This article is based on Pastor Adrian Rogers' message, Jesus and His Bible.
Who was Jesus? Scholars are still scratching their heads and thinking. Christians know, because we have a Bible. Jesus authenticates the Bible, and the Bible authenticates Jesus.
Jesus was here on earth before the New Testament was ever written. He said,
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.
The Church is, and must always be, a Bible-based Church.
Do you want a key to understanding the Word of God? Look for Jesus in it. If you read the Bible and do not find Jesus, re-read.
“And beginning at Moses and all the Prophets, He [Jesus] expounded to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning Himself” (Luke 24:27; word in brackets added).
The Old Testament prophesies the coming of Jesus, the Son of God. People say, “Have you read the four Gospels?” You should have read all 66. They are all about the Lord Jesus Christ.
Do not get the idea that the Old Testament was written about one thing and the New Testament is written about something else. The Savior, and the salvation that the Savior provides, are presented in the Old Testament, too.
Jesus said, “You search the Scriptures, for in them you think you have eternal life; and these are they which testify of Me” (John 5:39). Remember that the Bible of Jesus’ day was the Old Testament. He says, “These testify of Me.”
In the Old Testament there are 333 precise prophecies concerning Jesus Christ. Professor Peter Stoner at Westmont College looked at only eight of these, to determine the possibility of them being fulfilled by chance. He wrote:
We find that the chance that any man might have lived down to the present time and fulfilled all eight prophecies is 1 in [10 to the 17th power]. — Peter W. Stoner, Science Speaks (Van Kampen Press, 1952; phrase in brackets added)
That is 1 in 100,000,000,000,000,000. And he is only dealing with eight of these 333 Old Testament prophecies. When you add them up, the possibility of chance greatly diminishes.
Jesus Christ is the only person ever born whose ancestry, forerunner, birth time/place/manner, manhood, teaching, character, reception, rejection, death, burial, resurrection, and ascension were all prophesied centuries before He was born.
Jesus is God, but He is also human. Genesis 3:15 is the first prophecy we have which says that He is a man, not an angel or some other creature. “I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her Seed” (Genesis 3:15a).
Then we are to look for someone who is from Noah’s son Shem—a Semite. (See Genesis 9:26.)
God said to Abraham that He would make him into a great nation. “In your seed all the nations of the earth shall be blessed” (Genesis 22:18a). That is, Messiah was going to come through Abraham.
Out of that nation was going to come a tribe. “The scepter shall not depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver from between his feet, until Shiloh comes; and to Him shall be the obedience of the people” (Genesis 49:10).
In 1 Samuel 16, we find out a man named Jesse has a son named David, who will be the progenitor according to the flesh of the Savior of the world.
There is a specific woman of that family who will give birth to the Messiah. “Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a Son, and shall call His name Immanuel” (Isaiah 7:14b).
Then we find out there is a Son, born of that woman, of that family, of that tribe, of that nation, of that race. Hello, Jesus!
If you cannot trust all of God’s Word as God originally gave it, then you cannot trust any of it.
The Bible is inspired in two ways.
First of all, the Bible is verbally inspired. Verba in Latin means “word.” That means not just the thoughts, but the words are inspired. You cannot have thoughts without words anymore than you could have mathematics without numbers.
The Bible is also plenarily inspired—Genesis to Revelation. Do not slip on this. Anybody who puts doubt in your mind concerning the infallible Word of God is doing the work of the devil.
Your view of the Bible had better be the view your Savior had, who said, “One jot or one tittle will by no means pass from the law till all is fulfilled” (Matthew 5:18b). Jesus is God’s Word.
What is the purpose of the Old Testament law?
The law is a schoolmaster to bring us to Christ. The law cannot save us. All it does is show us our need for the dear Savior. “For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes” (Romans 10:4).
Jesus did not come to say that the Ten Commandments do not matter anymore. He came to fulfill the law. When you understand this, you understand what the cross is about. When Jesus Christ died, He bowed His head and said, “It is finished!” I have met every demand of the law.
If Jesus had not met every demand of the law, He could not be your Savior. God demanded a perfect, sinless sacrifice, born of a virgin, with none of the Adamic nature in Him. Jesus Christ met every standard, every requirement of the law of God. Jesus fulfilled the law for us that grace might fulfill it in us.
The law says, “Do this and you will live.”
The gospel says, “Live and you will do.”
The law says, “For the wages of sin is death…” (Romans 6:23a).
The gospel says “…But the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 6:23b)
The law is here to tell us that we are sinners, that we are lost. We cannot save ourselves. “For whoever shall keep the whole law, and yet stumble in one point, he is guilty of all” (James 2:10).
The law is a unit, and God does not grade on the curve. Imagine yourself hanging over a furnace of fire, suspended by a chain. Nine links in that chain are made of forged steel, and one link is made of crepe paper. How safe are you?
You are a sinner. Jesus came to save sinners. He suffered, bled, and died on that cross, and paid every debt that we owe. He fulfilled the purpose of the Old Testament law, which is to bring us to Christ.
We cannot save ourselves, but Jesus died to save us. That is the gospel—the good news.
“Does that mean, then, that the Ten Commandments obsolete?” No, they are absolute. Every day of your life, you should want to live by God’s blessed Commandments.
The Bible says “the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit” (Romans 8:4). You cannot do that without Jesus Christ in you.
Matthew 5:17-18; Luke 24:27; John 5:39; Genesis 3:15, 9:26, 22:18, 49:10; Isaiah 7:14; Romans 6:23, 8:4, 10:4; James 2:10
To Him all the prophets witness that, through His name, whoever believes in Him will receive remission of sins.
But He answered and said, “It is written, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.’”
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made. In Him was life, and the life was the light of men.
All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work.
