In the volume of the book it is written of Me” (Heb. 10:7).
Luther asks concerning this verse: What Book and what Person? The answers should be obvious: the Bible and Christ. These are two Words which man must never separate: the written Word, and the Incarnate Word, for these God has joined together. The orthodox are sometimes charged with being guilty of Bibliolatry, and although nothing could be further from the truth, it were better to run the risk of being so misunderstood than to err on the other side. Scores of things are predicated similarly of both Words, and the study of these would bring seed to our basket, and sustenance to our souls.
For example, both are called the Word of God (Rev. 19:13; 1 Pet. 1:23), and are spoken of as Truth (Jn. 1:14; Ps. 119:151), Light (Jn. 1:4; Prov. 6:23), Life (1 Jn. 5:20; Phil. 2:16), precious (1 Pet. 2:7; 2 Pet. 1:4), wonderful (Isa. 9:6. Ps. 119:129), tried (Isa. 28:16. Ps. 18:30), and everlasting (Ps. 9:7; 1 Pet. 1:25). We are said, by both, to be born again (1 Jn. 5:18; 1 Pet. 1:23), saved (Heb. 12:25; Jas. 1:21), cleansed (1 Jn. 1:7; Jn. 15:3), sanctified (Heb. 10:10; Jn. 17:17), and healed (Mt. 4:24; Ps. 107:20).
Hence it is, as Joseph Hart puts it,
The Scriptures and the Word
Bear one tremendous name,
The Living and the Written Word
In all things are the same.
It is the incarnate Word whom we worship, but except for the written Word we could not know Him to worship Him. The dictum, “Never mind the Bible; hold on to Christ” is as foolish as it is false. It would be as reasonable to say, “Never mind the sun; bask in the light,” and imagine that the light would come without the sun. It is not the light which derives its brightness from the sun, but the sun its brightness from the light. So, likewise, with Christ and the Bible. It is not the Bible that gives value to Christ, but Christ who gives value to the Bible. But if we would know Him, we must study it.
The Bible deals with hundreds of subjects of the very first importance, such as the origin of the universe, the creation of the race, the history of sin, the divine principles of government, the rise, history, and future of Israel, the incarnation of God, the life and death of Jesus the Christ, the institution, progress, and future of the Church, the evangelization of the Gentile world, the future of the race, the issue of the conflict between darkness and light, and other subjects innumerable.
The method of presentation of these is also most varied. There is: law, history, wisdom, poetry, doctrine and apocalypse.
And this great literature came into existence, not in one age, but slowly throughout a period of sixteen or seventeen hundred years; all is collected together and called simply “The Book.” Yet as we read it the thing which impresses us is not its great diversity, but its sublime unity.
What is the secret of this structural, historical, prophetical, doctrinal, and spiritual unity of the Bible?
There is only one answer: Christ. That the whole Bible, from Genesis to Revelation is about Christ there is no room left to doubt. The witness of Christ Himself is sufficient: “In the volume of the Book it is written of Me…” (Heb. 10:7). “Beginning at Moses, and all the Prophets, He expounded unto them in all the Scriptures the things concerning Himself…all things must be fulfilled which were written in the Law of Moses, and in the Prophets, and in the Psalms concerning Me” (Lk. 24:27, 44).
No line of Bible study is more fruitful than that which regards all the Scriptures as a progressive revelation to man of God in Christ. All other studies in the Bible must find their place in relation to this: The appearance of Christ on earth is only the visible and temporary manifestations of a timeless purpose, of which the whole Bible is the revelation. With this fact before us, let us behold the unveiling of Christ in all the Scriptures.
Written by W. Graham Scroggie