After Emmaus E-Book

Brian J. Tabb

• Herausgeber: Crossway
• Kategorie: Religion und Spiritualität
• Sprache: Englisch

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2021

Beschreibung

"The church's mission does not begin with the Great Commission, but is integrally related to the grand storyline of Scripture." Did the Old Testament simply point to the coming of Christ and his saving work, or is there more to the story? After his resurrection, the Lord Jesus revealed how his suffering, glory, and mission plan for the nations are in fact central to the biblical story of redemption. After Emmaus shows how Christology and missiology are integrally connected throughout Scripture, especially in the teaching of Jesus and the apostles. Brian Tabb explains what Luke 24:46–47 reveals about God's messianic promises in the Old Testament, their fulfillment in the New Testament, and the purpose of the church. By understanding Jesus's last words to his disciples, Christians today will be motivated to participate in the Messiah's mission.

Leseprobe

Thank you for downloading this Crossway book.

Sign up for the Crossway Newsletter for updates on special offers, new resources, and exciting global ministry initiatives:

Crossway Newsletter

Or, if you prefer, we would love to connect with you online:

“Brian Tabb takes us back to the sources, showing us the fulfillment of the Scriptures in Jesus’s ministry. What stands out is the relationship between Christology and mission. Often these two themes are studied separately, but Tabb shows us that they are intertwined. This deft and insightful study shines a fresh light on what God accomplished through his Spirit in Christ, and it inspires us today when we recognize that God’s great promises are still being fulfilled.”

Thomas R. Schreiner, James Buchanan Harrison Professor of New Testament Interpretation, The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary

“In After Emmaus, Brian Tabb clarifies what Jesus was getting at when he said that it was necessary for the Christ to suffer before entering his glory and what that will mean for all who seek to follow him. With careful scholarship as well as scriptural insight, Tabb helpfully connects the mission of God through the person and work of Christ to the mission we’ve been commissioned to carry out.”

Nancy Guthrie, Bible teacher; author, Even Better than Eden

“The last few decades have witnessed an abundance of studies on the rich ways in which the two Testaments are properly tied together. According to Luke, the resurrected Jesus held and taught strong views along these lines. Starting with a focus on Luke 24:46–47, and concentrating especially on the depiction of Jesus in Luke and the depiction of the church in Acts, Brian Tabb demonstrates how deep the links are: the Old Testament does not simply sidle up to the line and point to Jesus, but unpacks the narrative of redemption so powerfully and coherently that thoughtful readers cannot help but see how the narrative is truly fulfilled in the mission of Jesus and the mission of the church—a connection that Acts 1:1 makes explicit. This book will enrich your grasp of biblical theology while calling your heart to worship.”

D. A. Carson, Cofounder and Theologian-at-Large, The Gospel Coalition

“In this beautiful blend of hermeneutics, Christology, and missiology, Brian Tabb sets forth his thesis that Jesus did not merely come to save us from our sins, but also to summon us to mission. Warmly recommended!”

Andreas J. Köstenberger, Director, Center for Biblical Studies and Research; Research Professor of New Testament and Biblical Theology, Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary; Founder, Biblical Foundations

“Brian Tabb has proven himself to be a trusted guide and teacher. There has been a renaissance in biblical theology, but what distinguishes this book from others is the emphasis not just on Christ’s fulfillment of Old Testament promises, but on his universal mission that we are invited to participate in, which then helps to address recent proposals that redefine the gospel and the church’s mission. This is a learned book, wonderfully organized and skillfully presented. The thoroughness of argument will force you to grapple again with Jesus’s parting words in Luke’s Gospel and their implication for how we read our Bibles.”

Darren Carlson, Founder and President, Training Leaders International

“After Emmaus beautifully blends the best features of evangelical biblical theology, exemplifying the hermeneutical benefit to be gained from following the New Testament’s redemptive-historical reading of the Old Testament. Tabb surveys major motifs in the theology of Luke-Acts, displaying how its Christology, ecclesiology, and missiology are enriched by Luke’s Spirit-enlightened saturation of heart and mind in God’s ancient Scriptures. Moreover, After Emmaus applies the Spirit’s instruction through Luke to the faith and life of Christians today. I enthusiastically recommend this study.”

Dennis E. Johnson, Professor Emeritus of Practical Theology, Westminster Seminary California; author, Him We Proclaim and Walking with Jesus through His Word

“As the debate continues over the nature of the church’s mission, Brian Tabb points us to Jesus’s own words. Tabb argues that, in Luke 24:44–47, Jesus provides the hermeneutical lens by which we may clearly see how he fulfills Old Testament messianic prophecies so that we may courageously proclaim the saving message of the Scriptures. This is how the risen Christ accomplishes his mission—through Spirit-empowered witnesses who spread his message to the ends of the earth. If you long to see Jesus exalted as the promised Messiah and worshiped among all peoples, read After Emmaus. It will not only encourage you to be a faithful witness, but will also lead you to greater confidence in God’s progressive, unified revelation about Jesus, the suffering and vindicated servant who is the hope of the nations.”

Juan R. Sanchez, Senior Pastor, High Pointe Baptist Church, Austin, Texas; author, The Leadership Formula

“By divine design, the mission of Christ has become our mission. Embedded in the purpose and power of Christ’s death and resurrection is his own mission through us. In After Emmaus, Brian Tabb pens a much-needed, rich, and rewarding missional reading of Luke-Acts (along with Matthew, John, Romans, and Peter)—not as an interpretive interest imposed on the Old and New Testaments, but as a hermeneutical mandate rooted in Scripture’s own self-interpretive authority. Navigating exegesis with the dexterity of a master surgeon and the delight of a disciple of Christ, Tabb makes an illumining exegetical and biblical-theological case that Christ’s ‘witnesses are . . . an extension of the risen Lord’s own activity.’ After Emmaus will inform your mind, rejoice your heart, and (re)ignite your resolve unto that divinely appointed privilege: to proclaim Christ with courage and clarity.”

David B. Garner, Academic Dean, Vice President of Global Ministries, and Professor of Systematic Theology, Westminster Theological Seminary

After Emmaus

After Emmaus

How the Church Fulfills the Mission of Christ

Brian J. Tabb

After Emmaus: How the Church Fulfills the Mission of Christ

Copyright © 2021 by Brian J. Tabb

Published by Crossway 1300 Crescent Street Wheaton, Illinois 60187

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopy, recording, or otherwise, without the prior permission of the publisher, except as provided for by USA copyright law. Crossway® is a registered trademark in the United States of America.

Cover image: Bridgeman Images

Cover design: Spencer Fuller, Faceout Studios

First printing, 2021

Printed in the United States of America

Unless otherwise indicated, Scripture quotations are from the ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Scripture quotations marked AT are the author’s translation.

Scripture quotations marked CSB have been taken from the Christian Standard Bible®, Copyright © 2017 by Holman Bible Publishers. Used by permission. Christian Standard Bible® and CSB® are federally registered trademarks of Holman Bible Publishers.

Scripture quotations marked KJV are from the King James Version of the Bible. Public domain.

