As our High Priest, Christ has already won the victory over Satan in the Angelic Conflict. (Hebrews 4:14-16; 6:17-20) The priesthood of Christ is the reality of those priesthoods that previously existed in the Old Testament. (Hebrews 8)
Jesus Christ, Who was king and prophet in His humanity, did not ask for the position of high priest. He was born of the linage of David and was therefore in the line of the tribe of Judah. There was no priesthood of any kind in the family of Judah; the tribe of Levi had all of the priests. Jesus Christ is the only priest in all of Israel’s history Who is from the tribe of Judah, and Who is a bona fide king and at the same time a priest. In the future, He will be the High Priest of Israel during the Millennium even though He is from the tribe of Judah. Under God’s grace plan: God promotes, God appoints, and God commissions. So, Christ did not assume the role of High Priest by His own volition, He was appointed by God the Father.
Hebrews 5:5-6, “So also Christ did not glorify Himself so as to become a high priest, but He Who said to Him, ‘Thou art My Son, today I have begotten Thee’; just as He says also in another passage, ‘Thou art a priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek.'” This is a prophecy from Psalms 2:7 about Jesus Christ becoming our High Priest. So, Jesus had to be born as a human being before assuming the role of our High Priest and fulfilling the divine decree from eternity past. We also have a quotation from Psalms 110:4, “Thou art a priest forever…” The word priest is derived from the Hebrew verb “kun,” meaning to stand up. From this word we have the Hebrew word “kohen,” referring to the priest who stands before the people, as God’s representative.
According to the order of Melchizedek means in the same manner as Melchizedek. Melchizedek was a Gentile, who ruled a great city called Salem. He functioned as a priest under the head of the family priesthood, which functioned prior to the Levitical Priesthood, in the Age of Israel. He was a contemporary of Abraham (the father of the Jewish race), and not a theophany of Christ. Theophany was an appearance of Christ in the Old Testament. The very fact that in the divine decrees the Father said Christ was a priest forever indicates that Jesus Christ continues to function as High Priest.
King
Matthew 2:2, “Where is He Who has been born King of the Jews?” Jesus Christ is King of kings and Lord of lords and will rule on earth during the Millennium. Therefore, Christ has both a spiritual kingdom and an earthly kingdom comprised of those who believe in Him for salvation. Christ has always been and will always be the King of Israel, though they rejected Him. During the Millennium, He will once again resume His rightful place of honor as the King of Israel. When He began His earthly ministry, He made the offer to Israel to be their king, but they rejected Him and were responsible for crucifying Him.
A king must have a kingdom. The Kingdom of God is God’s eternal kingdom to which every believer belongs from all dispensations. It is God’s spiritual kingdom, which is entered only through faith alone in Christ alone. (Matthew 6:33; Luke 13:28-29; John 3:3-7; Hebrews 12:22-23) Within that kingdom there is the Kingdom of Heaven. The Kingdom of Heaven is only part of the entire Kingdom of God and refers to the millennial reign of Jesus Christ on earth.
Since the Kingdom of Heaven is a part of the Kingdom of God, they are sometimes used interchangeably. It is the earthly kingdom that was announced by John the Baptist and offered to Israel by Jesus Christ and rejected by the Jewish nation. Since it was rejected and the Messiah crucified, the Kingdom of Heaven was postponed until after the Tribulation. Therefore, the Kingdom of Heaven and the Millennium are the same period of time. It is a time when all the covenants to Israel will be fulfilled. It is a time of peace and prosperity. (Matthew 3:1-3; Luke 1:31-33; Zechariah 12:8; II Samuel 7:7-10)
When John the Baptist announced that the Kingdom of Heaven was at hand, it simply meant that the Messianic ruler was on the scene, and ready to set up His kingdom on earth. Even the disciples of Jesus thought that the Kingdom of Heaven was going to be set up at that time. (Acts 1:6) In Matthew 13, Jesus taught the multitudes about the Kingdom of Heaven in parables. So, the parables and their meanings apply only to the Millennium, not to the Church Age. In the end, the nation of Israel rejected Jesus as their Messiah and, with the assistance of the Romans, fulfilled prophecy by crucifying Jesus. (Matthew 27)
As members of the Royal Family of God and the Kingdom of God, Jesus Christ is our King. Being spiritual royalty is dependent upon a relationship with someone of royalty. For believers, it is their relationship with Jesus Christ that makes them royalty. Christ actually has a number of royal titles and also has a royal family. As the Son of God, His royal family is God the Father and God the Holy Spirit. As the Son of David, His royal family is the line of David. As the King of kings and Lord of lords, His royal family is the Church. (I Timothy 6:13-16)
God interrupted the Age of Israel in order to send His Son as our Savior and to establish a royal family for Christ. Every person during this age who believes in Christ immediately becomes Royal Family of God. While Christ was on earth, during the Hypostatic Union, he set up and executed a way of life as an example for believers in the Church Age to follow. For thirty-three years Christ tested and proved this unique life. Operating by the power and filling of God the Holy Spirit, He was able not to sin and fulfilled His royal destiny by going to the Cross in a state of sinless perfection. Though we cannot live a sinless life, we can follow the pattern of living that Jesus gave us while He was on earth.