Learn the Story: How the Old and New Testament Fit Together

Illustration by Aase Mattson

While I was growing up in the church, I got the impression that the Old Testament, which makes up the first three quarters of the Bible was... well, old. As Christians, we could learn some important things from the Old Testament (or the Hebrew Scriptures) but it was mostly background information. The Bible that really mattered was the New Testament, the Greek Scriptures, because they were about Jesus.

As I grew and studied scripture though, I came to a very different conclusion of what Christianity teaches. Thanks to some good mentors and authors like Philip Yancey and Daniel Erlander, I realized that the New Testament doesn't replace the Old Testament, it continues and completes it. 

One of the best examples of this is in Luke 24, where the resurrected Jesus twice explains to his disciples how his ministry, death, and resurrection is a fulfillment of the Hebrew Scriptures: "everything written about me in the law of Moses, the prophets, and the psalms must be fulfilled" (v. 44). (See also: v. 27) Jesus is the culmination of everything that has been taught and done through the history of God's people, not the rejection of it. In fact, if you aren't familiar with the Hebrew Scriptures, you miss a lot of the symbolism and meaning behind what Jesus does.

Unfortunately, I still hear from people that they believe (or have been told) that the Hebrew Scriptures are... old. 

This past week, I started a special sermon series at my church I'm calling "Rooted: Learn the Story."  I'm teaching from ten major stories of the Old Testament in order to show how they are part of one continuous story and how that story points us to Jesus. If that's the kind of thing that interests you, please check out the sermons as they are posted on our YouTube page. The first one, "Made in God's Image," can be seen here. In it, I make two central points: 1) to be created in God's image means we are created to reflect God's character and nature to the world and 2) when we do, creation is good, as God intended it to be. 

I hope someone may find this helpful.

From the Gray,

Pastor Ari

"Gonna need a little water from another time." -John McCutcheon, "Water From Another Time"

Rooted: Learn the Story Sermons

• September 11:
  • Made In God’s Image -- Genesis 1:24-2:3
• September 18: 
  • Rejecting God’s Image -- Genesis 3:1-13, 19-23
• September 25: 
  • Abraham, Sarah, and the Forever Promise -- Genesis 12:1-8
• October 2: 
  • Blessed and Limping (Jacob) -- Genesis 32:9-12, 22-31
• October 9: 
  • God the Liberator (Exodus from Egypt) -- Exodus 3:1-14
• October 16: 
  • Becoming God’s People (10 Commandments & The Wilderness) -- Exodus 19:1-8
• October 23: 
  • What is a Messiah? (Saul, David, and the Kings) -- 1 Samuel 10:17-25
• October 30: 
  • When Everything Falls Apart (The Exile to Babylon) -- Jeremiah 29:1, 4-14
• November 6: 
  • How to Speak to God (The Psalms) -- Psalm 13 and Psalm 23
• November 13: 
  • Don’t You Remember? (The Prophets) -- Micah 6:1-8