“I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob,”
He first says,
“Have ye not read?” he asks. Alas, might not the same be often said to us? When some difficulty or testing time comes, have we read and understood? Have we the light from God’s Word which will guide us aright?
“I will have mercy and not sacrifice,”
on two occasions (Matt. 9:1313But go ye and learn what that meaneth, I will have mercy, and not sacrifice: for I am not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance. (Matthew 9:13) and Matt. 12:77But if ye had known what this meaneth, I will have mercy, and not sacrifice, ye would not have condemned the guiltless. (Matthew 12:7)), and on both He told the Pharisees that they ought to have known the meaning of the words. They had the letter of Scripture, but they did not comprehend its meaning or application. This is a most practical and important consideration for us. For, while we would strongly maintain the value of the very words of Scripture, being inspired, and therefore a divine and unimpeachable foundation for faith, yet, on the other hand, we may have an intellectual acquaintance with the letter, and not understand the meaning or application. To have a true intelligence in Scripture we must be “taught of God” and instructed by the Holy Spirit, who is given to the believer in order that he may understand the things which are freely given to him of God. “When thine eye is single,” says our Lord, “thy whole body also is full of light.” Christ, not self, must be our object. “If any man desires to do His (God’s) will, he shall know of the doctrine;” God’s will, not our own, must be the motive spring. Thus, when there is simplicity and a true desire to learn, God gives the wisdom and understanding needed, and the Scripture becomes daily more precious, for it ever reveals Christ to the soul.
Christ Himself is, in truth, the center round which all circles, from the beginning of Genesis to the last chapter of the Old Testament; and, therefore, we read that He expounded, from these very Scriptures, “the things concerning Himself” Sometimes He was the subject of distinct prophetic testimony, which referred to Him and to no other; sometimes the communication from God through the inspired witnesses of old took the form of types and shadows, of which He was the antitype and substance. But not one jot or tittle of the law could fail, all must come to pass. Christ was Himself the filling up of the outline traced by the sacred writers of old. He says Himself, “I came... to fulfill.” Someone has remarked that the word here translated “fulfill” signifies that “He came to make good the whole scope of the law and the prophets.... He came as the revealed completeness of God’s mind, whatever the law and the prophets had pointed out.”
Thus our blessed Lord, after the close of His ministry on earth, when risen from the dead, referred His disciples to the words He had spoken, that —
“All things must be fulfilled, which were written in the law of Moses, and in the prophets, and in the Psalms, concerning Me” (Luke 24:4444And he said unto them, These are the words which I spake unto you, while I was yet with you, that all things must be fulfilled, which were written in the law of Moses, and in the prophets, and in the psalms, concerning me. (Luke 24:44))
This was the threefold division of the Old Testament well known to the Jews — Moses, the Prophets, and the Psalms. All that was written concerning Him “must be fulfilled,” for thus “it is written.”
Mark, the Lord did not instruct these two disciples on the road to Emmaus simply from His own divine knowledge, apart from the written Word: on the contrary, He made use of the Scriptures, and taught them “from the Scriptures”; leading them over a wide range, beginning at Moses and all the prophets, He expounded unto them in all the Scriptures the things concerning Himself. What Honor He placed on the Scriptures! Then, as we find a little later on, He opened their understanding that they might understand the Scriptures. The opened understanding, the divinely given intelligence, was just as necessary as the possession of the Scripture itself; and this we have, as already remarked, by the Holy Spirit, who came down on the day of Pentecost. Further, Christ said to them—
“Thus it is written, and thus it behoved Christ to suffer, and to rise from the dead the third day.”
Here He places side by side the prophetic testimony pointing to His death, and what was suitable, as well as absolutely necessary for the remission of sins, for God’s glory and the eternal blessing both of His Church and of Israel.
Turning again to the references made by our Lord to the Old Testament, we find that when quoting Exodus 21:1717And he that curseth his father, or his mother, shall surely be put to death. (Exodus 21:17), He commences by saying, “For God commanded Moses saying,” &c. (Matt. 15:44For God commanded, saying, Honor thy father and mother: and, He that curseth father or mother, let him die the death. (Matthew 15:4)), and when quoting Genesis 2:2424Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh. (Genesis 2:24), He introduces the quotation with the words, “Have ye not read,” &c. “God commanded,” and “Have ye not read:” how emphatically this might be repeated in Christendom at the present day! Why all the false doctrine and confusion that exists? Is it not due to inattention to God’s Word? Why the present confusion amongst the Lord’s people? Is not this to be attributed, in a large measure, to a want of subjection, in heart and soul, to the teaching and guidance of Holy Scripture?
