Steve's Weekly Letter

Thursday, June 19, 2025

This is one of the baby robin from the nest outside our front door—exactly two weeks after being hatched. It amazes me how quickly they grow.

Reflection

Jesus made it clear the Old Testament points forward to him.

On the same day he was raised from death, Jesus said to his disciples: “Everything must be fulfilled that is written about me in the Law of Moses, the Prophets, and the Psalms” (Luke 24:44). Earlier in the day, when he walked on the road to Emmaus and encountered a couple disciples who did not recognize him and who were confused about reports that he was alive, Jesus began with Moses and all the Prophets and explained to them what was said in all the Scriptures concerning himself (Luke 24:27).

Clearly, the Old Testament Scriptures point forward to Jesus. How, then, do we read the Old Testament and take into account the way it speaks of Christ?

The Extreme of Over-Reading

There are two common extremes we must avoid. The first is OVER-READING the text in an effort to see how it points forward to Jesus. Here, our eagerness to find Christ on every page of Scripture leads us to miss what an Old Testament text actually says. Sometimes readers and preachers of the Old Testament have been told to “make a beeline to the cross.” That quote is often mistakenly attributed to Charles Haddon Spurgeon. I’m thankful that Spurgeon didn’t say it, because it’s actually bad advice.

Christopher Wright is right on target when he says that we must “work hard to understand the text in its own original context before we ask any other questions or make any applications.” This includes the question of how a particular Old Testament text points forward to Christ. As Wright says, “If you approach a text in the Old Testament with the assumption that ‘This must be about Jesus,’ you easily overlook all that the original author was trying to say.”

This explains why some “Christ-centered” interpreters or preachers are afraid to take the commands (explicit and implied) in the Old Testament at face value. They overlook what the text calls God’s people to do because they are afraid of “moralizing.” They want to avoid treating the Bible as a self-improvement manual. They fear we will reduce Scripture to a list of “do’s” and “don’ts” that we try to perform in our own strength if we emphasize the commands of Scripture, and they fear we will miss Jesus in the process. To be sure, we can only obey what God has said as those transformed by the gospel of Jesus and empowered by the Holy Spirit. But we must obey what God says!

The Extreme of Under-Reading

The second extreme is UNDER-READING an Old Testament the text in a way that fails to see any connection to Jesus. As you might suspect, this is an over-reaction or over-correction to the problem of over-reading. Some interpreters are so concerned about protecting the intent of the original author that they shy away from any attempt to show how the Old Testament speaks of Christ—even though Christ made it clear that Scripture points to him.

Often, “under-readers” have been turned off by readings that leap past the author’s intent to get to Christ. They chafe when they hear someone say that 1 Samuel 17, the David-Goliath story, is about Jesus our champion who fights our battles. Or they get impatient with readers and preachers who allegorize every detail of an Old Testament text in an attempt to get to Christ—such as seeing Samson’s hair in Judges 13-16 as referring to Christ’s strength or Rahab’s red cord in Joshua 2:18 as a symbol of Christ’s blood.

Typically, “under-readers” argue that if we understand the author’s intended message of an Old Testament text and seek to apply it to our lives, the Spirit of God will work through our efforts to conform us to the image of Christ. This is certainly true, but it should not prevent us from wrestling with how a text speaks of Jesus.

A Better Way

How, then, should we read the Old Testament? The answer is to begin by studying a text in its historical-grammatical-literary context. How would an original reader (or hearer) have understood it? Then, once we understand the author’s intent, we explore how this message points forward to Christ.

We can do the latter in two simple steps.

First, we should ask if any New Testament passages quote or allude to the Old Testament text we are studying. A Bible with cross-references (in the margins or center column) will help with this. So will a good study Bible. For example, in Acts 4:25-26, Peter sees the death of Jesus Christ as an expression of the rage of the nations described in Psalm 2:1-2. Then, in Acts 13:33, Paul sees the resurrection of Jesus as fulfillment of the king’s coronation described in Psalm 2:7.

In both of these instances, the apostles Peter and Paul are not veering away from the human author’s intent. Nor are they replacing it. Rather, they are extending the human author’s intent. That is, they are expanding the human author’s intent to account for the Divine intent.

Second, we should ask if the Old Testament text we are reading seems to point forward to Jesus—even in a subtle way. The New Testament never connects the “sacrifice” of Isaac in Genesis 22 with Christ’s sacrifice. Yet how can we not think of the Lamb who was slain (Revelation 5:12) when we read about God’s provision of a ram for Abraham so he does not have to sacrifice his son, Isaac (Genesis 22:13-14)? Or how can we not think of Jesus as the one who perfectly embodies the “blessed man” profiled in Psalm 1?

How do we get better at this second approach? The answer is to keep reading and re-reading Scripture. The more we see how the New Testament quotes or alludes to the Old Testament when speaking of Christ, the more we will be conditioned to read the Old Testament with an eye for how it anticipates or points forward to Jesus

May we take Scripture so seriously that we read carefully to understand the author’s intent and to see how it points forward to Jesus Christ, our Lord and King!

Personal Update

Last Sunday, I began serving as the interim senior pastor of the Evangelical Free Church of Des Plaines. Their church facility is 23 miles south of our house. Priscilla and I love the people there and pray that God will use me to bridge the gap from their previous senior pastor (who retired after 34 years at the church!) to their next one. We’re not sure of the time frame, but it is likely to be a long-term interim position—from one to three years.

This Sunday, June 22, I plan to preach Psalm 2. The title of the sermon is “How to Treat God’s King.” It’s part of the Psalms for Summer sermon series that I started last Sunday.

This week, I’ve been reading The Psalms: A Christ-Centered Commentary by Christopher Ash. You can check it out here. This is a four-volume set, and it’s not cheap at $123.00 (on Amazon). Yet it is well-worth the investment. I got it at the recommendation of a couple friends: Darryl Dash and Patrick Schreiner. And I’m glad I did. These volumes will set you up for a lifetime of studying and preaching/teaching the Psalms. However, you do not need to be a pastor or a biblical scholar to understand them. Ash writes clearly and achieves amazing depth in a very readable, understandable presentation.

I have to admit that I’m often suspicious of “Christ-centered” commentaries because some that focus so much on Christ that they don’t do careful work in the text. This work, though, will not disappoint! Ash carefully analyzes the historical and cultural and literary and grammatical dimensions of the text in addition to exploring how the various psalms speak of Christ. In the past, I’ve recommended Psalms commentaries by Tremper Longman (Tyndale Old Testament Commentary series) and Derek Kidner (Kidner Classics series), and I still do. But if you want something in-depth, there is no better option that this multi-volume work by Christopher Ash!

Grandkids Corner

My grandson Kolby (12) recently spent the morning at his house trying out some trick shots. He had finished his chores and reached the limit his parents set for electronics (video games, etc.). So he took his inspiration from Dude Perfect—a sports and comedy group that specializes in creating videos of trick shots. The group members are believers in Jesus.

For Kolby’s first trick shot, he attempted to throw a basketball from a distance into the hoop in their driveway with the hope that it would drop into another smaller hoop he suspended from the larger one at the top. He managed to do it on the first shot! You can see a video clip of this below.

Then, for his second trick shot, he tried to shoot a lacrosse ball through the opening in a roll of duct tape. He taped the tube to his bed frame. The opening was only slightly larger than the lacrosse ball. According to Kolby, it took him two hours before he was successful! Here is a video clip of the shot:

Maybe Kolby will join the guys at Dude Perfect one of these days.

Thanks as always for reading. Have a good weekend!