Scripture quotations marked NASB are from The New American Standard Bible®. Copyright © 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. http://www.Lockman.org/.

Scripture quotations marked NET are from the NET Bible® copyright © 1996–2016 by Biblical Studies Press, L.L.C. http://netbible.com/. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Quotations marked NETS are taken from A New English Translation of the Septuagint, © 2007 by the International Organization for Septuagint and Cognate Studies, Inc. Used by permission of Oxford University Press. All rights reserved.

Scripture quotations marked NIV are taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.™ Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved worldwide. http://www.zondervan.com/. The “NIV” and “New International Version” are trademarks registered in the United States Patent and Trademark Office by Biblica, Inc.™

Scripture quotations marked NRSV are from the New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright © 1989 the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

All emphases in Scripture quotations have been added by the author.

Trade paperback ISBN: 978-1-4335-7384-2 ePub ISBN: 978-1-4335-7387-3 PDF ISBN: 978-1-4335-7385-9 Mobipocket ISBN: 978-1-4335-7386-6

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Names: Tabb, Brian J., author. 

Title: After Emmaus : how the church fulfills the mission of Christ / Brian J. Tabb. 

Description: Wheaton, Illinois : Crossway, [2021] | Includes bibliographical references and index. 

Identifiers: LCCN 2021003022 (print) | LCCN 2021003023 (ebook) | ISBN 9781433573842 (trade paperback) | ISBN 9781433573859 (pdf) | ISBN 9781433573866 (mobi) | ISBN 9781433573873 (epub)

Subjects: LCSH: Jesus Christ—Person and offices. | Jesus Christ—Messiahship. | Bible. Luke—Criticism, interpretation, etc. | Bible. Acts—Criticism, interpretation, etc. | Bible. New Testament—Relation to the Old Testament. | Redemption—Biblical teaching. | Mission of the church.

Classification: LCC BT203 .T33 2021 (print) | LCC BT203 (ebook) | DDC 232—dc23

LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2021003022

LC ebook record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2021003023

Crossway is a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.

2021-10-11 01:41:41 PM

For my father,

William Murray Tabb

Proverbs 4:1

Contents

Preface

Abbreviations

1  Christ’s Exposition after Emmaus

2  The Rejected Cornerstone: The Messiah’s Suffering in Luke

3  Hope on the Third Day: The Messiah’s Resurrection in Luke

4  A Light for the Nations: Salvation and Mission in Luke

5  The Incorruptible Christ: The Apostles’ Preaching in Acts

6  To the End of the Earth: The Apostles’ Mission in Acts

7  The Hope of the Nations: New Testament Soundings on the Messiah and His Mission

8  Participating in the Messiah’s Mission

Acknowledgments

Works Cited

General Index

Scripture Index

Ancient Sources Index

Preface

This is a book about reading the Bible with a focus on Christ and the church’s mission in his name. The title After Emmaus draws attention to the famous narrative in Luke 24, where Jesus reveals himself to the travelers on the Emmaus road and then to his gathered disciples. The book’s cover features vignettes from Diego Velázquez’s painting The Supper at Emmaus,1 which captures something of the mystery of the travelers’ revelatory encounter with the risen Lord as “their eyes were opened, and they recognized him” (Luke 24:31). After that encounter, Jesus appears to his distressed disciples and demonstrates that he is truly alive by showing them his hands and feet and by eating fish before them (24:36–43). He then opens their minds and expounds the Scriptures:

Then he said to them, “These are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you, that everything written about me in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms must be fulfilled.” Then he opened their minds to understand the Scriptures, and said to them, “Thus it is written, that the Christ should suffer and on the third day rise from the dead, and that repentance for the forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem. You are witnesses of these things. And behold, I am sending the promise of my Father upon you. But stay in the city until you are clothed with power from on high.” (24:44–49)

Our Lord explains that everything written abouthim must be fulfilled, and he focuses on his necessary suffering and resurrection according to the Scriptures. Christ’s biblical-theological summary does not stop with 24:46, however. Rather, Jesus explains in verse 47 that the disciples’ mission to all nations also fulfills the Scriptures. He then identifies them as “witnesses” and instructs them to wait for divine empowerment (24:48–49), recalling Old Testament prophecy (Isa. 32:15; 44:8) and preparing readers for the outpouring of the Spirit at Pentecost (Acts 2).

These are the last recorded words of the risen Lord in Luke’s Gospel, and I argue that in them Jesus offers his followers a framework or lens for interpreting the Bible Christologically and missiologically. I seek to show that Jesus’s teaching about his suffering, resurrection, and mission in Luke’s Gospel anticipates his paradigmatic summary of the Scriptures in Luke 24:46–47. I also explain that the apostles and their associates follow the risen Lord’s model for reading the Law, Prophets, and Writings with concerted focus on the Messiah and his mission. Finally, I contend that the church today should adopt the same hermeneutical lens in our Bible reading, for it grounds our gospel message and galvanizes us to participate in Christ’s global work.

1  Diego Velázquez, The Supper at Emmaus, 1622–1623, oil on canvas, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, https://www.metmuseum.org/.

Abbreviations

AB

Anchor Bible

AJPS

Asian Journal of Pentecostal Studies

ANF

Alexander Roberts, James Donaldson, and A. Cleveland Coxe, eds., Ante-Nicene Fathers, 10 vols. (Buffalo, NY: Christian Literature, 1885).

BBR

Bulletin for Biblical Research

BBRSup

Bulletin for Biblical Research Supplement

BDAG

Walter Bauer, Frederick W. Danker, William F. Arndt, and F. Wilbur Gingrich, A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament and Other Early Christian Literature, 3rd ed. (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2000).

BECNT

Baker Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament

BETL

Bibliotheca Ephemeridum Theologicarum Lovaniensium

Bib

Biblica

BNTC

Black’s New Testament Commentaries

BSac

Bibliotheca Sacra

BSL

Biblical Studies Library

BTB

Biblical Theology Bulletin

BZ

Biblische Zeitschrift

BZNW

Beihefte zur Zeitschrift für die neutestamentliche Wissenschaft

CBQ

Catholic Biblical Quarterly

CNT

Commentaire du Nouveau Testament

CurTM

Currents in Theology and Mission

EBC

Expositor’s Bible Commentary

ECC

Eerdmans Critical Commentary

EGGNT

Exegetical Guide to the Greek New Testament

ESBT

Essential Studies in Biblical Theology

ESVEC

ESV Expository Commentary

EvQ

Evangelical Quarterly

ExpTim

Expository Times

HTA

Historisch Theologische Auslegung

ICC

International Critical Commentary

JBL

Journal of Biblical Literature

JCTCRS

Jewish and Christian Texts in Contexts and Related Studies

JETS

Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society

JPTSup

Journal of Pentecostal Theology Supplement

JSNT

Journal for the Study of the New Testament

JSNTSup

Journal for the Study of the New Testament Supplement Series

JSOTSup

Journal for the Study of the Old Testament Supplement Series

KEK

Kritisch-exegetischer Kommentar über das Neue Testament

LCL

Loeb Classical Library

LNTS

Library of New Testament Studies

LSJ

Henry George Liddell, Robert Scott, Henry Stuart Jones, and Roderick McKenzie, eds., A Greek-English Lexicon, 9th ed. (Oxford: Clarendon, 1996).

