There is a lot of controversy about who wrote the books of the Bible and when they were written. Especially when it comes to the books of the Old Testament. Jewish and Christian traditions have usually attributed many Old Testament books to specific individuals having written their books very close to the time the events depicted in those books occurred. A number of biblical scholars, pointing to textual clues, believe most of the Old Testament was written by anonymous authors often hundreds of years after the events depicted in those books. They would have you believe that many events that were written as if they were prophecies of future events were actually recent historical events veiled as prophecies. They might try to summarize most of the Old Testament as collections of stories, myths, and legends gathered by anonymous authors often hundreds of years after the events described. The implied question that begs is, “Who could put much faith in myths and legends?”
Even if one accepts their late dating of the writing of those books, all the books of the Old Testament were obviously completed by 167 BC, more than 150 years before Jesus was born. By some counts there are more than 350 prophecies of the coming Messiah in the Old Testament, most of which were fulfilled in the person of Jesus Christ. The only ones not yet fulfilled are because they refer to His second coming. Those prophecies do not appear only in one or two books but in all of the books of the Old Testament.
Below is a sample of some of those prophecies arranged in the order of the books of the Old Testament in which they appear. Most of these prophecies are listed in https://www.newtestamentchristians.com/bible-study-resources/351-old-testament-prophecies-fulfilled-in-jesus-christ/.
Genesis 3:15 “And
I will put enmity
Between you and the woman,
And between your seed and her Seed;
He shall bruise your head,
And you shall bruise His heel.”
This is the only place in the Bible that talks about the seed of a woman. In all other cases when they talk about this kind of seed it is the seed of a man. This is a reference to the virgin birth of Christ. In this passage, God is speaking to Satan who is disguised as a serpent. In the last two lines of this verse God tells Satan that the Messiah will receive an injury from Satan but He will deliver a fatal blow to Satan. The book of Genesis contains at least 19 more prophecies or allusions to the life of Christ.
Exodus 12:21-23 21 Then Moses called for all the elders of Israel and said to them, “Pick out and take lambs for yourselves according to your families, and kill the Passover lamb. 22 And you shall take a bunch of hyssop, dip it in the blood that is in the basin, and strike the lintel and the two doorposts with the blood that is in the basin. And none of you shall go out of the door of his house until morning. 23 For the Lord will pass through to strike the Egyptians; and when He sees the blood on the [a]lintel and on the two doorposts, the Lord will pass over the door and not allow the destroyer to come into your houses to strike you.
This is a description of the first Passover when the Israelites are told to sacrifice a lamb and mark their doors with the blood of the lamb so that they will be protected from death. In John 1:36, John the Baptist called Jesus “the Lamb of God”. In a similar fashion, Jesus’ blood protects us from the death we so richly deserve because of our sins. The book of Exodus contains at least 8 more prophecies or allusions to Jesus.
Leviticus 16:27 The bull for the sin offering and the goat for the sin offering, whose blood was brought in to make atonement in the Holy Place, shall be carried outside the camp. And they shall burn in the fire their skins, their flesh, and their offal.
This passage foreshadows that the Messiah, our final offering for sin, will be killed outside the city. The book of Leviticus contains at least 6 more prophecies or allusions to Jesus.
Numbers 9:12 They shall leave none of it until morning, nor break one of its bones. According to all the [a]ordinances of the Passover they shall keep it.
This passage details instructions for celebrating the Passover. The instruction not to break any bones of the Passover lamb foreshadows that none of Jesus’ bones would be broken. The book of Numbers contains at least two more prophecies or allusions to Jesus.
Deuteronomy 18:15-19 15 “The Lord your God will raise up for you a Prophet like me from your midst, from your brethren. Him you shall hear, 16 according to all you desired of the Lord your God in Horeb in the day of the assembly, saying, ‘Let me not hear again the voice of the Lord my God, nor let me see this great fire anymore, lest I die.’
17 “And the Lord said to me: ‘What they have spoken is good. 18 I will raise up for them a Prophet like you from among their brethren, and will put My words in His mouth, and He shall speak to them all that I command him. 19 And it shall be that whoever will not hear My words, which He speaks in My name, I will require it of him.
