Disclosing this relationship does not require imaginative or allegorical mention of some specific in Christ's life, but rather insists on exegetical and contextual explanation of how the text furthers the covenant people's understanding of his person and work. The term "Christ-centered" is synecdoche for the matrix of ways that God discloses his redeeming nature and work, including the revelation of false hopes (dead ends) and forward hints (bridges) that makes his people long for, recognize and worship their Redeemer. This disclosure may come from 1) the role of the text (its events and persons) in redemptive history, 2) the redemptive instruction doctrinally expressed in the passage, and/or 3) the way that God relationally interacts with and provides for his people.

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When the risen Lord walks with his unknowing disciples on the road to Emmaus, Luke tells us that "beginning with Moses and all the prophets, he [i.e., Jesus] expounded was said in all the scriptures about himself" (Luke 24:27). This is a remarkable statement for those of us who are committed to an expository method. When Jesus expounds the Bible, he says that it is all about him (cf. John 5:39, 46). The apostles say the same (John 1:45; Acts 10:43; Rom. 3:21). Thus, if we interpret any portion without relating it to him, we fail to say the very thing that He and his apostles say it is about. Paul followed this ethic writing to the Corinthians, "I resolved to know nothing while I was with you except Jesus Christ and him crucified" (1 Cor. 2:2). Of course, Paul spoke about more subjects than the atonement, but he placed them all in the context of their relation to the Redeemer. Wisdom, relationships and worship all get their bearings from the message of the Christ who has become for us wisdom from God, our righteousness, holiness and redemption (1 Cor. 1:30). In him all things hold together (Col. 1:17). Expository preaching that would say what God says, expounds Christ from all the scriptures because he says and they say that he is there.

The trend toward more Christ-centered messages in expository preaching certainly seems to be upon us. When Christ-centered Preaching was published ten years ago, I was launching my redemptive preaching canoe on small stream fed by a few headwaters — the likes of Geerhardus Vos, Edmund Clowney and John Sanderson. But over the last decade, and especially in the last five years, the trickle of materials advocating the necessity of a redemptive theological interpretation of Scripture has become a torrent.7 In addition, new homiletics texts that intend to be comprehensive approaches to preaching almost without exception now contain a requisite section on redemptive interpretation. And as I have had the privilege of recently writing a 2nd Edition of Christ-centered Preaching that will be published next year, the encouragement of homiletics colleagues has not been to temper this emphasis but to explain it more. This Christo-centric preaching trend seems to have sufficient momentum to be around for a while.