But the Bible is a God-given oracle, carrying His authority, perfectly adapted to every need, every circumstance, and every period of the Church’s history. “Do ye not therefore err?” He says to the unbelieving Sadducees, And why did they err? — because they “knew not the Scriptures, neither the power of God.” Herein was the fault, they knew not the Scriptures.
Man, when left to the petty reasonings of his own mind, gets into all kinds of folly: he falls into superstition on the one hand, or infidelity on the other. But both these extremes agree in shutting out God’s Word. It has been Satan’s object in all ages to cut out the Word of God; or, if he cannot do so, to render it null and void. Sometimes he accomplishes this by insinuating doubts, raising the question, “Is it even so, that God has said?” — in our own day this takes the form of “higher criticism.” Sometimes he displaces the Scripture by tradition and the teachings and doctrines of men.
Our Lord Himself answered all such suggestions. He met Satan in person by the all-sufficient word, “It is written.” He met the Sadducees, whom we may call the “higher critics” of that day, as He also met the Pharisees and scribes — these tradition-mongers of old — by the simple word “God said,” “Have ye not read in the Scriptures?” “What is this then that is written?” &c. He used the written Word to silence every objection and to refute every form of error: and surely if He thus accredited the Scripture, this is enough for all who have a reverence for Him.
The Word of God is “living” and “abiding.” It has ever an unchanged freshness and living power for the heart of the Christian. This must be so, for it reveals God in all His infiniteness, His love, His grace, His near and blessed relationship as Father. It gives us, by inspiration, the life, the very words of Jesus Himself; Who, as the living Word, tabernacled amongst men, full of grace and truth.
The “Scripture cannot be broken,” says the Lord Jesus. Again, He says—
Here the Lord binds together the writings of Moses (the Scriptures) and His own words; and He ascribes an authority as great, if not greater, to the written Word than to the spoken Word. So it is said in another place — “They believed the Scripture, and the word which Jesus had said” (John 2:2222When therefore he was risen from the dead, his disciples remembered that he had said this unto them; and they believed the scripture, and the word which Jesus had said. (John 2:22)).
Even when the dark shadows of the cross were falling on His path, He still used the written Word as that which had marked all out beforehand. In quoting Isaiah 53:1212Therefore will I divide him a portion with the great, and he shall divide the spoil with the strong; because he hath poured out his soul unto death: and he was numbered with the transgressors; and he bare the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors. (Isaiah 53:12), concerning Himself — “And He was reckoned among the transgressors” — the Lord introduces the quotation with the swords, “This that is written must yet be accomplished in Me.” Again, in referring to Zechariah 13:77Awake, O sword, against my shepherd, and against the man that is my fellow, saith the Lord of hosts: smite the shepherd, and the sheep shall be scattered: and I will turn mine hand upon the little ones. (Zechariah 13:7), “I will smite the shepherd, and the sheep of the flock shall be scattered abroad,” He commences by saying, “For it is written.” For Him the Word was everything. It was given by God, it was inspired by the Holy Ghost, it was the guide and resource at all times; it was that of which no part could remain unfulfilled.
May God, by His Holy Spirit, deepen in all our souls the value of Holy Scripture, and daily increase our relish for it! Not merely for certain favorite portions, but for all Scripture. We cannot afford to leave aside any portion without loss to the soul. And may He grant to every reader that Spirit-taught subjection of heart and soul which is the true way to possess intelligence in His mind as revealed to us in the inspired volume!
What would thousands of devoted men of old — the early Christians, the Reformers, and many others amongst the persecuted saints of God in by-gone days — have given to possess an open Bible, and the full liberty to read it, which is ours? Let us see to it, then, that we do not lightly value our privileges, but let us seek grace and power from God to make a good use of what He has so freely given us.
There is one subject in particular, expressed in various ways it is true, but running through the whole of Scripture, more perhaps than we think — that is, the coming of the Lord. The study of Scripture, under the guidance of the Spirit, is sure to make Christ more precious to the soul, and His coming more prominent. It will then be a more bright and living reality before the heart, as well as a more powerful motive in the daily life of the believer, while waiting for the Son from heaven, even Jesus who delivered us from the wrath to come.
F. G. B.