Thus Saith the Lord?
“Thus saith the Lord” are the well known words that proceed the majority of the prophesies in the Old Testament. Even if not in these exact words, the Christian prophets always spoke their prophesies “in God’s name.” They were making sure their audience knew that the words spoken after, were not their own and were not spoken as simply opinion, but were the actual words of God Himself. The prophesy that followed wasn’t always of the future. Sometimes it was simply God’s words to the people; telling them how they were acting and usually how they should straighten up.
The prophets spoke a phrase resembling “thus saith the Lord” before they began speaking to help establish and prove the authority of the statements as coming from God. Stating these words (or a similar phrase) before a prophesy was a process known and expected by the people for hundreds of years. A few examples of the many times this occurs in the Old Testament are as follows: The prophet Haggai begins a prophesy with the phrase in Haggai 1:5, 1:7, and 2:11 as well as others. The phrase is scattered all throughout Ezekiel. Examples of this are 32:11, 7:5, and many others. As is it scattered throughout Amos (i.e. Amos 5:4) and Jeremiah (i.e. 26:2). Even false prophets in Jeremiah proclaimed to speak “in God’s name” to give credit and authority to their stories (Jeremiah 23:25). These false prophets were actually the greatest hindrance to the acceptance of Jeremiah’s preaching because of the weight the people thought their words contained.
When Jesus came on the scene following John, He did not begin His most famous sermon, the sermon on the mount, with “Thus saith the Lord.” He simply, began preaching. “Now when he saw the crowds, he went up on a mountainside and sat down, His disciples came to him, and he began to teach them, saying...”(Matt. 5:1-2) Then the book of Matthew closes the story of the sermon on the mount with, “When Jesus had finished saying these things, the crowds were amazed at his teaching, because he taught as one who had authority, and not as their teachers of the law.” (Matt. 7:28-29) Jesus’ audience was taken aback. Jesus didn’t begin by establishing God’s authority in His statements. The audience realized that He was speaking with His own authority. This was completely unheard of. The Amplified Bible shows in more depth just how shocked the people were. “When Jesus had finished these sayings the crowds were astonished and overwhelmed with bewildered wonder at His teaching, For He was teaching as One Who had [and was] authority, and not as [did] the scribes” (The Amplified Bible Matt. 7:28-29). John MacArthur, in his book The MacArthur New Testament Commentary Matthew 1-7, seems to agree that this was a big change in pace for the people. He says, “The greatest preacher who ever lived preached the greatest sermon ever preached...He quoted no sources, no ancient rabbis, no revered tradition. When He spoke, He spoke on His own authority. That was unheard of among the Jews, who always derived their authority from recognized sources” (MacArthur, 136).
Matthew’s wording in Matt. 5:2 shows his realization himself of the authority that Jesus is using. “And opening His mouth He began to teach them, saying...” Matthew wasn’t just stating the obvious to be flowery with words but, in his day, this was a “colloquialism used to introduce a message that was especially solemn and important. It was also used to indicate intimate, heartfelt testimony or sharing. Jesus’ sermon was both authoritative and intimate; it was of the utmost importance and was delivered with the utmost concern” (MacArthur, 138). Obviously the gospel writer Matthew would recognize and accept Jesus as having His own authority. What’s interesting though, is his choosing to compose the introduction to the sermon on the mount in a way that elicits such a call to respect of the words of Jesus. He’s pretty much saying to anyone who reads the gospel of Matthew after the fact, “Hey, this Jesus has authority and an important message. Listen up.”
This first official sermon is the first time we see Jesus claim His own authority rather than attributing His words to God to gain authority. From this point on, instances happen time and time again when Jesus claims his own authority and the people are confused and get offended. An example of where this happens again is just a few chapters later in Matthew thirteen. “He came to His hometown and began teaching them in their synagogue, so that they were astonished, and said, ‘Where did this man get this wisdom and these miraculous powers? Is not this the carpenter's son? Is not His mother called Mary, and His brothers, James and Joseph and Simon and Judas? And His sisters, are they not all with us? Where then did this man get all these things?’ And they took offense at Him.” (Matt. 13:54) Jesus didn’t claim His wisdom or miraculous powers in God’s name. He didn’t say, “Hey, I have something to tell you from God.” He just spoke and expected the audience to heed His messages because they were His messages.
Jesus was the first person/prophet the people had ever listened to that claimed His own authority and this upset the people. Lloyd-Jones says in his book Studies in the Sermon on the Mount that, “It is not surprising that these people as they sat and listened said: What does He mean; and who is this man, this carpenter who looks like ourselves?” The people were attacking Jesus’ claimed authority. Had He spoken “thus saith the Lord,” the people would have known who he was. He was a prophet of God. But, because he claimed His own authority the people wanted to know why He was due this respect, where he had gotten the authority from, and were confused by the fact that they thought he was just another regular guy. “Who is this person who talks like this? Who is this man, this carpenter from Nazareth, who asks us to be ready to suffer for Him, and tells us we shall be blessed indeed of God if we do; who says, ‘Rejoice, and be exceeding glad: for great is your reward in heaven’ if you suffer injustice and persecution ‘for my sake’? Who is this?” (MacArthur). Also, for the first time, the preacher was telling the audience to do things for Him or in reference to Him or directed at Him. He doesn’t ask the audience to do things for God’s sake and he doesn’t allude to any other teachers. Jesus’ sermon is all about what we should do for His name sake. Jesus says “my” over and over again throughout the sermon on the mount.
Jesus being the first teacher/prophet to claim His own authority was a big deal. And the first sign of this complete change in pace is found in not speaking the words, “Thus saith the Lord.” Jesus expected the people to respect His words to the point of living their lives based upon them, but didn’t claim anyone’s authority but His own. The people had an extremely hard time accepting that. He spoke like a prophet, sat like a rabbi, captivated his audience like a homiletical genius and yet the people were confused. And it all started with a simple omitted phrase: “Thus saith the Lord.”
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