In today’s world, many Christians find themselves wrestling with the relevance of the Old Testament. Some argue that it’s outdated, filled with confusing laws, genealogies, and stories of ancient people that don’t seem applicable to modern life. Yet, when we dismiss the Old Testament, we miss out on a vital part of God’s message for humanity.
The Old Testament isn't just a collection of ancient writings—it is the foundation of the Bible’s entire story of redemption. Jesus Himself valued and taught from these scriptures. So, the question we must ask ourselves is this: If the Old Testament was so important to Jesus, should it not be important to us too?
Why Read the Old Testament?
When we think of Jesus, we often picture Him teaching in parables, healing the sick, and preaching about love and forgiveness. But do we ever consider how much of His teaching was rooted in the Old Testament? In Luke 4:17-21, we see Jesus standing in the synagogue, reading from the scroll of Isaiah:
"The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because He has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor." (Isaiah 61:1-2)
After reading, Jesus declared, “Today this Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.” Jesus saw His mission as the fulfillment of Old Testament prophecy. If the Old Testament shaped how He understood His purpose, shouldn’t we be paying closer attention?
Consider this: without the Old Testament, we wouldn’t fully grasp the significance of Christ’s sacrifice. In Romans 5:12-19, Paul contrasts Adam’s sin with Christ’s obedience. Adam’s disobedience brought sin into the world, but Christ’s sacrifice brings redemption. Without knowing the story of Adam’s fall (Genesis 3), we lose the context that highlights Jesus as the “second Adam,” the one who reverses the curse of sin.
A Story of Redemption, From Beginning to End
The Old Testament is far more than a historical account. It is the beginning of the story of God’s redemptive plan for humanity—a plan that finds its climax in the New Testament with the coming of Jesus. Genesis 3:15 provides the first hint of this plan:
"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."
This verse, known as the protoevangelium (the first gospel), points to a future deliverer who will defeat evil. As the story unfolds, we see God narrowing His focus from all of humanity to one man, Abraham, whose descendants would become a blessing to the entire world (Genesis 12:2-3). Through Abraham’s lineage came the nation of Israel, and ultimately, Jesus Christ.
Without the Old Testament, we miss out on the grand narrative of God’s covenant with His people—a covenant that starts with promises to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob and culminates in the coming of the Messiah. This overarching story connects the Old and New Testaments, making them inseparable.
Jesus in the Old Testament
When we dismiss the Old Testament, we fail to see how Jesus fulfills it. For instance, in Matthew 5:17, Jesus said, “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.” Jesus didn't discard the Old Testament; He completed it.
The sacrificial system outlined in books like Leviticus might seem foreign or irrelevant to modern readers. However, the Old Testament sacrifices were a foreshadowing of the ultimate sacrifice Jesus would make. The writer of Hebrews draws this connection: “Without the shedding of blood, there is no forgiveness of sins” (Hebrews 9:22). This system, which may seem distant to us today, prepared the way for Christ, the perfect and final sacrifice (Hebrews 10:14).
Tough Questions and Misunderstandings
One reason many people shy away from the Old Testament is the challenging nature of some of its passages. Stories like the flood in Genesis or the conquest of Canaan in Joshua raise difficult questions. How do we reconcile the God of love with what some see as harsh judgment?
It’s crucial to remember that God’s actions in the Old Testament are not arbitrary acts of violence; they are part of His larger plan of justice and redemption. In Genesis 6:5, God sees the great wickedness of humanity, noting that “every inclination of the thoughts of the human heart was only evil all the time.” His decision to send the flood was not out of cruelty, but out of the necessity to cleanse a corrupted world and begin anew.
Similarly, God’s command to drive the Canaanites out of the Promised Land wasn’t senseless violence but a way to protect Israel from the moral depravity of the Canaanite religion, which included practices like child sacrifice (Deuteronomy 12:31). The Israelites were meant to be a “light to the nations” (Isaiah 49:6), but to fulfill this calling, they had to remain separate from those who would lead them astray.
These hard passages remind us of the seriousness of sin and the holiness of God. As difficult as they may be, they point to a God who is both just and merciful—a theme that continues in the New Testament through Christ’s sacrificial death on the cross.
The Old Testament: A Lens for Understanding the New
If we read the New Testament without the Old, we’re only getting half of the story. Take the story of Jesus' conversation with the Samaritan woman at the well in John 4. The tension between Jews and Samaritans doesn’t fully make sense unless we know the Old Testament background found in 2 Kings 17, which explains the historical enmity between the two groups.
Similarly, when Jesus refers to Himself as the "Good Shepherd" (John 10:11), He is evoking imagery from the Old Testament, where God is often described as a shepherd (Psalm 23, Ezekiel 34). Understanding these references deepens our understanding of who Jesus is and what He came to do.
Where would we be without the Old Testament?
It provides the foundation for our faith, reveals the character of God, and points us to the ultimate fulfillment of God’s promises in Jesus. As 2 Timothy 3:16 reminds us, “All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness.” The "Scripture" Paul refers to includes the Old Testament.
Rather than seeing it as an outdated or irrelevant text, we should approach the Old Testament as a treasure trove of wisdom, history, and prophecy that reveals God’s redemptive plan from the very beginning. Jesus Himself valued it, and so should we.
So, the next time you open your Bible, don’t skip over the Old Testament. Dive into it with the expectation that God will reveal something new about Himself and His purpose for the world—because it matters more than you think.
Scriptures Referenced:
- Genesis 3:15
- Genesis 12:2-3
- Genesis 6:5
- Isaiah 61:1-2
- Romans 5:12-19
- Hebrews 9:22
- Deuteronomy 12:31
- Isaiah 49:6
- Matthew 5:17
- John 4
- John 10:11
- 2 Timothy 3:16
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