The Bible is the inspired Word of God from cover to cover (2 Peter 1:19-21). Yes, that means from Genesis 1:1 to Revelation 22:21 and all the verses in between. All of them. Despite this fact, there are those in the Church who disdain or even ignore the Old Testament. One of the main go-to arguments seems to be that we are not under the Law anymore. No kidding…Of course we are not under the Law anymore! But to discard the Old Testament just because we are no longer obligated to the ceremonial laws is to throw out the proverbial baby with the bathwater. Look at what this passage says:
1 Corinthians 10:1-11: Moreover, brethren, I do not want you to be unaware that all our fathers were under the cloud, all passed through the sea, all were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea, all ate the same spiritual food, and all drank the same spiritual drink. For they drank of that spiritual Rock that followed them, and that Rock was Christ. But with most of them God was not well pleased, for their bodieswere scattered in the wilderness.
Now these things became our examples, to the intent that we should not lust after evil things as they also lusted. And do not become idolaters as were some of them. As it is written, “The people sat down to eat and drink, and rose up to play.” Nor let us commit sexual immorality, as some of them did, and in one day twenty-three thousand fell; nor let us tempt Christ, as some of them also tempted, and were destroyed by serpents; nor complain, as some of them also complained, and were destroyed by the destroyer. Now all these things happened to them as examples, and they were written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the ages have come.
For those of you who are familiar with the Bible, you know that much of what Paul is referring to here occurred in some of the earliest Old Testament books, the account of the exodus from Egypt and the time Israel spent in the wilderness journey. This from a man who wrote roughly half the books in the New Testament! Furthermore, in the earliest days of the Church the Old Testament was the only set of Scriptures that believers had. We can see from just one OT account the value of reading it, the lessons we can learn as believers. And there is more. Consider the account of Jesus’s temptation in the wilderness by Satan in the Gospels of Matthew and Luke. Utilizing Matthew’s account (Luke’s is virtually identical), here are some Scripture excerpts of Christ’s response to the temptations the devil tried to lure Him with:
Matthew 4:4, 7, 10: But He answered and said, “It is written, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.’ ”…Jesus said to him, “It is written again, ‘You shall not tempt the LORD your God.’ ”…Then Jesus said to him, “Away with you, Satan! For it is written, ‘You shall worship the LORD your God, and Him only you shall serve.’ ”
Those who want to get away from the Old Testament would argue that at this time the OT was all that existed. This does not change the fact that the whole Bible is the inspired Word of God. If the Old Testament Scriptures were good enough for Jesus Christ, the living Word (John 1:1, 14), then they are good enough for us. And then there is the eleventh chapter of Hebrews, which contains what has been dubbed “The Hall of Faith” (Hebrews 11:3-38). This lengthy passage lists numerous saints who had a strong faith in God—all of them Old Testament saints. By the 60’s AD some of Paul’s writings were already starting to be viewed as Scripture (2 Peter 3:14-16), part of the body of writings that would form the New Testament canon, formally accepted several centuries later. In spite of that, the listing of these faithful Old Testament believers would be meaningless if the OT went unread. How is The Hall of Faith less relevant today? It is not. In fact, in this rapidly darkening and evil world, more than ever must we consume the spiritual food of the Bible, both the Old and the New Testament.
We need a balanced spiritual diet just like we need a balanced physical food diet. Improper diets lead to all sorts of physical problems, from obesity to excessive leanness. Issues with the gums, hair, and other body organ systems occur. Likewise, reading the Bible while ignoring the Old Testament results in spiritual lop-sidedness and other forms of imbalance. It is very important to read all of the Bible, not just part of it.
Throughout the centuries that we have had the complete Bible, there have been a lot of things that believers have derived from reading the OT as well as the NT. Think of the book of Psalms, for example. The psalms are songs, prayers, lessons in all manner of living for God, all 150 of them. Then there is the book of Proverbs. Each of its 31 chapters is filled with godly wisdom. Even for those who are not overly fond of the Old Testament, it is hard to ignore Psalms and Proverbs.
How about the rest of the Old Testament? Genesis lays the foundation for everything, including the creation of the world and the universe. We learn of the fall of man into sin, the amazing account of Cain and Abel, Noah and the great global Flood, the development of the world’s peoples and nations, the folly of the Babel experiment, and then the beginnings of what would become the Jewish people with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. In the latter part of Genesis we learn of Joseph and how the children of Israel came to be in Egypt. In Exodus, centuries later, we read of a man named Moses whom God called to lead His people out of there. As we go on through the Old Testament we see the fruition of God’s promises to the patriarchs when, in Joshua, the Israelites enter and possess the Promised Land.
