Everything Points to Jesus

Have you ever heard that “everything in the Bible points to Jesus”? That seems kind of weird, doesn’t it? How can it be all about Someone who isn’t even named until the last quarter of the book? True, the Old Testament is sprinkled with prophecies about the Messiah: it’s easy enough to link those to Christ. But there’s still a lot that seems irrelevant. Chapters and chapters are filled with the story of the nation of Israel. What does that have to do with Jesus? When we start into the New Testament, Matthew summarizes Jesus’ ancestry. Right off, we see several of the “big names” from the Old Testament—Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Ruth, Jesse, David, Solomon, Hezekiah, etc. And that’s our first link! But then, after the Christmas story, we get into the life of Christ, with His escape to Egypt, return to Israel, baptism, and temptation in the desert. It looks like we’ve left the Old Testament far behind. But wait! Where have we seen Egypt before? Way back in Genesis, Israel escaped to Egypt until Moses led them on the Exodus. And then what? They spent forty years in the desert as the children grew up. They gave into temptation, worshiping other gods and complaining. And Jesus? After escaping to Egypt, He returned, grew up, and spent forty days in the desert. Coincidence? Maybe not. When the devil tempted Him, every answer Jesus gave came straight from the book of Deuteronomy. The two Egypt stories link with an Old Testament prophet’s words: “I called my son out of Egypt” (Hosea 11:1). Israel was formed by God to be His representative on Earth, to bless all the people of the world. When they abandoned Him, God sent Jesus — a flawless representative, who succeeded where Israel had failed. It’s one story, culminating in Christ, of God revealing His love to all the world! • Christiana Albrecht • The Bible was written by a lot of different people, in a lot of different times and places. Why do you suppose it all fits together? • What other examples from the Old Testament can you think of that Jesus mirrored or fulfilled? (Check out Genesis 22 and Job 19:25-27, just to name a couple.) You search the Scriptures because you think they give you eternal life. But the Scriptures point to me [Jesus]! John 5:39 (NLT)

Read Verses:

Matthew 5:17-19; John 5:39-47