Christ as the Testimony of Scripture: Yesterday I shared a few thoughts about the wonderful truth that God has spoken and made Himself known through the gospel of Christ revealed in the Scriptures; and although we considered several passages connected to that truth, a few additional passages seem to deepen that same thought. One passage we briefly touched on yesterday seems to bring this connection into especially clear view when we look at it a little more closely.
Writing to believers scattered abroad, Peter quotes a well-known line from the prophet Isaiah: “All flesh is as grass, and all the glory of man as the flower of grass. The grass withereth, and the flower thereof falleth away, but the word of the Lord endureth forever.” I Peter 1:24. What Peter then says immediately afterward is what makes the connection especially clear. “And this is the word which by the gospel is preached unto you.” I Peter 1:25. In other words, Peter is telling believers that the enduring Word Isaiah spoke about centuries earlier is none other than the gospel message now being proclaimed concerning Christ.
The prophet had declared that while human life and glory fade like grass, the Word of the Lord would stand forever. Peter now identifies that enduring Word with the gospel itself: the good news of what God has revealed in His Son. “For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.” II Corinthians 4:6. What Isaiah spoke of in promise, the apostles were now declaring openly. “To him give all the prophets witness, that through his name whosoever believeth in him shall receive remission of sins.” Acts 10:43. The Word that would never pass away was not merely the written prophecy itself, but the testimony of Christ to which those words had always been pointing. “But those things, which God before had shewed by the mouth of all his prophets, that Christ should suffer, he hath so fulfilled.” Acts 3:18.
Seen in this light, Peter’s words become especially meaningful. The promise spoken long ago by the prophet was not simply about the preservation of written words, but about the enduring testimony they contained. The same message once spoken in promise was now being openly declared in the gospel: the revelation of God in His Son, to whom all the prophets bear witness.
This connection is expressed very clearly in another passage of Scripture: “Worship God: for the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy.” Revelation 19:10. In other words, the true life and meaning of prophecy is found in the testimony of Christ. The prophets spoke many things in different times and circumstances, yet the heart of what they were bearing witness to was always the same. Hebrews 1:1-2. Their words pointed beyond themselves to the ONE whom God would reveal in the fullness of time. Galatians 4:4. When Christ is seen in the Scriptures, the prophets begin to speak with remarkable clarity. But when that testimony is not seen, those same writings can easily be reduced to little more than religious history or theological discussion. II Corinthians 3:14-15.
This also helps explain something we see repeatedly in the ministry of the Lord Himself. After His resurrection, speaking to two disciples on the road to Emmaus, the Scriptures tell us that “beginning at Moses and all the prophets, he expounded unto them in all the scriptures the things concerning himself.” Luke 24:27. The Scriptures had been there all along – Moses had written, the prophets had spoken – yet their true meaning came into clearer view when Christ opened them and showed how they bore witness to Him. From that moment forward the apostles read the Scriptures in this same light, seeing in the prophets the testimony of Christ.
A few verses later the same thought appears again: “Then opened he their understanding, that they might understand the scriptures.” Luke 24:45. The writings themselves had not changed, but the light in which they were now seen had. The Scriptures were no longer simply ancient words preserved for instruction; they were the living testimony of the Son of God, whose life, death, and resurrection brought their meaning into full view. I Peter 1:10-12.
In this way the gospel does not replace the Scriptures, nor does it stand apart from them. Rather, the gospel unveils what the Scriptures were always declaring. What the prophets spoke beforehand, the apostles proclaimed openly: the salvation of God revealed in His Son. Acts 13:32-33. When that connection is seen, the Scriptures appear exactly as Peter describes them, a testimony that does not fade but remains as clear and certain today as when it was first spoken. Romans 16:25-26.
In the end, all of this brings us back to the same simple and glorious reality: the Scriptures bear witness to Christ. From the prophets who spoke beforehand to the apostles who proclaimed the gospel, the same testimony runs through them all. And when that testimony is seen, the whole of Scripture begins to speak with one voice – the testimony of the Son of God. As our Lord so plainly declared, “search the scriptures… and they are they which testify of me.” John 5:39. MPJ