The Old Covenant reveals what is authentic and real about creation and the nature of the Creator. He is honorable and admirable, noble and reputable, compelling and gracious, beautiful and awesome, pure and holy, merciful and just. 

The nature of humanity is revealed there as well. Clearly, we can see why we need a deliverer. God’s mercy is expressed through His justice. His judgments reveal what is just and true. Depending on our motives and actions, His justice is seen as either favorable or unfavorable. From the moment humans rebelled against Him, all would have been lost if not for His righteous judgments.

His patience to give nations time, sometimes centuries, to turn from their hellish depravity, slavery, and slaughter is pure mercy. And when His sovereign, eternal plans of redemption for the world are in jeopardy through human rebellion, all He has to do is lift off His hand of protection, and the consequences of human sin are revealed.

Jesus the Messiah, the Living Expression of the Father, confirms Old Covenant prophecies down to the very details. Isaiah 53 is a beautiful example:

“Yet it was our weaknesses he carried; it was our sorrows that weighed him down. And we thought his troubles were a punishment from God, a punishment for his own sins! But he was pierced for our rebellion, crushed for our sins. He was beaten so we could be whole. He was whipped so we could be healed. All of us, like sheep, have strayed away. We have left God’s paths to follow our own. Yet the Lord laid on him the sins of us all. 

“He was led like a lamb to the slaughter. And as a sheep is silent before the shearers, he did not open his mouth. Unjustly condemned, he was led away.  No one cared that he died without descendants, that his life was cut short in midstream. But he was struck down for the rebellion of my people” (Isaiah 53:4-8).

And here is the stunning wonder of the Cross: “My righteous servant (the Messiah) will make it possible for many to be counted righteous, for he will bear all their sins” (vs. 11).We can’t neglect the Old Covenant. God’s actions down through history are the pattern for the future. Jesus is the same, yesterday, today, and forever (Malachi 3:6 & Hebrews 13:8).