In Judges we learn of the Jews’ struggles back and forth between idolatry and worshipping the living God. The Lord sent such colorful and bold individuals as Deborah and Barak, Gideon, Jephthah, Samson, and others to deliver His people from their oppressors. In Ruth we find a beautiful love story and the ancestors of the great King David. In 1 and 2 Samuel we see the culmination of the era of the judges and the beginning of the era of the kings, an accounting which extends all the way through 1 and 2 Kings as well as 1 and 2 Chronicles. We read of good and bad kings, men such as Saul, David, Solomon, Ahab, Hezekiah, Manasseh, and Josiah, plus a number of others. Some of the great Old Testament prophets such as Elijah and Elisha appear here also, as well as the division of Israel into the kingdoms of Israel and Judah and the eventual downfall of both.
Continuing through the Old Testament, we come to the books of Ezra and Nehemiah and see the return of a number of Jews to their homeland. We learn in Esther of this brave young queen who saves her people from destruction at the hands of a treacherous man named Haman. And who can forget Job? That man suffered bravely, and through the book’s 42 chapters we learn much about God and His character as well as of some misconceptions people have about Him. Once we go through Psalms and Proverbs we come to Ecclesiastes, a book that Solomon wrote in his old age, filled with wisdom. Then there is the beautiful love story in the Song of Solomon, a tale not only of love between Solomon and a beautiful woman but also an allegory of God’s love for His people and Christ’s love for His Church.
The rest of the Old Testament is written by various prophets, and therein we see numerous prophecies of the coming Messiah of Israel and Savior of the world, Jesus Christ. Also in these are various interesting accounts of people dealing with sometimes adverse circumstances, such as Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego being thrown into a fiery furnace rather than denying their faith and Daniel being placed in a den full of lions yet surviving because of His faith in God and God’s response to his faith. There are many other details in the Old Testament that we learn concerning God and the principles of living for Him, as well as the importance of prayer and reading His Word.
The aforementioned elements are but a brief summary of what is contained in the Old Testament. However, those few details alone should be enough to make anyone question why we would want to get away from the OT. For me personally, reading about the ceremonial laws and their strictness makes me thankful for the new covenant under which we live. We truly are living in an age of grace. For all the splendor and majesty of the office of the OT high priest, these men could only enter the Holy of Holies one day a year, the Day of Atonement (Yom Kippur), but we, as believers washed in the blood of Jesus Christ and indwelt by the Holy Spirit of God, can come into God’s throne room at any time (Hebrews 4:14-16). It truly is both inspiring and educational to read about the men and women of the Old Testament, both their triumphs and their failures.
Seeing how so many of the OT’s prophecies have been fulfilled, there is a faith-building element there also, and it has wisely been said that the New Testament is in the Old Testament concealed while the Old Testament is in the New Testament revealed. For those who are unaware, there are word patterns and numerical codes in both testaments in their original languages (Hebrew, a smattering of Aramaic, and Greek), and an encoded numerical bridge which interlocks the two testaments together. If God took all this time and effort to speak such a fantastically complex code into the fabric of His Word, don’t you think that we should read the whole Bible and not neglect certain parts of it? If the Old Testament is no longer important, then why did the Bible’s master Author do all this?
For those who are interested, you can go on this website to the Remnant Bible Study Course and pull up Lesson 2 of Level 2, “More About the Bible.” In that lesson you will find an explanation of the Bible codes and numerical linguistic patterns. You can also go on YouTube and find videos on it, especially by the renowned Bible scholar, the late Chuck Missler. To sum up, the Bible, again, is God’s inspired Word. It is inspired from cover to cover, first to last verse and every verse in both the Old and the New Testaments. Yes, we do live in the New Testament era and are no longer bound by the ceremonial laws that God-worshippers had to abide by prior to Christ’s death, burial, and resurrection.
Still, the Old Testament is loaded with interesting accounts of the lives and deeds of many people, and there is a treasure trove of wisdom and advice contained therein. Also in the OT, again, are numerous prophecies pointing to Jesus Christ. From Genesis to Malachi, the Old Testament is not only worthy to be read, it must be read just as surely as the New Testament must be read. Just as the Bible is incomplete without the OT, so we as believers are spiritually incomplete without reading the whole counsel of God—both testaments. Do not be tricked into “unhitching” yourself from the Old Testament.
