In commenting about the centurion's faith, Jesus said, "Many shall come from the east and west, and shall sit down with Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, in the kingdom of heaven" (Matt. 8:11), showing He accepted the historical facts of the patriarchs.
Because many did not repent even after seeing Jesus' mighty works, Jesus said, "Woe unto thee, Chorazin! woe unto thee, Bethsaida! for if the mighty works, which were done in you, had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented" (Matt. 11:21f.). Several Old Testament prophets spoke against Tyre and Sidon (Isa. 23:1-18; Jer. 25:22; 27:1?11; Ezek. 26:1?28:19; Joel 3:4?8; Amos 1:9?10), because these cities exploited their neighbors and were centers of idolatry, causing them to come under God's judgment. When the Messiah came to these cities, they followed the example of their fathers and did not repent. In referring to these Old Testament prophecies, Jesus showed He accepted the accounts of the prophets' evaluation of these cities.
When the Pharisees questioned Jesus and His disciples about plucking and eating grain on the Sabbath, Jesus told them, "Have ye not read what David did, when he was an hungered, and they that were with him; How he entered into the house of God, and did eat the shewbread which was not lawful for him to eat. . . . Or have ye not read in the law, how that on the sabbath days the priests in the temple profane the sabbath and are blameless?" (Matt. 12:3, 5). Jesus' appeal to the law showed He accepted its account involving David's life and the priests, and that He and His disciples' act of taking and eating the grain on the Sabbath was proper.
When the Pharisees asked for a sign, Jesus told them, "For as Jonas was three days and three nights in the whale's belly; so shall the Son of man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth. The men of Nineveh shall rise in judgment with this generation, and shall condemn it: because they repented at the preaching of Jonas" (Matt. 12:40; cf. Jonah 1:2, 17; 3:5). Later when the Pharisees and Sadducees again asked for a sign, Jesus told that wicked generation that "no sign be [would] given unto it, but the sign of the prophet Jonas" (Matt. 16:4). Both of these responses are Jesus' and not Matthew's commentary. Jesus knew the story of Jonah going to Nineveh and directly quoted Jonah 1:17. Jesus' use of this story shows He accepted the events surrounding Jonah's ministry as historical facts; and as God miraculously had preserved Jonah, He would bring about His own Son's miraculous resurrection. Jesus' comments show He knew Jonah's story was true, and Jesus was willing to tie His own ministry to it.
When asked about divorce, Jesus referred to the Genesis narrative: "Have ye not read, that he which made them at the beginning made them male and female?" Jesus accepted the creation account as literally true. He then said, "For this cause shall a man leave father and mother, and shall cleave to his wife: and they twain shall be one flesh? Wherefore they are no more twain, but one flesh. What God hath joined together, let not man put asunder" (Matt. 19:4?6; cf. Gen. 1:26-28; 2:23, 24). Jesus believed God instituted marriage when man was created, and that the Book of Genesis proved it was God's intention that the marriage bond be permanent and that no man dare break it.
The Pharisees asked about Moses' allowing a "writing of divorcement." Jesus said because "of the hardness of your hearts [Moses] suffered you to put away your wives: but from the beginning it was not so" (Matt. 19:7, 8; cf. Deut. 24:1?4). Jesus believed Moses' account, and that there was a beginning of revelation. This also showed Jesus accepted Moses as the author of Deuteronomy.
In Jesus' reply to the Sadducees' question about the resurrection, He asked, "Have ye not read that which was spoken unto you by God, saying, I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob?" (Matt. 22:31, 32; cf. Mark 12:26; Luke 20:37; Ex. 3:6, 16). When the Sadducees questioned Jesus, they stated, "Moses said." Jesus went beyond this, asking if they had not read what was "spoken unto you by God." Jesus accepted the Old Testament as more than man's words; it was a record of God's revelation. Jesus' conversation also shows He accepted the Exodus accounts of the patriarchs as historically true.
Jesus asked the Pharisees a question about the Christ, and whose son is He: "He saith unto them, How then doth David in spirit call him Lord?" (Matt. 22:43; cf. Ps. 110:1). In referring to this psalm, Jesus recognized that David was directed by the Spirit, making it reasonable to believe that these writings were inspired by the Spirit.
