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Bible—the English form of the Greek word biblia (diminutive of biblos—the inner bark of the papyrus, meaning originally “books”), is the name given in the fifth century to the entire collection of sacred books, the "Library of Divine Revelation." The name Bible was adopted by John Wickliffe (1320–1384), and came gradually to be used in English. The Bible consists of sixty-six books, composed by many different writers, in three different languages, under different circumstances; writers of almost every social rank—statesmen and peasants, kings, herdsmen, fishermen, priests, tax-gatherers, tent-makers; educated and uneducated, Jews and Gentiles; most of them unknown to each other, and writing over a period of about 1600 years. Yet, after all is said and done, it is only one book dealing with only one subject, man's redemption.
There is naturally no name in the New Testament for the complete body of Scripture; the only Scriptures then known being those of the Old Testament. The common designations for the Old Testament books by Our Lord and His apostles were "the scriptures" (writings) (Matt. 21:42; Mark 14:49; Luke 24:32; John 5:39; Acts 18:24; Rom. 15:4, etc.), "the holy scriptures” (Rom. 1:2); once “the sacred writings” (2 Tim. 3:15). The Jewish technical division was three—"the law, the prophets, and the (holy) writings," and is recognized by Jesus with the expression "in the law of Moses, and the prophets, and the psalms" (Luke 24:44). Again the whole is summed up under "the law and the prophets" (Matt. 5:17; 11:13; Acts 13:15). Paul uses the phrase "the oracles of God" as a name for the Old Testament Scriptures (Rom. 3:2; compare Acts 7:38; Heb. 5:12; 1 Peter 4:11).
The process for recognizing and collecting the books of the New Testament began in the first centuries of the Christian church. Very early, some of the New Testament books were recognized as inspired. Paul considered Luke’s writings to be as authoritative as the Old Testament (1 Tim. 5:18). Peter referred to Paul’s writings as Scripture (2 Pet. 3:15-16). The first canon was compiled in A.D. 170, and included all of the New Testament books except Hebrews, James and 3 John. The Council of Laodicea (A.D. 363) concluded that only the Old Testament and the 27 books of the New Testament were to be read in the churches. With this historical setting in mind, let us consider how Christians should view the Old Testament in light of the New Should we reject it as having nothing to say to people today? We may regard the Old Testament’s relationship to the New in the way an acorn is related to an oak tree. Our attitude should be that of the Lord Jesus and His apostles. Jesus authenticated all of the Old Testament Scriptures in His preaching. One should not overlook what the Lord Jesus Himself said: “Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfill” (Matt. 5:17). “To fulfill” means to complete. Christ has completed the Old and brought it to its full expression in the New. Through the person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ, the Old Testament Scriptures have been fulfilled, and the forms and structures of worship under the Old Covenant have been transformed. Because Jesus having died and rose from the dead, nothing is the same. The New Creation has dawned (2 Cor. 5:17). Every element of the Old Testament is fulfilled by Christ and is radically transformed.
At the Billy Graham Library in Charlotte, North Carolina, there are bricks that visitors walk on which have been brought together is such a way that they form a large cross. All of those bricks have been joined together under the unifying theme of the cross. Similarly, in looking at the Old Testament, we see many chapters and verses. These verses are like the bricks in the cross at the Billy Graham Library. Though penned by different writers at different times and locations, they relate to each other is such a way that they form something like the unifying theme of the cross by those bricks. Just as someone did not randomly scatter many at that library, so God did not randomly scatter verses and chapters, for He is a God of order. There must be a unifying theme that brings the Old Testament together.
Jesus said in Matt. 5:17, “Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil.” Luke 24:27 reads, “And beginning at Moses and all the prophets, he expounded unto them in all the scriptures the things concerning himself.” Luke 24: 44-45, “And he said unto them, These are the words which I spake unto you, while I was yet with you, that all things must be fulfilled, which were written in the law of Moses, and in the prophets, and in the psalms, concerning me. Then opened he their understanding, that they might under-stand the scriptures.”
In John 5:39 Jesus said, “Search the scriptures; for in them ye think ye have eternal life: and they are they which testify of me.”
These verses cover all of the Old Testament: the “law and prophets” (Matt. 5); “Moses and all the prophets and the psalms” (Luke 24); “the Scriptures” (John 5). I think we can easily discern the one unifying theme through them all—Jesus Christ! The Old Testament was never intended to be seen as an end in itself. The Old Testament was always intended to point us to something, or to lead us to Someone beyond itself (Gal. 3:25). That Someone is Jesus Christ. The unifying theme of the Old Testament is not the law or Israel as a nation, but it is the Messiah (Jesus), Who is not only the umbrella under which all Scripture gathers, but the emphasis of them all.
Therefore, if we read the Old Testament, without allowing it to point us to Christ, then I think the necessary implication is that we are reading the Old Testament as if we were unbelieving Jews. The Old Testament is the land of shadows and we are not to settle down there like the Jews of old and even of today. The New Testament is the land of fulfillment and Jesus is the one doing the fulfilling. The Law was our schoolmaster to lead us to Christ (Gal. 3:25).
Jesus has revealed the unifying theme of the Old Testament, and that theme is He Himself. Therefore, to approach the Old Testament without this unifying theme is like looking at individual bricks and either missing that they form a cross or thinking that they form something other than a cross. In the light of what Jesus says about the entire Old Testament Scriptures pointing to Him, then what right does any of us have not to read it as testifying of Him? Jesus is the theme of the Old Testament and at His death on the cross, the New Testament was launched because the Old Testament was thereby completely fulfilled.
Heb. 9:16-17, “For where a testament is, there must also of necessity be the death of the testator. For a testament is of force after men are dead: otherwise it is of no strength at all while the testator liveth.” Jesus is the theme of the Old Testament and the theme of the New Testament is redemption for fallen man through the shed blood of God’s Lamb, Jesus Christ, and the gathering of His people into the “spiritual body of Christ” the church.
Looking for Jesus
I find my Lord in the Scripture Wherever I chance to look, He is the theme of the volume, The center and heart of the Book. He is the Rose of Sharon, He is the Lilly fair, Whenever I open my Bible The Lord of the Book is there. He is at the Book’s beginning, Gave to the earth it’s form, He is the Ark of Shelter Bearing the brunt of storm. The Burning Bush of the desert, The Budding of Aaron’s Rod, Wherever I look in the Bible I see the Son of God. The Ram on Mt. Moriah, The Ladder from earth to sky, The Scarlet Cord in the window, And the Serpent lifted high. The Smitten Rock in the desert, The Shepherd with staff and crook, The face of my Lord I discover Wherever I open the Book. He is the Seed of Woman, The Saviour Virgin Born, He is the son of David whom men rejected with scorn. His garments of grace and beauty The stately Aaron deck, Yet He is Priest forever, For He is Melchizedek. Lord of eternal glory Whom John, the apostle saw, Light of the Golden City, Lamb without spot or flaw. Bridegroom coming at midnight, For whom the Virgins look, Wherever I open my Bible I find my Lord in the Book!
(Author Unknown)
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