Jesus is the Main Character of the Bible

The Reformer Martin Luther said, “Take Christ out of the Scriptures, and what will you find remaining in them?”[1] But seeing Jesus in the scriptures isn’t easy. It’s not automatic. Some of the greatest Bible readers in history have failed to see him. The Pharisees were the most proficient and diligent Bible readers in the history of the world. Yet what does Jesus tell them? John 5:39, “You search the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; and it is they that bear witness about me.”

      The Pharisees weren’t the only ones missing the point. Jesus’s disciples did too. After Jesus’s resurrection, Luke 24:13-27 tells the story of two disciples on the Emmaus Road. Jesus approached them, unrecognized, and asked them what they were discussing. They said, “Well, we thought Jesus was the Messiah, but he was crucified, so I guess we were wrong.” Jesus responded with a reprimand, saying, “O foolish ones, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken! Was it not necessary that the Christ should suffer these things and enter into his glory?” Then he does something amazing. “And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he interpreted to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning himself.”

The Bible is one big, unified story about Jesus. Remove him, and you have nothing left.

I’m arguing for a Christocentric reading of the Bible because I think that’s what the Bible itself argues for.

Now, here’s what I’m not saying. I am not saying you can see Jesus’s name in every verse. You can’t even see it in every chapter. You can’t even see it in every book of the Bible. Esther doesn’t mention God’s name. But think of it like a trajectory. The tension builds with every story.

A Christocentric view of the New Testament isn’t as difficult because Jesus is mentioned by name so often. But what about the Old Testament? Though he is not named, we see Jesus everywhere. We find the pattern of Jesus—a Savior rising to redeem God’s people. We hear the promise of Jesus—one to come that will undo the curse and bring the blessing. We feel the presence of Jesus—divine help amid God’s people in all their struggles and sins.[2]

As Tim Keller famously summarized it, Jesus is the true and better everything.

Jesus is the true and better Adam who passed the test in the garden and whose obedience is imputed to us.

Jesus is the true and better Abel who, though innocently slain, has blood now that cries out, not for our condemnation, but for acquittal.

Jesus is the true and better Abraham who answered the call of God to leave all the comfortable and familiar and go out into the void not knowing wither he went to create a new people of God.

Jesus is the true and better Isaac who was not just offered up by his father on the mount but was truly sacrificed for us. And when God said to Abraham, “Now I know you love me because you did not withhold your son, your only son whom you love from me,” now we can look at God taking his son up the mountain and sacrificing him and say, “Now we know that you love us because you did not withhold your son, your only son, whom you love from us.”

Jesus is the true and better Jacob who wrestled and took the blow of justice we deserved, so we, like Jacob, only receive the wounds of grace to wake us up and discipline us.

Jesus is the true and better Joseph who, at the right hand of the king, forgives those who betrayed and sold him and uses his new power to save them.

Jesus is the true and better Moses who stands in the gap between the people and the Lord and who mediates a new covenant.

Jesus is the true and better Rock of Moses who, struck with the rod of God’s justice, now gives us water in the desert.

Jesus is the true and better Job, the truly innocent sufferer, who then intercedes for and saves his stupid friends.

Jesus is the true and better David whose victory becomes his people’s victory, though they never lifted a stone to accomplish it themselves.

Jesus is the true and better Esther who didn’t just risk leaving an earthly palace but lost the ultimate and heavenly one, who didn’t just risk his life, but gave his life to save his people.

Jesus is the true and better Jonah who was cast out into the storm so that we could be brought in.

Jesus is the real Passover Lamb, innocent, perfect, helpless, slain so the angel of death will pass over us. He’s the true temple, the true prophet, the true priest, the true king, the true sacrifice, the true lamb, the true light, the true bread.[3]

No wonder, then, that when Paul was in Thessalonica in Acts 17:2-3, he entered the synagogue, “and on three Sabbath days he reasoned with them from the Scriptures, explaining and proving that it was necessary for the Christ to suffer and to rise from the dead, and saying, ‘This Jesus, whom I proclaim to you, is the Christ.’” No wonder Paul wrote in 2 Corinthians 1:20, “All the promises of God find their Yes in him.”

