The New Testament Gospel Is the Means to Understanding the Old Testament Prophets

Elevate Christian Network :: The New Testament Gospel

By: Roger Himes — The Gospel Coach

The New Testament Gospel:  At times, we seem to think of the Old Testament as being totally separate from, and irrelevant to the New. But this is not true. Granted, as New Testament believers, we should begin with the New Testament gospel, because the cross is the cornerstone and foundation of all of God’s history.

COMPARE AND CONTRAST THE OLD VS. THE NEW

But this does not mean to overlook the Old Testament. This means we should know the Old Testament, especially in light of comparing the

Old and the New Testament Gospel. The Apostle Paul was the greatest at comparing and contrasting “The Old vs. the New Covenants.” He does this the best in the book of Hebrews, but in other books also.

DON’T LIVE BY THE OLD

The Old Testament has so many valuable things in it, and there are aspects of it that are still ripe for us today. For instance, the Psalms and the Proverbs are great. Psalms helps us connect with God, and Proverbs helps us interface with, and live in the world and other people. We should know the history of God, contained in the first 17 books of the Old Testament, and then the prophets of God in the last 17 books.

But we should not try to live our lives by the truths of the Old Testament.

JESUS SET ASIDE THE OLD AND ESTABLISHED THE NEW

This is what we are told in Hebrews 10:9. Hebrews 9:9-10 tells us that the cross was “The Time of Reformation.” This means total reform. Paul says it like this: “Old (Covenant) things are passed away. Behold! All things have become new.”

STUDYING THE OLD PROPHETS OF GOD

Too often, our study of Old Testament prophets leads us into the thinking that they were only for Israel and Judah, and that they really have no relevance to us today. This is not true for the following reasons.

The purpose of the prophets is to show the hidden mystery of the gospel message in them. It’s a deeper message for us in the New Covenant than even for Old Testament people. The surface level message is very obvious. Both Israel and Judah were guilty of sin, and breaking the covenant with God. Therefore, they were under condemnation, judgment, and punishment for wrong doing.

ALL THE PROPHETS SPOKE OF JESUS

Now, they didn’t speak of Jesus by name, but they did speak of something coming that they didn’t totally understand. They spoke of a coming “Day of the Lord” — a coming King and his coming Kingdom.

Jesus says the prophets ALL spoke of him, and his ministry. This being true, there must be a deeper message than just our sin, because Jesus became sin for us (II Cor 5:21). God even forgets our sin (Heb 8:12, 10:17).

The gospel is the power of God (Rom 1:17), and it is this power of the gospel that Paul says produces good fruit in us (Col 1:5-6).

We are also judged by the gospel (Rom 2:16).

The gospel is so important it must be preached in all the world before the end will come (Mat 24:14). Angels even preach it from heaven it’s so important (Rev 14:6).

Today, God only relates to us through the gospel.

THEREFORE, we can’t just read the prophets, the law, the Psalms, or the history of God only in light of the Old Testament. We must read it in light of the New Covenant or New Testament Gospel of the finished work of the cross.

Jesus said all the prophets were fulfilled in him (Mat 7:18-19, Luke 24:25-27, 44-45). All the Old Testament prophets studied and searched and longed to see the changes that were coming for us in the New Covenant that Jeremiah 31 speaks of (I Pet 1:9-12). Thus Hebrews 11:39-40 (which is ‘the hall of faith’ of Old Testament people) says that God has something BETTER for us in the New Testament gospel.

The OLD ways of God are meant to draw us to God’s New Testament Gospel and living way (Heb 10:20). His NEW ways allow us to experience him to the fullest due to his love and grace (Eph 3:16-21). In the New, when we are established in faith and trust in God, he can do more than we can even begin to ask or think (Eph 3:20).

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

As The Gospel Life Coach, Roger shows how the gospel is the power of God, enabling us to live life better by accident than we ever could on purpose. http://www.TheGospelCoach.com. You will begin to find new coaching videos at: http://RogerHimesLifeCoach-GospelTranformation.com. Read regular tweets on Twitter: /TheGospelCoach

 

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