All Scripture Points to Jesus

Hey church, and welcome to our first ever Mt Zion Bible Study Podcast. I am Pastor Jon Prater of Mt Zion church and I am really excited about trying out this new Bible Study format for the next few weeks.

This past week, September 15, 2019 we started a new series on the Bible called This or That where we are diving into 4 of the most common questions about the Bible. The idea in this series we are thinking about is the the Bible is not just a bilateral book- it is more than one thing or the other- the Bible is many things and a multilayered book. This past week I explained how the Bible is not just a history book- it is a spiritual book. It is a book that contains real people and real events in real time and space, but it is also a book that transforms us right here and right now.

This coming week our question is “Should I study both the NT and the OT?” So, in order to tackle that question we are going to build a bridge between last week and this week during this Bible study. One of my points that I didn’t spend a lot of time on this past week was that all Scripture points to Jesus. So today, for the next 20 minutes or so I want to show you how all Scripture points to Jesus, and it does so in one of four ways. The content of this study is based off of an article written by Bryan Chapell called “Four ways your Bible Points to Jesus” and you can find it at www.thegospelcoalition.org

It Predicts Jesus

The OT is full of prophecies and passages that predict Jesus. Some predict his birth, others his life and ministry, and some his dearth and Resurrection. Consider a passage like Isiah 9:6-7 :

English Standard Version Chapter 9

6  For to us a child is born,

to us a son is given;

and the government shall be upon his shoulder,

and his name shall be called

Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,

Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.

7  Of the increase of his government and of peace

there will be no end,

on the throne of David and over his kingdom,

to establish it and to uphold it

with justice and with righteousness

from this time forth and forevermore.

The zeal of the LORD of hosts will do this.

This passage, of course, tells of Jesus’ birth. How he would come into the world and how the people could recognize him. How about a passage like that predicts Jesus’ teaching:

English Standard Version Psalm 78

1  Give ear, O my people, to my teaching;

incline your ears to the words of my mouth!

2  I will open my mouth in a parable;

I will utter dark sayings from of old,

Our a passage that predicted Jesus’ death like

English Standard Version Psalm 38

Those who seek my life lay their snares;

those who seek my hurt speak of ruin

and meditate treachery all day long.

13  But I am like a deaf man; I do not hear,

like a mute man who does not open his mouth.

14  I have become like a man who does not hear,

and in whose mouth are no rebukes.

Each of these passages is an example of Scripture that predicts Jesus. When we speak of predicting Jesus what we mean is that the Scripture serves as an indicator of Jesus’ person, work, or ministry. These passages are primarily found in the OT. These Scriptures give us a kind of litmus test for examining who Jesus was in his place of history.

It is important to remember that Jesus was not the only person to claim to be divine- many have come along before Jesus, and after Jesus claiming to be God or God’s spokesperson. So, God provided the church with a plethora of Scriptures and prophecies to point out who Jesus would be. Using these we are able to identify Jesus’ identity as the actual Son of God.

These passages are not just feel good texts for us to read around Christmas or Easter, but they are systematic truths about Jesus and his life that point us to the person of Christ.

It Prepares for Jesus

I love this quote from Chapell in the article. He says “Grace doesn’t spring up like a surprise jack-in-the-box in the New Testament. God’s people were prepared for millennia to understand and receive the grace of Christ.”

Jesus’ ministry did not come out of nowhere, it had been prepared for and ushered in for generations. Think about passages like Abraham almost sacrificing Issac in , God provides another way- preparing hearts for Jesus and his ministry. Or the provision of the Ark during Noah’s flood; all the way up until John the Baptist arrives on the scene. Each of these stories and Scriptures prepares us for this new ministry that Jesus will establish.

Paul talks about this in .

The New International Version Chapter 3

Before the coming of this faith, we were held in custody under the law, locked up until the faith that was to come would be revealed. 24 So the law was our guardian until Christ came that we might be justified by faith. 25 Now that this faith has come, we are no longer under a guardian.

Now, we have a few ways to think about this word guardian. The word Paul uses is παιδαγωγός (Pie-dog-ga-gos) and it means moral caretaker. I think about this in terms of my kids. I have 4 kids, two of them given to be directly by God and 2 of them given to me by God through the vehicle of the state. God and the state have given me authority to be their guardian. This means I am charged with protecting, teaching, and providing for these kids until they come of age. Until that time they are my responsibility to take care of and bring up in an ethical and moral way according to the Word of God.

Paul says that up until the coming of faith- that is Jesus- that the law was our guardian. That means that the OT was used to prepare the people for this ministry of Jesus. Like a set of guardrails the law was not merely meant to set up rules and law, it was meant to point the people to their need for a Savior. These passages prepare for Jesus to arrive on the scene and do something new in the church.

