Reading the Old Testament

The apostle Paul said that the Scriptures of the Old Testament are very important for us to read as they also teach us many things, if we want to know the history of the world, how the world was made, and especially the history of Israel, Rom 15:4 For whatever things were written before were written for our learning, so that we through patience and comfort of the Scriptures might have hope.

 in the New Testament we find several passages that reaffirm the Holy Spirit's guidance in all the writings of the Old Testament as well... 2Ti 3:14-17  But continue in the things that you have learned and have been assured of, knowing from whom you have learned them, and that from a babe you have known the Holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise to salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. All Scripture is God-breathed, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be perfected, thoroughly furnished to every good work.

We also see Jesus, knew the Scriptures very well, as He quoted them often.

Luk 24:25-26  And He said to them, O fools and slow of heart to believe all things that the prophets spoke! Was it not necessary for the Christ to suffer these things and to enter into His glory? And beginning at Moses and all the Prophets, He expounded to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning Himself.

If you have never read the Bible before, I would suggest that you start reading thoroughly the pages of the new Testament.

It is good to bear in mind that the writers of the Old Testament Books, didn't know the Words of Jesus, nor the revelations given in the apostles’ epistles. That helps us to better understand when we read passages in the Psalms, Job, Ecclesiastes, where in moments of despair, they curse their enemies, as we can read in some of the so called "imprecatory Psalms" invoking judgment, calamity or curses upon their enemies. In spite of those passages.

As we find a new way that Jesus presented to us when He told us to Mat 5:43-44 You have heard that it was said, (Old Testament)"You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy." But I say to you, Love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who despitefully use you and persecute you.

Passages such as… “All is vanity” in the book of Ecclesiastes becomes untrue when under the New Covenant all we do for the Kingdom of God is worth it & profitable… Mat 10:42  And whoever shall give to one of these little ones a cup of cold water to drink, only in the name of a disciple, truly I say to you, He shall in no way lose his reward.

Then as we read in the New Testament, we find that Jesus established a New Covenant, and the Old Covenant ceased. In other words, the Pact that God had made with the nation of Israel through the Laws which He gave to Moses ended, and He gave us a New Covenant which now includes all the nations of the world.

Mat 26:28 For this is My blood of the New Covenant, which is shed for many for the remission of sins.

Heb 8:13 In that He says, A new covenant, He has made the first one old. Now that which decays and becomes old is ready to vanish away.

When we study the epistle to the Hebrews, especially chapters 8-9-10, we find a detailed explanation of the difference between the Old & the New Covenant. So obviously we have to read the Old Testament under the light of the new revelations in the New Testament.

We see that even though God doesn’t change, there are new things for us, Children of God, in the New Covenant that the Children of God in the Old Testament didn’t have. Just to give an example of what I am saying… Jn 7:37-39 And in the last day of the great feast, Jesus stood and cried out, saying, If anyone thirsts, let him come to Me and drink. He who believes on Me, as the Scripture has said, "Out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water." (But He spoke this about the Spirit, which those believing in Him were to receive; for the Holy Spirit was not yet given, because Jesus was not yet glorified.)

As we just read, the Children of God in the Old Testament weren’t filled with the Holy Spirit, in the case of the Prophets & other men of God who were used by God to accomplish His plan, they would receive the anointing of the Spirit in certain moments when they’d receive a revelation, or a prophecy, and wrote their books, etc., but the Holy Spirit would not dwell within them, because Jesus had to die on the Cross to pay for our sins, so that then, after being cleansed with His Blood & making us holy, we now can enter into his Holy Presence, and become the Temple of the Holy Ghost. In other words, under the Old Covenant the Spirit of God could be with God's Children, but not inside of them as He is now with us.

1Co 3:16 Do you not know that you are a temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwells in you?

We find passages in the Old Testament were men of God, would say things such as… Psa 42:1-2 As the hart pants after the water brooks, so my soul pants after You, O God. My soul thirsts for God, for the living God; when shall I come and appear before God?

When Jesus came He said… Jn 6:35 I am the bread of life. He who comes to Me shall never hunger, and he who believes on Me shall never thirst. So as we see, a Christian who knows the New Testament would not be able to say he is thirsty for God, he of course would long to be more like Jesus, and long and seek for those things which belong to God’s Kingdom, but he already is the Temple of the Holy Spirit, and as Jesus said when we came to Him, He satisfied both his hunger and thirst.

It is important to realize that when Jesus was here, He was preaching to the Jews who were still under the Law, and were not filled with the Holy Spirit yet. Those who were receptive to the Gospel received eternal life, as Jesus explained, those were the "called ones" to salvation. Jn 10:27-30 My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me. And I give to them eternal life, and they shall never ever perish, and not anyone shall pluck them out of My hand. My Father who gave them to me is greater than all, and no one is able to pluck them out of My Father's hand. I and the Father are one!

