The Promise of Jesus.

A long time ago, in a field far, far away, a young youth leader challenged us with a rather odd premise.

"Find me a verse in the bible that doesn't mention Jesus, link to Jesus, or relate to Jesus, and I'll give you a rocky bar"

Because Rocky bars were probably the greatest thing ever for a bunch of teenaged boys under canvas in a welsh field, a large number of us went away from that brekka chat to look in our bibles and try to catch our leader out. I've been looking ever since, though I expect that even if I did find one, his offer no longer stands. Jesus is very hard to escape from, because he's woven into every story, character and situation that the Bible has contained within its front and back covers, and hundreds of years of history.

I believe that The Bible is the greatest book ever written, the most confusing / controversial / orthodox / dangerous /radical / conservative / liberal / liberating / worshipful / lamenting / joyful / sad / dense / releasing / coherent / promising / hopeful / beautiful book that people have ever read. And I believe that the Bible has a purpose, a promise, and is about a person.

I believe, partly as a response to that challenge in that field all those years and miles ago, that

"every line in this book is drenched with the promise, or the fulfilment of the promise"

The purpose of the Bible, I believe, is to show mankind how God has been pursuing his people with the promise of love ever since they were created. I explored a little about creation leading to this promise in a recent post, "Creation Doctrine". This purpose is seen throughout the biblical text. It's seen in the historical narrative, as God's sovereign love over-rules and undergirds a million and one situations. It's seen in the poetry, as humans try to articulate - filled with the Holy Spirit - something about the infinte creator God who they know. It's seen in the books of prophecy, in the very words of God spoken to and through his people. It's seen in the Gospels, four different accounts of the life of Jesus, the promised one of God. And in the rest of the New Testament, as a variety of authors and styles build a picture of what God has done, is doing, and will do. And what that is like. The purpose of the Bible is common throughout its 66 components, and it is majestic promise is fulfilled in Jesus.

There are obvious parts, like what theologians call in the Old Testament "Theophany". Theophany (or its arguably more obvious term, "Christophany") is when we see a mention of the pre-incarnate Christ somewhere in the Old Testament. Some evangelical scholars believe that the Angel of the Lord (who appears in various OT places) as the pre-incarnate Christ, but a very obvious one is actually in Genesis, where Adam and Eve walked in the cool of the day with the Lord. It is interesting to note the promsie inherent to that image. God walked with Adam and eve in the cool of the day - which is a specific but limited time. The promise of Jesus is eternity with him - the promise of the Bible here is hinted at in this theophany, a glimpse of the glorious future.

There are less obvious parts, too. But a brief examination of obscure passages can lead to a proclamation of the promise. The dense histories and genealogies of the Old Testament can often be a bit of a quagmire as people read their Bibles - but they point to a Jesus who comes from a line of kings. They point to a Jesus with human ancestry. We see Jesus in the Gospels use names which harken back to Old Testament. When Jesus is talking in John 7 about people who are thirsty coming to drink, he invokes the Scriptures. And we are reminded of the rock that Moses struck and water flowed out of it. That is an element of the promise. Again in John 1, John the Baptist refers to Jesus as "the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!", echoing the usage of Lambs in the first Passover, which we can read about in Exodus. We can see the promise of a universal, ultimate lamb inherent in the lambs slaughtered by the Israelites on the eve of their flight from Egypt.

It is well beyond the scope of this blog post to examine everything that points to Jesus. Or to turn over all the riches of the Bible to demonstrate the promise of Jesus that is pregnant throughout the text. But I hope to have given you some food for thought, some inkling of the grand promise of the Bible. I'd love your comments - on Theophanies or Christophanies you have found, and of course, if you can find a verse of the Bible that in no way relates to Jesus at all, possibly, then please post that in the comments.

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