Before you stone me, let me explain.

You’re here because you care how the whole Bible points to one thing: the person and work of Jesus Christ. You probably center your conversations with other believers on the gospel. You encourage your pastor (or perhaps you are a pastor) to preach sermons with Jesus as the point, the center and the end.

But what does a gospel-centered sermon look like? Does it mean that we tie everything to the cross? I think I’m seeing a trend within the gospel-centered community where “gospel-centered” means only “cross-centered.” I hope we can move beyond that.

The gospel is more than propitiation so can gospel-centered sermons be “empty-tomb-centered”? Can they be “victory-over-death-centered”?

Don’t get me wrong – I love the cross. It’s monumentally important. It’s one of the key pieces of the gospel of Jesus Christ. But it’s not the whole gospel. Gospel-centrality means more than just the cross and if our gospel-centered sermons only ever discuss the cross then they don’t explore all of the gospel. Our sermons should explore the many facets of the gospel:

An Empty Tomb

The gospel is about victory. If Jesus only died for our sins we’d be in rough shape:

And if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is in vain and your faith is in vain. We are even found to be misrepresenting God, because we testified about God that he raised Christ, whom he did not raise if it is true that the dead are not raised. For if the dead are not raised, not even Christ has been raised. And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and you are still in your sins. Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished.
1 Cor 15:14-19 ESV

No, Jesus didn’t only die for our sins. He rose for them.

He rose from the dead in victory over our final enemy (1 Cor 15:26) for our sins. In his famous “Christus Victor,” Gustaf Aluen wrote:

The work of Christ is first and foremost a victory over the powers which hold mankind in bondage; sin, death, and the devil.

What does this mean? Our gospel-centered sermons don’t need to always focus on propitiation. They can focus on the life and liberation Jesus bought for us.

Hermeneutic Principle: When we read a passage about God freeing the oppressed – demonically, politically, culturally, etc – they are shadows of Jesus’ greater victory and our gospel-centered connection should be to that theme.

Further Reading: Christus Victor: Jesus died to free us from bondage.

I’m seeing a trend within the gospel-centered community where “gospel-centered” means only “cross-centered.”

The New Heaven and Earth

The gospel is also about restoration. What is the end goal of God’s redemptive work in Jesus?

Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people,b and God himself will be with them as their God. He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.” And he who was seated on the throne said, “Behold, I am making all things new.”
Rev 21:1-5 (ESV)

What does this mean? As an extension of God’s victory, our gospel-centered sermons can focus on the renewal of all things that God is accomplishing in Jesus.

Hermeneutic Principle: When we come to a passage where God is renewing something – people, institutions, relationships – our gospel-centered connection should be to Christ’s work of restoration.

Further Reading: Redemptive-Historical Messages Beyond the Old Testament

Adoption and Marriage

Adoption is the highest privilege that the gospel offers: higher even than justification.
- J.I. Packer, Knowing God

God doesn’t forgive us and raise us just to leave us alone. (This misperception, by the way is why western culture thinks of heaven as a boring, eternal retirement home.) The highest end of the gospel is relationship with God. Our relationship with God is one of Father-child individually and Bridegroom-bride corporately.

Here’s the end of the story, the end for which God created and redeemed the world:

And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God.”
Rev 21:3

What does this mean? Our gospel-centered sermons can focus on how Jesus changes our relationship with God. The whole Bible is full of God intervening in human history and changing our relationship with him.

Hermeneutic Principle: When we read a passage about God reconciling sinners to himself we need to tie it to Jesus’ relationally redemptive work.

Further Reading: Do you love the gospel or the God revealed by the gospel?

Forgiveness at a Cost

We can’t ignore the cross though. Propitiation, God punishing Christ on our behalf so that we might escape unscathed, is the primary reason Jesus came to die.

The gospel is, first, about redemption.

What does this mean? Yes, we must preach cross-centered sermons. Just don’t think that every gospel-centered sermon must be a cross-centered sermon.

Further Reading: What is penal substitution?

Recap

Our gospel-centered sermons don’t always have to be “cross-centered.” They can be:

• “Empty-tomb-centered” and focus on the life and liberation Jesus bought for us.
  
• “New Heavens & New Earth-centered” and focus on the renewal of all things that God is accomplishing in Jesus.
• “Adoption-centered or Bridegroom-centered” and focus on the way Jesus changes our relationship with God.

What other themes and ideas should we point to in our Christ-centered sermons?

Further Reading: Your Gospel Is Too Small

• Where do you put the gospel connection in the message – at the start or at the end?
• How do you tie it to the message of the text?

