If you’ve ever read the first words of the Book of John, you’ve been introduced to an essential fact about Jesus Christ: He is the “Word.”
John said, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God” (John 1:1).
The Bible is also called the “Word.” This is because the Bible is God’s Word to Man and Jesus is God’s Word as Man.
Pastor Adrian Rogers said:
The way you’re going to know who Jesus is…is the Bible. And the way you’re going to know the Bible is the Word of God…is Jesus. Now, it may sound like circular reasoning to you, but it is not. Jesus and the Bible stand together. Jesus testified of the Bible and the Bible testifies of the Lord Jesus Christ.
In the Old Testament:
We read prophesies about Jesus Christ that are fulfilled in the New Testament.
We meet characters whose stories foreshadow the Gospel of grace Jesus offers to us.
We see pictures of Jesus in the construction of objects such as Noah’s Ark and the Tabernacle in the wilderness.
In the New Testament:
Jesus the Word of God quoted the Bible when He was tempted, when He was joyful, and when He was teaching.
Jesus affirmed not only books in the Bible, passages in the Bible, and words in the Bible, but every small part of the Bible.
When people suffer, what’s on the inside naturally comes out. Jesus quoted and affirmed Scripture when He suffered.
We cannot escape the fact that the Bible points to Jesus from Genesis through Revelation; nor can we look at the life of Jesus, the Living Word, and miss the fact that He alone fulfills the vision set forth in the Bible. Clearly, Jesus Christ AND the Bible stand together as the Word of God
Therefore, we cannot come to the Word, Jesus Christ, and reject any part of God’s Word, the Bible. If we are to live as He did, we must live “by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.” Throughout the Old Testament and the New Testament, we see Jesus: foretold, realized, risen, and returning to rescue all those who will look up and believe in His power to save.
Jesus was Seen in the Old Testament Stories
In the Old Testament, story after story in God’s Word provides abundant foreshadowing and numerous prophecies describing the One who would provide redemption for Mankind and win back the intimacy Man had lost with God.
Jesus is the metaphorical blood in the Garden when God the Father sacrificed the first animal to cover Adam’s and Eve’s nakedness. He is the Ark of Safety for Noah and His family. He is the ram caught in the thicket who is sacrificed in place of Isaac on Mount Moriah. He is the lamb’s blood painted on the doorways of God’s people so that death would pass over them before the Exodus from Egypt. He is seen in the design of, and the rituals practiced in, the Tabernacle God’s people used for worship in the wilderness. Over and over we see Jesus foretold in Old Testament stories and symbols.
Jesus Fulfilled the Prophecy of the Infallible Word of God
We also read direct prophecies of the Messiah throughout the Old Testament. The precise number, according to scholars, is 333. Not one book of the Old Testament can be read without seeing something concerning the Messiah. Only Jesus meets all the criteria—the time of birth, the place of birth, His ancestry, His teachings, the miracles He would perform and so much more. What makes this even more miraculous is that all the messianic prophecies were written centuries before Jesus was born. The only way to explain this is that the Bible was divinely inspired by God Himself.
Mathematician and statistician Peter Stoner put all the messianic prophesies together and concluded that it was mathematically impossible for someone to have fulfilled all these by accident. In one of his tests, Stoner took only eight of the prophesies written and concluded that it was a 1 in 10 to the 17th power chance that someone could fulfill just those eight. This is what that number looks like written out: 1 in 100,000,000,000,000,000 (one in one hundred quadrillion). Peter Stoner’s conclusions were that the fulfillment of Bible prophecy in the life of Jesus proved conclusively that He truly is God in the flesh and that the Bible is supernatural in origin.
For more on the ways in which Jesus fulfills prophecy, read the article, Jesus is the Word of God.
Jesus Confirmed God’s Word in His Birth
Jesus was born of a virgin in the town of Bethlehem, just as Micah prophesied in the Old Testament:
But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, though you are little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of you shall come forth to Me the One to be Ruler in Israel, whose goings forth are from of old, from everlasting (Micah 5:2).
Ephrathah is the ancient name for the town of Bethlehem in the region of Judah. By putting the names Bethlehem and Ephrathah together, Micah distinguishes this town from another named Bethlehem. Ephrathah is also the name of a clan within the Tribe of Judah. David was born to this clan and was born in Bethlehem. (See 1 Samuel 17:12).
Micah further identifies the Ruler, singularly as “the One.” Jesus is the Sovereign of the Universe “whose goings forth are from of old, from everlasting.”
Micah also contrasts the powerful and exalted city of Jerusalem with the small and humble town of Bethlehem, which is about seven miles southwest of Jerusalem. Jesus’ human birth was under humble circumstances. He was laid in an animal trough near the hillsides where shepherds watched over the very flocks produced specifically for the purpose of selecting sacrificial lambs during the Passover in Jerusalem.
Why is it so important to emphasize Jesus’ Virgin Birth? All people receive a sinful nature through natural birth. The supernatural birth of Jesus is different:
Therefore the Lord Himself will give you a sign: Behold the virgin shall conceive and bear a Son, and shall call His name Immanuel (Isaiah 7:14).
