Then He said to them, “These are the words which I spoke to you while I was still with you, that all things must be fulfilled which were written in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms concerning Me.” (Luke 24:44)

Jesus And The Law Of Moses

The canon of holy scripture is contained in what men have called “The Bible.” Through many centuries spanning nearly two thousand years, God’s divine will have been inscribed in written form for men to read and understand the will of God. There are many books written that are not contained in the Bible, but those books perfected in a complete revelation give all men the knowledge of salvation found in Jesus Christ. The original language of the scriptures was Hebrew, Chaldean, and Koine Greek. Moses wrote the first five books of the Bible 1400 years before Christ. John, the apostle, wrote the final message of the divine canon around 90 A.D. called the Revelation.

When Jesus came to earth, the section of the Bible called the Old Testament (in modern-day) was a complete revelation. The Hebrew arrangement was in four parts: Torah, Former Prophets, Latter Prophets, and the Writings (Hagiographa) and preserved as twenty-two books. Thirty-nine books are taken from the original twenty-two books of the Old Testament. In 280 B.C., the Hebrew Bible was translated to Greek and referred to as the LXX or Septuagint. Ferrell Jenkins observed, “More than half of the New Testament citations from the Old Testament are from the Septuagint.” Jesus had access to all of the books of the Old Testament, and it was His custom to be in the synagogue and engage in reading the books of the Old Testament.

After Jesus rose from the dead, He spent time with His disciples discussing the kingdom and the applications of the Old Testament to Himself and the will of God. Luke tells of a time when Jesus appeared to His disciples and began to open their understanding to comprehend the scriptures concerning Himself. Jesus says the words of scripture are about Him and the work of redeeming man from sin. He reminds them of the many things He taught them when He was with them before He was killed. Jesus then reminds the disciples that He was the fulfillment of all that is written in the Law of Moses, the Prophets, and the Psalms. The summation of Jesus in the Old Testament was three parts. He calls the first five books the Law of Moses. The Prophets contain the second and largest part of scripture (twenty-one books) and the Psalms, the remaining seventeen books.

Jesus calls the first five books of scripture the Law of Moses. This is what the Holy Spirit calls the books of Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy. They were the books of law or the Pentateuch. Joshua called the same books the Law of Moses. When David gave a blessing to Solomon, he wanted his son to keep the charge of the Lord to walk in His ways, to keep His statutes, His commandments, His judgments, and His testimonies, as it is written in the Law of Moses. The books of Kings and Chronicles all refer to the Law of Moses. Ezra was known as a skilled scribe in the Law of Moses. Nehemiah tells of when the people told Ezra to bring the Book of the Law of Moses, which the Lord had commanded Israel. Daniel remembers what is written in the Law of Moses in his prayer.

Jesus recognized the first five books as the Law of Moses. The law was from God to the Hebrews given at Mount Sinai and was a law delivered to the whole of Israel. Moses delivered the law to the twelve tribes of Israel to follow and obey, but they turned away from the law, and the Lord destroyed them. Jesus would come into the world to take away the Law of Moses, the Prophets, and the Psalms and establish a new covenant in His blood. The Old Testament serves as a lesson to the character of God, His law, and His mercy and wrath. Jesus said the Old Testament is about Him and the New Testament reveals the will of the Father to redeem man from sin. Thank God for the message of the Bible: Jesus Christ.