LXX

Septuagint

MT

Masoretic Text

NAC

New American Commentary

NCB

New Century Bible

NCBC

New Cambridge Bible Commentary

Neot

Neotestamentica

NICNT

New International Commentary on the New Testament

NICOT

New International Commentary on the Old Testament

NIDNTTE

Moisés Silva, ed., New International Dictionary of New TestamentTheology and Exegesis, 2nd ed., 5 vols. (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2014).

NIGTC

New International Greek Testament Commentary

NovT

Novum Testamentum

NovTSup

Supplements to Novum Testamentum

NSBT

New Studies in Biblical Theology

NTL

New Testament Library

NTS

New Testament Studies

OTL

Old Testament Library

OWC

Oxford World Classics

PNTC

Pillar New Testament Commentary

RTR

Reformed Theological Review

SBJT

Southern Baptist Journal of Theology

SCS

Septuagint Commentary Series

SNTSMS

Society for New Testament Studies Monograph Series

SSBT

Short Studies in Biblical Theology

TBei

Theologische Beiträge

TOTC

Tyndale Old Testament Commentary

TrinJ

Trinity Journal

TynBul

Tyndale Bulletin

VT

Vetus Testamentum

VTSup

Supplements to Vetus Testamentum

WBC

Word Biblical Commentary

WTJ

Westminster Theological Journal

WUNT

Wissenschaftliche Untersuchungen zum Neuen Testament

ZECNT

Zondervan Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament

1

Christ’s Exposition after Emmaus

“These are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you, that everything written about me in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms must be fulfilled.” Then he opened their minds to understand the Scriptures, and said to them, “Thus it is written, that the Christ should suffer and on the third day rise from the dead, and that repentance for the forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem. You are witnesses of these things. And behold, I am sending the promise of my Father upon you. But stay in the city until you are clothed with power from on high.”

Luke 24:44–49

When I was ten years old, I began wearing glasses. What a thrill it was to see the baseball clearly from across the diamond and to read the words on the blackboard from the back of the classroom! At each eye exam since that time, the optometrist has tested my vision and corrected my prescription to ensure that I can decipher the small letters on the eye chart. To see clearly, I’ve known for many years that I need the proper lenses. Without my glasses, it’s easy to miss things. Once I woke up and thought the clock said 6, so I took a shower and got ready for the day. But when I put my glasses on, I realized that it was only 3 a.m.!

Just as many of us wear corrective lenses to see things clearly, so we all need the proper “lenses” when we read God’s word so that we do not fail to see what is really there. Jesus’s healing miracle in Mark 8:22–26 illustrates this point well. When Jesus came to Bethsaida, some people begged him to heal a blind man. Jesus spat on the man’s eyes, laid hands on him, and then asked, “Do you see anything?” The man replied, “I see people, but they look like trees, walking.” Jesus laid hands on the man’s eyes a second time, and then he saw everything clearly.

At first reading, this is a puzzling passage. It’s the only time in the Gospels when Jesus heals someone in stages. Elsewhere we read about Jesus healing people who are crippled, deaf, mute, blind, demonized, and afflicted with various incurable conditions. Several times he even raises the dead! He does not say to the lame man, “Rise and walk,” then hand him crutches. These examples illustrate that Jesus does not lack the power or authority to heal instantly and fully when he so desires. So, why does Jesus only partially restore this blind man’s sight at first? I think the key is to read this scene together with the next passage. Jesus asks the disciples, “But who do you say that I am?” Peter answers, “You are the Christ” (Mark 8:29). The Lord then instructs his followers that he must suffer many things, be rejected and killed, and rise again (8:31). Shockingly, Peter begins to rebuke Jesus in response to this teaching.1Jesus then rebukes Peter and explains to his followers the true cost of discipleship. In this passage, the apostle Peter is like the half-healed blind man. He recognizes that Jesus is the Messiah, but he does not grasp what sort of Messiah Jesus really is. The details are fuzzy for Peter and the other disciples, and they see clearly only when the risen Lord opens their minds to understand. Jesus is the master ophthalmologist, who removes the disciples’ cataracts and fits them with the spectacles needed to see him and his purposes according to the Scriptures.2

This book proposes that Jesus gives his followers a hermeneutical lens with which to understand the Scriptures. In his last recorded words in the Gospel of Luke, the risen Lord summarizes the Bible’s essential message and offers us a model to faithfully read the Scriptures with the proper focus on the Messiah and his mission.

A number of fine studies consider how Christ fulfills the prophecies and patterns of the Old Testament.3 For example, Dennis Johnson explains that the Old Testament predicts and prefigures various aspects of Christ’s saving work as the sovereign protector of his people, the suffering servant, the final prophet, the great high priest, and the true King.4 Similarly, Jason DeRouchie argues that “the light of Christ supplies us the needed spiritual sight for understanding the things of God,” while “the lens of Christ’s life, death, and resurrection provides the needed perspective for reading the Old Testament meaning to its fullness.”5

Additionally, several scholars have offered whole-Bible treatments of mission. For example, Christopher Wright contends that the mission of God and his people is “a major key that unlocks the whole grand narrative of the canon of Scripture.”6 Wright expansively establishes the Old Testament basis for mission and insists on a holistic understanding of mission that holds together gospel proclamation and robust social engagement. More recently, Andreas Köstenberger offers an inductive biblical-theological study showing that Christ’s saving mission is foundational for the mission of his people.7

This book is not just another study of Christ in all of Scripture. While Jesus does explain “the things concerning himself” in all the Scriptures (Luke 24:27), he asserts that his messianic suffering and resurrection and the mission in his name among the nations fulfill what is “written” in the Old Testament (24:46–47). The church needs to grasp the vital relationship between Christology andmissiology so that we can rightly express the message about Christ and faithfully carry out his mission in the world. The church’s mission does not begin with the Great Commission, but is integrally related to the grand storyline of Scripture and specifically to the hope of the Messiah. Jesus himself expresses the scriptural expectation for his messianic work and for the universal mission that his witnesses will carry out among the nations. The risen Lord’s last words offer a lens with which his people can see how his suffering, resurrection, and mission climactically accomplish God’s ancient plan. In Acts, Jesus’s witnesses follow the Lord’s example of biblical exposition as they carry out his mission to “the end of the earth” (Acts 1:8). So Christ’s summary of the Scriptures in Luke 24:46–47 offers a coherent message, a compelling mission among the nations, and an enduring motivation for us to bear witness to our risen Lord.

Let’s look more closely now at Jesus’s last words after Emmaus.

