October 14, 2025 • 27 mins
What if the whole Bible is one story with Jesus at the center? We open the text with that question and follow the thread from Genesis to Revelation, letting the Emmaus Road guide how we read, interpret, and apply Scripture. Rather than treating the Bible as a grab bag of inspirational lines or moral tales, we explore how Moses, the Prophets, and the Psalms bear witness to Christ—and why that lens changes our daily walk.
We dig into the big themes that hold Scripture together: covenants that progress from Noah and Abraham to David and the promised New Covenant, the already-and-not-yet kingdom Jesus inaugurates, and the sacrificial system that finds its fulfillment in the once-for-all cross. Along the way, we map the patterns of typology—Adam, Moses, and David as signposts toward the true and better Prophet, Priest, and King. We also face common pitfalls: reducing stories to “be like” morals, reading with self at the center, fragmenting books from the larger narrative, or stopping at insight without obedience.
From Isaiah 53’s suffering servant to Genesis 3:15’s first gospel, we show how promises converge on the Messiah and how beholding him leads to concrete application—real repentance, deeper trust, and active discipleship. You’ll leave with practical questions to take into any passage: What does this reveal about Christ? How does this shape my worship, my holiness, and my love for others? And how can I teach this clearly to someone else?
If this journey deepens your love for the Word, subscribe, share the episode with a friend, and leave a review to help others discover the show. Have a question for us? Email questions@pleasinggodpodcast.org and join us next week as we talk about cultivating friendship in marriage.
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Episode Transcript
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Jonathan Sole (00:08):
Hi, and welcome back to the Pleasing God
Podcast, a show focused onhelping Christians to think
biblically, engage practically,and live faithfully for the
glory of God.
I'm your host, Jonathan Sowell.
And on our last episode, thetwo-part interview with my dad,
and just reflecting on 23 yearsof pastoral ministry, uh, just
(00:29):
the highs and the lows oftheirs.
So coming off of that episode,I wanted to talk about something
that's really important to me.
That's how we read our Bibles.
And I'm not talking aboutreading our Bibles for simply
information or uh inspiration orfor encouragement, but reading
our Bibles in such a way that wesee Christ as the main point of
(00:52):
whatever passage or whateverthing we are reading.
So I've titled this episodeReading the Bible with Christ at
the center.
And again, like I said, this issomething that is that I'm
passionate about.
And when I when I understoodand started to see that the
Bible points us to Christ, OldTestament and New Testament, it
(01:17):
totally changed my uhunderstanding, my delight, my
love, and my excitement for theWord of God.
And so I hope that just talkingabout this, we can think about
some practical ways in which wecan engage the scriptures
through the lens of seeing thempointing to Jesus that will just
(01:37):
help you in your uh personalBible reading, in your Bible
study, whether you teach, uh,whether you lead a small group
or your own personal just walkwith the Lord, uh that you can
see that all scripture ispointing and leading to Christ.
And so I hope it's anencouragement to you.
And one of the foundationalpassages when it comes to
(02:00):
understanding that the Biblepoints us to Christ comes from
Jesus Himself.
And this is one of my favoritescenes, I think, in all the
scriptures.
After the resurrection, Jesusappears to disciples on the road
to Emmaus.
Question I often ask youngpeople, and um, maybe I'm out on
the trail hiking, something,just a conversation.
(02:23):
If you could go to one scene,one place in the scriptures, and
you could be a fly on the wall,or uh you could witness that
event, what would it be?
And some of the answers are,you know, the parting of the Red
Sea, uh, maybe something withthe plagues of of Egypt or uh
(02:43):
Samson, uh, you know, usuallysomething with the life of
Christ, the resurrection, emptytomb, that Sunday morning.
And while there are certainlyall these great high points, I
think if I could have beenanywhere, the place that I would
love to have been would havebeen on the road to Emmaus,
walking with those disciples asJesus appeared to them.
(03:05):
Well, this passage comes fromthe Gospel of Luke in chapter
24.
In Luke 24, verse 27, Jesus,the risen Jesus, who has been
crucified, raised from the dead,and now as he's uh instructing
these disciples, he tells them,or this is what is said here,
and beginning with Moses and allthe prophets, he interpreted to
(03:29):
them in all the scriptures thethings concerning himself.
So what's going on here in thissetting, in this scene, is that
Jesus is explaining to thesedisciples that the Old Testament
was pointing towards him andhis work, death, burial, and
(03:51):
resurrection.
Later on, Luke records inchapter 24, verse verses 44 to
45.
Then he said to them, These aremy words that I spoke to you
while I was still with you, thateverything written about me in
the law of Moses and theprophets and the psalms must be
fulfilled.
All right, when Jesus saysMoses and then the prophets and
(04:16):
then the psalms, he's talkingabout the threefold division of
the Old Testament.
In the English Bible, it'sdivided into five parts, but the
Jewish Bible divided into theJewish Old Testament or Jewish
Bible divided into three mainsections.
You had the law, you had theprophets, and you had the
(04:37):
writings, or the psalms,synonymous, the psalms being the
biggest book of the writings.
And so what Jesus is sayinghere is that Moses being the
law, there's your there's yourPentateuch, the prophets that
being the other major section ofthe Old Testament, and then the
Psalms or the writings werebearing witness to him.
