Secrets and Sightings

“I look at Jesus, not the Old Testament or New Testament,” explained a pastor to a church member who was seeking to understand the church’s teaching about spiritual transformation and the relationship between human beings and God.

A friend recently reported this conversation to me that he had with one of his pastors. It might be helpful to know more of the situation, but this statement is enough to raise questions. My friend is observing not only what is being taught in his church but what is not being taught. We all need to be alert and observant in our own situations.

My mind goes back thirty years to meeting a pastor of a growing church that was to become a mega church in that particular area. He loved Jesus. He preached Jesus. But he held a disdain for the Old Testament. He wanted to distance himself and his church from the violence recorded there and the angry God he saw there.

What impact would such a narrow understanding of Jesus and distorted view of the Scriptures have on people? I can’t address this question in this post, but it is worth pondering. What I will address in this post is the next question.

Can Jesus be truly understood through the four Gospels of the New Testament alone?

Jesus directly answers this question in the Gospels.

“You are in error because you do not know the Scriptures or the power of God,” Jesus told the Sadducees who claimed that there is no resurrection (Matthew 22: 23-29). What Scriptures are necessary to know in order to avoid error? (And what about the power of God do you need to know in order to know God?)

“You search the Scriptures, because you think that in them you have eternal life; and it is these that bear witness of Me,” Jesus tells the Jewish leaders (John 5:39). Keep reading to the end of this chapter and you’ll hear Jesus claim, “If you believed Moses, you would believe Me; for he wrote of Me. But if you do not believe his writings, how will you believe My words?” (John 5:46-47).

What Scriptures did Jesus reference? The New Testament had not yet been written. He was speaking of the texts of the Hebrew canon, what we call the Old Testament. The Old Testament testifies of Jesus, Himself! What a claim!

Notice that it was the Spirit who led Jesus out to the wilderness to be tempted by the devil (Matt. 4:1). At first I am startled that God has determined that it is necessary that Jesus, and by extension, that we be afflicted and tested. Satan tempts us by trial to cause us to fail and be unapproved, while God tests through trials to prove us, approved by Him.

Jesus proved approved.

Answering Satan’s first of three temptations, Jesus says, “It is written, man [anthropos] shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God” (Matt. 4:4). Jesus holds the highest possible view of the Old Testament. He associates what is written with words from God’s mouth.  Observe the following text in Luke.

Walking the seven mile trek to Emmaus from Jerusalem that very resurrection Sunday, Jesus approaches two travelers discussing the dramatic events of the last few days –Christ’s arrest, trial, and crucifixion (Luke 24: 13-35). An exciting conversation ensues, and finally Jesus exclaims, “‘O foolish men and slow of heart to believe in all that the prophets have spoken! Was it not necessary for the Christ to suffer these things and to enter into His glory?’ And beginning with Moses and with all the prophets, He explained to them the things concerning Himself in all the Scriptures.”

My mind is captured by this encounter with Jesus on the road to Emmaus, the discussion, and the evening dinner with Him. I hunger to know every thought Jesus unfolded to these two men, one named Cleopas and the other not named. (Please read Luke 24:13-35 along with this post.)

The account ends by stating that after Jesus disappeared, the the two men immediately returned to Jerusalem, found the eleven gathered together with others, and related their experience of encountering the resurrected Christ. Over the years, whenever I have thought about this or re-read this chapter, I’ve always felt so sad that what  Jesus explained to the two men on that Emmaus Road was unknown to us. What did He say? What did He say?

Then I thought about the 27 books of the New Testament yet to be penned when these two men met with the other disciples and followers of Jesus. The group gathered their reports as more sightings of Jesus occurred before His ascension. In one of those appearances Jesus tells them,

” ‘These are My words 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 should suffer and rise again from the dead the third day and that repentance for forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in His name to all the nations, beginning from Jerusalem. You are witnesses of the things.’ ” (Luke 24: 44-48). Dr. Luke continues the account in the book of Acts.

The Holy Spirit was given to them at Pentecost, as Luke explains in Acts chapter 2. God brought to their minds what needed to be remembered and understood. Could it be? It must be, that the entire corpus of the New Testament reveals the perspective that Christ gave those men on the Emmaus walk and made known during those forty days before his ascension to His disciples and followers.

