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is obsolete.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.
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