One of the truths I learned in Bible school is contained in this statement…
“The New is in the Old concealed, the Old is in the New revealed.”
This declaration of the unity of the Bible puts paid to the idea that the Old Testament is irrelevant. For example, why would we start reading a novel on the middle of the book? The story would make no sense if we ignored the first half.
So, too, with God’s Word. The record of Jesus and His work of salvation would be a puzzle if we didn’t start at the beginning. God’s story begins in Genesis and ends in Revelation. We can only grasp its message when we read the Bible from cover to cover.
However, there is a book in part two, in the New Testament, that throws light on the meaning of much of the Old Testament’s religious system. The book of Hebrews helps us understand the truth of God’s salvation which is hidden in the Old Testament.
Hebrews 1:1-2 NIV
[1] In the past God spoke to our ancestors through the prophets at many times and in various ways, [2] but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, and through whom also he made the universe.
Whoever wrote the letter to the Hebrews did not reveal his identity. However, he had a thorough understanding of the connection between the Old and New Covenants so that, especially his Jewish readers would be encouraged to remain faithful to
Jesus despite the persecution that threatened their lives.
The Roman government tolerated Jews who practised their Old Testament religion. However, they persecuted those Jews who had become Christians because they believed that Christians were a threat to Rome. Christians refused to acknowledge and confess that Caesar was Lord. They worshipped only Jesus as Lord, rejecting the supreme authority of Caesar over their lives. They defied Caesar’s demands to worship him by offering sacrifice to him instead of worshiping Jesus.
Many Jewish believers were tempted to forsake their faith in Jesus and return to Judaism. Why was it important for Jewish believers never to return to Judaism to save their skin?
The letter to the Hebrews gives them and us the answer. Their return to Judaism would be a backward step from grace into law, once again requiring perfect obedience to God’s holy standards, which is impossible for any sinful human to achieve.
What does faith in Jesus do that obedience to the 613 laws of the Old Covenant can never do? Let’s unpack the writer’s explanation that ties the Old and New Covenants into one logical whole.
The Old Testament is the story of a nation, which God chose and built to be His own people and a witness to the surrounding pagan nations of who God is and the way people should live under His government.
However, since the children of Israel were locked into slavery to their old sinful natures, His people failed to fulfil His commission. They chose to follow the idolatrous ways of their neighbouring nations although God raised up numerous prophets to warn them of punishment for their rebellion.
After the reign of their third king Solomon, the nation of Israel split into two, the northern kingdom of Israel and the southern kingdom of Judah. Both kingdoms were punished for their idolatry by conquest and exile. Israel ceased to exist as a part of God’s people, being absorbed into Assyria’s foreign policy of repopulating a conquered territory with people for other conquered lands. In New Testament times, Samaria, a province of the old Israel, was made up of mixed nationalities.
Within the prophetic message to God’s people and the surrounding nations, God promised a Redeemer, one who would represent Him, would fulfil all the requirements of His law, would die for the sins of His disobedient people. He would be God’s covenant to the people and the initiator of the New Covenant promised in Jeremiah’s prophecy.
Jeremiah 31:31-34 NIV
[31] “The days are coming,” declares the Lord, “when I will make a new covenant with the people of Israel and with the people of Judah. [32] It will not be like the covenant I made with their ancestors when I took them by the hand to lead them out of Egypt, because they broke my covenant, though I was a husband to them,” declares the Lord. [33] “This is the covenant I will make with the people of Israel after that time,” declares the Lord. “I will put my law in their minds and write it on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people. [34] No longer will they teach their neighbor, or say to one another, ‘Know the Lord,’ because they will all know me, from the least of them to the greatest,” declares the Lord. “For I will forgive their wickedness and will remember their sins no more.”
In this covenant, God would take the onus upon Himself to change the hearts of His people.
Ezekiel 36:26-27 NIV
[26] “I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. [27] And I will put my Spirit in you and move you to follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws.”
The religious system of temple, priests, and sacrifice in the old covenant was to be the visual aid to teach His people what His Messiah would accomplish.
The Old Testament closes with yet another season of disobedience to God’s commands…marriage between Jews and pagan women, disdain for God’s glory by their offering of defective animals for sacrifice, neglect of required tithes, and more…
For four hundred years, there was no word from the Lord, no prophet to bring God’s will to the people. They continued to dishonour God by their pagan practices which led to occupation and oppression by nations around them who were in a power struggle for domination.
However, God although was silent, He was not inactive. Through the historical events of those times, He was preparing His people and the world for the coming of His Redeemer.
Like Israel of old, under slavery in Egypt, God heard the heart cries of His people who were in a worse situation than Israel in Egypt. They were enslaved to sin and doomed to eternal destruction.
2 Corinthians 6:2 NIV
[2] “For he says, “In the time of my favor I heard you, and in the day of salvation I helped you.” I tell you, now is the time of God’s favor, now is the day of salvation.”
Then…
Galatians 4:4-5 NIV
[4]”But when the set time had fully come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under the law, [5] to redeem those under the law, that we might receive adoption to sonship.”
The entire Old Covenant with its demands and requirements would be completed and fulfilled in the life and death of His own Son.
The book of Hebrews, then, skillfully knits the two covenants together by explaining how the old was fulfilled and replaced by the new.
To be continued…