Famous Last Words

For thousands of years, people have understood the last words of notable individuals to have particular importance. For example, the Old Testament records Jacob’s deathbed blessing to his sons, in which he prophesies that his fourth son, Judah, will bear the royal scepter (Gen. 49:8–10). Joseph promises that God will visit his people in Egypt and insists that his bones be carried to the promised land (50:24–25; cf. Ex. 13:19; Josh. 24:32). Moses’s blessing recalls the exodus and previews the future for Israel’s tribes preparing to enter the land (Deut. 33). The last words of King David rehearse the covenant God made with his house and stress the need for rulers after him to fear the Lord (2 Sam. 23:1–7). The Old Testament Apocrypha records the last words of the priest Mattathias, in which he charges his sons to show zeal for the law and remember the deeds of their forefathers (1 Macc. 2:49–69). To these could be added many other ancient examples, such as Socrates’s enigmatic instructions to make an offering to the god of healing before he calmly drinks the hemlock8 or Julius Caesar’s stunned question to his assassin, Brutus.9

Doubtless Jesus’s seven sayings from the cross are the most significant “last words” in history:

“Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do” (Luke 23:34)“Truly, I say to you, today you will be with me in paradise” (Luke 23:43)“Woman, behold your Son! . . . Behold your mother!” (John 19:26–27)“My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” (Matt. 27:46; Mark 15:34)“I thirst” (John 19:28)“It is finished” (John 19:30)“Father, into your hands I commit my spirit!” (Luke 23:46)

These sayings have rightly inspired countless paintings, poems, songs, and books.10 Yet it is a misnomer to call Jesus’s dying words his last, since he rose on the third day and spent forty days with his disciples before his ascension into heaven (Acts 1:2–3). The evangelists Matthew, Luke, and John each record examples of the risen Lord’s teaching and instructions, the most well-known being the “Great Commission” in Matthew 28:18–20.11 Everyone recognizes that a person’s dying words are important, but Christ’s dying words were not his last (Acts 1:3).

Jesus Opens the Scriptures (Luke 24:44–49)

Luke 24 records two examples of the risen Lord Jesus expounding the Scriptures for his disciples. First, Jesus meets two disciples and converses with them on the road to Emmaus, though they do not recognize him. These disciples tell their fellow traveler about Jesus’s mighty words and deeds, as well as his shocking condemnation and crucifixion, which dashed their hopes that “he was the one to redeem Israel” (v. 21). Jesus then chides them for being slow to believe “all that the prophets have spoken” about how the Messiah must suffer these things and enter into glory (vv. 25–26). Then, “beginning with Moses and all the Prophets,” Jesus interprets for these disciples “in all the Scriptures the things concerning himself” (v. 27)—though, of course, they still don’t yet realize that their teacher is the risen Lord himself. Finally, when Jesus breaks bread with the two men, their eyes are “opened” to recognize him (vv. 30–31). They then recount how their hearts burned as Christ “opened” the Scriptures to them (v. 32).

Next, Jesus appears to his gathered disciples and overcomes their doubts by showing them his hands and feet and by eating fish (Luke 24:36–43). He summarizes what he taught them before his crucifixion, “that everything written about me in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms must be fulfilled” (v. 44). Then Jesus opens their minds to understand the Scriptures (v. 45) and offers a threefold summary of their essential message: “Thus it is written, [1] that the Christ should suffer and [2] on the third day rise from the dead, and [3] that repentance for the forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem” (vv. 46–47). Jesus then identifies the disciples as “witnesses of these things” and promises to send the Spirit (vv. 48–49) before blessing them and ascending into heaven (v. 51).

Let’s carefully consider Christ’s climactic words in Luke 24:44–49, where he sums up the Scriptures and prepares his people to participate in his mission.

Review and Preview

Jesus’s last words look back and also look ahead—they explain what happened to Jesus and anticipate the mission of his followers.12 Christ speaks here with complete authority and definitively interprets the central events of the Gospel narrative—his crucifixion and resurrection—as fulfillments of his own and the Scriptures’ predictions. Moreover, his biblical exposition in Luke 24:44–49 does not stop with his resurrection but includes the outpouring of the Spirit and the mission to all nations. Just as a movie trailer anticipates a blockbuster film, Luke 24:47–49 previews the coming attractions in Acts, where the disciples wait in Jerusalem, receive the promised Spirit, and powerfully proclaim Christ as his witnesses to the end of the earth (Acts 1:8).

Thus, at the end of Luke’s Gospel, the risen Lord reviews his suffering and resurrection, and also previews the mission to all nations, showing that both of these follow the script of the Scriptures. This observation is crucial for the argument of this book: the Messiah and his mission are the focus and fulfillment of the Old Testament.

Double Fulfillment

The risen Lord also stresses the comprehensive fulfillment of the Scriptures. Note the following summary references to the Old Testament in Luke 24:

“all that the prophets have spoken” (v. 25)“Moses and all the Prophets” (v. 27)“all the Scriptures” (v. 27)“the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms” (v. 44)“the Scriptures” (vv. 32, 45)“it is written” (v. 46)

New Testament and early Jewish writers regularly refer to the old covenant Scriptures using the shorthand phrase “the Law and the Prophets,” and Luke uses a similar phrase in 24:27.13Jesus’s appeal to “everything written about me in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms” (v. 44) is the most expansive New Testament reference to the threefold division of the Hebrew canon—Law, Prophets, and Writings—with the Psalms representing the third division as the largest, most cited book.14 “It is written” (gegraptai) occurs repeatedly in the New Testament and typically cites a specific passage from the Scriptures (graphai).15 In verse 46, however, “it is written” does not introduce an Old Testament quotation but a threefold summary of the Scriptures’ message. “All” and “everything” translate the same Greek word (pas) in verses 25, 27, and 44, and emphasize that the full range of the Scriptures, from beginning to end, has a singular focus on Christ himself.16

In light of this remarkable claim, in what sense are the Scriptures “about” Jesus (Luke 24:44)? Daniel Block reasons that verse 27 means that Christ “explained those texts that spoke of him from all the Scriptures,” not that all of Scripture refers or points to him.17 Block affirms that there are “specific messianic prophecies” and that Jesus “embodies the fulfillment of the whole promise of the Hebrew Bible” as the biblical story finds its climax or telos in Christ.18 However, Block’s “Christotelic” approach does not adequately address the ways in which Jesus and the apostles cite the Law, Prophets, and Writings in relation to his messianic suffering, resurrection, and mission.19 “All the Scriptures” likely refers not only to explicit messianic prophecies but also to patterns and prefigurements that anticipate the arrival of David’s greater Son.20 The Gospel of Luke and Acts (as well as other New Testament books) offer ample illustrations of Jesus’s claims in Luke 24:27 and 44–47. The coming chapters will demonstrate that Jesus cites various biblical prophecies and patterns to explain the nature and necessity of his messianic identity and work, and his witnesses emulate their Lord’s model of reading the Scriptures.

