One of the most striking truths that I discovered through my recent preparation for teaching a Sunday school class was how Christ illumined the OT with specific statements that taken together reveal a profound truth about God the Father. The following five-fold comparison of OT statements with the teaching of Christ guide us to understand this glorious truth plainly.
I. Jeremiah 31:35 compared with Matthew 5:45
The prophet Jeremiah proclaimed the Lord as the One who gives the sun for a light by day:
Jer 31:35 Thus saith the LORD, which giveth the sun for a light by day, and the ordinances of the moon and of the stars for a light by night, which divideth the sea when the waves thereof roar; The LORD of hosts is his name:
Jesus taught that the Father who is in heaven is the One who makes His sun to rise on all people.
Mat 5:45 That ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven: for he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust.
Comparing Jeremiah 31:35 with Matthew 5:45, we learn that Jeremiah 31:35 is a statement about the Father who gives the sun to shine on all people!
II. Psalm 147:7-8 compared with Matthew 5:45
The psalmist teaches us that the Lord, our God, prepares rain for the earth:
Psa 147:7 Sing unto the LORD with thanksgiving; sing praise upon the harp unto our God: 8 Who covereth the heaven with clouds, who prepareth rain for the earth, who maketh grass to grow upon the mountains.
Jesus illumines our understanding of that statement by His teaching that the Father who is in heaven is the One who sends rain on all people:
Mat 5:45 That ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven: for he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust.
Through this comparison, Jesus teaches us that Psalm 147:8 is a statement about the Father who sends rain on all people!
III. Psalm 147:7-9 compared with Matthew 6:26
The psalmist teaches us that the Lord, our God gives food to the young ravens which cry:
Psa 147:7 Sing unto the LORD with thanksgiving; sing praise upon the harp unto our God: 8 Who covereth the heaven with clouds, who prepareth rain for the earth, who maketh grass to grow upon the mountains. 9 He giveth to the beast his food, and to the young ravens which cry.
In parallel teaching, we learn from Jesus that the Father feeds the birds of the air:
Mat 6:26 Behold the fowls of the air: for they sow not, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feedeth them. Are ye not much better than they?
Jesus illumines us to understand through this comparison that Psalm 147:9 is teaching about the Father who gives food to the young ravens who cry to Him!
IV. Psalm 50:11 compared with Matthew 10:29
The psalmist tells us that our God knows all the birds of the mountains:
Psa 50:7 Hear, O my people, and I will speak; O Israel, and I will testify against thee: I am God, even thy God. . . . 11 I know all the fowls of the mountains: and the wild beasts of the field are mine.
Jesus informs us that not even one sparrow falls to the ground without our heavenly Father:
Mat 10:29 Are not two sparrows sold for a farthing? and one of them shall not fall on the ground without your Father.
From this comparison, we learn from Jesus that Psalm 50:11 is truth about the Father who knows every bird!
V. Isaiah 54:13 compared with John 6:44-45
Isaiah prophesied of a glorious future event when the Lord would teach His people:
Isa 54:13 And all thy children shall be taught of the LORD; and great shall be the peace of thy children.
Jesus quotes that very statement from Isaiah and explains that statement is fulfilled when the Father teaches everyone who comes to Christ to come to Him:
Joh 6:44 No man can come to me, except the Father which hath sent me draw him: and I will raise him up at the last day. 45 It is written in the prophets, And they shall be all taught of God. Every: man therefore that hath heard, and hath learned of the Father, cometh unto me.
Jesus thus illumined our understanding of Isaiah 54:13 by teaching us that it speaks of the Father’s teaching His people to come to Christ!
Discussion
Jesus testified that all His teaching was from the Father (John 7:16-17; 8:28). All of Jesus’ teaching thus was the Father’s teaching.
The writer of Hebrews extends our understanding of the Father’s teaching further by saying that the Father who has spoken to us in these last days is also the One who spoke to the fathers long ago by the prophets (Heb. 1:1-2; cf. Dan. 9:10). The five-fold comparison presented above between the teaching of Jesus and the teaching of the OT shows that what we read in these statements from the prophets is not just teaching from the Father—it is also teaching about the Father!
Conclusion
Jesus not only teaches us about the Father through the direct statements that He made about the Father, but also He teaches us about the Father by illumining how various OT statements about the Lord, our God, are teaching about the Father!
Copyright © 2011-2024 by Rajesh Gandhi. All rights reserved.
