By nature we like simple steps and methods for making things work—especially Westerners.

Apply this cream for the perfect skin; follow this four step strategy for the dream fortune...But when it comes to preaching Christ from the Old Testament, Sinclair B. Ferguson allows for no such naivety.

Distancing himself from "patristic allegorizing" and "post-reformation spiritualising," Ferguson writes that "...it has now become commonplace in the teaching of homiletics [the study of preaching] to stress that we must preach Christ in all the Scriptures in a manner that takes account of the flow of redemptive history" (3).

Dispensational or not, no preacher can afford to ignore Ferguson's observation. The latest articles, books, and preaching seminars are wrestling with this topic in a refreshing way that avoids ancient Origen-like allegorizing of every text. But can one be taught how to accurately preach Christ in every sermon without forcing the biblical passage into a hyper, Christ-searching mold? Ferguson thinks so.

The answer, he notes, is not a formula created but an instinct developed. Ferguson writes, "Of course, we need to work with general principles as we develop as preachers; but it is a far greater desideratum [something needed] that we develop an instinctive mindset and, corresponding to that, such a passion for Jesus Christ himself, that we will find our way to him in a natural and realistic way rather than a merely formulaic way" (5). Of course, someone might object that this sacrifices objectivity on the altar of experience. And the engineer-like, math-loving preacher with super-analytic skills may find this statement pudgy and mushy, even appalling to the left hemisphere of his brain. But we cannot let Enlightenment prejudices curb Paul's hermeneutical example of seeing that all of Scripture not only points to Christ but finds its fullest fulfillment in none other than Jesus, the Son of God.

Ferguson identifies two fundamental issues to this discussion: First, many sermons from the New Testament are far from Christ-centered because the preacher looked into the text to find himself and his congregation, not to find Christ. "So there is a confused mindset here that raises a deeper question than, 'Is there a formula that helps us to preach Christ form the Old Testament?' The more fundamental issue is the question, 'What am I really looking for when I am preaching on any part of the Bible? Am I really looking to tell people what they are like and what they must do—that is, am I really stressing the subjective and the imperative—or am I talking about Jesus Christ himself and the gospel?'"

I agree that Christ is often passed by in favor of finding one's own self or congregation in the text, but Ferguson's "either-or" approach I find unrealistically simplistic. Undoubtedly, his statement sprouts from his preaching philosophy which seems to be to preach Christ, nothing more and nothing less. I would contend that good preaching preaches the meaning of the text which is equal to the human author's intention at the time he wrote it, and then the preacher can show how this passage fits into the story of redemption and how its application is impossible apart from Jesus.

Ferguson's second fundamental observation is that if you ask a preacher who preaches Christ with excellence what method he uses to do it, he'll give you a blank look. Over the years it's become so instinctive, he doesn't even know how he does it. "The principles they use have been developed unconsciously, through a combination of native ability, gift and experience as listeners and preachers" (6).

Ferguson provides four principles to help develop an instinct for preaching Christ:

1) The relationship between promise and fulfillment. Starting in Genesis 3:15, God promises a Savior, and the whole Bible is about how He fulfills that promise. The preacher can show his audience how his text fits into the contour of this bigger story.

2) The relationship between type and antitype. In figures (like Adam and Christ), systems (like the Mosaic sacrificial system and Christ the ultimate sacrifice), and patterns (like Hosea 11:1 and Matthew 2:15), we find the Old Testament constantly pointing forward to Christ.

3) The relationship between the covenant and Christ. Ferguson contends that all the Old Testament covenants of God are ultimately fulfilled (and only possibly fulfilled) through Jesus Christ. Ferguson illustrates this in two ways. First, imperatives are always rooted in indicatives. To put it another way, obedience always follows redemption. God must first redeem a people before they will ever be able to follow Him. Christ alone can ultimately accomplish this redemption. Second, Christ took the curse of disobedience for disobeying the covenant, so that we might receive the blessings of His obedience under the covenant.

4) Proleptic participation and subsequent realisation. By this Ferguson means that the majority of illustrations of salvation in the new covenant era are actually drawn from the old. When someone asks Paul to explain the gospel, he goes back to David and Abraham and says, "Here's how it works!" Ferguson illustrates this with Joseph's life:

Joseph is a classic case: the story of his life is shaped unmistakably by the pattern of death and resurrection. A pattern is written large in him: humiliation (rejected and stripped of his glory-robe, becoming a slave, being made of no reputation); exaltation (being highly exalted at Pharaoh's right hand); provision (for the needs of the whole world); the ingathering of his people. This, at the end of the day, is the Christ-pattern in sketch-like form. The pattern of meant-for-evil; producing good, the salvation of many (Genesis 50:20) is fulfiled in the One crucified by the hands of wicked men, yet according to the plan of the God who raised him from the dead for the salvation of the nations (Acts 2:23) (17).

Ferguson's article faces Christ-centered preaching's greatest challenge: you can't reduce it to a simple formula. There's an instinctive, Spirit-led side to studying and preaching the Bible that cannot be reproduced through mathematical figures. The Enlightenment's elevation of reason to the basis of all authority has been unwittingly adopted by many Bible students today to the degree that they would say unless Bible interpretation is guided by cold and hard rules, it runs risk of falling into allegory or reading things into the text. Yes, reason and rules are important, for God expects us to use our brains. But we cannot afford to ignore the fact that in every sermon the apostles preached we find Christ at its center and in every instruction from the Old Testament epistles, we find the gospel as its foundation. The New Testament authors' use of the Old Testament shows us that all of the Old Testament ultimately points to Jesus Christ, and apart from Him, it is nothing more than a religious story.

Ferguson's comment from the last paragraph sums it up nicely:

We never 'arrive' or 'have it cracked' when it comes to preaching Christ. But as we come to know the Scriptures more intimately, as we see these patterns deeply embedded in the Bible, and—just as crucially—as we come to know Christ himself more intimately and to love him better, we shall surely develop the instinct to reason, explain and prove from all the Scriptures the riches of grace which are proclaimed in Jesus, the Christ, the Saviour of the world (18).