“Why were they all pointing to the front of the church?”
The “Prince of Preachers,” Charles Spurgeon, tells the story of being on the backside of a mountain in Italy.
One day, Charles was walking about only to look up and see an old broken-down church on the top of a mountain. As he walked up the mountain side, he became curious as to the details concerning what it was that he was beholding. The closer he got, the more it became clear. As he finally got to the top, he walked inside of the old church. As he did, he noticed that on the left side of the church were broken images on stained glass windows.
On the left side, he observed the minor prophets such as Micah (5:2), Hosea (11:1), Malachi (3:1), Zechariah (9:9), and how they were all pointing to the front of the church.
On the right side, he observed the major prophets doing the same thing, they were all pointing to the front of the church. Why?
There was Moses (Deuteronomy 18:15), Samuel (2 Samuel 17: 12-13), Daniel (9:24-27), Isaiah (7:14-9:6-53:5), David (Psalm 22:1,16-18, 41:9, 6:21), and, of course, John the Baptist, the greatest prophet born of woman (Luke 7:28; John 1:36).
When Charles moved towards the front of the church, everything came into the scope of his understanding. Lo and behold, there He was, the Son of God, the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world (Revelation 13:8). There was an artist rendition of Christ and Him crucified with the inscription:
“Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!” -John 1:29
