6. Dari Kekal ke Kekal
Suatu perjalanan dengan bus disaat Israel modern akan membawa anda kembali lebih dari empat ribu tahun dan memberimu suatu pandangan sekilas tentang suatu fenomena masa lampau — tenda kulit kambing Arab berwarna hitam dipadang, dikenal sebagai Bedouins. Kecuali adanya truk pickup, traktor, atau antena televisi, apa yang kamu lihat sebagian besar tanpa perubahan selama berabad-abad. Gaya hidupnya tetap sama dengan pada masa Abraham.
Tercabut dari rumahnya di Ur dekat pantai Teluk Persia, ia mengembara dari satu tempat ke tempat lain, tinggal di tenda, menghadapi musuh yang satu kemusuh yang lain, tidak pernah pasti apa yang akan terjadi besok. Hidupnya dipenuhi dengan ketidakpastian dan kegelisahan, dan ia rindu akan sesuatu yang permanen ( cf. Ibrani 11:910). Dekat suatu sumur kota Beershebalah ia menemukan apa yang ia sedang mencari. Disana Tuhan mengungkapkan Dirinya dengan nama El Olam, yang berarti “ Tuhan yang abadi,” pertama kali nama itu disebut dalam Alkitab ( Kej 21:33). Betapa itu menjadi suatu dorongan bagi Abraham untuk belajar bahwa kendati dalam ketidaktetapan, tidak stabil, dan karakter yang berubah dari hidupnya, Tuhan yang ia kenal dan cintai, yang mengawasi tiap-tiap keadaan hidup, yang dekat dikeabadian yang lampau dan akan tetap dekat dikeabadian yang akan datang.
Orang Perjanjian Lama Saleh lainnya bernama Musa hidup sampai umur 120 tahun, lebih sulit diperkirakan dengan table asuransi jika dia hidup sampai hari ini. Tetapi saat ia mendekati akhir hidupnya, ia menjadi sangat terkesan dengan sifat tak tahan lama dan singkatnya hidup diatas bumi ini. Ia menemukan pikirannya semakin banyak berpikir tentang kebenaran yang sama yang telah Tuhan ungkapkan ke Abraham tahun-tahun sebelumnya. Ia menulis suatu mazmur tentang itu, mungkin statemen yang paling jelas tentang keabadian Tuhan dalam Alkitab.
Tuhan, Engkaulah tempat perteduhan kami turun-temurun. Sebelum gunung-gunung dilahirkan, dan bumi dan dunia diperanakkan, bahkan dari selama-lamanya sampai selama-lamanya Engkaulah Allah(Psalm 90:1-2).
Para penulis Alkitab lainnya mengambil tema yang sama dan kita temukannya diulangi diseluruh halaman Alkitab. Isaiah memanggil Tuhan “ yang bersemayam untuk selamanya dan Yang Mahakudus nama-Nya” ( Isaiah 57:15). Paulus menunjukNya sebagai “ Raja abadi” ( 1 Timothy 1:17). Apa artinya itu semua? Apa implikasi keabadian Tuhan? Apa perbedaannya yang dibuat hal itu bagi kita?
Kita akan belajar saat kita berkembang dalam penyelidikan akan atribut Tuhan, Ia sempurna dan kekal. Dengan kata lain, ia tidak terbatas — tanpa kelemahan dan tanpa akhir. Sebagian orang berpendapat kalau keabadian hanyalah ketidak terbatasan dalam hubungan dengan waktu. Itu benar, tetapi lebih dari itu. Tuhan yang abadi tidaklah hanya tanpa permulaan atau akhir, tetapi juga diluar waktu dan secara total cukup dengan Dirinya. Jika kita benar-benar ingin mengetahui Tuhan dan menikmati persekutuan denganNya maka akan sangat menolong untuk memahami kebenaran ini, tentang diriNya.
Dia Awal dan Akhir
Musa berkata,“. . . dari kekal ke kekal, Engkau Tuhan.” Mari kita menguji bagian pertama dari statemen, “ dari kekal.” Secara teratur, anak-anak akan datang kepada saya dan bertanya, “ Di mana Tuhan datang?” Kita semua telah diajar untuk percaya bahwa segalanya datang dari tempat tertentu. Setiap hal memiliki pembuatnya. Setiap akibat mempunyai penyebab. Seseorang membuat arloji saya. Seseorang membangun rumah saya. Secara manusia, seseorang bahkan bertanggung jawab dalam membawa saya kedalam keberadaan, seorang laki-laki dan seorang perempuan yang saya panggil bapak dan ibu. Kita mengajar anak-anak kita awal hidup mereka bahwa pembuat dan tukang bangunan yang terakhir dari semuanya adalah Tuhan. Ia menciptakan alam semesta, dimana semua hal ada didalamnya. Pertanyaan berikutnya sesuatu yang alami. Kita yang menghasilkannya. Mereka pasti akan menanyakan itu. Mereka tidak tahan. “ Siapa yang membuat Tuhan?”
Jawabannya sulit untuk mereka terima. Mereka tidak punya kerangka acuan untuk dapat menghubungkan itu. Mereka belum pernah mendengar suatu jawaban seperti ini sebelumnya. Mungkin itu membuat mereka bingung pada mulanya, tetapi tidak ada penjelasan lain yang mungkin. Tidak ada orang yang membuat Tuhan. Ia selalu begitu. Alkitab tidak pernah mencoba untuk membuktikan Keberadaan nya atau menjelaskan di mana Ia datang. Selalu berasumsi bahwa Ia ada di sana dan bahwa Ia selalu di sana. Ia tidak punya awal.
Ketika kita membuka halaman pertama Alkitab, kita membaca, “ Pada mulanya Tuhan.” Ia sudah disana! Dan melihat apa yang sedang Ia kerjakan — menciptakan surga dan bumi. Ia sudah ada sebelum semuanya dan Dia yang membawa segalanya menjadi ada. Jika ada yang hidup sebelum Tuhan dan yang bertanggung jawab menciptakan Tuhan, maka Ia adalah Tuhan, dan kita harus bertanya lagi. Siapa yang membuatNya?
Maksud kita sebenarnya adalah karena Tuhan itu kekal maka Dia ada dengan sendirinya, satu-satunya pribadi yang ada tanpa penyebab. Dia tidak tergantung pada apapun atau sebab apapun. Dia ada diluar rantai sebab akibat. Dia tidak dicipta, tidak ada asal mula, tanpa awal, mendapat keberadaannya dengan sendirinya. Seperti kata Yesus, “Sebab sama seperti Bapa mempunyai hidup dalam diri-Nya sendiri, demikian juga diberikan-Nya Anak mempunyai hidup dalam diri-Nya sendiri” (John 5:26). Jika tidak demikian maka Dia bukan Tuhan. Pribadi yang kekal harus ada dengan sendirinya.
Bahkan akal sehat kita mengatakan bahwa, dibalik semua sebab dan akibat, ada Satu yang Dirinya tidak disebabkan dan ada dengan sendirinya. Orang Israel dalam perbudakan di Mesir, merasa tertekan, terlupakan, dan putus asa, mengetahu dibalik semuanya itu, ada Tuhan yang berkuasa kerena diluar semuanya itu. Saat Tuhan menyuruh Musa kembali ke Mesir dan menyelamatkan mereka dari perbudakan, Musa menolak. “apakah yang harus kujawab kepada mereka? Firman Allah kepada Musa: AKU ADALAH AKU. Lagi firman-Nya: Beginilah kaukatakan kepada orang Israel itu: AKULAH AKU telah mengutus aku kepadamu.” (Exodus 3:14). Saat orang Israel mendengar bahwa Satu yang menyuruh Musa adalah Tuhan yang kekal, mereka akan mengakuiNya dan mengikuti kepemimpinan Musa. Itu masuk akal bagi mereka.
Bagaimanapun tidak semua orang menerimanya. Beberapa filsuf dan ilmuwan menolak Tuhan yang kekal dan ada dengan sendirinya karena mereka tidak bisa meletakanNya dalam tabung percobaan dan menelitiNya atau menjelaskan semua jalanNya. Tapi itu hanya dalih semata. Jika mereka bisa menelitiNya secara ilmu dan menjelaskan sepenuhnya tentang Dia, maka Dia pasti bukan Tuhan dan mereka menyadari itu. Masalah utama mereka adalah kesombongan. Untuk bisa percaya pada Tuhan yang kekal, kita harus mengakui kalau semua keberadaan berasal dari Dia. Itu termasuk kita. Kita juga harus sepenuhnya tergantung padaNya untuk setiap detil kehidupan kita. Manusia yang egonya besar, merasa cukup, tidak mau mengakui hal itu. Mereka suka mempercayai kalau mereka tidak memerlukan orang lain, hanya diri mereka.
Mungkin mereka perlu diingatkan bahwa Tuhan tidak memiliki awal dan akhir. Dia tidak hanya “dari kekal” tapi “sampai kekal” (cf. Psalm 102:25-27). Dia menciptakan sesuatu yang kekal seperti, malaikat dan jiwa manusia. Ini berita baik bagi orang percaya. Kita suatu hari akan masuk kedalam hidup kekal yang sudah kita miliki dalam Kristus. Tekanan dari waktu akan hilang dan kita mampu tenang dalam sukacita dan kebahagiaan dihadapan Tuhan yang kekal. Orang yang memiliki hubungan yang benar dengan Tuhan jelas menikmatiNya selamanya. Seperti kata pemazmur, “Sesungguhnya inilah Allah, Allah kitalah Dia seterusnya dan untuk selamanya” (Psalm 48:14 KJV).
Tapi kekekalan bukan berita baik untuk yang tidak percaya. Tuhan yang kekal selain menciptakan manusia yang kekal juga tempat yang kekal. Salah satunya dibuat untuk iblis dan malaikatnya, tempat “api kekal” (Matthew 25:41), tempat “penyiksaan kekal” (Revelation 20:10). Walau Tuhan tidak membuat tempat ini untuk manusia, tapi orang yang tidak percaya dan menolak tawaran anugrah keselamatanNya akan diletakan disana. “Dan setiap orang yang tidak ditemukan namanya tertulis di dalam kitab kehidupan itu, ia dilemparkan ke dalam lautan api itu” (Revelation 20:15). Tidak ada jalan keluar selain menyembah Allah yang kekal, mengakui kita tidak layak dihadapanNya, mengakui dosa kita dan kebutuhan kita akan pengampunanNya, dan menerima keselamatan yang Dia sediakan saat Dia mengirimkan AnakNya kekayu salib. Kita berserah penuh padaNya, pada belas kasihanNya. Hal ini tidak bisa terjadi jika Tuhan tidak kekal.
Dia diluar Waktu
Salah satu karakteristik waktu adalah bentuk waktu: masa lalu, sekarang, dan masa depan; kemarin, sekarang, dan besok. Kita terikat pada masa kini. Masa lalu hanya dalam ingatan, dan masa depan merupakan penantian yang tidak bisa diperkirakan sepenuhnya. Kita mengukur hal ini. Kita menggunakan jam untuk menolong kita dan dalam beberapa peristiwa seperti Olimpiade, kita membagi waktu kedalam ratusan detik. Tapi kita tidak bisa keluar dari keterbatasan waktu, terikat dalam waktu, dan peristiwa didalamnya.
Kita perlu mengerti kalau kekekalan lebih daripada waktu yang tiada batas. Agar bisa dimengerti, kita bicara dalam istilah kekekalan lampau dan kekekalan kedepan, tapi sebenarnya tidak ada lampau dan masa depan dalam kekekalan. Hal ini tidak terikat waktu, diluar waktu. Tidak ada hal seperti masa lalu, sekarang, dan masa depan dihadapan Tuhan. Dia menciptakan waktu dan Dia bisa bekerja dalam kerangka waktu, tapi Dia sendiri tidak terikat didalamnya. Dia hidup dalam kekakan. Hari kemarin kita sama seperti sekarang dihadapan Dia, karena Dia sudah mengalamiNya.
Semua gambaran manusia tentang kebenaran ini tidak sempurna, tapi bisa menolong. Bayangkan anda sedang menonton Parade Bunga di Pasadena. Anda melihat kendaraan berurutan lewat didepan anda — urutan peristiwa. Saat itu selesai anda bisa melihat pengalaman anda dan berkata, “saya tadi melihat parade.” Sekarang bayangkan anda sedang merenung ditahun baru, membayangkan parade itu dari awal sampai akhir. Anda melihat urutannya, tapi anda bisa melihat langsung keseluruhannya. Itu bagian dari kesadaran anda daripada hanya urutan semata. Demikian juga Tuhan melihat hidup kita, seluruh sejarah manusia dari awal sampai akhir waktu.
Ingatlah hal-hal yang dahulu dari sejak purbakala, bahwasanya Akulah Allah dan tidak ada yang lain, Akulah Allah dan tidak ada yang seperti Aku, yang memberitahukan dari mulanya hal yang kemudian dan dari zaman purbakala apa yang belum terlaksana (Isaiah 46:9-10a).
Dia tidak membutuhkan pengetahuan peristiwa itu seperti kita. Dia tahu mengetahui awal dan akhir karena dia sudah menjalaninya. Bagi Dia dalam kekekalan hal itu seperti terjadi sekarang.
Ini kebenaran yang harus dipegang orang percaya. Tuhan mengetahui masa depan kita. Tidak ada kejutan dihadapanNya. Kita bisa mengalami kejutan dalam hidup kita, tapi tidak bagi Tuhan. Dia tahu hal bahagia yang akan kita alami, Dia tahu tragedy yang akan kita hadapi. Dia juga tahu dosa yang akan kita lakukan dan Dia sudah berduka atas hal itu. Tapi Dia memiliki rencana untuk membawa semuanya bagi kebaikan. Mengenal Tuhan seperti itu tidak hanya menolong kita yang ingin menyenangkanNya, tapi itu juga menolong kita menghadapi masa depan dengan keberanian dan kepercayaan diri. Tuhan ada dimasa depan, apapun yang terjadi, siap menyatakan langkah berikutnya yang Dia ingin kita lakukan dalam rencanaNya bagi kita.
Dia Cukup Dalam DiriNya
Setidaknya lebih dari satu elemen tentang pribadi kekal yang perlu dibahas. Karena Dia ada sebelum waktu dan ruang, sebelum ciptaan lainnya, maka sangat jelas kalau Dia bisa ada tanpa hal lainnya. Dia ada saat yang lain belum ada. Tuhan tidak memerlukan hal lain selain diriNya.
Hal itu tidak terjadi pada mahluk hidup lain. Sebagai contoh, kita memerlukan hal lain untuk menunjang diri kita, seperti air, makanan, dan udara. Tuhan tidak membutuhkannya! Jika Dia membutuhkan hal itu maka Dia bukan Tuhan. Tapi Dia sempurna dan Dia tidak membutuhkan hal itu. Saat Paulus berkothbah kepada filsuf di Atena, “Allah yang telah menjadikan bumi dan segala isinya, Ia, yang adalah Tuhan atas langit dan bumi, tidak diam dalam kuil-kuil buatan tangan manusia, dan juga tidak dilayani oleh tangan manusia, seolah-olah Ia kekurangan apa-apa, karena Dialah yang memberikan hidup dan nafas dan segala sesuatu kepada semua orang” (Acts 17:24-25). Tuhan tidak membutuhkan hal lain untuk menunjang diriNya.
Pemikiran ini mengagetkan saya saat menyadari kalau Tuhan tidak membutuhkan saya. Dan anda juga akan mengalaminya. Tuhan tidak membutuhkan anda. Dia tidak membutuhkan pujian, persekutuan, atau kesaksian kita. Dia mengasihi kita dan menginginkan kita. Dalam anugrahNya Dia menginginkan kita dan mengijinkan kita mengalami kepuasan dan kebahagiaan sebagai bagian dari rencanaNya. Tapi Dia tidak membutuhkan kita. Dia tidak menciptakan kita karena membutuhkan kita, tapi karena Dia memutuskan dalam kedaulatanNya bahwa menciptakan kita merupakan cara terbaik menunjukan kemuliaan dan anugrahNya (cf. Isaiah 43:7). Itu tidak menghina nilai kita. Mengasihi dan menginginkan kita memberikan kita nilai dan keamanan yang luar biasa. Sebaliknya, kita yang membutuhkan Tuhan. Kita tidak sempurna diluar dari hubungan pribadi denganNya. Kita hanya bisa menemukan arti hidup sejati saat kita mengijinkan Dia mendapat tempat dalam hidup kita. Kita membutuhkan Tuhan, tapi hanya Tuhan yang cukup dengan DiriNya.
