Then he said to them, “These are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you, that everything written about me in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms must be fulfilled.” 24:44
We come to the very end of Luke’s account of Jesus’ earthly ministry. Luke was present from the earliest days of the Church and carefully investigated everything from the beginning, writing what he called an “orderly account” so that Theophilus—and all readers—might have certainty concerning the things they had been taught. As a physician, Luke was thorough, attentive to detail, and deeply concerned with accuracy.
He begins his Gospel not with spectacle, but with faithfulness—with Zechariah and Elizabeth, two elderly, devoted Jews. Zechariah, a Levite serving in the temple, is struck silent for his disbelief and becomes the father of John the Baptist, the forerunner of Christ. Luke tells us they were “both righteous before God, walking blamelessly in all the commandments and statutes of the Lord.” This introduction is not accidental. From the outset, Luke anchors the story of Jesus firmly in the Scriptures of Israel—the Law, the Prophets, and the covenant promises of God.
When John is born, Zechariah prophesies, recounting God’s faithfulness: that He has visited and redeemed His people, raised up a horn of salvation in the house of David, and remembered His holy covenant—the oath sworn to Abraham. Luke is establishing something foundational: the coming of Jesus is not a break from Scripture, but the fulfillment of it. Without Genesis, without the Law, without the prophets, the story of Christ would make little sense. The Hebrew Scriptures are not background decoration; they are the very structure holding the Gospel together.
And Luke ends his Gospel the same way he began it—with Scripture.
In Luke 24, after the resurrection, Jesus opens the minds of His disciples to understand the Scriptures. Though He had walked with them for three years, taught them, and revealed the Father to them, in His final moments before ascending He brings them back to this foundation. “Everything written about Me in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms must be fulfilled.” At that time, there were no New Testament writings—no epistles, no written Gospels. When Jesus spoke of Scripture, He was speaking of what we call the Old Testament.
He does not diminish it. He elevates it. He insists it must be understood and proclaimed.
To “fulfill” does not mean to discard, as if the Law and Prophets were merely temporary artifacts now placed on a shelf. Fulfillment means bringing to completion, bringing to fullness, fully proclaiming their true meaning. Jesus embodies them. He reveals their depth. He shows how they point to Him. Heaven and earth have not yet passed away; His return has not yet occurred. The story is still unfolding.
To fully preach the Scriptures does not mean returning to legalism or undermining grace. It means preserving, studying, teaching, and seeking God through the whole counsel of His Word. It means reading life through the entirety of what God has spoken, not isolating ourselves to a portion of it. The apostles were commissioned to proclaim Christ from Moses, the Prophets, and the Psalms—because that was their Bible.
Jesus is the Word of God—from beginning to end. The Alpha and the Omega. The One spoken of in Genesis and revealed in Revelation. Luke’s Gospel begins with Scripture and ends with Scripture because Christ Himself stands at the center of it all. Everything that was written finds its meaning in Him.
My Faith Place 