This passage tells us that God will raise up a prophet like Moses and that we really need to pay attention to this prophet’s words since they are really the words of God. The book of Deuteronomy contains at least 4 more prophecies or allusions to Jesus Christ.
Joshua 5:14-15 14 So He said, “No, but as Commander of the army of the Lord I have now come.” And Joshua fell on his face to the earth and worshiped, and said to Him, “What does my Lord say to His servant?” 15 Then the Commander of the Lord’s army said to Joshua, “Take your sandal off your foot, for the place where you stand is holy.” And Joshua did so.
This is the first appearance of the Commander of the Lord’s army. When Jesus returns He will be the Commander of the Lord’s army.
Joshua 24:15 15 And if it seems evil to you to serve the Lord, choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods which your fathers served that were on the other side of [a]the River, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you dwell. But as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.”
This passage is not specifically a prophecy of the coming Messiah but it does contain a relevant question for us today regarding Christ. Who will you serve?
Judges: While no specific passage in this book seems to tell us about the Messiah, the pattern that is repeated many times in this book can. The pattern is that Israel sins, usually by worshiping other gods, God allows enemies to oppress Israel, the people cry out to God for help, and God raises up a hero/leader to free them from their oppressors. In a similar way when we sin, we can cry out to Jesus and he will free us and cleanse us from our sins.
In the book of Ruth, Boaz is a near relative of Naomi’s and Ruth’s husbands. He chooses to marry Ruth and raise up children to the dead men’s legacy thereby becoming their kinsman redeemer. Faith in the work of Jesus Christ makes us children of God and makes Jesus our kinsman redeemer.
1 Samuel 2:10 The adversaries of the Lord shall be broken in pieces; From heaven He will thunder against them. The Lord will judge the ends of the earth. “He will give strength to His king, And exalt the [a]horn of His anointed.”
Jesus is the Lord’s anointed and our everlasting king.
1 Samuel 2:35 3Then I will raise up for Myself a faithful priest who shall do according to what is in My heart and in My mind. I will build him a sure house, and he shall walk before My anointed forever.
The Messiah will be a faithful priest who will do God’s will forever.
2 Samuel 7:12-13 12 “When your days are fulfilled and you rest with your fathers, I will set up your seed after you, who will come from your body, and I will establish his kingdom. 13 He shall build a house for My name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever.
In this passage, Nathan the prophet is giving king David a message from God. The Messiah will be a descendant of David and will rule an everlasting kingdom. There are at least 3 more references to the Messiah in the book of 2 Samuel.
1 Kings 3:16-28 16 Now two women who were harlots came to the king, and stood before him. 17 And one woman said, “O my lord, this woman and I dwell in the same house; and I gave birth while she was in the house. 18 Then it happened, the third day after I had given birth, that this woman also gave birth. And we were together; [a]no one was with us in the house, except the two of us in the house. 19 And this woman’s son died in the night, because she lay on him. 20 So she arose in the middle of the night and took my son from my side, while your maidservant slept, and laid him in her bosom, and laid her dead child in my bosom. 21 And when I rose in the morning to nurse my son, there he was, dead. But when I had examined him in the morning, indeed, he was not my son whom I had borne.”
22 Then the other woman said, “No! But the living one is my son, and the dead one is your son.”
And the first woman said, “No! But the dead one is your son, and the living one is my son.”
Thus they spoke before the king.
23 And the king said, “The one says, ‘This is my son, who lives, and your son is the dead one’; and the other says, ‘No! But your son is the dead one, and my son is the living one.’ ” 24 Then the king said, “Bring me a sword.” So they brought a sword before the king. 25 And the king said, “Divide the living child in two, and give half to one, and half to the other.”
26 Then the woman whose son was living spoke to the king, for she yearned with compassion for her son; and she said, “O my lord, give her the living child, and by no means kill him!”
But the other said, “Let him be neither mine nor yours, but divide him.”
27 So the king answered and said, “Give the first woman the living child, and by no means kill him; she is his mother.”
28 And all Israel heard of the judgment which the king had rendered; and they feared the king, for they saw that the wisdom of God was in him to administer justice.
This passage is a picture of real justice in judgement and also illustrates the justice in judgement that Christ will bring in the final days of this age.
2 Kings 2:11 Then it happened, as they continued on and talked, that suddenly a chariot of fire appeared with horses of fire, and separated the two of them; and Elijah went up by a whirlwind into heaven.
