Seeing What Was Always There: Jesus and the Unity of Scripture
The Mystery Now Revealed
Never have I walked out of a theater like I did that August night in 1999. It was the most mind-blowing ending to a movie I had ever experienced. I couldn’t believe what I had just seen. I couldn’t believe what I had not seen—all the clues that I missed. Most people seemed as shocked as I was to find out toward the end of The Sixth Sense that Malcolm, the main character, had been deceased since the beginning—since eight minutes into the movie—and all the apparent interactions with his wife (from that point forward) were not real, but only assumed. For 90 minutes, I totally missed any hints or suggestions that Malcolm was dead.
As surprised as I was by this fictional mystery, neither that story nor any other manmade mystery compares to the greatest mystery of them all—the true story of the mysterious Messiah. The coming, suffering, and glory of the Messiah were long foretold in the Old Testament, yet remained hidden in plain sight until God’s appointed time (Galatians 4:4).
Repeatedly in the New Testament, the apostle Paul describes the Old Testament message as a “mystery.” To the Colossians, he spoke of “the mystery which has been hidden from ages and from generations” (1:26). To the Romans, he referred to “the mystery kept secret since the world began” (16:25). And to the Ephesians, Paul explained that “by revelation He [God] made known to me the mystery (as I have briefly written already, by which, when you read, you may understand my knowledge in the mystery of Christ), which in other ages was not made known to the sons of men, as it has now been revealed by the Spirit to His holy apostles and prophets” (3:3-5).
Jesus’ Testimony
Luke 24
When Jesus appeared to two disciples on the road to Emmaus in Luke 24, their eyes were restrained (perhaps miraculously) so that they did not recognize Him. Heartbroken over Jesus’ crucifixion, they lamented their dashed hopes that Jesus had been the Redeemer of Israel. And even though various other disciples had reported that Jesus’ tomb was found empty and had even received visions from angels who said Jesus was alive, these two disciples were despondent.
Every Bible reader should take to heart what happened next: Jesus said to the two disciples, “‘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). Jesus said that the Hebrew Scriptures—from Genesis onward—ultimately pointed to Him (the long-awaited Messiah). Those who delve into “all” of the Old Testament with open and honest hearts will come to know Jesus Christ because He is the theme of the Law and the Prophets.
Jesus later appeared to these same two disciples, as well as the apostles and other followers of Jesus in Jerusalem, saying, “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.” Only then did He open “their understanding, that they might comprehend the Scriptures” (Luke 24:44-45).
What does such a deep dive into the Scriptures—into the heart of God’s message to humanity—do for the honest-hearted, searching soul? It lights a flame of fire in our hearts as it did the two disciples on the road to Emmaus, who “said to one another, ‘Did not our heart burn within us while He talked with us on the road, and while He opened the Scriptures to us?’” (Luke 24:32).
I’ve often said that if I could go back in time and witness three events in history it would be (1) to force myself to look upon Jesus suffering and dying on the cross of Calvary as He paid the penalty for my sins, (2) to watch Jesus—the Firstfruits of the resurrection—rise from the dead on the third day, and (3) on that same day, to listen to Jesus, “beginning at Moses and all the Prophets,” explain “in all the Scriptures the things concerning Himself” (Luke 24:27). What a Bible class that must have been!
John 5
Luke 24 was not the first time that Jesus emphasized the Christ-centered nature of the Hebrew Scriptures. In John 5, Jesus miraculously healed a man who had been lame for 38 years. Rather than fall at His feet and recognize Him as the miracle-working Messiah (cf. Isaiah 35:4-6), various hard-hearted, unbelieving Jewish leaders sought to persecute and kill Him for healing on the Sabbath and for “making Himself equal with God” (5:1-18). What was Jesus’ response? He gave evidence for Who He was and is.
Not only did God the Father and John the baptizer testify on behalf of Jesus (John 5:33,37; cf. Matthew 3:17), and not only did the miraculous works of Jesus logically prove His Divine message and Deity (John 5:36), but the very Scriptures in which these prideful Jews were supposedly experts pointed to Him.
