SOMETHING ELSE I'VE JUST LEARNED

Bible study continued...As a youth Jesus was well doctrinated in The Old Testament

During the period of his public ministry, Jesus of Nazareth modeled himself on many of the heroes of Israel whom he had encountered in the pages of the Old Testament: Moses, Elijah, and David, to name just a few. But when he pronounced terrifying prophecies about the future, Jesus was emulating one particular prophet more than anyone else. Do you know who this man was?

When he entered the Temple and overturned the tables of the moneychangers, Jesus was following in the footsteps of one of the greatest prophets of ancient Israel. Six centuries earlier, this man had condemned the people for turning the House of God into a “den of thieves”. Jesus used precisely the same phrase when he saw the immoral business practices taking place in the same holy place. This man was the prophet Jeremiah.

Jeremiah lived in the late 7th century BCE and much of his life was spent trying to stop the Jewish people from sinning. He warned them about the Babylonian destruction of Jerusalem. In the original Hebrew of the Bible, the name Jeremiah is Yirmiyahu יִרְמְיָהוּ meaning “the Lord (yahu) lifts up (yarim).” This seems like an overly cheerful name for a man known as the “weeping prophet.” But in fact, the name is perfectly apt.

In the book of Jeremiah, the prophet changes his tone from condemnation to consolation. He tells the people that despite their past sins, God has not rejected them. The Lord will restore Jerusalem and establish a “new covenant” with his people in the future. Six hundred years later, Jesus came to Jerusalem to inaugurate this covenant by being “lifted up” by the Lord.

Sometimes we fail to remember or acknowledge the remarkable time gaps reflected in the fulfilling of the scriptures. God does indeed take His own good time!

As a long-in-the-tooth student of the Bible, the first question that comes to mind is: How did Jesus know about the history of the Old Testament...Was he told about it, or did he read about it?

TWO DESTINCT NATURES, ONE PERSON

There has been something of a biblical-theological revolution over the past several decades. It is not a revolution in which new doctrines are being uncovered so much as it is one by which our understanding of a Christ-centered and redemptive-historical interpretation of Scripture is being refined. 

While much of what is being written today has already been articulated in former days, there is still more refinement and progress to be made within this particular realm of biblical interpretation. One such refinement comes as we attempt to answer the question, "How did Jesus read the Old Testament?" Surprisingly, this is one question that has seldom been asked and answered. It is my desire to help us briefly think through this question and the implications it has on our Christian lives.

One of the chief reasons why this question has not been asked more frequently is that Reformed, Calvinistic and Evangelical Christians sometimes err on the side of thinking of Jesus as merely being God, but downplay his human nature and Covenant membership as an Israelite born under the Law to redeem His people (Gal. 4:3-5). 

Certainly, believing that Jesus is the second Person of the Godhead is the most important tenet of the Christian faith--and something that can only be known and believed by the supernatural and gracious work of God; however, believing that He is also fully man, and the Covenant keeping representative Israelite, is equally fundamental to the Christian faith.

There is almost nothing so difficult as understanding the Person of Jesus--two distinct but inseparable natures in one eternal Person. Yet, the Scriptures teach this truth, historic Christianity affirms it and we will spend eternity worshiping the Christ who is fully God and fully man. Theologians have spent much time seeking to explain what has been called "the hypostatic union." The eternally pre-existent Son of God created a human nature for Himself in the womb of the virgin Mary, "and so became, and continues to be, both God and man in two distinct natures and one person forever."

In His human nature, Jesus had to "grow in wisdom and stature" (Luke 2:40; 52). He had to learn, just like any other man. Though in the Divine nature He was omniscient, in His human nature He was finite and subject to growth and development.

At each stage of human experience Jesus had to grow in His capacity to experience sinless human experience to the extent of His ability. He never ceased to be God, yet willingly laid aside access to what was His by Divine right in order to be our representative second Adam. We needed a Redeemer who was fully man. We need a Redeemer who entered into the same experiences, put Himself under the same Law and who was "tempted in all points as we are, yet without sin." One of the things that He had to experience as man--and that He had to do as human mediator and covenant keeper--was to study and understand the Scriptures.

There is deep mystery here. Jesus never studied in the Rabbinical schools like all the other religious leaders in Israel (John 7:15). We can safely assume that Mary and Joseph faithfully taught Him the Scriptures from His earliest days. We know that He would have been in the synagogues often as a boy; and Luke tells us that He went with Mary and Joseph to the Temple every year. We find Him there as a 12- year-old boy astonishing the teachers with His questions and answers about the Scriptures (Luke 2:41-52).

So, how did Jesus read the Old Testament? Did He read it as a book of morals or character development? Did He read it like the Pharisees and Scribes read it? Far from it! Jesus read the Old Testament as the Covenant revelation of God written to Him and about Him. We have frequently rushed to this latter part and rightly rejoiced in the fact that the Old Testament was written about Jesus, but have failed to see that, at the same time, it was written, first and foremost, to Jesus.

It is only as we see that the Bible is written to and about Jesus that we will experience Gospel transformation in our lives.