Jesus referred to Moses' revelation in Deuteronomy when a lawyer asked about the greatest commandment in the law. Jesus responded, "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind." He then gave the second commandment, "Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets" (Matt. 22:34-40; cf. Lev. 19:18; Deut. 6:5). These answers showed Jesus accepted Moses' writings, and the reference to "the law and prophets" shows He accepted the whole Old Testament.
In a "Woe" spoken to the scribes and Pharisees, Jesus mentioned "from the blood of righteous Abel unto the blood of Zacharias son of Barachias" (Matt. 23:35; cf. Gen. 4:8; II Chron. 24:20-22), indicating He accepted the detailed Old Testament narratives concerning the innocent death of these two righteous men found in Genesis and Chronicles.
When Jesus told His disciples about His second coming, He said, "When ye therefore shall see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, stand in the holy place, (whoso readeth, let him understand)" (Matt. 24:15; cf. Dan. 9:27; 11:31; 12:11). Today some critics question the Book of Daniel because they are unwilling to accept the implications of its prophecies. They claim the book must have been written after the events because there is no denying that some of its prophecies involving major world events have been fulfilled. These critics' views are the opposite of Jesus' beliefs. He accepted the book and its prophecies as trustworthy.
Later, when speaking of His second coming and the day and the hour of it, Jesus said that only the Father knew the time. Then Jesus said, "But as the days of Noe were, . . . For as in the days that were before the flood . . . until the day that Noe entered into the ark" (Matt. 24:37, 38), showing He accepted the historical fact of Noah, the ark, and the Flood.
Jesus spoke to the people about John the Baptist and identified him as "of whom it is written, Behold, I send my messenger before thy face, which shall prepare thy way before thee" (Matt. 11:10). When it was time for the Messiah to appear, a forerunner would come and prepare the people so they would know what was happening. Malachi prophesied of this forerunner in the last book of the Old Testament about 450 years before John's coming.
After the Transfiguration, the three disciples asked about Elijah's coming. These disciples apparently were unaware of the earlier transfiguration because Jesus told the three not to tell of the vision. "And Jesus answered and said unto them, Elias truly shall first come, and restore all things" (Matt. 17:9-13; cf. Mark 9:11?13; Luke 1:17; 3:1?6). The prophecy concerning Elijah is correct: "Behold, I will send my messenger, and he shall prepare the way before me." It was foretold in the last book of the Old Testament (Mal. 3:1; cf. 4:5, 6). John the Baptist in a sense was Elijah, the one who called men to repent and return to God.
When Jesus lamented over Jerusalem, He quoted the Psalms about His second coming, "Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord" (Matt. 23:39; cf. Ps. 118:26), showing He accepted this book.
During the last days of His life on the earth, Jesus spoke of the coming events and showed how He would fulfill the Scriptures. During the Last Supper He said, "The Son of Man indeed goeth, as it is written." Later when He came to the Mount of Olives, Jesus said that the disciples "shall be offended because of me this night: for it is written, I will smite the shepherd, and the sheep shall be scattered" (Mark 14:27; cf. Zech. 13:3). At the time of His arrest, Christ told the officers, "I was daily with you in the temple teaching, and ye took me not: but the scriptures must be fulfilled" (Mark 14:49; cf. Isa. 53:7ff.). Then one of the disciples struck the servant of the high priest, cutting off his ear. Christ rebuked His disciple. He said He could call twelve legions of angels to defend Himself, but He would not because "how then shall the scriptures be fulfilled?" (Matt. 26:54).
Jesus told the disciples who came to the tomb on the Monday after His resurrection, "O fools, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken: Ought not Christ to have suffered these things, and to enter into his glory? And beginning at Moses and all the prophets, he expounded unto them in all the scriptures the things concerning himself" (Luke 24:25-27). Thus it is clear that Jesus accepted Moses, the Prophets, and all the Scriptures as truth.
from Authority of Scripture, © copyright 2000 by Leland M. Haines, Northville, MI.
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