The Scriptures Speak of Christ

John 5:39 says, “You search the Scriptures, for in them you think you have eternal life; and these are they which testify of Me.”

Search the scriptures. Jesus was speaking to the ruling Jews who were persecuting Him “because He had done “these things” on the Sabbath” (John 5:16). The Jews of that day had what we today might call the Old Testament. Most believe they had the Torah, or the first five books of the bible (Pentateuch); as well as the Prophets and Psalms, Proverbs, Daniel, Ruth, Esther and some minor prophets... not necessarily all in every synagogue.

So what were the scriptures they would search out for “eternal life?” I believe it would have been the Law. And that was their great stumbling block. They could not or would not see that they could not keep the law... period! They could not see that the law was as their schoolmaster “to bring us to Christ, that we might be justified by faith” as it was revealed to Paul, Gal. 3:24.

So the Jews “searched the scriptures” and studied the Law, and the prophecies of the coming Messiah. The ruling Jews believed they were deserving of the righteousness unto eternal life because they were the priests of the Most High God. And they deserved the Messiah because they were the sons of Abraham, and surely they would recognize Him when He came. But they got it all wrong.

    Jesus said, “The scriptures speak of ME!”

We do not go back to the Old Testament scriptures searching for what we must do for eternal life. They are good for great learning and knowledge of the history and prophecies, but there is no forgiveness of sin without the cross. This is our Gospel now: Paul says, that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and that He was buried, and that He rose again the third day according to the Scriptures, and that He was seen by (Peter), then by the twelve. After that He was seen by over five hundred brethren at once, of whom the greater part remain to the present, but some have fallen asleep. After that He was seen by James, then by all the apostles. Then last of all He was seen by me also, as by one born out of due time. 1 Cor. 15:3-8 (out of due time meaning, prematurely, which is a great bible study).

God has blessed us who believe with eternal life in Christ, a new man, the indwelling Spirit of God, a New covenant of promises, a real, full atonement of sin, a deliverance from sin, spiritual blessings, spiritual gifts, clear revelation, a removal of the veil, and more This covenant of promises is for us now because the covenant was made with Christ before the foundations of the world, in Whom we also were ELECTED.

1 Peter 1:20-21 says, He indeed was foreordained before the foundation of the world, but was manifest in these last times for you who through Him believe in God, who raised Him from the dead and gave Him glory, so that your faith and hope are in God.

Eph. 1:4 says, He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love.

And Psalm 89:28 says, I will maintain my love to Him forever, and My covenant with Him will never fail. That verse speaks of God confirming His covenant from everlasting with Christ.

And also Heb. 1:6 says, When He brings in the first-begotten into the world, He says, And let all the angels of God worship Him.
The first-begotten was ordained before the foundation of the world, but was revealed in Jesus in these last times, as Peter said.

And God has blessed us with not only eternal life, which we as believers and children of God already possess, although we must shed this mortality and put on the immortality... but we also possess all the blessings in Christ, Eph. 1:3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ... and all that He possesses, because if children of God, we are heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ. Rom. 8:17.

The biggest and greatest “secret” which God kept to Himself until He revealed it to the Apostle Paul was Col. 1:27, God chose to make known to His saints how great are the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles: which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.  We proclaim Him, so that we may present every person complete in Christ, mature, fully trained, and perfect in Him, the Anointed.

God ordained this, His will for us, before creation. Adam was not created with Christ in him. I suggest, because I believe it, that we do not adequately understand this concept, this paradigm, this consummation, this epitome, which is Christ. Most would probably say, “Christ is Jesus.” That does not satisfy me. It’s like trying to define glory, satisfactorily. I also believe that until we truly understand Christ, we cannot realize Eph. 4:13, all come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ, even though some think they already have.

So we worship Jesus the Christ whom the scriptures speak of. We can literally open the bible to virtually any page, and see Christ in the Old Testament and Jesus the Christ in the New Testament. So let us take Paul’s inspired advice in 2 Tim. 2:15.