To the Jews who were persecuting Him, Jesus said, “These are the very Scriptures that testify about me” John 5:39 (NIV). This should arrest our attention. From a Bible engagement perspective, what could be more important than this text? For in the phrase “that testify about me” we learn that Jesus is present throughout the Old Testament.

Most Christians probably agree that Jesus is central through the New Testament. They’ll also probably agree that He doesn’t seem to be in the Old Testament law or the history of Israel and is only occasionally found in the wisdom literature and the prophets.

Is there a disconnect? Jesus says the Scriptures testify about Him, yet the reality for many Christians is that He’s not plainly revealed in the Old Testament. That is, He seems to be veiled or hidden. Which may be why most Christians tend to mainly read/reflect on the last 20% of the Bible rather than the first 80%.

One of the reasons why we mainly connect with the New Testament is because we want to know Jesus through His Word. But only reading/reflecting on the New Testament to know Jesus through His Word is short-sighted. If we’re reading the Word to know Jesus, and He says in the New Testament that the Old Testament testifies about Him, then our Bible reading/reflecting should include the Old Testament.

All this to simply recognize that maybe, like the disciples on the Road to Emmaus, we need to have our minds opened in order to find Jesus in the Old Testament (cf. Luke 24:45). I know I did. I couldn’t see the forest for the trees. That is, I needed to be retrained in how to interpret and understand the Old Testament. And that’s why I’m putting a plug in for a helpful resource – David Murray’s excellent book, Jesus on Every Page: 10 Simple Ways to Seek and Find Christ in the Old Testament.

© Scripture Union Canada 2018
2 Corinthians 4:5