************ Sermon on Heidelberg Catechism Q & A 19 ************
Doctrine: The Gospel is to be found throughout the Bible
By: Rev. Adrian Dieleman
This sermon was preached on December 24, 2000
Q & A 19
Acts 8:26-35
"The Voices of Christmas"
I Read the Bible Backwards
A SHOW THE BOYS AND GIRLS A BOOK. What would you say if I started at the back and read to the front? Does that make any sense? Of course not!
Yet, the Bible is a book that is best read backwards. What I mean is, we need to know the New Testament story about Jesus before we can see or understand what the Old Testament says.
B Our Bible reading tells us the story of the Ethiopian. This Ethiopian had no idea that Isaiah was telling the story of Jesus until Philip explained it to him. It was only when the Ethiopian knew the story about Jesus that he was able to see Jesus in the Old Testament.
So what does this means for us? It means that when we read the book of Isaiah, for instance, we should not hear the Word of the Lord merely as Judah heard it. Instead, we should hear a new interpretation of Isaiah, such as what Philip was able to give to the Ethiopian, when he "began with that very passage of Scripture and told him the good news about Jesus" (Acts 8:35). We are to come to the passage with the full light, the full revelation, of Christ. We must know not only the historical circumstances leading up to the text but also the history of salvation that explains the text. Then, if we are good listeners, we hear not only what Isaiah said to Judah but also what the Spirit says to the churches today.
That's "reading the Bible backwards." We read the Old Testament from the perspective of knowing Jesus Christ and with the hearing-aid of the Spirit.
II The Gospel Everywhere
A Now, what happens when we read the Bible backwards?
When we read the Bible backwards we begin to realize that everywhere in the Bible the Voices of Christmas can be heard – voices which, throughout the ages, speak of Jesus Christ and His coming. When we read the Bible backwards we come to realize that God "began to reveal" the gospel already in Paradise, He "proclaimed" it by the holy patriarchs and prophets, He "portrayed" it by sacrifices and ceremonies, and He "fulfilled" it through His Son.
The Bible is first and foremost a history of God's redemption in and through Jesus. That's how God explains His own words and deeds. And, after His resurrection, that's how Jesus interpreted the Scriptures to His disciples. Remember Jesus walking with two of His followers to a village called Emmaus? "He opened their minds so they could understand the Scriptures" (Lk 24:45). "And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he explained to them what was said in all the Scriptures concerning himself" (Lk 24:27).
B We in the New Testament can see the Gospel in Genesis more clearly than Old Testament believers ever could because Jesus has already come. We can see the beginning of the Gospel because the end has already come, because we read the Bible backwards. Since the resurrection and ascension of Jesus and the outpouring of His Spirit, God's children have learned to read the Scriptures with new insight. Suddenly, throughout the books of the Old Testament we find concealed references to God's salvation in Christ.
I want to point out some different verses to you. The first comes from the beginning of the Bible, from what God said to the serpent after man's fall into sin:.
(Gen 3:15) "And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and hers; he will crush your head, and you will strike his heel."
When we read the Bible backwards we discover that it is the Gospel that God was proclaiming here in the Garden of Eden. God is speaking about Satan's crushing defeat brought about by the cross and grave, the crucifixion and resurrection.
Listen to the words God said when He first called Abraham to follow Him:
(Gen 12:1-3) "Leave your country, your people and your father's household and go to the land I will show you. (2) "I will make you into a great nation and I will bless you; I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing. (3) I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse; and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you."
When we read the Bible backwards we know that God was speaking of Christ when He proclaimed to Abraham that all the families of the earth would be blessed through him (cf Gal 3:8) and when He said that Abraham would be a great nation.
Listen also to the instructions God, through Moses, gave to the High Priest:
(Lev 16:15) "He shall then slaughter the goat for the sin offering for the people and take its blood behind the curtain and do with it as he did with the bull's blood: He shall sprinkle it on the atonement cover and in front of it."
When we read the Bible backwards we realize that God was portraying the atoning work of Christ when He told Aaron to sprinkle blood on the mercy seat (cf Heb 9:12).
Consider the words of King David in Psalm 22, a Psalm of Lament:
(Ps 22:1, 6-8, 17-18) My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Why are you so far from saving me, so far from the words of my groaning? ... (6) But I am a worm and not a man, scorned by men and despised by the people. (7) All who see me mock me; they hurl insults, shaking their heads: (8) "He trusts in the LORD; let the LORD rescue him. Let him deliver him, since he delights in him." ... (17) I can count all my bones; people stare and gloat over me. (18) They divide my garments among them and cast lots for my clothing.
