Trenton Bulletin 21 January 2001

"The LORD your God will raise up for you a Prophet like me from your midst, from your brethren. Him you shall hear, "according to all you desired of the LORD your God in Horeb in the day of the assembly, saying, `Let me not hear again the voice of the LORD my God, nor let me see this great fire anymore, lest I die.' "And the LORD said to me: `What they have spoken is good. `I will raise up for them a Prophet like you from among their brethren, and will put My words in His mouth, and He shall speak to them all that I command Him." (Deuteronomy 18:15-18).

The foregoing is a prophetic statement of the coming of Jesus, the Christ. John the Baptist was asked, "What then? Art thou Elias? And he saith, I am not. Art thou that prophet? And he answered, No." (John 1:21). John was asked again, "Why baptizes thou then, if thou be not that Christ, nor Elias, neither that prophet?" (John 1:23).

The woman at Jacob's well perceived that Jesus was a prophet (John 4:19). After Jesus raised the widow's son from the dead in Nain, "There came a fear on all: and they glorified God saying, That a great prophet is risen up among us; and, That God hath visited his people." (Luke 7:16). Jesus' own testimony of Himself was that He was a prophet. In Luke 4:16 "He came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up." After He publicly read from Isaiah concerning His own anointment as a preacher sent from God, those in the synagogue were appalled. He said of Himself in Luke 4:4, "No prophet is accepted in his own country."

After feeding over 5,000 hungering souls, the testimony of the men who observed the miracle was, "This is of a truth that prophet that should come into the world." (John 5:14). It was the apostle Peter who challenged the Jews to, "Repent ... and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out" in Acts 3:19. He continued his speech reciting the passage from Deuteronomy 18:15, 18,19 as cited above concerning the prophet that God promised through the mouth of Moses. Peter reminded those zealous Jews, "That every soul, which will not hear that prophet, shall be destroyed from among the people." God's mouth had said, "Him shall ye hear in all things whatsoever he shall say unto you."

The assertion of Jesus in John 12:48-50 is, "He that rejecteth me, and receiveth not my words, hath one that judgeth him: the word that I have spoken, the same shall judge him in the last day. For I have not spoken of myself; but the Father which sent me, he gave me a commandment, what I should say, and what I should speak. And I know that his commandment is life everlasting: whatsoever I speak therefore, even as the Father said unto me, so I speak." Some thirteen times in the sermon on the mount in Matthew 5-6, Jesus said, "I say [unto] you."

That which He said is as much a part of the doctrine, the teaching, of Jesus Christ as that which was revealed unto the apostles through the Holy Spirit after Pentecost. Jesus stated to the eleven remaining apostles in John 14:23-26, "If a man love me, he will keep my words: and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him. He that loveth me not keepeth not my sayings: and the word which ye hear is not mine, but the Father's which sent me. These things have I spoken unto you, being yet present with you. But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you."

Before His ascension to His throne of power at the right hand of God (Hebrews 1:3), He instructed His apostles: "Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world" (Matthew 28:19-20).

Jesus said in Matthew 19:9, "And I say unto you, Whosoever shall put away his wife, except it be for fornication, and shall marry another, committeth adultery: and whoso marrieth her which is put away doth commit adultery." It is the position of the "no divorce at all" proponents that Matthew 19:9 does not qualify for the "whatsoever I have commanded you" edict of our Lord. Matthew 19:10 clearly says that "His disciples say unto him." They, therefore, were in His presence when He made the statement of verse 9. Furthermore, they understood what Jesus said!

Jesus said in Matthew 5:32, "But I say unto you, That whosoever shall put away his wife, saving for the cause of fornication, causeth her to commit adultery: and whosoever shall marry her that is divorced committeth adultery." Was Jesus just clarifying the Law of Moses here too? Are we to exclude from the doctrine of Jesus everything He said which He contrasted with, "It was said by them of old time" (Matthew 5:21,27,33); "it hath been said." (Matthew 5:31,38,43)? For the sake of consistency, whatever is done with one must be done with all such passages. Who shall be the "Official Scripture Surgeons" if not all such juxtaposed statements are a part of the doctrine of Jesus Christ?

It seems to be the position of the "no divorce at all" proponents that since no post-Pentecost writer repeated the declarations of Jesus found in Matthew 5:32 and Matthew 19:9, that the doctrine of Christ must exclude those particular declarations. Which writer reiterated Jesus' statement, "That whosoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment" (Matthew 5:22)? Is that a part of the doctrine of Christ, or not? It was stated right after, "Ye have heard that it was said by them of old time, Thou shalt not kill." (Matthew 5:21).

I submit that Jesus meant what He said in Matthew 5:32 and 19:9. It was Jesus Who said, "If ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed; and ye shall know the truth, and the truth will make you free" (John 8:31-32). "Whosoever transgresseth, and abideth not in the doctrine of Christ, hath not God. He that abideth in the doctrine of Christ, he hath both the Father and the Son" (II John 9).

"Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth" (II Timothy 2:15). God has spoken to us through His Son (Hebrews 1:2) bringing grace and truth (John 1:17). Let us be content to speak, teach, preach, and practice the truth and that alone. "Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth" (John 17:17).

A recent Gallup poll that was released October 20, 2000, reveals just how little people study their Bibles. The most troubling; yet not unexpected, is the overall results. Only 37% of Americans read their Bibles weekly! What other information did this poll uncover in regards to our study of the Bible?

59% of Americans only read their Bibles occasionally. Occasionally being defined as less than monthly! Just ten years ago, 78% of Americans occasionally read their Bibles. A drop of 20% in ten years.

In terms of frequency of readership, 16% of Americans say they read their Bibles more often than weekly, 21% say they read the Bible weekly, 12% say they read it monthly, 10% say they read the Bible less than monthly while 41% say they rarely or never read the Bible.

However, this same poll says that 65% of Americans believe the Bible "answers all or most of the basic questions of life." Interestingly, 28% of those who agree with that statement say they rarely or never read the Bible. Is this an indication of a problem?

The largest group of readers are those over 65! The least are young adults. One other thing this survey discovered. 58% of Americans believe religion as a whole is losing its influence on American life. To that I must agree. Could it be because we don't study our Bibles?

The above information was taken from the Gallup Organizations web sites:

http://www.gallup.com//poll/releases/pr001020.asp

"And that from childhood you have known the Holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus." 2 Timothy 3:15