And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, He expounded to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning Himself.
Luke 24:27
Would you not love to have heard that teaching? It is easy to look back on the Scriptures and with arrogance say, “If I could have seen Jesus do this or hear that, I know I would have responded differently than the disciples.” But neither you nor I can really ever know that. We must remember, these guys were ordinary men living ordinary lives. Jesus interrupted all of that. It is one thing to believe the Messiah will come someday or hear the prophecies concerning him; you never expect Him to come into your house, your boat, or call you to follow Him.
These two men, even though they had been disciples of Jesus, still did not understand His significance. The Resurrected Christ took time to teach one eternally significant truth: the supremacy of Christ in all things. He started from the beginning and showed that all the Bible pointed to Him.
In Genesis, He is the seed of the woman. In Exodus, He is the lamb whose blood saved from death those who had smeared it on their doorposts. In Numbers, He is the serpent who was raised up, and all who fixed their gaze on Him were healed. In Deuteronomy, He is the water from the rock that refreshed God’s people in the desert of their disobedience. In Judges, He is the judge who makes things right and liberates His people from the slavery of their own sin. In Ruth, He is Kinsman Redeemer. In 1 Samuel, He is like David, the overlooked shepherd who goes to fight the enemy for his brothers. In Revelation, He is “the Lion of the Tribe of Judah, the Root of David,” who “has prevailed to open the scroll” (Rev. 5:5). Every book of the Bible points to Jesus.
In the disciples’ experiences with Jesus, both the delight of intimacy and the disappointment of His death, they never really understood the significance of Christ. All of human history was waiting on Him.
Do not let your intimacy with Christ cause you to lose sight of the supremacy of Christ. Know Christ personally, but do not let your familiarity replace your astonishment. He is in every situation working for His glory and for your good. All of human history—the Law and the Prophets, the Church—is about Him. Will you invite Him to teach you this wonderful, eternal truth? Ask Him, “Lord teach me how to live for Your preeminence in all things.”
And He is the head of the body, the church, who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in all things He may have preeminence. For it pleased the Father that in Him all the fullness of the Godhead should dwell.”
Colossians 1:18-19