Everything in the Bible, every story, every sentence, tells us something about Jesus. How can that be true? Here are a few ways to answer that question:

  1. Because everything in the bible tells us two things: something about God and/or something about humanity. And, because Jesus is both fully God and fully human, we always learn something about Jesus. He is the clearest revelation of God and the highest expression of humanity. Everything we learn about God teaches us about Jesus. Anything we find out about our humanity points to something we shared with Jesus or something He perfected
  2. Because everything before Jesus paved the way for Jesus. Every sheep that was killed, every king that failed, every sin and every short-lived success points to The Perfect. The Perfect One who would do what they failed to do or do perfectly what they did imperfectly.
  3. Because a key idea in the New Testament is that what Jesus did was in accordance with “the Scriptures.” (“The Scriptures” are referenced 51 times through thirteen of the twenty-seven New Testament books.) What scriptures were “the Scriptures”? The Old Testament. The New Testament understood that the Old Testament told us about Jesus. And the New Testament authors used the Old Testament to explain Jesus.

Why would God author a book about Jesus that can be summarized in the gospel? I think you already know the answer to that question: because God is Jesus-centered, is Word-centered, is Gospel-centered. And vice versa. Each. Every. All. All in All? I suppose.

So, never let your bible study slip into just finding morals or stop at just reading; look through, to Jesus. Never let your understanding and articulation of the Gospel shrink into benefits, pros and cons, perks and penalties; God didn’t work over thousands of years to craft The Book of books about the King of Kings for us to “sell” happiness or fire insurance. God wants Jesus glorified in the hearts of people who are passionate for His story found in His Word. Center yourself on God, I mean, Jesus, I mean, the Bible, I mean, the Gospel, I mean…you know what I mean?