Christ in All the Scriptures by A.M. Hodgkin

• Title Page
• Introduction
  • The Testimony of Christ to the Scriptures
  • The Testimony of the Scriptures to Christ
• Christ in the Pentateuch
• Christ in the Historical Books
• Christ in the Poetical Books
• Christ in the Prophets
• Christ in His Life on Earth
• Christ in Resurrection Power
• Christ in Future Glory

The Testimony of the Scriptures to Christ

Looking forward into the future from the earliest ages, God’s servants saw One who was to come, and as the time approached this vision grew so clear that it would be almost possible for us to describe Christ’s life on earth from the Old Testament Scriptures, of which He Himself said, “They testify of Me.”

There was one central figure in Israel’s hope. The work of the world’s redemption was to be accomplished by one Man, the promised Messiah. It is He who was to bruise the serpent’s head (Genesis 3:15); He was to be descended from Abraham (Genesis 22:18), and from the tribe of Judah (Genesis 49:10).

Isaiah looked forward and saw first a great Light shining upon the people that walked in darkness (Isaiah 9:2). And as he gazed he saw that a child was to be born, a Son was to be given (Isaiah 9:6), and with growing amazement there dawned upon him these names, as describing the nature of the child “Wonderful.” Wonderful, indeed, in His birth, for the advent of no other child had ever been heralded by the hosts of heaven. His birth of a virgin (Isaiah 7:14), and the appearance of the star (Numbers 24:17), were alike wonderful. Increasingly wonderful was He in His manhood, and most wonderful of all in His perfect sinlessness. “Counsellor.” “Christ, in whom are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge” (Colossians 2:3). “The Mighty God, the Everlasting Father.” There dawned upon Isaiah the consciousness that this promised One was none other than God manifest in the flesh, “Immanuel, God with us” (Isaiah 7:14). As Jesus Himself said, “I and my Father are One” (John 10:30). The next name, “The Prince of Peace,” specially belongs to Jesus, for “He is our Peace.” His birth brought Peace on earth, and leaving it, He bequeathed Peace to His disciples, “having made Peace through the blood of His Cross.” Then the prophet sees the child that was to be born seated on the throne of His father David, and he sees the glorious spread of His kingdom. Though born of a royal house, it was to be in the time of its humiliation. “There shall come forth a shoot out of the stock of Jesse, and a branch out of his roots shall bear fruit” (Isaiah 11:1, R.V.). We have in this a glimpse of His lowliness and poverty.

And now the prophets, one by one, fill in the picture, each adding a fresh, vivid touch. The prophet Micah sees the little town where Jesus was to be born, and tells us it is Bethlehem