Kemandirian Tuhan memiliki aplikasi praktis bagi hidup kita. Jika Dia memiliki semua yang diperlukan, dan Dia menawarkan Dia untuk masuk kedalam hidup dan memberikan DiriNya dengan kita, maka jelas kita bisa menemukan semua yang kita butuhkan dalam Dia. Inilah maksud Paulus tentang Dia. Bicara mengenai Anak Allah, dia berkata, “Sebab dalam Dialah berdiam secara jasmaniah seluruh kepenuhan ke-Allahan, dan kamu telah dipenuhi di dalam Dia.” (Colossians 2:9-10). Yesus Kristus adalah Allah menjadi manusia, yang juga kekal. Nabi Mikah berkata,
Tetapi engkau, hai Betlehem Efrata, hai yang terkecil di antara kaum-kaum Yehuda, dari padamu akan bangkit bagi-Ku seorang yang akan memerintah Israel, yang permulaannya sudah sejak purbakala, sejak dahulu kala (Micah 5:2).
Anak yang lahir dikandang diBetlehem adalah Anak yang kekal dan mandiri. Dan kita bisa menemukan keutuhan kita dalam Dia. Betapa bodohnya kita memarahi, menangis, memohon, dan memanipulasi cara lain untuk membuat orang lain memenuhi kebutuhan kita disaat Tuhan yang berdiam didalam kita melalui AnakNya merupakan kebutuhan utama kita. Kita sempurna didalamNya.
Baik, Dia — Tuhan kita yang kekal, tanpa awal dan akhir, diluar waktu, dan cukup dengan diriNya. Hidup kekalNya lebih daripada hidup tak berkesudahan dalam waktu seperti yang kita mengerti. Itu merupakan kualitas hidup yang berbeda, hidup tak terbatas, hidup yang ditandai oleh kepuasan, keutuhan dan kebahagiaan. Dan itu sukacita kita, sekarang dan selamanya, melalui Pribadi AnakNya. “Dan inilah kesaksian itu: Allah telah mengaruniakan hidup yang kekal kepada kita dan hidup itu ada di dalam Anak-Nya. Barangsiapa memiliki Anak, ia memiliki hidup; barangsiapa tidak memiliki Anak, ia tidak memiliki hidup” (1 John 5:11-12).
Apakah Tuhan hidup didalam kita? Itu didapat melalu pengakuan dosa dan meletakan kepercayaan kita pada Yesus Kristus sebagai satu-satunya yang bisa membayar hukuman dosa. Jika kita melakukan itu, maka kita bisa mengenal Tuhan yang kekal dan menerima hidup kekal. Kita memiliki sesuatu yang lebih besar untuk dihidupi daripada hanya hal sementara dalam dunia. Kita bisa hidup dalam nilai kekal.
Manusia bergumul dalam immortasnya. Politikus ingin menulis nama mereka dalam sejarah, atlit ingin diingat karena rekor mereka, dan pengusaha ingin membangun kerajaan bisni yang bertahan beberapa generasi. Tapi jarang jadi seperti itu. Politikus dilupakan, rekor dipecahkan, dan uang habis. Itu semua kesia-siaan diatas bumi. Hanya apa yang kita bangun dalam jiwa seseorang, akan bertahan untuk kekekalan.
Sebagian orang memiliki tujuan yang mulia daripada hanya ketenaran atau kekayaan. Mereka ingin membuat dunia lebih baik, meningkatkan kualitas hidup dibumi. Itu sangat terpuji. Tapi Tuhan memperingatkan kita bahwa dunia ini akan dihanguskan api (cf. 2 Peter 3:10). Kelihatannya sia-sia hidup untuk hal duniawi karena suatu saat itu semua akan hancur. Itu mengulangi hal ini: hanya yang kita bangun dalam jiwa seseorang yang bertahan dan kekal. Jika Tuhan itu kekal maka tidak ada usaha didunia ini yang lebih penting daripada mengenalNya, mengasihiNya, memujiNya, melayaniNya, dan membagikanNya bagi orang lain. Itu merupakan cara paling menguntungkan dalam menghabiskan waktu dibumi. Itu memiliki nilai kekal.
Tindakan yang diambil
Sekarang duduk, saat semua hal ini masih segar dalam ingatan, dan tulis beberapa tujuan hidupmu yang mencerminkan pengenalan anda akan kekekalan Tuhan.
Related Topics: Theology Proper (God)
2. Canonicity - Part 1
Related Media3. Canonicity - Part 2
Related Media1. The Authority of the Bible
THE UNIQUENESS OF THE BIBLE
The Bible is unique! It is not enough to say that it is a unique Book, for it is a collection of sixty-six ancient Books. Moreover, this unique collection of Books is bound together by a central theme and a unity of purpose which makes the books into One Book.
This Book tells of the ways in which God revealed Himself to mankind over a period of several thousand years. This account of the ways in which God has intervened in human history provides us with a description of the nature and the attributes of God completely different from the concept of God found anywhere else in the entire world of literature. The Bible is history, but history strikingly different from ordinary history. Secular history tells of the rise and fall of nations, of great wars and battles, and of the ways in which men and nations have affected the peoples of surrounding territories. But the Bible goes further than that. The Bible is an interpretation of history, showing how men (as individuals and as nations) have either been blessed or punished by God for their attitude to Him and His holy laws. It is this unique explanation of the moral and spiritual factors behind the historical narrative, which makes the Bible so relevant to us today.
The Bible enables us to discover the will of God for our lives because this divine will is made plain in hundreds of real-life illustrations in the Bible. This is why we invite you to commence this study with us. We sincerely hope you will discover for yourself the truth about God Almighty, as Creator, Provider and Savior of men.
First, we must answer some of the questions many people have in their minds as they begin to read the Bible. Some say, for example, “Why should I read a book which is merely Jewish mythology?” Jewish mythology is quite different from what we find in the Bible. In fact the truth of the Bible will be quite evident to us as we continue our study. Others ask, “How could such an ancient Book still be relevant?” True, people today are much better educated than ever before; yet the Bible (in part or the whole) ranks as the “world’s best-seller.” Every year more than one hundred million copies are sold! So, when you read the Bible you are in good company, for millions of modern people are reading it! Moreover, it is not being read only by people in Western lands! The Bible (either in part or the whole) is being read today in more than twelve hundred languages. The Bible is being sold today in the languages of 97% of the world’s population and is being read in almost every country and island on earth. For this reason alone, no person is really educated if he has not studied the most widely read Book in the literature of the world.
You will find a copy of the Bible helpful as a textbook for use with this course. Have you got a Bible beside you now? The first thing that impresses most beginners is the size of the Bible—it contains more than 800,000 words. Most people hardly know where to begin! Well, let us begin at the very beginning! Open your Bible at the title page and you will find an index listing the names of the sixty-six Books of the Bible. Notice there are two major divisions, one called the Old Testament and the other called the New Testament; both sections are divided into many subsections. In a later lesson we shall explain in detail what these two “Testaments” are and how they relate to each other. The Old Testament was written in the Hebrew language (except for a few small sections written in Chaldee) and the New Testament was written in the Greek language, which had become at that period the international language just as English is today.
The Old Testament begins with a concise account of the creation of the world. This unique narrative begins in the undated past, and records how God the Almighty Creator prepared the world, stage-by-stage, to be a home for mankind. When all was ready, God created man. From this logical beginning, the story continues for thousands of years until we reach the end of the Old Testament in the days of Malachi about 400 B.C. The New Testament covers a relatively short period from the birth of Jesus to the death of the Apostles. It was completed about 100 A.D.
THE AUTHORITY OF THE BIBLE
People must have a true and authoritative basis for their faith. Many popular religions are based entirely on human ideas and thus are merely theories or philosophies. Christianity is based on the Bible which Christians accept as their final authority because they believe it to be inspired by God. Thus, our first topic for study is the basis for this belief. Why do Christians believe the Bible to be a Book inspired by God? Our answer is found in the Bible itself.
1. The Bible Claims To Be A Revelation Of God.
This claim is found in a large number of places in the Bible. It is summed up in two short readings as follows:
Every scripture is inspired by God and useful for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the person dedicated to God may be capable and equipped for every good work (2 Timothy 3:16-17).
No prophecy of scripture ever comes about by the prophet’s own imagination, for no prophecy was ever borne of human impulse; rather, men carried along by the Holy Spirit spoke from God (2 Peter 1:20-21).
These two short paragraphs give a definition of the Christian concept of the inspiration of Scripture. All Scripture is given by God. It was given in two main ways, first by direct revelation (by which the actual words of God are recorded by the prophets): second by inspiration (by which the Holy Spirit guided the prophets as they wrote and thus the prophets wrote Divine Truth). Let us examine these two aspects of the Divine origin of the Bible.
The Bible was given by means of direct revelation. Nearly four thousand times in the Bible we find words or expressions such as: And God said... or The Lord spoke to Moses, or The Word of the Lord came to Isaiah. You could look up the following references by way of example:
God spoke to Moses (Exodus 3:4), about 1500 B.C.
God spoke to Samuel (1 Samuel 3:11), about 1000 B.C.
God spoke to Elijah (1 Kings 21:17), about 900 B.C.
God spoke to Isaiah (2 Kings 20:1), about 700 B.C.
God spoke to Jeremiah (Jeremiah 1:2), about 600 B.C.
God spoke to Ezekiel (Ezekiel 1:3), about 600 B.C.
God spoke to Malachi (Malachi 1:1-2), about 400 B.C.
The above dates are given in round numbers to convey the sense of historical continuity. Thus, God spoke directly to His prophets from time to time throughout the entire period of Israel’s national existence commencing with Moses and ending with Malachi. These holy prophets received direct revelations from God and recorded them at His command. Thus, we have here the actual spoken Word of God.
The Bible was also given by means of the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. There are large sections of the Bible which contain history and poetry. Are these sections nothing more than Jewish literature? Certainly they are classified as Jewish literature, but even the Jewish people were able to distinguish between ordinary literature and Divinely inspired literature. “Direct revelation” from God was not necessary when the prophets were recording actual historical facts, but to be authoritative history it had to be inspired by God.
Because they were inspired by God, the prophets were divinely guided in the selection of facts to be written; they were divinely guided in the choice of words to describe the facts; and they were divinely guided in recording not merely human comment on the facts, but the attitude of God toward the behavior of the persons referred to. Thus by Divine inspiration, the prophets were protected from errors in historical fact, from errors in doctrine and from mistakes made through ignorance. In this way the Bible was kept from becoming a mixture of truth and legend which is what we find in most ancient books (for instance, the Greek classics). Modern research and archaeology have demonstrated the astonishing accuracy of Bible history and supports the claim that the Bible is inspired by God.
This briefly is what the Bible claims for itself! It is a Book (which, in some parts, is thousands of years old) which claims to be a record of the actual words of God to men, and of the ways in which He has dealt with men in history. Can such a claim be tested? Yes! In fact, God requires that we test this claim sincerely. About 2500 years ago, God spoke through the prophet Isaiah and challenged unbelievers to apply a very practical test. It is found in the following verses. Please read them carefully:
“Present your argument,” says the Lord. “Produce your evidence,” says Jacob’s king. “Let them produce evidence! Let them tell us what will happen! Tell us about your earlier predictive oracles, so we may examine them and see how they were fulfilled. Or decree for us some future events! Predict how future events will turn out, so we might know you are gods. Yes, do something good or bad, so we might be frightened and in awe. Look, you are nothing, and your accomplishments are nonexistent; the one who chooses to worship you is disgusting.” (Isaiah 41:21-24).
“I am the Lord! That is my name! I will not share my glory with anyone else, or the praise due me with idols. Look, my earlier predictive oracles have come to pass; now I announce new events. Before they begin to occur, I reveal them to you.” (Isaiah 42:8-9).
This is what the Lord, Israel’s king, says, their protector, the Lord who leads armies: “I am the first and I am the last, there is no God but me. Who is like me? Let him make his claim! Let him announce it and explain it to me—since I established an ancient people—let them announce future events! Don’t panic! Don’t be afraid! Did I not tell you beforehand and decree it? You are my witnesses. Is there any God but me? There is no other protector; I know of none.” (Isaiah 44:6-8).
“Remember what I accomplished in antiquity! Truly I am God, I have no peer; I am God, and there is none like me, who announces the end from the beginning and reveals beforehand what has not yet occurred, who says, ‘My plan will be realized, I will accomplish what I desire,’ who summons an eagle from the east, from a distant land, one who carries out my plan. Yes, I have decreed, yes, I will bring it to pass; I have formulated a plan, yes, I will carry it out” (Isaiah 46:9-11).
These verses clearly teach that the fact of inspiration and the facts of history when taken together will prove whether or not a prophet had written the words of God. One unique feature of the Bible is the vast amount of prophecy or prediction concerning future events it contains. God challenges men to examine these, prophecies to see whether or not they have been fulfilled! For a prediction to be fulfilled in the way and in the time foretold by the prophet is proof that God spoke through the prophet. We will study this in detail in later lessons. This test can be applied to thousands of predictions in the Bible leading to the conclusion that God has spoken. The Bible’s claim to be inspired by the Holy Spirit is the only possible answer to the amazing mystery of the foretelling of the future in accurate detail.
2. The Authority Of The Bible Does Not Depend On Our Ability To Understand It.
Read the following verses:
Concerning this salvation, the prophets who predicted the grace that would come to you searched and investigated carefully. They probed into what person or time the Spirit of Christ within them was indicating when he testified beforehand about the sufferings appointed for Christ and his subsequent glory (1 Peter 1:10-11).
And regard the patience of our Lord as salvation, just as also our dear brother Paul wrote to you, according to the wisdom given to him (2 Peter 3:15).
You will notice that even the prophets themselves did not fully understand the words that God spoke through them or revealed to them. They were simply God’s messengers, and often the great truths they wrote down were too profound for them to understand. No human mind can fully understand Divine truths. A Muslim leader once asked, “Would God punish a man for failing to understand Bible doctrines?” The answer is, “No, we are not punished because we cannot understand the mysteries of the Bible, but for unbelief—for refusing to believe what God has said.” The prophets themselves were unable to understand the great truths they taught, so obviously many aspects of Divine revelation are beyond the limitations of our minds. This problem is partly explained by our next point.
3. Divine Truth Cannot Be Compressed Into The Life Span Of Any Human Being.
Study this verse:
They [the Prophets] were shown that they were serving not themselves but you, in regard to the things now announced to you through those who proclaimed the gospel to you by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven—things angels long to catch a glimpse of. Therefore, get your minds ready for action by being fully sober, and set your hope completely on the grace that will be brought to you when Jesus Christ is revealed. (1 Peter 1:12-13).
God is eternal, and we are mortal. For this reason Divine revelation is progressive. God’s promises and revelations began in the first era of human life on earth, and continued through the centuries with new aspects of truth being added from time to time. Predictions were fulfilled in some cases hundreds of years after they were made, and so the prophets did not live long enough to see the fulfillment of their own words. Some of the prophecies in the Bible will not be fulfilled until the coming day of judgment. It is foolish for a man to reject a revelation because it does not fit in with the local circumstances of his short life span. Faith in God compels us to believe that God’s revelations embrace the entire period of His dealings with the human race. This is why we continually stress the vital need for clear historical perspective in our study of the Bible.
4. The Authority Of The Bible Is Unchanging As The Source Of Moral Conduct.
We see this in the verse we began with, 2 Timothy 3:16-17. Because the Bible is given by inspiration of God it is profitable. It teaches us the truth about God and states the kind of moral conduct God requires of us. It is profitable for doctrine, for instruction and for correction. For this reason, our study of the Bible cannot be treated simply as an academic exercise! Unless we are willing to obey God’s Word with a sincere heart, we will never learn the deepest truths it contains about eternal life. When we read the Bible seriously and ask God to speak to our hearts through its inspired teachings, we begin to realize that God does indeed speak to men with Divine authority through His Word, the Bible.
Related Topics: Bibliology (The Written Word)
2. What Is God Like?
In the modern world, atheism is making a bold attempt to banish all thought of God from the minds of men. By teaching that men and apes evolved from a common ancestor, atheists try to prove that all ignorance, superstition, witchcraft and religion are related to man’s primitive state. They blandly assume that science has banished all such ignorant beliefs and demand that God must be rejected along with fairies and goblins. Yuri Gagarin, the Russian cosmonaut, joked that up in space he saw no sign of God. What did he expect to see? Was his concept of “God” that of an old gentleman sitting on a cloud? But is God like that? What is God like?
