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.

Reading in Jeremiah today, I noticed something that I have not seen the significance of before. In Jeremiah 31, we read that God would make a New Covenant with His people. He begins that declaration by saying,

 ²⁷ Behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that I will sow the house of Israel and the house of Judah with the seed of man, and with the seed of beast.

In this statement, God promises that He would sow the house of Israel and the house of Judah with both the seed of man and the seed of beast. For those who believe that this promise only applies to the Church because it has replaced Israel, what does this promise mean when it says that He would sow the Church with “the seed of beast”?

Plainly, this part of this glorious promise is only intelligible if this promise was made to and about literal Israel and not the Church. God still has a glorious literal future for the nation of Israel because He made the New Covenant with them!

Copyright © 2011-2024 by Rajesh Gandhi. All rights reserved.

First Kings 11 chronicles at some length the tragic final years of Solomon’s life. The chapter ends with three verses that relate his death, but the Holy Spirit did not choose to inspire any mention in the chapter about his repenting before he died.

Interpreters dispute whether the book of Ecclesiastes is an OT record of the repentance of Solomon prior to his death. In support of taking Ecclesiastes as a record of his repentance, the ending of 1 Kings 11 as well as several NT references imply that Solomon did repent before he died.

A Written Record of All That Solomon Did

The Spirit concluded First Kings 11 by providing an intriguing statement about further information concerning the ending of Solomon’s life:

1 Kings 11:41 And the rest of the acts of Solomon, and all that he did, and his wisdom, are they not written in the book of the acts of Solomon?

This verse tells us that the writer of First Kings knew of a written document that recorded all the rest of what Solomon did in his life prior to his death. That document would have been available to others who lived after Solomon had died.

If Solomon had died as an unrepentant apostate, evidence that he did so would undoubtedly have been recorded in this book. For the writer of Second Chronicles to not say anything negative about Solomon, especially about the horrific ending of his life would be unintelligible if there were such a written record of Solomon’s complete and final apostasy.

Because the writer of Second Chronicles does not relate any such information, we are justified in holding that First Kings 11:41 provides us with implicit indication that Solomon did repent before he died.

Jesus as a Greater than Solomon

In the NT, Matthew and Luke record that Jesus Himself compared Himself with Solomon:

Mat 12:42 The queen of the south shall rise up in the judgment with this generation, and shall condemn it: for she came from the uttermost parts of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon; and, behold, a greater than Solomon is here.

Luk 11:31 The queen of the south shall rise up in the judgment with the men of this generation, and condemn them: for she came from the utmost parts of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon; and, behold, a greater than Solomon is here.

Had Solomon died as a wicked apostate who never repented, Jesus would not have compared Himself to Solomon because Solomon would in that case have ultimately proved to be the greatest fool in the history of Israel.

Furthermore, had Jesus likened Himself to such a defective man, he would have left Himself open to a profound rebuke from his enemies (Matt. 12:38) whom He rebuked with this statement (Matt. 12:39). Had these scribes and Pharisees believed that Solomon had died as an apostate, they would immediately have reproached Jesus for comparing Himself (Matt. 12:42) to such an apostate.

Because neither Matthew nor Luke records that they turned this statement by Jesus against Him as a compelling reason to reject His wisdom, we can be confident that both they and Jesus believed that Solomon did not die as the greatest fool in their history. Jesus’ positive use of this statement in response to His enemies implicitly communicates to us that Solomon did repent before he died.

Solomon’s Porch in the Temple

Three verses in the NT speak of Solomon’s porch in the temple:

Joh 10:23 And Jesus walked in the temple in Solomon’s porch.

Act 3:11 And as the lame man which was healed held Peter and John, all the people ran together unto them in the porch that is called Solomon’s, greatly wondering.

Act 5:12 And by the hands of the apostles were many signs and wonders wrought among the people; (and they were all with one accord in Solomon’s porch.

Had Solomon died as an apostate, he would have been the worst example of apostasy in the history of God’s people. It is unthinkable that the Jews in the times of Jesus would designate any part of the temple or allow any part of the temple to be called by the name of such a heinously wicked man who failed to repent before he died.

By recording that this part of the temple was called Solomon’s porch, the Spirit has again implicitly related to us that Solomon did repent before he died.

Conclusion

Both the OT and the NT provide information that implies that Solomon did repent before he died. He is not in hell today. We will see Solomon in heaven one day.

See also Repentance unto Eternal Life

Forgiveness of Sin through a Directive both to Repent and to Pray

Copyright © 2011-2024 by Rajesh Gandhi. All rights reserved.