Jesus said: “You search the Scriptures, for in them you think you have eternal life; and these are they which testify of Me” (John 5:39). These Jews had examined the Scriptures but missed their central message. Indeed, there were important Old Testament laws about keeping the Sabbath (laws that, sadly, these Jews had distorted). There was noteworthy biblical history to memorize and consequential moral instruction to keep. But these Jews had missed the forest for the trees! The very Messiah that the Hebrew Scriptures are all about was standing in their midst, and they failed to recognize Him. [Thankfully, certain other Jews, such as the apostle Philip, came to a different conclusion about Jesus and the Old Testament, saying, “We have found Him of whom Moses in the law, and also the prophets, wrote—Jesus of Nazareth” (John 1:45).]
At the conclusion of His defense in John 5, Jesus said to His critics: “Do not think that I shall accuse you to the Father; there is one who accuses you—Moses, in whom you trust. For if you believed Moses, you would believe Me; for he wrote about Me. But if you do not believe his writings, how will you believe My words?” (5:45-47). These men knew of Moses. They no doubt could tell Jesus all about the life of this great servant of God and recite many of the important laws that God had given the Israelites through him. Yet, for all the historical facts, heroes, and commandments they could recite from the Law of Moses, they missed the heart of the message—God was preparing to save all nations from sin and eternal death through the ultimate Seed of Abraham, the one true Messiah: Jesus of Nazareth.
Paul’s Testimony
Acts 17:2-3
A former devout Pharisee trained in the Hebrew Scriptures (Acts 22:3; Philippians 3:5-6), the apostle Paul was no stranger to the Old Testament. After becoming a Christian, it was “his custom” to visit Jewish synagogues in his travels. There, he “reasoned with them from the Scriptures [the Old Testament], explaining and demonstrating that the Christ had to suffer and rise again from the dead, and saying, ‘This Jesus whom I preach to you is the Christ’” (Acts 17:2-3). How could Paul preach Jesus from the Old Testament? Because the Old Testament is about Jesus!
Acts 26:22-28
Years later, as Paul stood before King Agrippa in Caesarea, he testified, saying: “I stand, witnessing both to small and great, saying no other things than those which the prophets and Moses said would come—that the Christ would suffer, that He would be the first to rise from the dead, and would proclaim light to the Jewish people and to the Gentiles” (Acts 26:22-23). Paul then asked, “King Agrippa, do you believe the prophets?” (26:27). Though Agrippa sadly responded, saying, “You almost persuade me to become a Christian” (26:28), consider the important implication of this discussion: When the Old Testament is rightly divided and read in view of the life of Jesus of Nazareth, humble, honest-hearted, inquiring readers will become Christians. Why? Because Moses and the prophets pointed to Jesus Christ and His eternal Kingdom.
Acts 28:23
At the end of the book of Acts, while Paul was under house arrest in Rome, he had an opportunity to meet with several Jewish leaders who came to hear his views on the “sect” known as Christians. Once again, Paul immediately turned his hearers’ attention to the Old Testament, as he “explained and solemnly testified of the kingdom of God, persuading them concerning Jesus from both the Law of Moses and the Prophets.” What’s more, so voluminous is this inspired Messianic material that Paul expounded on Jesus in the Old Testament “from morning till evening” (Acts 28:23).
Romans 1:1-3; 16:25-26
Paul weaves this “Jesus in the Old Testament” conviction throughout his epistles. He opens and closes his letter to the Romans by directly connecting Jesus with the Hebrew Scriptures. In the first three verses, Paul describes the Gospel as that “which He [God] promised before through His prophets in the Holy Scriptures, concerning His Son Jesus Christ our Lord” (1:1-3). Then, at the very close of Romans, Paul noted how this once-mysterious Good News of salvation through Jesus was “now made manifest [in the first century A.D.], and by the prophetic Scriptures made known to all nations” (Romans 16:25-26).
