David Helm and Kent Hughes at Princeton on Scripture

Early in His ministry, Jesus addressed a crowd of people who were Bible readers. And it appears they were even Bible lovers. But they missed the main point. Jesus is unsparing in His criticism, saying, "You search the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; and it is they that bear witness about me." Later, in Luke 24, we read of an encounter between the resurrected Lord and two of His followers.

The eyes of the disciples were blinded to Jesus' identity and their hearts heavy with the grief of His recent crucifixion. Their words betrayed their confusion, "But we had hoped that he was the one to redeem Israel." Jesus gets to the heart of their problem: they did not understand and believe the Scriptures. He says, "O foolish ones, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken." Then, after these words, He opened the Scriptures, "... beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he interpreted to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning himself." Throughout his earthly ministry, the Lord Jesus Christ consistently spoke of the way in which the Scriptures pointed to Him. Indeed, we can say that to miss Christ in the Scriptures is to misunderstand the Scriptures.