Journal: Emmaus Journal
Volume: EMJ 07:2 (Winter 1998)
Article: The Suffering and Glory of the Lord Jesus Christ
Author: Kenneth C. Fleming

EMJ 7:2 (Win 98) p. 139

The Suffering and Glory of the Lord Jesus Christ

Kenneth C. Fleming *

Introduction

The outstanding theme of Scripture is the person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ. He Himself claimed on five different occasions that the theme of the Old Testament Scriptures was Himself (Matt. 5:17; Luke 24:27, 44; John 5:39; Heb. 10:7). In the Luke passage Christ met the disciples on the Emmaus road and explained what they had not been able to understand. They had failed to see how the Old Testament promises of Messiah’s coming glory could refer to Jesus whose suffering and crucifixion they had just witnessed. Jesus explained, “‘Was it not necessary for the Christ to suffer these things and to enter into His glory?’ And beginning with Moses and with all the prophets, He explained to them the things concerning Himself in all the Scriptures.” (Luke 24:26–27).1

The two disciples then hurried back to Jerusalem that same day and met the eleven Disciples. The two from Emmaus were explaining what the risen Jesus had told them about Himself as being the focal point of Scriptures. Then Jesus suddenly appeared to all of them in the room and said, “These are My words which I spoke to you while I was still with you, that all things which are written about Me in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms must be fulfilled…. Thus it is written, that the Christ should suffer and rise again from the dead the third day” (Luke 24:44, 46). Notice that Jesus specifically stated that both His suffering and resurrection glory were the focus of the Old Testament Scriptures. The conclusion of Luke is that not only was Jesus the general theme of the Scriptures, but that in particular His suffering and glory were central.

* Ken Fleming is a faculty member at Emmaus Bible College.

EMJ 7:2 (Win 98) p. 140

In the revealed purpose of God the Lord Jesus Christ is the center of the universe as its Creator and Sustainer. “For by Him all things were created…, all things have been created by Him and for Him. And He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together.… For it was the Father’s good pleasure for all the fulness to dwell in Him” (Col. 1:16–19). Not only is He the Creator and Sustainer of the physical universe, but H...