Friday, April 2, 2010

Why should we read/study the Old Testament?

Why should we read/study the Old Testament?

I've heard this from a number of Christians over the years and have actually known some Christians who have never read anything in the Old Testament. This just totally shocked me when I first heard it, and I guess it still does. So I decided that it was time to explain why the Old Testament is so important and why we need to read and study it every bit as much as the New Testament.

The bible was written by God. Yes He used men to do it, but the words themselves are His, not mans. God is the very best teacher there ever was or ever will be. He designed His Word for us to learn from and every single sentence in it is in the exact place where He knew it would do us the most good and teach us the most.

When you read a regular book, you don't start in the middle and finish it, you start at the beginning. No one would even consider leaving the beginning out of a regular book. Why in the world would you ignore the beginning of God's Word then?

Prophecy is progressive--it has a beginning, a middle and an end. If you do not read and study the Old testament, you cannot know the beginning and middle of the meanings of prophecy--any prophecy! And the bible is 2/3rds prophecy!

When the apostles taught people about Jesus, they taught them from the Old Testament! If that's what they did and if that's how the first new Christians learned, shouldn't we learn the same way? Especially considering it was how God wanted them to learn?


These passages are speaking of ALL of God's Word, not just the New Testament; remember, when this was written, there was no "new testament yet:

2 Timothy 3:16-17 All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.


Do you see that? All scripture, which includes the Old Testament, is to be used for teaching and training in righteousness.

Keep in mind, God doesn't change. He is still the same God as He is in the Old Testament, nor are any of His Words void and without meaning for us.

Matthew 5:17-18 “Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them. I tell you the truth, until heaven and earth disappear, not the smallest letter, not the least stroke of a pen, will by any means disappear from the Law until everything is accomplished.

Here Jesus Himself is speaking specifically of the Old Testament and assuring His followers that it is still of utmost importance for them! The Old Testament is not dead, it's not "finished" or "over", it's there to teach us every bit as much as the New Testament.
The Old testament fulfills this next passage every bit as much as the New Testament does:

Hebrews 4:12-13 For the word of God is living and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart. Nothing in all creation is hidden from God’s sight. Everything is uncovered and laid bare before the eyes of him to whom we must give account.

God commends the Bereans for searching the scriptures to discover the truth about Jesus. Most of us know that, but what we often fail to realize is that they were searching the Old Testament!


Acts 17:11 Now the Bereans were of more noble character than the Thessalonians, for they received the message with great eagerness and examined the Scriptures every day to see if what Paul said was true.


As I said, God doesn't change. If He commends them for studying the Old Testament, He will also commend us for doing so!

When you read a secular book, the first part of the book is generally concerned with introducing the major characters of the book, introducing the plot, and building the background of the characters so you can get to know them. This is true in God's Word as well. The Old Testament sets up the whole thing for us. We learn all about God and Jesus in the Old Testament, as well as a lot about the Holy Spirit. Without this basic knowledge of their characters, we can't hope to really understand what's being said in the New Testament. Every word of the New Testament was written with the understanding that the person reading it would have a good background in the Old Testament already!

Do you know that Jesus Himself shows up a bunch of times in the Old Testament? He does and it's fascinating! So does the Holy Spirit! When children are little, they are first taught their ABC's, then little by little they learn to read. The Bible is like that too. The Old Testament is our ABC's and without it we cannot possibly understand or know our Lord very well.

What about the times we're living in right now? What about all that's happening in the world and even all that's happening to us individually in our lives? The Old Testament addressed our times too! No, that's the wrong way to put it...the Old Testament teaches us about the times we're living in right now and the New Testament ADDS to what the Old Testament teaches us about it, not the other way around.

What about our future lives? What about our lives in heaven and/or during the millennium? Guess where you can find information about that...yep, the Old Testament!

Reading the Old Testament also reveals a LOT about our very selves! It teaches us who we really are and how God sees us as well as how He loves us.

Finally, if the Old Testament was important enough for Jesus to learn well and to teach His disciples, then I think it's more then important enough for us to learn well.
Jesus set us an example with everything He did and said, and He had a reason for all He did and said, unlike us regular humans. We need to follow His example and part of that is to read and study the Old Testament.

Without the Old Testament the Bible would be incomplete. Without studying the Old Testament, our learning is incomplete. God didn't write it to be a decoration or a paper weight, He wrote it to inform and guide us. The New Testament contains many references to the Old Testament and without having studied it, we can't understand that reference. Look at what Paul says here when he's talking about Abraham in the Old Testament:

Romans 4:23-25 The words “it was credited to him” were written not for him alone, but also for us, to whom God will credit righteousness—for us who believe in him who raised Jesus our Lord from the dead. He was delivered over to death for our sins and was raised to life for our justification.

This alone tells us without any doubt that the Old Testament was written for us who are born again! He also says speaking of the Old Testament:

Romans 15:4 For everything that was written in the past was written to teach us, so that through endurance and the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope.

Again speaking of what is written in the Old Testament, Paul said:

1 Corinthians 10:6 Now these things occurred as examples to keep us from setting our hearts on evil things as they did.

1 Corinthians 10:11 These things happened to them as examples and were written down as warnings for us, on whom the fulfillment of the ages has come.


These were all written in the New Testament for us because God knew that some would be tempted not to study His complete Word. Finally to cover that He says:

2 Peter 1:19 And we have the word of the prophets made more certain, and you will do well to pay attention to it, as to a light shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts.

This isn't just a nice poetic thing to say, he is saying that we need to pay attention to the Old Testament and that it will be important to us right up until Christ returns again!

God wrote His Word for us in a manner that He knew was the very best way to teach us. This verse from psalms shows that it is the "unfolding" of His Word that gives us knowledge, wisdom and understanding. By "unfolding" it means "to reveal gradually", "to develop in order". This is why we need the Old Testament.

Psalm 119:130 The unfolding of your words gives light; it gives understanding to the simple.

And here, Jesus is again referring to the Old Testament:

Mark 12:24 Jesus replied, “Are you not in error because you do not know the Scriptures or the power of God?

I truly hope that I've been able to show you why we need to read and study the Old Testament as well as the New. It is so very important for our growth! Besides which you simply miss out on some of the best reading in the world if you don't read it!

 

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