There isn’t one best answer. It depends on your communication style, the audience and the passage you’re working with. Here is how I do it.

I preach the big idea…

Here’s the best “big idea preaching” explanation I’ve ever read:

Effective preaching makes clear and compelling the one thing that the text makes most central.
- John Bell

Scripture is rich; you can preach a lot of different messages from any passage. But each passage has a main point, a primary purpose. That’s what we need to preach.

In its context…

There are two important layers of context we need to recognize:

Cultural Context: The original audience of each book of the Bible would have understood its message differently than someone in the 21st century. These details can really help you understand the big idea.

Example: To what extent do the cultural practices of female head coverings in Corinth impact Paul’s instruction to the Corinthians about the topic?

Scriptural Context: What came before this passage in the text? What’s coming next? If we answer these questions we’ll have a better understanding of why this passage is in the Bible.

Example: If we read Hebrews 11 without the introduction to Hebrews 12 we miss the point of Hebrews 11.

And apply it to daily life…

Most of the time the big idea is a general statement, not a specific set of instructions. This means sermons need to bring the theory into the practical. Answer these kinds of questions:

• Who is in my audience and how might they encounter situations where this big idea applies?
  • Families – parenting, caring for loved ones, family conflict
  • Employment – managing subordinates, customer service, relating to boss and coworkers
• What barriers stand in the way of applying this big idea?
• Is this passage used in any counseling resources you own? If so those are good points of application.
• Why might an unbeliever object to this big idea or this passage? Help your audience answer those objections because they might have them themselves and it will help them in evangelism.

Here’s a great discussion of application by Kyle Ferguson:

Specific application is actually a further illustration. For instance, one might include a specific application to an auto mechanic in a sermon, but this specific application is actually an illustration of what ‘better’ looks like, not simply an exhaustive check list of what must be done to be ‘better.’

Then I integrate the gospel.

Up to this point, I try to preach the text in a moral-centered way as well as anyone could. Now I introduce the gospel-centered connection. This catches people off-guard and I like to make it a little dramatic – the shock leaves an impact. Tim Keller calls this his “Ah-ha moment” – the moment when we see how the gospel transforms this message.

I integrate the gospel in two ways:

I show how the gospel helps us obey the passage. The gospel connection must actually impact our life. It is not enough to say, “This passage points to Jesus,” and leave it at that. If the gospel connection has no power to help us, then the gospel looks impotent.

Example: Recognizing the gospel message in David and Goliath directly helps us put the passage’s imperatives into action.

Further reading: How to use the gospel to pursue holiness.

I preach our need for a savior. The Bible is primarily about Jesus, not us. The whole Bible either points towards his redemptive work or reflects on it. Christians need to be reminded of our Savior and non-Christians need to know their need for him.

An Example Sermon

Listen to my James 1:1-4 sermon. Listen for the big idea, the context and a gospel-connection being applied directly to improving our ability to obey.

Improving

As i see it, the primary drawback to my method is that I’m not integrating the gospel cohesively throughout the message because I’m “springing it on” my audience at the end.

• How can we improve this method?
• What methods of gospel-centered preaching do you find most effective?

____________________

Dig deeper:
- You should never teach a Bible study.
- Listen to an awesome 10-minute discussion of Christ-centered preaching from pastor Owen Strachan.

Legalism

The gospel-centered movement has the potential to turn us into legalists about the gospel.

Gospel-centeredness is all about grace and how the whole Bible points to it. So how can legalism be a part of that? Unfortunately you can be legalistic about grace.

Gospel-centered Bible study has the potential to turn us into legalists because it is so true. What do I mean by that? When you come to see the beauty of how the Bible points to Jesus you begin to view everything through that lens. Along with the positives, it can breed negative results if we don’t guard ourselves:

• When I see a Christian who doesn’t apply gospel-centered principles to the Bible I look down on them. “How sad,” I think, “that they don’t see what the Bible is all about.”
• When I hear a sermon that doesn’t use the gospel to help apply the lesson I wonder if God can even use that pastor effectively. “How can God use a preacher who doesn’t even understand the basics?”
• When I see a Christian who can’t quite articulate the gospel I get judgmental. “Is this person even saved?”

In other words, I can be a Pharisee about the gospel.

Idolatry

The gospel-centered movement has the potential to turn us into worshipers of the gospel instead of worshipers of God.

Similarly, we can become so focused on being gospel-centered that we forget about the reason to be gospel-centered in the first place – God. We can get so caught up in being gospel-centered that the next Christocentric sermon or Bible study becomes our idol.

Are you more interested in the system of gospel-centered preaching than you are in the God revealed in the gospel?