(04:57):
So he's saying, All of the OldTestament bears witness to me.
And then after that saying,after he says this, verse 45,
then he opened their minds tounderstand the scriptures.
What an exciting thing thatJesus unpacks the passages of
(05:17):
scripture in the Old Testamentto show this one single story,
the story of redemption,beginning in Genesis and ending
ultimately in the revelation,but the finding its climax in
the incarnation, the person andwork of Jesus coming, living,
(05:39):
dying, and rising again from thedead.
What an awesome place to be.
What a great experience thatwould have been to hear Jesus
just unpack these passages, thethe mystery, Paul would say,
concealed in the old, revealedin the new.
And then in John chapter 5,Jesus gives this again
(06:02):
eye-opening statement to thePharisees.
And he says, You search thescriptures because you think
that in them you have eternallife.
And it is they that bearwitness about me.
I think there's a warning weall must heed here right now is
that we can read our Bibles.
We can read our Old Testament,we can read our New Testament,
(06:23):
we can read scripturesthroughout.
And if we miss Christ in thescriptures, we've missed the
point.
It's not about moral lessons,simply put, but it's about Jesus
beginning in Genesis andultimately in his second coming
(06:46):
at the end of Revelation.
So foundationally I want us tounderstand that the Bible's own
testimony bears witness.
The New Testament bears witnessto Christ in the old.
One of the most importantthings we can do when it comes
to approaching our Bibles is notto read our Bibles as simply a
(07:07):
collection of books, of 66books, but to see it as one
unified story, many differenthuman authors, but one divine
author.
And an interesting thing to doin exercise would be to look at
the first two chapters of theBible, Genesis 1 and 2, and then
compare those to the last twochapters of the Bible,
(07:29):
Revelation 21 and 22, and justsee how those book ends show us
the whole story of Scripture.
And it's a beautiful thing.
So as the Bible testifies aboutitself, Jesus says, I am the
key to understanding andunlocking the meanings of
(07:49):
Scripture.
There's pitfalls of reading theBible without Christ.
And I want to just kind oftouch on these a little bit
because we can dangerously fallinto them without even
understanding.
And the first one is moralism,where we reduce biblical stories
to a moral principle.
It could come out to somethinglike be like David or, you know,
(08:12):
dare to be Daniel.
And while there's in a sense,there can be application that
draws from the life of David orthe courage of Daniel, we
shouldn't read those stories andisolate them from the big
narrative concerning the personand work of Jesus Christ.
(08:34):
When we read about David, he isa great example, but we also
read that he is a flawedexample.
And the story of David, again,promised by God that one of his
offspring will have aneverlasting kingdom.
And David is a true and goodking, but he's a fallen king.
(08:58):
And we need a better king,where Jesus, again, is the true
and better David, the son ofDavid, but the Lord of David.
And so when we just think aboutthese characters, we shouldn't
reduce it to simply a morallesson.
But how do they point us toChrist?
What can we learn from theirlives?
But where do they fit into thishistorical plan of redemption
(09:23):
being unfolded progressivelythrough the Old Testament?
So we want to be careful not toreduce Bible uh accounts uh for
as just moral lessons.
Here's the second thing we wantto be careful of and a pitfall
to avoid is that we want toavoid self-centered reading.
And what do I mean by that?
Simply reading a passage, openit Old Testament, New Testament,
(09:46):
and the first question to askis, What does this mean to me?
Or how can I apply this to mylife?
Well, we certainly wantapplication that will result in
conformity to the image ofChrist.
We shouldn't first begin with aself-centered reading of
scripture as though this is allabout me or pointing to me.
The question we need to ask,again, while we're reading a
(10:06):
passage is what does this revealabout my Savior?
What does this tell me aboutChrist?
Think of the first promise inScripture, revelation of Christ,
uh, concealed but a promise wasin Genesis 3 15.
Adam and Eve have fallen.
The Lord looks at Adam first,rightly so.
(10:28):
What have you done?
And so here becomes the blamegame.
Adam looks and says, probablythe greatest offen, one of the
greatest offensive lines ever inScripture.
He looked at God and said, Itwas the woman that you gave me.
The fact that Adam was allowedto breathe after that statement
is an act of sheer grace.
So Adam blames God and blamesthe woman for his sin.
(10:49):
Well, God doesn't even addressin his own graciousness, turns
to the woman, What have youdone?
Well, she continues the blamegame, and she looks over at the
serpent and she says, Basically,the devil made me do it.
God looks to the serpent andasks no more questions.
And then we get thisdeclaration in Genesis chapter
(11:09):
3, 15, where he says, I will putenmity between you and the
woman, between your offspringand her offspring.
He shall bruise your head, andyou shall bruise his heel.
And that passage right there,the first gospel, if we're not
reading Christ and understandingChrist in all the scripture,
we'll miss the point of what wasbeing stated there.
God is promising from the womana Savior who will defeat the
(11:33):
serpent.
His heel will be bruised.
Well, there's the crucifixion,but the head of the serpent will
be crushed.
There's the resurrection,there's the vindication by the
Spirit.
There is Christ as Victor rightthere in his resurrection.
It's not just a passage aboutsin has bad consequences, you
know, try to do better.