THE BIBLE DOES NOT ATTEMPT TO PROVE THE EXISTENCE OF GOD
It does not need to, because it is in itself the record of the way God has revealed Himself to mankind. Thus it begins with a positive statement of the fact that there is a God and states that those who come to God must believe in Him. It says, In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth (Genesis 1:1). Now without faith it is impossible to please him, for the one who approaches God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him. (Hebrews 11:6).
The Bible begins with the statement that God is the Almighty Creator. The account of the creation of our world is found in Genesis 1:1-28. You should read this in your Bible. This short paragraph contains an implicit denial of all subsequent deviations from the truth about God. It refutes ATHEISM which says there is no God. It refutes POLYTHEISM which says there are many gods. It refutes PANTHEISM which says that the universe is “God.” It refutes HUMANISM which worships man himself. It refutes ASTROLOGY which says that the stars affect destiny, whereas in fact they are only part of God’s inanimate creation.
FROM THE BEGINNING OF HUMAN LIFE, MEN KNEW GOD
The evolutionary theory claims that because the primitive ape-man creatures were afraid of the forces of nature they began to imagine all kinds of unseen spirits and gods in their environment. As their knowledge increased they developed the “god idea” until eventually the concept of One God emerged. The Bible refutes this idea emphatically. Romans 1:18-25 says: For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of people who suppress the truth by their unrighteousness, because what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them. For since the creation of the world his invisible attributes—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, because they are understood through what has been made. So people are without excuse. For although they knew God, they did not glorify him as God or give him thanks, but they became futile in their thoughts and their senseless hearts were darkened. Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for an image resembling mortal human beings or birds or four-footed animals or reptiles. Therefore God gave them over in the desires of their hearts to impurity, to dishonor their bodies among themselves. They exchanged the truth of God for a lie and worshiped and served the creation rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever! Amen. This very important statement shows plainly that, from the very beginning men knew God but they turned away from Him. Thus false religion and idolatry is not a primitive fear-concept, but a later development which arose when men deliberately exchanged truth for error.
From the beginning, God the Creator revealed Himself to man. God talked with Adam (Genesis 1:28), with Noah (Genesis 6:13), with Abraham (Genesis 12:1). You might wish to look up these references in your Bible and see what God said to them. Man’s rebellion and disobedience has resulted in a distortion by him of the pure knowledge of the One True God. By the time of Abraham, idolatry was almost universal. God called Abraham to leave his own country with its idolatry and corrupt culture to journey to the land of Canaan, where he was to found a new nation devoted to the worship of the One True God. Here is the record of that call: So Abram left, just as the Lord had told him to do, and Lot went with him. (Now Abram was seventy-five years old when he departed from Haran.) And Abram took his wife Sarai, his nephew Lot, and all the possessions they had accumulated and the people they had acquired in Haran, and they left for the land of Canaan. They entered the land of Canaan. Abram traveled through the land as far as the oak tree of Moreh at Shechem. (At that time the Canaanites were in the land.) The Lord appeared to Abram and said, “To your descendants I will give this land.” So Abram built an altar there to the Lord, who had appeared to him. Then he moved from there to the hill country east of Bethel and pitched his tent, with Bethel on the west and Ai on the east. There he built an altar to the Lord and worshiped the Lord. (Genesis 12:4-8). The Divine plan of course, required a considerable period for its development. The family of Abraham first grew to be a tribe but by the time of Moses; it had become a nation.
THE FIRST WRITTEN LAWS CONCERNING THE WORSHIP OF GOD WERE GIVEN TO MOSES
At this point, please read the following verses:
I, the Lord, am your God, who brought you from the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage. You shall have no other gods before me. You shall not make for yourself a carved image or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is on earth under it, or that is in the water below. (Exodus 20:2-4).
Listen, Israel: The Lord is our God, the Lord is one. You must love the Lord your God with your whole mind, your whole being, and all your strength. (Deuteronomy 6:4-5).
Be very careful, then, because you saw no form at the time the Lord spoke to you at Horeb from the middle of the fire. I say this so you will not corrupt yourselves by making an image in the form of any kind of figure. This includes the likeness of a human male or female, any kind of land animal, any bird that flies in the sky, any insect on the ground, or any fish in the deep waters of the earth. When you look up to the sky, see the sun, moon, and stars—the whole heavenly creation—you must not be seduced to worship and serve them, for the Lord your God has assigned them to all the people of the world. (Deuteronomy 4:15-19).
These three paragraphs give the oldest and clearest statement of the Unity of God to be found anywhere in all the history of man. By the time of Moses (about 400 years after Abraham) the human race had so completely turned to the worship of false gods that it became necessary that the One True God should be clearly distinguished from the countless false gods and idols of the pagan world. That is why God, through Moses, revealed that His name was YAHWEH (actually in Hebrew, only the consonants are given, as in Arabic script, so that the name of God appears as Y-H-W-H). In Exodus 3:15 we find the following words: God also said to Moses, “You must say this to the Israelites, ‘The Lord—the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob—has sent me to you. This is my name forever, and this is my memorial from generation to generation.’” Also in Exodus 6:2-3 we read: God spoke to Moses and said to him, “I am the Lord. I appeared to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob as God Almighty, but by my name ‘the Lord’ I was not known to them.” From this time onwards, the whole of the Old Testament plainly teaches that Yahweh is the One True God. Now read 1 Kings 18:39. The contest between the prophets of the pagan god Baal and Elijah the prophet of God was tremendous. The result was that the people cried out, The Lord [Yahweh] is the true God! The Lord is the true God! All other gods, by whatever name they were called, were false. Along with the revelation of the Name of God, there was given a strong safeguard to protect this great truth from corruption. Idols and images and “aids to worship” were completely forbidden. To keep this great truth alive God chose the people of Israel as His channel of Divine revelation—they were the “People of Yahweh, the people of the One True God.” Unfortunately, they did not always maintain this privileged position, but often lapsed into idolatry themselves. For this God punished them repeatedly.
THE BIBLE REVEALS THE NATURE OF GOD BY WHAT HE DOES
The Bible purposely does not give a systematic description of what God is. Man is finite and cannot possibly understand a God who is infinite. Any description of God must therefore be inadequate. Because of this, God chose a way to reveal the mystery of His nature well within our grasp. He has revealed His nature by His acts. Thus the Bible is a written account of the way God has acted down the centuries.
1. God in Creation
The Bible tells us that the universe is the work of God. True science confirms this. With the telescope we study the immensity of space with its galaxies and star-systems or through the microscope we marvel at the intricate pattern of life scaled down to the minutest dimensions. We discover creatures so small they can find a mighty ocean in a single drop of water! We wonder at the exactness of natural laws, and at the miracle of design and beauty in every part of nature. We realize something of the greatness and the wisdom and power of the Creator. His work of creation teaches us that God is perfect in wisdom, intelligence and power.
2. God in Providence
Abraham is a classic example of God’s love and care for the individual. God called him to obedience and faith, and in the constantly recurring crises of life, Abraham learned the reality of the love and care and provision of God. The whole story of Abraham (Genesis 12-25) is recorded for our benefit. Read it in your Bibles
3. God in History
One of the ways the people of Israel recalled the greatness of God was by reciting what He had done in their national history. Psalms 78, 105 and 106 are good illustrations of this. Here is just one example taken from Psalm 78. Read this whole psalm in your Bible and look up the other two as well.
He did amazing things in the sight of their ancestors, in the land of Egypt, in the region of Zoan. He divided the sea and led them across it; he made the water stand in a heap. He led them with a cloud by day, and with the light of a fire all night long. He broke open rocks in the wilderness, and gave them enough water to fill the depths of the sea. He caused streams to flow from the rock, and made the water flow like rivers. Yet they continued to sin against him, and rebelled against the Sovereign One in the desert. They willfully challenged God by asking for food to satisfy their appetite. They insulted God, saying, “Is God really able to give us food in the wilderness? Yes, he struck a rock and water flowed out, streams gushed forth. But can he also give us food? Will he provide meat for his people?” When the Lord heard this, he was furious. A fire broke out against Jacob, and his anger flared up against Israel, because they did not have faith in God, and did not trust his ability to deliver them (Psalm 78:12-22).
Study what God has revealed about His own nature and His will, and compare the accounts of what He has done. You will find a thrilling combination of factors which display the glory of God. Here are a few of them:
God is One— Listen, Israel: The Lord is our God, the Lord is one. (Deuteronomy 6:4).
God is Living— The Lord is the only true God. He is the living God and the everlasting King. When he shows his anger the earth shakes. None of the nations can stand up to his fury. (Jeremiah 10:10).
God is Self-existing— God said to Moses, “I AM that I AM.” And he said, “You must say this to the Israelites, ‘I AM has sent me to you.’” (Exodus 3:14).
God is Eternal— O sovereign Master, you have been our protector through all generations! Even before the mountains came into existence, or you brought the world into being, you were the eternal God. (Psalm 90:1-2).
God is Almighty— When Abram was ninety-nine years old, the Lord appeared to him and said, “I am the Sovereign God. Walk before me and be blameless.” (Genesis 17:1).
God is Changeless— “Since, I, the Lord, do not go back on my promises, you, sons of Jacob, have not perished. (Malachi 3:6).
God is Omnipresent— “Do you people think that I am some local deity and not the transcendent God?” the Lord asks. “Do you really think anyone can hide himself where I cannot see him?” the Lord asks. “Don’t you know that I am everywhere?” the Lord asks. (Jeremiah 23:23-24). Where can I go to escape your spirit? Where can I flee to escape your presence? If I were to ascend to heaven, you would be there. If I were to sprawl out in Sheol, there you would be. If I were to fly away on the wings of the dawn, and settle down on the other side of the sea, even there your hand would guide me, your right hand would grab hold of me. If I were to say, “Certainly the darkness will cover me, and the light will turn to night all around me,” even the darkness is not too dark for you to see, and the night is as bright as day; darkness and light are the same to you. (Psalm 139:7-12).
God is Holy— They called out to one another, “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord who leads armies! His majestic splendor fills the entire earth!” (Isaiah 6:3).
God is Love— In a far-off land the Lord will manifest himself to them. He will say to them, “I have loved you with an everlasting love. That is why I have continued to be faithful to you.” (Jeremiah 31:3).
God is Merciful— And the Lord passed by before him and proclaimed: “The Lord, the Lord, the compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, and abounding in loyal love and faithfulness, keeping loyal love for thousands, forgiving iniquity, and transgression and sin. But he by no means leaves the guilty unpunished, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children and on the children’s children, to the third and fourth generation.” (Exodus 34:6-7).
God is Just— Far be it from you to do such a thing—to kill the godly with the wicked, treating the godly and the wicked alike! Far be it from you! Will not the judge of the whole earth do what is right? (Genesis 18:25).
This list merely introduces the vast subject of the nature of God. It is only by regularly and systematically reading the Bible that we really learn the greatness and majesty of God. Read carefully the following quotations. They reach great heights of poetic beauty as they describe the greatness and glory of God:
Do you not know? Have you not heard? The Lord is an eternal God, the creator of the whole earth. He does not get tired or weary; there is no limit to his wisdom. (Isaiah 40:28).
This is what the true God, the Lord, says—the one who created the sky and stretched it out, the one who fashioned the earth and everything that lives on it, the one who gives breath to the people on it, and life to those who live on it: “I, the Lord, officially commission you; I take hold of your hand. I protect you and make you a covenant mediator for people, and a light to the nations, to open blind eyes, to release prisoners from dungeons, those who live in darkness from prisons. I am the Lord! That is my name! I will not share my glory with anyone else, or the praise due me with idols.” (Isaiah 42:5-8).
For this is what the Lord says, the one who created the sky—he is the true God, the one who formed the earth and made it; he established it, he did not create it without order, he formed it to be inhabited—“I am the Lord, I have no peer. I have not spoken in secret, in some hidden place. I did not tell Jacob’s descendants, ‘Seek me in vain.’ I am the Lord, the one who speaks honestly, who makes reliable announcements. Gather together and come! Approach together, you refugees from the nations! Those who carry wooden idols know nothing, those who pray to a god that cannot deliver. Tell me! Present the evidence! Let them consult with one another! Who predicted this in the past? Who announced it beforehand? Was it not I, the Lord? I have no peer, there is no God but me, a God who vindicates and delivers; there is none but me. Turn to me so you can be delivered, all you who live in the earth’s remote regions! For I am God, and I have no peer. I solemnly make this oath—what I say is true and reliable: ‘Surely every knee will bow to me, every tongue will solemnly affirm’” (Isaiah 45:18-23).
These spiritual concepts were written by the prophet Isaiah about 2,500 years ago. Obviously there was nothing primitive or defective in the knowledge of God Isaiah and the other prophets brought to men.
4. God as a God of Love
Many people have misunderstood what is meant by the fact that God is a God of love. Because He is love, many have thought that God is indulgent of human sin, that He does not care whether or not men break His laws. God is love, but He is also absolutely holy and sin is an insult to Him and an outrage against His nature. Some have imagined that God’s love and mercy are contradictory to and incompatible with His holiness and justice. This is not so. God in His justice and holiness cannot treat sinners indulgently. Sin must be punished unless it is forgiven in a way which is fully consistent with both the justice and the mercy of God. This is the message of the gospel! God has revealed a way in which a sinner can be forgiven and cleansed from his sin and thus enjoy the love and grace of God. Holiness, as an attribute of God, is not abstract purity-merely the absence of evil. It is a positive quality which reaches out to mankind. God is love, and therefore He does not want to punish sinners, and God is holy, and therefore He desires to restore sinners to a state of holiness and purity, fit for His eternal presence. The gospel tells us that God truly loves sinful people and has provided a salvation which transforms men and women into “sons of God,” thus enabling them to share His eternal glory. Study this quotation from Romans 8:29-30: Those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, that his Son would be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters. And those he predestined, he also called; and those he called, he also justified; and those he justified, he also glorified.
This revelation of the character and attributes of God is found in the Bible and nowhere else! As you continue your studies you will, we trust, come into this glorious fellowship with the God who, though so great in power and majesty, desires to save the weakest and worst sinners and make them His worshippers.
THE GOD OF THE BIBLE AND ALLAH OF THE QURAN
The following chart shows how God is revealed in the Bible and how Allah is spoken of in the Quran.
|
Hebrew titles of God in the Old Testament | ||
|
General |
Descriptive |
Specific |
|
Elohim or God This is used 2550 times |
Adonai or Lord=Master used 340 times |
Jehovah or Lord used 6823 times |
|
Arabic titles of God used in the Quran | ||
|
Allah or God |
Rabb or Lord=Master |
No equivalent |
One difference is quite evident. Elohim is approximately equivalent in meaning to Allah. Adonai is approximately equivalent in meaning to Rabb, but it can be seen that there is no Quranic equivalent for Jehovah (Y-H-W-H). The Elohim-Allah title describes God as the Almighty Creator. The Adonai-Rabb title describes God as Lord and Master over all His creatures. But it is in the Bible alone that we find God revealed as Jehovah, a title which is used over 6,800 times and which is the main name of God in the Bible. We all know names of God to be important because they reveal His character. Jehovah, as a Divine Name, is used in the Bible to depict God as the One who is Self-existing, and Self-revealing. As the Self-revealing God He reveals Himself as a God of grace who acts in redeeming love to rescue sinful men and women and restore them to fellowship and intimacy with Himself. Jehovah wants people to know Him and love Him while on earth, and then go to live with Him and share His glory for ever.
Jehovah in the Bible, as much as Allah in the Quran, is the Almighty Creator and Master. But He is also the God of redemption, love and grace, who says that, not only may we know Him in an intimate fellowship, but that all blessedness begins when we come to know Him. Read the following verses which emphasize the fact that God desires that man may know Him and enjoy His fellowship now and forever:
The Lord says, “Wise people should not boast that they are wise. Powerful people should not boast that they are powerful. Rich people should not boast that they are rich. If people want to boast, they should boast about this: They should boast that they understand and know me. They should boast that they know and understand that I, the Lord, act out of faithfulness, fairness, and justice in the earth and that I desire people to do these things,” says the Lord. (Jeremiah 9:23-24).
I will give them the desire to acknowledge that I am the Lord. I will be their God and they will be my people. That is because they will wholeheartedly return to me.’ (Jeremiah 24:7).
