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The Old Testament or Old Covenant is the portion of the Bible that contains the revealed truth. The Old Testament is fundamental and preparatory for the coming of Christ. It is in the Old Testament that we find the first mention of the coming salvation of man, after the fall of Adam and Eve. In (Gen. 3:15) we have the first announcement of a Savior for mankind in Jesus Christ. The Scripture says that Satan will strike the heal of Eve’s seed, meaning Christ will be cutoff and die. But Christ will literally crush the head of Satan through the power of His resurrection and become the first of the resurrection to live to eternal life. (Gen. 3:15) does not mention Jesus Christ by name but when you compare this Scripture with other prophecies in the Old Testament it can be know doubt that (Gen. 3:15) refers to Christ. (Gen. 3:15) is, of coarse, in the Old Testament.
The Old Testament bears a vital and inseparable relationship to the New Testament. The NT is enfolded in the OT, and the OT is unfolded by the NT. There can be no understanding of the NT without the OT. And the prophecies of Christ in the OT can be seen fulfilled in the NT. In the (Gen. 3:15) we find the promise of salvation, while in (Gal. 3:16) and (Gal. 4:4, 5) we have the confirmation. It is a mistake to separate the two testaments or to preach/teach from the NT and totally disregard the OT. As I have stressed it is impossible to fully grasp any understanding of the NT without first studding the OT and what it has to reveal. It is like reading a play, you can not grasp the ending and the purpose without first reading the beginning. There is a progression from the OT to the NT and that progression was planed by God so that we can receive meaning and understanding of God’s purpose and the necessity of Christ for salvation.
In the OT God formed a covenant with Abraham who was the first Hebrew, (Gen. 12:1-3; 13:14-17; 14:13; 15:18), and promised that he and his seed would inherit the land of Canaan forever. God also told Abraham a prophecy concerning the Hebrew (Jewish) nation, (Gen. 15:13-16), that will inherit the land of Canaan through him. We can find a confirmation of this promise in the NT, (Gal. 3:16), which the OT revealed.
The prophecy of the seed of Abraham as a nation was first revealed in the OT. This nation was suppose to exemplify God’s nature before the world and be a blessing to others (Ex. 19:5, 6; Deut. 4:6; 7:6). But the Hebrew (Jewish) nation failed at this mission. The OT prophesied that the Messiah would have to undertake this mission and glorify God before the world (Isa. 49:1-7). We do have a confirmation in the NT, (Luke 2:25-40), of this OT prophecy.
As we can see there is a pattern of revelation of prophecy that pertains to Christ in the OT and confirmation in the NT. The one can not exist without the other. There are many prophecies that refer to Christ in the OT. There is a prophecy in (Isa. 9:6, 7) and (Dan. 7:9-14) which has confirmation in (Rev. 19:11-16). There is a prophecy in (Isa. 53) that has confirmation in (Heb. 9:11-17, 22-28; 10:9-14).
There is a prophecy in the NT delivered by the angel Gabriel, (Luke 1:26-35), that tells us that Jesus will inherit “the throne of his father David.” And that He “shall reign over the house of Jacob,” and possess a kingdom. To show that Jesus Christ qualified legally to inherit the kingdom and the land of promise we must refer to the OT to prove His legal rights.
If we read (Isa. 11:1-5, 10) we will find that we have the revelation of an OT prophecy that the NT proves and confirms. The OT reveals to us that there will be “a rod out of the stem of Jesse, and a Branch shall grow out of his roots.” When we turn to the NT we find that Jesus came through the bloodline of David’s son Nathan (Luke 3:31), by His mother Mary; Jesus received the royal lineage through His legal father, Joseph, who was descended from David through Solomon (Matt. 1:6).
So you see it is very important to have a solid understanding of the OT to fully grasp the purpose in the NT. The NT is a fulfillment of the OT and deals with the nativity, life, ministry, death, resurrection, and ascension of the predicted Messiah. The OT fully presents the first advent of Christ, leaving the gap between the two comings to be filled in by the NT church. The OT in amazing detail presents the coming of the Redeemer to work out man’s salvation (Isa. 53:1-12), predicts the second coming of Christ (Dan. 7:13, 14), and the establishment of the Millennial Kingdom, involving the restoration of Israel (Isa. 9:6, 7; 11:11-13).
Although the OT Scriptures were given to one nation, its message is for all of us even the entire world. It must be remembered that the mission of the Messiah was primarily to the Jewish nation, (Matt. 10:5-6; John 1:11), but the whole world is to benefit from what Christ accomplished.
Minister George Condry
(Jeremiah 3:15)
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