Jesus is everywhere in the Bible. He is the meaning and purpose of every word, every story, every book, every genre, every section, every theme, every figure, every image, and every storyline. When you realize that, the Bible becomes like the movie, The Sixth Sense. Once you know the ending, you can’t help but see the clues all along the way. You see it everywhere. We need to develop a sixth sense for Jesus.

Perhaps no one has said it better than Sally Lloyd-Jones in her children’s book The Jesus Storybook Bible.

Now, some people think the Bible is a book of rules, telling you what you should and shouldn’t do. The Bible certainly does have some rules in it. They show you how life works best. But the Bible isn’t mainly about you and what you should be doing. It’s about God and what he has done.

Other people think the Bible is a book of heroes, showing you people you should copy. The Bible does have some heroes in it, but most of the people in the Bible aren’t heroes at all. They make some big mistakes (sometimes on purpose). They get afraid and run away. At times they are downright mean.

No, the Bible isn’t a book of rules, or a book of heroes. The Bible is most of all a Story. It’s an adventure story about a young Hero who comes from a far country to win back his lost treasure. It’s a love story about a brave Prince who leaves his palace, his throne—everything—to rescue the one he loves. It’s like the most wonderful of fairy tales that has come true in real life!

You see, the best thing about this Story is—it’s true.

There are lots of stories in the Bible, but all the stories are telling one Big Story. The Story of how God loves his children and comes to rescue them.

It takes the whole Bible to tell this Story. And at the center of the Story, there is a baby. Every Story in the Bible whispers his name. He is like the missing piece in a puzzle—the piece that makes all the other pieces fit together, and suddenly you can see a beautiful picture.[4]

Jesus is the main character of the Bible. Miss that, and you misunderstand the Bible. Get that, and it all suddenly starts making more sense.

Reading the Bible this way takes some practice. For many of us, it requires quite a bit of unlearning. We tend to read the Bible as piecemeal bits of information, like pearls on a necklace. It’s all connected, but it’s not unified. We have the Old Testament law, the prophets, the Psalms, etc. And we have the New Testament gospels and letters. But how do they hold together? Who knows. We read a portion, find the pearl we need for the day, and move on. But to read the Bible through the Jesus lens is to recognize that it isn’t made up of pearls on a necklace but links in a chain. It’s all connected to the one big story of Jesus.

This type of reading doesn’t ignore the other points the passage may be making. It only helps us find our way through them. C.S. Lewis said, “I believe in Christianity as I believe that the sun has risen, not only because I see it but because by it, I see everything else.”[5] A Christocentric reading of the Bible is like that. It’s by Jesus that we see everything else. Reading the Bible without Jesus at the center is like reading in a dark room. Jesus turns the lights on. Jesus is the organizing principle. Jesus is the point of the whole thing. Jesus is the key to opening the truth of every part of the Bible.

Some of us don't read the Bible much because we haven't yet learned to see Jesus in it. The Bible is just a history book, and history is boring for most people. But once we start to see Jesus in all the Bible and understand that every story is part of the larger story of Jesus, it becomes vastly more interesting, and we actually want to read it. Every page suddenly becomes an adventure. It's something living and active (Heb. 4:12) that still surprises, confronts, and comforts us today because Jesus speaks to us about himself.

Learning to read the Bible this way takes a little more thought than we often give to our quiet times, but this is where we gain real traction in our Christian lives. When we start to see Jesus as the answer to everything, the Bible comes alive in our hearts, and we desire to read it more. He’s the light that shines on it all, and we start seeing things we never saw before. That’s the glory shining through, and who doesn’t want more glory in their life?

[1] Luther, Martin, The Bondage of the Will, page 71.

[2] For more on this idea, see Glen Scrivener’s article “Where is Jesus in the Old Testament” on the Desiring God website: https://www.desiringgod.org/articles/where-is-jesus-in-the-old-testament

[3] Keller, Timothy J., “The Bible is Not About You”, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lq1kJLN-izE

[4] Lloyd-Jones, Sally, The Jesus Storybook Bible: Every story whispers his name, pages 14-17.

[5] Lewis, C.S., “Is Theology Poetry”, The Weight of Glory