Jesus in Scripture 01 • Genesis

1:06:52 Teaching begins

Notes

Jesus said to His disciples, “O foolish and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken! Ought not the Christ to suffer these things and enter into His glory?”

They could have believed that He rose from the dead if they knew the Scriptures and if they believed them. He went on to teach them all the Scriptures about Himself in Moses, the Psalms, and the prophets.

Jesus’ disciples need to know the Scriptures because all Scripture speaks of Him. Jesus is the lens through which we understand prophecy, He is the lens through which we understand the Father.

So we’re going to look at some of the Scriptures that Jesus would have taught His disciples. The first part Jesus mentions is Moses. Moses lived 1400 years before Jesus, yet he wrote of Jesus.

1. Before we look at Scriptures, let’s get the principles straight.

A. Jesus had the highest view of Scripture, that it is the Word of God, that it is eternal, that it must be fulfilled, cannot be broken.

1. Matthew 5:17-19 “Do not think that I came to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I did not come to abolish but to fulfil. For truly I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not the smallest letter or stroke shall pass from the Law until all is accomplished. Whoever then annuls one of the least of these commandments, and teaches others to do the same, shall be called least in the kingdom of heaven; but whoever keeps and teaches them, he shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven.

2. Luke 24:44 Now He said to them, “These are My words which I spoke to you while I was still with you, that all things which are written about Me in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms must be fulfilled.”

B. The apostles all have the same view of Scripture.

1. 2 Timothy 3:14-17 You, however, continue in the things you have learned and become convinced of, knowing from whom you have learned them, and that from childhood you have known the sacred writings which are able to give you the wisdom that leads to salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus. All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness; so that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work.

2. The apostles knew that they were writing Scripture. Peter has the same attitude towards Paul’s writings. 2 Peter 3:14-16 Therefore, beloved, since you look for these things, be diligent to be found by Him in peace, spotless and blameless, and regard the patience of our Lord as salvation; just as also our beloved brother Paul, according to the wisdom given him, wrote to you, as also in all his letters, speaking in them of these things, in which are some things hard to understand, which the untaught and unstable distort, as they do also the rest of the Scriptures, to their own destruction.

3. My point is that we must have the same attitude as Jesus and the apostles when we come to Scripture. It is the word spoken by God through the prophets, it is holy, it must be fulfilled, it cannot be broken.

C. My next point is that Jesus taught the apostles, and the Holy Spirit led the apostles, to accurately use the Scriptures to prove that Jesus is the Messiah by the fulfilment of prophecy. Some people will think that the apostles were jerry-picking Scripture in order to say, that’s a prophecy of Jesus, and He fulfilled it. The context might not give that impression: this is about the Messiah.

1. Case in point: Matthew 2:13-15 Now when they had gone, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream and said, “Get up! Take the Child and His mother and flee to Egypt, and remain there until I tell you; for Herod is going to search for the Child to destroy Him.” So Joseph got up and took the Child and His mother while it was still night, and left for Egypt. He remained there until the death of Herod. This was to fulfill what had been spoken by the Lord through the prophet: “OUT OF EGYPT I CALLED MY SON.”

2. If you look at the original context, it might not be immediately clear that this is about the Messiah. Hosea 11:1 When Israel was a youth I loved him, and out of Egypt I called My son.

3. This scripture is literally true. God’s nation Israel was called out of Egypt. In Exodus 4:22 He said Israel is My son, My firstborn. It was true of Israel, it’s also true that the Son of God was called out of Egypt. Jesus and the Holy Spirit say it’s valid.

D. It is valid because the whole fabric of Scripture points to Jesus. Jesus says twice in Luke 24 the Law, the Prophets, and the Psalms. That means all the Scripture. This isn’t a minor motif, this is the reason for the Bible.

1. Psalm 40:7-10 Then I said, “Behold, I come; in the scroll of the book it is written of me. I delight to do Your will, O my God; Your Law is within my heart. I have proclaimed glad tidings of righteousness in the great congregation; behold, I will not restrain my lips, O LORD, You know. I have not hidden Your righteousness within my heart; I have spoken of Your faithfulness and Your salvation; I have not concealed Your lovingkindness and Your truth from the great congregation.

