DID ISAIAH KNOW?
[NVote.—A minister was asked to ex-
plain Isaiah 66:22, 23. He answered
that when Isaiah wrote that, he was
ignorant of the abolishing of the law
by Christ, that he just supposed that
the Sabbath was going to be kept for-
ever. Thus to justify his own violation
of the law of God, this minister was
willing to deny the inspiration of the
Bible, cast aspersions on one of the
greatest of the prophets, and contradict
the Lord Jesus himself. In this study
we will consider just what Christ and
the New Testament writers say about
the reliability of the Old Testament.)
1. Christ did not abolish the law.
“Think not that I am come to de-
stroy the law, or the prophets: I am
not come to destroy, but to fulfill.”
Matthew 5:17.
2. He habitually kept the seventh day.
“And He came to Nazareth, where
He had been brought up: and, as His
custom was, He went into the synagogue
on the Sabbath day, and stood up for
to read.” Luke 4: 16.
3. He quoted a passage from Isaiah
61 as credentials for His mission on
earth. By whose authority do we say
that Isaiah was inspired when he wrote
the 61st chapter and not inspired when
he wrote the 66th chapter?
“And there was delivered unto Him
the book of the prophet Esaias. And
when He had opened the book, He
found the place where it was written,
The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me, be-
cause He hath anointed Me to preach
the gospel to the poor. . . . And He
began to say unto them, This day is
this scripture fulfilled in your ears.”
Luke 4:17, 18, 21.
4. Christ commanded the Sabbath
to be kept after His ascension, at the
destruction of Jerusalem. If it is to be
kept at all after His death, it will be
kept in eternity, just as Isaiah, on the
authority of God, said it would be.
“But pray ye that your flight be not
in the winter, neither on the Sabbath
day.” Matthew 24: 20.
5. Jesus Christ cited the writings of
the Old Testament prophets as the
source of the knowledge of salvation.
“Jesus answered and said unto them.
Ye do err, not knowing the Scriptures.”
Matthew 22:29. (Notee—When He
said this, the New Testament had not
yet been written.)
“Then He said unto them, O fools,
and slow of heart to believe all that the
prophets have spoken. ... And be-
ginning at Moses and all the prophets,
He expounded unto them in all the
November, 1934 -
Scriptures the things concerning Him-
self.” Luke 24: 25-27.
6. In the four Gospels are no less
than one hundred allusions to Isaiah’s
teachings; eighteen of these are direct
quotations, eight by Jesus himself, of
which one follows:
“But He answered and said unto
them, . . . Ye hypocrites, well did
Esalas prophesy of you, saying, This
people draweth nigh unto Me with
their mouth, and honoreth Me with
their lips; but their heart is far from
Me.” Matthew 15:3-8, quoted from
Isaiah 29:13.
7. In a number of instances Jesus
followed certain courses of action In
order to fulfill the prophecies of Isaiah
and other prophets. He had Himself
given those prophecies, and He was con-
sistent with Himself in fulfilling them.
‘““All this was done, that it might be
fulfilled which was spoken by the
prophet, saying, Tell ye the daughter
of Sion, Behold, thy King cometh unto
thee, meek, and sitting upon an ass.”
Matthew 21:4, 5, quoted from Isaiah
62:11 and Zechariah 9:9.
8. Paul tells us the Old Testament is
inspired.
“All Scripture is given by inspira-
tion of God.” 2 Timothy 3: 16.
9. The Old Testament prophets
(Isaiah included) did not express their
own personal opinions, but God spoke
through them. The words in Isaiah
66: 22, 23 are spoken by God himself.
“For the prophecy came not in old
time by the will of man: but holy men
of God spake as they were moved by
the Holy Ghost.” 2 Peter 1:21.
“For as the new heavens and the
new earth, which I will make, shall re-
main before Me, saith the Lord, so
shall your seed and your name remain.
And it shall come to pass, that from
one new moon to another, and from
one Sabbath to another, shall all flesh
come to worship before Me, saith the
Lord.” Isaiah 66: 22, 23.
Scrinture Problems Solved
This is a service department where questions on religion, ethics, and
Bible interpretation will be answered. Send questions to the editor.
FIRST COMMANDMENT
Which 1s the first commandment of the
ten?
We suppose by this is meant, Which
is the most important commandment?
In point of place there is no first com-
mandment. Of course, every code of
laws must have a beginning, and the
command not to worship other gods
is placed first in the Decalogue; but
with Paul’s definition of covetousness
as idolatry (Colossians 3:5) and the
command against coveting being the
tenth, and the first two dealing with
idolatry, we have the first and the last
dovetailing into each other. The
Decalogue may be thought of as a
perfect circle, as one whole, with no
beginning or ending. And, since if you
break one you break all ten (James
2:10), none can be considered all-
essential, and others less essential. In a
particular sense, however, the fourth,
or Sabbath, command 1s very important.
For it alone contains the seal of God,
who made the law. Without a seal, a
law is not binding or authoritative.
The Sabbath command is in the center
of the Decalogue, the words, ‘seventh
day is the Sabbath” being the exact
central words in the English translation.
This is the reason the devil is doing all
he can these days to destroy God’s
and man’s seventh-day Sabbath (Satur-
day). With the seal out, the law is null
and void.
AUTHORITY OF MARK’S
CONCLUSION
Is it true that Mark 16: 9-20 does not
belong to the Bible? If so, how can Paul
say in 2 Tvmothy 3: 16 that “all scrip-
ture 1s given by inspiration of God’?
Paul’s statement in 2 Timothy 3: 16
refers to Old Testament scripture, as
the New Testament had not yet been
produced. But the New Testament is
also certainly inspired. The ‘higher
critics’ of the Bible tell us that Mark
16: 9-20 was ‘“‘inserted from some
manuscripts of an ancient source,”
intimating, of course, that Mark did
not write these verses. Without taking
space here to controvert this, and as-
suring our questioner that all the Bible
was gotten from ‘manuscripts of an
ancient source,” we would say that the
story of Mark 16: 9-20 agrees perfectly
with the corresponding passages in
Matthew and Luke (Matthew 28 and
Luke 24), and this is the best proof of
its authenticity. It belongs in the Bible
if the incidents it records are true. And
they are.
- Page Thirteen