So, I got a few responses after the sermon on Sunday about the questions at the end. A few frustrated people told me that I went too fast and they were trying to write the questions down but we didn’t leave them on the screen. My bad on that! So I wanted to publish them here. The sermon was on John 5, and focused on Jesus’ words, “You search the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; and it is they that bear witness about me,. (John 5:39ESV)” Jesus is telling us that to understand the Bible, and specifically the Old Testament we must realize that every story, every law, every image, every verse is tethered to Christ, and in some way either shows us our need for Jesus, predicts the coming of Jesus, or gives us an image that pictures the work of Christ when He came to earth. At the end of the sermon I shared four questions to use when reading to help find the lines that connect Old Testament passages to Christ. So here are those questions.
1. What problem is raised in this text that can only be answered by the coming of Jesus?
2. How does the text give promise that comes true in Christ’s life, death, or resurrection?
3. In what ways does the text show us the character of God that is fully revealed in Jesus?
4. How is God in Christ the hero of the story, and what does it show me about how God saves His people?
I also wanted to point you to a great resource on this topic. Recently the faculty at Westminster Seminary published an ebook that is available free for download. The title of the book is Seeing Christ in All of Scripture, and is well worth the read.
