INTRO:
In John’s account of the life and teachings of Jesus, he wrote in chapter 5, verses 39
and 40, that Jesus told the Jewish people: “You search the Scriptures, because you think you
will find eternal life in them. The Scriptures tell about me, but you refuse to come to me for
eternal life.”
Of course, the Scriptures He was referring to were what we know as the Old
Testament Scriptures.
I read a story about an old country preacher who was always preaching on baptism.
He couldn’t preach a sermon without turning it into a sermon on baptism. So, the elders of
the church decided to direct him in his choices of texts for his sermons. They told him to
preach on the first chapter of Genesis. So, the next Sunday he did just that. He pointed out
that when the Lord made the earth, only one-fourth was land, and three-fourths was water.
Then, he proceeded to his favorite subject by pointing out that there was plenty of water to
baptize anyone just about anywhere.
While that may be somewhat of a stretch, preaching Christ from just about any page
of the Bible isn’t. The Messiah, Jesus Christ, the Son of God, is the focus and centerpiece of
just about every page of the Bible. The first five books, the books of Law, say, “Look for the
coming priest who’ll make the perfect sacrifice!” The books of history say, “Look for the
coming King of kings!” The books of prophecy say, “Look for the coming Prophet!” The books
of poetry say, “Look for the coming Redeemer!” The whole Old Testament Scriptures say,
“The Messiah is coming!” The Gospels say, “The Messiah has come!” The Epistles say, “The
Messiah is coming again!”
A young lady was invited to dinner to meet her future husband’s parents. After the
meal, the young man’s mother invited her to look at the family photo album. She then
proceeded to point out the pictures of her son. She said, “Here’s Johnny on his first birthday.
Here he is on his first bicycle. Here he is on his motorcycle. And here he is with a cast on his
leg after his first motorcycle accident.” (Ha!) Of course, the young lady enjoyed seeing such
precious pictures of her betrothed.
Similarly, you and I should enjoy looking at the pictures of Jesus, the one to whom we
are betrothed, in the Old Testament. Jesus said in Luke 24:44: “While I was still with you, I
told you that everything written about me in the Law of Moses, the Books of the Prophets,