Judas or Jesus? Unbelief or Faith?

April 21, 2013 Evening:

Title: The Reliability of the Old Testament

Old Testament Passage: Psalm 37:10-11 – The wicked will be no more... But the meek...

Gospel Passage: John 6:70-71 – Did I not choose you, the Twelve? And yet...

Sermon Text: Hebrews 2:2 For since the message declared by angels proved to be reliable,

Sermon Point: The Old Testament Word of God proved reliable. Example – Christ suffers betrayal of a friend, yet lives. The reliability of the Old Testament is one of the keys to our assurance that the Bible is the Word of God.

[2] For since the message declared by angels

God's Law was given through the ministry of angels. We know that conclusively through several passages in the New Testament including the following:

Acts 7:51-53:

[51] “You stiff-necked people, uncircumcised in heart and ears, you always resist the Holy Spirit. As your fathers did, so do you. [52] Which of the prophets did your fathers not persecute? And they killed those who announced beforehand the coming of the Righteous One, whom you have now betrayed and murdered, [53] you who received the law as delivered by angels and did not keep it.”

Galatians 3:15-19:

[15] To give a human example, brothers: even with a man-made covenant, no one annuls it or adds to it once it has been ratified. [16] Now the promises were made to Abraham and to his offspring. It does not say, “And to offsprings,” referring to many, but referring to one, “And to your offspring,” who is Christ. [17] This is what I mean: the law, which came 430 years afterward, does not annul a covenant previously ratified by God, so as to make the promise void. [18] For if the inheritance comes by the law, it no longer comes by promise; but God gave it to Abraham by a promise. [19] Why then the law? It was added because of transgressions, until the offspring should come to whom the promise had been made, and it was put in place through angels by an intermediary.

This work of angels in the giving of the Law is hinted at in Deuteronomy 33:1-5:

[33:1] This is the blessing with which Moses the man of God blessed the people of Israel before his death. [2] He said,
“The LORD came from Sinai
and dawned from Seir upon us;
he shone forth from Mount Paran;
he came from the ten thousands of holy ones,
with flaming fire at his right hand.
[3] Yes, he loved his people,
all his holy ones were in his hand;
so they followed in your steps,
receiving direction from you,
[4] when Moses commanded us a law,
as a possession for the assembly of Jacob.
[5] Thus the LORD became king in Jeshurun,
when the heads of the people were gathered,
all the tribes of Israel together.

There can be no doubt that the Lord had often spoken His Word through angelic representatives and messengers in both Old and New Testament. These mysterious incidents made it very difficult for the recipients of the Lord's messages to discern who was actually speaking. Was it God Himself or an angel? Though the Word might come through an angel, the message was surely the message of Almighty God.

proved to be reliable,

These messages, and indeed all the Old Testament revelation has proven to be faithful and reliable, since the matters that were spoken have come to pass. We see that throughout the Old Testament Scriptures.

One small example that we have seen recently in our journey through the historical books has to do with Ahab, Jezebel, and their descendants. The word of the Old Testament prophet regarding this king came to pass. It was a reliable and faithful Word.

Much more than any details of the life and death of any one king, that Old Testament Word proved to be reliable concerning Jesus Christ, the Messianic King of the Jews.

Consider these passages:

Psalm 2

2 Samuel 7

Psalm 110

Isaiah 53

Psalm 22

Rightly consider just this one citation that might be seen as more subtle, Psalm 104:1-5, and you will be able to see that the reliability of the teaching of Christ from the Old Testament Scriptures is not just a matter of a few selected obvious passages, but comes from the believers' pleasant and mature reflection upon thousands of passages that present a biblical hope consistent with the Lord's purpose, called by Paul in Acts 20, “the whole counsel of God.”

Psalm 103:1-5 Bless the Lord, O my soul, and all that is within me, bless his holy name! 2 Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits, 3 who forgives all your iniquity, who heals all your diseases, 4 who redeems your life from the pit, who crowns you with steadfast love and mercy, 5 who satisfies you with good so that your youth is renewed like the eagle's.

The Old Testament was reliable not only about the smaller matters of one king or another of old, but about the most important matter of human history, the place of Jesus of Nazareth at the center of the entire of God's eternal purpose.

The Old word, delivered even through the ministry of angels and prophets who had been brought into heaven itself, was reliable. And this Word was solid and sure enough on matters of the faith, that all of the tenets of our ancient creeds can be proven simply from a right use of the Hebrew Scriptures informed by eyewitness events of the Son of God.

Even the details of the betrayal of Christ by a friend were included in the Old Testament Scriptures. We do not want to be in the number of that man who betrayed the Lord. We do not want to be numbered finally with Judas and the wicked in unbelief, but with Jesus and His meek ones, who shall inherit the earth.