Chapter Six – By Whose Authority?

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The New Testament records numerous accounts of Jesus Christ visiting Jerusalem’s Temple. It was there where Joseph and Mary, observing Old Covenant statutes, presented the Christ Child after He had been circumcised, and offered a sacrifice (Luke 2:21-24). At age 12, Jesus was in the Temple asking religious scholars probing questions. These “authorities” were taken aback by the young Boy’s inquisitive nature and wisdom (Lk 2:46-47). Jesus also visited the Temple several times during His earthly ministry, amazing onlookers by His words and actions. Some concluded He was, indeed, the Messiah. Many others, on the other hand, disbelieved and conspired to take His life.

In the first year of His ministry, when Jesus and His disciples came to Jerusalem to observe the Passover season, they “found in the temple those that sold oxen and sheep and doves, and the changers of money sitting” (John 2:13-14).

Christ was livid at what He witnessed. The Temple was built as a religious centre to worship the God of the universe—not for exchanging currency for personal profit!

So what did Jesus do? “And when He had made a scourge of small cords, He drove them all out of the temple, and the sheep, and the oxen; and poured out the changers’ money, and overthrew the tables” (Jn 2:15).

Why? “And said [He] unto them that sold doves, Take these things hence; make not My Father’s house an house of merchandise. And His disciples remembered that it was written, The zeal of Your house has eaten Me up” (Jn 2:16-17). They remembered Psalm 69:9, a prophecy describing the zealous nature of a righteous Servant foretold to be consumed with doing the will of God.

This was just one of numerous Old Testament prophecies that the Christ was to fulfil, during both His earthly ministry and later at His triumphant Return to rule God’s government across the earth.

Recall for an additional point of understanding how Jesus Christ healed people. He made the blind see, the deaf hear, the mute speak and the lame walk. He fed untold thousands from only a handful of fish and bread. He walked on water, turned water into wine, released people from the bonds of demon possession and performed countless other miracles. Jesus Christ boldly preached the gospel, delivered prophetic warnings and taught tens of thousands about God’s Law, spiritually magnifying its intent.

Everything Christ said and did was with strength—boldness—power—and authority!

The apostle John wrote, “And there are also many other things which Jesus did, the which, if they should be written every one, I suppose that even the world itself could not contain the books that should be written” (John 21:25).

Some believed Jesus was the long-awaited Messiah. Some were undecided. Others—the religious powers of the day—felt threatened. They had no doubt that Jesus was a “teacher come from God” (John 3:2). They witnessed the mighty miracles He performed and were amazed by their effects. They admitted among themselves, “No man can do these…except God be with him” (same verse).

But the scribes and Pharisees refused to believe Jesus was the Christ—that He had divine authority. They were righteous in their own eyes, measuring their righteousness by how well they observed minute, manmade laws and traditions, which we saw unnecessarily made the Way of God burdensome. Since Jesus did not “measure up” to their idea of obedience, they concluded He could not have been Christ—and they were more than willing to lie about, slander, and falsely accuse Him, and even plot His murder!

Why? “For [Jesus] taught them as one having authority, and not as the scribes” (Matt. 7:29).

By Old Testament Prophecies

Psalm 2:7 states, “I will declare the decree: the LORD has said unto Me, You are My Son; this day have I begotten You.” Jesus was the Son of God. Of all people ever born, only He was conceived by the power of the Holy Spirit (Matt. 1:20). The Father, using an angelic being to represent His voice, publicly confirmed that Jesus was His Son: “And Jesus, when He was baptized, went up straightway out of the water: and, lo, the heavens were opened unto Him, and He saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove, and lighting upon Him: and lo a voice from heaven, saying, This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased” (Matt. 3:16-17).

As we saw in Chapter One, Jesus’ birth was foretold throughout the Old Testament. He was born of a virgin (Isa. 7:14; Matt. 1:22-23; Luke 2:7), in Bethlehem (Mic. 5:2; Matt. 2:1; Luke 2:4-6), later called out of Egypt (Hos. 11:1; Matt. 2:15) and reared in Galilee.

He was born to become King over the government of God (Isa. 9:6-7)—a position for which He qualified to replace Satan as this world’s ruler (Matt. 4:1-11). When Pilate asked Jesus if He was a king, Christ replied, “You say that I am a king. To this end was I born, and for this cause came I into the world, that I should bear witness unto the truth. Every one that is of the truth hears My voice” (John 18:37).

He also said, “My kingdom is not of this world: if My kingdom were of this world, then would My servants fight, that I should not be delivered to the Jews: but now is My kingdom not from here” (Jn 18:36). During His First Coming, Christ was also an ambassador, or representative, for God’s kingdom. He was a divine Messenger bringing a message from heaven—GOOD NEWS!—about the government He represented. At Christ’s Second Coming He will replace the governments of men with the government of God (Dan. 2:34-36, 44-45).

Yet billions of professing Christians today mistakenly believe Jesus’ message was about the Messenger! (This will be thoroughly covered in Chapter Sixteen.)

As the Son of God, Jesus was foretold to be born from the seed of Abraham and through the line of King David (Psa. 132:11). His genealogy was confirmed physically from the line of Mary, and legally through that of Joseph.

Christ was also a prophet “like unto” Moses (Deut. 18:15-18), of whom Peter declared, “And He shall send Jesus Christ, which before was preached unto you: whom the heaven must receive until the times of restitution of all things, which God has spoken by the mouth of all His holy prophets since the world began. For Moses truly said unto the fathers, A Prophet shall the Lord your God raise up unto you of your brethren, like unto me; Him shall you hear in all things whatsoever He shall say unto you” (Acts 3:20-22). Jesus partially fulfilled this at His First Coming.

Jesus Christ was a High Priest, not of Aaron, but of a priesthood that had no beginning or end, “after the order of Melchizedek” (Psa. 110:4; Heb. 5:5-6; 6:20; see inset in Chapter Seven.)

And, of course, He was, and is, mankind’s Saviour. Prophecy explained Jesus would be hated and rejected, a stone of stumbling (Psa. 69:4; 118:22; Isa. 8:14)—betrayed by a friend (Psa. 41:9; 55:12-14) and sold for 30 pieces of silver (Zech. 11:12-13)—forsaken by His disciples (Zech. 13:7)—even forsaken by God (Psa. 22:1), as Jesus took on the penalty of death upon His sacrifice, becoming sin. God cannot dwell with sin (Isa. 59:2).

The inset about prophecies Christ fulfilled expands this list.

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