Prioritising Bible Time

Jesus quoted the Bible a lot! Of course, the Bible for Jesus was the Old Testament. There was no New Testament at the time. Jesus quoted the Old Testament a lot.

It is a little bit hard saying how many passages He quoted because He quoted, word-for-word, some passages but He also alluded to many other passages. For example, when Jesus called Himself the Son of Man, He was alluding to Daniel 7:13-14 but He wasn’t quoting Daniel word for word. Jesus often referred to Adam and Eve, Noah, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, Moses, David, Elijah, Jonah and others, without quoting specific scriptures. But, if we think only of the direct quotations…

• As far as I can work out, Jesus directly quoted 52 different Old Testament passages. (or 78?)

• 10% of the words of Jesus recorded in the New Testament are quotations from the Old Testament. Imagine if 10% of the words you spoke were quotations from scripture.

• In Luke 24, it is said that, on the road to Emmaus, Jesus went through “all the scriptures”.

• The New Testament writers did the same thing. There are hundreds of Old Testament quotations in the New Testament but let’s just stick with the fact that Jesus Himself quoted the Bible a lot.

What does that tell us? [Pause] Over the next three weeks we are going to look at three things:

1.     Jesus had prioritised knowing and understanding the Bible.

2.     Jesus had a huge appreciation for the value and authority of the Bible.

3.     Jesus had memorised large parts of the Bible.

Today: Jesus had prioritised knowing and understanding the Bible. Knowing and understanding. Jesus didn’t just quote the Bible, parrot-fashion. He could quote a scripture that was exactly the right one for any situation because He understood it. Paul Reet reminded us last week that Jesus answered the temptations of the devil by quoting scripture. When the devil said, “Turn these stones into bread”, Jesus replied with Deuteronomy 8:3: “People shall not live by bread alone but by every word that comes from the mouth of God”. Perfect response because He understood it.

The devil then quoted scripture to Jesus. What a cheek! Ps 91:11-12: Throw yourself off the temple because God has promised that angels will catch you and you will not be harmed. Actually, Satan misquoted it. He missed out a line. And he misapplied it. Ps 91 does promise angelic protection, but it doesn’t say you can do dumb things to see if God keeps His promise. Jesus responded with Deuteronomy 6:16: “You shall not test the Lord your God”. Perfect response because He understood these things in scripture. He could see the deception, and He knew what the Bible really teaches.

When Satan offered Him all of the nations of the world if He would only worship Him, Jesus responded with Deuteronomy 6:13: “Worship the Lord your God and serve Him only”. Genuine temptation but Jesus knew and understood what the Bible says about that temptation.

On other occasions, Jesus quoted scripture to show how prophecy was being fulfilled. For example, in Luke 4, He quoted…

Isaiah 61:18-19

“The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to set the oppressed free, 19to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favour.”

“Today”, He said, “this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing”.

Jesus quoted the Bible when He was teaching. For example, when teaching about divorce, Jesus said:

Matthew 19:4-6

4 “Haven’t you read that at the beginning the Creator ‘made them male and female,’ 5 and said, ‘For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh’? 6 So they are no longer two, but one flesh. Therefore what God has joined together, let no one separate.”

…quoting Genesis 1:27 and Genessi 2:24. And notice how Jesus said, “Have you not read…”. His attitude was, “The answer is in the Bible. Have you not read it? You should know these things.”

There were other times when Jesus used the Bible to confront opposition. Remember when the disciples were criticised for plucking grain on the Sabbath? Jesus quoted 1 Samuel 21:6: Have you not read what David did when he was in need and he and those with him were hungry?

That wasn’t a quotation, was it? That was a reference. But, notice again the “have you not read?”. If you had read the Bible, you would know these things. Jesus expected people to read their Bibles and know.

When Jesus was criticised for eating with sinners, He quoted Hosea 6:6: I desire mercy not sacrifice.

Jesus also quoted scripture in times of personal distress. On the Cross, He quoted Psalm 22:1: My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?

There are lots of other examples, but how did Jesus know and understanding of the Bible so well?

We might say that He was the Son of God; He just knew it. But I do not think that is what happened. There is a temptation to excuse ourselves by saying, “Oh it was easy for Jesus. He was God. It is different for me. I am not God”. Jesus is our example of how to be a human being who is close to God and filled with the Holy Spirit. Jesus is not someone it is impossible imitate; He is the One we are supposed to imitate. He shows us what it is to truly be human in a deep relationship with God.