When we read the Bible backwards we realize that these verses of Psalm 22 foreshadow what happened to Jesus upon the cross.
Think, too, about the words of Isaiah, the prophet, to Ahaz, King of Judah:
(Is 7:14) Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign: The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and will call him Immanuel.
When we read the Bible backwards we realize that Isaiah was talking about Jesus as God in the flesh, as God with us. And, the same thing is true about the words of Isaiah a couple of chapters later:
(Is 9:6) For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
When we read the Bible backwards we realize that Isaiah was prophesying about Messiah Jesus and the wonder and glories of His Lordship.
Or, consider for a moment the passage that the Ethiopian eunuch was reading:
(Is 53:3-7) He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows, and familiar with suffering. Like one from whom men hide their faces he was despised, and we esteemed him not. (4) Surely he took up our infirmities and carried our sorrows, yet we considered him stricken by God, smitten by him, and afflicted. (5) But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon him, and by his wounds we are healed. (6) We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way; and the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all. (7) He was oppressed and afflicted, yet he did not open his mouth; he was led like a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is silent, so he did not open his mouth.
Anyone who reads the Bible backwards realizes that Isaiah was talking about the what and why of Christ's crucifixion.
C Scripture is a history of God's redemption in and through Christ. But not every part has the same clarity. At first God's purposes and God Himself were veiled and hardly known. Later they became unveiled, revealed, and more fully known by those who believed.
We are now living in the last days. This is the time between the ascension of the Lord and His return. In these last days, because of the outpouring of Christ's Spirit, more of God's mysteries have been revealed to us than to the Old Testament saints. In these last days we know God better and more intimately than believers could have in the Old Testament period. We of the new covenant community are richer in spiritual possessions than the people of the old covenant. We are even spiritually richer than the prophets, priests, kings, and other members of the old covenant who received special gifts. According to the Apostle Peter, for instance, God's prophets of the old covenant could never fully comprehend what they themselves were saying because they were actually serving us when they were speaking God's Word about Christ and the last days (1Pt 1:10-12). Or, consider what Jesus could say about John the Baptist, that he was the greatest of the Old Testament prophets (Mt 11:11-15). Greatness is measured by our closeness to Christ. And because John the Baptist was last in the long row of Old Testament prophets – the only one who could say, "Behold, the Lamb of God!" – he is the greatest of all those who pointed forward to Christ. Notice, though, what Jesus has to immediately add: that the least in the kingdom is greater than John. Jesus says this because those who know the mystery of the Messiah and His atoning death know more than John the Baptist. We are closer to the heart of God because we know the necessity of the cross and the glory of the grave.
D There are people today who think the Old Testament – and maybe parts of the New – are outdated.
That word outdated may be used to describe schoolbooks, clothing, hair-dos and language but it cannot be used to describe any part of the Bible. In the Bible the old is never abolished when the new comes. Rather, the new is concealed in the old and the old is fulfilled in the new. Just as childhood and adolescence are not abolished in adulthood but brought to maturity, so newness in God's plan brings the old to fruition.
The words of the law and the prophets in the Old Testament come from God. And God did not send His Son into the world to abolish the law and the prophets but to fulfill them (Mt 5:17).
The Bible in its entirety comes from God: the Old and New Testaments, epistles, letters, prophecy, writings, wisdom literature, poetry. Therefore, the church must never disregard any part of the Bible and must always study all of the Bible.
We believe that the ceremonies and symbols of the law have ended with the coming of Christ, and that all foreshadowings have come to an end, so that the use of them ought to be abolished among Christians. Yet, the truth and substance of these things remain for us in Jesus Christ, in whom they have been fulfilled. So, we continue to use the witness of the law and prophets to confirm us in the Gospel.
We are in a time of adulthood compared with those who live in Old Testament times; but compared to the future we are still children, speaking and acting in immaturity, knowing and prophesying in part. But there shall come a time when "we shall see face to face" (1Cor 13:9-12).
Conclusion
When we read the Bible we learn many wonderful things:
-we learn that God is the Creator
-we learn exciting Bible stories
-we learn the Law of God and the Sermon on the Mount
Especially, though, we learn about Jesus – not just in the New Testament but also the Old.
When we read the Bible backwards we hear the Voices of Christmas everywhere – voices which, through all the ages, have pointed to Christ Jesus.