This verse illustrates the bodily ascension into heaven of Christ after His resurrection.
1 Chronicles 17:11-13 11 And it shall be, when your days are fulfilled, when you must [a]go to be with your fathers, that I will set up your seed after you, who will be of your sons; and I will establish his kingdom. 12 He shall build Me a house, and I will establish his throne forever. 13 I will be his Father, and he shall be My son; and I will not take My mercy away from him, as I took it from him who was before you.
This is a message from God to David that one of his son’s will sit on an eternal throne. Jesus is that descendant of David who is sitting on an eternal throne.
2 Chronicles 7:18 then I will establish the throne of your kingdom, as I covenanted with David your father, saying, ‘You shall not fail to have a man as ruler in Israel.’
In this verse, God is telling Solomon the same promise He told to David that an eternal king will come through his lineage.
The book of Ezra describes the rebuilding of the temple in Jerusalem after the exile to Babylon. The book of Nehemiah describes the rebuilding of the walls around Jerusalem. These two books are a picture of the way Jesus can rebuild our lives after they have been shattered and broken by sin.
The book of Esther is unique in the Bible in that it does not mention God or even prayer and yet it is easy to see God at work, moving in the events to control the outcome and prevent the destruction of the Jews. In John 5:17 Jesus tells us, “My Father has been working until now, and I have been working.”, alluding to the fact that God is always at work in our lives.
Job 19:25- 27 25 For I know that my Redeemer lives, And He shall stand at last on the earth; 26 And after my skin is [a]destroyed, this I know, That in my flesh I shall see God, 27 Whom I shall see for myself, And my eyes shall behold, and not another. How my [b]heart yearns within me!
Jesus will be a human being and through faith in him we will experience bodily resurrection and eternal life with God.
Job 9:32-33 32 “For He is not a man, as I am,
That I may answer Him,
And that we should go to court together.
33 Nor is there any mediator between us,
Who may lay his hand on us both.
Here Job is bemoaning the fact that he has no mediator between himself and God, Jesus is our mediator between us and God.
Psalm 2 Why do the nations rage,
And the people plot a vain thing?
2 The kings of the earth set themselves,
And the rulers take counsel together,
Against the Lord and against His Anointed,saying,
3 “Let us break Their bonds in pieces
And cast away Their cords from us.”
4 He who sits in the heavens shall laugh;
The Lord shall hold them in derision.
5 Then He shall speak to them in His wrath,
And distress them in His deep displeasure:
6 “Yet I have set My King
on My holy hill of Zion.”
7 “I will declare the [g]decree:
The Lord has said to Me,
‘You are My Son,
Today I have begotten You.
8 Ask of Me, and I will give You
The nations for Your inheritance,
And the ends of the earth for Your possession.
9 You shall [h]break
them with a rod of iron;
You shall dash them to pieces like a potter’s vessel.’ ”
10 Now therefore, be wise, O kings;
Be instructed, you judges of the earth.
11 Serve the Lord with fear,
And rejoice with trembling.
12 Kiss the Son, lest He be angry,
And you perish in the way,
When His wrath is kindled but a little.
Blessed are all those who put their trust in Him.
Every verse in this psalm is a reference to Jesus and to the things going on all over the earth today. The leaders of practically every nation on earth are hell-bent on removing all moral constraints from their laws. God is going to have the last word. In the book of Psalms there are at least 100 references to Christ and his coming.
Proverbs 1:23 Turn at my rebuke;
Surely I will pour out my spirit on you;
I will make my words known to you.
Here is a picture of the Holy Spirit being made available to all believers through faith in Jesus Christ.
Proverbs 8 Does not wisdom cry out,
And understanding lift up her voice?
2 She takes her stand on the top of the [a]high
hill,
Beside the way, where the paths meet.
3 She cries out by the gates, at the entry of the city,
At the entrance of the doors:
4 “To you, O men, I call,
And my voice is to the sons of men.
5 O you [b]simple
ones, understand prudence,
And you fools, be of an understanding heart.
6 Listen, for I will speak of excellent things,
And from the opening of my lips will come right things;
7 For my mouth will speak truth;
Wickedness is an abomination to my lips.
8 All the words of my mouth are with righteousness;
Nothing crooked or perverse is in them.
