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Jesus and the Word of God - Mark 7
Jesus and the Word of God - Mark 7
Almost as an incidental concept in our reading of Mark 7, we see His attitude and understanding of the Old Testament.
1) They were the commandments of God (vs. 8)
2) Moses wrote (said) Exodus and Deuteronomy (vs. 10).
3) Isaiah wrote (said) Isaiah (vs. 6 quoting from Isaiah 29).
4) These, taken together, were the word of God (vs. 13).
That being the case, it will be instructive to notice how Jesus uses scripture in his life. From a child he had great understanding as he carried on intelligent conversation with the teachers in Jerusalem (Luke 2). In his encounter with Satan at the beginning of His teaching, He quotes, applies, obeys, and defends the correct understanding of this Word of God (Matt. 4). He goes throughout the land of the Jews teaching it. He marvels that people DON’T understand, aren’t obeying, and don’t believe it. He will allude to even those stories that people today relegate to myth and superstition (Adam and Eve, Noah, Jonah, etc.). He will constantly debate concerning people’s misunderstanding and/or perversion of such scripture (Mark 15, Matt. 23). He affirms that such scripture cannot be broken (i.e., fail) or remain unfulfilled (Luke 24:44f, Matt. 5:18). People today could learn about the Bible by just understanding what Jesus says about the scriptures!
It is the Word of God. People were to read, understand, and obey it. Amazingly, people today will give lip service to Jesus as a great teacher and then live in contradiction to His teaching. Does Isaiah’s statement of honoring God with our lips but denying Him by the lives we live, apply to you?
Hugh DeLong
