Who reads the Old Testament?

“I don’t do the Old Testament,” the keynote speaker declared. Some in the audience laughed, others chimed in with a “Me either!” while a few others tilted their heads and wondered why not. True story. 

Imagine having a 100-piece puzzle you’re eager to put together. You lay out all the pieces onto the table, only to select 40 pieces for use, about one-third. And then, you slide the remaining two-thirds back into the box. 

Of course, no puzzle enthusiast approaches a puzzle like that! Because they long for the full picture and enjoy the process of putting it all together over time, piece by piece. 

I believe most – and hopefully all – believers would say they want a full picture of God. We should enjoy discovering Him and drawing closer over time, truth upon truth. 

Yet, many within the Church, like the conference speaker, have an uncertain relationship with the Old Testament. 

Sure, it’s part of the Bible. But between the genealogies, Israel’s history, and the challenging prophetic material—it can be hard to see how it all connects to our lives. “Maybe it’s not intended for the New Testament believer,” some have mistakenly concluded.

Old Testament AKA the Hebrew Bible

What’s your current relationship with the Old Testament? Are you engaging with it? Love it? Is it confusing, maybe? Is there a temptation to slide these puzzle pieces back into the box? 

The Old Testament, known to the Jewish people as the Tanakh or Hebrew Bible, continues to hold immense value for us today. It provides the foundational story of God’s relationship with humanity and our dire need for a savior. We see God’s covenants and enduring love on display. The stories, laws, prophecies, and wisdom literature contained there provide profound insights into God’s character and His expectations for His people.

The Old Testament sets the stage for the coming of the Messiah, Jesus, whose life and teachings are on full display in the New Testament. It is within the context of the Old Testament that the significance of Jesus’s mission as savior and king and our role in His kingdom can be fully understood. 

It’s supremely important to embrace the entire Bible as one continuous story—because it is. 

If we neglect the Old Testament, like in the puzzle analogy, we’re left with an incomplete picture of God the Father, of Jesus and our salvation, and of Israel and our shared purpose. Although we encounter each of these in the New Testament, we may not understand the fullness of the story and why things were said and done a certain way. We’ll miss, to a large degree, the wonder of God’s plan and His enduring faithfulness. 

Understanding the Old Testament Narratives

How do the ancient stories in Israel’s history apply to us? 

As the gospel message spread into the Roman Empire in the first century, interested gentiles wondered the same thing. They didn’t have a national connection to Abraham or Moses. They didn’t have a context for the Passover lamb or a kinsman redeemer. 

The apostle Paul drew all people of every generation and nation to the Old Testament stories and explained that these ancient Scriptures, these stories recorded by Jewish writers, are for all of us. 

In the context of mentioning several Old Testament narratives, Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians 10:11: Now these things happened to them as an example, and they were written for our instruction, upon whom the ends of the ages have come. 

To the church in Rome, Paul wrote: For whatever was written in earlier times was written for our instruction, so that through perseverance and the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope. (Rom. 15:4)

The events recorded in the Old Testament really happened. Israel, her allies and enemies, the miracles, were all literal. But they were also illustrations and foreshadows of spiritual truths that are for our learning. 

Only God can author something so profound that while a nation’s life is being lived out, eternal truths for all of us are simultaneously being communicated. 

It’s essential to read the Old Testament with this in mind. Yes, it’s about Israel, but it also carries spiritual applications and prophetic promises for us today—never at the expense of Israel, but in addition to them. 

The entire Bible is for the entire Church and it all can be spiritually applied. But never at the exclusion of also understanding its literal interpretation and application. 

Jesus Revealed in the Old Testament

When Jesus and the apostles referred to “the Scriptures” they spoke of the Hebrew Bible, the Old Testament. 

Jesus spoke of Himself as the main character in the Hebrew Scriptures. 

• To the religious leaders, Jesus said: You search the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; it is these that testify about Me . . . if you believed Moses, you would believe Me, for he wrote about me. (John 5:39, 46)

• To His disciples, Jesus said: All things which are written about Me in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms must be fulfilled. Then He opened their minds to understand the Scriptures. (Luke 24:44, 47)

After opening their minds, Jesus then explained to the disciples His suffering, death, and resurrection, the gospel’s intended reach to all nations. These themes were all already written about—in the Old Testament!

The ancient writings revealed Jesus in many ways, such as: theophanies, types and foreshadows, and through prophecies with remarkable details of His first coming and His future return. Here are some examples.

A theophany is when God, who is invisible, became visible and engaged with people. The apostle John wrote: No one has seen God at any time; the only begotten God who is in the bosom of the Father, He has explained Him. (John 1:18) 

The Father and the Son

He (Jesus) is the radiance of His (the Father’s) glory and the exact representation of His nature. (Heb. 1:2)

The Father can’t be seen, but the Son can, and Jesus explains the Father to us. Jesus said to His disciples, “He who has seen Me has seen the Father.” (John 14:9)

• Genesis 18 says “the Lord appeared” to Abraham and they ate a meal together. Who sat at that meal? 

