New Eyes for New Reading
"We had hoped that he was the one to redeem Israel. Yes, and besides all this, it is the third day since this happened. Moreover, some women of our company amazed us. They were at the tomb early in the morning and did not find his body; and they came back saying that they had even seen a vision of angels, who said that he was alive. Some of those who were with us went to the tomb, and found it just as the women had said; but him they did not see." And he said to them, "O foolish men, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken! Was it not necessary that the Christ should suffer these things and enter into His glory?" And beginning with Moses and all the prophets, he interpreted to them in all the scriptures the things concerning himself. Luke 24:21-27, RSV.
That was a Bible study I would like to have attended. Here we find the Lord Himself explaining the meaning of the Old Testament in light of the events later recorded in the New. Underlying Jesus' presentation are the facts that we need the entire Bible if we are truly to understand His life and work and that we most fully understand the Old Testament when interpreted through the lens of the New. God has one redemptive message that runs throughout the Bible. It is foreshadowed in the Hebrew Bible but dealt with explicitly in the New Testament.
We don't know exactly what passages Jesus utilized in His Bible study regarding His followers' mistaken ideas about Him. But a prime candidate would be the meaning of the sacrificial lamb that stood at the center of Jewish worship.
It was one thing for John the Baptist to proclaim Jesus as the Lamb of God who would take away sin (John 1:29). But it must have been almost impossible for the Jews, including the disciples, to understand the meaning of that statement. They were not expecting a messiah who would die for their sins, but a conquering warrior. In the light of Calvary and the Resurrection, however, the Old Testament took on new meaning as the Lamb Himself explained things.
One passage Jesus undoubtedly treated is Isaiah 53, with its talk of God's Servant being rejected and despised, bearing our griefs, being "wounded for our transgressions," being "numbered with the transgressors," bearing the sins of many, dying with the wicked, and being buried in association with the rich.
Suddenly it all came together. The two men saw redemption and Messiahship and the Old Testament in new ways. Their eyes were opened and their hearts warmed. Jesus was no longer a false hope but their resurrected Lord. The Bible itself held the key to both their discouragement and to their victorious future. Now they saw Jesus the Lamb as the center of Scripture from the beginning to end.
"We had hoped that he was the one to redeem Israel. Yes, and besides all this, it is the third day since this happened. Moreover, some women of our company amazed us. They were at the tomb early in the morning and did not find his body; and they came back saying that they had even seen a vision of angels, who said that he was alive. Some of those who were with us went to the tomb, and found it just as the women had said; but him they did not see." And he said to them, "O foolish men, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken! Was it not necessary that the Christ should suffer these things and enter into His glory?" And beginning with Moses and all the prophets, he interpreted to them in all the scriptures the things concerning himself. Luke 24:21-27, RSV.
That was a Bible study I would like to have attended. Here we find the Lord Himself explaining the meaning of the Old Testament in light of the events later recorded in the New. Underlying Jesus' presentation are the facts that we need the entire Bible if we are truly to understand His life and work and that we most fully understand the Old Testament when interpreted through the lens of the New. God has one redemptive message that runs throughout the Bible. It is foreshadowed in the Hebrew Bible but dealt with explicitly in the New Testament.
We don't know exactly what passages Jesus utilized in His Bible study regarding His followers' mistaken ideas about Him. But a prime candidate would be the meaning of the sacrificial lamb that stood at the center of Jewish worship.
It was one thing for John the Baptist to proclaim Jesus as the Lamb of God who would take away sin (John 1:29). But it must have been almost impossible for the Jews, including the disciples, to understand the meaning of that statement. They were not expecting a messiah who would die for their sins, but a conquering warrior. In the light of Calvary and the Resurrection, however, the Old Testament took on new meaning as the Lamb Himself explained things.
One passage Jesus undoubtedly treated is Isaiah 53, with its talk of God's Servant being rejected and despised, bearing our griefs, being "wounded for our transgressions," being "numbered with the transgressors," bearing the sins of many, dying with the wicked, and being buried in association with the rich.
Suddenly it all came together. The two men saw redemption and Messiahship and the Old Testament in new ways. Their eyes were opened and their hearts warmed. Jesus was no longer a false hope but their resurrected Lord. The Bible itself held the key to both their discouragement and to their victorious future. Now they saw Jesus the Lamb as the center of Scripture from the beginning to end.
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