Before His ascension, the resurrected Jesus told His disciples,
"Everything I told you while I was with you comes to this:
All the things written about Me
in the Law of Moses, in the Prophets, and in the Psalms
have to be fulfilled."
He then opened their minds to understand the Scriptures.
LUKE 24:44-45
THE PRIORITY OF GOD THE SON
Jesus' first priority after His resurrection was to teach the disciples how to interpret Scriptures! And the key to interpreting Scriptures is to realize that all Scriptures are about Jesus and, therefore, how we can relate to Him!
In Matthew 5:17 and Luke 24:27, Jesus reveals that He fulfills all of the Old Testament promises and is the Substance of all the Old Testament shadows.
In Mark 1:15, Jesus announces that His cross and resurrection will be the climax of all history!
In John 5:39, Jesus reveals that all Scriptures testify of Him.
THE PRIORITY OF GOD THE FATHER
The priority of God's heart throughout the whole Bible is to reveal and exalt His beloved Son, ultimately through His wonderful saving acts through the cross and resurrection!
The Bible is not a random collection of history books. Every Bible book is the Father's testimony of His Son's journey to the cross. It is His story of His Son. The cross is prominent theme of every Bible book. The cross fulfills THE purpose of history!
THE PRIORITY OF GOD THE SPIRIT
The Holy Spirit's priority is to reveal Christ in all of His glory and truth! Before His cross and resurrection, Jesus told His disciples in John 16:13-14: "The Spirit of truth will come to guide you in all truth. He will glorify Me, for He will take of what is Mine and declare it to you."
As we read Scriptures, the Holy Spirit illumines the truth of Christ to us. The Spirit breathes life, Christ's Life, into Scriptures. We encounter Christ in the Scriptures as the Holy Spirit leads us to ask two questions when reading Scriptures:
Because all Scriptures point to Christ,
how do the verses relate to Christ?
And how do I relate to Christ through these verses?
It is tempting to try to apply Scriptures directly to me and what I need to be doing before even considering how the verses first and foremost relate to Christ, and then how I relate to Christ.
CLOSING
A mentor has well noted, "We don't go to the Bible to get information, nor even inspiration. We go to the Bible to get life!" The Bible is our life-line to the only true Life there is -- the life of Christ (John 14:6).
During this Rest Stop, may we learn to rest more in God's eternal priority to give us life and to relate to us every step of our lives!
PS, The hope and confidence of the Journey in Christ staff is in God Himself who so graciously gives us His sure and living Word to encourage and equip others to teach Christ.
|
