Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ Jesus
Glory & Praise to the Triune God in the Highest. In the previous session, Part 1, we learned that the Old Testament Scriptures bear witness to Jesus Christ. Also from the beginning to the end of His ministry Jesus declared that the whole prophetic testimony of the Old Testament, with all its rich diversity, converged upon him.
But Jesus' Jewish contemporaries missed this testimony. They were very diligent students of the Old Testament. They spent hours and hours in the most meticulous examination of the minutiae of the Old Testament Scripture. They used to count the number of words, even the number of letters, in every book of the Bible. They knew they had been entrusted with the oracles of God (Rom. 3:2). They somehow thought that an accumulation of detailed biblical knowledge would bring them into the right relationship with God. What an anomalous thing that was, to think that the Scriptures themselves could give eternal life! The Scriptures point to Christ as the Lifegiver and urge their readers to go to HIM for life. But instead of going to Christ to find life, they imagined that they could find life in the Scripture itself. It is somewhat like getting a prescription from the doctor and then swallowing the prescription instead of getting and taking the medicine.
Some of us make the same mistake. We have an almost superstitious attitude to Bible reading, as if it had some magical efficacy. But there is no magic in the Bible or in the mechanical reading of the Bible. The written Word points us to the Living Word and says to us, "Go to Jesus." If we do not go to Jesus to whom it points, we miss the whole purpose of Bible reading.
As Christians, we are not meant to 'worshipers of the Bible.' We should not worship the Bible; but worship the Christ of the Bible. We should not love the Bible for the book it is. But we love it only because we love Him of whom it speaks.
This is the main key to the understanding of Scriptures. The Bible is God's picture of Jesus. It bears witness to him. So whenever we are reading the Bible, we must look for Christ. For example, the Old Testament Law is our "schoolmaster" to bring us to Christ (Gal. 3:24). Because it condemns us for our disobedience, it makes Christ indispensable to us. It drives us to Him through whom alone we may find forgiveness.
Next, the Old Testament sacrifices foreshadow that perfect sacrifice for sin made once and for all upon the cross, the sacrifice of Christ for our redemption. Another example is the teaching of the Old Testament prophets who foretell then coming of the Messiah.
When we move into the New Testament, Jesus Christ comes yet more clearly into focus. The Gospels are full of Him. They speak of His birth and His public ministry, of His words and works, of His death and resurrection, and of His ascension and gift of the Holy Spirit. The books of Acts tells us what Jesus continued to do and teach through the apostles whom He has chosen and commissioned. The letters of the apostles set forth the glory of Jesus in his divine-human person and his saving work. When we come to the last book of the Bible, the Revelation, it too is full of Christ. For there we see him patrolling the churches on earth, sharing God's throne in Heaven, riding forth on a white horse conquering and coming in power and glory.
The old writers used to say that, just as in England every footpath and every country lane, linking on to others, will ultimately lead you to London, so every verse and every paragraph in the Bible, linking on to others, will ultimately lead you to Christ. The Scriptures bear witness to Him. That is the first truth which is very plainly taught in our text.
Dear Brothers and Sisters, we now come to a close on how the Bible bears witness to Jesus. In the next session, let us try to understand on how does Jesus bears witness to the Scriptures.
Your Brother in Jesus
Jobin
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