Moreover, Luke 24 shows that the surprising events of Jesus’s death and resurrection transpire just as Jesus himself predicted for his followers (vv. 6–7, 44) and in accordance with “all that the prophets have spoken” (v. 25). Luke records three “passion predictions,” in which Jesus foretells his coming suffering, rejection, and death (9:22, 44; 18:31–33). In 9:22 and 18:33, he also promises that he will rise “on the third day.” Christ insists that these things “must” happen, employing the Greek word dei (9:22) and stressing that “everything that is written about the Son of Man by the prophets will be accomplished” (18:31).21 In Acts 3:22–23, the apostle Peter identifies Jesus as the prophet like Moses promised in Deuteronomy 18:15–19. Luke’s Gospel repeatedly shows that Jesus’s predictions come to pass because he is a true prophet, who speaks with divine authority in agreement with the Law and the Prophets. Jesus foresees his death and resurrection, and he reveals that these events will take place according to God’s plan, following “the script of the Scriptures.”22 Thus, Jesus not only predicts the future accurately as a true prophet; he also fulfills prophecy as the messianic Savior and Lord.

Revelation and Recognition

Luke 24 stresses that people need spiritual sight to recognize Jesus’s true identity as revealed in the Scriptures. The disciples’ journey with Jesus on the road to Emmaus poignantly illustrates this crucial point. Even though Cleopas and his companion converse with Christ himself on the road, “their eyes were kept from recognizing him” (24:16). The passive voice of the Greek verb ekratounto (“were kept”) means that someone or something prevents these disciples from grasping the true identity of their fellow traveler. Earlier in the Gospel, the disciples do not understand Jesus’s predictions about his impending suffering, death, and resurrection because the meaning is “concealed” (9:45) and “hidden from them” (18:34). Some interpreters reason that Satan is the cause of the disciples’ incomprehension.23 Certainly the Gospel of Luke speaks of Satan’s hostile aims toward the disciples and his involvement with Judas’s betrayal (22:3, 31). However, in 10:21–22, Jesus joyously praises the Father because he conceals and reveals according to his gracious will. Thus, when the disciples “were kept” from recognizing Christ in 24:16 (and earlier in the narrative), the “divine passive” construction signals that God is ultimately the one who prevents the disciples from initially grasping Jesus’s true identity.24

These disciples journeying to Emmaus need the risen Lord to remove the blinders, which happens as he reveals himself and the true meaning of the Scriptures. When Jesus breaks bread with Cleopas and the other disciple, “their eyes were opened, and they recognized him” (Luke 24:31).25 They marvel over how Jesus “opened” the Scriptures to them (v. 32). Then, in the next scene with the larger group of disciples, Luke explains that Jesus himself “opened their minds to understand the Scriptures” (v. 45).26 Thus, we see that Jesus brings clarity to the Bible’s central message and gives his disciples the spiritual capacity to grasp his teaching. The word translated as “opened” (dianoigō) is used three times (vv. 31, 32, 45) to highlight our dual need for revelation and receptivity. We need Jesus to open God’s word to us and to open us to the word.27

Identity and Empowerment

Jesus also gives his disciples a new identity and promises them divine power to accomplish their mission. Immediately after previewing the disciples’ mission to all nations in accordance with Scripture (Luke 24:47), Christ declares, “You are witnesses of these things” (v. 48). Jesus’s words here likely allude to Isaiah 44:8: “Do not hide yourselves; have you not heard from the beginning, and did I not declare to you? You are witnesses, whether there is any god except me.”28 This anticipates the Lord’s promise in Acts 1:8: “You will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.” Note that Jesus does not here emphasize their activity of bearing witness but their identity as his witnesses. Peter stresses that he and the other apostles are witnesses of the resurrection (Acts 1:22; 2:32; 3:15; 5:32; 10:39, 41). They have seen the risen Christ with their own eyes, and so they act as his “authorized delegates.”29 “Witness” is a legal term in both the Old and New Testaments for someone who testifies in court to what he has seen.30 The disciples are not just spectators to important events but must speak truthfully about what they have seen and heard. As Jesus’s witnesses, the apostles testify to the facts of the Messiah’s life, death, and resurrection, and they demonstrate that these things took place just as God promised in the Scriptures.31

Jesus promises to send the Spirit to empower his witnesses for their mission. Luke 24:49 records his final instructions to his followers: “And behold, I am sending the promise of my Father upon you. But stay in the city until you are clothed with power from on high.” Once again, we see that Jesus’s teaching looks back to the Old Testament and looks forward to the book of Acts. Jesus calls the Spirit “the promise of my Father” to stress the fulfillment of the ancient prophecy that God would pour out his Spirit in the last days when he would accomplish salvation for his people.32Jesus reiterates this command to “wait for the promise of the Father” and stresses again that the disciples will receive heavenly empowerment (Acts 1:4, 8). Jesus’s promise is soon realized at Pentecost, when Peter explains that the coming of the Spirit fulfills prophecy (Joel 2:28–32) and that the risen Lord himself is the one who pours out the Spirit (Acts 2:16–21, 33). Thus, Jesus provides his followers with supernatural power to carry out the mission. He also provides them with a pattern for interpreting the Scriptures.

Message and Model

Jesus’s last words according to Luke are both programmatic and paradigmatic. That is, they express the plan for the disciples’ mission and they offer a new pattern for them to follow. The apostles’ preaching in Acts shows that they teach just what they learned from their Lord. They proclaim a message of salvation in Jesus’s name, and they do so following Jesus’s own model of expounding the Scriptures in light of his saving death, victorious resurrection, and universal mission. For example, in Acts 4:11, Peter boldly identifies Jesus as “the stone that was rejected by you, the builders, which has become the cornerstone,” drawing on the same biblical text (Ps. 118:22) that Jesus cites in Luke 20:17. Likewise, Jesus stresses that he fulfills Isaiah 53:12 as he prepares for his arrest and execution (Luke 22:37), and in Acts 8:30–35, Philip proclaims the good news about Jesus to the Ethiopian eunuch reading Isaiah 53. Jesus does not simply claim that the Old Testament is about him in Luke 24:25–27 and 44–47, but his various appeals to Scripture throughout the Gospel of Luke illustrate a pattern of Bible reading that his disciples imitate in the book of Acts. This leads to a final point about Jesus’s last words in Luke 24.

Messiah and Mission

Jesus claims that the Law, Prophets, and Writings find their central focus and climactic fulfillment in his death and resurrection and in his mission. Jesus’s summary of the Scriptures does not stop with the Messiah’s death and resurrection, but also anchors the mission to the nations in what is written.

On the road to Emmaus, Jesus interprets “in all the Scriptures the thingsconcerning himself,” emphasizing that he had to suffer and then enter into glory (Luke 24:27). Then for his gathered disciples he states “that everything written about me in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms must be fulfilled” (v. 44). Thus, after the divine Son rises, he instructs his followers to see everything in his light.33

Jesus explains, “Thus it is written, that the Christ should suffer” (Luke 24:46). “Suffer” likely serves as shorthand for Christ’s entire passion, including his betrayal by Judas, rejection by the Jewish leaders, shameful treatment and torture by the Romans, and ultimately death by crucifixion, just as he predicted (9:22; 17:25). This broad interpretation of “suffer” is suggested by the parallel summary of the Lord’s teaching in 24:7 (“the Son of Man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men and be crucified”) and verse 26, where “suffer these things” relates to the two disciples’ summary of Jesus’s condemnation and crucifixion in verse 20.