It's sin has devastatingconsequences, but God has
(11:55):
promised to send a redeemer.
And so Adam and Eve trust thispromise, a mysterious promise.
They don't know his name, theydon't know his time.
All they know is that from thewoman will come one who will
defeat the serpent.
And so they have a gospelpromise.
And then the whole story ofScripture is just again
(12:17):
unfolding this redemptive planof God, the seed of the woman,
to crush the head of theserpent.
And so wherever we pick up ourBibles and we start reading, we
should think about thisframework.
Instead of simply opening theBible and saying, What do you
got for me today, God?
What does your word revealabout your son?
And how does beholding Christin Scripture transform me, not
(12:42):
just my understanding of theWord, but my life?
That's again just a pitfall toavoid is a self-centered
reading.
And then the third pitfall,which I've talked a little bit
about, is fragmented reading,where again you you just you
isolate in a section, whether itbe your reading through
(13:04):
Leviticus, all these laws forsacrifice, and you might be
wondering, well, what does thishave to do with me?
I'm a new covenant Christianfar removed from the Middle
East, and you see it kind offragmented not making sense of
the whole.
Well, understanding that eventhe sacrificial system is a
(13:25):
type, is a is a shadow to thingsthat were to come.
And it's even there, it'spointing towards the
consequences of sin, the factthat continual sacrifices must
be made because they aren't asufficient to cover sin once for
all.
And it causes us to long forand to look for an
(13:47):
all-sufficient sacrifice, whichthe counterpart to Leviticus is
Hebrews.
Read that, and it helps us tounderstand why Jesus came and
there is no sacrificial systemanymore.
And so important to see everybook as a part of a whole, but
not fragmented.
And so, what is this book,passage, area of scripture
(14:12):
teaching me or revealing orpointing towards concerning the
person and work of Jesus Christ?
Because remember, Jesus saysall scripture bears witness to
me.
So we need to keep that in mindas we engage our Bibles.
So when Christ is not at thecenter of our understanding,
(14:32):
Scripture gets distorted andkind of flattened.
But there is also, I would say,a fourth pitfall here.
Is that we can get, and I wantto be careful with this, but I
think you all understand, we canget so focused on seeing Christ
in the scriptures that therebecomes no application to our
(14:53):
lives.
Is that the application is thisis about Jesus.
But how does this passageconform me to the image of
Christ?
How is the scripturetransforming me as I am learning
of Christ, reading my Bibleproperly?
We need to keep that in mind,is to not be so Christological
(15:14):
that we forget that God's wordis living and active, sharper
than any two-edged sword.
While we read it, it reads usand it convicts, and it's to
transform us.
That we don't just becomehearers of the word or
christological readers of theword, but that we are doers of
the word as we understand itproperly, pointing to Christ and
(15:38):
then calling us to deeperlevels of devotion and obedience
to Him.
So, how do we read the Bible,practically speaking, here?
How do we read the Bible withChrist at the center?
Let me give you a few thoughtson that.
Look for themes, understandcertain themes.
(15:59):
So when you're reading theBible, terms like covenant, a
question to ask is at what,whatever you're reading, what is
the operational covenant ofthat time?
Again, very important becauseGod's revelation, progressive
revelation plan of redemption,unfolds through covenants.
(16:20):
I believe there was a uhcovenant with Adam in the
garden, though the scripture'snot entirely clear on that.
There seems to be very muchcovenantal languages and
promises there, but whetherthere be a covenant of works
with Adam or not, you do seewith Noah there's a covenant.
God makes this covenant, thesign of rainbow that he will no
(16:41):
longer flood the earth.
This is a covenant withcreation.
Some see that Adam and Noahkind of together form this kind
of covenant of with creation.
Uh unilateral God promises.
It's not based off of anyactions of humans, but that God
who promises he will never floodthe earth again, and the sign
being a rainbow.
(17:01):
Now, as that progress, youknow, covenants progress, you
get the covenant with Abraham.
This is Genesis chapter 15 and17, where God makes a covenant
and promises him that he willhave a great nation, that there
will be a land, and that throughhis offspring will bring
blessing.
So there's land, people, andblessing.
(17:22):
And as that covenant, thatbecomes really a covenant that
uh progressively moves throughthe Old Testament, where from
this Abrahamic covenant, theunderstanding people are looking
for the land, they're beingdeveloped as the people, the
nation of Israel, and uh they'relooking for the offspring that
will be the blessing.
(17:43):
And the outworking of thatcovenant, you see in Moses,
there's the people, there's thecovenant of Sinai, the law is
given, and into Joshua they takethe land.
So the people, the land,there's the covenant with Moses,
which is often referred to asthe old covenant.
And then from Moses, there's acovenant with David.
(18:03):
And with this Davidic covenant,here comes the promise of uh
royalty, of a kingdom, of a kingwho will reign forever.
And so, and each one of thesecovenants, there's more
revelation concerning really whoand where and what the seed of
the woman is going to be.
(18:24):
And so important to think interms of covenant, then
obviously when we get to the NewTestament, well, Jeremiah
chapter 31 promises a newcovenant, not like the old
covenant, not like the covenantsof before, but where God will
write his law upon the hearts ofhis people.
And it's fleshed out further inEzekiel.
