If the Scripture is anything, it is congruent. That is to say, the Word of God is in agreement, or in harmony, with itself. The Bible is unified, foremost, around the central story of the Messiah of God, Who is, of course, Jesus (Yeshua) of Nazareth. On the first Easter Sunday, two of our Lord’s disciples were privileged to walk the Emmaus road with the newly resurrected Saviour, Who, “beginning at Moses and all the prophets,…expounded unto them in all the Scriptures the things concerning Himself” (Luke 24:27).[1] Jesus went on to say, “These are the words which I spake unto you, while I was yet with you, that all things must be fulfilled, which were written in the law of Moses, and in the prophets, and in the psalms, concerning me. Then opened He their understanding, that they might understand the Scriptures” (Luke 24:44-47).
All of Scripture points to Christ. As journalist Andrée Seu wrote, “Go to the Bible to meet Christ…He is its author, its subject matter, the doorway to its treasures, the full-throated symphony of which Adam and the prophets heard just the faintest tune.”[2] Jesus urged, “Search the Scriptures, for in them ye think ye have eternal life: and they are they which testify of me” (John 5:39).
McCarty writes, “The story of the Bible begins in Genesis where God’s good creation is invaded by evil which separates God’s creature from God Himself. The rest of the Bible is related to the message of how God tries to bring about a reconciliation between His creature, man, and Himself. All of the other scenes in the Bible thicken the plot which was set out in the first chapter of Genesis. The separation which begins in the [third] chapter of Genesis becomes wider and narrower at certain points but never achieves the unity of God and man until the full reconciliation which came at the central point of the Bible in Jesus Christ,” who was the fullness of God incarnate.[3] “For in Him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily” (Colossians 2:9). “And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.” (John 1:14).
McCarty continues, “The remainder of the Bible is made up of showing how the message of that reconciliation was bringing reconciliation to reality in the world. The conclusion of the Bible is an attempt to say that the future is in God’s hands and He will bring about final reconciliation in the end. The Bible does not deal with just plain history but uses the events of history to make a story which has a message and in turn that story is a life-bearing and life-giving message.”[4]
Jesus is that common thread of scarlet running throughout every book of the Holy Bible. And that information makes the Bible, which was composed by forty different men, who lived on three separate continents (Europe, Asia, and Africa), writing in three distinct languages (Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek), spanning nearly 1,500 years of history (Moses writing near 1446 BC, John penning the Revelation around AD 90), a unique piece of literature in all the world. Again, it is McCarty who notes that, “It is very important to know the plot of the story and where the arrow of Scripture is headed. Without that the Bible cannot be correctly interpreted.”[5]
But the Jesus story is not the only congruent plot in the Scriptures. Israel, too, runs as a ribbon of blue throughout the Bible. From the calling of Abraham in Genesis 12, to the promise of Isaac, and a “Seed” which germinates in Jacob and materializes in the twelve tribes, to the birth of national Israel in the Exodus out of Egypt, Israel grows as God’s chosen people. Moses declares, “For thou art an holy people unto the Lord thy God: the Lord thy God hath chosen thee to be a special people unto Himself, above all people that are upon the face of the earth” (Deuteronomy 7:6). Another prophet warns, “For he that toucheth you toucheth the apple of His eye” (Zechariah 2:8).
God will see His plan for Israel through to completion. He has determined seventy weeks (of years) for the nation, enumerating the prophecy in Daniel 9:24-27. That coming, final seven years of God’s dealing with them will ultimately culminate in their belief of Yeshua Ha’Mashiach. “They shall look on Him whom they pierced,” writes John (John 19:37; cf. Zechariah 12:10). And like Thomas beholding Jesus in the upper room, Israel shall one day declare, “My Lord and my God!” (John 20:28). Jesus, quoting from Jeremiah 22:5 and Psalm 118:26, said it this way, “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets, and stonest them which are sent unto thee, how often would I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and ye would not! Behold, your house is left unto you desolate. For I say unto you, Ye shall not see me henceforth, till ye shall say, Blessed is He that cometh in the name of the Lord” (Matthew 23:37-39).
The significance of Israel to the unified theme of Christ in the Bible becomes clear when one considers that without a people to redeem, the act of the Redeemer is meaningless. Indeed, Israel is called the chosen people not because of who they are. They are told, “The Lord did not set His love upon you, nor choose you, because ye were more in number than any people; for ye were the fewest of all people:” (Deuteronomy 7:7) Rather, they are significant because of Him Who called them, “But because the Lord loved you, and because He would keep the oath which He had sworn unto your fathers, hath the Lord brought you out with a mighty hand, and redeemed you out of the house of bondmen, from the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt” (Deuteronomy 7:8; cf. Deuteronomy 4:37).
Nonetheless, the Jews were chosen to accomplish no less than two highly important things. First, they were to be the people God would use to fulfill the Messianic promise initially given to the Serpent in Genesis 3:15. God would choose a Jewish woman to birth the Messiah (Isaiah 7:14; Galatians 4:4). This He accomplished in the virgin Mary (Matthew 1:18-25; Luke 1:26-38). Obviously, then, Jesus was born a Jew. In addition to Israel bearing the living “Word” of God (John 1:1-4, 14), secondly, God used Israel to produce the written Word of God (2 Peter 1:20-21; cf. 2 Timothy 3:16). “What advantage then hath the Jew? or what profit is there of circumcision? Much every way: chiefly, because that unto them were committed the oracles of God” (Romans 3:1-2). The fact that national Israel rejected Jesus as Messiah is irrelevant to the faithfulness of God to keep His promises to Israel. “For what if some did not believe? shall their unbelief make the faith of God without effect? God forbid: yea, let God be true, but every man a liar” (Romans 3:3-4a). “For all the promises of God in Him are yea, and in Him Amen, unto the glory of God by us” (2 Corinthians 1:20).
Finally, the scarlet thread that is Jesus and the blue ribbon of Israel intertwine in a consilience of doctrinal themes. So that, the third convergence of unity is seen in the theological tapestry of Scripture. Without considering this point in any depth, it appears self-evident that the doctrine of sin is interconnected with Scriptural Anthropology, and one’s view on man is shaped by one’s view of God. But God cannot not be known in His Unity without also discussing God as Trinity. God, the Son, came to save man, but Soteriology (the doctrine of salvation) is integrally tied to, again, Hamartiology (the doctrine of sin). The authority for all of theology, however, must be the Bible. So, Bibliology seems foundational. But where do the studies of Pneumatology (the Holy Spirit), Angelology (angels), Ecclesiology (the church), Israelology (Israel), and Eschatology (end times events) fit in? The point being, that the diversity of fields of study within the broader discipline of theology is, in itself, an indication of its congruency. And more than any other approach (such as Historical or Biblical Theology) Systematic Theology demonstrates that Unity of Scripture well. Perhaps it would be considered the purple thread that blends the scarlet and blue.
In summary, the overarching themes of Christ, Israel, and Theology demonstrate Biblical unity. This shows that the Bible is no cacophony, but rather, a masterful symphony. Though written by forty varied composers, God is the Maestro who singlehandedly conducts His own magnum opus. Other reasons may abound, but it is primarily the congruency of Scripture, then, which demonstrates so harmoniously the inerrancy and infallibility of God’s Word, the Bible.
[1] All Scriptures are quoted from the Authorized (King James) Version of the Bible.
[2] Andrée Seu, “Instruction Manual,” World Magazine vol. 15, no. 48 (Dec. 9, 2000).
[3] Doran McCarty, Rightly Dividing the Word (Nashville, TN: Broadman Press, 1973), 45.
[4] Ibid., 45.
[5] Ibid., 63-64.