9 They are all plain to him who understands,
And right to those who find knowledge.
10 Receive my instruction, and not silver,
And knowledge rather than choice gold;
11 For wisdom is better than rubies,
And all the things one may desire cannot be compared with her.
12 “I, wisdom, dwell with prudence,
And find out knowledge and discretion.
13 The fear of the Lord
is to hate evil;
Pride and arrogance and the evil way
And the perverse mouth I hate.
14 Counsel is mine, and sound wisdom;
I am understanding, I have strength.
15 By me kings reign,
And rulers decree justice.
16 By me princes rule, and nobles,
All the judges of [c]the
earth.
17 I love those who love me,
And those who seek me diligently will find me.
18 Riches and honor are with me,
Enduring riches and righteousness.
19 My fruit is better than gold, yes, than fine gold,
And my revenue than choice silver.
20 I [d]traverse
the way of righteousness,
In the midst of the paths of justice,
21 That I may cause those who love me to inherit wealth,
That I may fill their treasuries.
22 “The Lord
possessed me at the beginning of His way,
Before His works of old.
23 I have been established from everlasting,
From the beginning, before there was ever an earth.
24 When there were no depths I was brought forth,
When there were no fountains abounding with water.
25 Before the mountains were settled,
Before the hills, I was brought forth;
26 While as yet He had not made the earth or the [e]fields,
Or the [f]primal
dust of the world.
27 When He prepared the heavens, I was there,
When He drew a circle on the face of the deep,
28 When He established the clouds above,
When He strengthened the fountains of the deep,
29 When He assigned to the sea its limit,
So that the waters would not transgress His command,
When He marked out the foundations of the earth,
30 Then I was beside Him as [g]a
master craftsman;
And I was daily His delight,
Rejoicing always before Him,
31 Rejoicing in His inhabited world,
And my delight was with the sons of men.
32 “Now therefore, listen to me, my
children,
For blessed are those who keep my ways.
33 Hear instruction and be wise,
And do not disdain it.
34 Blessed is the man who listens to me,
Watching daily at my gates,
Waiting at the posts of my doors.
35 For whoever finds me finds life,
And obtains favor from the Lord;
36 But he who sins against me wrongs his own soul;
All those who hate me love death.”
What a beautiful picture of the immeasurable value of wisdom. That wisdom is available to us through faith in Jesus Christ. Proverbs 1:7 tells us “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge,
But fools despise wisdom and instruction.”
Ecclesiastes
3:1-8 1To everything there is a season,
A time for every purpose under heaven:
2 A time [a]to
be born,
And a time to die;
A time to plant,
And a time to pluck what is planted;
3 A time to kill,
And a time to heal;
A time to break down,
And a time to build up;
4 A time to weep,
And a time to laugh;
A time to mourn,
And a time to dance;
5 A time to cast away stones,
And a time to gather stones;
A time to embrace,
And a time to refrain from embracing;
6 A time to gain,
And a time to lose;
A time to keep,
And a time to throw away;
7 A time to tear,
And a time to sew;
A time to keep silence,
And a time to speak;
8 A time to love,
And a time to hate;
A time of war,
And a time of peace.
In Galatians 4:4 Paul writes, “But when the fullness of the time had come, God sent forth His Son, born[a] of a woman, born under the law…”, alluding to the same principle expounded in Ecclesiastes 3.
The whole book, Song of Solomon (Song of Songs in some translations), is a metaphoric picture of God’s love for us and His desperate search to bring us back to Himself. His great love for us is demonstrated in His willingness to send His only Son, Jesus, and Jesus’ willingness to die a cruel death on a cross to redeem us from our sins so we can be together with Him in Heaven.
Isaiah 7:14-16 14 Therefore the Lord Himself will give you a sign: Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a Son, and shall call His name Immanuel.[a] 15 Curds and honey He shall eat, that He may know to refuse the evil and choose the good. 16 For before the Child shall know to refuse the evil and choose the good, the land that you dread will be forsaken by both her kings.