We talk about thisregeneration, the spirit within
(18:48):
us, renewal.
Ultimately, it's fulfilled inChrist who inaugurates the new
covenant through his death,burial, resurrection, sending of
the Holy Spirit, so that allwho believe in him, repent of
their sins, and trust in Christ,are members of the new
(19:09):
covenant.
Understanding themes ofcovenant, kingdom, sacrifice,
these are all ways in which wecan read Christ at the center.
And so the kingdom is to bebuilt.
It is here, but not yet, oralready, but not yet fulfilled
in Christ.
When you think about sacrificeof the old, again, repeated
(19:30):
sacrifices pointing us towardsChrist, who is the once-for-all
sacrifice for our sins.
So these are some themes tothink about when we read with
Christ at the center, and thenalso patterns or or types or
typology.
And this is where characters Ithink are very important to
(19:52):
understand.
You have Adam, Adam being thefirst man, Adam being the
innocent man.
It's he was created good andvery good according to God.
Yet Adam is placed in thegarden, Adam is to be the is the
federal head of humanity.
Adam is charged to be a king.
(20:12):
He's charged to be a priest inthe service of God, a king with
his rule over all of creation.
He's also charged to be aprophet because God gives him
the word and basically do thisand live.
Don't do this and die.
Eat of this tree.
And so Adam is to spread thisword as the spokesman for God to
(20:35):
his wife, to his offspring, toeveryone.
So Adam fulfills the role ofprophet, priest, and king,
except he's a failure, right?
And so it shows us even therethat Adam points us to someone
that we need as greater.
And Adam all died.
Paul leans into this in Romanschapter five to show and compare
that Jesus is the true andbetter Adam, or the second Adam,
(20:58):
whereby everyone who believesin him, he is their head now.
Everybody who is in Christ issecure in him.
Everyone dies in Adam, all aremade alive in Christ.
Seeing these connections here,so they're not just isolated
individuals.
And I could go on and on.
We've got Moses, I mean, whowas the closest person to God.
(21:18):
He he was he walked with God.
He was of anybody in the OldTestament, so close, yet he's
another flawed character.
And he points us to the need ofa greater prophet, one who will
ever live to make intercessionfor his people.
And Moses did that, but Mosesdid not inherit the promised
(21:40):
land.
He could see it from afar.
Well, Jesus is the one who notonly inherits the promised land,
it is his inheritance that hehas given to us so that we are
promised heaven based off of themerits of Christ.
And so Adam, Moses, David, allkind of the Mount Rushmore of
the Old Testament, they'repointing us to Jesus.
(22:02):
They're not pointing us tothemselves.
There are great lessons tolearn from their failures and
their successes, but ultimatelythe point is that they are
really just laying out therunway carpet for the coming of
the Messiah.
Another thing to read withChrist at the center is
promises.
When we read about promises ofthe Old Testament or prophecies,
(22:25):
we see that their fulfillmentis in Christ.
Some of the promises arefulfilled in this Christ's first
coming, some are fulfilled inhis second coming.
And one of the most explicitpassages of scripture that point
us to Christ from the OldTestament, I think, is Isaiah
53, where it's the sufferingservant.
He was pierced for ourtransgressions, he was crushed
for our iniquities.
(22:46):
Upon him was the chastisementthat brought us peace.
By his stripes we are healed.
It's not talking about Isaiahspecifically.
This is pointing to Jesus andhis suffering on the cross for
our sins, so that we might findforgiveness, restoration in him.
And so we think about promises.
And I think that's a fine andhelpful way to think about both
(23:20):
testaments, both covenants, soto speak.
That's where you're going toget a bit more of the
(23:59):
application that, you know, isthere a promise to believe?
Is there a sin to confess?
Um, you know, or is there anattitude to change, what it
might be?
And so that's that's gonna bebased off of where you are in
your own spiritual journey andyour own walk with Christ.
But first we want to seewhere's Jesus in this passage,
and then how can I apply thispassage in my own discipleship
(24:23):
today?
And I think this is very, veryimportant because as we we begin
to read with theseChristocentric or Christological
lenses, we read the Biblecorrectly.
And in reading the Biblecorrectly, we can understand it
better.
And in understanding it better,we apply it better.
And this is so important andhelpful in our own walks and our
(24:47):
own discipleship.
Because as we understand God'sword better, we're able to help
others understand God's wordbetter.
There's an old maxim I heardfrom one of my mentors some
years ago, and he told me, hesaid, if you can't teach it, you
haven't learned it.
And I stopped and thought aboutthat for a minute.
It makes pretty good sense.
(25:08):
I might say it a littledifferently.
If you can't articulate itclearly, you haven't learned it.
In our own discipleship, weneed to learn the scriptures so
that we can articulate themclearly, so that we can teach
them and instruct others in howto read their Bibles better and
how to grow in this practicalway.
So here's the big takeaway: Jesus is at the center of (25:28):
undefined
scripture.
And just as all roads led toRome, all scripture points to
Christ.
And so let me just encourageyou as you read your Bible,
uncover these hidden gems, thesemysterious nuggets.
The Bible is God's story ofredemption with Jesus at the
(25:55):
center.
So let me challenge you thisweek, as you get into the Word,
whatever your passage is, askthe question: how does this
point to Christ?