As we endeavor to the make the gospel of Jesus Christ the main thing in our ministries, let’s do so in a gospel-centered way. Not a gospel-centered-centered way.
- Eric McKiddie

I need to pray daily the prayer that Scotty Smith recently posted:

Forgive us for having a PhD in the indicatives of the gospel yet failing so miserably when it comes to the imperatives of the gospel.

Forgive us when we love “the gospel” more than we actually love you, Jesus, as impossible as that may seem.

In other words, the gospel can be more important to me than the God who created and is revealed in the gospel.

Hit-And-Run Gospel Connections

The gospel-centered movement has the potential to disconnect the gospel from our lives.

It’s tempting to trivialize the gospel by announcing a connection to the gospel but not having it let any impact on our lives. Our checklist goes something like this:

1. Identify the main point of the passage.
2. Identify the main change the passage requires of us.
3. Identify a connection between the passage and the gospel.

If we let the gospel connection dangle off the end, what purpose has it served? If our preaching doesn’t demonstrate the practical power of the gospel in our daily lives we make the gospel look powerless.

We must apply the gospel.

How Do We Fight These Failings?

With the gospel.

That might sound counterproductive but it’s not. We need to relentlessly strip away everything that stands between us and God. The best way we know him is through the message of the gospel. In it we see His justice, His mercy, His compassion, His love, His desire to free us and so much more.

God paved the way to Himself with the gospel. To break our legalism and smash our idols – even when the legalism and idols revolve around the gospel - we need to look deeper into the gospel.

• Have you become legalistic about the gospel? Let the grace of the gospel shape you.
• Are you enamored with the gospel-centered system rather than the God revealed by the gospel? Look past the system to its subject – God.
• Are you settling with only finding a connection to the gospel? Use the gospel to empower obedience or change your thinking – use it!

Nick Batzig Won the Internet

Nick Batzig crushed it this month with two articles:

The Blessed Cursed Tree – At Reformation 21 Nick shows us how some of the harshest parts of the ceremonial law point to Jesus.

The Songs of the Son (Seeing Christ in the Psalms) – At his blog, Feeding on Christ, Nick discusses preaching Jesus in the Psalms. He lists some important resources for study, examines Calvin’s methodology and then gives us 5 strategies for preaching Christ in the Psalms:

• Typically Messianic Psalms
• Directly Predictive (Prophetic) Psalms
• Mystically Messianic Psalms
• Psalms of Trust in Christ
• Creation/New Creation Messianic Psalms

If you’re studying the Psalms this article functions as a handbook for Christo-centric interpretation.

Application in Christ-centered preaching

This month is saw some important writings about application in gospel-centered sermons. Along with “why your gospel-centered sermons fail” we have some excellent reflections on application.

Tim Ward wrote Christ our representative and the shape of evangelical preaching using the example of David and Goliath:

We should preach (e.g.) David as a unique type of Christ because of what Christ has done for us that we could never do for ourselves. And we should also preach David as an example for the believer because in his role as a type of Christ he demonstrates some of the Christlikeness that we, in our union with Christ, ought to be growing in.

And Nick McDonald gave us a reflection on Tim Keller preaching Christ in his article The Tim Keller Principle: How to Apply Your Message.

1. Show people what they’re doing wrong.
2. Explain to people why they do it.
3. Show how Christ satisfies those desires.
4. Paint a picture of a gospel-filled life.

From Moralistic Therapeutic Deism to Gospel-Driven Realism: A Renewed Student Ministry

When an article has statements like, “the matchless work of a grace-bearing God who reigns supremely at the center of it all,” you know it’s gospel-centered. Alvin Reid adapts a section of his book “As You Go: Creating a Missional Culture of Gospel-Centered Students” and makes some very practical observations about how we’re turning the Church’s youth into legalists and how the gospel is the answer:

Unfortunately, many churches have taught the Bible to children and youth not as a book with one central, redemptive message, but as a collection of stories and morals with the gospel as the key story. But the Bible is not primarily about morality; it is mainly about reality…

The practical result of turning the Bible into a series of moral truths is to make assumptions about the gospel and minimize its role in our lives. We move the good news of Jesus’ death and resurrection to the category of “lost person only,” so that the gospel is for unbelievers, not believers. So we have our mega youth events and we share the gospel (or often tack it on at the end), but we do not teach the impact of the gospel for the believer and the redemptive story of God in all of the Bible, and thus its impact on all of life…

A focus on Christianity as Moralistic Therapeutic Deism explains why so many believers today confuse biblical Christianity with civil religion and the spiritual war for the souls of men with the culture wars of winning political arguments.

This is an excellent read.