“The Christ should . . . on the third day rise from the dead” (Luke 24:46) again recalls Jesus’s initial prediction of his suffering and resurrection in 9:22. “The third day” also echoes two earlier references in Luke 24 to the timing of the resurrection. The angel reminds the women at the empty tomb that Jesus said that he must rise “on the third day” (v. 7). Next, Cleopas and the other disciple recount to Jesus (whom they do not yet recognize) that “it is now the third day since these things happened” (v. 21).

Jesus continues his summary of what “is written” into Luke 24:47: “and that repentance for the forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem.”34 The first note of hope for the nations in Luke’s Gospel comes when Simeon cradles the messianic child and calls Jesus “a light for revelation to the Gentiles” (2:32).35 The closing scene of this Gospel clarifies that this hope is realized by preaching in the Messiah’s name.

This proclamation calls specifically for repentance, which involves not simply a change of one’s mind but a complete change of one’s allegiance and actions—“the true turning of our life to God.”36 Note that the response of repentance leads to “forgiveness of sins.” While John the Baptist preaches a baptism of repentance unto forgiveness in Israel (Luke 3:3; cf. 1:77), the risen Lord explains that his followers’ preaching will now have a Christological focus “in his name” and a universal scope “to all nations” (24:47). This verse effectively previews the mission of Jesus’s witnesses, who call Jews and Gentiles to repent and believe in the exalted Lord and Messiah. Thus, Jesus explains that his death, resurrection, and universal mission follow the script of the Scriptures, offering a hermeneutical example for his disciples to follow.37

Thus far I have reflected on how the risen Lord expounds the Scriptures. In Luke 24:44–47, Jesus explains the Bible’s central message about his suffering and resurrection and the mission to all nations, and he provides a model of biblical interpretation for his disciples to emulate after Emmaus. Let’s now examine Paul’s speech in Acts 26:22–23, which echoes Jesus’s threefold summary of the Scriptures.38

Paul’s Summary of the Scriptures (Acts 26:22–23)

Crucially for the argument of this book, Paul follows the Lord’s lead by linking the mission to the nations with the expectation of the Scriptures. Acts 26:1–23 records Paul’s defense before the Jewish king Agrippa II and the Roman governor Porcius Festus. He recounts how he zealously persecuted Christians until the risen Lord revealed himself to Paul and commissioned him as his witness.39 Paul stresses his obedience to Christ and rehearses how the Jews seized and threatened him in the temple. He concludes his defense in verses 22–23 by summarizing his essential message:

To this day I have had the help that comes from God, and so I stand here testifying both to small and great, saying nothing but what the prophets and Moses said would come to pass: that the Christ must suffer and that, by being the first to rise from the dead, he would proclaim light both to our people and to the Gentiles.

Paul’s speech contains a number of parallels with the risen Lord’s teaching in Luke 24.

Paul appeals to “the prophets and Moses” (Acts 26:22) as the supreme authority for his teaching and insists that his words agree fully with the Scriptures. Paul’s shorthand summary of the Old Testament canon parallels Jesus’s interpretation of “Moses and all the Prophets” in Luke 24:27. Moreover, Paul asks the king, “Do you believe the prophets? I know that you believe” (Acts 26:27), recalling the Lord’s rebuke that the two disciples were slow “to believe all that the prophets have spoken” (Luke 24:25).

Paul also expresses confidence that the words of Scripture “would come to pass” (Acts 26:22). The same Greek phrase (mellō ginesthai) also occurs in Luke 21:36 and Revelation 1:19 to express future realities that will soon take place. Earlier in Paul’s defense, he declares that he is accused “because of my hope in the promise made by God to our fathers,” a hope that motivates faithful Israelites in their daily worship (Acts 26:6–7). This expectation that God will surely fulfill his promises parallels Jesus’s assertion that “everything written about me in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms must be fulfilled” (Luke 24:44).

Additionally, the language of testimony and witness in Acts 26 recalls Jesus’s declaration that his disciples are “witnesses [martyres] of these things” (Luke 24:48). This is noteworthy because Paul is not an eyewitness to Christ’s resurrection like Peter, John, and the other apostles who ate fish with the risen Lord before his ascension. Nevertheless, in his defense, Paul insists that the Lord Jesus appointed him “as a servant and witness [martyra] to the things in which you have seen me and to those in which I will appear to you” (Acts 26:16). Thus, he stands before the king “testifying” (martyromenos) to what the Scriptures promised (v. 22), fulfilling Christ’s promise that the former persecutor would carry his name before “kings” (9:15). These parallels show that Jesus’s foundational words in Luke 24:44–49 do not concern only the Twelve but also have bearing for other “witnesses” who participate in Christ’s mission among all nations.

Further, Paul’s summary of his message in Acts 26:22–23 precisely parallels Jesus’s own exposition in Luke 24:46–47 (see Table 1.1 below).40 Both passages stress the comprehensive fulfillment of the Scriptures, the necessity of Christ’s suffering, and the promise that he will rise again. While Luke 24:46 specifies the timing of Christ’s resurrection “on the third day,” Acts 26:23 clarifies how his past resurrection relates to the future resurrection hope for all God’s people. By stating that Jesus was “the first to rise from the dead,” Paul demonstrates his earlier claim “that God raises the dead” (26:8). Not only does Christ’s past resurrection guarantee the future resurrection of others at the end of history (cf. 1 Cor. 15:23; 1 Thess. 4:14), but it means that the blessings of the age to come have broken into the present.

Thus, Jesus and Paul both summarize the scriptural hope of the Messiah and the mission to the nations. Luke 24:47 establishes the Christological focus of his disciples’ preaching (in Jesus’s name), their central message (repentance for the forgiveness of sins), and the universal scope of their mission (to all nations). Acts 26:23 states that the risen Messiah himself “would proclaim light both to our people and to the Gentiles.” Earlier in his defense, Paul explains that Jesus sent him to the Gentiles “so that they may turn from darkness to light and from the power of Satan to God” (v. 18). The focus on “light” in verse 23 recalls Isaiah’s prophecy that the Lord’s “servant” would be “as a light for the nations” and bring salvation to “the end of the earth” (Isa. 49:6). Simeon alludes to precisely this prophecy when he identifies Jesus as “a light for revelation to the Gentiles” (Luke 2:32). Moreover, Paul and Barnabas cite Isaiah 49:6 as biblical support for their outreach to the Gentiles (Acts 13:46–47).41 Thus, Jesus’s witnesses identify with and participate in the mission of Jesus, the Lord’s “servant,” as they proclaim the message of salvation in his name to all nations.

