Preface
On the glorious resurrection morning Mary went to seek for Jesus. She sought Him in the tomb, but He stood beside her. She thought He was the gardener, but the one word “Mary” revealed to her her Saviour.
As we read some passage in the Old Testament how often our eyes are holden, and we see only the earthly form: we see Aaron the priest, or David the shepherd, or Solomon the king; but if, like Mary, we are really seeking the Lord Jesus, He manifests Himself to us through the outward type, and we turn in glad surprise, and, looking up, say, “Rabboni”—“My dear Master.”
As we continue to seek, we find Him in the least expected places of the Old Testament, until the whole grows luminous with the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. “In the volume of the Book it is written of Me.” All the lines of history and type, of Psalm and prophecy, converge towards one centre—Jesus Christ, and to one supreme event, His death on the Cross for our salvation. And from that centre again all the lines of history in the book of Acts, of experience in the Epistles, and of prophecy in Revelation radiate out once more to testify that the Father sent the Son to be the Saviour of the world.
After His resurrection our Lord not only “opened the Scriptures” to His disciples, but also “opened their understanding that they might understand the Scriptures.” He is ready to do the same for us. The same Holy Spirit who moved holy men of old to write the Scriptures is close at hand to make the words life to our souls by taking of the things of Christ and revealing them unto us.
Of the books of the New Testament only a brief summary is here given, partly because they are so much more studied, partly because to treat of them at any adequate length would swell this book beyond the limits of a single volume, and still more because the chief aim of the present Studies is to show that Christ is the Key to the Old Testament Scriptures. To encourage others to seek Him for themselves, under the guidance of the Spirit, in the pages of Holy Scripture, is the object of this book.
I would here gratefully acknowledge the help of Fielden Thorp, B.A., and the Rev. James Neil, M.A., in revision, and of other friends in various ways.
A. M. Hodgkin
Rugate, September, 1908
Preface to the Seventh Edition
To all who have kindly helped in the circulation of this book I desire to express my thanks. It is a privilege to have been brought into touch with a wide circle of friends bound together by the attraction of the same common Centre. “Unto you therefore which believe, He is precious.”
We are living in a new age since this book was first published in 1907, but we do not need a new Bible, we do not need a new Gospel. Sin is the same today, man’s need is the same, and nowhere can that sin be atoned for and that need met but in the Cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, and in the power of His resurrection. Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever, and we live looking for that blessed Hope of His glorious appearing.
“For ever, O God, Thy Word is settled in Heaven.” Man fades as the grass, his plans wither, “but the Word of our God shall stand for ever.”
A. M. H.
April, 1931