The Things Concerning Himself
“And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he interpreted to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning himself.”
This must have been the greatest sermon ever preached. We often think of the preaching of Isaiah or Jeremiah or Peter on the Day of Pentecost or Paul on his missionary journeys, yet they all cannot equal what Jesus said to the two downcast disciples on the way to Emmaus. The sheer immensity and depth staggers the imagination. Everyone of us wishes we could have been there. Jesus begins in Genesis and then systematically works his way through the Old Testament Scriptures.
The Hebrew Old Testament is arranged in three divisions: Torah, Prophets and Writings. The Torah comprises the first five books of the Bible: Genesis through Deuteronomy, as ascribed to Moses. The Prophets are divided into two sub-divisions. The first sub-division is the Former Prophets (Joshua, Judges, Samuel, and Kings).
The second sub-division is the Latter Prophets (Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and the Book of the Twelve Prophets). The third major division are the Writings: Psalms, Proverbs, and Job, then what is known as the Scrolls (Song of Songs, Ruth, Lamentations, Ecclesiastes, Esther), and finally, Daniel, Ezra-Nehemiah and Chronicles. Our Lord repeatedly, according to the Gospels, appealed to the Old Testament to validate who he was and to affirm his mission. The Scriptures of the early church were the Old Testament. Christians shared the same Old Testament with Jews. The Scriptures, according to Jesus, bore witness of him (John 5:39). They testified about Jesus.
It was to these Scriptures that our Lord turned to on the road to Emmaus. Just as Jesus made use of the Old Testament, so too would the disciples and the early church. Paul refers to these Scriptures in Romans 3:21, when he says, “But now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the Law, although the Law and the Prophets bear witness to it…” Notice that Paul refers to the Torah and the Prophets.
Timothy was acquainted with the “sacred writings” from his childhood, writings which were able to make him wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus (2 Tim. 3:15). These “sacred writings” were the Old Testament. They were sacred writings compared to other writings. The Hebrew Old Testament did not distinguish between the words “scripture” and “writing.” They were used interchangeably to refer to the same thing.
It’s remarkable that both Jews and Christians read the Scriptures of the Old Testament, yet both come to radically different understandings. It is clear that Jesus interpreted the Scriptures to speak of him. It was not a reference here or there, but a total saturation throughout the Old Testament. It was Augustine who said: “the new is in the old concealed, and the old is in the new revealed.” He meant that you cannot truly read the Old Testament without your New Testament, and vice-versa.
The New Testament is saturated with quotations and allusions from the Old Testament. The writers of the New Testament used the Old Testament to back up what they were saying. At times, it was a direct fulfillment of what they were writing about. Our Lord made full use of the Old Testament Scriptures. Jesus rebuked the disciples as they traveled to Emmaus for not believing all that the prophets had said (Luke 24:25). He reproached them for being foolish.
In Luke 24:26 he explained to them that it was necessary for the Christ to suffer first, and then enter his glory. This is what he explained to them. He spoke of his sufferings and his glory. Peter understood this when he wrote: “Concerning this salvation, the prophets who prophesied about the grace that was to be yours searched and inquired carefully, inquiring what person or time the Spirit of Christ in them was indicating when he predicted the sufferings of Christ and the subsequent glories” (1 Pet. 1:10, 11).
The Lord Jesus Christ told those two disciples then about his sufferings and subsequent glory. I can imagine that this was done in such a way that he would first make some statement, and then supply the Scripture that spoke of him. For instance, in Genesis 3:15 the first gospel promise was given by God: “I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring; he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel.” The seed of the woman (Jesus) is going to crush the serpent’s head (Satan). Satan will only be able to bruise the heel of Christ at the Cross, but Jesus will defeat the devil. Satan will be crushed at the Cross.
In the Old Testament, we find pictures, types, patterns and shadows of Christ. Jesus is our Passover Lamb (1 Cor. 5:7). Not only this, but Jesus also was actually historically in the Old Testament. In 1 Corinthians 10:4, the rock in the wilderness that provided water was actually Christ. It was Jesus, therefore, that Moses struck (Ex. 17; Num. 20:10–13). We believe that our Lord was the angel of the Lord in the Old Testament. It was the glory of the Lord Jesus that Isaiah saw in the Temple (Isa. 6; John 12:41). There are many of these in the Old Testament. We can assume that our Lord opened up all of these Scriptures to those two disciples long ago. Sometimes in my reading of Scripture, I will come across something I’ve never quite seen before that seems to speak vividly of Jesus. I have been reading Lamentations 3 over and over again, trying to get my heart and mind around its message. The prophet Jeremiah is weeping for his city and its people. His lament strikes me as if it could be about our Lord.
On the road to Emmaus, Jesus delivered a profound exposition of himself. It was so powerful that later the two men confessed that their hearts burned within them while Jesus opened the Scriptures to them (vs. 32). There are times when the Word of God burns within us like a fire. At other times, it is majestic in its still small voice. When Jesus speaks, we should be listening.
When Jesus appeared to the disciples in the upper room, he opened their minds to understand the Scriptures (vs. 45). He told them that all of his words confirmed what all the Scriptures said of him (vs. 44). The Scriptures were the Law of Moses (Torah), the Prophets and the Psalms (Writings) and these Scriptures had to be fulfilled by him (vs. 44).
It should be our great aim to understand redemptive history as we find it in the Word of God. Redemptive since all the Scriptures speak of Christ and his work. As you read your Bible, look for Christ. He is to be found everywhere. Compare Scripture with Scripture. Never make the Word say what it does not say. Try to see everything through a covenantal lens. God is a covenant making and keeping God. All that God does is through the framework of a covenant.
Seek Christ prayerfully. Ask God to open your eyes to see. Read carefully and slowly. Digest what you read as you would a good meal. Taste the sweetness of the Word. Think about words and what they mean. Look for commands that instruct you. Never be satisfied with what you think you know. Be prepared to have Jesus Christ burn your heart with his Word and the things concerning himself.