• Who wrestled with Jacob through the night at Peniel? Genesis 32 records the wrestler was a man; Jacob said he saw God face to face. There is only one who is fully God and fully man—it’s Jesus. 

• Isaiah was undone when he saw the Lord sitting on His throne. The prophet Ezekiel saw “a man” on heaven’s throne as well. Who did they see? Was it the Father? No, but the Son—the preincarnate Jesus. (Isa. 6:1; Ezek. 1:26)

Jesus is also revealed in the Old Testament through types and foreshadows. 

• When you read of Moses, who delivered Israel from Egypt, think of Jesus who delivers us from our slavery to sin. 

• When you read Psalm 22, a lament of King David, which opens with “My God, my God, why have You forsaken me?” Think of the greater king, Jesus, who cried out this same agonizing statement from the cross.

• When you read about the Tabernacle with its furnishings and sacrificial worship, see Jesus’s life and ministry portrayed in every part. 

• John the Baptist and Paul both identified Jesus as the ultimate (Passover) Lamb of God. 

• Jesus is greater than Boaz and fulfills the role as our kinsman redeemer.

When you study the Old Testament, you’ll find Jesus! It’s one story, one Savior, one eternal plan. 

God’s Eternal Plan Revealed in the Old Testament

You’re familiar with “the Great Commission” which is Jesus’s final charge to His followers to take the gospel to every nation. (Matt. 28:19-20) The worldwide reach wasn’t a New Testament shift in plan. It’s been God’s design from the beginning. 

To Abraham, God said all the families of the earth would be blessed through him. (Gen. 12:3)

Through Isaiah, God spoke words of love and inclusion to the foreigners and the gentiles who join themselves to the Lord. He declared His house would be a house of prayer for all people. 

Paul never claimed to be part of a new religion but connected his calling as an apostle to the mission entrusted to the Jewish people in the Old Testament. In his letter to the Romans, Paul wrote that he was set apart for the gospel of God which He promised beforehand through His prophets in the holy Scriptures concerning His Son. (Rom. 1:1-2)

Even the new covenant of our salvation made possible through Jesus’s blood, was first promised to the whole house of Israel in Jeremiah 31. 

There isn’t an Old Testament plan and a different New Testament plan. God has an eternal plan to reach the world, people of every ethnicity in every nation, with the gospel of salvation. 

Israel’s Restoration Revealed in the Old Testament

Finally, if we miss embracing the Old Testament, there will be a distortion in our understanding of Israel, both ancient and modern. 

God made an eternal covenant with the Jewish people. He said in Leviticus 20:27: I have set you apart from the peoples to be Mine. 

There’s always been a faithful remnant of Jewish believers. Nevertheless, ancient Israel’s sin as a nation resulted in their exile from the promised land and in many years of pain and sorrow. The Old Testament tells ancient Israel’s deeply personal story, and yet again, it is for our instruction as well. 

The same prophets who warned Israel to repent and prophesied their banishment, wrote of Israel’s full restoration both to the land and, one day, to the Lord. After many centuries of the Jewish people being without a homeland, in our generation, the prophecy became an international headline: the nation of Israel was reborn on their God-given ancient inheritance. 

One Story

If we pick up Israel’s story from the New Testament alone, or worse still if we only see Israel through a modern matrix, we completely miss the wonder, the miracle, and the hope of their story. Both Old Testament prophets and the apostle Paul prophesied Israel’s full return to the Lord in the last days. (Hosea 3:4-5; Rom. 11:25-26) 

In essence, the Old Testament still matters because it is integral to understanding the Lord and the complete story of God’s work in the world. It guides us in our faith and daily living, and helps us to see the world, including Israel, through the Father’s eyes. We’ll understand to a greater measure that we’re a part of something far bigger than our individual lives. 

You matter so much to the Lord and He wants to reveal Himself to you in ways that will astound you. (Jer. 33:3)

Even as Jesus opened the spiritual eyes of His disciples to understand all that was written in their Hebrew Scriptures, we can ask the Holy Spirit to open our eyes to the same truths. 

King David prayed, “Open my eyes, that I may behold wonderful things from Your law.” (Ps.119:18)

We need the full picture! Let’s use all the puzzle pieces! The Bible is one marvelous story.  

Articles Related to One Story In Two Testaments: The Old Testament Still Matters

• Jesus in The Torah and The Old Testament
• Why Israel Matters to the World
• Is God Different in the Old and the New Testament?
• Why Read the Old Testament?
• Do Christians Follow the Old Testament or Read It?

Estimated reading time: 9 minutes