And seek to trace that, seek tounderstand that.
I'm sure it'll be worth yourwhile, life-giving, and a true
joy.
Seeing Christ in all thescripture is key to discipleship
(26:17):
and worship.
I want to thank you forlistening to the Pleasing God
Podcast.
Before we sign off, I just wantto let you know on next week's
episode, Caitlin and I are goingto be together and we're going
to be having a discussion oncultivating and maintaining
friendship in marriage,something that every couple
needs, no matter what season oflife you're in.
(26:38):
So I would encourage you totune in to next week's episode
and be encouraged by that.
If you have any questions, I'dlove to hear from you.
You could reach out atquestions at pleasing
godpodcast.org.
And remember, 1 Thessalonians 43 this is the will of God, your
sanctification.
Hi, and welcome back to the Pleasing God
Podcast, a show focused onhelping Christians to think
biblically, engage practically,and live faithfully for the
glory of God.
I'm your host, Jonathan Sowell.
And on our last episode, thetwo-part interview with my dad,
and just reflecting on 23 yearsof pastoral ministry, uh, just
(00:29):
the highs and the lows oftheirs.
So coming off of that episode,I wanted to talk about something
that's really important to me.
That's how we read our Bibles.
And I'm not talking aboutreading our Bibles for simply
information or uh inspiration orfor encouragement, but reading
our Bibles in such a way that wesee Christ as the main point of
(00:52):
whatever passage or whateverthing we are reading.
So I've titled this episodeReading the Bible with Christ at
the center.
And again, like I said, this issomething that is that I'm
passionate about.
And when I when I understoodand started to see that the
Bible points us to Christ, OldTestament and New Testament, it
(01:17):
totally changed my uhunderstanding, my delight, my
love, and my excitement for theWord of God.
And so I hope that just talkingabout this, we can think about
some practical ways in which wecan engage the scriptures
through the lens of seeing thempointing to Jesus that will just
(01:37):
help you in your uh personalBible reading, in your Bible
study, whether you teach, uh,whether you lead a small group
or your own personal just walkwith the Lord, uh that you can
see that all scripture ispointing and leading to Christ.
And so I hope it's anencouragement to you.
And one of the foundationalpassages when it comes to
(02:00):
understanding that the Biblepoints us to Christ comes from
Jesus Himself.
And this is one of my favoritescenes, I think, in all the
scriptures.
After the resurrection, Jesusappears to disciples on the road
to Emmaus.
Question I often ask youngpeople, and um, maybe I'm out on
the trail hiking, something,just a conversation.
(02:23):
If you could go to one scene,one place in the scriptures, and
you could be a fly on the wall,or uh you could witness that
event, what would it be?
And some of the answers are,you know, the parting of the Red
Sea, uh, maybe something withthe plagues of of Egypt or uh
(02:43):
Samson, uh, you know, usuallysomething with the life of
Christ, the resurrection, emptytomb, that Sunday morning.
And while there are certainlyall these great high points, I
think if I could have beenanywhere, the place that I would
love to have been would havebeen on the road to Emmaus,
walking with those disciples asJesus appeared to them.
(03:05):
Well, this passage comes fromthe Gospel of Luke in chapter
24.
In Luke 24, verse 27, Jesus,the risen Jesus, who has been
crucified, raised from the dead,and now as he's uh instructing
these disciples, he tells them,or this is what is said here,
and beginning with Moses and allthe prophets, he interpreted to
(03:29):
them in all the scriptures thethings concerning himself.
So what's going on here in thissetting, in this scene, is that
Jesus is explaining to thesedisciples that the Old Testament
was pointing towards him andhis work, death, burial, and
(03:51):
resurrection.
Later on, Luke records inchapter 24, verse verses 44 to
45.
Then he said to them, These aremy words that I spoke to you
while I was still with you, thateverything written about me in
the law of Moses and theprophets and the psalms must be
fulfilled.
All right, when Jesus saysMoses and then the prophets and
(04:16):
then the psalms, he's talkingabout the threefold division of
the Old Testament.
In the English Bible, it'sdivided into five parts, but the
Jewish Bible divided into theJewish Old Testament or Jewish
Bible divided into three mainsections.
You had the law, you had theprophets, and you had the
(04:37):
writings, or the psalms,synonymous, the psalms being the
biggest book of the writings.
And so what Jesus is sayinghere is that Moses being the
law, there's your there's yourPentateuch, the prophets that
being the other major section ofthe Old Testament, and then the
Psalms or the writings werebearing witness to him.
(04:57):
So he's saying, All of the OldTestament bears witness to me.
And then after that saying,after he says this, verse 45,
then he opened their minds tounderstand the scriptures.
What an exciting thing thatJesus unpacks the passages of
(05:17):
scripture in the Old Testamentto show this one single story,
the story of redemption,beginning in Genesis and ending
ultimately in the revelation,but the finding its climax in
the incarnation, the person andwork of Jesus coming, living,
(05:39):
dying, and rising again from thedead.
What an awesome place to be.
What a great experience thatwould have been to hear Jesus
just unpack these passages, thethe mystery, Paul would say,
concealed in the old, revealedin the new.
And then in John chapter 5,Jesus gives this again
(06:02):
eye-opening statement to thePharisees.
