You, me, and the Old Testament

This past weekend our daughter and her family were visiting. We didn’t make it to church, so we had a brief worship time around the kitchen table.

We sang:

Peter and John went to pray; they met a lame man on the way.
He put out his palms and asked for some alms
And this is what Peter did say:
"Silver and gold have I none, but such as I have give I thee
In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, rise up and walk!"
He went walking and leaping and praising God,
Walking and leaping and praising God.
"In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, rise up and walk."

Silver and Gold Have I None (anonymous), with motions (!)

and

Who is the king of the jungle? (hoo hoo)
Who is the king of the sea? (bubble bubble bubble)
Who is the king of the universe?
and who's the king of me?
I tell you: J-E-S-U-S
Yes! 
He is the king of me.
He is the king of the universe.
The jungle and the sea (bubble bubble bubble bubble hoo hoo!)

King of the Jungle (Colin Buchanan)

We read Scripture. We had communion. We ended with the Lord’s Prayer. Sweet time!

What Scripture did we read? I chose the Gospel reading for the day: Matthew 2:1-15, which begins:

1 Now when Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judaea in the days of Herod the king, behold, Wise-men from the east came to Jerusalem, saying,  2 Where is he that is born King of the Jews? for we saw his star in the east, and are come to worship him.  
3 And when Herod the king heard it, he was troubled, and all Jerusalem with him. 4 And gathering together all the chief priests and scribes of the people, he inquired of them where the Christ should be born.  
5 And they said unto him, In Bethlehem of Judaea: for thus it is written through the prophet,  
6 And thou Bethlehem, land of Judah, art in no wise least among the princes of Judah: for out of thee shall come forth a governor, who shall be shepherd of my people Israel.

We simply read it. No sermon, even though I’m always ready haha! But, and this is no surprise to anyone who knows me, I do have a thought about the part I quoted above.

Where the Christ should be born. How in the world would we know? The chief priests and scribes knew: Bethlehem of Judaea: for thus it is written in the prophet. And they quoted Micah 5:2 to support that. 

Micah is in the Old Testament. How important is the Old Testament to us? There is a well known and rather popular pastor today who says, 

"Peter, James, Paul elected to unhitch the Christian faith from their Jewish scriptures, and my friends, we must as well."
Jesus' new covenant, His covenant with the nations, His covenant with you, His covenant with us, can stand on its own two nail-scarred resurrection feet. It does not need propping up by the Jewish scriptures. The Bible did not create Christianity. The resurrection of Jesus created and launched Christianity. Your whole house of Old Testament cards can come tumbling down."

This is sad. This man is no doubt smarter than me, and more people listen to one of his sermons than all the people who have ever heard me in my whole life. But he’s still wrong. Dangerously wrong. This is actually heretical. What???!!??

Yes. You see, Peter, James, Paul did not unhitch the Christian faith from their Jewish Scriptures. Au contraire. The Old is quoted or referenced in nearly every book in the New Testament. I believe it is safe to say every apostle, every author in the New Testament quotes, refers to, or alludes to the Old at some point. Jesus did as well. You see, the Old Testament was their Bible. They preached Christ, grace, the Holy Spirit, the cross, the resurrection from the Old Testament! The statement, All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable… is actually talking about the Old Testament. Oh we know the New is included now, but for them it primarily referred to the Old. They settled disputes and established doctrine by referring to the Scriptures – the Old Testament. The Old Testament is not Jewish Scripture, it is holy Scripture; it is our Scripture.  We can’t unhitch from that!

If we unhitch from the Old Testament we lose the meaning of the New. The New didn’t spring up suddenly, unexpectedly, from no where; no, it is the fruit of the Old; the entire Old Testament is leading up to the New; the entire New Testament is founded upon the Old. The New Testament is like a Penthouse, the top floor of a beautiful skyscraper. Truth is, the very phrase new testament comes from and is found in the Old.

Why would this popular pastor want us to unhitch our faith from the Old Testament? By his own admission he is “embarrassed” by creation, the flood, Jonah and the whale etc. Yet our Lord referred to all three. Paul stressed creation. Peter spoke of creation and the flood. They weren’t unhitched from the Old!

Where the Christ should be born. Now we come to the most important reason for maintaining ties with the Old Testament. The Gospel is the good news that Christ has come with salvation and healing in his wings, and that Jesus of Nazareth is the Christ, the Son of God. He is not Christ because it makes us feel good to believe so; he is not Christ because the Apostles and early church said so; he is not Christ because Western Culture has decreed it. Jesus is Christ because he fulfilled the prophecies in the Old Testament. Here in Matthew 2 it was that he was born in Bethlehem just as the prophet said he would be. If he was born in any other city in the world he could not be Christ. And so with all the other prophecies. If he was not of the house and lineage of David, he is utterly disqualified from being Christ. Where do we learn these prophecies? In the Old Testament. Knowing them strengthens our faith and our witness. We do not believe and promote fairy tales, fables, and myths; no, prophecies uttered hundreds of years before he was born were fulfilled in Jesus of Nazareth! 

How well do you know the prophecies and promises of Christ? Can you trace the Scarlet Thread through the Old Testament? You should be able to. Just sayin’.

See how important the Old is to the New?