Luke 24:44–47

Acts 26:22–23

Old Testament Fulfillment

“everything written about me in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms must be fulfilled”

“what the prophets and Moses said would come to pass”

Messiah’s Suffering

“the Christ should suffer” (pathein ton christon)

“the Christ must suffer” (ei pathētos ho christos)

Messiah’s Resurrection

the Christ should “on the third day rise from the dead” (anastēnai ek nekrōn)

the Christ must be “the first to rise from the dead” (ex anastaseōs nekrōn)

Mission to the Nations

“repentance for the forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in his name to all nations [ethnē], beginning from Jerusalem”

“he would proclaim light both to our people and to the Gentiles” [ethnesin]

Table 1.1. The Messiah and Mission in Luke 24 and Acts 26

Definitions and Presuppositions

Before looking carefully at how Jesus and his disciples read the Bible messianically and missiologically, it is necessary to define several key terms and explain some of the essential presuppositions that inform such an interpretation of the Scriptures.

First, let’s briefly reflect on the mission of Christ and his church. Mission (derived from the Latin word mittō, meaning “send”) typically conveys a task that an individual or group is sent to carry out. In contemporary usage, missions refers to specific efforts of the Christian church and missions agencies to bear witness to Christ across boundaries such as language, culture, and ethnicity, while mission is a broader category that may describe all the church’s activity to further God’s kingdom.42Eckhard Schnabel employs the terms mission and missions interchangeably for the activity of a faith community that calls other people to share its distinctive beliefs and way of life.43

Many scholars rightly argue that the church’s mission is grounded in the unfolding mission of God in the world. For example, Christopher Wright responds to the common sentiment that “mission is what we do” by defining the church’s mission as “our committed participation as God’s people, at God’s invitation and command, in God’s own mission within the history of God’s world for the redemption of God’s creation.”44 The Son of God takes center stage in the biblical story of God’s mission to make himself known, save his people, and restore all things. Thus, Christ’s mission “is the fundamental mission in the Scriptures.”45

Jesus’s mission refers to the work that he came to accomplish as the Savior, Lord, and Messiah. Luke’s Gospel summarizes this mission in several ways. Jesus is “a light for revelation to the Gentiles” (Luke 2:32), referencing the servant’s calling in Isaiah 49:6. Christ himself declares that he is “anointed . . . to proclaim good news” and “sent . . . to proclaim liberty [kēryxai . . . aphesin]” (Luke 4:18), fulfilling Isaiah 61:1. Moreover, he explains that he “came to seek and to save the lost” (Luke 19:10)—the very thing that God himself resolved to do for his people in Ezekiel 34:16, 22.46 The risen Lord expresses the mission of his followers in similar terms: they must proclaim (kērychthēnai) repentance for the forgiveness (aphesin) of sins in his name to all nations, just as it is “written” in the Scriptures (Luke 24:46–47), and they will be his witnesses “to the end of the earth” (Acts 1:8), alluding to the same servant prophecy (Isa. 49:6) applied to Jesus himself in Luke 2:32. These and other passages show that Christ’s own mission is the basis for his people’s mission among the nations.47

Additionally, this book focuses on clear examples when Jesus and his followers refer to the authoritative Scriptures. Quotation and citation refer to explicit biblical appeals that are usually signaled by an introductory formula, such as “it is written” or “the prophet said.” An allusion is a brief, intentional reference to the Scriptures.48 The basic key for discerning an allusion is to recognize a clear parallel in wording between the New Testament text and a specific Old Testament passage.49

For example, Luke 3:4–6 features a lengthy introductory formula (“As it is written in the book of the words of Isaiah the prophet”) and then an extended quotation of Isaiah 40:3–5 that closely follows the Greek translation of Isaiah.50Jesus’s words at the Last Supper offer an example of an allusion to the Old Testament: “This cup that is poured out for you is the new covenant in my blood” (Luke 22:20). While Christ does not explicitly reference “the Scriptures” or “the prophets” in this passage, the phrase “the new covenant” unmistakably alludes to the well-known prophecy of Jeremiah 31:31: “Behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah.”51 Since this is the only time in the Old Testament when the term new covenant occurs, we can confidently conclude that this parallel is not merely a coincidence but that Jesus intentionally uses language from Jeremiah to explain the significance of his sacrificial death.

Next, it is important to state here five fundamental beliefs or presuppositions that guide how Jesus and his followers interpret the Bible.52 First, they believe the Scriptures—the Law, Prophets, and Writings—to be the holy, inspired word of God, supremely truthful and authoritative in every way. The claim “thus it is written” clearly invokes the binding authority of the sacred book for Jesus’s Jewish followers and foes alike. Second, because the Scriptures are from God, they reflect consistent patterns or correspondences between God’s work in the past, present, and future. This is the foundational conviction underlying “typology,” the study of Old Testament people, events, or institutions (types) that correspond to and prophetically prefigure later and greater fulfillments (antitypes) within biblical history.53 Third, New Testament authors affirm the biblical principle of corporate solidarity, in which one individual represents the many. The Old Testament includes many examples of corporate solidarity, such as the high priest entering the most holy place to make atonement for all Israel, David acting as the people’s champion against the giant, or the kings of Israel and Judah leading the nation to sin. The New Testament authors claim that Jesus the Messiah is the true representative for God’s people. Fourth, the New Testament authors believe that Jesus’s death, resurrection, and gift of the Holy Spirit have begun “the last days” that were foretold by the prophets and will be consummated in the future when Jesus returns. The term inaugurated eschatology is a standard way to express this presupposition that the last days have begun already but are not yet fully realized.54 Fifth, the New Testament authors understand Jesus to be the focus and fulfillment of the Scriptures. This is precisely what the risen Lord claims in Luke 24:27, 44. The next six chapters of this book examine various examples of how Jesus and the apostles unpack the centrality of the Messiah and his mission, guided by these foundational biblical-theological beliefs about the authority, unity, and fulfillment of God’s word in the last days.

Proposal and Plan

This book proposes that the risen Christ supplies us with corrective lenses to see that the Messiah’s death, resurrection, and mission are like the big letters on the Bible’s “eye chart.” Luke 24:44–47 summarizes the essential message of the Scriptures and offers disciples a hermeneutical model or lens for reading the Bible with the proper focus. Readers do not need to guess in what sense the Scriptures are “about” Christ and the mission to the nations because Jesus and his first followers offer various examples of Christological and missiological readings of the Old Testament.

The plan for the remaining chapters of this book is as follows. Chapter 2 examines Christ’s suffering, rejection, and death in Luke’s Gospel, which both the Scriptures and Jesus himself foretell. Chapter 3 considers how Jesus predicts and explains the necessity of his resurrection from the dead. Chapter 4 focuses on Luke’s presentation of the Messiah’s mission and the hope for the nations and the outcasts. Chapters 5–6 turn attention to the book of Acts, exploring how the apostles and their associates proclaim Jesus as the suffering Savior and risen Lord according to the Scriptures and how they expound the biblical basis for their mission to all nations. Chapter 7 expands beyond Luke-Acts to consider how Matthew, John, Paul, and Peter explain the biblical rationale for the Messiah’s suffering, resurrection, and mission. The concluding chapter summarizes the book’s argument and highlights how the Scriptures’ focus on the Messiah and his mission relate to the church’s message, mission, and motivation for gospel witness.

1  Matt. 16:22 specifies that Peter objects strongly to Jesus’s imminent suffering, as he says, “Far be it from you, Lord! This shall never happen to you.”

