Anna Moore

I was never good at 3D books growing up. The Magic Eye books held pages of large illustrations that looked like nothing to me, but others claimed to see something fascinating within them. “Look in the center,” they’d tell me.

Okay… Now what?

I would stare at them and stare at them and everything would just look like a big blur. I didn’t get the point. My problem was that I kept looking at the illustrations up close without moving out to see the whole image. I looked in the center like they’d said, but not within the context of the full illustration. You see, up close, it’s a bunch of random colors and shapes, but when you zoom out, so to speak, everything blends together to reveal the outline of a 3D image. Sometimes it revealed a wave in the ocean or a football player, but you weren’t able to see it just from looking at one part of the artwork.

I tend to do this with scripture sometimes. I focus closely on a passage I’m reading without “zooming out” on the full story of scripture. Did you know the entire Bible is one gigantic story? It all blends together and when you take a step back to admire the full work, you’ll see the image of Jesus. He’s the main character of the Bible. Every chapter and every page points to Him in some way. He’s the hero, the protagonist, the lead. It’s all about Him.

Sometimes this is hard to see though. The Messiah—God incarnate and the Word made flesh—was literally standing before the Sanhedrin as they held a trial to determine Jesus of Nazareth’s earthly fate. They didn’t understand what the prophets foretold or that the Messiah would fulfill the Law of Moses they held so dearly. They didn’t realize a Great High Priest and better Adam/Moses/Aaron/David/temple/sacrifice/covenant was in their very presence. Jesus proclaimed to His followers and others, “the kingdom of heaven is at hand,” yet they couldn’t fully grasp what that would look like. But God had a plan.

At the founding of the Church told in the book of Acts, the apostles explained this plan up to that point. They preached the revelation of Christ using what the Jews called the Torah (this is the first five books of our Bible today) and through the prophets like Isaiah. The image of Jesus is there.

In Acts 13, Paul starts with the patriarchs (Abraham, Isaac, Jacob) and then shares through the conquest of Canaan to the judges to the prophet Samuel to King Saul and finally King David, that all of this points to Christ, the true Messiah. Through David would come King Jesus.

Paul says, “Of this man’s offspring God has brought to Israel a Savior, Jesus, as he promised.” This survey through Israel’s history demonstrate’s God had a plan for His chosen people. His plan was salvation. His plan was redemption. His plan was Jesus.

Do you see it yet? Let’s zoom out some more.

From the moment sin entered the world in Genesis 3, even then a Savior was planned.

“And I will put enmity
    between you and the woman,
    and between your offspring and hers;
he will crush your head,
    and you will strike his heel.”
Genesis 3:15 NIV

Jesus: Redeemer, Serpent Crusher.

But what about the Law? There are so many rules for God’s people. God wanted His people to be set apart from the world, and still does today. But because of the work completed by Jesus on the cross and defeating sin and death through His resurrection, the sacrificial system is no longer needed and our righteousness is through grace alone, by faith alone, in Christ alone. Where the Law of Moses was meant to set God’s people apart and demonstrate how the Lord is holy and takes sin seriously to the point of judgement, it was never meant to be the burden it became to God’s people. While it pointed to sanctification, the Law wasn’t the way to righteousness.

“For it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins.”
Hebrews 10:4 ESV

“Let it be known to you therefore, brothers, that through this man forgiveness of sins is proclaimed to you, and by him everyone who believes is freed from everything from which you could not be freed by the law of Moses.”
Acts 13:38-39 ESV

Jesus, the only perfect and truly clean sacrificial lamb, was the plan. Through Him and His completed work, we are made righteous.

Paul reminded those listening in the synagogue that day (Acts 13) that the baptizer known as John demonstrated complete submission to God in proclaiming “a baptism of repentance to all the people of Israel” and in making a way to prepare the people of his day for the coming Messiah. He saw Jesus as One greater than all others.

“Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.”
Matthew 3:2

This, and every other story in the Bible points to God’s redemption plan through Jesus. And if we are in Christ—if we have surrendered our lives over to Him in faith and obedience and have made Him Lord of our lives—we are in the flow of God’s great plan of redemption.

From the very beginning, God had a plan for history, and it’s Jesus. Jesus is still the plan. While He isn’t walking among us today, He is still saving lives and redeeming His people. He is still making Himself known.

Do you see it yet?

“I, Jesus, have sent my angel to testify to you about these things for the churches. I am the root and the descendant of David, the bright morning star.”
Revelation 22:16 ESV