Is Jesus reading from a copy?
Luke 4:16-21 And he came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up: and, as his custom was, he went into the synagogue on the sabbath day, and stood up for to read. And there was delivered unto him the book of the prophet Esaias. And when he had opened the book, he found the place where it was written, The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised, To preach the acceptable year of the Lord. And he closed the book, and he gave it again to the minister, and sat down. And the eyes of all them that were in the synagogue were fastened on him. And he began to say unto them, This day is this scripture fulfilled in your ears.
Quiz #1 based on Luke 4:16-21: (answer key below)
- What city was Jesus in?
- What book was Jesus reading from?
- What city was Isaiah a prophet to?
- How far is Nazareth from the city that Isaiah was a prophet to?
- How many years have passed between the time of the prophet Isaiah to the time of Jesus' earthly ministry?
- Was Jesus reading from "the original autographs", or was Jesus reading from a copy?
- What does Jesus call the copy of the book that he is reading from?
Answer Key:
- Nazareth
- the book of Isaiah
- Jerusalem
- 90 miles
- 700 years
- a copy
- scripture (see verse 21)
Lesson wrap-up:
Jesus is reading from a copy of the original autographs that have been preserved for 700 years and found in a location 90 miles away. Jesus, the son of God, and the author of the scriptures, testifies that the copy He is reading from has been perfectly preserved because he calls it the scriptures in Luke 4:21.
Preservation takes place in copies. And Jesus says that copies have as much authority as the ORIGINALS. It's all because of God's promise of preservation.
If God didn't or couldn't preserve His word, we wouldn't have an inerrant Bible today.