Dear Brothers & Sisters,
It was the moment every preacher wishes he could've been there to hear what Jesus said. The moment when Jesus appeared to two of his disciples on the Road to Emmaus.
While they traveled, Jesus said to them (Luke 24:25-27)
“O foolish ones, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken! Was it not necessary that the Christ should suffer these things and enter into his glory?” And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he interpreted to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning himself.
In these few verses, we are told by our Lord Jesus, how He Himself interpreted the Scriptures.
He speaks of ---
1) The Theme of the Scriptures
Jesus taught that the Scriptures spoke of Him. "He interpreted to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning himself" (v27). And "That the Christ should suffer these things and enter into his glory" (v26).
What an incredible privilege to hear how the Scriptures point us to Christ's suffering and glory.
From these three verses comes the idea that the Bible is Christocentric or Christ-centred. This view rightly emphasizes that Christ is central to the whole Bible, not merely the New Testament. A related view is that the Scriptures are Christotelic, meaning that Christ is the telos, the end or goal of Scripture. He is the one toward whom it all is pointing. These views are very similar, but my conviction is that it is more accurate to say the Scriptures point us towards Christ.
There are two reasons I say this:
1) A Christ-centred hermeneutic has led some to conclude that behind every verse in the Old Testament is some kind of spiritual or allegorical connection to Jesus. The impulse to look for Jesus in the OT is good, but notice that Luke does not say "every verse is about Jesus/is directly fulfilled in Jesus," but rather that Jesus showed them "the things concerning himself," (v26) i.e. the things that spoke of him. One implication of this is that not everything in Scripture speaks of Christ in a direct sense. Take for example a random verse like Proverbs 18:2, which says, "A fool takes no pleasure in understanding, but only in expressing his opinion". This verse is clearly not prophesying somehow of Jesus. Only in a much broader sense does this truth relate to Christ, who is the fountain of all wisdom, in whom are "all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge" (Colossians 2:3). This broad sense is helpful to keep in mind, because it orients us towards Christ who is the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. But it is not the same as reading into the Scriptures our own interpretation.
2) In contrast, the Christ-is-the-end-goal perspective doesn't undermine the historical context and grammar of passages in the Old Testament. For example, David and Goliath really is about a young man who stood by faith with God and slayed a giant (an example for us), and this real historical event also points us beyond David to His greater Son, Jesus.
Whatever labels you like to use; "Christ-centred," or "Christ-oriented" or "Christ-focussed," We can agree together that, "Any reading of Scripture which does not take Christ, the LORD's Anointed into account, misses the point. AND any reading of Scripture which discounts the original context likewise misses the mark."
2) The Scope of this theme
"beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he interpreted to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning himself" (v27).
Here brothers and sisters is a reminder that there is no corner of Scripture that has nothing to speak to us of Christ. Let us then endeavor to see in all the Scriptures the things which speak of our Lord.
Perhaps, at this point, you wonder "How could they miss it?"
The Holy Spirit answers this question for us in verse 31, "And their eyes were opened, and they recognized him. And he vanished from their sight."
Their eyes were blind to Jesus, until He revealed Himself to them.
We too need our eyes opened or we'll miss the obvious.
But when one turns to the Lord, the veil is removed. Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit (2 Corinthians 3:16-18)... For God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ (4:6).
May the Lord give us eyes to see the radiance of Christ throughout all the Scriptures, from Genesis to Revelation, that we might worship Him.
Grace & Peace,
Matt
P.S. One of the reasons I am writing this to you now is because, over the next four Sundays this Advent season, we will be considering Jesus Christ our Lord and God as prophesied in the Psalms. It is my hope that as we study the promises God made of His Messiah, that we will grow in our knowledge and most of all our love for Him this season. If you are interested in reading more about Christ in the Psalms, I would encourage you to check out my previous email/blog post "On the Psalms" 9/26/24
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