Well, by the grace of God I have now been ministering the Word of God as a pastor for 8 years. I’ve learned a lot over that period of time. Mostly from mistakes I’ve made.
But I’ve also learned a lot about God’s Word. And the more I live – and consequently see people I know sin, suffer, and die – the more I am convinced that we are all much too attached to this present age and so easily lose our focus on the age to come.
This has become very clear to me over 8 years of teaching and preaching through the Bible. And as I better understand the Bible I realize all the more that Christ is really what everything is all about. For those who have not yet heard Sinclair Ferguson’s sermon at this year PCRT on the Christ of History, you must do everything in your power to listen to it. Dr. Ferguson used to tell us in his class on the Doctrine of the Holy Spirit that if we do not yet own Abraham Kuyper’s book on the Holy Spirit, we must do everything we can to get it, even if it means robbing or pillaging to get it! Calm down, he was only joking. But the same applies here to this message on the Christ of History. Do what it takes, even if it means pawning your wedding ring. It was far and away the best sermon I’ve ever heard Ferguson preach (and I’ve heard many great ones). In fact, it may have been the best sermon I’ve ever heard – period.
You see, the good Scottish Doctor begins with Genesis 3:15. And from there he unfolds for us the grand scheme of redemptive history. He declares Christ as the great leitmotif, the metanarrative, of Scripture. Edmund Clowney would have been proud!
But my point – following Ferguson – is this. Christ is not just the center of Scripture, but also the center of everything, of all of history. For him, to him, by him are all things, and in him they all hold together. This is not some strange kind of pantheism, but the teleology taught by the Bible. Everything that happens in history, everything that happens in redemptive history, is to the end that God’s people would know and dwell with Christ forever. For this we were made. For this we were redeemed.
And if we preach anything in abstraction from this grand overarching significance of all things, we are really preaching our own particular agendas and will thus leave the people of God with something short of the full Christ, and the fullness of Christ. And that is simply unacceptable.
Now, lest one think that this is some hair-brained scheme of preaching invented in the 20th century and which is an aberration from the Old Reformed Paths, I assure you its not. John Owen was trying to hit this point home, as far as I can understand (which, granted, may not be very far!), when he speaks about the idea of the beatific vision. Owen, and the Reformed, do not forsake the notion passing it off as some Romish doctrine. But they, of course, Reform it. The visio Dei for Owen is the great end for which God created the World (this is also the same for Edwards as well). Everything drives to the end that God’s people might forever behold and enjoy and glorify the Glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. So, what we will enjoy forever is not some bare divine nature, but we will enjoy God through the one by whom he has perfectly revealed himself. To see Christ is to see God, even though God still forever remains incomprehensible to us. In Christ we see God perfectly, even if not exhaustively.
So, you see, this what the Bible is all about. And this can be agreed upon by both R-H preachers and so-called neo-Puritan or experimental preachers. In fact, I would argue, true R-H preaching must be experimental (is there anything more stirring or moving than holding up Christ in all his Glory for your people to see), and true experimental preaching must be R-H. Moralisms, self-helps, and trite platitudes will not do. Show them Jesus!! From the OT, show them Jesus! From the NT, show them Jesus! From Genesis 1, show them Jesus! From Esther, Ruth, the Proverbs, and the Song of Solomon . . . lift up Christ in all his Glory to the people of God. They need to see him by faith. They need to behold him daily. They need to exalt him, worship him, and obey him. But they will not unless you resolve to know nothing but Christ and him crucified.
Now, I know what your thinking. Oh, no, he wants to advocate allegorical hermeneutics in which we force Jesus into every grain of sand mentioned, or into the threads of the temple, or into the minute details communicated. After all, how can I preach Christ from Esther or Proverbs when he’s not even mentioned there? Good question. A question that only a Christ-centered biblical theologian can answer or figure out. When I get to those book, I’ll share with you what I learn. But I do know this, without performing eisegesis on the text, those books are about Christ. And yes, that is an a priori commitment. And you know what? The NT tells me that’s OK to do. More later . . .
For Ferguson’s Sermon go here.
For Clowney’s great book on the subject, go here.
Great post! Graeme Goldsworthy “preaching the whole bible as Christian scripture” is well worth the read on this (maybe not worth pillaging for, but goodnonetheless)
Thanks, brother! You are quite correct, Goldsworthy is good stuff here. In fact, his book IS worth pillaging for – and going to jail for as well!! Look at it this way, it will give you the time you need to read the book!
May your words influence many other Ministers of the Word, Rev. Cassidy.
I’ve been very discouraged by the number of Reformed folk I’ve met – especially officers in the church – who are adamant that there is more in the Bible than Christ. And living in the ecclesiastical wasteland I do (in a rural area), I’m glad to hear the gospel at all.
I learned biblical-theological preaching from Jim Dennison. Although I cannot, for the life of me, understand what he is thinking or doing these days, I will never be able to personally subscribe to anything less than a Christocentric, eschatological, i.e., biblical-theological homiletic.
Keep preaching Christ!
Very good stuff. Inspiring. I’m looking to preach through Esther after Mark, so I hope to be seeing and savoring the Savior through it. I therefore thought it interesting that it is one of the books you mentioned by way of example.
So, would that text by Goldsworthy, which I’ve delayed purchasing, touch on Esther at all, or does it stay more generally focused?
Chris,
Well, there is more in the Bible than just Christ. But that which is in the Bible serves Christ, his Glory, and his Gospel. So, for instance, there is the Law. But even here, the Law is never an end in itself, but it is to the end that sinners would be driven to Christ. Christ is, after all, the end of the Law to all who believe.
David, I think Goldsworthy book touches generally on all these things. And I am not sure of a Christ-centered work on Esther. But this is the work of the Biblical – Theological preacher – to do the reseach, find the resources out there, read the literature on the theology of a biblical book, and often times fill in the gaps in the literature and break new ground. But for starters you may look into the Reformed Expositor’s Commentary set published by P&R.
Hey David:
I have preached through Esther. Call me on a Monday.
Keep it up, Jim !
Bill Snodgrass
Great post. And I look forward to listening to Fergson on the subject.
It strikes me that John Owen’s recently translated work, The History of Theology from Adam to Christ, as well as the first volume of his works, On the Glory of Christ, abundantly demonstrate that RH, Christocentric interpretation has been and should continue to be wedded to experimental religion. What God hath joined together let no man tear asunder!