David Helm on Preaching Christ in the Old Testament

This is a fantastic lecture I missed two months ago. Helm discusses some really important concepts, especially how to avoid error when preaching Christ in the OT.

Soul-Stirring Gospel Videos

The Cross Quoter has a collection of three videos which show the majesty of Jesus.

Watch them. They are worth it. Here’s an example:

With that article I’ve realized that this site has become something of a how-to guide for gospel-centered Bible study. But if you tried to use it that way it wasn’t user-friendly.

Until now.

“Gospel-Centered University” is the one stop shop for everything I’ve written about how to study the Bible with Jesus at the center. It’s broken into “courses” so you can focus on things like finding gospel-centered connections, answering objections to the gospel-centered movement or applying the gospel.

If you’re visiting the home page just click on the Start Here button up top.

You’ll see a few basic articles coming out in the next few weeks to fill in some holes in the curriculum.

You have an application problem.

Do your gospel-centered connections let your hearers off the hook when it comes to obedience? It’s easy to slip into antinomianism – preaching grace in such a way that we minimize or even eliminate obedience. That was not Jesus’ desire for us when he went to the cross for our sin so it shouldn’t be our desire in preaching.

You have an application problem.

Your gospel-centered sermons fail because it is not enough to simply find a connection between a passage and the cross. The connection must also impact the way we live.

Why does this happen? It’s easy to get caught up in finding Christ in all of Scripture and then forget to actually apply this knowledge. When we focus all on the “hunt” we might not remember what the hunt is for. When we forget the purpose we end up saying, “Look at this great fact,” without any context or application. At that point we’re simply showing off knowledge without any effect. In fact, if the gospel-centered connection has no impact on our lives highlighting it diminishes our love for the gospel.

“It is not enough to find a connection between a passage and the cross. The connection must impact the way we live.”

We must apply the text’s gospel connections to our hearers. But how do we do that? I can think of at least seven ways we can choose to apply the gospel to our obedience. But not all are created equal.

Glossary: I’ll be using these terms throughout this article:

• Gospel forgiveness means Jesus paid our debt by taking on himself the wrath of God for our sin. (synonym: penal substitution)
• Gospel fulfillment means Jesus fulfilled the righteous demands of the law on our behalf. (synonym: imputed righteousness)
• Imperative is the rule, command or principle we should follow based on a passage of Scripture.

1. WORST: Gospel Forgiveness Means “Don’t Worry About It”

This is the laziest method of applying the gospel to a passage. This happens when we get caught up in playing “Where’s Waldo” with Jesus and forget (or don’t have time) to integrate it into the message.

WARNING: If you fail to explicitly apply a gospel-centered connection this becomes the default application. Our people hear, “Here’s the problem, God solved it, no reason to linger.”

1. Preach the context of the passage.
2. Preach the moral imperatives of the passage.
3. Tell people how the gospel makes up for them when they screw up.

Why it’s bad: When we say, “God requires holiness of you in area XYZ,” and follow that up with a simple, “Jesus died for your sins,” we don’t help them obey in any way. This opens up a mentality of, “I’m not going to take this seriously because God already paid any debt I incur,” and no one even thinks they need to obey.

2. BAD: Gospel Fulfillment Means “Don’t Worry About It”

This is very similar to the first type of application. The key difference is that it ties the gospel to the particular obedience involved in the passage instead of a generic forgiveness of all sins. By this I mean that we get to see how Jesus has accomplished redemption for us in a particular area. In this way it does serve to expand our view of what Jesus accomplished for us.

1. Preach the context of the passage.
2. Preach the moral imperatives of the passage.
3. Demonstrate how Jesus already accomplished that on our behalf, so don’t feel too bad when you screw up.

Why it’s bad: When we say, “God requires holiness of you in area XYZ,” and follow that up with a simple, “Jesus already did this for you,” we don’t help them obey in any way. This opens up a mentality of, “If it’s already done on my behalf, what’s the point of doing it again?”

“If the gospel-centered connection has no impact on our lives highlighting it diminishes our love for the gospel.”

3. FAIR: Gospel Forgiveness Should Make You Thankful (And Obey)

This might be the most common expression of gospel-centered preaching. It takes the first method of application (“God forgave you for breaking this command”) and says, “therefore be thankful!”

1. Preach the context of the passage.
2. Preach the moral imperatives of the passage.
3. Show the audience how great a price Jesus paid for them when they fail here.
4. Admonish the audience that the cost should produce gratitude-driven obedience.

Why it’s good: This is good because it incorporates the imperative, the gospel and our obedience.

