Jesus in the Old Testament

In my study for my sermon on Psalm 24, I came across this very helpful principle for interpreting the Psalms (and really, all of the Old Testament). It comes from Derek Kidner’s commentary on the Psalms:

When ‘he opened their minds to understand the scriptures’ (Luke 24:45), it was with special reference to their Messianic content. ‘Thus it is written, that the Christ should suffer and on the third day rise from the dead, and that repentance and forgiveness of sins should be preached in his name to all nations.’ Although Luke 24 gives few details of this instruction, the rest of the New Testament shows how the apostles unanimously understood it.

So Jesus showed that every part of the Old Testament has “Messianic content.” In other words, every bit of it points to Jesus. That is how we read/interpret/teach/study the Old Testament: by looking for its Messianic content.