60. Seeing Jesus everywhere in the Bible

You probably know some of the stories about Jesus in the New Testament of the Bible, but struggle to see where He is in the rest of it! 

The truth is that Jesus isn't just introduced in the Gospels; He's everywhere throughout the entire Bible, from Genesis to Revelation.

In this episode, Whitney helps you discover how every major theme, promise, and story in the Bible ultimately points to Jesus. 

Understanding this one truth will help the Bible feel more connected, meaningful, and easier to understand.

If You've Been Asking Questions Like:

• Why do people say the Bible is about Jesus?
• Is Jesus mentioned in the Old Testament?
• Why is Jesus so important to Christianity?
• How do the Old and New Testaments connect?
• What was God's plan before Jesus was born?
• Why did Jesus have to come to earth?
• How can I better understand the big picture of the Bible?

Then this episode is for you!

What next step are you taking on your Bible study journey?!

1. Bible Study Made Just for You is a 6-week 1:1 coaching program with Whitney where you stop just reading the Bible and start living it out, so you become transformed.

2. The Bible Study Made Simple community is where you learn about the Bible and stay consistent in it, so your faith grows as a Christian woman.

3. The Bible Study Made Simple guide is where you learn what to do every time you read the Bible, so you actually understand it.

4. These are the best Bible study tools on Amazon that will help you start reading the Bible with confidence for free.

5. Follow Whitney on TikTok or Instagram @stepintoboldfaith for simple Bible study tips, encouragement, and practical help to grow in your faith.

