INTRODUCTION
Have you ever felt distant from God? Like you were living your mediocre average life and God was in Heaven not concerned about you? Thinking there was no way that a powerful, almighty, loving, being who created the universe could possibly be involved in your life. There is good news for you. This is the main issue that the Bible is addressing. The story of the Bible is about God closing the chasm in between Heaven and Earth, unifying them as one reality.
Many people create an imaginary divide in the Bible, and I did too for a long time. I always thought the Old Testament was about how humanity messed everything up and the New Testament is how God fixed humanity’s mistakes. However, this is the furthest thing from the truth. The Old Testament gives us the groundwork for what Jesus will come and do in the New Testament. The Old Testament sets up the gravity of the work of Jesus. Without the Old Testament, it would be unclear why Jesus came. Jesus reveals nothing that the Old Testament does not already tell us.
The Old Testament tells us the character of God and lays out His plan to restore the world. Jesus brings light to this and then accomplishes the plan laid out and begun in the Old Testament. Then, because of Jesus’ life, death, resurrection, and ascension, the Holy Spirit is given to His followers and now the law given through the Old Testament is written on our hearts. To help us dissolve the imaginary divide between Old and New Testament, I like to call the Old Testament the First Testament and the New Testament the Second Testament. Think of them as two books in a book series. The Second Testament continues the story of the First and brings answers to the unanswered questions and conflicts of the First Testament.
SOURCES:
John Goldingay, Old Testament Theology: Israel's Faith, vol. 2 (Downers Grove, Illinois: IVP Academic, 2010), Kindle Electronic Edition. 18.
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