This passage gives us an interesting insight into the way Bible prophecy sometimes works. The background of the passage is that the kings of two countries have made an alliance to join their armies, destroy Judah, and replace Ahaz as king of Judah. Isaiah was sent by God to tell him not to worry. Soon both of those kings will be dead and their counties destroyed. Isaiah then tells Ahaz to ask for a sign from God to assure him that all this will happen. Ahaz refuses to ask for a sign. The passage quoted above is God’s response through Isaiah. In Hebrew, the word translated “virgin” can also mean simply a young woman. At the time this prophecy was first proclaimed, it was only interpreted as a description of a time frame for these things to happen. I am quite certain that up until the birth of Jesus, no Jewish scholar was looking for a virgin birth as a sign of the Messiah. It wasn’t until at least the annunciation to Mary and probably afterwards that the connection was made.
There are at least 124 other references to the Messiah in the book of Isaiah.
Jeremiah 23:5 “Behold, the days are coming,” says the Lord,
“That I will raise to David a Branch of righteousness;
A King shall reign and prosper,
And execute judgment and righteousness in the earth.
The Messiah will be a descendant of David. This is also one of the passages that use “Branch” as a name for the Messiah. There are at least 4 other verses in Jeremiah that tell us about the Messiah.
The book of Lamentations was written by Jeremiah as a lament over the destruction of Jerusalem by Babylon in 587 or 586 BC. He probably didn’t know it at the time but it is also a prophecy of the next destruction of Jerusalem by the Romans in 70 AD after the Jews rejected Jesus as being the Messiah.
Ezekiel 34:23 I will establish one shepherd over them, and he shall feed them—My servant David. He shall feed them and be their shepherd.
Here we are told not only that the Messiah will be a descendant of David but also that He will be like a Good Shepherd. Ezekiel 37:24 is another similar statement.
Daniel 9:26 “And
after the sixty-two weeks
Messiah shall [a]be
cut off, but not for Himself;
And the people of the prince who is to come
Shall destroy the city and the sanctuary.
The end of it shall be with a flood,
And till the end of the war desolations are determined.
This verse not only tell us of the death of the Messiah but also foretells the destruction of Jerusalem that occurred in 70 AD. There are at least 11 other prophecies of the Messiah in the book of Daniel.
Hosea 11:1 “When Israel was a [a]child, I loved him, And out of Egypt I called My son.
After Jesus was born, Herod wanted to kill him so His parents took Him to Egypt. After Herod died they brought him back and settled in Nazareth.
Hosea 13:14 “I
will ransom them from the [a]power
of [b]the
grave;
I will redeem them from death.
O Death, [c]I
will be your plagues!
O [d]Grave,
[e]I
will be your destruction!
Pity is hidden from My eyes.”
The Messiah will defeat death for all believers.
Joel 2:32 And it
shall come to pass
That whoever calls on the name of the Lord
Shall be [a]saved.
For in Mount Zion and in Jerusalem there shall be [b]deliverance,
As the Lord has said,
Among the remnant whom the Lord
calls.
The Messiah provides salvation for all who believe.
Amos 8:11-12 11 “Behold,
the days are coming,” says the Lord God,
“That I will send a famine on the land,
Not a famine of bread,
Nor a thirst for water,
But of hearing the words of the Lord.
12 They shall wander from sea to sea,
And from north to east;
They shall run to and fro, seeking the word of the Lord,
But shall not find it.
This is a prophecy of the fact that there were no prophets in Israel for 500 years before Jesus.
Obadiah 1:17 “But
on Mount Zion there shall be [a]deliverance,
And there shall be holiness;
The house of Jacob shall possess their possessions.
This prophecy tells us deliverance will come through Mount Zion. Jesus is that deliverance and he was crucified just outside Jerusalem (Mount Zion) to give us that deliverance.
Jonah 1:17 Now the Lord had prepared a great fish to swallow Jonah. And Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights.
Jesus Himself is quoted as alluding to this verse in both Matthew 16:4 and Luke 11:29 as a reference to how long He would remain in the grave.
Micah 5:2 “But
you, Bethlehem Ephrathah,
Though you are little among the thousands of Judah,
Yet out of you shall come forth to Me
The One to be Ruler in Israel,
Whose goings forth are from of old,
From [a]everlasting.”
Jesus would be born in Bethlehem, He will be the Ruler, and He has always existed with God. After Jesus’ birth, when the Magi came to Jerusalem to look for him, this was the verse that was quoted by the Jewish leaders to tell the Magi where to look for Him.