Those who rejected Him & His Words, were not Children of God, as well as those who reject him now, as Jesus explained… Jn 8:42-47 Jesus said to them, If God were your father, you would love Me, for I went forth and came from God; for I did not come of Myself, but He sent Me. Why do you not know My speech? Because you cannot hear My Word. You are of the Devil as father, and the lusts of your father you will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and did not abide in the truth because there is no truth in him. When he speaks a lie, he speaks of his own, for he is a liar and the father of it. And because I tell you the truth, you do not believe Me. Which of you convicts Me of sin? And if I say the truth, why do you not believe Me? He who is of God hears God's Words. Therefore you do not hear them because you are not of God.

Jesus taught his disciples & those Israelis who heard Him in the Sermon on the Mount … Mat 6:9 After this manner therefore pray: Our Father who are in heaven, Hallowed be your name… Nevertheless now those of God’s Children who know the Words of Jesus can pray… Our Father who lives within us, and who art in Heaven, Hallowed be your name, since...

Jn 14:23 Jesus answered and said to him, If a man loves Me, he will keep My Word. And My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our abode with him… See, God dwells within us now.

After three & half years of public ministry where the disciples of Jesus heard His teachings personally & also heard the explanations of those things He taught the multitudes, Jesus said these words the night before He was betrayed…

Jn 16:12 I have yet many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now.

In other words, they were not mature enough yet to hear some of the mysteries God had still to reveal to them, nevertheless He reassured them saying… 13 However, when He, the Spirit of Truth, has come, He will guide you into all truth. For He shall not speak of Himself, but whatever He hears, He shall speak. And He will announce to you things to come.

We see, for example that even though, Jesus commanded his disciples to go & preach the Gospel into all the world, to every creature, Mark 16:15, we see later on in the book of Acts, that the apostles, and the disciples seemed not to have understood him, as we find them hesitating even to visit the home of the gentiles. Such was the case with the apostle Peter in Acts 10, so that God had to give him a vision & a personal command to go & preach to Cornelius, a roman centurion, his family & friends. But then Peter had to go & justify himself to the rest of the apostles of why he had visited a gentile household as if he had committed some sort of crime for doing so. Acts 11

In Acts 8 we read that because there was a great persecution against the Church, the disciples had to leave Jerusalem, as they were forced to obey what Jesus had commanded them in Acts 1:8, but the Apostles didn’t go as they managed to stay in Jerusalem.

So no wonder, Jesus hand picked the apostle Paul & used him to go & reach out to the gentiles, revealing to him God’s secret, that He hadn’t yet revealed to original apostles, and then the apostle Paul shared with the Colossians who were gentiles before they converted to Christ … Col 1:25-29 I became a minister, according to the administration of God given to me for you, to fulfill the Word of God; the mystery which has been hidden from ages and from generations, but now has been revealed to His saints. For to them God would make known what are the riches of the glory of this mystery among the nations, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory, whom we preach, warning every man and teaching every man in all wisdom, so that we may present every man perfect in Christ Jesus. For which I also labor, striving according to the working of Him who works in me in power.

Then to the Ephesians.

Eph 3:2-6 For this cause, I, Paul, am the prisoner of Jesus Christ for you nations, if you have heard of the dispensation of the grace of God which is given to me toward you, that by revelation He made known to me the mystery (as I wrote before in few words, by which, when you read, you may understand my knowledge in the mystery of Christ) which in other ages was not made known to the sons of men, as it is now revealed to His holy apostles and prophets by the Spirit, that the nations should be fellow heirs, and of the same body, and partaker of His promise in Christ through the gospel.

Also … Jn 10:9-11 I am the door. If anyone enters in by Me, he shall be saved and shall go in and out and find pasture. The thief (the devil) does not come except to steal and to kill and to destroy. I have come so that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly. I am the Good Shepherd. The Good Shepherd lays down His life for the sheep.

There we see Jesus exposing Satan as the author of the evils we see in the world, steal from God’s Children their health & blessings, kill & destroy them.

Then we find the apostle Peter saying that all those who were healed by Jesus were being oppressed by the Devil, so sicknesses are caused by the Devil... Act 10:38 how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power, and He went about doing good, and healing all those who were oppressed by the Devil, for God was with Him.

Now as we embrace the promises given to us in the New Testament, we become partakers of the very essence of God, as we represent Him here on Earth.

2Pe 1:2-4 Grace and peace be multiplied to you through the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord, according as His divine power has given to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him who has called us to glory and virtue, through which He has given to us exceedingly great and precious promises, so that by these you might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.

2Co 5:17-21 So that if any one is in Christ, that one is a new creature; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new. And all things are of God, who has reconciled us to Himself through Jesus Christ, and has given to us the ministry of reconciliation; whereas God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not imputing their trespasses to them, and putting the word of reconciliation in us. Then we are ambassadors on behalf of Christ, as God exhorting through us, we beseech you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. For He has made Him who knew no sin, to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.

So, understanding God's plan of living within us... Christ in us, the hope of glory, and knowing the Holy Spirit is our guide, and knowing what God has given great promises under the New Covenant, which we get to know after reading well the New Testament, gives us a better understanding as we then read through the pages of the Old Testament.

I pray that this will be a blessing to you, as you study the books of the Old Testament.

Love in Jesus… Alejandro

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