2. Revelation 19:9-10 Then he said to me, “Write, ‘Blessed are those who are invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb.’” And he said to me, “These are true words of God.” Then I fell at his feet to worship him. But he said to me, “Do not do that; I am a fellow servant of yours and your brethren who hold the testimony of Jesus; worship God. For the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy.”

3. When you grasp this, you realise Jesus is everywhere in the Old Testament, as present as He is in the New Testament. He is not a departure or a new direction from the Scriptures, He is the fulfilment of all the promises, all the sacrifices, all the law, all the prophets. Everything in the Bible points to Him. Jesus is the key to understanding God, prophecy, and salvation.

2. The first division of the Scriptures is the five books of Moses. The first book is, Genesis, the book of beginnings.

A. You have the reason for Jesus to come. God created the heavens and the earth, all life, and especially Adam and Eve. Adam deliberately sinned and rebelled against God. Rebellion caused death, just as God said would happen.

B. Adam’s solution was to try to cover his nakedness and hide from God. It was insufficient and temporary. God’s solution was to clothe Adam’s nakedness with garments of skin. The skin came from an animal that died. This is the beginning of sacrifice: the death of a sinless substitute takes away sin and clothes sinners with righteousness from God

C. Also we have the first proclamation of what God would accomplish in Jesus. Genesis 3:15 And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her seed; He shall bruise you on the head, and you shall bruise him on the heel.”

1. The woman doesn’t have seed, she has ovum. The man has seed. Without a man she can’t have children. This creates a situation that is impossible to fulfil. Thousands of years later God speaks of an impossible solution, the virgin birth of the Messiah announced in Isaiah 7:14 Therefore the Lord Himself will give you a sign: Behold, a virgin will be with child and bear a son, and she will call His name Immanuel.

2. God says the war between the serpent and the seed of the woman will turn out much worse for the serpent. There’s more to come, but right at the beginning of sin and rebellion and death, God says, and it is written, that the Messiah will triumph over the devil.

D. In Genesis 22 we see God command Abraham to take his only son Isaac, whom he loves, and sacrifice him on the mountain He will show him.

1. The journey takes three days, and all that time, as far as Abraham is concerned, Isaac is dead.

2. The son doesn’t resist the father, he submits to being sacrificed.

3. Before Abraham can sacrifice Isaac, God stops him and provides a ram as a substitute for Isaac.

4. To sum up, we have an illustration of the Father willingly sacrificing the Son whom He loves, and who then is saved from death by a sinless substitute provided by God. John 8:56 Your father Abraham rejoiced to see My day, and he saw it and was glad.”

E. In Genesis 37-50 we are given the history of Joseph, the favourite son of Jacob.

1. He is given dreams of his superiority over his family, his brothers hate him and want to kill him, instead sell him for the price for a slave, twenty pieces of silver. He is an excellent slave, slandered, put in prison, serves well there, interprets dreams, and is forgotten there as though he were dead. Then in one day, he is remembered, solves the dream of Pharaoh, is given the place at Pharaoh’s right hand and essentially saves the world from death. The first time his brothers stand before Joseph to buy grain they don’t recognise him, and he convicts them of their sin. The second time they stand before him, Joseph reveals himself to his brothers and accepts them, having already forgiven them. You meant it for evil, but God meant it for good, saving many lives as it is this day.

2. It’s the whole gospel and course of history. The Jews didn’t recognise Jesus at His first coming to save the world. They will know Him and be saved when Jesus returns in glory.

3. So what?

A. The Scriptures reveal God’s plan and His sovereignty.

1. Moses is writing about history and events and people. He’s describing the making of things. He writes about law, offerings, sacrifices. He even writes a song.

2. But the larger picture he writes is about the Messiah. This is how the Holy Spirit is leading him. The Holy Spirit is working in people’s lives so they reflect themes He wants written. All the offerings have to be THIS way. Build the dwelling of God this way.

3. He has no idea he is writing about the Messiah, that it all adds up to the revelation of who God is. God is doing this according to His plan, with sovereign power.

B. It becomes a paper trail, where you can see that God said this, then He did it. God is writing all through Scripture about Jesus to reveal Himself. In the volume of the book it is written of Me.

C. The more you read your Bible the more you know God for yourself. The more you can discern when you hear something not from God. The more you can trust God. The more peace and confidence you have, because your life is founded on what is true.

We’ll get more next week.

Let’s pray.