Christ and the Scriptures

The Light the World invitation today is “Jesus Read the Scriptures and So Can You”.  I think that’s certainly a true statement that Jesus read the scriptures, and I thought I would look at the evidence that we see of that in the scriptures themselves.  The scripture that is quoted on this page is Luke 4:16-18 which tells how Jesus quoted the book of Isaiah in the synagogue at Nazareth.  Another instance in which he appears to have read the scriptures is when, after His resurrection, He visited the two disciples on the road to Emmaus.  We read that “beginning at Moses and all the prophets, he expounded unto them in all the scriptures the things concerning himself.”  After the experience the disciples remarked, “Did not our heart burn within us, while he talked with us by the way, and while he opened to us the scriptures?” (Luke 24:27, 32)  Clearly Christ had spent time reading and explaining the scriptures to them.

                Other passages show Christ’s knowledge of and reverence for the scriptures.  He questioned the Jews, “Did ye never read the scriptures?”  He later told them, “Ye do err, not knowing the scriptures, nor the power of God” (Matt. 21:42, 22:29)  When He visited the apostles after His death He said to them, “Then opened he their understanding, that they might understand the scriptures” (Luke 24:45).  Another instance that shows how well Christ knew the scriptures is the account of the temptations.  Satan gave three temptations and in response to each one the Savior responded, “It is written” (Matthew 4:4, 7, 10).  In each case the Lord turned to the words of the Law of Moses (which He as Jehovah had given) to use in His response to the adversary.  That clearly indicates that He had spent much time with the scriptures if he was able to quote them so freely. At the feast of tabernacles He referenced the scriptures twice to the people: “He that believeth on me, as the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water….  Hath not the scripture said, That Christ cometh of the seed of David” (John 7:38, 42).   When the Jews accused Him of breaking the Sabbath He responded using a story from the scriptures: “And he said unto them, Have ye never read what David did, when he had need, and was an hungred, he, and they that were with him?” (Mark 2:25)  Clearly Christ knew the scriptures well to be able to quote them that readily. 

                The Book of Mormon gives further evidence of the Savior’s knowledge of the scriptures.  He quoted extensively from Isaiah and Malachi, and he told the people, “Search the prophets, for many there be that testify of these things” (3 Nephi 23:5).  Clearly Christ showed that He knew and valued the works of the scriptures, and that’s all the more reason for us to learn and apply them for ourselves.