2  This metaphor is inspired by Kevin J. Vanhoozer’s description of pastors as eye doctors of their congregations, in Hearers and Doers: A Pastor’s Guide to Making Disciples through Scripture and Doctrine (Bellingham, WA: Lexham, 2019), 92–93.

3  For an introduction to the range of interpretive perspectives, see Brian J. Tabb and Andrew M. King, eds., Five Views on Christ in the Old Testament: Genre, Authorial Intent, and the Nature of Scripture, Counterpoints (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, forthcoming).

4  Dennis E. Johnson, Walking with Jesus through His Word: Discovering Christ in All the Scriptures (Phillipsburg, NJ: P&R, 2015), 13.

5  Jason S. DeRouchie, “The Mystery Revealed: A Biblical Case for Christ-Centered Old Testament Interpretation,” Themelios 44 (2019): 248.

6  Christopher J. H. Wright, The Mission of God: Unlocking the Bible’s Grand Narrative (Downers Grove, IL: IVP Academic, 2006), 17.

7  Andreas J. Köstenberger with T. Desmond Alexander, Salvation to the Ends of the Earth: A Biblical Theology of Mission, 2nd ed., NSBT 53 (Downers Grove, IL: IVP Academic, 2020), 1.

8  “Crito . . . we owe Asclepius a cock. See that you all buy one, and don’t forget.” Plato, Phaedo, in Euthyphro, Apology, Crito, Phaedo, trans. Christopher Emlyn-Jones and William Preddy, LCL 36 (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2017), 118a.

9  “You too, my child?” Suetonius, Lives of the Caesars, trans. John C. Rolfe, vol. 1, LCL 31 (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1914), 182. More well-known is William Shakespeare’s line, “Et tu, Brutè?” in The Tragedy of Julius Caesar, ed. Barbara A. Mowat and Paul Werstine, Folger Shakespeare Library (New York: Simon & Schuster, 1992), 3.1.85.

10  Recent examples include Andrew Peterson’s song, “Last Words (Tenebrae),” in Resurrection Letters: Prologue (Franklin, TN: Centricity Music, 2018) and Jon Meacham’s book The Hope of Glory: Reflections on the Last Words of Jesus from the Cross (New York: Convergent, 2020).

11  The longer ending of Mark also includes final instructions from Jesus before his ascension (Mark 16:15–18), though most commentators and textual scholars view these verses as a later addition to the Gospel.

12  See Robert C. Tannehill, The Narrative Unity of Luke-Acts: A Literary Interpretation, 2 vols. (Philadelphia: Fortress, 1986–1990), 1:294.

13  See also Matt. 5:17; 7:12; 11:13; 22:40; Luke 16:16; John 1:45; Acts 13:15; Rom. 3:21; 2 Macc. 15:9; 4 Macc. 18:10.

14  This threefold division of the Law, Prophets, and Writings is also reflected in early Jewish writings. For example, the prologue of Sirach refers to “the Law and the Prophets and the others that followed them,” and 4Q397 in the Dead Sea Scrolls speaks of “the book of Moses, the books of the Prophets, and David” (21:10).

15  See, for example, Jesus’s use of gegraptai in Luke 4:4 (citing Deut. 8:3); 4:8 (citing Deut. 6:13); 7:27 (citing Mal. 3:1 with Ex. 23:20); and 19:46 (citing Isa. 56:7).

16  “Luke is transparently concerned to communicate that the whole story of Scripture is a unified narrative, diverse but not disparate, testifying to and culminating in Christ,” according to Dane C. Ortlund, “‘And Their Eyes Were Opened, and They Knew’: An Inter-Canonical Note on Luke 24:31,” JETS 53 (2010): 727.

17  Daniel I. Block, “Christotelic Preaching: A Plea for Hermeneutical Integrity and Missional Passion,” SBJT 22.3 (2018): 12. Abner Chou makes a similar claim in The Hermeneutics of the Biblical Writers: Learning to Interpret Scripture from the Prophets and Apostles (Grand Rapids, MI: Kregel, 2018), 133.

18  Block, “Christotelic Preaching,” 13.

19  Block’s article inadequately deals with biblical typology, as noted by Peter J. Gentry, “‘Christotelic Preaching’: Reflections on Daniel Block’s Approach,” SBJT 22.3 (2018): 95–97. Tremper Longman III offers a more balanced “Christotelic” approach in “‘What Was Said in All the Scriptures concerning Himself’ (Luke 24:27),” in Evangelical Scholarship, Retrospects and Prospects: Essays in Honor of Stanley N. Gundry, ed. Verlyn D. Verbrugge (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2017), 119–36.

20  See G. K. Beale, “Finding Christ in the Old Testament,” JETS 63 (2020): 44–47.

21  For discussion of dei (“it is necessary”) in Luke-Acts, see Charles H. Cosgrove, “The Divine ΔΕΙ in Luke-Acts: Investigations into the Lukan Understanding of God’s Providence,” NovT 26 (1984): 168–90; and Brian J. Tabb, Suffering in Ancient Worldview: Luke, Seneca, and 4 Maccabees in Dialogue, LNTS 569 (London: Bloomsbury T&T Clark, 2017), 146–47, 161–62.

22  Cf. David P. Moessner, “The ‘Script’ of the Scripture in the Acts of the Apostles: Suffering as God’s ‘Plan’ (βουλή) for the World for the ‘Release of Sins,’” in History, Literature, and Society in the Book of Acts, ed. Ben Witherington III (New York: Cambridge University Press, 1996), 218–50; and Brigid C. Frein, “Narrative Predictions, Old Testament Prophecies and Luke’s Sense of Fulfilment,” NTS 40 (1994): 29–30.

23  For example, John Nolland, Luke, 3 vols., WBC 35A–C (Dallas: Word, 1989–1993), 2:514, 3:1201.

24  Walter L. Liefeld and David W. Pao, “Luke,” in Luke–Acts, ed. Tremper Longman III and David E. Garland, EBC 10, rev. ed. (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2007), 345; James R. Edwards, The Gospel according to Luke, PNTC (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 2015), 716–17; Darrell L. Bock, Luke, 2 vols., BECNT (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker, 1994–1996), 2:1909–10; and Joseph A. Fitzmyer, The Gospel according to Luke, AB 28–28A (Garden City, NY: Doubleday, 1981–1985), 2:1568. For a dissenting interpretation, see Joel B. Green, The Gospel of Luke, NICNT (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 1997), 390–91, 845n16.

25  Luke 24:31 likely alludes to Genesis 3:7 with the similar wording “and their eyes were opened, and they knew” (diēnoichthēsan hoi ophthalmoi, kai egnōsan). For support for this connection and its biblical-theological implications, see Ortlund, “And Their Eyes Were Opened, and They Knew,” 717–28.

26  Matthew Bates proposes an alternative rendering of Luke 24:45: “Then Jesus exposited the Scriptures so that the disciples could understand their meaning,” in which the Greek phrase diēnoixen autōn ton noun does not refer to Jesus