April 24

The Old Testament and the New

Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets. I have not come to abolish them, but to fulfill them. — Matt 5:17 BSB

There aren’t two Bibles in one. The Old Testament and New Testament aren’t two separate books but parts of the same. The New Testament doesn’t replace the Old—it’s the rich, ripe harvest of what the Old Testament planted. The gospel of the New Testament isn’t a different religion from what we find in the Old Testament. It’s the same message, more fully developed and more clearly taught. In the Old Testament, Christ was foretold through promises, pictures, and types. In the New Testament, these promises are fulfilled, and these pictures and types are realized as we see the Son of God living among us in His incarnation.

Blossoms aren’t destroyed when they fall away and fruit appears. The ripe fruit is the fulfillment of the blossom’s promise. An artist’s rough sketch isn’t destroyed when the finished painting covers the canvas—the completed work is the fulfillment of the original drawing, bringing it to life.

Christ didn’t destroy anything in the Old Testament when He came. He was like the warm summer sun, bringing life to the seeds and buds of prophecy, causing them to grow and flourish. He was the great Master who took the dim shadows of the Old Testament and filled them out with His life and death. So we shouldn’t set aside the Old Testament as an outdated book with no value. The Old Testament is full of treasures. One of the strongest proofs of Christianity is the way Old Testament prophecies were fulfilled in the life, sufferings, and death of Jesus Christ. Let us love the whole Bible—none of it is obsolete.