Why Read the Old Testament (6)

 

Dear Friend,

 

As we consider Luke 24:26, “Was it not necessary for the Christ to suffer these things and to enter into His glory?”

 

How do we see the Messiah’s suffering and glory in Genesis – Deuteronomy and in all the Prophets?

 

As we continue to hold that question in mind, let’s look at Luke 24:44 – 47; here we are in the Upper Room Easter evening:

 

“Now He said to them, ‘These are My words which I spoke to you while I was still with you, that all things which are written about Me in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms must be fulfilled.’ Then He opened their minds to understand the Scriptures, and He said to them ‘Thus it is written, that the Christ would suffer and rise again from the dead the third day, and that repentance for forgiveness of sins would be proclaimed in His name to all the peoples, beginning from Jerusalem.’”

 

Once again, the resurrected Jesus Christ is revealing Himself to His People through what we call the Old Testament.  Note the language of verse 45, “Then He opened their minds to understand the Scriptures.” Also note 24:32, “They said to one another, ‘Were not our hearts burning within us while He was speaking to us on the road, while He was opening the Scriptures to us?’”

 

In Ephesians 1:18 Paul writes, “I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened, so that you will know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints…”

 

As we ponder Luke Chapter 24, as we consider that “Moses and all the Prophets” and the Psalms reveal the suffering and glory of Jesus Christ, and His rising from the dead, and that repentance and forgiveness of sins would be proclaimed in His name, our pondering ought to include prayer to our Father that He would open our hearts and minds to “see” Jesus Christ, to always “see” Jesus Christ – because these things cannot be “seen” by the natural man or woman – we need the revelation and unveiling of the Holy Spirit.  

 

And once again, I remind us of 1 Corinthians 1:17 – 2:16, John 16:12 – 15; and Hebrews 11:1 – 6. I know I reference these passages frequently, but it seems to me that if our epistemology is wrong, then our starting place is wrong, and if our starting place is wrong then our trajectory of understanding will be amiss and we will end up in the wrong place – because we will be making the wrong journey. Jesus must always be our starting place, the center of our journey, and our culmination – He must always be our All in all.

 

When we allow anything, any method, any system of interpretation and reading which is not dependent on the Holy Spirit and controlled by the Holy Spirit, to have primacy in our encounter with Scripture, we fall short of the glory of God in Christ Jesus. Unless Jesus Christ opens our hearts and minds and understanding we will not see Him. We may see evidence of Him in a piecemeal fashion, but we will not see Him holistically in Moses and in all the Prophets and the Psalms…nor in the New Testament.

 

Let us recall that Jesus says, “You search the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; it is these that testify about Me.” (John 5:39). “It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh profits nothing; the words that I have spoken to you are spirit and are life.” (John 6:63).

 

Well now, how about a question to ponder?

 

When we read “My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?” (Matthew 27:46; Mark 15:34), what do we “see”?

 

To help us get started, I’ll suggest that we read this cry of Jesus in its Biblical context, which is Psalm 22.

 

To help us a bit more, I’ll ask if we see the sufferings of Christ, the resurrection, and Christ entering into His glory. Do we see ourselves in Psalm 22?

 

To help us even a bit more, I’ll suggest we read Psalm 22 through and then go back and read it again. We might want to read it in two or three versions just in case there are nuances that one version might miss in our reading – certain words speak to each of us in different ways.

Then let us s-l-o-w-l-y mediate on Psalm 22...allowing the Holy Spirit to draw us to see Jesus...allowing our hearts to be joined to the heart of Jesus. 

 

What is the storyline of Psalm 22?

 

We want to read in expectation that our Father will reveal Himself to us through Jesus Christ as we enter into Psalm 22 and Psalm 22 enters into us.