“People will no longer need to teach their neighbors and relatives to know me. That is because all of them, from the least important to the most important, will know me,” says the Lord. “All of this is based on the fact that I will forgive their sin and will no longer call to mind the wrong they have done.” (Jeremiah 31:34).
Now this is eternal life—that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you sent. (John 17:3).
The concept which it is the essential purpose of the Bible to reveal is that God is Jehovah, the Redeemer who desires that men may know and love Him as a personal God.
Related Topics: Theology Proper (God)
3. What Is A Prophet?
In chapter one we made frequent references to the holy prophets. This raised a very important question; “What do we mean when we speak of prophets, and who are prophets?” We must find what the Bible says about this subject.
The first person in the Bible to be called a prophet was Abraham, the “Father of the Faithful.” It is important to notice also, that it was God who gave him this title. The story is found in Genesis 20:6-7. A heathen prince had taken Abraham’s wife, and God commanded him to restore her, saying of Abraham, “he is a prophet. . . .” (the Hebrew word is “nabi” as it is also in Arabic). Without doubt there were other men before Abraham who were prophets. Enoch was one, for instance (compare Genesis 5:24 with Jude 14). But Abraham was the first person to be designated a prophet by the clear Word of God. Many God-appointed prophets arose after Abraham. They were chosen from many walks of life. Moses was adopted in infancy by an Egyptian princess and thus received a prince’s education. (Read in your Bible, for example, Exodus 2:5-10; Acts 7:21-22.) Ezekiel and Jeremiah were priests as well as prophets. David was first a shepherd, then warrior, king and poet and a prophet as well. Amos was a herdsman (Amos 1:1). Elisha was a plowman (1 Kings 19:15-21). Daniel was a government administrator (Daniel 2:48). From such diverse backgrounds, God chose His prophets. Their influence and authority did not come from their rank, education, wisdom or wealth, but entirely from the fact that God chose them to be His messengers. So we may define a prophet as one appointed by God Himself to be His messenger. Now we must examine the Bible to expand this brief definition. Notice first that God chose His messengers. The following Scriptures demonstrate this:
Now the Lord said to Abram, “Go out from your country, your relatives, and your father’s household to the land that I will show you. Then I will make you into a great nation, and I will bless you, and I will make your name great, so that you will exemplify divine blessing. I will bless those who bless you, but the one who treats you lightly I must curse, and all the families of the earth will bless one another by your name.” So Abram left, just as the Lord had told him to do, and Lot went with him. (Now Abram was seventy-five years old when he departed from Haran.) (Genesis 12:1-4).
Now Moses was shepherding the flock of Jethro his father-in-law, the priest of Midian, and he led the flock to the far side of the desert and came to the mountain of God, to Horeb. The Angel of the Lord appeared to him in a flame of fire from within a bush. He looked—and the bush was ablaze with fire, but it was not being consumed! So Moses thought, “I will turn aside to see this amazing sight. Why does the bush not burn up?” When the Lord saw that he had turned aside to look, God called to him from within the bush and said, “Moses, Moses!” And Moses said, “Here I am.” God said, “Do not come near here. Take your sandals off your feet, for the place on which you are standing is holy ground.” He also said, “I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.” Then Moses hid his face, because he was afraid to look at God. The Lord said, “I have surely seen the affliction of my people who are in Egypt. I have heard their cry because of their taskmasters, for I know their sorrows. I have come down to deliver them from the hand of the Egyptians and to bring them up from that land to a land that is both good and large, to a land flowing with milk and honey, to the region of the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites. And now, indeed, the cry of the Israelites has come to me, and I have also seen how severely the Egyptians oppress them. So now, go, and I will send you to Pharaoh to bring my people, the Israelites, out of Egypt.” Moses said to God, “Who am I, that I should go to Pharaoh, or that I should bring the Israelites out of Egypt?” He replied, “Surely I will be with you, and this will be the sign to you that I have sent you: When you bring the people out of Egypt, you and they will serve God on this mountain.” (Exodus 3:1-12).
Then the Lord came and stood nearby, calling as he had previously done, “Samuel! Samuel!” Samuel replied, “Speak, for your servant is listening!” The Lord said to Samuel, “Look! I am about to do something in Israel; when anyone hears about it, both of his ears will tingle.” (1 Samuel 3:10-11).
The Lord said to me, “Before I formed you in your mother’s womb I chose you. Before you were born I set you apart. I appointed you to be a prophet to the nations.” I answered, “Oh, Lord God, I really do not know how to speak well enough for that, for I am too young. The Lord said to me, “Do not say, ‘I am too young.’ But go to whomever I send you and say whatever I tell you. Do not be afraid of those to whom I send you, for I will be with you to rescue you,” says the Lord. Then the Lord reached out his hand and touched my mouth and said to me, “I will most assuredly give you the words you are to speak for me. Know for certain that I hereby give you the authority to announce to nations and kingdoms that they will be uprooted and torn down, destroyed and demolished, rebuilt and firmly planted.” (Jeremiah 1:5-10).
God in His wisdom chose men who would obey Him faithfully and He gave them authority to speak on His behalf. Prophets were not chosen or elected by men, and they were not permitted to inherit the title or regard it as an official post to be filled by a man specially trained for it.
Notice also that God told them what to do. We may find example of the work of a true prophet in a number of references as follows. Their work was:
1. To reveal the nature and attributes of God to men.
The following Scriptures show this:
The Lord spoke face to face with you at the mountain, from the middle of the fire. (I was standing between the Lord and you then to reveal to you the message of the Lord, because you were afraid of the fire and would not go up the mountain.) He said: “I am the Lord your God, he who brought you from the land of Egypt, from the place of slavery. You must not have any other gods besides me. You must not make for yourself an image of anything in heaven above, on earth below, or in the waters beneath. You must not worship or serve them, for I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God. I punish the sons, grandsons, and great-grandsons for the sin of the fathers who reject me, but I show covenant faithfulness to the thousands who choose me and keep my commandments.” (Deuteronomy 5:4-10).
The Lord spoke to Moses: “Speak to the whole congregation of the Israelites and tell them, ‘You must be holy because I, the Lord your God, am holy. Each of you must respect his mother and his father, and you must keep my Sabbaths. I am the Lord your God. Do not turn to idols, and you must not make for yourselves gods of cast metal. I am the Lord your God.’” (Leviticus 19:1-4).
2. To make known to men the laws of God.
For example Exodus 20:1-17 says:
And God spoke all these words: “I, the Lord, am your God, who brought you from the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage. You shall have no other gods before me. You shall not make for yourself a carved image or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is on earth under it, or that is in the water below. You shall not bow down to them or serve them, for I, the Lord, your God, am a jealous God, who visits the iniquity of fathers on children, even to the third and fourth generations of those who hate me, but who extends faithful love to a thousand generations of those who love me and keep my commandments. You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain, for the Lord will not hold guiltless anyone who takes his name in vain. Remember the Sabbath day to sanctify it. For six days you may labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord your God; on it you shall not do any work, you, or your son, or your daughter, or your male servant, or your female servant, or your cattle, or your resident foreigner who is in your gates. For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth and the sea and all that is in them, and he rested on the seventh day; therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and sanctified it. Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be long in the land the Lord your God is giving to you. You shall not murder. You shall not commit adultery. You shall not steal. You shall not give false testimony against your neighbor. You shall not covet your neighbor’s house. You shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, nor his male servant, nor his female servant, nor his ox, nor his donkey, nor anything that belongs to your neighbor.”
3. To call the people back to obedience to God’s laws.
Read 2 Chronicles 24:19— The Lord sent prophets among them to lead them back to him. They warned the people, but they would not pay attention.
4. To exhort the people to sincerity in worship.
An example of this is found in Jeremiah 7:1-11:
The Lord said to Jeremiah: “Stand in the gate of the Lord’s temple and proclaim this message: ‘Listen, all you people of Judah who have passed through these gates to worship the Lord. Hear what the Lord has to say. The Lord God of Israel who rules over all says: Change the way you have been living and do what is right. If you do, I will let you continue to live in this land. Stop putting your confidence in the delusive belief that says, “We are safe! The temple of the Lord is here! The temple of the Lord is here! The temple of the Lord is here!” You must change the way you have been living and do what is right. You must treat one another fairly. Stop oppressing foreigners who live in your land, children who have lost their fathers, and women who have lost their husbands. Stop killing innocent people in this land. Stop paying allegiance to other gods. That will only bring about your ruin. If you do all this, I will let you continue to live here in this land which I gave to your ancestors as a lasting possession. “‘But just look at you! You are putting your confidence in a false way of thinking that will not help you at all. You steal. You murder. You commit adultery. You lie when you swear on oath. You sacrifice to the god Baal. You pay allegiance to other gods that you do not really know. Then you come and stand here in my presence in this house I have claimed as my own and say, “We are safe!” You think you are so safe that you go on doing all those hateful sins! Do you think this house I have claimed as my own is to be a hideout for robbers? You had better take note! I have seen for myself what you have done! says the Lord.’”
5. To warn them of Divine judgment upon sin, both personal and national.
See Jeremiah 36:30-31:
So the Lord says concerning King Jehoiakim of Judah, “None of his line will occupy the throne of David. And his dead body will be thrown out to be exposed to scorching heat by day and frost by night. I will punish him and his descendants and the officials who serve him for the wicked things they have done. I will bring on them and the citizens of Jerusalem and the people of Judah all the disaster that I threatened to do to them. I will punish them because I threatened them but they still paid no heed.”
6. To foretell future events which God had willed.
A good illustration of this would be Jeremiah 30:1-3:
The Lord spoke to Jeremiah. He said, “The Lord God of Israel who rules over all says, ‘Write everything that I am about to tell you in a scroll. For I, the Lord affirm that the time will come when I will reverse the fortunes of my people, Israel and Judah,’ says the Lord. ‘I will bring them back to the land I gave their ancestors and they will take possession of it once again.’”
7. To foretell the coming of the Messiah, the Savior.
See for example Isaiah 9:6:
For a child has been born to us, a son has been given to us. He shoulders responsibility and is called: Extraordinary Strategist, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
8. To record the history of God’s dealings with men.
An example of this is in Deuteronomy 31:9-13:
Then Moses wrote down this law and gave it to the Levitical priests, who carry the ark of the Lord’s covenant, and to all Israel’s elders. He commanded them: “At the end of seven years, at the appointed time of the cancellation of debts, at the Feast of Temporary Shelters, when all Israel comes to appear before the Lord your God in the place he chooses, you must read this law before them within their hearing. Gather the people—men, women, and children, as well as the resident foreigners in your villages—so they may hear and thus learn about and fear the Lord your God and carefully obey all the words of this law. Then their children, who have not known this law, will also hear about and learn to fear the Lord your God for as long as you live in the land you are crossing the Jordan to possess.”
9. To record the Word of God in the Holy Scriptures.
The following are examples of this:
And the Lord said to Moses, “Write this as a memorial in the book, and rehearse it in Joshua’s hearing; for I will surely wipe out the remembrance of Amalek from under the heavens.” (Exodus 17:14).
And the Lord said to Moses, “Write these words, for in accordance with these words I have made a covenant with you and with Israel.” (Exodus 34:27).
So on that day Moses wrote down this song and taught it to the Israelites, and the Lord commissioned Joshua son of Nun, “Be strong and courageous, for you will take the Israelites to the land I have promised them, and I will be with you.” When Moses finished writing on a scroll the words of this law in their entirety, he commanded the Levites who carried the ark of the Lord’s covenant, “Take this scroll of the law and place it beside the ark of the covenant of the Lord your God. It will remain there as a witness against you” (Deuteronomy 31:22-26).
The Lord spoke to Jeremiah in the fourth year that Jehoiakim son of Josiah was ruling over Judah. He said, “Get a scroll. Write on it everything I have told you to say about Israel, Judah, and all the other nations since I began to speak to you in the reign of Josiah until now. (Jeremiah 36:1-2).
The Lord spoke to Jeremiah after Jehoiakim had burned the scroll containing what Jeremiah had spoken and Baruch had written down. He said, “Get another scroll and write on it everything that was written on the original scroll that King Jehoiakim of Judah burned.” (Jeremiah 36:27-28).
This list is by no means complete but it shows the importance of the work of a prophet. Even the humblest and most ordinary men became important, influential and authoritative in Israel when called to be prophets. Some prophets were called to challenge the whole nation (1 Kings 18:21), or to rebuke evil kings (1 Kings 21:17-24; Daniel 5:17-28) and many were given power to perform miracles to support their authority. An example of this is in Exodus l7:5-6 And the Lord said to Moses, “Go over before the people; take with you some of the elders of Israel and take in your hand your rod with which you struck the Nile and go. I will be standing before you there on the rock in Horeb, and you will strike the rock, and water will come out of it so that the people may drink.” And Moses did so in plain view of the elders of Israel. In the nation of Israel, prophets were more important than kings, warriors or priests.
Because the prophets were so influential, it is not surprising that early in history, false prophets appeared, pretending to be God’s messengers in order to support their own ambitions for power, authority and personal advancement. Because of this, God gave clear instructions to the people to examine the credentials of all who claimed to be prophets. These Divine instructions are found in Deuteronomy 18:9-22. This paragraph is so important that the student should read it before going any further with this lesson. Here it is:
When you enter the land the Lord your God is giving you, you must not learn the abhorrent practices of those nations. There must never be found among you anyone who sacrifices his son or daughter in the fire, anyone who practices divination, an omen reader, a soothsayer, a sorcerer, one who casts spells, one who conjures up spirits, a practitioner of the occult, or a necromancer. Whoever does these things is abhorrent to the Lord and because of these things the Lord your God is about to drive them out from before you. You must be blameless before the Lord your God. Those nations that you are about to dispossess listen to omen readers and diviners, but the Lord your God has not given you permission to do such things. The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among you—from your fellow Israelites; you must listen to him. This accords with what happened at Horeb in the day of the assembly. You asked the Lord your God: “Please do not make us hear the voice of the Lord our God any more or see this great fire any more lest we die.” The Lord then said to me, “What they have said is good. I will raise up a prophet like you for them from among their fellow Israelites. I will put my words in his mouth and he will speak to them whatever I command. I will personally hold responsible anyone who then pays no attention to the words that prophet speaks in my name. “But if any prophet presumes to speak anything in my name that I have not authorized him to speak, or speaks in the name of other gods, that prophet must die. Now if you say to yourselves, ‘How can we tell that a message is not from the Lord?’— whenever a prophet speaks in my name and the prediction is not fulfilled, then I have not spoken it; the prophet has presumed to speak it, so you need not fear him.”
Notice that God warned the people that all pagan practices and customs were strictly forbidden. In particular, God warned them not to seek help or guidance through occult practices like divination, witchcraft or necromancy (the belief that spirits of dead people can be used to obtain help). We are expressly told, Whoever does these things is abhorrent to the Lord. As these practices were strictly forbidden, how were the people of Israel to obtain help and guidance? God gave them a clear answer; I will raise up for you a prophet like me from among you. . . . God would not permit pagan methods of seeking help, but He would appoint His own prophets through whom He would speak and guide those who desired to know the truth. From this important Scripture we find certain definite rules by which the people could know a true prophet sent by God.
A TRUE PROPHET SPEAKS IN THE NAME OF JEHOVAH
We have already explained that this name of God, used so frequently in the Bible, was spelled by the Hebrew consonants Y.H.W.H. and was probably pronounced Yahweh, but is found in our English Bibles either as Jehovah or more often as Lord. In the passage just quoted we find 10 occurrences of this Divine title. God, speaking through Moses, made it clear that only those prophets who spoke in the name of Jehovah were to be accepted.
A TRUE PROPHET WILL BE CHOSEN BY GOD FROM ONE OF THE TRIBES OF ISRAEL
Verse 18 says he shall be from among their fellow Israelites. Moses was speaking to Israelites and it is clear that he said that God would raise up a prophet from among you (verse 15). This same expression (fellow Israelites) is found in Deuteronomy 3:18 and Deuteronomy 17:15 where God said that the future kings of Israel must be chosen from among their brethren—they were not to set a foreigner over them as their king. Thus it is clear the prophet must be an Israelite.