Why it’s not good: It’s not good because it is essentially a guilt trip and it gives the audience no new tools to obey the Scripture.

4. GOOD: Gospel Forgiveness OR Fulfillment Should Inspire You To Loving Obedience

This is a very slight modification of “gospel forgiveness should make you thankful and obey.” Instead of saying, “God’s forgiveness in this area should make you thankful and obey,” it says, “God’s forgiveness in this area should make love for God well up in your heart and propel you into obedience.”

(This is the method I used in my sermon on James 1:1-4 - fulfillment in this case.)

1. Preach the context of the passage.
2. Preach the moral imperatives of the passage.
3. Show the audience how great a price Jesus paid for them when they fail here or how Jesus already paved the way by fulfilling it on their behalf.
4. Admonish them that this should produce love for God in our hearts. This love has its proper outlet in obedience.

Why it’s good: It ties the passage in question to the gospel and to our obedience. It gives us a new tool – love for God – to drive our obedience.

What it lacks: Unless you go out of your way (check the James 1 sermon for an example) it doesn’t tie the obedience to Jesus fulfilling this particular aspect of holiness on our behalf.

5. BETTER: Gospel Fulfillment Means We Get To Be Like Christ

This method of application seeks to paint a picture of Jesus as incredibly desirable so that we’ll want to be like him. We first connect the imperative of the text to Jesus’ work on our behalf, recognize that it demonstrates his beauty, and seek to emulate that out of a desire to be like him.

1. Preach the context of the passage.
2. Preach the moral imperatives of the passage.
3. Demonstrate how incredible Jesus’ love is because he already accomplished the requirements of the law on our behalf.
4. Recognize that when we obey in this area we get to to be like him in his beauty.

Why it’s good: There’s a new tool l here. The gospel magnifies Jesus (it’s main purpose) and makes him look desirable to the point where we want to look like him. We are inspired to obedience through his glory and loveliness.

What it lacks: It doesn’t discuss the root of our disobedience.

6. EVEN BETTER: Gospel Fulfillment Means We Get To Be Nearer To God

Similar to method 5, this method of application seeks to paint a picture of Jesus as incredibly desirable. The difference is that it focuses our attention on being near him, not like him. We first connect the imperative of the text to Jesus’ work on our behalf, recognize that it demonstrates his beauty, and seek to emulate that out of a desire to align ourselves closer to him.

1. Preach the context of the passage.
2. Preach the moral imperatives of the passage.
3. Demonstrate how incredible Jesus’ love is because he already accomplished the requirements of the law on our behalf.
4. Recognize that when we obey in this area we find ourselves in closer fellowship with him – the person we’ve just found incredibly desirable.

Why it’s good: There’s a new tool l here. The gospel magnifies Jesus and makes him look desirable to the point where we want to be near him. We are inspired to obedience through a desire to get closer to his glory and loveliness.

What it lacks: It doesn’t discuss the root of our disobedience.

7. BEST: Gospel Fulfillment Means You’re Free To Obey

This is essentially the method outlined in How To Use The Gospel To Kill Sin. We sinfully warp our natural desires into things that impede obedience. Here we seek to demonstrate when God has satisfied those desires in the gospel and freed us to obey.

1. Preach the context of the passage.
2. Preach the moral imperatives of the passage.
3. Investigate the sinful desires in our life that stand in the way of obedience.
4. Demonstrate how Jesus satisfies those needs on our behalf, so we don’t need to do so on ourselves.

Why it’s good: It magnifies God and gives us a tool to stop sabotaging our obedience.

What it lacks: While it helps us defeat disobedience it doesn’t necessarily give us a tool that drives obedience – we could end up in a neutral area where we aren’t sinning but neither are we pursuing good.

Final Questions

1. I’ve listed seven methods of gospel-centered application. How else can we apply the gospel to our audience (and ourselves)? What are the pros and cons?
2. Notice that none of these methods are perfect – something is missing in each of them. How can we combine these application strategies to fill the gaps? I want to try combining #5 and #7, or #6 and #7 and essentially say, “Gospel fulfillment means you’re free to obey – and love it!”
3. Do you agree with my ranking? I’m not sure which of #4, #5 and #6 is most effective. Does it depend on the passage in question?
4. I’ve used forgiveness and fulfillment as the primary achievements of the cross. Do the other theories of the atonement factor into our gospel-centered application?