Jesus wasn’t born with a profound knowledge of scripture. Neither was it supernaturally downloaded into His brain at some later stage. Jesus had to learn.

We know that, at 12, He stayed in the Temple sitting among the teachers, listening to them and asking them questions (Luke 2:46). He was learning. But, equally, He had already been learning diligently. “All who heard Him were amazed at His understanding and His answers” (Luke 2:47).

Luke 2:52

And Jesus grew in wisdom and in stature and in favour with God and with people.

Hebrews 5:8 says that Jesus had to learn obedience. Jesus had to learn and it is clear that He had put time and effort into understanding the scriptures.

Mary and Joseph were godly parents. They had undoubtedly taught Jesus the scriptures in their home. Like other Jewish boys, He would almost certainly have gone to synagogue school and been taught the scriptures, and memorised large portions of the Old Testament.

But not every boy sat with the teachers in the temple; not every boy had Jesus’ understanding. The people who heard Him were amazed. Jesus had, apparently, spent more time, dug more deeply, asked more questions and, as a result, been given more insight by the Holy Spirit.

Christians are followers of Jesus. There are massive blessings that flow from having a deep knowledge and understanding of the Bible. Think again of the times Jesus quoted it:

• Personal comfort and reassurance in times of trial.

• When facing temptation. What does the Bible say.

• So as to be able to teach.

• To counter opposition; to be able to discern things that are wrong.

Romans 12:2 says we are to be transformed by the renewing of our minds. Our minds are renewed as we study the Bible and begin to see things as God sees them; God’s perspective; the mind of Christ.

But the greatest reason for prioritising Bible reading and Bible study, is to know Jesus better. The Bible is God’s word. The Bible is God speaking to us. There is no other book like it. What an incredible treasure to have a book through which God speaks to us. Why would anybody neglect a book through which God speaks and offers so much wisdom and so much learning and so much comfort? Wouldn’t we hunger to spend a lot of time in that book? Wouldn’t we prioritise that?

On 30 December, a friend in Nelson got in touch and said, “Pete, for about the last 17 years I have been in the habit of reading right through the Bible each year, but I am finding that I am not getting much out of it. What advice would you give me?”

Who am I to give advice to someone who has read the whole Bible each year for 17 years? There is someone who has prioritised Bible study. He is 83. He was a motor mechanic. He became a Christian in mid-life, and he has a love for the word of God. He has done Bible College courses. Studying the Bible and letting God speak to him and lead him and teach him and comfort him has been a priority.

But what do you do if you are reading, and it doesn’t feel like God is speaking?

My main thought was: maybe change your method. Do something fresh. Approach it from a different angle so that there is a newness about it. Reading the Bible through in a year is great. That is my goal for this year. I have made a spreadsheet with a cell for each chapter of the Bible. I colour in each cell as a I read that chapter. If that was useful for anyone else, I could give you a copy, or print a paper copy.

But reading the whole Bible in a year is not the only way to approach it.

One absolute key, of course, no matter what your method, is to pray asking God to speak. The Bible is a spiritual book. We need the Holy Spirit to show us the meaning. I often use the prayer from:

Psalm 119:18

Open my eyes that I may see wonderful things in your law.

Then what? It might be a case of just reading and listening for what God is saying.

There are numerous Bible reading plans. Something like the YouVersion Bible app has any number of Bible reading plans – plans for reading the Bible in a year, or reading the Bible in chronological order so that you follow the history, or that focus on one part of the Bible (Matthew or Joshua or whatever); plans that focus on a particular theme (loneliness, anxiety, knowing God’s will, finances) or that give an overview of the Old Testament, or whatever. Most plans will have notes that explain the Bible reading.

Or we can use printed notes: Everyday With Jesus or Scripture Union notes. You can get some of the Scripture Union notes free via email each day.

Someone has said that Bible reading becomes Bible study when we start using a pencil – in other words, when we start thinking about the passage and write stuff down. Some people find it really valuable to write out the passage. Other times it might be rewarding paraphrasing it, putting the passage into our words. We have to ponder what it means before we can express that meaning in different words.

There are many, many different things we can do that allow God to speak to us in a fresh way. But the first thing is that we must want to do it. It must be a priority.

2 Timothy 3:16-17  

All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, 17 so that the person of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.

Jesus knew that to be true. Jesus prioritised knowing and understanding the word of God. Let us, like Jesus, say, “This will come before other things, because it is more important than other things.” And let us always seek to hear God’s voice – which might mean changing up what we do so that our experience of God’s word is fresh.

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