“You search the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; and it is they that bear witness about me, yet you refuse to come to me that you may have life” (John 5:39-40 ESV).
Jesus acknowledged that the Jews were a people of the Book, yet He challenged them to see that it was He to which the Scriptures pointed. He was essentially saying, “If you claim to believe the Book, then you must believe in Me.”
This is still true. When we rightly preach the Scriptures, we must always preach Christ and “Him crucified” (1 Cor. 2:2). Jesus is the point of our preaching. There is much helpful wisdom in the Scriptures, but eternal life is in the Son. Therefore, we proclaim Christ from the Scriptures! For it is by His Spirit that we understand the Scriptures (1 Cor. 2:14-16), and by His life that we are being transformed in our minds to keep them (Rom. 12:1-2).
Remember the disciples who walked with the risen Lord on the road to Emmaus? They didn’t recognize Him at first. Yet, as they walked, He explained from Moses to the prophets what the Scriptures said concerning Him. As they reflected on this encounter, they said to one another, “Didn’t our hearts burn within us as he talked with us on the road and explained the Scriptures to us?” (Luke 24:32).
The written Word points to the Living Word, who is Christ the Lord. Christ causes our hearts to “burn within us” as we encounter Him in the Scriptures. Eternal life is not in the Scriptures, but in the One to whom the Scriptures bear witness, namely, Jesus.
PRAYER: Dear Father, teach us to read and study Your Word not only for our own edification, but that we might know Your Son. And knowing Him, that we might follow Him in all things. May our meditation on Your Word bring us more and more intimately into the presence of Your Son by Your Spirit. In Jesus’ name, amen.