Not only do the four Gospels recount Christ’s life, but the entire New Testament clarifies the Old Testament, so that the entire canon of Scripture paints Christ’s portrait. The apostle Paul, well versed in the Hebrew Scriptures, met Jesus on another road. There, his Old Testament hermeneutic began to be transformed. By studying the entire New Testament, I discover the proper prescription for the lenses of biblical interpretation provided by Jesus.  I see Jesus as Lord in the Grand Narrative of time-space and of eternity — exposed through the full arch of Scripture.

Deuteronomy 29:29 reminds us that “the secret things belong to the Lord our God, but the things revealed belong to us and our children forever….”  God, the Divine Person, chose to reveal a cup full of His infinite character and personhood through His interaction in time-space reality with His creatures created in His image. It is for us to return the honor by listening to Him to whom all honor is due.

Listen to Him in nature (Psalm 19:1). Listen to Him in the Old Testament (Deuteronomy 6: 4-9). Listen to Him in the New Testament (II Tim. 3:16-17; II Peter 3:14-16). Listen to Him in your redeemed heart that treasures His word (Psalm 119:11, 105).

See Jesus before the foundation of the world (John 17:24; I Pet. 1:20). See Jesus in the creation of the universe (John 1:1-4; Col. 1:16-17; Hebrews. 1:1-3). See Jesus in the Psalms (such as Psalm 23). See Jesus along the dusty trails, the Via Dolorosa, His cross, burial, resurrection, and ascension (the Gospels). See Jesus with us today, as His kingdom within us (Matt. 28: 18-20; John chapters 15-17). See Jesus in the ultimate, restorative coming kingdom (Isaiah 66; II Pet. 3:10-13; Rev. 2:7, 11,17,26-29; 3:5, 11-12, 21-22; 22: 12-13).

I am pleased to be like the “certain Greeks among those who were going up to worship” that Passover season, who approached Philip and requested, “Sir, we wish to see Jesus” (John 12: 20-21).

I agree with my friend’s pastor that it is wonderful to see Jesus in the Gospels. But Jesus taught us to see Him more clearly through the lens of the ancient, prophetic descriptions along with the lens of the New Testament. He is both the Lamb of God (Exodus 12:1-14; John 1:29; Rev. 5:6) and the Lion of Judah (Genesis 49: 8-10; Matthew 1: 1-17; Rev. 5:5-9). Without both lenses, we are not seeing the Lord Jesus Christ. *

J. Oswald Sanders’ beautifully collates Old and New Testament descriptions of Christ in His book which is now a Christian classic, The Incomparable Christ, subtitled The Person and Work of Jesus Christ.** I recommend this rich read to every Christian’s experience and the book to every home library. My last post included my favorite quotation from this book. You may want to go back and read it again, slowly.  Sanders closes his last chapter with a poetic quotation from Annie Johnson Flint, which is a fitting conclusion today.

We wait for the Lord, our Beloved,

Our Comforter, Master and Friend,

The substance of all that we hope for,

Beginning of faith and its end;

We watch for our Savior and Bridegroom,

Who loved us and made us His own;

For Him we are looking and longing:

For Jesus, and Jesus alone.”

***

I’m delighted with this 1971 edition. My photo is not good. The cover really is white with black lettering except for the exquisite, gold lettering of the name, Christ. How appropriate for the divine theme.

*Of course, there are many other biblical types or metaphors revealing Christ and acting as uniting threads woven through the canon of Scripture.

**J. Oswald Sanders. The Incomparable Christ: The Person and Work of Jesus Christ (Chicago: Moody Press, 1952). You can find this book on Amazon and in other places. There are several editions (as well as translations into other languages). I prefer the 1971 edition, but the 2009 edition has an introduction by J.I. Packer. Who wouldn’t want Packer’s introduction? Well, as good as Packer’s introduction is, it is unnecessary to this work. Sanders’ work is so rich that the introduction pales in comparison and just delays you from getting to the text. The beautiful and simple white cover with black  and gold lettering on the 1971 edition, in my opinion, best suits the text.