How the Old Testament Provides a Deeper Understanding of the New Testament

To some Christians, the Old Testament feels intimidating to read, and since we have the New Testament in its place, why spend time on a book to which we are no longer bound? The Old Testament doesn’t just come before the New Testament chronologically. It comes before the New Testament because understanding the stories told throughout the chapters is necessary to appreciate the fullness of what God delivers to us in the New Testament.

Turning to Jeremiah Chapter 31:31-34, we glimpse into the promise of a new covenant that has not yet come. During Jeremiah’s lifetime, the only law from God given to the people of Israel was the Ten Commandments through the hands of Moses. These engraved stones tethered the Jews to the physicality of the law despite its spiritual origination.

Therefore, when Jeremiah prophesied that God’s second covenant would be a law written on the hearts of God’s people for all people, it was difficult to grasp at the time.

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.”

Just like God declared, the new law was fulfilled through the apostles’ writing and continues to be written through faith on the hearts of Christians. Furthermore, during the Old Testament days, the only way to obtain atonement for one’s transgressions was through an offering to God. These sacrifices needed to constantly be prepared at the altar to seek forgiveness for their sins.

3 But in those sacrifices, there is a reminder of sins every year. 4 For it is not possible that the blood of bulls and goats could take away sins. (Hebrews 10:3-4)

We know that God’s redeeming love sent His only Son to become the only living sacrifice that acts as a continual and everlasting atonement for all sins for those who carry that Cross daily.

The thought of an eternal sacrifice was unfathomable to God’s people back then. Yet even though we are privileged with the context to understand God’s plan for His Son, Our Heavenly Father’s undying love for us is still more profound than anything we can comprehend.

There was always a need for a new covenant. Jesus was and still is God’s plan to save His people. In Hebrews 8:7-13, we uncover the connection between these two passages and reveal the supremacy and sufficiency of Jesus Christ as the mediator of God’s grace.

7 For if that first covenant had been faultless, then no place would have been sought for a second.

8 Because finding fault with them, He says: “Behold, the days are coming, says the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah—

9 not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day when I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt; because they did not continue in My covenant, and I disregarded them, says the Lord.

10 For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the Lord: I will put My laws in their mind and write them on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people.

11 None of them shall teach his neighbor, and none his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’ for all shall know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them.

12 For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and their lawless deeds I will remember no more.”

13 In that He says, “A new covenant,” He has made the first obsolete. Now what is becoming obsolete and growing old is ready to vanish away.

It’s important to note the word “fault” in this context doesn’t mean that God’s law was imperfect because we know that everything that comes from God is supremely perfect. God created the new law to replace and redeem the old law. The old law served the purpose for which it was created and still has a purpose in our lives today, even though we are no longer physically bound to it. Without the original law, we would have been blind to our sins and the full acknowledgment of right and wrong. Jesus nailed the old law to the Cross when he gave His life for ours.

The Old Testament was intentionally put into existence by God to teach His people and was purposely removed to pave the way for a much greater absolution from sin to save His people.

In the book of Galatians, Paul reveals a deeper understanding of the resolution that the new law brought to God’s people and continues to bring us despite our sinful shortcomings:

19 What purpose then does the law serve? It was added because of transgressions, till the Seed should come to whom the promise was made; and it was appointed through angels by the hand of a mediator. 20 Now a mediator does not mediate for one only, but God is one.

21 Is the law then against the promises of God? Certainly not! For if there had been a law given which could have given life, truly righteousness would have been by the law. 22 But the Scripture has confined all under sin, that the promise by faith in Jesus Christ might be given to those who believe. 23 But before faith came, we were kept under guard by the law, kept for the faith which would afterward be revealed. 24 Therefore the law was our tutor to bring us to Christ, that we might be justified by faith. 25 But after faith has come, we are no longer under a tutor.

God designed the new law to close the gap between our sins and His goodness and grace. Sin requires redemption to reach the hope of eternal life, and the law offers a path to vindication from Satan’s hold. Jesus is the promised Seed and connects us to the almighty God. Without His sacrifice, death would wait for us at the end of this life, but instead, death is overcome.

The new law in which our Savior is introduced into the story of deliverance does not contradict what God already said. It perfectly aligns with everything the Lord laid out in the Old Testament. Without a deep understanding of the stories found in the Old Testament, we wouldn’t realize how lost God’s people were to sin.

We wouldn’t grasp how lost we would be without an ultimate sacrifice. Jesus didn’t only come to save us; He came to reflect the richness of God’s plan for the world.

Jesus is our mediator.
His sacrifice is our gateway to Heaven.
His divine law lives within our hearts as we live like Christ.

The new law is unlike the physical law of the Old Testament. The new law is found through faith, and we are justified by that faith. Through Jesus, we come to know God, and through our lives, others can know Christ. Jesus freed us from the weight of sin, and our hearts are the reward.

The old law was God’s way of teaching His people to follow and obey His will. Today, Jesus is our schoolmaster, and we are his lifelong students– learning and growing in ways that refine us as we put on more of Christ.

The Old Testament magnifies the significance of Jesus’ death, burial, and resurrection on the Cross. Without the stories of death, denial, and unbelief, there wouldn’t be a need for stories of life, redemption, and hope. Before Jesus, we were enslaved to sin, but His necessary purchase of our sins released us from that powerful hold. Jesus is the piece of God’s redeeming love we never knew we needed until we had it. And now that we have it, it’s our responsibility never to let it go.