Christ In All The Scriptures (4)
CHRIST IN ALL THE SCRIPTURES - 4
Yeow Chin Kiong
To recapitulate, although the 66 books of the Bible are the product of some 40 authors writing under Divine inspiration across almost 1500 years, their contents contain very many cross-references among them. Numerous references in the form of prophecies, antitypes, quotations and allusions to Old Testament (OT) content are contained in New Testament (NT) books. Bearing in mind the NT was written and compiled AT LEAST 400 years after the NT,- the approximate duration of the "intertestamental period" between the OT book of Malachi and the NT book of Matthew,- such cross-referencing, especially concerning Jesus Christ and the gospel, point to a single common Author of all 66 books of the Bible. Above all, they display a single tightly-woven theme of the entire Bible,- the incarnation, life, death, resurrection and ascension of the only-begotten Son of God as the central element of God's plan of man's salvation from the dire consequences of his sin. Above all, this consideration supports the trustworthiness of the entire contents of the Bible as the revelation of an omniscient and omnipotent God.
We will now look at the ALLUSIONS in the NT to OT items, persons and events, especially as they point to Jesus Christ. In spoken or written communication, an "allusion" is an indirect or passing,- and very short,- reference to a person, event or idea (without any details) that can trigger a more complex thought in the audience or readership.
As examples, a short conversation between two elderly Malaysians: "I've lived through the very difficult Emergency days." "My earliest experience of troubles was following May 13." Both individuals alluded to pressing times in Malaysia's history, the former to the Emergency of 1948 to 1961 and the latter the period following the riots of 1969 right after that year's General Elections.
NT allusions matter-of-factly mention matters already touched upon in the OT (without making reference to "the scriptures" or the identity of the original speaker or writer, as direct PROPHECY would). For example, in Matthew 21:44 Jesus alludes to a "stone" which will break whoever falls on it and will crush to powder anyone it falls upon. No mention is made of the scriptural source of this statement. However, two verses before, Matthew 21:42 makes reference to a specific QUOTED OT PROPHECY, Psalm 118:22-23, which mentions a "chief cornerstone". Clearly, Jesus was referring to Himself as the PROPHESIED chief cornerstone and ALLUDED to Himself as eliminating all opposition to Himself. The Pharisees immediately caught Jesus' message quoting the prophecy and making the allusion. (Matthew 21:45)!
As another example, Revelation 1:7 makes an ALLUSION to 2 separate OT mentions in PROPHECY of Jesus' coming again: Danial 7:13 and Zechariah 12:10. The Revelation text itself does not attribute what it says to specific OT scriptures, rather assuming that it will resonate among its readers who are familiar with the OT scriptures.
Indeed, the book of Revelation is full of allusions to OT scriotures concerning Jesus Christ, not specifically quoting an OT scripture as such. Jesus says He is "the alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End" (Revelation 1:8). By that, He ALLUDES to Isaiah 41:4, "I, the Lord, am the first; and with the last I am He." This allusion, repeated in Revelation 1:11, categorically identifies Jesus as Deity because the Isaiah reference clearly is about God. Other allusions in the book of Revelation are "the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David" (Revelation 5:5) and "the Lamb as though it had been slain (Revelation 5:6) taken, respectively, from Genesis 49:9; Isaiah 11:1, 10 and the sacrificial lamb found throughout the books of the Law of Moses.