Jesus is greater than the Bible. He is the God who created the world and who, together with the Father and the Spirit, breathed out the Word of God from within him. Yet while he was here on earth he never usurped the authority of the Word of God by imposing on it his own authority as God. In fact, he fully submitted to its authority in his life and ministry. That is why you will often find an incident in his life followed by the phrase, ‘this happened to fulfil the word of the prophet’ or ‘these things happened so that the scripture might be fulfilled’. (The Gospels are full of instances like this). Let me mention two in particular; they are fascinating because they are Old Testament prophecies that were fulfilled at Jesus’ crucifixion, when Jesus was, if you like, powerless to control the situation.
When the soldiers crucified Jesus, they took his clothes, dividing them into four shares, one for each of them, with the undergarment remaining. This garment was seamless, woven in one piece from top to bottom. “Let’s not tear it,” they said to one another. “Let’s decide by lot who will get it.” This happened that the scripture might be fulfilled which said, “They divided my garments among them and cast lots for my clothing.” So this is what the soldiers did. (John 19:23-24)
When they came to Jesus and found that he was already dead, they did not break his legs. Instead, one of the soldiers pierced Jesus’ side with a spear, bringing a sudden flow of blood and water. The man who saw it has given testimony, and his testimony is true. He knows that he tells the truth, and he testifies so that you also may believe. These things happened so that the scripture would be fulfilled: “Not one of his bones will be broken,” and, as another scripture says, “They will look on the one they have pierced.” (John 19:33-37)
Both these Scriptures demonstrate the divine power and authority of the Word of God. Jesus could not determine or direct what was happening to him at the time: he was helpless. The soldiers had no idea that their actions were fulfilling Scripture: they were Romans who had little or no knowledge of the Word of God. Nevertheless, because the Bible has such integrity, power and authority, its self-fulfilment occurred even here. What does this mean practically for us? Simply, that we allow the Bible to be the decider and determiner of our lives. We not only believe it to be the Word of God: we live by it and do what it says. Francis Chan put it well: “I want my life to fit in this book.” Today it is popular, even among so-called Christian leaders, to diminish the Word of God and erode its teachings on subjects such as hell, marriage, sexuality, the uniqueness of Jesus, money, and the end times – to name just a few. They take liberties with God’s Word written down, twisting it and making it say what they want it to say. They assert it cannot be uniquely authoritative and relevant to twenty-first century humanity. But what is so special about the twenty-first century? The needs and sinful condition of humanity have not changed since Adam disobeyed. Sin is sin, whatever century or culture we live in. The Gospel of the Kingdom is eternal; it does not compromise itself to suit a decade or a culture. Church leaders who question and erode the authority of the Bible wonder why their Churches are emptying and the lives of their people have no solid basis. They look quizzically and with a little superiority at Churches that continue to assert the authority of the Bible and which grow at a tremendous rate, failing to acknowledge that there is a correlation between these two aspects. Jesus is Lord where his Word is supreme, not merely in theory, but in practice. Any Church that puts its traditions on a par with or even above the Bible, ceases to be the Church.