And he says, You search thescriptures because you think
that in them you have eternallife.
And it is they that bearwitness about me.
I think there's a warning weall must heed here right now is
that we can read our Bibles.
We can read our Old Testament,we can read our New Testament,
(06:23):
we can read scripturesthroughout.
And if we miss Christ in thescriptures, we've missed the
point.
It's not about moral lessons,simply put, but it's about Jesus
beginning in Genesis andultimately in his second coming
(06:46):
at the end of Revelation.
So foundationally I want us tounderstand that the Bible's own
testimony bears witness.
The New Testament bears witnessto Christ in the old.
One of the most importantthings we can do when it comes
to approaching our Bibles is notto read our Bibles as simply a
(07:07):
collection of books, of 66books, but to see it as one
unified story, many differenthuman authors, but one divine
author.
And an interesting thing to doin exercise would be to look at
the first two chapters of theBible, Genesis 1 and 2, and then
compare those to the last twochapters of the Bible,
(07:29):
Revelation 21 and 22, and justsee how those book ends show us
the whole story of Scripture.
And it's a beautiful thing.
So as the Bible testifies aboutitself, Jesus says, I am the
key to understanding andunlocking the meanings of
(07:49):
Scripture.
There's pitfalls of reading theBible without Christ.
And I want to just kind oftouch on these a little bit
because we can dangerously fallinto them without even
understanding.
And the first one is moralism,where we reduce biblical stories
to a moral principle.
It could come out to somethinglike be like David or, you know,
(08:12):
dare to be Daniel.
And while there's in a sense,there can be application that
draws from the life of David orthe courage of Daniel, we
shouldn't read those stories andisolate them from the big
narrative concerning the personand work of Jesus Christ.
(08:34):
When we read about David, he isa great example, but we also
read that he is a flawedexample.
And the story of David, again,promised by God that one of his
offspring will have aneverlasting kingdom.
And David is a true and goodking, but he's a fallen king.
(08:58):
And we need a better king,where Jesus, again, is the true
and better David, the son ofDavid, but the Lord of David.
And so when we just think aboutthese characters, we shouldn't
reduce it to simply a morallesson.
But how do they point us toChrist?
What can we learn from theirlives?
But where do they fit into thishistorical plan of redemption
(09:23):
being unfolded progressivelythrough the Old Testament?
So we want to be careful not toreduce Bible uh accounts uh for
as just moral lessons.
Here's the second thing we wantto be careful of and a pitfall
to avoid is that we want toavoid self-centered reading.
And what do I mean by that?
Simply reading a passage, openit Old Testament, New Testament,
(09:46):
and the first question to askis, What does this mean to me?
Or how can I apply this to mylife?
Well, we certainly wantapplication that will result in
conformity to the image ofChrist.
We shouldn't first begin with aself-centered reading of
scripture as though this is allabout me or pointing to me.
The question we need to ask,again, while we're reading a
(10:06):
passage is what does this revealabout my Savior?
What does this tell me aboutChrist?
Think of the first promise inScripture, revelation of Christ,
uh, concealed but a promise wasin Genesis 3 15.
Adam and Eve have fallen.
The Lord looks at Adam first,rightly so.
(10:28):
What have you done?
And so here becomes the blamegame.
Adam looks and says, probablythe greatest offen, one of the
greatest offensive lines ever inScripture.
He looked at God and said, Itwas the woman that you gave me.
The fact that Adam was allowedto breathe after that statement
is an act of sheer grace.
So Adam blames God and blamesthe woman for his sin.
(10:49):
Well, God doesn't even addressin his own graciousness, turns
to the woman, What have youdone?
Well, she continues the blamegame, and she looks over at the
serpent and she says, Basically,the devil made me do it.
God looks to the serpent andasks no more questions.
And then we get thisdeclaration in Genesis chapter
(11:09):
3, 15, where he says, I will putenmity between you and the
woman, between your offspringand her offspring.
He shall bruise your head, andyou shall bruise his heel.
And that passage right there,the first gospel, if we're not
reading Christ and understandingChrist in all the scripture,
we'll miss the point of what wasbeing stated there.
God is promising from the womana Savior who will defeat the
(11:33):
serpent.
His heel will be bruised.
Well, there's the crucifixion,but the head of the serpent will
be crushed.
There's the resurrection,there's the vindication by the
Spirit.
There is Christ as Victor rightthere in his resurrection.
It's not just a passage aboutsin has bad consequences, you
know, try to do better.
It's sin has devastatingconsequences, but God has
(11:55):
promised to send a redeemer.
And so Adam and Eve trust thispromise, a mysterious promise.
They don't know his name, theydon't know his time.
All they know is that from thewoman will come one who will
defeat the serpent.
And so they have a gospelpromise.
And then the whole story ofScripture is just again
(12:17):
unfolding this redemptive planof God, the seed of the woman,
to crush the head of theserpent.
And so wherever we pick up ourBibles and we start reading, we
should think about thisframework.
Instead of simply opening theBible and saying, What do you
got for me today, God?
What does your word revealabout your son?
And how does beholding Christin Scripture transform me, not
(12:42):
just my understanding of theWord, but my life?
That's again just a pitfall toavoid is a self-centered
reading.
