Christ the centre of Biblical thought.
I. Observe some of the details of Biblical truth in which the centring of revelation in Christ is seen. (1) The first token of it is the Old Testament doctrine of the Messiah. (2) The second is the New Testament doctrine of His sufferings and death. (3) The concentration of Biblical thought in the Person of Christ is intensified further by the Biblical doctrine of the Deity of Christ. (4) It is seen in the Biblical doctrine of Christ's mediatorial reign. (5) It is indicated by the Biblical doctrine of the eternal union of our Lord with the redeemed in heaven.
II. Observe some of the practical bearings of this preeminence of Christ's Person and work upon Christian faith and character. (1) It has an obvious bearing upon the proportion and perspective of truth in a Christian's belief. Let this one truth become regnant in the soul and all other truths fall into rank around it, and turn inwards towards it, as metallic particles do when a magnet approaches them. (2) This centring of truth in the Person of Christ should furthermore impart to Christian experience a profound sense of the reality of God as a personal Friend. (3) Another effect of the preeminence of Christ in Christian faith should be to render the friends of Christ objects of personal and profound affection. (4) The chief object of a regenerated life should be the object for which Christ lived and died. (5) The ascendency of Christ in Christian faith gives character to a Christian's anticipations of heaven.
A. Phelps, The Old Testament a Living Book,p. 314.
References: Daniel 7:13; Daniel 7:14. Preacher's Monthly,vol. iv., p. 286. 7 J. G. Murphy, The Book of Daniel,p. 124.Daniel 8:1-27. W. M. Taylor, Daniel the Beloved,p. 161.Daniel 8:19. Spurgeon, Sermons,vol. xv., No. 886. 8 J. G. Murphy, The Book of Daniel,p. 140. Daniel 9:1-19. Spurgeon, Sermons,vol. iii., No. 154.Daniel 9:1-27. W. M. Taylor, Daniel the Beloved,p. 184.Daniel 9:3-22. Christian World Pulpit,vol. iii., p. 134.Daniel 9:8. Spurgeon, Evening by Evening,p. 166. Daniel 9:23. Ibid., Sermons,vol. xiii., No. 734.Daniel 9:24. Ibid.,vol. xxviii., No. 1681; Preacher's Monthly,vol. vi., p. 364.Daniel 9:26. Ibid., Evening by Evening,p. 16. 9 J. G. Murphy, The Book of Daniel,p. 152.