Bible Reading Plans
- Plan One: New Testament Only
- Plan Two: New Testament + Psalms
- Plan Three: New Testament + History
- Plan Four: The Entire Bible – Year 1 of 3, Year 2 of 3, Year 3 of 3
Don’t know which plan? Go to A Christ-Centered Bible Reading Plan: Quick Start.
Extras
Verse of the Day, Audio Capsule, and Video Minute
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(Book Installment)
The Biblical Case for
Finding Jesus in the Old Testament
Chapter 1: The Subject of This Book
The title of a book should encapsulate its contents. Let me break this book’s title down for you so that you’ll have greater visibility into what the book holds in store for you.
“The Biblical Case for…”
When writing for the Lord – whether it’s a book, an article, or a simple note – I write based on something I’ve learned from the Bible. There’s nothing within me that’s worth writing; it’s only what I’ve learned from reading and studying the Bible that gives you any reason to read something I’ve written.
That said, I don’t begin every book, article, or note I write with the phrase “The Biblical Case for…” I reserve this phrase for books that focus on a biblical idea that is 1) big, 2) new, and 3) controversial.
Biblical or not, most big ideas deserve a book to explain them. An article or note would be insufficient. With a book, an author has the chance to fully describe the idea…and then examine it from various angles to make sure it can be fully understood by the reader. This is true whether the big idea is new or old.
A big idea that is new is even more deserving of book-length treatment. It would be unreasonable for writers to expect people to accept ideas that are big and new without sufficient explanation and examination. By the way, “new” doesn’t have to be “unheard of.” It just has to be something that isn’t commonly understood. Or it can be a new way of understanding an idea that has previously circulated and been rejected.
An idea that is not just big and new, but also likely to be controversial, is the most deserving of all to be presented in book format. People can’t make a quality decision about a big, new, controversial idea if they’re not fully informed about it.
If all this is true of ideas in general, how much more it is true of biblical ideas that are new, big, and controversial. The Bible is the word of God. Therefore, by definition, its ideas are more important than human ideas. Not all ideas in the Bible are equally important. But even the least important biblical idea is going to be more important than any human idea. We were created by God and our every breath is sustained by God, so it would be impossible to overstate the importance of His ideas.
I have written two previous books whose titles begin with “The Biblical Case for…” – The Biblical Case for Everyone Going to Heaven and The Biblical Case for the Second Coming as Accomplished Fact. Whether you agree with these two ideas or not, you have to admit they’re big, new, and controversial. That is true of this book, too, even though it’s not as apparent in the title.
The Biblical Case for Finding Jesus in the Old Testament does not at first glance suggest an idea that is new or controversial. But as the book unfolds, I think you’ll agree that those two adjectives apply.
I do not seek to find or write about controversial ideas. What I do seek is to learn about Jesus. There is always something new to learn about Him and those new things are both big and small. The bigger they are the more controversial they are because Jesus has always polarized the world. It’s inevitable. He is the truth, and truth polarizes because of the human will. I don’t like controversy, but I love truth so much I’m willing to endure controversy to hold on to truth.
A controversial biblical idea deserves not just a book, but it deserves a book that lays out the biblical case for that idea. No one should just take my word for it. I will show you chapter and verse so that you can make up your own mind on the subject. That will enable you to decide on which side of the polarization you’re going to stand…because as is so often true with Jesus and His ideas, there is no middle ground.
The Duty of a Man 