And then the third pitfall,which I've talked a little bit
about, is fragmented reading,where again you you just you
isolate in a section, whether itbe your reading through
(13:04):
Leviticus, all these laws forsacrifice, and you might be
wondering, well, what does thishave to do with me?
I'm a new covenant Christianfar removed from the Middle
East, and you see it kind offragmented not making sense of
the whole.
Well, understanding that eventhe sacrificial system is a
(13:25):
type, is a is a shadow to thingsthat were to come.
And it's even there, it'spointing towards the
consequences of sin, the factthat continual sacrifices must
be made because they aren't asufficient to cover sin once for
all.
And it causes us to long forand to look for an
(13:47):
all-sufficient sacrifice, whichthe counterpart to Leviticus is
Hebrews.
Read that, and it helps us tounderstand why Jesus came and
there is no sacrificial systemanymore.
And so important to see everybook as a part of a whole, but
not fragmented.
And so, what is this book,passage, area of scripture
(14:12):
teaching me or revealing orpointing towards concerning the
person and work of Jesus Christ?
Because remember, Jesus saysall scripture bears witness to
me.
So we need to keep that in mindas we engage our Bibles.
So when Christ is not at thecenter of our understanding,
(14:32):
Scripture gets distorted andkind of flattened.
But there is also, I would say,a fourth pitfall here.
Is that we can get, and I wantto be careful with this, but I
think you all understand, we canget so focused on seeing Christ
in the scriptures that therebecomes no application to our
(14:53):
lives.
Is that the application is thisis about Jesus.
But how does this passageconform me to the image of
Christ?
How is the scripturetransforming me as I am learning
of Christ, reading my Bibleproperly?
We need to keep that in mind,is to not be so Christological
(15:14):
that we forget that God's wordis living and active, sharper
than any two-edged sword.
While we read it, it reads usand it convicts, and it's to
transform us.
That we don't just becomehearers of the word or
christological readers of theword, but that we are doers of
the word as we understand itproperly, pointing to Christ and
(15:38):
then calling us to deeperlevels of devotion and obedience
to Him.
So, how do we read the Bible,practically speaking, here?
How do we read the Bible withChrist at the center?
Let me give you a few thoughtson that.
Look for themes, understandcertain themes.
(15:59):
So when you're reading theBible, terms like covenant, a
question to ask is at what,whatever you're reading, what is
the operational covenant ofthat time?
Again, very important becauseGod's revelation, progressive
revelation plan of redemption,unfolds through covenants.
(16:20):
I believe there was a uhcovenant with Adam in the
garden, though the scripture'snot entirely clear on that.
There seems to be very muchcovenantal languages and
promises there, but whetherthere be a covenant of works
with Adam or not, you do seewith Noah there's a covenant.
God makes this covenant, thesign of rainbow that he will no
(16:41):
longer flood the earth.
This is a covenant withcreation.
Some see that Adam and Noahkind of together form this kind
of covenant of with creation.
Uh unilateral God promises.
It's not based off of anyactions of humans, but that God
who promises he will never floodthe earth again, and the sign
being a rainbow.
(17:01):
Now, as that progress, youknow, covenants progress, you
get the covenant with Abraham.
This is Genesis chapter 15 and17, where God makes a covenant
and promises him that he willhave a great nation, that there
will be a land, and that throughhis offspring will bring
blessing.
So there's land, people, andblessing.
(17:22):
And as that covenant, thatbecomes really a covenant that
uh progressively moves throughthe Old Testament, where from
this Abrahamic covenant, theunderstanding people are looking
for the land, they're beingdeveloped as the people, the
nation of Israel, and uh they'relooking for the offspring that
will be the blessing.
(17:43):
And the outworking of thatcovenant, you see in Moses,
there's the people, there's thecovenant of Sinai, the law is
given, and into Joshua they takethe land.
So the people, the land,there's the covenant with Moses,
which is often referred to asthe old covenant.
And then from Moses, there's acovenant with David.
(18:03):
And with this Davidic covenant,here comes the promise of uh
royalty, of a kingdom, of a kingwho will reign forever.
And so, and each one of thesecovenants, there's more
revelation concerning really whoand where and what the seed of
the woman is going to be.
(18:24):
And so important to think interms of covenant, then
obviously when we get to the NewTestament, well, Jeremiah
chapter 31 promises a newcovenant, not like the old
covenant, not like the covenantsof before, but where God will
write his law upon the hearts ofhis people.
And it's fleshed out further inEzekiel.
We talk about thisregeneration, the spirit within
(18:48):
us, renewal.
Ultimately, it's fulfilled inChrist who inaugurates the new
covenant through his death,burial, resurrection, sending of
the Holy Spirit, so that allwho believe in him, repent of
their sins, and trust in Christ,are members of the new
(19:09):
covenant.
Understanding themes ofcovenant, kingdom, sacrifice,
these are all ways in which wecan read Christ at the center.
And so the kingdom is to bebuilt.
It is here, but not yet, oralready, but not yet fulfilled
in Christ.
When you think about sacrificeof the old, again, repeated
(19:30):
sacrifices pointing us towardsChrist, who is the once-for-all
sacrifice for our sins.
So these are some themes tothink about when we read with
Christ at the center, and thenalso patterns or or types or
typology.
