Skip to main content

Learning from the Old Testament




     To listen to some Christians talk one would have to come to the conclusion that the Old Testament is obsolete. If I were to quote a Minor Prophet, for example, I can almost here someone’s thought: But that’s Old Testament. Where do we get this idea that the first 39 books of the Bible lost their value once Paul picked up his pen?

     Consider some of the wonderful truths that the first testament brought us:

*The beginning. Genesis 1:1 boldly declares that God, not Darwin or chance, is responsible for the universe.

*The Messiah. Isaiah and the Psalms paint vivid pictures of the first coming of the Messiah. Jesus in the New Testament is recognized as the Messiah (instead of just a teacher or prophet) because He met the descriptions written centuries before.

*Wisdom. Where would we be without the poetic book of Proverbs? Whether Old Testament or New, “the fear of the Lord” is still “the beginning of wisdom.”

*The end. John’s New Testament Revelation is found lacking on its own. Only when blended together with Daniel do we get a fuller eschatological picture.

     There is so much more that could be pointed out, like the fact that 2011’s most quoted verse was probably Micah 6:8 (and for good reason). And yet, if one were to look at the average church, you might discover that children’s classes are rich with the accounts of David and Goliath, Samson, Noah, and Jonah, while the adult classes are pure epistles.

     It’s almost as if we subconsciously think that the Old Testament is just little kid stories, far too imaginative for our adult reasoning.

     But as adult believers we must understand how both Testaments work together. No one would pick up a good novel, flip two-thirds of the way through the book, and begin reading late in the story. “Ah, the first part is just introduction stuff.” This is why we fail to understand the Gospel—we are skipping the beginning.

     Here is a quick run through of the Old Testament:

     God created the world as a perfect place, but when Adam and Eve chose to sin, they invited the curse into this planet. Fellowship with God was broken, and in Genesis 3:15, God gave the first hint that a Deliverer would eventually solve this problem.

     Years later, God appeared to a man named Abram and made him a great promise, that he would become the father of a great nation that would live in a promised land. The Lord blessed him with a son named Isaac, and that same promise was repeated to this “child of promise” years later. Isaac’s son Jacob had a dream one night where the Lord reaffirmed this same promise; Jacob’s name was soon changed to Israel, and his descendants became the Israelites.

     Jacob’s 11th son Joseph was hated by his 10 older brothers, and they sold him into Egyptian slavery. After many years and a major famine, his family was forced to move to Egypt to find food, and they were reunited with their brother. They remained in Egypt, and after many generations, grew into millions of people. However, the Egyptians ruled over them as taskmasters.

     That is why God rose up a deliverer, a foreshadowing of the Deliver that was to come. This first deliverer, Moses, was commissioned by God to lead the Israelites out of Egypt and into the promised land. Moses does his part, but dies on the brink of the new land; Joshua then led the people in to possess their inheritance.

     After several years, which included judges and a wicked king, God anointed David to rule over Israel. Between David and his successor/son Solomon, a beautiful temple was built as a place of worship and sacrifice. God promised that His Son would come to the throne through their family line.

     The Old Testament ends with the nation being defeated, split, and exiled, although they eventually come back together. The New Testament opens with Israel being oppressed by the Roman government. The stage is set for that promised Deliverer to come, although many misunderstood Jesus’ mission.

     To see why this is all so important, read Part 2.

(Read Part 3 here)

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

To Save a Life

(Like my blog about the peace symbol, this blog was written as a default response to all the parents, students, and other people who are asking my opinion of To Save a Life.) By now you have probably heard of the movie To Save a Life, which opened nation-wide in theaters on January 22nd. The movie deals with so many issues that teens face today, like suicide, cutting, drinking, drugs, premarital sex, teen pregnancy, and abortion. At first glance this movie looks like an awesome resource that we should recommend for our teens, parents, youth pastors, and youth workers. But a closer look at the movie reveals a few disturbing things. For starters, according to pluggedin.com, there are 2 uses of the “A” word, 5 uses of hell (used as a curse word), and once the “D” word is used. There are other crude terms used to describe a girl, and crude terms for referring to sexual activity. There is also a bedroom scene that shows a girl removing a boy’s shirt, then afterwards the girl putting he

Evangelism

“Preach the gospel at all times, and when necessary, use words.” St. Francis of Assisi is given credit for this famous quote (although that exact phrasing does not appear in any of his writings), and a lot of people would think that this is a great philosophy. His actual quote was that everyone should “preach by their deeds.” Preaching with our deeds is not just a strategy, it is a necessity. We are commanded all through the Scriptures to let our light shine and be a peculiar people. People should be able to look at our lives and see that we are Christians. They should see the love of Christ readily on display, and thus feel compelled to live their lives in the same way. The sermon that we should preach with our lives is a sermon of love, joy, peace, patience, self-control, forgiveness, conviction, etc. But this idea that has emerged that says we should ONLY preach with our deeds is a heresy straight from the devil himself. Think about it: who is the one that does not want you t

What is a Curse Word?

I know. Stupid question, right? But lately I have heard Christians begin to debate what actually makes a word a curse word. Since the Bible never says, “Thou shalt not say the ‘s’ word,” how do we know that a word is bad? Because of this I have heard Christians justify cursing. The Bible gives a broad command for Christians to adhere to: let no corrupt word come out of your mouth (Ephesians 4:29). The word corrupt means rotten; therefore, we should never say a rotten word, whether it is on the list of curse words or not. First, we have to realize that there are curse words. On the night of Jesus’ arrest Peter was found guilty of using one himself. Matthew 26:74 tells us that when Peter denied knowing Jesus that he began “to curse and to swear.” This verse shows that there are curse words, and that they are wrong to use. I’m sure whatever words Peter said were not the same curse words that we have in our culture today. Here is the point: a curse word (or rotten word) is any wo