John 5:46-47 (NIV): If you believed Moses, you would believe me, for he wrote about me. But since you do not believe what he wrote, how are you going to believe what I say?”
There are many today, even among the churched, who do not believe Moses, and therefore will not, cannot, believe Jesus. Many of them are not primarily to blame for their disbelief, because they have been taught from a very young age that the historical events depicted in Genesis through Deuteronomy (and even beyond) are not actual historical events. The first 11 chapters of Genesis are especially pointed out as being non-historical – merely poetry written to convey some theological truths.
But the fact is, today as in Jesus’ day, if you do not believe what Moses write, it will be difficult, if not impossible, to believe what Jesus said, because Jesus taught the same things, and repeatedly taught that the events in Genesis were actual historical events, accurately recorded. For example, in dealing with the divorce issue, Jesus pointed out that at the beginning (NOT billions of years later) God made people. He made them male and female, and they became one flesh – the model for marriage from the One who designed it. (cf., Matthew 19:1-6) When talking about the suddenness and unexpectedness of His return and the end of the world, Jesus refers back to the same kind of suddenness and unexpectedness when the flood was released in the days of Noah. (Matthew 24:36-41) He gave not the slightest signal that the flood was anything other than the literal, world-wide event that Moses proclaims it to be. By the way, Jesus also repeatedly supports the idea of Moses being the author of the Pentateuch.
To those who say that Jesus was merely a product of His time and only believed those things because He didn’t have access to the information that we do, they have merely proven Jesus’ statement to be true: since they don’t believe what Moses wrote, they have a significant block in their hearts against what Jesus taught. This includes the fact that Jesus was no mere man, no “product of His time;” He was and is the eternal God in the flesh – One who was not only present as an eyewitness to all of the events recorded in those early chapters of the Bible, but the cause that lay behind them and directed them. He was not a mere man educated in the Scriptures, but the very author of them, who breathed His words through the human authors, including Moses.
God is always trustworthy. He never lies, or ever shades the truth. He never tells us something false or non-historical as history. If He tells a story that didn’t really happen in order to illustrate a point, He clearly flags it as a parable. Therefore, we can know with all good assurance from God Himself, that we can believe that what Moses wrote is true and historically accurate. And that, of course, will open the door of our hearts to fully believe all that Jesus said, and to fully receive Him as our Savior.
Father, thank You for always telling us the truth, no matter what. Thank You for giving us clear information, not out of the often mistaken minds of men, but from Your own holy heart. Thank You that, as surely as the world of the past was lost to a worldwide flood, so our home with You in heaven will last forever. Amen.