An emerging reality is sadly becoming the norm. Many Christians no longer read the Old Testament. They have been groomed to believe it no longer applies to our time and reflects an angry and vengeful deity. While there are cultural issues we need to understand and a unique historical context through which we should wisely interpret some verses, that is not a valid reason to shun its beauty and truth. It should motivate a deeper study.
When Jesus was led by the Spirit into the wilderness, He was tempted by the devil. In each temptation, He challenged the tempter with Scripture from the Old Testament book of Deuteronomy. When He left the temptation, He traveled to His hometown of Nazareth and spoke in the synagogue. He quoted from the book of Isaiah declaring His earthly mission just before the citizens ran Him out of town. I have always felt if Jesus could use the Old Testament to reveal the truth about His life, so could we.
A great deal of Western Christianity has been molded by our isolation from the original context. Some of our theology has been diluted by a liberal, revisionist theology that tells us to look away from the Old Testament to craft our worldview.
Jesus said “Don’t misunderstand why I have come. I did not come to abolish the law of Moses or the writings of the prophets. No, I came to accomplish their purpose” (Matthew 5:17). The rejection of the very Scriptures Jesus used is a mistake and clear evidence that something other than the truth is crafting our understanding of Jesus and His mission. My advice would be to not believe in such a limited understanding.
The Old Testament is not a testimony of a people who faithfully obeyed every jot and tittle of the Law. They failed miserably. It is a story of God’s grace – the grace of the God who faithfully led them to the Promise Land. We cannot fully understand the sacrifice of Jesus on the Cross unless we study Old Testament blood sacrifice. If our understanding of creation is limited to the New Testament, we have little information from which to draw a conclusion.
The entirety of Scripture is a story of salvation. We cannot fully understand the heart of God and His love for all people unless we interpret Him through both testaments. There is not one God for the Old and another God for the New. That is an error being promoted in our day – a promotion that makes sense to an unrenewed mind.
The biblical scholar J.A. Motyear said so poignantly “If you think the Old Testament is the book of a wrathful God, have you read Revelation lately?”
Yes and Amen
Listening to one of my favourite teachers delve into Leviticus sacrifices .Struggling /wondering with truths in it. Now youre saying not to ignore the OT. Could it be a divine hint for me???? Thanks for posting.
The Bible is a book of absolute contrasts:
– Jesus came full of grace AND truth
– Paul wrote “behold the goodness AND the severity of God
– David wrote that Yahweh is a God of Justice and Mercy
This should not be confused nor conflated with the Islamic assertion that Allah is “capricious” – whimsical in pronouncing judgment and rewarding obedience.
Our God is “a God of faithfulness, without injustice, good and upright is He.”
The complimentary nature of the Old Testament in relation to the New Testament and vice versa emphasizes the singular authorship of the Bible. The entire Bible involves the synergistic interwoving of the Old and New Testaments. To extricate one Testament from the other would result in a partial revelation that can be exploited by spirits of deception. Such a deception we are witnessing in the end times! We absolutely need the entire counsel of God to be thoroughly furnished.
Yours in Christ,
Apostle Jonathan Khan.
Yes! The Old Testament is the irreplaceable foundation of our faith. Or, as Adolph Saphir puts it in “The Divine Unity of Scripture”, “The New Testament severity is far greater than that of the Old Testament. And why is that? God in the Old Testament did declare to Israel what a great evil sin was, but He never could tell them what He has told us – by Christ. God could could not say to Israel, “Sin is this – that would would like me not to exist: you would like to kill me.” Such a severe arraignment of the sinner was never made in the Old Testament; but when men crucified Jesus, then sin in its true character came to light. You never find in the Old Testament such a severe saying as this – that sin is enmity against God. Why, then, do people not say that the New Testament is too severe for them to endure it? Why do they not tremble at it? …”
Amen! I so agree! There is such depth as well as history in the old testament. So many prophecies that we see fulfilled in the new! I love the entire Word of God! We learn so much from the characters in the old testament. The mistakes they made, and how they really had a relationship with God.
If we ignore or deny the Old Testament we are denying the “Whole” of God. To preach only the blessings of God, without the balance of consequences for sin (called curses in the OT), is to remove context, and the very necessity for Jesus, who first came to save mankind from the consequences of their sin.
To treat the Old Testament as though it’s something that should be hidden, or excused somehow, is to give the world the impression that the Old Testament reveals a “character flaw” in God – as though He was an abusive controlling husband, that we have to apologise for, and keep reassuring “but He’s all better now.” This attitude reveals nothing of God’s true nature, but a lot about ours.
The Truth is, the Old Testament reveals the very foundation of His Love for us and His redemptive plan put in place before we were even created. When we truly know the love of God, the way we understand scripture is forever changed. We see the heart of God in His Laws, His mercy in His judgments, and His wonderful plan for His creation. We may not understand His ways, but we can never doubt that God is love (1 Jn 4:16) and He is the same, yesterday, today, and forever (Heb 13:8). ALL His work is perfect and ALL His ways are just. He is trustworthy and is not evil; He is righteous and upright (Deu 32:4). “For I know the plans and thoughts that I have for you,’ says the LORD, ‘plans for peace and well-being and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope.” (Jer 29:11)
The NT is the heart of the OT, and its fulfillment. The essence of the OT is creation, fall, and promise. The essence of the NT is fulfillment, redemption, and new creation! The human heart goes lub-dub. The Bible goes OT and New.