“And beginning at Moses and all the Prophets, He (Jesus Christ) expounded to them in all the [OT] Scriptures the things concerning Himself. …that all things must be fulfilled which were written in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms concerning Me” (Luke 24:27, 44)
Several years ago, a pastoral search committee asked me to help them find a candidate for their pastoral position. I agreed to be of help and began with the resume of a godly and good man I had known and thought he would be a possibility. But you can imagine my surprise when I saw a list of his sermons, not one of them coming from the Old Testament!
Here are some basics of what you need to know about the Old Testament:
- About 2/3 of the Bible is what constitutes the OT (Old Testament).
- The word “old” does not refer to being obsolete but to being earlier in time.
- Jesus, the apostles, and true Christians throughout history acknowledged the entirety of the OT as factually true and God-breathed (II Timothy 3:16).
- The OT is filled with references to Jesus the Messiah. It does so through unmistakable predictions and pointing to His person, words, and works. (For example, did you know that “The Angel of the LORD” speaks of Him)?!
- One can hardly understand the NT (New Testament) without a fuller knowledge of the OT! As examples, to understand the NT Book of Hebrews, you will need to comprehend the OT Books of Exodus and Leviticus! How about awareness that the NT Book of Revelation is chock full of direct and indirect references to the OT! Surprised?
- Without the OT you would be devoid of massive predictions to be fulfilled, devoid of huge portions of historical facts, devoid of a fuller understanding of God’s creation, person, and power, and devoid of any hope [of salvation] (Romans 15:4 spells it out: “For whatever things were written before were written for our learning, that we through the patience and comfort of the Scriptures might have hope”)!
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