1735. What Christ Taught Concerning the Minor Prophets
What Christ Taught Concerning the Minor Prophets
"When ye therefore shall see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the Prophet, stand in the holy place, (whoso readeth, let him understand)" (Mat_24:15).
Our first passage refers to Daniel. "When ye therefore shall see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the Prophet" (Mat_24:15).
In the quotation above, Christ placed His stamp of approval upon the prophecies of Daniel, He refers specifically to Dan_9:27 and to Dan_12:11. With this prophecy before Him, Christ gave a positive warning to the children of Israel of the coming tribulation, the day of Jacob's trouble. He insisted that the "desolations spoken of by Daniel," are of certain fulfillment; because of this certainty He urged the people who are in Judea, to flee to the mountains; and those who are in the field, not to return back. In view of Daniel's prophecy Christ continued; "And woe unto them that are with child, and to them that give suck in those days * * For then shall be great tribulation."
The Lord Jesus Christ did not smooth over the prophecies of Daniel to suit the ethical conceptions of twentieth century high brows, Christ accepted them as unvarnished truth. He went on to tell that false prophets and false christs would arise, deceiving, if it were possible, the very elect.
We prefer to stand with our Lord, "Believing all things which are written in the Law and in the Prophets" (Act_24:14).
Our second passage concerns Jonah. "As Jonas was three days and three nights in the whale's belly; so shall the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth" (Mat_12:40). Our Lord not only believed in the historicity of Jonah, and in his experience in the whale's belly, but He also used both as a sign of His own descent into hades, and of His anticipated resurrection.
When the critic denies Jonah, he denies Christ. When he sneers at Jonah's preservation in the belly of the whale, and at Jonah's subsequent casting onto the land, as being scientifically impossible; he, in the logic of the case, sneers at the entrance of Christ into hades during the three days and three nights of His decease, and at His bodily return to the land of the living.
But, it was not Jonah alone that received the unqualified endorsement of Christ. The Lord also spoke, with unwavering confidence, concerning many of the Old Testament historical statements. He spoke of Tyre and Sidon, of Sodom and Gomorrah; He spoke of Nineveh; He spoke of the queen of Sheba–thus He authenticated them all.
The Lord Jesus never cast a shadow of suspicion against a single statement in the Word of God. He could look satan square in the eye, and say, "It is written." Christ accepted the messages of the Prophets as the authoritative Word of God; of this, we can have no doubt.
Autor: R.E. NEIGHBOUR