To Encourage You

Hebrews 5:5-6 “So also Christ did not exalt himself to be made a high priest, but was appointed by him who said to him, ‘You are my Son, today I have begotten you’; as he says also in another place, ‘You are a priest forever, after the order of Melchizedek.’”

The Bible, from cover to cover, reveals Christ.  It’s God the Father’s Word about Christ and it even contains some of the Father’s words to Christ.  It’s all a revelation of the One who is called “the Word” in John 1:1. We see an indication of this in the verses above.  Here we have the writer referring to two things that God the Father said to Christ.  And where did He say these things?  Well, the first, i.e., “You are my Son, today I have begotten you,” is a quote from Psalm 2:7.  Note that the verse above speaks of “him who said to him,” i.e., God the Father Who said to Christ. Yet these words were written by the psalmist, who was a man.  Same with the second quote: “You are a priest forever, after the order of Melchizedek.” This is a direct quote from Psalm 110:4, which is denoted as “A Psalm of David.”  So, we see that in both of these passages, it was God speaking through men, but in actuality, He was speaking both about and to His own Son.  It’s all about Jesus. 

Jesus said as much to the two disciples to whom He spoke on the road to Emmaus after He rose from the grave. About this conversation we are told, “And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, He interpreted to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning himself” (Luke 24:27).  And to the unbelieving Jews He said this: “You search the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; and it is they that bear witness about me” (John 5:39). 

So much of preaching today tries to make the Scriptures all about us.  If you listen closely, you’ll hear the Scriptures used as if they are a formula for worldly success.  They are so often presented as a means to health, wealth, and various self-help prescriptions; a “be all you can be” or “your best life now” message.  But is that really how the Scriptures are to be interpreted? I think about John the Baptist. Of him Jesus said, “among those born of women none is greater than John” (Luke 7:28). But we find John saying about himself in relationship to Christ, “He must increase, but I must decrease” (John 3:30). How often have you heard that message preached today?  And then there’s the great apostle Paul. What did he say about the message he preached and wrote about?  Well, one thing he said was this: “what we proclaim is not ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, with ourselves as your servants for Jesus’ sake” (Luke 7:28). He also said this: “We preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and folly to Gentiles, but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God” (1 Corinthians 1:23-24).  So then, if Jesus said that the Scriptures are about Himself, and if Paul said likewise, then if we try to make them all about us, aren’t we missing the whole point? 

So, what is the point? Why are the Scriptures important to us if they are all about Him?  The benefit is all tied up in whether or not we are “in Christ” (2 Corinthians 5:17), i.e., in a saving relationship with Him, for it is only then that the Truth of the Scriptures becomes life to us.  It is when we are saved that His life becomes ours.  It is because a person is in Christ and Christ is in them that anything about Christ is of such incredible and indescribable significance. 

We know Him only through His Word. We know what His desires are for us only because we see those desires explained in His Word. And though the Bible is filled with hundreds of promises from God, “All the promises of God find their Yes (only) in him. That is why it is through him that we utter our Amen to God for his glory” (2 Corinthians 1:20). 

But we will only utter “Amen” to God regarding the things He has promised us if we utter them through Christ.  And that is only possible if we are in Him, i.e., if we are saved.  If we love God first, which is His greatest commandment, then we will be enthralled by His words to us about His Son.  Our hearts will continually be turned towards the Son, and we will find great joy in the Son if our focus is on Him (as it should be) as we read God’s Word. We will be those who pray to the Father “Open my eyes, that I may behold wondrous things out of your law” (Psalm 1190:18), with the understanding that those “wondrous things” are things about the One Whose name is “Wonderful” (Isaiah 9:6). 

So, what are you looking for as you read the Word of God?  Do you read it? Does it thrill your soul?  If it does, is that thrill based on what you find out about yourself, or what you find out about Christ?  If He is your focus, then He is what you’ll find. If you are your focus, that’s likely all you will find.  But if that is the case, know that you are missing the whole point, for Jesus Himself has told us “it is they that bear witness about Me.”  It is as we study, believe, and obey His Word that we will bring glory to Him and not to ourselves, because the bottom line is that it’s all about Him, for He is the very Word of God.