Don't Unhitch from the Old Testament
In a 2018 sermon, the pastor of North Point Church, Andy Stanley, encouraged the church to “unhitch” from the Old Testament: “(First Century) Church leaders unhitched the church from the worldview, value system, and regulations of the Jewish scriptures,“ Stanley said. ”Peter, James, Paul elected to unhitch the Christian faith from their Jewish scriptures, and my friends, we must as well.“ (the sermon link is found here). Some Christians say, “The Old Testament is outdated, irrelevant, old covenant nonsense.” Others project their own view that God in the Hebrew Scriptures is jealous, petty, angry, and crotchety - but the New Testament God is all love and everyone gets a free puppy (they’ve clearly never read either testaments!).
What is our response to this?
1. Jesus is the fulfillment of the Old Testament.
After Jesus had risen, two of His disciples were walking on the road to Emmaus, and in Luke 24, Jesus appeared to them and rebuked them for not anticipating His death, burial, and subsequent resurrection:
And he said to them, “O foolish ones, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken! 26 Was it not necessary that the Christ should suffer these things and enter into his glory?” 27 And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he interpreted to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning himself. (Luke 24:25-27)
Steve Lawson says that the Bible is a "him” book - it is a book all about Him - all about the Lord Jesus Christ.
“The Old Testament says He’s coming. The Gospels say He’s here. The book of Acts proclaim Him. The epistles explain Him. And Revelation says He’s coming again. That’s the Bible in a nutshell.”
In Genesis we see Jesus, the Word, who was with God in the beginning, and that all things were made by Him and for Him.
We see Jesus as the Seed of Eve who would one day be struck but who would crush the head of the serpent.
We see Jesus as the manna from heaven and the rock in the wilderness that feeds, nourishes, and supplies God’s people.
We see Jesus as the true and greater Passover Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world and saves us from the fearful wrath of God.
We see Jesus as the one lifted up on the pole for all to see, and those who behold Him are saved from destruction.
We see Jesus in each feast, as God’s people celebrate the living water that will never run dry, and the tabernacle of God who dwells with man.
We see Jesus in the songs, poems, and wisdom literature as the praise and fulfillment of Israel, the coming Messiah-King, and the Logos of God.
We see Jesus in the prophets as the suffering servant, the Beth lehem-born king coming on the foal of a donkey who will bring His people out of exile and redeem them.
2. All Scripture is God-breathed and is profitable.
Romans 15:4 says, “For whatever was written in former days was written for our instruction, that through endurance and through the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope.”
In the verse right before this, Paul references Psalm 69:9. Ostensibly, Paul is recounting how Scripture written by David hundreds of years prior to this - written in antiquity - can simultaneously continue to both instruct and encourage believers throughout all time. There is a direct link between the people of God and God Himself - where God’s revelation brings endurance and encouragement down to God’s people, which causes hope to spring back up in praise, adoration, and glory back to God within and among His beloved image bearers. That link between God and His people - that revelation - is the Scriptures!
In fact, from this verse, John Stott provides us 5 important truths about Scripture (from verse 4) which I find very insightful:
John Stott: 5 Truths About Scripture
a. Contemporary intention - they may have been written in the past, but the Holy Spirit inspired the writers of Scripture to have a timeless message for all generations. I can’t think of any other book still relevant today after 2000+ years/ Thankfully dentists aren’t consulting journals from the sixth century B.C. for your root canal! But that fact speaks to the power of God’s eternal word. God’s Word is able to make us wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.
b. Inclusive value - everything written in the past is for our instruction. This doesn’t mean everything in history - but everything we read in the Holy Scriptures. No, not everything in the Bible is of equal value (there are some verses with greater weight and impact than others), but even just a quote from a half-verse in Psalm 69 is valuable to us.
c. Christological focus - in other words, the Scriptures testify of Jesus. The Bible is for us - but it’s not about us - it is about Jesus (as we just looked at above).
d. Practical purpose - Consider how the Scriptures instruct us, but they also bring encouragement and hope to us as we endure hardship. The Bible is not just a textbook for you to merely learn intellectually, as though the church gathering is a class we attend and hope to get an A in because we can regurgitate the material accurately. No, this book changes us from the inside out, it divides joints and marrow and provides hope and encouragement.
e. Divine message - there’s a parallel with ‘endurance and encouragement’ in verse four, with 'the God of endurance and encouragement’ in verse five. When Scripture speaks, God speaks! Justin Peters says, “if you want to hear God speak to you, read the Bible. If you want to hear God speak to you audibly, read the Bible out loud!”
3. The Old Testament Scripture provides hope and encouragement.
How do I live a life of hope in the midst of dark, despairing, evil and fearful days? Through endurance, and the encouragement of the Scriptures! Now in context, Paul is speaking specifically about the Old Testament - and yet even the Old Testament was written for our instruction.
There are some who would say “just read from the New Testament” - and sadly some pastors and churches only teach from the NT rather than from the volume of the book. Those with that view would get an earful from the apostle Paul! They’d also get an earful from the prince of preachers, Charles Spurgeon, who said:
“The apostle declares that the Old Testament Scriptures are meant to teach New Testament believers. Things written aforetime were written for our time.”
Consider what we have in the Old Testament:
We learn that there is a Creator God who is YHWH - gracious and compassionate, slow to anger, abounding in loving faithfulness, just and true.
We learn about the utter ruin of man and his incapacity to meet God’s holy standard, and yet created as God’s image bearers to rule the earth and fill it with the knowledge of God.
We learn about how God selected one nation to be His own special people, but how they failed to be loyal and faithful to the God of promise even though He had never failed them.
We learn how God provided a means to cover man’s sin but this all foreshadowed how He would put a final end to sin through the redemptive work of the Lamb of God, Jesus Christ.
We learn how a remnant of God’s people endured trials by God’s grace and were justified by faith, whether it is Abraham, Joseph, Moses, David, Nehemiah, Esther, or Daniel. The OT writings produce in us a persevering faith and a faith that is encouraged to stay strong in the God of hope.
This is why it is so important for us to be people of the Book. To orient our lives, even our daily lives, around the study of and submission to the Word of God. A Christian who neglects the daily reading of Scripture is in effect saying “I am not in need of God’s revelation today. I am too busy or I’m uninterested”. And yet we fill our minds with the words of a thousand other counselors and then wonder why we lack both the knowledge of God’s Word as well as persevering hope in the midst of despairing circumstances.
Open the pages of Genesis to Malachi today, and find endurance and encouragement in your walk with Christ!
