Sunday, September 1, 2013

Jesus: An Actor on Stage in the Old Testament Story

David Murray's book Jesus on Every Page is a good read for any believer looking to have a 10,000 foot survey of the Old Testament.  The entire purpose of his book is to ensure that Christians know and understand that Christ can be found throughout the Old Testament -- if we only look for Him.  Murray, quite correctly, says that far too many sermons are from the New Testament because many (if not most) Christians sigh in despair when an Old Testament text is implemented.

The book can be divided into two parts.  The first is what Murray calls his "Emmaus Journey," and it reflects his own experiences of deciding to seek Christ in the Old Testament.  The second part of the book is the breakdown of how Christ can be seen in the following:  creation, characters, law, history, appearances, prophets, types, covenants, proverbs, and poems.

I believe his section on typology and the Proverbs where his strongest points.  Typology can be a rather stale and rigid study, but Murray breaks this down to the point that a lay person can understand what he is saying.  He offers solid points that can be utilized by a student of the Bible resulting in a deeper understanding of the Word of God (as it relates to Christ in the Old Testament). 

His parsing of the Proverbs was equally astute.  You simply must read and take note of pages 180 and 181 because Murray offers an absolutely wonderful sentence that explains how Christ would have been seen in each Old Testament section by Israel.  I am not going to give this away, but it is worthy of transcribing into the front page of the Old Testament in your study Bible.

The author is clearly skilled at alliteration -- all of his chapter titles are alliterated as are nearly all of the sub-points related to the chapter titles.  At times, the alliteration seems somewhat forced and that diminished the true message behind what he was intending for the reader. 

Despite that fact, I appreciate his overall attempt at strengthening our viewpoint of Christ in the Old Testament.  This manuscript is a good read and is worth your time. 



Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from the publisher through the BookSneeze® book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”

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