A TRUE PROPHET WILL SPEAK THE WORDS WHICH JEHOVAH PUTS INTO HIS MOUTH (VERSE 18)
God’s message is often rejected by sinful men because God demands obedience to His Word, but a true prophet will not try to make his message popular. A false prophet however appeals to popular enthusiasm. Notice the example in Isaiah 30:8-11 where the people ask the false prophets to prophesy nice things—Now go, write it down on a tablet in their presence, inscribe it on a scroll, so that it might be saved for a future time as an enduring witness. For these are rebellious people—they are lying children, children unwilling to obey the Lord’s law. They say to the visionaries, “See no more visions!” and to the seers, “Don’t relate messages to us about what is right! Tell us nice things, relate deceptive messages. Turn aside from the way, stray off the path. Remove from our presence the sovereign king of Israel.” Jeremiah shows us that a true prophet does not invent his message—he is inspired by God— Then the Lord reached out his hand and touched my mouth and said to me, “I will most assuredly give you the words you are to speak for me.” (Jeremiah 1:9).
A TRUE PROPHET WILL BE VINDICATED BY THE FULFILLMENT OF HIS MESSAGE (VERSE 18)
Again Jeremiah gives a clear illustration of this. Read Jeremiah 14:14-16:
Then the Lord said to me, “Those prophets are prophesying lies while claiming my authority. I did not send them. I did not commission them. And I did not speak to them. They are just prophesying to these people false visions, worthless predictions, and the delusions of their own mind. I did not send those prophets, though they claim to be prophesying in my authority. They may be saying, ‘No war or famine will happen in this land.’ But I, the Lord, say this about them: ‘War and starvation will kill those prophets.’ And the people to whom they are prophesying will die through war and famine. Their bodies will be thrown out into the streets of Jerusalem and they won’t even be buried. That will happen to the men and their wives, their sons, and their daughters. For I will pour out on them the destruction they deserve.”
God had told Jeremiah to announce that Jerusalem would be captured by the Babylonian army, as a punishment for the sins of the people. False prophets opposed Jeremiah and denied his words, suggesting that he was a traitor. But God said that the false prophets themselves would die by the sword of the Babylonians. This was literally fulfilled, and thus the words of Jeremiah were proved to be God’s message, while the popular message of the false prophets was shown to be lies, even though they had dared to use the name of Jehovah. A similar incident is seen in 1 Kings 22:5-28 where Micaiah was sent to prison for speaking God’s word, but the king who foolishly believed the words of the false prophets was killed in battle.
A FALSE PROPHET MUST BE PUT TO DEATH FOR TEACHING REBELLION AGAINST JEHOVAH, THE GOD OF THE ISRAELITES
This commandment is found in the following Scriptures:
Suppose a prophet or one who foretells by dreams should appear among you and show you a sign or wonder, and the sign or wonder should come to pass concerning what he said to you, namely, “Let us follow other gods”—gods whom you have not previously known—“and let us serve them.” You must not listen to the words of that prophet or dreamer, for the Lord your God will be testing you to see if you love him with all your mind and being. You must follow the Lord your God and revere only him; and you must observe his commandments, obey him, serve him, and remain loyal to him. As for that prophet or dreamer, he must be executed because he encouraged rebellion against the Lord your God who brought you from the land of Egypt, redeeming you from the place of slavery, and because he has tried to entice you from the way the Lord your God has commanded you to go. In this way you must purge out evil from within (Deuteronomy 13:1-5)
But if any prophet presumes to speak anything in my name that I have not authorized him to speak, or speaks in the name of other gods, that prophet must die (Deuteronomy 18:20)
The severity of this penalty emphasizes how dangerous false prophets are. No matter how important a person might be, or however closely he might be related to the king or anyone who might help decide his fate, he was to be treated as a traitor if he dared to speak a message that turned people away from the worship of Jehovah.
In all these verses notice the constant emphasis on the words, the Lord (Jehovah) your God. Pagan nations had degraded the meaning of the word God (Elohim) to include their idols, and so God the Creator stated that henceforth He would be known by His personal name, Jehovah. Not only was this a distinguishing feature of the worship of the One True God, but we find that the oft-repeated expression the name of the Lord was a Hebrew idiom which means “in the authority of the Lord” and “in the character of the Lord.” Thus a prophet who spoke in the name of Jehovah was speaking by the authority of Jehovah and in the character of Jehovah. Jehovah is holy, therefore the message must be holy in character and the messenger must likewise display the holiness of life which would be evidence of his truthfulness.
All prophets were to be tested thus concerning the origin of their words, and the meaning and the purpose of their teaching. That teaching must come from Jehovah; it must be true to the earlier revelation of the character of Jehovah, and it must be designed to encourage men to be faithful to Jehovah. Put these points together and you will find God’s method for testing the credentials of a true prophet:
1. He must be a true Israelite.
2. He must speak in the name of the Lord (Jehovah).
3. He must call men to living obedience to Jehovah and worship of Jehovah.
4. He must be tested and vindicated by the fulfillment of predictions made by him in the name of Jehovah, by the authority of Jehovah and in keeping with the character of Jehovah.
This explains why the prophets of the Old Testament and the apostles in the New Testament were members of the Hebrew (Israelite) people. Apart from these Biblical prophets and apostles, no man has ever been known to fulfill the Divine requirements laid down in the above verses. Many men have claimed to be leaders, teachers and prophets, but when we examine their credentials, we find that they were not members of the Hebrew race, nor did they speak in the name of Jehovah.
Thus the Bible alone contains the authentic teachings of God’s chosen messengers, prophets and apostles, and although the message of the Bible is not a popular one that appeals to the hearts of proud men, it is the Word of God and shows the way to eternal life.
There is one final comment which is of vital importance to this study. We have noted that God revealed the criteria for the recognition of a true prophet. But the verses in Deuteronomy 18 go further than that. They contain a definite prediction of the coming of a specific prophet. The Jews always understood this verse to be a clear promise concerning the coming Messiah. This is clear from the following verses. Read for example John 1:19-23 and note that when John the Baptist began to preach, he was asked, “Are you the Prophet?” Now this was John’s testimony when the Jewish leaders sent priests and Levites from Jerusalem to ask him, “Who are you?” He confessed—he did not deny but confessed—“I am not the Christ!” So they asked him, “Then who are you? Are you Elijah?” He said, “I am not!” “Are you the Prophet?” He answered, “No!” Then they said to him, “Who are you? Tell us so that we can give an answer to those who sent us. What do you say about yourself?” John said, “I am the voice of one shouting in the wilderness, ‘Make straight the way for the Lord,’ as Isaiah the prophet said.” Also in John 6:14 we see how the people, impressed by the power of Jesus, said, Now when the people saw the miraculous sign that Jesus performed, they began to say to one another, “This is certainly the Prophet who is to come into the world.” In John 7:40 again the people said, When they heard these words, some of the crowd began to say, “This really is the Prophet!” It is clear that the Jewish people expected a precise and personal fulfillment of this prophecy and when John the Baptist appeared they thought he was The Prophet, but John humbly disclaimed that honor, and directed their attention to Jesus—(Now they had been sent from the Pharisees.) So they asked John, “Why then are you baptizing if you are not the Christ, nor Elijah, nor the Prophet?” John answered them, “I baptize with water. Among you stands one whom you do not recognize, who is coming after me. I am not worthy to untie the strap of his sandal!” These things happened in Bethany across the Jordan River where John was baptizing. On the next day John saw Jesus coming toward him and said, “Look, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world! This is the one about whom I said, ‘After me comes a man who is greater than I am, because he existed before me.’” (John 1:24-30). The people then recognized Jesus as the Prophet. The people were right in thus recognizing Jesus as The Prophet. The Apostle Peter clearly taught that the great prediction was completely fulfilled in Jesus Christ. We read Therefore repent and turn back so that your sins may be wiped out, so that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord, and so that he may send the Messiah appointed for you—that is, Jesus. This one heaven must receive until the time all things are restored, which God declared from times long ago through his holy prophets. Moses said, “The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among your brothers. You must obey him in everything he tells you. Every person who does not obey that prophet will be destroyed and thus removed from the people” And all the prophets, from Samuel and those who followed him, have spoken about and announced these days You are the sons of the prophets and of the covenant that God made with your ancestors, saying to Abraham, “And in your descendants all the nations of the earth will be blessed.’ God raised up his servant and sent him first to you, to bless you by turning each one of you from your iniquities.” (Acts 3:19-26).
This one short paragraph then in Deuteronomy 18 contains remarkable truth. It sets out for all time the criteria for the recognition of a true prophet, and also a prediction of the coming of The True Prophet, a prediction which was finally and perfectly fulfilled in the coming of Jesus Christ. When Jesus came to the Jews, He fulfilled all the conditions of the prediction in Deuteronomy and thus His disciples accepted Him as the promised Prophet and Messiah. So certain is this fact that the Apostle Peter said, Every person who does not obey that prophet will be destroyed and thus removed from the people.’ (Acts 3:23). This is a solemn warning to those who reject the claims of Jesus Christ.
Related Topics: Prophecy/Revelation, Inspiration
4. The Continuity of Doctrine
A study of the authority of the Bible sooner or later means facing a problem which has confused many people, and which presents particular difficulties to Jews and Muslims. It is a double question (1) What do Christians mean by the terms “The Old Testament” and “The New Testament”? (2) What relationship exists between the Hebrew Old Testament and the Christian New Testament? This problem is heightened by the fact that the Jews do not accept the New Testament while Muslims accept both, in theory.
THE BIBLE IS ONE COMPLETE BOOK
The Bible is one complete Book consisting of Old and New Testaments. In other words, there is direct continuity of Divine revelation and authority running right through all sixty-six books of the Bible. No one part contradicts another part, and if one part were to be missing there would be an obvious gap in the whole Book. There is not the slightest hint in the Bible that the earlier revelations were to be contradicted or cancelled by the New Testament. The casual reader might possibly find apparent contradictions. Serious study however makes it clear that the later parts of the Bible are not contradictory but complementary. They are given as a further development of the earlier revelation in order to give a wider understanding of an important subject. For instance, when a child commences school, he learns the basic use of the alphabet and numerals. For the rest of his school life he learns additional facts about the use of letters and numbers until he is acquainted with extensive literature and able to handle advanced mathematics. The things he learns later do not ever contradict his beginning lessons; they simply add to his original inadequate understanding. This was the method chosen by an all-wise God in revealing Himself to mankind.
Now note the theme of the following quotations. Isaiah says, The decree of our God is forever reliable (Isaiah 40:6-8). Matthew says, I tell you the truth, until heaven and earth pass away not the smallest letter or stroke of a letter will pass from the law until everything takes place (Matthew 5:18). Peter says, but the word of the Lord endures forever (1 Peter 1:25). These three verses plainly state that God’s Word will never pass away. Note that one quotation is from an Old Testament prophet, one is from the teaching of Jesus Christ and one is from the teaching of the Apostle Peter. This shows that any theory of abrogation is unfounded; on the contrary, the Bible is the record of a continuous, coherent, developing revelation which will never pass away.
THE OLD TESTAMENT IS THE FOUNDATION OF ALL DIVINE REVELATION
Logically, the Bible begins at the very beginning! In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth (Genesis 1:1). God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them, male and female he created them (Genesis 1:27). All ancient nations have stories of a “beginning” but most of those stories are an absurd mixture of myth and legend and are not worth even considering as a Divine revelation. The book of Genesis is remarkably simple in its narrative and yet it contains the beginnings of all the major themes developed and expanded throughout the rest of the Bible. Note some of these major topics.
1. The Beginning of the Universe
The universe did not come into existence by chance but by the will and power of God. He created the earth to be a home for mankind. Science has so far discovered no other planet which has the right conditions for human life. Our earth is unique.
2. The Beginnings of the Human Race
Why did God create man? No one will know the complete answer to that question in this life, but God has given some interesting clues concerning His purpose. Man was created to be God’s “viceroy” to govern the earth for Him (Genesis 1:26). This helps explain why people aspire to positions of authority, and why they have such an urge to investigate and tabulate scientific facts about the universe and all it contains. God created man for this purpose and endowed the human race with the intelligence to study nature. The increase of knowledge and the growth of science are proofs of God’s purpose in creating man. Man’s search for knowledge has been accompanied, unfortunately, by pride with the result that clever men are apt to turn away from God. Because man rebelled against his Creator (Genesis 3), human authority has been tainted by injustice, cruelty, pride and abuse of power ever since.
Man was created with spiritual qualities which set him apart from the animals. No animal has the power of intelligent free choice. This power was given to man by God to enable us to willingly love, serve and worship our Creator. The Bible constantly emphasizes the truth that God desires intelligent worship from man. For example we read in John 4:23—But a time is coming—and now is here—when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father seeks such people to be his worshipers.
3. The Beginning of Sin in Human Life
Sin is a mystery, but we are told that, so far as the human race is concerned, it began with man’s disobedience of God’s laws. The Bible makes it plain that each person is responsible for his own sin. We chose to disobey.
4. The Beginning of God’s Plan of Salvation from Sin
Though man sinned and rebelled, God still loves people and plans to save them. The initiative for our salvation comes from God. Other religions claim that man is seeking for God but the Bible teaches that God is seeking for men.
5. The Beginning of the Nations
The story of the beginning of the nations is given in Genesis 11:1-9. Men are of different races and different cultures but all are part of the one human race and all are equally important in God’s sight. Paul says, From one man he made every nation of the human race to inhabit the entire earth, determining their set times and the fixed limits of the places where they would live, so that they would search for God and perhaps grope around for him and find him, though he is not far from each one of us. For in him we live and move about and exist, as even some of your own poets have said, “For we too are his offspring” (Acts 17:26-28).
6. The Beginning of the Hebrew People
The call of Abraham gave the first clear indication of the way God would fulfill His plan for the salvation of mankind. We shall see more of this in later lessons.
7. The Beginning of Faith in Human Life
From the beginning, God blessed those who trusted and obeyed Him. This is the principle through the entire Bible. Now without faith it is impossible to please him, for the one who approaches God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him (Hebrews 11:6).
8. The Beginning of God’s Revelation of Himself to Men
Genesis does not give a final and complete revelation of God, but the basic facts are given as a foundation on which later revelations are built.
THE OLD TESTAMENT CONTAINS A RECORD OF GOD’S LOVE AND GRACE
Although mankind sinned against God, He continued to reveal His love to men. This is shown first in the stories of men of faith like Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and Joseph. Later the story is expanded to show God’s love for the people of Israel. For centuries God sent His prophets to the sinful and rebellious Israelites to warn them of the consequences of sin, and to promise them rich blessings if they would obey Him.
THE OLD TESTAMENT CONTAINS THE LAWS OF GOD FOR HUMAN LIFE
Moses is called the great Lawgiver, but he was not the first man to know God’s laws. Long before Moses was even born God revealed His laws for human conduct to Adam, to Noah, to Abraham and to others. Moses, however, was entrusted by God with the task of teaching men the great written Code which includes the Ten Commandments. The laws of God were given to guide man in his worship, and in his moral, and social obligations.
THE OLD TESTAMENT CONTAINS THE PROMISES OF GOD CONCERNING THE COMING OF THE MESSIAH, THE SAVIOR
In a later chapter we will examine some of these promises in detail. We simply point out here that from the beginning of human history God promised a Savior for mankind. As the centuries rolled by, God gave hundreds of specific predictions concerning the coming Messiah. But this brings us to a very mysterious problem for the Hebrew Scriptures (the Old Testament) came to a complete and abrupt end with the book of Malachi at about 400 B.C. Yet the promise of God had not been fulfilled! Is God true? Why did He not fulfill His promises to the prophets and the waiting people?
There is only one answer to this problem. The promises in the Old Testament pointed forward to a future time. The time was known only to God, although as we shall see later, He planted certain “clues” in the Old Testament about even the time and the place at which He would fulfill His promises. The Old Testament then is obviously a book of beginnings, a book of Divine revelations and a book of Divine promises, but it does not record the fulfillment of the prophets’ teaching. Where do we find that? —in the New Testament! The Old Testament is a foundation upon which something else is built. That something is the New Testament in which we have the completion of the Old Testament promises. Thus the Bible consists of these two important parts—the Old Testament being a record of Divine promises and the New Testament being a record of the way in which God fulfilled His promises. That this is not a mere theory anyone can find out for himself by diligently comparing the Old Testament with the New.
THE OLD TESTAMENT CONTAINS GOD’S PROMISE CONCERNING THE NEW TESTAMENT
This remarkable fact demonstrates the essential unity of the Bible. Jeremiah was one of the greatest of the Hebrew prophets, and he lived in the dramatic period which saw the collapse of the kingdom of Judah. In clear and plain words, God told the people through Jeremiah that there would be a “New Testament.” Read carefully the following paragraph:
“Indeed, a time is coming,” says the Lord, “when I will make a new agreement with the people of Israel and Judah. It will not be like the old agreement that I made with their ancestors when I took them by the hand and led them out of Egypt. For they violated that agreement, even though I was a faithful husband to them,” says the Lord. “But I will make a new agreement with the whole nation of Israel after I plant them back in the land,” says the Lord. “I will put my law within them and write it on their hearts and minds. And I will be their God and they will be my people. “People will no longer need to teach their neighbors and relatives to know me. That is because all of them, from the least important to the most important, will know me,” says the Lord. “All of this is based on the fact that I will forgive their sin and will no longer call to mind the wrong they have done.” (Jeremiah 31:31-34).
