The Key to Bible Knowledge
—J.C. Ryle
"And beginning at Moses and all the prophets, he expounded unto them in all the scriptures the things concerning himself." — Luke 24:27
Supper at Emmaus — Titian, Public Domain
“Let us mark [in this verse] how full the Old Testament is of Christ. We are told that our Lord began ‘at Moses and all the prophets, [and] expounded unto them in all the scriptures the things concerning himself.’
How shall we explain these words? In what way did our Lord show ‘things concerning himself’ in every part of the Old Testament field? The answer to these questions is short and simple. Christ was the substance of every Old Testament sacrifice ordained in the law of Moses. Christ was the true Deliverer and King of Whom all the judges and deliverers in Jewish history were types. Christ was the coming Prophet greater than Moses, Whose glorious advent filled the pages of the prophets. Christ was the true seed of the woman Who was to bruise the serpent’s head—the true seed in whom all nations were to be blessed, the true Shiloh to Whom the people were to be gathered, the true scapegoat, the true brazen serpent, the true Lamb to which every daily offering pointed, [and] the true High Priest of Whom every descendent of Aaron was a figure. These things—or something like them, we need not doubt—were some of the things that our Lord expounded on the way to Emmaus.
Let it be a settled principle in our minds in reading the Bible that Christ is the central sum of the whole book. So long as we keep Him in view, we shall never greatly err in our search for spiritual knowledge. Once losing sight of Christ, we shall find the whole Bible dark and full of difficulty. The key to Bible knowledge is Jesus Christ.”
—Excerpt from Expository Thoughts on Luke, Vol. 2 by J.C. Ryle (New York: Robert Carter & Brothers, 1879, 500-501; in the public domain.
Amen.
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