February 10, 2003
LifeWay Family Bible Series for Feb. 23
Jesus preached the Bible; the Bible preaches him
___ John 5:3740, 4547; Acts 17:24, 1112
___By Rick Willis
___First Baptist Church, Roscoe
___The full weight of our love for and interest in the Bible rests on Jesus Christ. We cling to the New Testament because it faithfully tells us what Jesus said and did. It passes on to us the very writings that taught the first churches what following Jesus as Savior and Lord meant.
___We embrace the Jewish Scripture because this was the Bible Jesus read. He taught his apostles how the Old Testament testifies that Jesus is Savior and Lord.
___Jesus preached the Bible
___Like a courtroom drama, John 5:3147 presents witnesses testifying to Jesus' identity. There was the testimony of John the Baptist, the evidence of Jesus' miracles and the testimony of the Old Testament Scriptures. We can add the text of John itself with the whole New Testament (see John 20:3031). Behind all these witnesses was the testimony of God the Father (John 5:37).
___What did Jesus mean by "You have never heard his voice nor seen his form" (John 5:37)? This is a tough question to answer. God's "voice" and the Holy Spirit in the "form" of a dove appeared at the baptism of Jesus (Luke 3:22), but seem to be unrelated to John 5:37. Jesus himself was the voice and form of the Father to the eyes and ears of his disciples, but they hardly
recognized the truth in Jesus before his resurrection (John 14:9).
___It may be that Jesus alluded to God's reprimand of Aaron and Miriam for not believing their brother Moses, even though Moses heard God's voice and saw "the form of the Lord" (Numbers 12:8). If so, then Jesus was comparing his Jewish detractors in John 5 with their Exodus ancestors who failed to recognize God's prophet Moses and failed to obey the revelation God gave them.
___Difficult parts of the text aside, the crystal clear message to the original hearers of John 5:3747 was this: If you don't believe Jesus, then you don't believe the Bible. Even though these Jewish opponents of Jesus diligently studied the Bible, valued the Scriptures for life and the hope of salvation, and memorized scripture, if they rejected Jesus then they rejected the Scriptures.
___I can scrupulously keep rules and regulations from the Bible. I can firmly believe isolated truths from the Bible. But unless I believe what the Bible declares about Jesus, I have missed the whole point.
___The Bible preaches Jesus
___The New Testament testifies of Jesus in two ways. The first way gives us the teachings of Jesus, his miraculous signs and the account of his death, resurrection and ascension. This way comes through the gospels.
___The second way gives us the history of the beginnings and growth of the churches through the Spirit-led work and writing of the missionary apostles of Jesus. The book of Acts and all the epistles provide this second way we know what it means to follow Jesus.
___Acts 17 reports how Paul customarily pursued his missionary program. He would begin in the local synagogues. There he would find Jewish residents as well as Gentile men and women who were attracted to the faith of Israel. All of them would be familiar with the Bible of the synagogue, our Old Testament. The synagogue leaders typically invited visiting teachers to speak. So Paul would gladly accept the invitation. Then he would preach the gospel of Jesus Christ.
___The language of Acts 17:23 pictures Paul giving an account of Jesus' life, death and resurrection. He would lay out the facts of Jesus alongside Old Testament Scripture to demonstrate Jesus was Messiah.
___With the help of a good reference Bible, we can still hear the echoes of how the apostles found Jesus proclaimed in the Old Testament. Just open to the Gospel of Matthew, and run your finger down the reference column. See how many Old Testament references you find. The Book of Hebrews is incomprehensible with-out some knowledge of the Old Testament. It likely sounds similar to Paul "reasoning," "explaining" and "proving" his message of Christ in the synagogue (Acts 17:23).
___The apostles preached the good news they had received from Jesus himself. They backed up their preaching with the Old Testament, and the result of their preaching was the conversion of Jews and Gentiles, men and women to faith in Jesus Christ as the life-giving truth of God (Acts 17:4, 12). Today, we have the great benefit of their own written testimonies and interpretations of what God did among them, Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
___As believers, we stand now where they stood then in relation to Jesus--"Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age" (Matthew 28:1920).
___Questions for discussion
___ Why were the Bereans described as "of more noble character than the Thessalonians"?
___ What Bible study tools would help you find verses that say something about the "voice" and "form" of God?
___ What insight does this lesson give for the affirmation: "The criterion by which the Bible is to be interpreted is Jesus Christ"?
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