Search and Research

A very kind lady once asked me not to challenge people to search scriptures regarding the Messiah.  Her concern was for the family divisiveness she discovered when she did so, for the pain it caused her and those she loves.

Yet, our Lord sends us to those very scriptures.

Search the scriptures; for in them ye think ye have eternal life: and they are they which testify of me. (John 5:39 KJV)

These scriptures He speaks of were the story of creation, the family of Abraham, of Israel, the laws of God from the TORAH, the prophets read in NEVI'IM, the writings of others in KETHUVIM . These are Tanakh, the acrostic of Torah, Nevi'im and Ketuvim. There was no “New Testament,” it had yet to be written.  These are what Christ referred to when He said:

Jesus answered and said unto them, Ye do err, not knowing the scriptures, nor the power of God. (Matthew 22:29 KJV)

These are the scriptures that Jesus said must be fulfilled:

But how then shall the scriptures be fulfilled, that thus it must be? … But all this was done, that the scriptures of the prophets might be fulfilled. Then all the disciples forsook him, and fled. (Matthew 26:54, 56 KJV)

Mark gives specifics in his search of the scriptures:

And the scripture was fulfilled, which saith, And he was numbered with the transgressors. (Mark 15:28 KJV)

Therefore will I divide him a portion with the great, and he shall divide the spoil with the strong; because he hath poured out his soul unto death: and he was numbered with the transgressors; and he bare the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors. (Isaiah 53:12 KJV)

Jesus gave specifics, too, when He said:

And he began to say unto them, This day is this scripture fulfilled in your ears. (Luke 4:21 KJV)

The Spirit of the Lord GOD is upon me; because the LORD hath anointed me to preach good tidings unto the meek; he hath sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to them that are bound; To proclaim the acceptable year of the LORD, and the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort all that mourn; (Isaiah 61:1-2 KJV)

How wonderful it would have been to have walked with Him after the resurrection along that road to Emmaus:

Then he said unto them, O fools, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken: Ought not Christ to have suffered these things, and to enter into his glory? And beginning at Moses and all the prophets, he expounded unto them in all the scriptures the things concerning himself. (Luke 24:25-27 KJV)

… beginning at Moses and all the prophets! If Christ cannot be found there, the New Testament has no value.  Just as Paul wrote:

But if there be no resurrection of the dead, then is Christ not risen: (1 Corinthians 15:13 KJV)

If He cannot be found in the Tanahk, He is not the Messiah.  My heart, mind and soul cry out that He is.  My prayer is that those who do search and research will find themselves saying, as those who met Him on the road to Emmaus:

And they said one to another, Did not our heart burn within us, while he talked with us by the way, and while he opened to us the scriptures? (Luke 24:32 KJV)

May it be the same for each of us.