Do You Believe What Jesus Believed?

#1

“And whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through Him,” (Col. 3:17).

If you are a Christian, that means you regard everything Jesus said to be the truth. You not only believe what the Bible says about who He was, who He is and what He did. You believe everything Jesus said is the truth. Thus, whatever you do in word or deed, you do “in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through Him.”

It is to be observed and then regretted, there are people in our time who speak with favor about Jesus Christ, even voicing their trust in Him. Yet, when they begin to vent their opinions and beliefs, it is clear they don’t believe what Jesus believed.

In this series of articles I’ll describe this conflict with what Jesus believed, urging readers to accept in full everything Jesus believed, and live by that truth.

Do You Believe What Jesus Believed About The Old Testament?

The Old Testament documents God’s creative work, His dealings with His nation prior to the cross, including the prophecies that the Savior, Jesus Christ, would arrive and, doing God’s will, offer Himself for sinners.

“The Old Testament books provide vital background for what we read in the New Testament.”[i]

What did Jesus believe about the Old Testament? He made it clear. “Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them,” (Matt. 5:17). Did Jesus not believe in what He came to fulfill? His words fervently articulate His belief in what He came to fulfill.

“Jesus’ attitude toward the Old Testament Scriptures now becomes unmistakably clear. Because they are His Father’s words, far from being abolished or subverted, they are to be fulfilled to the last-minute detail, and, even more significantly, He was to fulfill them!” ⁱⁱ

What about those stories in the Old Testament many reject, like Jonah being swallowed by a great fish? Jesus spoke of that event with full confidence that it really happened. He said, “Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the great fish,” (Matt. 12:40).

Jesus acknowledged the Old Testament, appealed to it for authority and in a case of rebuke toward the Sadducees, He said they did not understand the Scriptures nor the power of God (Matt. 22:29-32).

If I believe in Jesus, I believe what He believed about the Old Testament. And I believe He came to fulfill it. He is the mediator of the New Covenant (Heb. 9:15).

i Foundation for Growing Christians, by Doy Moyer, p.#11

ii Earnhart, Paul. Invitation to a Spiritual Revolution . DeWard Publishing Company. Kindle Edition.

---