There are some that claim that the Old Testament of the Bible is antiquated and out dated. That the stories in it and the content aren't relevant to our current needs.
I admit, the Old Testament isn't my go to part of the Bible but there are hidden gems throughout its text.
In fact, littered throughout it's text are hundreds of prophecies about the coming of Christ. I read an article that said, the probability of one man fulfilling just eight of the prophecies would be 10 to the 17th power. Which means if you had that many silver dollars and you spread them across the state of Texas, they would cover the state two feet deep in coins. Now mark just one of those coins and place it somewhere amongst the rest, blind fold a man and ask Him to find it, that's the odds that Christ went up against when He fulfilled the prophecies. This is the treasures you find in the Old Testament.
When Christ hung on the cross He says, My God my God why have you forsaken me, this is a quote from Psalms 22, go read it, and it's the first line of that Psalms. In Jesus’s dying breathes, He's trying to convince the crowd He is their Messiah. The Psalm is a direct telling of what was happening to Him at that moment. He's basically saying to those that new Old Testament scripture, look at that Psalm, see it talks about Me, right now in this moment I have fulfilled this scripture and if you read the last part of the Psalms, while He is dying, He is telling them to place their trust in Him and turn their hearts to Him. Basically, in just a few words, hanging on the cross, Jesus was preaching His last sermon.
If we get rid or discount the Old Testament we lose those kind of treasures.
One of my favorites and I've said it before, is the book of Esther. If you read Esther as a purely historical account then you've missed the deeper picture. Esther is you and the King is Christ. He sent out a call for all the women of the land. When He brings you into His palace, you are taught by the Holy Spirit how to be presentable to the King. It's a story of how we get drawn in by God, get born again and come to be one with Christ. It's a beautiful story if you read it like it's your story.
We cannot do without the wisdom of Proverbs or the poetic praises of Psalms. We can't be without the warnings of how Israel acted towards God or lost their way. We can't discount how their mistakes gives us grace as we can learn from them and not repeat what they did. How can we look into the eyes of God and say, 5,000 years of your history with man is not relevant to us anymore. It just doesn't make sense. If it wasn't for Genesis we wouldn't know where we came from or where we need to go. If it wasn't for God calling Abraham and Him trusting God or Noah or Solomon or David or any of them, Jesus wouldn't have come and we would all be lost still, in utter darkness. We owe our salvation to their foundations. We owe our understanding to their journey.
So, for someone to say, the Old Testament is irrelevant our out dated, they have internal issues and need them worked out with God. So read it, learn from it and glean all you can from it. However, don't live as they did, without hope. Live with hope because we have something they didn't have and that is Christ Jesus. Now some knew of His coming and praised the day He would come but they didn't see Him. Yet we get to see Him in us daily and we should also be extremely humble for that fact. They wanted signs and wonders and miracles to see but we have faith. They wanted provisions and physical comfort, we must seek spiritual comfort. They had the law and tried to obey it by their fleshly means. We have the law living inside of us that we might fulfill the law, not by our own hands but by the hands of the one living in us. They proclaimed a day when Messiah would come, we proclaim He is with us....Oh Emanuel.
So they paved the way and we can see that. They opened a door and we walked in. They proclaimed from death we proclaim from life. They saw and did not believe, we don't see and we do. Yet in all our differences, we have developed the same sense of over inflated egos. We are the church, look at us, we have God. We are chosen and loved and highly favored. This may be true but our hearts are far from Him like theirs was. We can sit for an hour and sing then sit another hour and listen to preaching, yet our hearts are corrupt and they show no love for the Father. Both ages have raised up huge buildings for His name yet those that are in them cannot seem to understand how to worship Him. Stones were thrown in anger as those that broke law were punished. Now we throw insults and the same hatred for those who disagree is still lingering.
As we read the Old Testament, we are supposed to learn from their mistakes yet I don't think we have. They gave us a road map to God's heart and we have ignored it. No wonder the enemy wins daily as we cast aside the examples and the pathfinders of our faith.
To God be the Glory!
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