 |  |
Lastly, in that holy communion of the Son with His Father, in view of approaching
death, resurrection and ascension, in full consciousness of the glory that He had before
the world was and the glory that was yet to be, we hear once more the emphatic
statement:--
"Now they have known that all things whatsoever Thou hast given Me are of Thee.
For I have given unto them the words which Thou gavest Me . . . . . I have given then Thy
Word" (John 17: 7, 8, 14).
Surely this is enough for any servant, disciple or believer in Christ. If after this most
wonderful revelation we find the Lord endorsing the Mosaic authorship of the five books
of the law, that for us is no longer an open question, and however uncharitable it may
appear, we must refuse the title "Christian" to anyone or any system that runs counter to
the express testimony of Christ.
What is that testimony? What was His attitude--nay, what did the Father command
Him to speak concerning the Scriptures? We know before we proceed further with the
subject, for from cradle to cross, in childhood and manhood, always, the O.T. Scriptures
were to Him the written unbreakable Word of God, and so shall they be to us.
The examination of the Lord's utterances concerning the Scriptures will occupy our
attention in the subsequent article; meanwhile we conclude with the pointed words of
John 5: 46, 47:--
"For had ye believed Moses, ye would have believed Me: for he wrote of Me. But if
ye believed not his writings, how shall ye believe My words?"
#2.
The testimony of Christ.
pp. 93 - 98
In the opening article of this series we concentrated our attention upon the teaching of
Scripture concerning Christ Himself, and the fact that the words He spoke and the
doctrine He taught were not "from Himself" but were "given" and "commanded" by the
Father. We would now direct attention to the Lord's testimony to the Scriptures, being
fully assured that the attitude of Him Whom we call Master and Lord, must be ours also
towards the Word of God.
Let us take up the theme at the solemn passage with which we closed the last article:
"For had ye believed Moses, ye would have believed Me, for he wrote of Me. But if ye
believe not his writings, how shall ye believe My words?" (John 5: 46, 47). It is clear
that Christ recognized Moses as an individual and not as a mythical personage. He
believed that Moses "wrote" and speaks of "his writings". Moreover, He believed that
Moses was a prophet--"He wrote of Me." In chapter 7: the Lord is more explicit. Not
only does He affirm that Moses wrote, and wrote as a prophet, but He declares that