Question: If Jesus is the key to rightly understanding the Old Testament, why do so many Christians and churches seem to leave Jesus out of the picture when studying the Old Testament?
Peter’s Testimony
Acts 2:22-36
As Peter stood before thousands of Jews only a few days following the ascension of Jesus into heaven, he reasoned with them about becoming followers of the recently crucified descendant of King David. Yet, unlike the body of David, which saw corruption long ago, Peter appealed to Jesus’ resurrection and two different 1,000-year-old prophecies (Psalm 16:8-11; 110:1) that pointed to what they had witnessed: Jesus’ resurrection from the dead and ascension into heaven to sit at the right hand of God the Father.
David had neither been resurrected from the dead nor been exalted to the right hand of God in heaven. Instead, Peter publicly demonstrated that the Old Testament psalms testify to Jesus as the Messiah. Indeed, as Peter concluded: “Therefore let all the house of Israel know assuredly that God has made this Jesus, whom you crucified, both Lord and Christ” (Acts 2:36). For Peter, the Old Testament did not merely anticipate a Messiah in vague terms—it specifically pointed to Jesus. What Jesus had taught on the road to Emmaus, only a few days later, Peter proved publicly from the Psalms.
Acts 3:17-26
Shortly thereafter, in his second recorded sermon in Acts, Peter continued preaching from the Old Testament prophets. He explained that the recent suffering and death of Jesus were actually foretold by God “by the mouth of all His prophets” (3:18). According to Peter, “Moses…yes, and all the prophets, from Samuel and those who follow, as many as have spoken, have also foretold these days” (3:22,24)—the days of God’s mighty, resurrected Servant, Jesus (3:26).
Acts 10:43
The events of Acts 10 are a pivotal moment in the history of the early Church, as God instructed Peter to go teach the Gospel to Gentiles (which was promised as early as Genesis 12:3). Consider Peter’s statement near the end of his Gospel lesson (10:34-42): “To Him [Jesus] all the prophets witness that, through His name, whoever believes in Him will receive remission of sins” (10:43).
1 Peter 1:10-12
More than 30 years after the death and resurrection of Jesus, the apostle Peter was still joyfully celebrating salvation from sin (especially with suffering saints) and acknowledging the depth with which the divinely inspired Messianic oracles were communicated and investigated by the Old Testament prophets. Peter wrote:
Of this salvation the prophets have inquired and searched carefully, who prophesied of the grace that would come to you, searching what, or what manner of time, the Spirit of Christ who was in them was indicating when He testified beforehand the sufferings of Christ and the glories that would follow. To them it was revealed that, not to themselves, but to us they were ministering the things which now have been reported to you through those who have preached the gospel to you by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven—things which angels desire to look into (1 Peter 1:10-12).
So remarkable is the biblical message of the Messiah woven throughout the Old Testament that not only did the prophets of old carefully search and reflect upon their God-given revelations—without fully exhausting their depths—but even angels “long to look” into these things (NASB).
Conclusion: One Story, One Savior
If the Old Testament is saturated with Christ, why do we often read it as though He were absent?
Sometimes, we skim where God invites us to linger. Often, we study characters and commandments without tracing where they are meant to lead. Like moviegoers who miss the clues hidden in plain sight, we read inattentively—and the central Figure slips past us unseen.
Scripture certainly demands careful attention to context, words, grammar, history, and commands. Every inspired detail matters. But those details were never meant to remain isolated pixels. God has carefully woven a single masterpiece from Genesis to Revelation, and He calls us to see the big picture: Jesus Christ, the Author and fulfillment of our salvation.
When we study humbly, patiently, and Christ-consciously, the Scriptures will come alive. And like the disciples on the road to Emmaus, our hearts begin to burn within us as we finally see what was always there.
REPRODUCTION & DISCLAIMERS: We are happy to grant permission for this article to be reproduced in part or in its entirety, as long as our stipulations are observed.