Jesus is fully God and fully Man. Adam’s sinful blood, however, is not in His veins. He died as the God-Man, the only One whose royal blood could cover sin.
This is why, when the infant Jesus was brought to the temple for dedication, the Prophet Simeon immediately recognized Jesus as the Savior for whom he had been waiting.
He (Simeon) took Him up in his arms and blessed God and said: “Lord, now You are letting Your servant depart in peace, according to Your word; for my eyes have seen Your salvation which You have prepared before the face of all peoples, a light to bring revelation to the Gentiles, and the glory of Your people Israel” (Luke 2:28-32).
For more about how Jesus’ birth fulfilled prophecy, get the Christmas advent devotional book, 25 Days of Anticipation.
Jesus Stood with God’s Word in His Life and Ministry
Jesus lived His entire earthly life completely in accordance with God’s Word.
Prior to beginning His ministry, Jesus was baptized in the River Jordan to “fulfill all righteousness.” (Read Matthew 3). The baptism confirmed Jesus as the Messiah and confirmed John as the forerunner to the Messiah. Both Jesus and John were acting in fulfillment of prophecy.
Immediately following His baptism, Jesus endured temptation in the wilderness. He did so using Scripture. Satan tempted Jesus (fully God and fully Man) in three ways, and Jesus wielded His sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God, each time:
1. Satan tempted Jesus to satisfy His appetites. Jesus responded:
“Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God” (Matthew 4:4).
2. Satan tempted Jesus to put God to the test. Jesus responded:
“It is written again, ‘You shall not tempt the Lord your God’ ” (Matthew 4:7).
3. Satan tempted Jesus to worship him and gain the things of the world. Jesus responded:
“Away with you, Satan! For it is written, ‘You shall worship the Lord your God, and Him only you shall serve’ ” (Matthew 4:10).
Jesus Proclaimed His Indivisible Relationship with God’s Word
The religious leaders of Jesus’ day accused Jesus of trying to do away with Old Testament Law (the first five books of the Bible) and the teaching of the Old Testament Prophets (the Old Testament books written by major and minor prophets). No, Jesus said, in effect, that’s not what I’m doing. God’s Word and I stand together:
“Do not think that I came to destroy the Law or the Prophets. I did not come to destroy but to fulfill. For assuredly, I say to you, till heaven and earth pass away, one jot or one tittle will by no means pass from the law till all is fulfilled” (Matthew 5:17-18).
Every word Jesus said, every story Jesus told, and every miracle He performed pointed to the Bible and to His fulfillment of the Bible.
At the end of His earthly life, Jesus quoted and confirmed Scripture during His deepest suffering—which is the time, for most of us, when the true inner person is revealed.
He said to His Father:
“My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?” (Matthew 27:46,KJV).
This cry is a fulfillment of Psalm 22:1 and is one of many parallels between that psalm and the specific events of the crucifixion. Jesus did not become a sinner; He became sin. The Father turned His face away from His Son on the cross, but because Jesus took our sin, God will never turn His face from us. Do we truly appreciate the weight of such sacrifice?
Even after His death and resurrection, Jesus continued to teach His disciples of the impossibility of separating His person from the Word of God. Here’s what He said to some disciples in Emmaus who were distraught after Jesus’ death on Calvary:
Then He said to them, “O foolish ones, and slow of heart to believe in all that the prophets have spoken! Ought not the Christ to have suffered these things and to enter into His glory?” And beginning at Moses and all the Prophets, He expounded to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning Himself (Luke 24:25-27).
Jesus Gave Us His Spirit to Quicken God’s Word in Our Hearts
Paul taught in the Book of Romans that Christians have power to change the world because of Jesus’ saving grace and the presence of the Holy Spirit within.
But you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. Now if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he is not His. And if Christ is in you, the body is dead because of sin, but the Spirit is life because of righteousness (Romans 8:9-10).
This same Holy Spirit—one with God the Father and with God the Son—has this as a primary task, according to Jesus:
“But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all things that I said to you” (John 14:26).
The Bible is more than a blueprint for life or instructions for coming to God; if that were enough, we would not need a relationship with Jesus. He is the One who came to seek and to save us. He uses the Bible in that process. And He uses it to communicate with us daily.
Pick up your Bible and get into the habit of going to God’s Word daily so that you can be nourished and equipped for the work God has for you. Spend time asking the Holy Spirit to reveal the specific ways He wants to communicate with you through His Word. And then, rely on His Word as His direction because it is trustworthy.
Adrian Rogers said, “The Bible is not the book of the month, or the book of the year, it is the book of the ages.” Only God could produce something so miraculous, so timeless, and so practical, that He could use it to speak to any man, woman, boy, or girl across the centuries, through the power of His Holy Spirit.
Never before published, this online course created from messages from Adrian Rogers recorded at Billy Graham's Training Center, The Cove, dives into what it looks like to be a true disciple of Christ.
