Without the Old Testament
Without the Old Testament
The Bible is composed of the Old Testament (OT) and the New Testament (NT). They are in conformity with each other. Both share the same theme of revealing the salvation of God for mankind, from the beginning of history till the ending time of the world. They complement each other in bringing forth the above important message to the fullest. The OT has its own special functions in serving this purpose. In it is contained so much valuable information that the missing of those information can critically weaken the credibility of the NT messages alone. The result can be disastrous in the sense that God does not just want His message to get across but it is his desire to have everyone believe in His message, “not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.” (2 Peter 3:9) Without the existence of the OT, our minds can be perplexed by the following unknowns when we read the New Testament:
1. WITHOUT the OT,
we would have never known how and why this universe came about. The same questions could be asked of the earth we are living on and, most significantly, about our very lives. What is the meaning of life, or human life? This is the question we all desire to know (or at least we as human beings ought to know)—a reflection of the working of our conscience.
Genesis tells us that God created heavens and the earth and everything on the earth. And He created them for His own glory, as Psalms 19:1 says, “The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands.”
God created mankind out of dust and in His own image (Gen 1:27). Had we not been made in God’s image, He would not have cared for us so much as said in Psalms 8:4-6, “What is man that you are mindful of him, the son of man that you care for him? You made him a little lower than the heavenly beings and crowned him with glory and honour. You made him ruler over the works of your hands; you put everything under his feet…” Thus, the OT reveals to us that we are created not only by a powerful God but, most of all, by a loving God who cherishes us far more than any other creatures on earth.
2. WITHOUT the OT,
we would not have known that our relationship with God at the beginning was in a state of harmony. This harmony was disrupted entirely by ourselves due to the weakness of our human nature, which is maliciously catalyzed by the tempter. It in turn explains why we need to work so hard every day for our living, the way of life destined by God as a form of punishment. (Gen 3:17) We simply bear our own consequences. It further explains the unchangeable nature of our mortality. Gen 3:19 states that our destiny is to work till the end of our days. It is in the merciful hands of God to provide a way for restoring the former state of harmony between us and God.
3. WITHOUT the OT,
it is difficult for us to understand the implications of the passages in the NT that cite the OT statements or expound their meaning. For example, in the Book of Matthews, many verses are intentionally cited from OT by the author to emphasize the theme that Jesus Christ is the Messiah, whose coming was continuously hoped for by the Israelites in the OT times. When Jesus began his preaching life, Matt 4:14-16 points out that “the light” mentioned in Isaiah 9:1-2 was meant to be Jesus himself. Even prior to Jesus’ preaching life, John the Baptist was also foretold in the OT as his pioneer (Matt 3:3 vs Isaiah 40:3).
In Hebrews, the author quotes the OT verses throughout the entire book to clarify the point that the ceremonies established by God in patriarch era serve as “a copy of the shadow of what is in heaven.” (Heb 8:5) Without having a precise idea of the procedures for making a tabernacle and all the associated offerings, it would be very difficult for us to understand the content of Chapter 9 of Hebrews about the priestly worship in the OT times. The author further explains that the offerings that God required the Israelites to make in the OT days represented the sacred duties that Jesus was to fulfill for the salvation of mankind. If the OT does not exist at all, one can hardly imagine that the author of Hebrews could have such great insight of linking the worship service in the OT times with the blood of Christ, not to speak of making those powerful points to prove his insight.
4. WITHOUT the OT,
we would have hardly known the origin of the Jewish race and how its historical development is related to the non-Jewish races.
“Messiah”, the main kernel of Jewish religious practice and belief, is found to have the same degree of importance for us aliens—and even more, since we are alienated from God’s grace at the threshold. Indeed, we can find in Israel’s history that God’s hand is everywhere across the time controlling the events of human history and, more significantly, guiding His people along to march toward the ultimate goal of salvation. Fortunately, we aliens are not left behind in His redemption scheme. Many places in the NT have also made this point very clear. The Epistle of Ephesians describes us as Gentiles who are uncircumcised, “excluded from citizenship in Israel and foreigners to the covenant of the promise, without hope and without God in the world.” (Ephe 2:11-12) Thanks be to Jesus Christ, he “has made the two one” (Ephe 2:14) so that we are “no longer foreigners and aliens, but fellow citizens with God’s people and members of God’s household” (Ephe 2:19). A thorough understanding of the covenants that God made with Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and the people of Israel in the OT helps us to appreciate more of the bountiful grace of God that extends from the Jewish race to all the non-Jewish races.