Typology – A hermeneutical concept in which a biblical place (Jerusalem, Zion), person (Adam, Melchizedek), event (flood, brazen serpent), institution (feasts, covenant), office (prophet, priest, king), or object (tabernacle, altar, incense) becomes a pattern by which later persons or places are interpreted due to the unity of events within salvation-history.
- The International Standard Bible Encyclopedia, vol. 4, 930

Typology Foreshadows The Plan

There has always been a Plan. God the Father planned from before the foundation of the world that he would adopt us through the Son. (Eph 1:4-5; Rev 13:8) Typology is God pointing to the Plan ahead of time.

A good analogy here is to literature. Many authors use foreshadowing or symbolism as devices to help the reader understand the main point of a story. Typology is God’s use of foreshadowing and symbolism to point us to the Plan (the main point) throughout the Bible (the story).

“Typology is the name we give to the places in the Bible where God foreshadows the Plan.”

What sorts of things can be types? Virtually anything! For example, the book of Hebrews identifies many different kinds of types in the Old testament:

• An Institution - The Sabbath foreshadows the rest Christ would bring us. (Hebrews 4)
• A Person – Aaron the high priest foreshadowed Jesus’ priestly role until Jesus came to fulfill it. (Hebrews 5)
• An Object – The Tabernacle and Temple were symbols of God’s presence with us until Jesus came and dwelt among us (John 1:14) and will one day live with us uninterrupted (Rev 22:3-5). (Hebrews 9)
• An Event - The Day of Atonement was an annual event in the life of the Jewish people which symbolized the time when a sin offering would be powerful enough to wipe out the sins of all God’s people. (Hebrews 9:24-26)

Each of these symbols is called a “type.” So when you hear someone say, “Joseph was a type of Christ,” it doesn’t mean they think Joseph was some “kind” of Christ or some “variety” of Christ. They mean that his figurative resurrection (sold into slavery, thrown into jail and then raised to the office of Prime Minister) and then saving the world (by sparing the world from famine) points to what Jesus would do on our behalf. (And Jesus, as the one to whom the type points, is called the “antitype.”)

Examples of Typology

The Bible is full of types. Beyond the types just mentioned, here are some prominent examples:

The Passover

The Passover lamb was slaughtered and its blood covered the doorway to each Jewish home during the tenth plague on Egypt. As the Angel of the Lord went through the land he “passed over” each home which had been covered by the blood of the lamb and did not kill the firstborn in that home.

Likewise, Jesus was killed on our behalf and his blood covers us so that in his righteous judgment God will pass over our treason against him and spare us the eternal death we deserve. Paul explicitly calls Jesus “our Passover Lamb.” (1 Cor 5:7)

David Slays Goliath

God provided a champion, David, who defeated Goliath, a seemingly invincible foe, using a most unlikely method - a sling and a stone. His victory was credited to his people who were incapable to fight in their own defense.

Likewise, God provided a champion, Jesus, who defeated death, a seemingly invincible foe, using the most unlikely method – his own death. His victory was credited to his people who were incapable to fight in their own defense.

Hosea and Gomer

God has the prophet Hosea marry Gomer, a prostitute. Gomer is unfaithful to Hosea and becomes an indentured servant to another man because of her decisions. God has Hosea redeem her at great cost – both financially and socially.

God explicitly says that, like Hosea, he has an unfaithful wife – Israel – who continually commits spiritual adultery and has become a slave to that choice. In spite of this he continues to love her and redeem her at great cost to himself.

Additionally, the book of Hebrews is full of explanations of how Jesus is greater than so many of the symbols in the Old Testament that point to him. It’s almost a typology handbook.

How Do We Tell If Something Is A Type?

How do we know when we’re looking at a type? What if we aren’t sure something was intended to point to Jesus? Here are two surefire ways to tell:

The Bible tells us

We’ve seen above that both Paul and the writer to the Hebrews explicitly tell us that certain events, people, objects and institutions were types of Christ. Looking through the gospels we also see Jesus pointing to things that came before to prepare us for himself.

Be on the lookout for places where one part of the Bible interprets other parts.

The main point of the symbol corresponds to the Plan

Some types aren’t referenced specifically. David slaying Goliath isn’t ever called a type in the Bible. Does that mean it’s not a type? Hardly!

The best way to determine if a person/object/event/etc is a type is to look at the main idea it represents in its context.

What message would the original audience glean from the account of David and Goliath in its original context? David demonstrated that God was faithful to send an anointed one to save his people in a battle they could not win.

Now we can take that main idea and ask ourselves if it corresponds to the Plan. If it does, we have a type!

Allegory

Allegory is typology gone astray. When we call something a symbol of Jesus but the Bible doesn’t support that conclusion we’ve just created allegory. The easy way to discern allegory from type is to use the second concept we just discussed:

• If the main point behind the message of the symbol corresponds to the main point of the Plan, you have a type.
• If the main point of the symbol in its original context doesn’t point to the Plan and you have to give it some outside meaning then you have allegory. A phrase people will often use here is the “spiritual meaning” of the symbol.

