Is Jesus in every book of the Bible?
The answer to this question begins with the Lord Jesus Christ Himself. On the evening of His resurrection, walking with two disciples on the road to Emmaus, He gave what may be the most remarkable Bible exposition ever delivered. Luke 24:25-27 records it: "O fools, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken. Ought not Christ to have suffered these things, and to enter into His glory? And beginning at Moses and all the prophets, He expounded unto them in all the Scriptures the things concerning Himself."
Later that same evening He repeated the truth to the gathered disciples: "All things must be fulfilled, which were written in the law of Moses, and in the prophets, and in the psalms, concerning Me" (Luke 24:44). And earlier in His ministry He had said plainly: "Search the Scriptures; for they are they which testify of Me" (John 5:39) and "Had ye believed Moses, ye would have believed Me: for he wrote of Me" (John 5:46).
Christ as the Theme and Centre of All Scripture
F. B. Hole addresses this with characteristic directness:
F. B. Hole"CHRIST as the theme and centre of all Scripture, for 'He expounded to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning Himself.' Not 'concerning Israel,' mark, but 'concerning HIMSELF.' What revelations were made to their wondering hearts during the remainder of that walk! No wonder that their hearts burned within them!"
He goes on to show that the cure for every spiritual disappointment is to see that Christ, not Israel and not any cause or movement, is the glorious centre of all God's purposes.
From Genesis to Revelation, a Marvellous Whole
H. H. Snell writes in On Ministering Christ:
H. H. Snell"The Scriptures testify of Christ. Our Lord said, 'They are they which testify of me.' Whatever else they may set forth, it is clear that the great subject of God's revelation to man is Christ Jesus the Lord. In various ways, by many instruments, at different times, and under manifold circumstances, the divine glory of His person, His perfect manhood, His moral excellencies, His infinite perfections, His finished work, His fulness, and His offices are blessedly presented to us in the Scriptures of eternal truth."
And on the unity of this testimony across all sixty-six books:
"The golden threads are so interwoven with the testimony of Moses and the prophets that the spiritual eye fails not to perceive that the many books of Scripture, from Genesis to Revelation, form a marvellous whole, which, though written by many instruments, must have emanated from an Omniscient and Almighty mind. How truly then do the Scriptures testify of Christ, and tell us that which is concerning Himself!"
Three Hundred Rays of Light
A. J. Pollock traces three ways Christ appears in the Old Testament in Christ in Prophecy:
A. J. Pollock"The main prophecy of the Bible is concerning Christ. It is presented in three ways: first in the prophecy of type; second in that of illustration; and third in that of foretelling."
"There are over three hundred prophecies in the Old Testament concerning Christ, His Godhead, His manhood, His birth, His life, His death, the object of His death, the consequences of His death, and, by and by, His manifestation in glory when He reigns. These three hundred and more prophecies are like rays of light... some come from as far back as Moses. Others come from a shorter distance, like Micah. Others come from Isaiah; and these rays of light, shot along the centuries, concentrate upon the Babe in Bethlehem's manger."
"Christ is the Antitype of those types. The Antitype is before the types, as the types are formed upon the Antitype. The Antitype is after the types, as the fulfilment of them. The Antitype is before the types — He is the Alpha; and after the types — He is the Omega."
And in Bible Testimony to the Son of God, Pollock opens with these words:
"There is one Figure that stands out pre-eminent and predominant in the Word of God, and that is the Figure of the Son of God."
The Great Theme from Beginning to End
C. H. Mackintosh puts it with blunt simplicity in his Notes on Deuteronomy:
C. H. Mackintosh"They had the Bible in their hands. True, but so had the Jews, and yet they rejected the blessed One who is the great theme of the Bible from beginning to end."
The Sufferings and the Glories
Hamilton Smith traces how the Emmaus walk unfolds this theme across the Psalms:
Hamilton Smith"What in all the Scriptures concerning Himself so touches the heart as the sufferings and the glories of Christ. And when we find the sufferings, we are not far from the glories. Psalm 22 speaks of His sufferings, Psalm 24 of His glories. Again the story of the sufferings is taken up in Psalm 69, to be followed by the glories in Psalm 72. So in like manner the sufferings of Christ in Psalm 109 are followed by the glories of Christ in Psalm 110."
The Key to All Scripture
H. J. Vine draws the conclusion:
H. J. Vine"The truth as to Christ opens out to us the true meaning of all the Scriptures. When He rose from the dead, He expounded to those on the Emmaus road out of 'all the Scriptures the things concerning Himself'; and He afterwards opened the disciples' understandings to understand the Scriptures, having shown that the law, the prophets, and the Psalms, all spake concerning Him."
"Clearly, then, Scripture itself shows that the knowledge of Christ is the explanation of all Scripture."
Yes — the Lord Jesus Christ is in every book of the Bible. This is not a pious sentiment imposed on the text but His own declaration. He took up the three divisions of the Hebrew Bible — the Law, the Prophets, and the Psalms — and said all three spoke of Him. He is found in the Old Testament in types (the sacrifices, the tabernacle, the priesthood, persons like Adam, Isaac, Joseph, Moses, David); in prophetic illustrations drawn from history; and in direct prophecy foretelling His birth, life, sufferings, death, resurrection, and coming glory. In the New Testament He is the subject from the opening genealogy of Matthew to the closing "Come, Lord Jesus" of Revelation.
The golden thread running from Genesis to Revelation is Christ Himself — His sufferings and His glories. Every book contributes to the portrait. Together they form, as Snell wrote, "a marvellous whole," testifying to one Person. He is, as Mackintosh put it, "the great theme of the Bible from beginning to end."