Transcript

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Have you ever opened the Old Testament and thought, where even is Jesus? I have definitely done that. But one of the biggest misconceptions about the Bible is that Jesus only shows up in the New Testament, and that is actually not true. And the truth is that the entire Bible points to Jesus, all the way from Genesis, the first book of the Bible, to Revelation, the last book of the Bible. Jesus is still the central figure of scripture, even when he isn't directly shown. And once you understand that, the Bible really begins to make a lot more sense. You can feel a lot more connected to it. You can really dig deep to see what God was trying to show us within it. So today we're going to talk about how Jesus is shown throughout the entire Bible, why he came, why he's central to the Bible, and how understanding all of these concepts can completely transform your Bible study journey. For a long time, the Bible felt like all of these random stories to me before I actually understood it. It was like, and then there were all these different people associated in it. And then obviously I knew Jesus was there, but I didn't really know. And so it all felt really disconnected to me. But as I spent more time studying scripture, I realized that the Bible isn't a primarily like it's not primarily a collection of stories about people. It's actually called a meta-narrative, which is like one whole story all about Jesus. And so within each book of the Bible, there are stories about Jesus. Within each like Old and New Testament, there are stories about Jesus. And then obviously within the whole thing, there are also stories about Jesus. So once I started reading the Bible through this lens and starting to try to look for Jesus in every part of the Bible, within every opportunity I really could, it really started connecting so deeply for me and was so, so helpful to see Jesus in all of these different ways. So by the end of this episode today, you're gonna learn why Jesus is the central figure of the Bible, how Jesus appears throughout the Old and the New Testaments, why he came, why understanding Jesus changes the way that you read the Bible, and how this can help you really understand the Bible more clearly. So welcome to Step Into Bold Faith. This is the podcast for Christian women who want to learn how to make Bible study feel simple so it transforms their lives and grows their faith. And I'm your host, Whitney. I am a fellow Jesus lover, wife of mama, and you are Bible study bestie. And I'm so glad that God brought you here today. So I just know that seeing Jesus, it is so powerful. And us building our relationship with Jesus is literally the most important thing that we could be doing as Christians. So making sure that we feel connected to him throughout the Bible is so important. And that's really why I wanted to talk about this today is because a lot of people do just think he's in the New Testament, but he really isn't the entire thing. So before we get into the teaching section for Bible study tools, make sure to grab a good Bible that you like, that you feel connected to, that you feel you can read and understand. And one of my favorite ways to really see Jesus is through foreshadowing. And I do a lot of that with my Bible highlighting with certain colors and just really asking myself, like, where is Jesus? So making sure that you're doing these things correctly. And later, I'm gonna be talking about a way to really make sure that you are doing Bible study correctly, that you have all the right tools, all the right resources. So stay tuned until the end and I'm gonna talk a little bit more about that. But for now, let's get into the the teaching section of this episode today. So, why did Jesus even come? Like, so before we even talk about why Jesus appears throughout the Bible, let's talk about why he even came in the first place. So the the short, concise answer is Jesus came to save us. He came to save the world because of sin. Humanity, us as humans, we were separated from God. So throughout the Old Testament, we see people that are failing, that are falling short, that need a rescue. And in order to do that, we needed Jesus. We needed to get past all of those things through Jesus. So God also, when he created the world, he created the plan that Jesus was going to exist with us the whole time. And so Jesus really came to restore our own relationship with God the Father so we could actually be connected to him. He came so we could have the Holy Spirit dwelling in us, right? So we could actually feel God's presence within us to pay for the penalty for our sins. So he died on the cross for us. He was, he, he died on the cross, he rose again for our sins, so then we could be forgiven and we could live a life again with a relationship with God to fulfill God's promises and plans. So God has a plan always, and he knows what's best, and he has the entire thing mapped out from start to finish. And so Jesus had to come so he could fulfill those promises that God did, especially in the Old Testament. God made a lot of promises to a lot of different people, and those could only have been fulfilled by Jesus. And then also it's a way for us to receive eternal life. So once we die, there is no end. We are risen up to heaven with our souls, with Jesus. If we declare him as our Lord and Savior of our lives, and we, you know, obey God throughout our life and we decide to become great Christians, right? And like really feel like we are connected to him and really believe all these things in our hearts and have great faith, we can receive eternal life and be with him forever. And so, again, this was just God's plan from the beginning is to have Jesus come and do all these things for us because we could not do them ourselves. It's literally impossible for us. So the next big part of this is how is Jesus shown throughout the Bible? So again, one of the most amazing things about scripture is that Jesus is present long before even his birth in Bethlehem by the Virgin Mary. The Old Testament points forward to him, the New Testament reveals him. The entire Bible is centered around Jesus. So here are a few really cool specific examples of where Jesus shows up. So in Genesis, after Adam and Eve sinned, God promised that one day a savior would come. So that's literally in the first book of the Bible. God is already talking about Jesus coming. And then with Abraham, God promised Abraham that all nations would be blessed through his offspring. And that promise, again, ultimately points to Jesus. During Passover, the Israelites were saved by the blood of a spotless lamb, and Jesus later becomes the perfect spotless lamb of God who could take away the sins of the world again by dying on the cross for us. And David, David was a king, but Jesus is the king of kings. And right now we're doing a Bible study at church, and it is so cool, and it's all about the life of David, and a lot of it points to Jesus and him being our savior later on. And there's like so many different revelations and patterns and intersections of them. It's so cool. And then even with the prophecies throughout the Old Testament, the prophets repeatedly pointed back towards the coming Messiah, towards Jesus. Hundreds of years before even Jesus was born, scripture was already talking about him. And the more that you study the Bible, the more you spend time in it, the more that you'll begin seeing Jesus everywhere. So the next part of this is why is Jesus central to the Bible? Because the Bible is ultimately God's redemption story. So every major theme points to Jesus. The creation of the world points to Jesus. God's promises point to Jesus. The sacrificial system points to Jesus. The prophets point to Jesus. The gospel revealed Jesus. The early church proclaims Jesus. Revelation points to Jesus returning, right? So without Jesus, the Bible would not make sense and it would not even be like the common thread holding everything together and be the whole point and be the whole main, he's the main person of the whole Bible, right? Other than God the Father. So it's just so cool. So how does understanding Jesus change Bible study? So instead of reading stories and feeling like you can't see one connected to the other, it really does begin becoming one connected story. So instead of only asking, like, what does this mean? You start asking, like, how does this point to Jesus? How does this lead to Jesus? How does this foreshadow to Jesus? How is Jesus present in this, right? Because then when we understand Jesus, the Bible can feel more connected. The Old Testament becomes more meaningful. God's plan becomes clearer. Scripture becomes more relevant. Your faith will grow deeper. And more, like most importantly, you begin seeing that the Bible isn't just a book to study. It's really a big invitation for us to know Jesus more deeply, to grow in our connection to him, to know how to pray, to follow his example, to do the things that he did during his ministry, right? And really follow a lot of the things. So it's like we get to know about Jesus, we get to be more like Jesus, we get to learn about Jesus, we get to learn the history of why all these things were so important. So already to recap this episode today, we talked a little bit about why Jesus came, how Jesus is shown through the Bible, why Jesus is central to scripture, how understanding Jesus changes Bible study and why the entire Bible points to him. So your action step for this episode is next time you read your Bible, ask yourself, what does this passage teach me about Jesus? Where do I see Jesus in this part of the Bible that I'm reading? So I just want you to know that it can be kind of challenging to start to do this, but the more you practice, the more you're gonna see how he's showing up, the more the Bible's gonna really be speaking to you, that you're gonna feel more connected to him and his character and what he's doing in your life. So again, the Bible, it's not even ultimately just about us reading this information, about getting to know Jesus, it's about building a relationship with Jesus, living it out in your everyday life, being able to actually have it make a difference in your life. So if this episode encouraged you today, I want you to know that understanding about who Jesus is is really only one piece of understanding the Bible. And so if you are looking to learn more about the Bible, if you're looking to understand it, if you're looking to actually have guided study plans every month and know what questions to ask yourself and be surrounded by an amazing supportive community to stay consistent in Bible study, then I would love to invite you inside the Bible study made simple community where we learn how to do all of that and more because Bible study can really become so much better when you have the right frameworks, when you have the right step-by-step process, when you have the right community and accountability supporting you. So you can find out all the information about joining us through the link in the show notes. And now let's end in our prayer. God, thank you so much for having Jesus be shown so much throughout the Bible, Lord. I pray that women are now able to see more about Jesus, that they're able to look for Jesus everywhere in the Bible, not just where it seems obvious, Lord. Help them become more connected to Him through your word, Lord. Help them feel like they can have more an example and follow his ways and live how he was living, Lord. Help us all just to become more like Jesus, spend more time with Jesus, love Jesus more, become more like Jesus, Lord. Help us to just do all of that and more. In Jesus' name. Amen. So until next time, thank you so much for coming along the journey with me and let's keep stepping into bold faith together. Bye.