When the Lord Jesus was dealing with religious people, He was very wise. The Pharisees considered themselves to be very scriptural; they thought they did everything according to the Bible. They kept the Sabbath according to the Bible. But the Lord showed them that they really did not know the Bible at all. They knew the Bible in black and white letters, but they did not know it in the Spirit. They did not know the Bible in Christ. The Lord Jesus rebuked them by asking them whether they had read what David did. He reminded them about the time David and his followers went into the temple and ate the showbread which was unlawful for them to eat (1 Sam. 21:1-6; Lev. 24:9). He also asked whether they had read of the priests who were allowed to profane the Sabbath in the temple and be guiltless (Num. 28:9-10). As He spoke with them, the Lord Jesus revealed that He Himself is the greater temple and the present David (Matt. 12:3-7). Many religious ones only care for knowing the Bible, but God's intention is for us to know Christ. We should not simply know the Bible in letters; we must know Christ in the Spirit. We must know Christ in a living way and know Him as everything to us. To know the Bible apart from Christ means nothing.

The Lord Jesus revealed to the Pharisees, to His disciples, and even to us today that the primary matter is not to know the Bible, but to know the living Lord Jesus. Whatever is found in the Bible must be Christ. If there is a temple in the Bible, that temple must be Christ. If there is a King David in the Bible, he must be Christ. Even love in the Bible must be Christ. The Bible tells us to honor our parents, but that honor must be Christ Himself. Simply to know the Bible for the sake of knowing the Bible means nothing. We must know the Bible by Christ. We need to realize that every positive item found in the Bible must be Christ. Eventually the Lord Jesus told the Pharisees that He was even Lord of the Sabbath (Matt. 12:8). This is something more than His being the greater temple and present David. The Lord is the Lord! What the Lord means is this: even if there is no verse to justify what He is doing, He still has the right to do it because He is the Lord. He had the right to establish rules for observing the Sabbath, and He has the right to abolish those rules. He has the right to tell people to keep the Sabbath, and He has the right to tell people to break the Sabbath. He has the right because He is the Lord of the Sabbath.

It is quite difficult for the so-called scriptural people to break through the regulations. They are in bondage to what they think is the letter of the Bible. When we pray-read the words of the Bible, they ask if we have biblical ground for this. When we shout loudly as we are praising the Lord, they ask if we have a verse to justify this practice. They have been heavily burdened with regulations and Bible knowledge. They need to be released. They need to see that in the kingdom it is not a matter of knowing the Bible; it is a matter of knowing the living Lord Jesus.