Nahum 1:15 Behold,
on the mountains
The feet of him who brings good tidings,
Who proclaims peace!
O Judah, keep your appointed feasts,
Perform your vows.
For the [a]wicked
one shall no more pass through you;
He is utterly cut off.
Jesus brought the ultimate in good tidings and peace.
Habakkuk 2:14 For the earth will be filled
With the knowledge of the glory of the Lord,
As the waters cover the sea.
The church will continue to grow until everyone in the world has had a chance to hear the good news.
The whole book of Zephaniah is a description of the judgement on the whole earth in the day of the Lord. When that day comes Jesus will be the judge.
Haggai 2:6-9 6 “For thus says the Lord of hosts: ‘Once more (it is a little while) I will shake heaven and earth, the sea and dry land; 7 and I will shake all nations, and they shall come to the [a]Desire of All Nations, and I will fill this [b]temple with glory,’ says the Lord of hosts. 8 ‘The silver is Mine, and the gold is Mine,’ says the Lord of hosts. 9 ‘The glory of this latter [c]temple shall be greater than the former,’ says the Lord of hosts. ‘And in this place I will give peace,’ says the Lord of hosts.”
The Messiah will visit the temple.
Haggai 2:23 ‘In that day,’ says the Lord of hosts, ‘I will take you, Zerubbabel My servant, the son of Shealtiel,’ says the Lord, ‘and will make you like a signet ring; for I have chosen you,’ says the Lord of hosts.”
The Messiah would be a descendant of Zerubbabel. Zerubbabel is also a descendant of David.
Zechariah 6:11-13 11 Take the silver and gold, make an[a] elaborate crown, and set it on the head of Joshua the son of Jehozadak, the high priest. 12 Then speak to him, saying, ‘Thus says the Lord of hosts, saying:
“Behold, the Man
whose name is the BRANCH!
From His place He shall [b]branch
out,
And He shall build the temple of the Lord;
13 Yes, He shall build the temple of the Lord.
He shall bear the glory,
And shall sit and rule on His throne;
So He shall be a priest on His throne,
And the counsel of peace shall be between [c]them
both.” ’
In this passage we are actually told what Jesus name was going to be. For those of us who only read the English language, the Bible has to be translated from the original languages. Most of the Old testament was written in Hebrew. Most of the New Testament was written in Greek. When names appear in the original text they are not usually translated (that would be where they tell us the meaning of the name) but transliterated. In transliteration they take the name letter by letter from the original language and give us the target language letter that most sounds like the original. That way a target language reader would probably pronounce the name much like an original language speaker would have said it. The result is really only an approximation.
The Old Testament names were transliterated once from Hebrew to English. New Testament names were transliterated at least twice, maybe three times. Most of the New Testament writers wrote in Greek but were native Aramaic speakers. When they wrote names, they transliterated from Aramaic to Greek. When the New Testament was translated to English, names were again transliterated from Greek to English. There is also a possibility that when Jesus’ parents named Him they transliterated His name from Hebrew to Aramaic.
All this to say, the name, Jesus, in the New Testament is the same name as Joshua in the Old Testament. The passage from Zechariah also tells us that Jesus will be both a priest and a king. There are also 29 other prophecies of the Messiah in the book of Zachariah.
Malachi 3:1 “Behold,
I send My messenger,
And he will prepare the way before Me.
And the Lord, whom you seek,
Will suddenly come to His temple,
Even the Messenger of the covenant,
In whom you delight.
Behold, He is coming,”
Says the Lord of hosts.
This passage tells us a messenger will prepare the way for the Messiah. This was fulfilled in John the Baptist. There are two other prophecies of Christ in the book of Malachi.
There are prophecies or pictures of who the Messiah will be and what He will do in all the books in the Old Testament with a total of over 350 specific references. After Christ returns, it may become apparent that there are more.
I don’t care when you think the books of the Old Testament were written. We can be absolutely certain they were all completed in their current form at least 150 years before Jesus was born. I also don’t care who you think actually had their hand on the pen when they were written. Nobody but God could have given us this much detail about anyone, especially 150 to over 1000 years before that person was born. As Paul wrote in 2 Timothy 3:16, “All Scripture is God-breathed…”. We need to take all Scripture very seriously.