Typology is not the only way the Bible points to Jesus

Remember: Typology is one of many ways the Bible points to Jesus. Don’t try to find typology everywhere just because you think you need to connect a passage to the gospel. Scripture uses prophecies, themes, encouragements and even the law to point to Jesus!

For more information on typology and the other ways the Bible points to Jesus check out the free e-book Christ-Centered Bible Study.

Jesus In The Pentateuch

This is a series of articles I missed in August, 2012. It’s light on detail and heavy on typology. Well worth a read.

• Jesus in Genesis
• Jesus in Exodus
• Jesus in Leviticus
• Jesus in Numbers
• Jesus in Deuteronomy
• Jesus is Wisdom (Not from the same series but connected in its purpose.)

Samson on the Cross: A Good Friday Reflection

Alastair Roberts shows us how Samson points to Christ. In God’s strength Samson crushed his enemies with his own death:

At that point he prays that, just that one final time, God would strengthen him. He braces himself on the two pillars of the temple, then pushes with all of his might. The temple of Dagon collapses, falling on all of those within it. Willingly giving up the Spirit that had returned to him in that final act, Samson dies with the Philistines, accomplishing a greater victory in his death than at any point in his life.

Of course, Jesus is the true and better Samson: He not only defeated his enemy through his death, but his enemy was death and he did not stay dead because he had the authority to take his life back up.

The Gospel In Sex

The title of Tim Challies’ post is actually “The Thing About Sex” but I think this is a better name for it. He discusses precisely how sex, as one of the unique aspects of marriage, is a declaration of God’s love for the church:

Few husbands have the words to express to their wives that the physical pleasure and relief that may come through sex are bound up in the much better and greater unity they find in making love to their wives. And yet somewhere they know it, they know that the greatest joy in sex is not orgasmic but in the joy of being body-to-body, soul-to-soul, and completely exposed before another person. The intimacy comes by way of vulnerability. There is no other place where a person is so exposed, so bare, so vulnerable. Sex is a declaration: This is who I am. Sex is a question: Do you accept me as I am? Sex is an answer: I accept you as you are. There is no other place where a person can be so loved and accepted.

Jesus vs Religion – Knowing God

Peter Mead reminds us that knowing about God is not a substitute for knowing God:

Church is not seminary-lite with courses running one lecture a week over several weeks. Church is a different animal. There should be an educational component, but it should be so much more than that… Let’s be very careful that our own study and personal walk with Christ is genuinely intimate rather than allowing it to reduce to academic study alone. Then let’s make sure our preaching pursues life transformation and personal introduction, rather than settling for information transfer and cultural reinforcement.

6 Ways to Understand the New Testament Use of the Old Testament

Nick McDonald gives us a quick summary of ways the OT is utilized in the one-story narrative of the NT:

1. The OT writing is sacred.
2. Corporate Solidarity.
3. Christ is the corporate head of the true Israel in the OT and NT.
4. God’s history is united.
5. The age of fulfillment has come.
6. Christ is the goal.

Click through for summaries of each. Numbers 2, 3, 5 and 6 are especially good.

Christ Is Not Just Another Theme in the Old Testament

Scott Redd posts at the Gospel Coalition website about the temptation to treat Jesus as one of many themes in the Old Testament. He warns us that Jesus isn’t a theme in the OT, he’s the point of the OT:

The New Testament claims that Christ fulfills the Old Testament in many ways. Just to name a few, Christ is:

• Old Testament covenant Lord (John 8:58; see also kurios as title for Christ)
• Sovereign eschatological king (Rev. 21:22)
• Key actor in creation (John 1:1-5 [Genesis 1])
• True Israel (Matt. 2:15 [Hos 11:1]; John 15:1-17)
• The temple of God (John 2:19-21)
• Restorer from exile (Matt 3:3 [Isa. 40:3; Mar 1:3; Luke 3:4; John 1:23])
• Final and authoritative prophet (Heb 1:2)
• Heir to the world (Heb 1:2; Ps 2:8)
• Sustainer of his people in wilderness (1 Cor 10:4 [Exod. 17:6])
• Foundation of human salvation (Acts 4:11 [Ps. 118:22])
• Wisdom teacher par excellence (Matt 12:42 [Luke 11:31])
• The very wisdom of God (1 Cor 1:23)

3 Ways the Gospel Changes Marriage

1. From Selfishness to Service
2. From Laziness to Engagement
3. Self-Righteousness to Humility

Preach the Old Testament as if Jesus Is Risen

In a typology-heavy post, Mitch Chase helps us see how Jesus illuminates our reading of the Old Testament.

