Christ in All of Scripture!

                                            

Jesus’ ministry was full of teaching, explaining, and fulfilling prophecy. But after His resurrection and before many believed that He had indeed risen, Jesus seized a unique opportunity to speak incognito to a couple of His disciples about a very important truth: the Old Testament was full of Him. This was one of the final lessons that His followers needed to understand before He ascended to heaven. It was deemed essential that they get a better grasp on what it would mean to preach the Word in all the days following.

In Luke 24:13-35: "....Then Jesus took them through the writings of Moses and all the prophets, explaining from all the Scriptures the things concerning himself...."

There are some foundational truths about proclaiming Christ through preaching.

1) The purpose of preaching is to proclaim Christ.
2) The task of preaching is to explain and apply Scripture.
3) The subject of preaching is Jesus Christ.
4) The fruit of preaching is conviction, then life change.

At Easter we think about the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, the central event in our redemption. It’s what all of history has pointed to, and it was foretold immediately after the first sin (Genesis 3:16). Jesus knew that he had come to die, and he taught his disciples not only that he would die and rise again, but specifically that he would rise on the third day. “From that time Jesus began to show his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and on the third day be raised” (Matthew 16:21).

The apostle Paul indicates that the third-day resurrection was even indicated in the Old Testament. In 1 Corinthians 15:4 he claims Jesus “was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures.”  Jesus Himself pointed to the experience of the prophet Jonah as a sign that he would die and rise in three days (Matthew 12:40). Jonah’s “resurrection” on the third day pointed to Christ’s resurrection.

 There are other “third day” references in the Old Testament that signified Jesus’ greater resurrection. One of the most detailed “signs” that comes to mind is Abraham’s attempt to offer Isaac, his son, as a sacrifice. The parallels to Jesus’ death and resurrection are remarkable—the father sacrifices his only son, but since this is on the human level, God provides a substitutionary sacrifice instead. The author of Hebrews shows that this event points to the resurrection: “By faith Abraham, when he was tested, offered up Isaac, and he who had received the promises was in the act of offering up his only son, of whom it was said, ‘Through Isaac shall your offspring be named.’ He considered that God was able even to raise him from the dead, from which, figuratively speaking, he did receive him back” (11:17–19).

It sometimes slips our notice that this “resurrection” of Isaac occurred on the “third day,” yet there it is in Genesis 22:4: “On the third day Abraham lifted up his eyes and saw the place from afar.”

So many other events happen specifically on the third day that it’s clear God has set apart this day as different.  The plague of darkness in Egypt was lifted on the third day (Exodus 10:22), God visited His people on Sinai on the third day (Exodus 19:11), and a sacrifice was complete on the third day. On the third day, the sacrifice was ended, finished, in the past (Leviticus 19:6–8). God’s people possessed the land on the third day (Joshua 1:11), manna ceased on the third day, and the people ate of the fruit of the promised land (Joshua 5:10–12). David was promised relief from pestilence on the third day (2 Samuel 24:13), the temple was finished and ready for worship on the third day (Ezra 6:15), and Esther was received by the King on the third day, sparing not only her life but the lives of all of God’s people as well (Esther 5:1-2). It seems that the third day was so well known as special that it came to be understood as the day for forgiveness, new life, and acceptance by God (Hosea 6:1–2).

Certainly, the sheer volume of “third day” passages reflects something more than a mere coincidence.

Where does this leave us? And why should we be interested in such signs, many of which seem to be very enigmatic?
First, God wants us to know that the death and resurrection of his Son was planned from all eternity. His suffering unto glory was no accident; no “Plan B.” God gave us “signs” from the beginning that pointed not only to Jesus’ redemption in general ways, but also to many of the details, such as the resurrection on the third day.
Second, when we start to see things like these signs woven into the fabric of the message of Scripture, we become overwhelmed with the literary beauty of God’s Word. Biblical doctrine isn’t simply cold, compressed truth presented in a dull framework. Just the opposite: God delights to reveal his character and his plans in a beautiful and complex work of literature that has no equal.
Third, this beauty and complexity teaches us God, not men, wrote the Bible. The unfolding unity of this book, written over a period of about 1,500 years, by 40 authors, many from different cultures, is nothing less than supernatural. When we see the consistency of the message, even in these often overlooked details, our faith is bolstered. In addition, you see God’s power at work. When we tell a story, we use flannel graphs or power point. Yet, far better than our word pictures, God has inspired in Scripture living and literary “pictures” to illustrate his redemptive purposes.

All in all, the study of signs in the Old Testament broadens and deepens our understanding and appreciation for the truths that are developed in the New Testament. In other words, if we pay attention to what God says in the Old Testament, we are better able to see the glory of Christ (John 12:41).

For that reason, take time to consider what “raised on the third day according to the Scriptures” means, and keep an eye out for those third day references too. You might find more than you first expected, just like disciples did on the morning of the third day.

Christ is at the organic center of the entire Bible’s redemptive message, and He's the goal of Old Testament revelation. In the profound words of Dr. Gaffin: “Christ is the mediatorial Lord and Savior of redemptive history not only at its end but also from beginning to end. He is not only its omega but also its alpha, and he is and can be its omega only as he is its alpha.”

Under the law, the 'gospel' was administered by promises, prophecies, sacrifices, circumcision, the paschal lamb, and other types and ordinances delivered to the people of the Jews, all foresignifying Christ to come; which were, for that time, sufficient and efficacious, through the operation of the Spirit, to instruct and build up the elect in faith in the promised Messiah, by whom they had full remission  of sins, and eternal salvation; and is called the Old Testament.

Under the gospel, when Christ, the substance, was exhibited, the ordinances in which this covenant is dispensed are the preaching of the Word, and the administration of the sacraments of baptism and the Lord’s Supper: which, though fewer in number, and administered with more simplicity, and less outward glory, yet, in them, it is held forth in more fullness, evidence, and spiritual efficacy, to all nations, both Jews and Gentiles; and is called the New Testament. There are not therefore two covenants of grace, differing in substance, but one and the same, under various dispensations.

May you know Christ as your own Savior and proclaim to others the gospel of his love. After all, that is what seeing Christ in all of Scripture is all about.