The New Covenant (Covenant, Testament and Agreement as used in the NET Bible Translation are synonymous English words) was given to bring in God’s plan for the forgiveness of sin (verse 34). God clearly foretold the making of a new covenant (agreement) to fulfill the old one and stated in advance that the central feature of the New Testament was to be the forgiveness of sin. It is evident then that there is continuity of purpose through the entire Bible. It is of great personal importance to us to see that this purpose is centered in the promise of a Savior, who would take away sin and give people a new heart, one on which God would “write His laws” so that sinners can be restored to fellowship with God. Now comes a very personal question—Do you have the assurance that God has forgiven your sins? God has given us the Bible to reveal to us His love and grace for sinful men and women. He has recorded the promises of the coming Savior, and has told how the Savior came. The responsibility now rests with us to examine the facts and to find this way of salvation of which the Bible speaks.
Related Topics: Introduction to Theology, Prophecy/Revelation, Inspiration
5. Prophecies Concerning Christ
THE ANOINTED ONE
There is so much written in the Bible about the Messiah that we obviously must be selective. We shall choose some of the main prophecies and predictions which relate to the coming of the promised Messiah, and show how they were fulfilled in precise detail in New Testament times. What does the word “Messiah” mean? It is a Hebrew word which really means the “anointed One.” Right through the Old Testament period certain people were “anointed” with oil as a sign that God had chosen them for special tasks. Two kinds of appointment were made in this way. Priests were thus anointed. We read of Aaron, for example. He then poured some of the anointing oil on the head of Aaron and anointed him to consecrate him. (Leviticus 8:12). Kings were also anointed. Thus we read of David: So Jesse had him brought in. Now he was ruddy, with attractive eyes and a handsome appearance. The Lord said, “Go and anoint him. This is the one!” So Samuel took the horn full of olive oil and anointed him in the midst of his brothers. The Spirit of the Lord rushed upon David from that day onwards. Then Samuel got up and went to Ramah. (1 Samuel 16:12-13).
As time passed, the expression “the Messiah” took on the meaning of the “Chosen One” among the Hebrew people and it became a proper name for the Savior God had promised would come.
THE NEED FOR A SAVIOR
Why does the Bible contain promises about a coming Savior? The answer to this question becomes obvious as we examine the evidence, commencing with the very first promise in the Bible. This promise is found in Genesis 3 and the story connected with it is well known. It tells how Adam and Eve were tempted by Satan into disobeying God. Until then, no sin had come between God and man. Man’s disobedience changed the perfect relationship which had existed between God and the human race for when man became sinful he feared the holiness of God. Here is the Biblical narrative: But the Lord God called to the man and said to him, “Where are you?” The man replied, “I heard you moving about in the orchard, and I was afraid because I was naked, so I hid.” (Genesis 3:9-10).
Today, men are inclined to ridicule the idea that sin is serious, but that is a very foolish attitude. Proverbs 14:9 says: Fools mock at reparation, but among the upright there is favor. Because God is the Almighty Creator, anything affecting our relationship with Him is extremely serious. The Bible makes it clear that sin is the most serious thing in human life for it will separate us from God forever unless we can find the way of forgiveness of sin.
Because God is merciful, He does not leave us to try to discover the way to forgiveness by our own efforts. At the very moment Adam and Eve became aware of the fatal consequences of sin God gave the first promise of a coming Savior. Because Satan was the tempter, God said to him, And I will put hostility between you and the woman and between your offspring and her offspring; her offspring will attack your head, and you will attack her offspring’s heel. (Genesis 3:15).
THE FIRST GREAT PROMISE
What does this strange promise mean? Certainly it was expressed in symbolic language, but nevertheless it contains some very clear points. It declares that there would be permanent enmity between Satan and the human race; that the power of Satan would eventually be overcome by a human being, and that in the process of destroying the power of Satan, the Savior would suffer. In crushing Satan’s “head,” the Savior’s “heel” would be attacked. Moreover, the Savior would be “the offspring of the woman” This last statement is somewhat unusual. Why was the coming Savior not called the offspring of the man? Most races trace the lines of inheritance through the male. To answer this question we must leap over thousands of years and read what is written in the book of the prophet Isaiah. For this reason the sovereign master [God] himself will give you a confirming sign. Look, this young woman [virgin] is about to conceive and will give birth to a son. You, young woman, will name him Immanuel. (Isaiah 7:14). This prophecy has a direct connection with the subject but, as we showed in an earlier lesson, the final answer to questions in the Old Testament is found in the New Testament.
Now read the two passages which follow taken from the New Testament
Now the birth of Jesus Christ happened this way. While his mother Mary was engaged to Joseph, but before they came together, she was found to be pregnant through the Holy Spirit. Because Joseph, her husband to be, was a righteous man, and because he did not want to disgrace her, he intended to divorce her privately. When he had contemplated this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, “Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife, because the child conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. She will give birth to a son and you will name him Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins.” This all happened so that what was spoken by the Lord through the prophet would be fulfilled: “Look! The virgin will conceive and bear a son, and they will call him Emmanuel,” which means “God with us.” When Joseph awoke from sleep he did what the angel of the Lord told him. He took his wife, but did not have marital relations with her until she gave birth to a son, whom he named Jesus (Matthew 1:18-25).
In the sixth month of Elizabeth’s pregnancy, the angel Gabriel was sent by God to a town of Galilee called Nazareth, to a virgin engaged to a man whose name was Joseph, a descendant of David, and the virgin’s name was Mary. The angel came to her and said, “Greetings, favored one, the Lord is with you!” But she was greatly troubled by his words and began to wonder about the meaning of this greeting. So the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God! Listen: You will become pregnant and give birth to a son, and you will name him Jesus. He will be great, and will be called the Son of the Most High, and the Lord God will give him the throne of his father David. He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and his kingdom will never end.” Mary said to the angel, “How will this be, since I have not had sexual relations with a man?” The angel replied, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. Therefore the child to be born will be holy; he will be called the Son of God. “And look, your relative Elizabeth has also become pregnant with a son in her old age—although she was called barren, she is now in her sixth month! For nothing will be impossible with God.” So Mary said, “Yes, I am a servant of the Lord; let this happen to me according to your word.” Then the angel departed from her (Luke 1:26-38).
These passages of Scripture record the announcement of the birth of Jesus. It is clearly stated that He would be born of a virgin to fulfill the Old Testament prophecies! We link up the promise in Genesis 3 about the “offspring of the woman” with the prophecy of Isaiah about a child born of a virgin and compare and observe at once that the facts of the birth of Jesus Christ fit in like the pieces of a puzzle. The promised Savior was born of the virgin and He did come to save His people from their sins! Thus the Old Testament begins with a prediction of a Savior who would come to conquer the power of Satan and deal with the problem of sin in human life; the New Testament begins with the record of the actual birth of this Savior. Although there was an element of mystery in the first promise, later predictions and the final fulfillment in the New Testament make the meaning perfectly clear.
THE PROMISE TO ABRAHAM AND HIS DESCENDANTS
The next important promise is found in the story of Abraham. God said to him, I will bless those who bless you, but the one who treats you lightly I must curse, and all the families of the earth will bless one another by your name (Genesis 12:3). This promise also seems somewhat vague, for Abraham had a number of sons through Hagar, through Sarah and through Keturah. Later revelations again make it clear that the promised blessing would flow out to the world through Abraham’s son Isaac. Here is the promise as recorded in Genesis: God said, “No, Sarah your wife is going to bear you a son, and you will name him Isaac. I will confirm my covenant with him as a perpetual covenant for his descendants after him. As for Ishmael, I have heard you. I will indeed bless him, make him fruitful, and give him a multitude of descendants. He will become the father of twelve princes; I will make him into a great nation. But I will establish my covenant with Isaac, whom Sarah will bear to you at this set time next year.” (Genesis 17:19-21). Ishmael was Abraham’s firstborn son but He was the son of a secondary wife. Isaac was the son of Sarah, Abraham’s principal wife, and God made it very clear that Isaac, not Ishmael would inherit the promises of God.
The same kind of thing was true in the life of Isaac. He also had two sons, Esau and Jacob, but again God revealed that Jacob would be the one to inherit the promises as the channel of Divine blessing. This promise is worded as follows and the Lord . . . said, “I am the Lord, the God of your grandfather Abraham and the God of your father Isaac. I will give you and your descendants the ground you are lying on. Your descendants will be like the dust of the earth, and you will spread out to the west, east, north, and south. All the families of the earth will pronounce blessings on one another using your name and that of your descendants. (Genesis 28:13-14).
In each case, you will observe, it was God who made the choice of which son should carry forward the Divine purpose and it was God who revealed His will in this matter to the fathers. Once again centuries had to pass before God made clear what He meant by the promise that through those chosen people all nations of the earth would be blessed.
When Jesus Christ was born, the angel announced that this momentous event was good news that brings great joy to all the people: Today your Savior is born in the city of David. He is Christ the Lord. (Luke 2:10-11). Thus the promise of worldwide blessing through Abraham was fulfilled in the Messiah (Christ is a Greek word meaning the Messiah.)
Here then is a common feature of the Old Testament prophecies. First, the prediction is given but what is meant by it was not always very plain to those who first heard it. The prediction is then expanded and explained by other prophecies given hundreds of years later as time moved on toward the day of fulfillment, chosen by God in His almighty wisdom and power.
From the first promise of a Savior, the offspring of the woman, the focus narrows to Abraham and his family. It is then narrowed further to the descendants of Jacob. Jacob had twelve sons who founded the twelve tribes of Israel; from these God chose the tribe of Judah to be the Royal tribe. That prediction reads The scepter will not depart from Judah, nor the ruler’s staff from between his feet, until he comes to whom it belongs; the nations will obey him (Genesis 49:10). Centuries later, God chose David from the tribe of Judah to be the king and then promised him that one of his descendants would reign on an everlasting throne. This important promise reads as follows: When the time comes for you to die, I will raise up your descendant, one of your own sons, to succeed you, and I will establish his kingdom. He will build a house for my name, and I will make his dynasty permanent. I will become his father and he will become my son. When he sins, I will correct him with the rod of men and with wounds inflicted by human beings. But my loyal love will not be removed from him as I removed it from Saul, whom I removed from before you. Your house and your kingdom will stand before me permanently; your dynasty will be permanent.” (2 Samuel 7:12-16). Finally, from the family of David it was foretold that the Savior would be born of a virgin!
A Summary
Now let us sum up this list of important predictions. They give the specific details by which this promised Savior was to be recognized when finally He came to earth. We have listed them in order giving first the Old Testament prophecy and then the New Testament fulfillment in the life of Jesus Christ.
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Old Testament prediction. |
New Testament fulfillment. |
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Christ would be born in Bethlehem (Micah 5:2). |
Jesus was born in Bethlehem (Matthew 2:1-10). |
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Christ would be preceded by a messenger chosen by God (Malachi 3:1; Isaiah 40:3-5). |
Jesus was introduced to Israel by John the Baptist (Matthew 3:3; Mark 1:2; John 1:29). |
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Christ would be the Foundation on which the New Covenant would be based (Isaiah 28:16). |
Jesus is called the Foundation (1 Corinthians 3:11; 1 Peter 2:4-8). |
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Christ would preach Good News to the world—to all nations (Isaiah 61:1-2; 52:7; 42:6-7; 49:6). |
Jesus is the Savior of men (Luke 4:16-21; 24:47; Matthew 28:19-20). |
Because of lack of space, we cannot quote all these Scripture passages in full but you can verify them for yourself by looking them up in a Bible.
In summing up this very brief list of some notable predictions, we must refer back to the prophecy of the “New Covenant” which we studied in chapter four. The greatest fact in their national history for the people of Israel was the Covenant made with them by God at the time of Moses. As we have seen Jeremiah 31:31 contains what is perhaps the most astonishing prediction ever to be written by a Hebrew prophet. God said that although the Old Covenant was so inviolably sacred to the Jews, it was to be replaced by a New Covenant. The New Covenant would replace the Old Covenant, not by canceling it, but by fulfilling its purpose. This purpose, as we have seen, was to perfect the plan of salvation for the forgiveness of sin. Who was to be responsible for this truly astonishing departure from the Old Covenant? It was Jesus Christ. He it was who, while instituting a new ceremony, told His followers to take bread and wine as the sign that He had come to bring in the New Covenant! Read His very own words While they were eating, Jesus took bread, and after giving thanks he broke it, gave it to his disciples, and said, “Take, eat, this is my body.” And after taking the cup and giving thanks, he gave it to them, saying, “Drink from it, all of you, for this is my blood, the blood of the covenant, that is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins. I tell you, from now on I will not drink of this fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it new with you in my Father’s kingdom.” (Matthew 26:26-29). Note particularly the words: “this is my blood, the blood of the covenant, that is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins” This is truly a dramatic fulfillment of the prediction made about 600 years earlier. Jeremiah foretold the New Covenant; Jesus introduced it! Jeremiah said its purpose would be to deal with sin; Jesus said it was for the remission of sins! The Old Covenant was introduced by Moses, the greatest figure in Jewish history. The New Covenant was introduced by Jesus, the promised Messiah.
AN IMPORTANT CONCLUSION
Moses was unquestionably great but Jesus is vastly superior and greater than Moses. Examine the following passages of Scripture:
Therefore, holy brothers and sisters, partners in a heavenly calling, take note of Jesus, the apostle and high priest whom we confess, who is faithful to the one who appointed him, as Moses was also in God’s house. For he has come to deserve greater glory than Moses, just as the builder of a house deserves greater honor than the house itself! For every house is built by someone, but the builder of all things is God. Now Moses was faithful in all God’s house as a servant, to testify to the things that would be spoken. But Christ is faithful as a son over God’s house. We are of his house, if in fact we hold firmly to our confidence and the hope we take pride in (Hebrews 3:1-6)
For when Moses had spoken every command to all the people according to the law, he took the blood of calves and goats with water and scarlet wool and hyssop and sprinkled both the book itself and all the people, and said, “This is the blood of the covenant that God has commanded you to keep.” And both the tabernacle and all the utensils of worship he likewise sprinkled with blood. Indeed according to the law almost everything was purified with blood, and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness. So it was necessary for the sketches of the things in heaven to be purified with these sacrifices, but the heavenly things themselves required better sacrifices than these. For Christ did not enter a sanctuary made with hands—the representation of the true sanctuary—but into heaven itself, and he appears now in God’s presence for us. And he did not enter to offer himself again and again, the way the high priest enters the sanctuary year after year with blood that is not his own, for then he would have had to suffer again and again since the foundation of the world. But now he has appeared once for all at the consummation of the ages to put away sin by his sacrifice. And just as people are appointed to die once, and then to face judgment, so also, after Christ was offered once to bear the sins of many, to those who eagerly await him he will appear a second time, not to bear sin but to bring salvation. (Hebrews 9:19-28)
Someone who rejected the law of Moses was put to death without mercy on the testimony of two or three witnesses. How much greater punishment do you think that person deserves who has contempt for the Son of God, and profanes the blood of the covenant that made him holy, and insults the Spirit of grace? For we know the one who said, “Vengeance is mine, I will repay,” and again, “The Lord will judge his people.” It is a terrifying thing to fall into the hands of the living God. (Hebrews 10:28-31).
Any man who despised the Old Covenant of Moses was punished by death, but an infinitely worse judgment will fall upon any one who rejects the New Covenant of Christ. The Old Covenant was confirmed by the blood of an animal sacrifice but the blood of the Covenant of Christ was that of the perfect sacrifice of Jesus Himself. With such a clear fulfillment of the Old Testament predictions concerning Christ, we can see how serious is the condition of all those who reject the New Covenant of Jesus. But millions of people still deny that Jesus died as a sacrifice for sin! We will study that problem in the next chapter!