So, as we read parts of the OT like the Levitical law, or the history books of Israel, the question at hand is how does this prepare for Jesus to show up and do something new; not by abolishing the law, but fulfilling it as he stated in . This also means that these passages are not pointless in the life of a believer today, but these passages remind us of why humans needed a savior in the first place.

It Reveals Jesus

Many of us are familiar with

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was in the beginning with God

How do we know what Jesus looks like? We look in the Scriptures. The Bible itself is the best manifestation of Jesus Christ. This book and tons of passages in it, paint us a picture of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Jesus Himself said this in - he hold the people that they thought the prophecies and Scriptures pointed to eternal life- but he says no! These Scriptures point to me. What is the difference? Jesus is the giver of eternal life, not the Bible. It is important to keep this context- the Bible points to Jesus and Jesus gives life- some bents of extreme conservatism in Christianity act as though the Bible is the agent of salvation- it is not. You can memorize the entire Bible cover to cover and not have eternal life if you do not surrender your life to Jesus.

The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2016), .

As a Pastor I am always encouraging you all as a congregation to read a passage of the Bible and think “How, then, should I live?” But perhaps that should not be our primary question. The questions that Chapell proposes in his article are:

What does this text reflect about the nature of God who provides redemption?

What does this text reflect about the nature of humanity that requires redemption?

A simpler question might be- how does this passage reveal Jesus? So when we read Paul’s words to the churches in Asia minor we must ask what does this reveal about Jesus?

Let’s think about a passage that is simple to apply this to :

English Standard Version Chapter 13

4 Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant 5 or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; 6 it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. 7 Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.

Often this passage is used at weddings as a way to elevate good behavior in marriages. We use it as a way of thinking about us and our relationships with our spouses. However, primarily this passages reveal something about Jesus and his character. More than describing love this passage describes Jesus.

It gives the Results of Jesus’ ministry

When asked “how do we know someone is a Jesus’ follower” the #1 and #2 answers are normally “their love” and “their fruit” but what do we mean by fruit? Does bringing others to church mean fruit? Does sending sympathy cards to sick mean fruit? Does volunteering at the Salvation Army mean fruit? This is where these passages come in, some passages point us to example of what a Jesus filled like looks like!

Consider passages like - the fruits of the Spirit, these passages are more than just instructions for our conduct, they are litmus tests for us to take inventory of who the Kingdom of God is within us.

If I want to asses my spiritual heath it is a little deeper than just asking “have i gone to church, read my Bible, and prayed lately?” To asses spiritual health we must also turn towards these passages and ask “How is my life reflected of these values and character traits found in Jesus?”

This is the “How, then, should we live” question I mentioned before. We ask ourselves first how a passage reveals Jesus and then ask how we should live in light of that. As we mentioned on Sunday, the Bible is more than a list of do’s and do not’s- the Bible is the story of faith.

The very first verse of the Bible, “In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth” — we know that that is the Lord Jesus Christ who was God’s agent in creation. , verse 3 says, “Everything that has come into being has been created by Christ,” and says that “all things are from Him and by Him and for Him.”

And then the last verse in the Bible, and verse 21: “The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ be with you. Amen.” That’s the bookends around the entire Bible. And so the whole Bible is a “Him” book. It’s all about Him, the Lord Jesus Christ.

The question for us to consider is not if Jesus is in the passage we are reading, but where is Jesus in the passage.

As a closing thought, remember the story of Emmaus? Two friends walking along and they are met by Christ- who they do not recognize? Jesus was in their midst and they missed him until the end. Could it be that many times our Bible study reflects that? That Jesus is in the midst of a passage about Moses, or David, or some obscure passage about genealogies, and we miss it? How can we be more open to the Jesus in every passage of this book.

I have four questions for you to think about this week in light of this study. I invite you to write them down and think about them, and perhaps we can talk about them when we see each other:or maybe you can listen to this BS with your spouse or kids and you can talk about them together.

What is the one passage/part of the Bible I think it is most difficult to see Jesus in?

What is the one passage/part of the Bible I think it is most difficult to see Jesus in?

What makes it easy to see Jesus in a passage of Scripture? Is it merely just seeing his name written, or is it something more?

Which book of the Bible influences me the most? Are there certain books I like or study more than others?

As I read the Bible, which of these areas do I need to look for more? (predict, prepare, reveal, or results)

I hope you will join us online or in person this Sunday as we think about our second question in this series, “Do we need to study both the OT and the NT” and next week our Bible study will be on the formation of the Bible and thinking about how these particular 66 books made it into our hands.