5. WITHOUT the OT,
many prophesies and promises that were mentioned in the OT times and later fulfilled in the NT times or thereafter could have never been testified. Fulfillment of God’s word is the key in strengthening our faith in the NT messages and thus keeping our hope given by those messages from vanishing. Just imagine how much faith we could put on the NT with the absence of the fulfillment of the prophesies! For instance, the birthplace of Jesus the Messiah—Bethlehem, as recorded in the NT—was already revealed as early as 730 years ahead of his birthdate by the prophet Micah. (Micah 5:2) Therefore, the OT can adequately exemplify God’s omniscience and omnipotence.
6. WITHOUT the OT,
we would not have known that God has some basic requirements (or rules) for His people to observe in regard to religious worship as well as social responsibilities. As for religious worship, we have a glimpse of what our future worship of God will be like in heaven through the reading of the Books of Exodus, Numbers and Deuteronomy.
Although social responsibilities are well expressed in our own countries by virtue of our civil laws and regulations nowadays, a comparison of God’s requirements between the OT and the NT has far more implications for us. The OT explicitly states the rules of our social behavior whereas the NT tells us to behave in favour of God in a more general concept. The NT allows us to understand more of the spirit behind our conduct of living—to love people as God the Father loves us. The OT states the ordinances that we should obey, ways of showing the love of God to the people that He created.
7. WITHOUT the OT,
we would not have perceived how God’s plan of salvation was well thought, managed, and implemented progressively. The successful implementation of this magnificent plan of God displays God’s wisdom, His power, faithfulness, His endurance and truthfulness.
God initiated the plan of delivering mankind from sin right after the fall of the first couple He made. God said to the serpent, which tempted Eve into sin, “I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and hers; he will crush your head, and you will strike his heel.” (Gen 3:15) God at that time has already destined that a savior would appear in future to crush the power of Satan, under whose control are all who are living by the flesh.
The calling of all the faithful people in the OT times such as Abraham demonstrated God’s principle of salvation: “righteousness claimed through faith”—in contrast to “righteousness gained by deeds” which has proven to be stumbling block for many. Gen 15:6 neatly proclaims this great message: “Abram believed the Lord, and he credited it to him as righteousness.”
8. WITH the OT,
we can perceive our human weakness of doing good through the failures of our ancestors. Some are even deemed as God’s friends (such as Abraham) or examples of God’s favoured people (such as David). However, their wrongful acts are mercilessly recorded in details in the OT. We are continuously reminded of the repeated sins of mankind throughout the entire OT. We are somehow marked with a circle of our fleshly limitations in doing good, just as Paul exclaimed in Rom 7:21, “I find this law at work: When I want to do good, evil is right there with me.” “For I have the desire to do good, but I cannot carry it out.” (Rom 7:18) After Paul experienced the power of God in his conversion, he understood the truth of trusting in Jesus Christ for deliverance from being the slave of sin. That’s why he followed by saying, “Who will rescue me from this body of death? Thanks be to God—through Jesus Christ our Lord!” (Rom 7:24-25)
Conclusion
In summary, the OT and the NT, combined together, provide a complete picture or floorplan of God’s plan of salvation for mankind. In fact, the basis of the NT requires the existence of the OT. The OT spells out the laws and commandments of God that not only serve to govern man’s behavior, but more significantly lead to our recognition of sin (Rom 7:7). Only by this are we soon to realize that we all need the grace of God to spare us from His eternal judgment, thus the commencement of the NT: “For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.” (John 1:17) Jesus himself testifies in Matt 5:17, “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.” How can Jesus fulfill the Law if the Law is not given at first? Jesus himself, our savior and the true Messiah, justifies the existence of the OT, which paves way for the introduction of the NT.