Related Topics: Christology, Prophecy/Revelation
6. Why the Messiah Came
In the last chapter we saw that God foretold the coming of the Messiah to be the Deliverer and the Savior from sin. Now we must examine some prophecies which have been misunderstood by millions of people despite the fact that the prophecies themselves are quite straightforward. Although all these predictions are found in the Hebrew Scriptures, the Jews somehow formed a completely wrong idea of the purpose of the Messiah’s coming. They thought that He would come as a military and political leader to destroy their enemies and establish Jewish sovereignty over all the nations. Because of this belief they rejected Jesus Christ and continue to reject to this day the Christian belief that Jesus is the Messiah. Muslims reject the story of the death of Jesus Christ and the Christian doctrines connected with it. To Muslims, it is impossible to believe that a holy prophet (as they believe Jesus to be) could suffer and die such a cruel and shameful death as crucifixion. There is no point in arguing about such things; we must see what the Bible says.
We cannot form valid opinions of our own about the Messiah, what He would be like and what He would do, unless we realize one thing. It is the Old Testament which tells of the coming of the Messiah. Therefore we must look to the Old Testament to find out what it says about the Messiah. This is the supreme authority on the matter. Does it say that Messiah would be a mighty military conqueror? Does it say that He would come with pomp and majesty? Does it say that He would never suffer defeat? In fact, the prophets foretold some very unexpected facts about the coming Savior.
PROPHECIES ABOUT THE MESSIAH
1. The Messiah would come in humility, not with pomp and pride.
Read what Zechariah says, Rejoice greatly, daughter of Zion! Shout, daughter of Jerusalem! Look! Your king is coming to you: he is legitimate and victorious, humble and riding on a donkey—on a young donkey, the foal of a female donkey (Zechariah 9:9). Now compare this with what actually happened. Now when they approached Jerusalem and came to Bethphage, at the Mount of Olives, Jesus sent two disciples, telling them, “Go to the village ahead of you. Right away you will find a donkey tied there, and a colt with her. Untie them and bring them to me. If anyone says anything to you, you are to say, ‘The Lord needs them,’ and he will send them at once.” This took place to fulfill what was spoken by the prophet: “Tell the people of Zion, ‘Look, your king is coming to you, unassuming and seated on a donkey, and on a colt, the foal of a donkey.’” So the disciples went and did as Jesus had instructed them. They brought the donkey and the colt and placed their cloaks on them, and he sat on them. A very large crowd spread their cloaks on the road. Others cut branches from the trees and spread them on the road. The crowds that went ahead of him and those following kept shouting, “Hosanna to the Son of David! Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord! Hosanna in the highest!” (Matthew 21:1-9). Jesus came, not as a military or political leader, but with humility and gentleness. Matthew 11:29 says, Take my yoke on you and learn from me, because I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.
2. The Messiah would be despised and rejected by men.
The prophet Isaiah foretold, He was despised and rejected by people, one who experienced pain and was acquainted with illness; people hid their faces from him; he was despised, and we considered him insignificant (Isaiah 53:3). Jesus was despised and rejected by the Jews. Matthew says, But the chief priests and the elders persuaded the crowds to ask for Barabbas and to have Jesus killed. The governor asked them, “Which of the two do you want me to release for you?” And they said, “Barabbas!” Pilate said to them, “Then what should I do with Jesus who is called the Christ?” They all said, “Crucify him!” He asked, “Why? What wrong has he done?” But they shouted more insistently, “Crucify him!” (Matthew 27:20-23).
He was also rejected by the Gentiles, the non-Jewish people. We read, Then the governor’s soldiers took Jesus into the governor’s residence and gathered the whole cohort around him. They stripped him and put a scarlet robe around him, and after braiding a crown of thorns, they put it on his head. They put a staff in his right hand, and kneeling down before him, they mocked him: “Hail, king of the Jews!” They spat on him and took the staff and struck him repeatedly on the head. When they had mocked him, they stripped him of the robe and put his own clothes back on him. Then they led him away to crucify him (Matthew 27:27-31).
In Psalm 2 it was predicted that kings and rulers and common peoples would unite in rejecting Christ. The fulfillment is recorded in Acts 4:27-28 which says, For indeed both Herod and Pontius Pilate, with the Gentiles and the people of Israel, assembled together in this city against your holy servant Jesus, whom you anointed, to do as much as your power and your plan had decided beforehand would happen.
3. The Messiah would be betrayed for 30 pieces of silver.
The prophet Zechariah wrote Then I said to them, “If it seems good to you, pay me my wages, but if not, forget it.” So they weighed out my payment—thirty pieces of silver. The Lord then said to me, “Throw to the potter that exorbitant sum at which they valued me!” So I took the thirty pieces of silver and threw them to the potter at the temple of the Lord (Zechariah 11:12-13). This was the sum of money paid to Judas to betray Jesus. Matthew tells us, Then one of the twelve, the one named Judas Iscariot, went to the chief priests and said, “What will you give me to betray him into your hands?” So they set out thirty silver coins for him. From that time on, Judas began looking for an opportunity to betray him. (Matthew 26:14-16). When Judas saw that Jesus was condemned, he threw the money down in the temple, to be used by the priests for buying the potter’s field. We read, Now when Judas, who had betrayed him, saw that Jesus had been condemned, he regretted what he had done and returned the thirty silver coins to the chief priests and the elders, saying, “I have sinned by betraying innocent blood!” But they said, “What is that to us? You take care of it yourself!” So Judas threw the silver coins into the temple and left. Then he went out and hanged himself. The chief priests took the silver and said, “It is not lawful to put this into the temple treasury, since it is blood money.” After consulting together they bought the Potter’s Field with it, as a burial place for foreigners. For this reason that field has been called the “Field of Blood” to this day. Then what was spoken by Jeremiah the prophet was fulfilled: “They took the thirty silver coins, the price of the one whose price had been set by the people of Israel, and they gave them for the potter’s field, as the Lord commanded me.” (Matthew 27:3-10). This explains the reference made prophetically to the potter’s field by Zechariah.
4. The Messiah would be insulted, beaten and spat on.
The Old Testament prophet wrote, I offered my back to those who attacked, my jaws to those who tore out my beard; I did not hide my face from insults and spitting (Isaiah 50:6). Jesus was scourged (beaten on the back with a steel-tipped whip), struck in the face and spat upon. The record reads, Then he released Barabbas for them. But after he had Jesus flogged, he handed him over to be crucified. Then the governor’s soldiers took Jesus into the governor’s residence and gathered the whole cohort around him. They stripped him and put a scarlet robe around him, and after braiding a crown of thorns, they put it on his head. They put a staff in his right hand, and kneeling down before him, they mocked him: “Hail, king of the Jews!” They spat on him and took the staff and struck him repeatedly on the head. (Matthew 27:26-30).
5. The Messiah would suffer and die for the sins of others.
This is clearly stated by the prophet Isaiah, But he lifted up our illnesses, he carried our pain; even though we thought he was being punished, attacked by God, and afflicted for something he had done. He was wounded because of our rebellious deeds, crushed because of our sins; he endured punishment that made us well; because of his wounds we have been healed. All of us had wandered off like sheep; each of us had strayed off on his own path, but the Lord caused the sin of all of us to attack him. He was treated harshly and afflicted, but he did not even open his mouth. Like a lamb led to the slaughtering block, like a sheep silent before her shearers, he did not even open his mouth (Isaiah 53:4-7). The whole of the New Testament explains His death was a sacrifice for the sins of mankind. Here are a few examples, Because Christ also suffered once for sins, the just for the unjust, to bring you to God, by being put to death in the flesh but by being made alive in the spirit (1 Peter 3:18). For I passed on to you as of first importance what I also received—that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures (1 Corinthians 15:3). Now he did not say this on his own, but because he was high priest that year, he prophesied that Jesus was going to die for the Jewish nation, and not for the Jewish nation only, but to gather together into one the children of God who are scattered (John 11:51-52).
6. The Messiah could die for the sins of others because He had no sin of His own.
He was sinless. The prophet Isaiah foretold of Him, They intended to bury him with criminals, but he ended up in a rich man’s tomb, because he had committed no violent deeds, nor had he spoken deceitfully (Isaiah 53:9). The apostle Peter, who had lived with Jesus, wrote, He committed no sin nor was deceit found in his mouth (1 Peter 2:22). Thus Christ’s death was to be an offering for sin. Isaiah 53:10 says, Though the Lord desired to crush him and make him ill, once restitution is made, he will see descendants and enjoy long life, and the Lord’s purpose will be accomplished through him. Hebrews 10:12-14 says, But when this priest had offered one sacrifice for sins for all time, he sat down at the right hand of God where he is now waiting until his enemies are made a footstool for his feet. For by one offering he has perfected for all time those who are made holy.
7. The Messiah would die by crucifixion.
Crucifixion was not a Jewish form of execution and therefore it is most remarkable that such a form of death would be predicted a thousand years before it took place under the Romans. Yet read this statement from Psalm 22:16, Yes, wild dogs surround me—a gang of evil men crowd around me; like a lion they pin my hands and feet. The Messiah would have His hands and feet pierced! In Psalm 34:20 we read, He protects all his bones; not one of them is broken When Jesus was crucified all this came true. His hands and feet were nailed to the cross, His side was pierced by a Roman spear, but no bone was broken even though the Roman governor had given orders to break His legs to hasten death. This historical fact is recorded as follows: There they crucified him along with two others, one on each side, with Jesus in the middle (John 19:18). Then, because it was the day of preparation, so that the bodies should not stay on the crosses on the Sabbath (for that Sabbath was an especially important one), the Jewish leaders asked Pilate to have the victims’ legs broken and the bodies taken down. So the soldiers came and broke the legs of the two men who had been crucified with Jesus, first the one and then the other. But when they came to Jesus and saw that he was already dead, they did not break his legs. But one of the soldiers pierced his side with a spear, and blood and water flowed out immediately (John 19:31-34).
8. The Messiah’s clothing would be divided by gamblers at His death.
Here is what the Old Testament prophet said, They are dividing up my clothes among themselves; they are rolling dice for my garments (Psalm 22:18). The fulfillment of this is recorded in Matthew 27:35 which says, When they had crucified him, they divided his clothes by throwing dice.
9. The Messiah would die in the company of criminals.
Isaiah foretold, So I will assign him a portion with the multitudes, he will divide the spoils of victory with the powerful, because he willingly submitted to death and was numbered with the rebels, when he lifted up the sin of many and intervened on behalf of the rebels (Isaiah 53:12). Jesus was crucified between two thieves as Mark tells us, And they crucified two outlaws with him, one on his right and one on his left (Mark 15:27-28).
10. The Messiah would be buried in a rich man’s tomb.
The prophet said, They intended to bury him with criminals, but he ended up in a rich man’s tomb, because he had committed no violent deeds, nor had he spoken deceitfully (Isaiah 53:9). Normally a crucified person was buried by the Romans in a criminal’s grave. But Jesus was placed in a new tomb by Joseph. Matthew tells us what happened Now when it was evening, there came a rich man from Arimathea, named Joseph, who was also a disciple of Jesus. He went to Pilate and asked for the body of Jesus. Then Pilate ordered that it be given to him. Joseph took the body, wrapped it in a clean linen cloth, and placed it in his own new tomb that he had cut in the rock. Then he rolled a great stone across the entrance of the tomb and went away (Matthew 27:57-60).
11. The Messiah would rise from the dead.
Psalm 16:10 foretold this in the words: You will not abandon me to Sheol; you will not allow your faithful follower to see the Pit. Isaiah also said, he will swallow up death permanently. The sovereign Lord will wipe away the tears from every face, and remove his people’s disgrace from all the earth. Indeed, the Lord has announced it (Isaiah 25:8). Read the story of what happened in Matthew chapter 28, Mark chapter 16, Luke chapter 24, John chapter 20. Here again the written records are too long to reproduce in their entirety but read them for yourself in your Bible. Peter who knew all these matters first hand says, For David says about him, ‘I saw the Lord always in front of me, for he is at my right hand so that I will not be shaken. Therefore my heart was glad and my tongue rejoiced; my body also will live in hope, because you will not leave my soul in Hades, nor permit your Holy One to experience decay. You have made known to me the paths of life; you will make me full of joy with your presence.’ “Brothers, I can speak confidently to you about our forefather David, that he both died and was buried, and his tomb is with us to this day. So then, because he was a prophet and knew that God had sworn to him with an oath to seat one of his descendants on his throne, David by foreseeing this spoke about the resurrection of the Christ, that he was neither abandoned to Hades, nor did his body experience decay (Acts 2:25-31). And Paul, who became convinced of the truth of Christ’s resurrection only after he had actually seen the risen Christ himself, says, For I passed on to you as of first importance what I also received—that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures, and that he was buried, and that he was raised on the third day according to the scriptures, and that he appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve. Then he appeared to more than five hundred of the brothers and sisters at one time, most of whom are still alive, though some have fallen asleep. Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles (1 Corinthians 15:3-7).
12. The Messiah would give the Holy Spirit to those who believe in Him.
The prophet Isaiah foretold this as he did so many other details concerning the Messiah. He said, The Lord’s spirit will rest on him—a spirit that gives extraordinary wisdom, a spirit that provides the ability to execute plans, a spirit that produces absolute loyalty to the Lord. . . . For I will pour water on the parched ground and cause streams to flow on the dry land. I will pour my spirit on your offspring and my blessing on your children (Isaiah 11:2; 44:3). Jesus, too, promised that He would give the Holy Spirit and did so. John one of His immediate followers says And after he said this, he breathed on them and said, “Receive the Holy Spirit. (John 20:22). A short while later, on the day of Pentecost (an annual ancient Jewish religious festival day) the Holy Spirit came as promised. The full story is recorded in Acts 2:1-18 together with a description of what effect this event had on the followers of Jesus and on the people of Jerusalem.
13. The Messiah would send His message of salvation to all nations.
This refers back to the promise in Genesis 22:18, All the nations of the earth will pronounce blessings on one another using the name of your descendants. Several Old Testament prophets amplified this theme, Isaiah in particular. He said, “I, the Lord, officially commission you; I take hold of your hand. I protect you and make you a covenant mediator for people, and a light to the nations, to open blind eyes, to release prisoners from dungeons, those who live in darkness from prisons. . . . he says, ‘Is it too insignificant a task for you to be my servant, to reestablish the tribes of Jacob, and restore the remnant of Israel? I will make you a light to the nations, so you can bring my deliverance to the remote regions of the earth.’ . . . . ‘Arise! Shine! For your light arrives! The splendor of the Lord shines on you! For, look, darkness covers the earth and deep darkness covers the nations, but the Lord shines on you; his splendor appears over you. . . . For the sake of Zion I will not be silent; for the sake of Jerusalem I will not be quiet, until her vindication shines brightly and her deliverance burns like a torch.’” Nations will see your vindication, and all kings your splendor. You will be called by a new name that the Lord himself will give you (Isaiah 42:6-7; 49:6; 60:1-2; 62:1-2). Now note the words of the Lord Jesus after His resurrection. He said, Then Jesus came up and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age.” (Matthew 28:18-20). Read also the following Scriptures. He said to them, “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature” (Mark 16:15). And repentance for the forgiveness of sins would be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem (Luke 24:47). But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the farthest parts of the earth” (Acts 1:8).
SOME PRACTICAL OBSERVATIONS
These are by no means all the prophecies which could be given for there are many more. These, however, are sufficient to show that predictions made by the prophets centuries before the time of Christ were fulfilled in the death and resurrection of Christ. And, as we have noticed with all the predictions we have studied, when the prophets wrote their predictions, no one could possibly have understood what they really meant; the meaning of the prophecies was made perfectly plain by their obvious fulfillment in the life and death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. The absurd suggestion, made by some, that these prophecies were fabrications intended to deceive people scarcely merits a reply. The Jews themselves, to whom they were given, did not understand their meaning as referring to the coming Messiah so how could they have written them to deceive people?
Let us now summarize the facts briefly. The Old Testament prophets foretold the astonishing fact that the Messiah, when He would finally come to the people of Israel who had expected Him for centuries, would not be recognized by them. He would not fit in with their political aspirations and religious ideas, and so they would reject Him. The fulfillment of this is plainly stated in Acts 13:26-30 where we read, Brothers, descendants of Abraham’s family, and those Gentiles among you who fear God, the message of this salvation has been sent to us. For the people who live in Jerusalem and their rulers did not recognize him, and they fulfilled the sayings of the prophets that are read every Sabbath by condemning him. Though they found no basis for a death sentence, they asked Pilate to have him executed. When they had accomplished everything that was written about him, they took him down from the cross and placed him in a tomb. But God raised him from the dead.
