Luke2427 – Seeing Jesus in All the Bible
In Luke 24:13-35 we find the familiar story of the risen Jesus walking on the Emmaus Road with two of his disciples who are downcast, having just witnessed the crucifixion of the one they believed to be the Messiah. Jesus rebukes them with strong language, because their misunderstanding of the Scriptures was the cause of their unnecessary sorrow:
Then He said to them, “O foolish ones, and slow of heart to believe in all that the prophets have spoken! Ought not the Christ to have suffered these things and to enter into His glory?” And beginning at Moses and all the Prophets, He expounded to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning Himself. Luke 24:25-27
This last sentence is Luke 24:27, after which we have named this website and its mission. Jesus’ reference to “Moses and all the Prophets” covers most of the Hebrew Scriptures, which of course would have been found in what we know as the Old Testament. But can Jesus really mean that “Moses” (meaning the Pentateuch – the first five books of the Old Testament) and “all the Prophets” (the former prophets and the later ones) spoke of him? Consider what he says to his disciples later in Luke 24:
“These are the words which I spoke to you while I was still with you, that all things must be fulfilled which were written in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms concerning Me. And he opened their understanding, that they might comprehend the Scriptures.” Luke 24:44-45
Here Jesus also mentions the “Psalms,” which added to “Moses” and “the Prophets,” covers the entire Old Testament. The Hebrew Bible since ancient times has been divided into the law (of Moses or the Torah), the prophets (including the histories as “former prophets”) and the Writings (especially the Psalms). Jesus is no doubt boldly claiming that the entire Hebrew Bible speaks of him.
Can this possibly be true? If there was any doubt as to Jesus’ meaning, we could look also to John 5:39, where Jesus speaks to the religious leaders of Israel with these words:
“You search the Scriptures, for in them you think you have eternal life; and these are they which testify of Me.”
Here, he simply refers to the entirety of the “Scriptures,” and declares that these Scriptures testify of him. There can be no doubt about Jesus’ meaning, but the concept is difficult for many to accept. Why? We suggest that the reason is that most Christians are largely unfamiliar with the Old Testament, its style of writing, imagery and message in context with the New Testament. As a result, while some Bible students may be familiar with a few isolated images of Christ in the Old Testament (such as Isaiah 53 and Psalm 22), most could not begin to offer proof of what Jesus flatly says to be true – that it’s all about him.
The purpose of Luke 2427 is to change all that.
We are a group of Christian believers and writers who have come together for the purpose of displaying the truth of Jesus’ statement that ALL of the Old Testament speaks of him. On this website, we will explore the Scriptures together and discover that they really are “about him.” We also will seek greater understanding of how the entire New Testament continues to reveal the risen Christ. However, because our work is nowhere near exhaustive, and the riches of Scripture are so vast, we want not merely to be a resource (and an ever growing one!), but also to equip you to discover for yourselves how to find Jesus in all the Bible. We invite you to join us! We welcome contributions to this body of work from others who are like-minded and captured by the all-encompassing beauty and glory of the Savior.
In Luke 24, we are told that the Emmaus disciples’ hearts burned within them as Jesus revealed the Scriptures to them. We are convinced that Jesus’ words are true, that he is the center of God’s revelation in the Bible, and that to see him is to have our hearts also set ablaze. To him be all the glory.