Don’t read the Old Testament pretending Jesus didn’t happen. After Jesus died and rose from the dead, his disciples saw the ancient promises differently. Those promises were no longer suspended in mid-air but became yes in Jesus. The types had found their antitype, the arrows their target, the shadows their Light.

Four Suggestions To Grow Kids With Grace

1. Parent from grace rather than for goodness.
2. Parent for kids who will make disciples among the lost rather than become saved and satisfied.
3. Parent toward learning and living the ways of Jesus rather than just learning them.
4. Parent in an environment that welcomes confession and offers restoration rather than an environment of demanding expectation and exasperating correction.

Find Your Worth in the Gospel

The main point? I am valuable because god loves me.

But redemption is not an end in itself.

God did not save us simply so that we might avoid Hell. He did not save us simply so that we might enjoy heaven. He did it so that we might behold his glory. Paul introduces his letter to the Ephesians with the message of redemption:

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love he predestined us for adoption as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will…
Eph 1:3-5

This is a beautiful description of election, propitiation, redemption and adoption. But that’s not the end of the story.

…to the praise of his glorious grace, with which he has blessed us in the Beloved.
Eph 1:6

This means we were redeemed for God’s glory. How does redemption do that?

1. We see God’s mercy in redemption. He died for his enemies.
2. We see God’s justice in redemption. He extinguished his awful wrath against sin on the cross.
3. We see God’s love in redemption. He adopted us into his family.
4. We see God’s compassion in redemption. Through it he will renew all things so there is no more sorrow, death or pain.
5. We see God’s triumph in redemption. He is victorious over Satan.

Each of these is a facet of God’s glory expressed in the gospel. The gospel is the medium through which God communicates his glory to us. That is why we read in Hebrews that Jesus’ life is a form of communication:

Long ago, at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son.
Heb 1:1-2

Jesus spoke to us through his words and teaching. But he also spoke through his actions. Jesus’ life is the most compelling message of grace and glory in the history of the world.

When we focus our Bible reading on the gospel remember that the gospel focuses on God’s glory. When you see the gospel, don’t rejoice only in the benefits it brings you, glorify the God of the gospel.

We must not say only, “Behold how great your salvation.” We must also say, “Behold how great your God.”

What Fuels Evangelism?

Why do you believe you should share the gospel? Is it out of guilt? Do you feel like it’s expected of you and you need to share it so you can fit in at church? Is it out of pride? Will bringing newcomers to church make you look good? Is it out of habit? Do you do it because that’s what your church has always done?

These are not healthy motives for evangelism. To look at the only healthy motivation for evangelism we need to look at what evangelism actually is.

Evangelism is sharing the gospel.

You probably just read that and said, “Duh.”

That’s okay, I don’t blame you. It’s really simplistic but it’s also subtly profound. “Gospel” means “good news” and that’s where we need to go. We need to see the gospel news as “good” before we get to the right motivation for evangelism.

Evangelism requires you to believe the gospel is GOOD news.

If the gospel isn’t good news, why share it?

If the gospel is anything but good news to you then you a) won’t share it much and b) won’t share it effectively when you bother to do so. This is why the “mainline” protestant churches are dying. They embraced the theologically liberal vision of the gospel – Jesus was a good example and teacher for us while ignoring sin completely – about 100 years ago. That’s not a particularly impressive message. It’s no wonder the laity doesn’t share that news. And it’s no wonder that they aren’t particularly concerned about living in light of that news. The not-so-good news of theological liberalism is self-defeating.

Evangelism requires you to believe the gospel is the BEST news.

If the gospel isn’t the best news, why not share something better?

If the gospel is good news but it’s not quite as good as some other news, which news will you give priority to sharing?

• If the gospel is good, but not as good as the score of the game, which are you going to talk about with friends?
• If the gospel is good, but not as good as your hobby, which are you going to devote your time to?
• If the gospel is good, but not as good as the sin which tempts you most, which are you going to pursue more vigorously?

It’s not enough for the gospel to be good news for you. It must be the best news.

Joy in the gospel – valuing it as the best news – is the one legitimate motivation for evangelism.

What if that doesn’t describe you?

There’s only one thing that can make the gospel beautiful in your eyes: God revealing it to you.

• Pray that he would show you the incredible glory of your redemption.
• Seek out an understanding of the depth of the sin he paid for in you.
• Attempt to understand the immeasurable glory of our King and how he wants communion with us.

If the gospel isn’t the best news it won’t be the news you share.