How strange it is that people who profess to believe in the teachings of the holy prophets have failed to understand these amazing predictions which show that the death of Jesus was not a tragic disaster, but was a definite plan which God had foretold in the Scriptures.
The death of Jesus Christ is a fact of history. It was foretold in the writings of the prophets with scores of precise details to make the fulfillment easy to recognize. The fulfillment is recorded in the New Testament by Matthew, Mark, Luke and John who recount the details of the rejection, trial, crucifixion, death, burial and resurrection of Jesus as facts which were witnessed by hundreds of people. The rest of the New Testament, beginning from Acts chapter 2, makes frequent reference to these facts, and explains them as being planned by God in order that men might be saved from sin and set free from the power of Satan.
In spite of this, millions of people still refuse to believe that Jesus died on the cross as a sacrifice for sin. They are thus rejecting the Savior whose coming was promised for thousands of years, with many convincing prophecies all of which were dramatically fulfilled in the few short years that Jesus lived on earth. By refusing to believe the evidence of holy prophets and apostles, men are refusing to believe the word of God, and thus are guilty of the serious sin of rebellion against their Creator. You must either believe or reject God’s Word about the Savior. No one can remain neutral in this.
Related Topics: Christology, Soteriology (Salvation)
7. The Most Important Question of All
As we have examined some of the predictions of the Old Testament and their dramatic fulfillment in the New Testament we have been drawing closer to the most important question of all. What is the truth about Jesus Christ? Why should Jesus become a sacrifice for the sins of other men? The Bible says that He was sinless, while all other men are sinners. But what does this mean? In what way was He different from other men? Muslims believe that all the great prophets were protected from sin, and so they do not accept the claim for the unique sinlessness of Jesus.
These are serious matters and we must look to the Bible to discover the truth about them. The subject is really far too extensive to be handled in just a short study. To be fair, when seeking an answer to the mystery of the life of Jesus, we should take time and read the four Gospels—Matthew, Mark, Luke and John—in order to become familiar with the facts. However, even a complete knowledge of the facts will not remove the elements of mystery from our minds. Even the disciples of Jesus, who lived with Him and heard His teaching daily, and watched His miracles, and learned to love Him, were often puzzled by what they saw and heard. Jesus was a man, but He was not like other men! No one, not even His most bitter enemies, ever accused Him of sin. Who among you can prove me guilty of any sin? If I am telling you the truth, why don’t you believe me? (John 8:46). Again Pilate went out and said to the Jewish leaders, “Look, I am bringing him out to you, so that you may know that I find no reason for an accusation against him.” (John 19:4). He taught all His followers to confess their sins, but He never confessed sin Himself. But this did not make Him the kind of smug, self-righteous person who is so obnoxious to others. On the contrary, He was called the “Friend of sinners” They loved Him. People of all classes were attracted to Him, rich and poor, wise and simple, men, women and children. As we read the narrative, we notice that often even the worst of sinners were transformed into good and godly people as they came to know Him.
Then there was the problem of His astonishing authority. He taught with authority. They were amazed at his teaching, because he spoke with authority. . . . They were all amazed and began to say to one another, “What’s happening here? For with authority and power he commands the unclean spirits, and they come out!” (Luke 4:32 and 36). He performed miracles with power. He healed blindness, deafness, dumbness and all kinds of sicknesses. He even raised the dead to life. He had power to cast out evil spirits with a word, without incantations. So a report about him spread throughout Syria. People brought to him all who suffered with various illnesses and afflictions, those who had seizures, paralytics, and those possessed by demons, and he healed them. (Matthew 4:24). He claimed to have the power to forgive sins, and He proved it.
What kind of a person is this? Guessing or debating will not help. Millions of people have done this for centuries and gained nothing by it. We must examine the facts as the Bible reveals them to us. Christians are not philosophers who invent theories about God and about religious problems. Christians accept what God has revealed in the Bible even though they cannot understand everything.
The mystery surrounding the character and the work of Jesus Christ is explained in the Bible by the fact that Jesus Christ was God revealed in human form. Jews, Muslims and many others deny this emphatically. To do so, they have to deny historically established facts. The Jewish leaders could not deny the claims or the power of Jesus but they rejected Him and had Him crucified to get rid of Him. So the chief priests and the Pharisees called the council together and said, “What are we doing? For this man is performing many miraculous signs. If we allow him to go on in this way, everyone will believe in him, and the Romans will come and take away our sanctuary and our nation.” Then one of them, Caiaphas, who was high priest that year, said, “You know nothing at all! You do not realize that it is more to your advantage to have one man die for the people than for the whole nation to perish.” (Now he did not say this on his own, but because he was high priest that year, he prophesied that Jesus was going to die for the Jewish nation, and not for the Jewish nation only, but to gather together into one the children of God who are scattered.) So from that day they planned together to kill him. (John 11:47-53). Now a large crowd of Judeans learned that Jesus was there, and so they came not only because of him but also to see Lazarus whom he had raised from the dead. So the chief priests planned to kill Lazarus too, for on account of him many of the Jewish people from Jerusalem were going away and believing in Jesus. (John 12:9-11). Muslims take the view that the New Testament narratives and the Old Testament prophecies concerning Jesus have been deliberately distorted or invented by evil men. Christians do not deny nor do they reject the truth of the claims of Jesus; they accept them. They cannot explain them, nor can they explain them away, but they accept them as part of the mystery surrounding the Person and work of Christ. Let us face up to these strange claims concerning Jesus Christ. What did He claim about Himself?
1. Jesus claimed that He existed eternally.
Jesus said to them, “I tell you the solemn truth, before Abraham came into existence, I am!” (John 8:58). And now, Father, glorify me at your side with the glory I had with you before the world was created (John 17:5).
2. Jesus claimed to be One with God.
“The Father and I are one” (John 10:30). For this reason the Jewish leaders were trying even harder to kill him, because not only was he breaking the Sabbath, but he was also calling God his own Father, thus making himself equal with God (John 5:18).
3. Jesus called Himself the “Son of God.”
This was supported by the angel Gabriel. The angel replied, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. Therefore the child to be born will be holy; he will be called the Son of God” (Luke 1:35). This was admitted even by evil spirits who cried out in fear in His presence. Demons also came out of many, crying out, “You are the Son of God!” But he rebuked them, and would not allow them to speak, because they knew that he was the Christ. (Luke 4:41).
4. Jesus claimed that He came to reveal God.
Jesus replied, “Have I been with you for so long, and you have not known me, Philip? The person who has seen me has seen the Father! How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’?” (John 14:9).
5. Jesus claimed to have Divine power.
Then Jesus came up and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age.” (Matthew 28:18-20).
6. Jesus claimed to have power to forgive sins.
When Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralytic, “Son, your sins are forgiven. . . . But so that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins,”—he said to the paralytic—“I tell you, stand up, take your stretcher, and go home.” (Mark 2:5, 10-11).
7. Jesus claimed to be the Final Judge of all men.
Furthermore, the Father does not judge anyone, but has assigned all judgment to the Son (John 5:22). and he has granted the Son authority to execute judgment, because he is the Son of Man (John 5:27).
8. Jesus claimed to have power over life and death.
“I tell you the solemn truth, the one who hears my message and believes the one who sent me has eternal life and will not be condemned, but has crossed over from death to life” (John 5:24). “For this is the will of my Father—for everyone who looks on the Son and believes in him to have eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day.” (John 6:40).
9. Jesus claimed the right to accept worship from men.
But she came and bowed down before him and said, “Lord, help me!” “It is not right to take the children’s bread and throw it to the dogs,” he said. “Yes, Lord,” she replied, “but even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their masters’ table.” Then Jesus answered her, “Woman, your faith is great! Let what you want be done for you.” And her daughter was healed from that hour. (Matthew 15:25-28). Thomas replied to him, “My Lord and my God!” (John 20:28).
10. Jesus claimed the right to use names for Himself that were used only for God.
This is what the Lord, Israel’s king, says, their protector, the Lord who leads armies: “I am the first and I am the last, there is no God but me” (Isaiah 44:6). When I saw him I fell down at his feet as though I were dead, but he placed his right hand on me and said: “Do not be afraid! I am the first and the last” (Revelation 1:17).
We could make this list much longer but ten points are adequate. In fact, had Jesus said only one of these ten things, it would be astonishing. In fact it was these very things that did startle and shock His hearers when He said them. There can be no possible doubt that Jesus made these sweeping claims! For us to deny that He ever said them is simply escapism—a refusal to face facts we consider unpleasant. This was why such a storm of argument, debate, and hatred gathered gradually around Jesus until at last the Jews determined to have Him put to death. Of course, if a man of bad character or a man obviously insane had said such things, the people would have ridiculed him or ignored him. But not even His enemies thought Jesus to be evil or insane. Even atheists will usually admit that the character of Jesus was noble and gracious! He is admired as the finest example of love, kindness, compassion, truth, purity and goodness that the world has ever seen. In fact, it was the unique character and the holy life of Jesus, together with the authority of His teaching and the power of His miracles which compelled His followers to believe His extraordinary claims. His disciples lived with Him, heard His teachings, saw His power, and learned to love and trust Him over a period of more than three years. His disciples were Jews who had memorized, as part of their education, those very qualifications of a True Prophet we examined in a previous chapter.
Jesus passed all the tests and proved His claims to be valid. Yet, so astonishing were the facts, even His most intimate disciples did not fully grasp their implications until Jesus was raised from the dead. The facts connected with His death and resurrection, and the confirmation they found of these in the Old Testament predictions, finally convinced them that Jesus was indeed God manifested in human form. The following verses illustrate how the Lord’s apostles expressed their ultimate conviction that His claims to be God in human form were true.
You should have the same attitude toward one another that Christ Jesus had, who though he existed in the form of God did not regard equality with God as something to be grasped, but emptied himself by taking on the form of a slave, by looking like other men, and by sharing in human nature. He humbled himself, by becoming obedient to the point of death—even death on a cross! As a result God exalted him and gave him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee will bow—in heaven and on earth and under the earth—and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father. (Philippians 2:5-11). These verses teach that Jesus laid aside the attributes of Deity that He might become Man to save us from sin.
He delivered us from the power of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of the Son he loves, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins. He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation, for all things in heaven and on earth were created by him—all things, whether visible or invisible, whether thrones or dominions, whether principalities or powers—all things were created through him and for him. He himself is before all things and all things are held together in him. He is the head of the body, the church, as well as the beginning, the firstborn from among the dead, so that he himself may become first in all things. For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in the Son and through him to reconcile all things to himself by making peace through the blood of his cross—through him, whether things on earth or things in heaven. (Colossians 1:13-20). These verses show that Jesus, the Son of God, was creator of all, and yet He became the Savior of sinners.
After God spoke long ago in various portions and in various ways to our ancestors through the prophets, in these last days he has spoken to us in a son, whom he appointed heir of all things, and through whom he created the world. The Son is the radiance of his glory and the representation of his essence, and he sustains all things by his powerful word, and so when he had accomplished cleansing for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high. (Hebrews 1:1-3). Jesus is here described as being the “representation of his essence” (the original word signifies “character”) of God and that He came as the final messenger to save sinners.
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was fully God. The Word was with God in the beginning. All things were created by him, and apart from him not one thing was created that has been created. In him was life, and the life was the light of mankind. And the light shines on in the darkness, but the darkness has not mastered it. A man came, sent from God, whose name was John. He came as a witness to testify about the light, so that everyone might believe through him. He himself was not the light, but he came to testify about the light. The true light, who gives light to everyone, was coming into the world. He was in the world, and the world was created by him, but the world did not recognize him. He came to what was his own, but his own people did not receive him. But to all who have received him—those who believe in his name—he has given the right to become God’s children—children not born by human parents or by human desire or a husband’s decision, but by God. Now the Word became flesh and took up residence among us. We saw his glory—the glory of the one and only, full of grace and truth, who came from the Father. John testified about him and shouted out, “This one was the one about whom I said, ‘He who comes after me is greater than I am, because he existed before me.’” For we have all received from his fullness one gracious gift after another. For the law was given through Moses, but grace and truth came about through Jesus Christ. No one has ever seen God. The only one, himself God, who is in closest fellowship with the Father, has made God known. (John 1:1-18). Jesus was God; He was Creator; He became the Savior.
Many additional verses point to the same essential facts concerning Jesus. Let us summarize these facts. The Old Testament predictions said that the Messiah was God. The New Testament narrative contains His own claims to be God. The apostles believed Jesus to be God. The teachings and the miracles, the life and the character, the death and the resurrection of Jesus all point in the same direction. Jesus Christ was God manifested in human form to save us.
In view of such an array of facts, why do so many people still violently reject this claim? There is a reason for this. If Jesus is “Son of God,” then what about the basic doctrine of the Unity of God, held loyally by Jews and Muslims? Remember, Christians are just as staunchly monotheistic as Jews and Muslims; they firmly believe that God is One. However, they hold also to the Biblical doctrine of the Trinity for God has revealed Himself as One Trinity, Father-Son-Holy Spirit, Three-in-one God. There is a mystery about this concept of God which we shall now try to explain. Christians did not invent this belief nor did they choose it because they thought it was a “better” concept of what God is like! Christians accept the idea of the Trinity because this is the only way to account for the mystery of the Godhead.
The doctrine of the Trinity is not (as some people ignorantly suppose) that God + Jesus + Holy Spirit = three Gods. Such a teaching would indeed be an attack upon the Unity of God. The doctrine of the Trinity is that from all eternity God has existed in a Three-fold Oneness, which owing to the limitations of human thought and language must be described as Father-Son-Spirit = God Almighty. To put it another way, Jews, Muslims and others accept a Unitarian Concept of Absolute Unity, while Christians accept a Trinitarian Concept of Compound Unity. This concept is not as difficult to grasp as it appears. It can be demonstrated by a very simple diagram, as follows:
|
(One-dimensional unity) |
One square |
One cube |
A cube is obviously three-dimensional, yet it is still one object! This illustration helps us understand the Bible description of an Almighty God who is immeasurably greater than Man, His creature. It is far more satisfying to our faith and our reason to conceive of Him as a Perfect, Infinite Three-in-one Fullness than to conceive of Him as an Abstract Unity. Thus when this Almighty God willed to reveal Himself to sinful mankind, He chose to do so in human form, Jesus (God the Son) revealing God the Father by the power of God the Holy Spirit. Please note that no Christian, anywhere or at any time, has ever believed that the Trinity consists of God—Virgin Mary—Jesus, as many Muslims think!
The Bible does not teach that a person must understand the mystery of the Trinity before he or she can be saved from sin. Jesus plainly taught that no man can possibly understand the mystery of the “Father” and the “Son,” but that when a sinner comes to Jesus Christ in sincere faith, Jesus reveals the truth about the Father to him. All things have been handed over to me by my Father. No one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and anyone to whom the Son decides to reveal him (Matthew 11:27).
The apostles also taught in this same practical way. They never attempted to formulate a “doctrine of the Trinity” but they did teach the necessity of knowing God through Jesus Christ. Read the following extracts from their preaching: Peter said to them, “Repent, and each one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. For the promise is for you and your children, and for all who are far away, as many as the Lord our God will call to himself” (Acts 2:38-39). The God of our forefathers raised up Jesus, whom you seized and killed by hanging him on a tree. God exalted him to his right hand as Leader and Savior, to give repentance to Israel and forgiveness of sins. And we are witnesses of these events, and so is the Holy Spirit whom God has given to those who obey him (Acts 5:30-32). But Stephen, full of the Holy Spirit, looked intently toward heaven and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God. “Look!” he said. “I see the heavens opened, and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God!” (Acts 7:55-56). Notice how the apostles explained that through personal faith and trust in Jesus as Savior, the Holy Spirit came into their lives, and this made fellowship with God a reality. Or in other words, salvation from sin is the work of One God, who can only be understood fully through the three-fold revelation of His character as Father-Son-Spirit. This truth is not grasped mentally, but it is made real in an experiential oneness with this Almighty loving God and Savior.
Faith in Christ does not create a conflict of loyalties. A pagan might worship three gods who compete for his worship but the Father the Son and the Spirit are not like that. They are one God. Faith in Christ brings us into an experience of living relationship with a God of love and grace who has taken away the barrier of our sin. Faith in Christ brings us into vital union with God the Father, God the Son and God the Spirit, the one Eternal God of love and truth.
Jesus said, Now this is eternal life—that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you sent (John 17:3).
Do you know God, or is He to you the Great Unknowable, Impersonal Creator?
Related Topics: Christology