And this is where characters Ithink are very important to
(19:52):
understand.
You have Adam, Adam being thefirst man, Adam being the
innocent man.
It's he was created good andvery good according to God.
Yet Adam is placed in thegarden, Adam is to be the is the
federal head of humanity.
Adam is charged to be a king.
(20:12):
He's charged to be a priest inthe service of God, a king with
his rule over all of creation.
He's also charged to be aprophet because God gives him
the word and basically do thisand live.
Don't do this and die.
Eat of this tree.
And so Adam is to spread thisword as the spokesman for God to
(20:35):
his wife, to his offspring, toeveryone.
So Adam fulfills the role ofprophet, priest, and king,
except he's a failure, right?
And so it shows us even therethat Adam points us to someone
that we need as greater.
And Adam all died.
Paul leans into this in Romanschapter five to show and compare
that Jesus is the true andbetter Adam, or the second Adam,
(20:58):
whereby everyone who believesin him, he is their head now.
Everybody who is in Christ issecure in him.
Everyone dies in Adam, all aremade alive in Christ.
Seeing these connections here,so they're not just isolated
individuals.
And I could go on and on.
We've got Moses, I mean, whowas the closest person to God.
(21:18):
He he was he walked with God.
He was of anybody in the OldTestament, so close, yet he's
another flawed character.
And he points us to the need ofa greater prophet, one who will
ever live to make intercessionfor his people.
And Moses did that, but Mosesdid not inherit the promised
(21:40):
land.
He could see it from afar.
Well, Jesus is the one who notonly inherits the promised land,
it is his inheritance that hehas given to us so that we are
promised heaven based off of themerits of Christ.
And so Adam, Moses, David, allkind of the Mount Rushmore of
the Old Testament, they'repointing us to Jesus.
(22:02):
They're not pointing us tothemselves.
There are great lessons tolearn from their failures and
their successes, but ultimatelythe point is that they are
really just laying out therunway carpet for the coming of
the Messiah.
Another thing to read withChrist at the center is
promises.
When we read about promises ofthe Old Testament or prophecies,
(22:25):
we see that their fulfillmentis in Christ.
Some of the promises arefulfilled in this Christ's first
coming, some are fulfilled inhis second coming.
And one of the most explicitpassages of scripture that point
us to Christ from the OldTestament, I think, is Isaiah
53, where it's the sufferingservant.
He was pierced for ourtransgressions, he was crushed
for our iniquities.
(22:46):
Upon him was the chastisementthat brought us peace.
By his stripes we are healed.
It's not talking about Isaiahspecifically.
This is pointing to Jesus andhis suffering on the cross for
our sins, so that we might findforgiveness, restoration in him.
And so we think about promises.
And I think that's a fine andhelpful way to think about both
(23:20):
testaments, both covenants, soto speak.
That's where you're going toget a bit more of the
(23:59):
application that, you know, isthere a promise to believe?
Is there a sin to confess?
Um, you know, or is there anattitude to change, what it
might be?
And so that's that's gonna bebased off of where you are in
your own spiritual journey andyour own walk with Christ.
But first we want to seewhere's Jesus in this passage,
and then how can I apply thispassage in my own discipleship
(24:23):
today?
And I think this is very, veryimportant because as we we begin
to read with theseChristocentric or Christological
lenses, we read the Biblecorrectly.
And in reading the Biblecorrectly, we can understand it
better.
And in understanding it better,we apply it better.
And this is so important andhelpful in our own walks and our
(24:47):
own discipleship.
Because as we understand God'sword better, we're able to help
others understand God's wordbetter.
There's an old maxim I heardfrom one of my mentors some
years ago, and he told me, hesaid, if you can't teach it, you
haven't learned it.
And I stopped and thought aboutthat for a minute.
It makes pretty good sense.
(25:08):
I might say it a littledifferently.
If you can't articulate itclearly, you haven't learned it.
In our own discipleship, weneed to learn the scriptures so
that we can articulate themclearly, so that we can teach
them and instruct others in howto read their Bibles better and
how to grow in this practicalway.
So here's the big takeaway: Jesus is at the center of (25:28):
undefined
scripture.
And just as all roads led toRome, all scripture points to
Christ.
And so let me just encourageyou as you read your Bible,
uncover these hidden gems, thesemysterious nuggets.
The Bible is God's story ofredemption with Jesus at the
(25:55):
center.
So let me challenge you thisweek, as you get into the Word,
whatever your passage is, askthe question: how does this
point to Christ?
And seek to trace that, seek tounderstand that.
I'm sure it'll be worth yourwhile, life-giving, and a true
joy.
Seeing Christ in all thescripture is key to discipleship
(26:17):
and worship.
I want to thank you forlistening to the Pleasing God
Podcast.
Before we sign off, I just wantto let you know on next week's
episode, Caitlin and I are goingto be together and we're going
to be having a discussion oncultivating and maintaining
friendship in marriage,something that every couple
needs, no matter what season oflife you're in.
(26:38):
So I would encourage you totune in to next week's episode
and be encouraged by that.
If you have any questions, I'dlove to hear from you.
You could reach out atquestions at pleasing
godpodcast.org.
And remember, 1 Thessalonians 43 this is the will of God, your
sanctification.
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