God’s Official Spokesman

Every President has a spokesperson (or Chief Communications Officer). Although it’s an essential position, it’s generally a pretty thankless task that few last very long in because of the almost impossible demands of representing the President’s views on such a vast range of complicated issues before a hostile press pack.

Imagine then how much harder it would be to represent God (not just a man), to a hostile world (not just a pack of journalists), and on the full range of the deepest and greatest issues facing all of humanity (not just relatively trivial matters like Obamacare).

Who could fill such shoes? Who could perform such a role? Who could last a day in the role of God’s chief communications officer?

John says, “In the beginning was the Communicator, and the Communicator was towards God, and the Communicator was God” (John 1:1). Such a paraphrase of the Apostle John’s famous opening to his Gospel catches the essential truth of Jesus Christ’s job description.

God’s Official Spokesman

At various points in Christ’s life, the Father publicly announced Christ’s appointment as His spokesman. For example, in Luke 9:35, “A voice came out of the cloud, saying, ‘This is My beloved Son. Hear Him!’”

But the Son of God had started this communications post long before His incarnation. John Calvin said that God never spoke directly to mankind but only and ever through His Son:

Holy men of old knew God only by beholding him in his Son as in a mirror (cf. 2 Cor. 3:18). When I say this, I mean that God has never manifested himself to men in any other way than through the Son, that is, his sole wisdom, light, and truth. From this fountain Adam, Noah, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and others drank all that they had of heavenly teaching. From the same fountain, all the prophets have also drawn every heavenly oracle that they have given forth (Institutes 4.8.5).

And even before the OT, even before there was a beginning, as John tells us, there was an official communicator, who was Himself God’s Word, God’s Communicator.

God’s Intimate Spokesman

John says that “the Word was with God.” A better translation is, “The Word was towards God,” indicating not only nearness to the Father but movement towards Him. The Son is in face-to-face intimate communion and fellowship with the Father. It’s not that He leaves the Father’s presence to be His spokesman; He remains in the Father’s presence even when speaking for Him as John later explains: “No one has seen God at any time. The only begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, He has declared Him” (John 1:18). He is speaking out of the heart of God because He is the heart of God.

God’s Effective Spokesman

Christ is the most eloquent communicator of God there ever has been or will be. So much so, that He could say, “He that has seen me has seen the Father” (John 14:9).

No matter how arrogant Jay Carney or Josh Earnest could be, they wouldn’t dare say, “He that has seen me, has seen Barack Obama!” No man can represent another man that well.

But God can represent God that well. That’s why God’s official endorsements said, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased” (Matt. 3:17). And God was never more pleased than when His Son was communicating His greatest message about God to humanity. On the cross, Jesus spelled out G-O-D in the biggest and clearest letters the world has ever seen.

God’s Eternal Spokesman

He’s been doing this job for a long time. Before there even was time, He was the Communicator. He’s never gone on vacation, He’s never taken a day off, He’s never had a sick-day. He’s been doing this pre-time, full-time, and will do it for for all time. He doesn’t give up or resign, no matter the opposition to His message.

God’s Reliable Spokesman

All this means that He is utterly and totally reliable. He’s never misrepresented the Godhead, He’s never been reprimanded for a mistake in His communication of the divine message, He’s never had to apologize and put things right. He’s never stepped over the line or out of line. We can utterly and totally rely upon Him and His words as the very words of God.

Let’s take every opportunity to read them, hear them, believe them, obey them, and communicate them to others too.