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The Blue Letter Bible
Study Resources :: Text Commentaries :: Don Smith :: Portraits of Christ

Don Smith :: Introductory Comments

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“Portraits of Christ”

The Study of the Promise Doctrine and How to Preach Christ to Our Generation

Introductory Comments

The Scriptures reveal the magnitude of God’s grace. The Old Testament anticipated the coming of Christ, through Him would come grace and truth. When He came, Jesus continually affirmed His identity, purpose, and power by the use of the ancient promises and prophesies of the Bible. Before His departure into heavenly glory, He instructed the Apostles from the Scriptures all the things concerning Himself beginning with Moses, the Prophets and the Psalms (Luke 24:27, 44-45). In other words, the Holy Spirit moved the ancient authors of Scripture to write about Christ. One of the most powerful ways of telling His story in advance was the use of “types” and “shadows.” They are intentional, instructional, and innumerable portraits of Christ. A “type” is something like a verbal “flannel graph” picture. It was intended to anticipate and describe Christ. A “shadow” is a prophetic pre-figurement, pattern or parable designed to reveal more fully Christ’s life and ministry. No individual type or shadow can completely or adequately contain the full significance of His life; but when these prophetic types are woven together, there is revealed a beautiful portrait of Christ.

In many ways the Old Testament is a verbal photo album of Christ’s ancient relatives, as well as pictures of familiar things in their lives that would prepare us to identify Him when He entered time and space. The material in this booklet is written to not only enable us to see Christ in the Old Testament, but also to better see Him in the New. Therefore, the clearer we see Christ, the better we are able to preach and teach Him to our congregations. It is hoped each portrait of Christ will promote a sermon or lesson that can help our churches see the glory of Christ more clearly.

“For it is the God who commanded light to shine out of darkness, who has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.” (2 Corinthians 4:6)

Portraits of Christ in the Bible make Him come alive in our hearts. They awaken the soul to gratitude for God’s magnificent, eternal plan for our salvation. My prayer is that Christ would be glorified, as the Church comes Coram Deo—“Face to face” with Him.

For the glory of God,

Pastor Don Smith
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CONTENT DISCLAIMER:

The Blue Letter Bible ministry and the BLB Institute hold to the historical, conservative Christian faith, which includes a firm belief in the inerrancy of Scripture. Since the text and audio content provided by BLB represent a range of evangelical traditions, all of the ideas and principles conveyed in the resource materials are not necessarily affirmed, in total, by this ministry.