Celebrating the Old Testament
Some Christians dismiss the Old Testament. They argue that since Jesus came to fulfill the Law and the Prophets (Matthew 5:17), what it says doesn’t matter to them or their faith practices today. Other Christians embrace the Old Testament, putting it on an equal footing with the New Testament. They reason that all Scripture—both the Old and New Testaments—has merit (2 Timothy 3:16).
We should instead embrace the Old Testament for what it is and let it inform our understanding of the New Testament and the faith practices it reveals. We can most appreciate God’s New Testament of Scripture from the foundation the Old Testament provides.
From this perspective, we can celebrate the Old Testament. It has two main purposes. The first is to reveal God to us. The second is to anticipate the coming Savior, Jesus.
In the Old Testament law—given to us through Moses—a mind-numbing list of things to do and not do confronts us. This is to make us right with Father God. But it’s an impossible undertaking to achieve. Everyone falls short, whether by a little or a lot, it matters not. We all miss the mark of the Old Testament’s prescription (James 2:10).
Yet the Old Testament also gives us hope of the coming Savior who will offer a better way for us to approach God. It’s a way everyone can realize—if they want to. It’s believing in Jesus and following him as his disciple. This is so much better than a bunch of impossible-to-keep rules.
In this way, we can best read and understand the Old Testament as it anticipates and points us toward Jesus, the Messiah.
From this perspective we’ll explore one hundred characters of the Old Testament. These people appear in approximate chronological order, given that many of their stories overlap and others are hard to place on the biblical timeline. To provide perspective, we’ll anchor our exploration of these people around five notable biblical characters: Adam, Abraham, Moses, David, and Daniel.
Some of these one hundred Old Testament characters provide examples to follow. We’ll call these people saints, even though they’re less than perfect. The Old Testament also includes a colorful list of screwups (sinners), the people who fall short and make a mess of things. We can see them as examples to avoid.
Several of these people share names with other biblical characters. For example, did you know there are two people named Noah in the Bible? Whenever we encounter a duplicate name, we’ll add a number at the end to help us keep things straight. You can learn more about this in “Bonus Content: Duplicate Names” in the back of the book.
As we consider these individuals on a continuum from mostly good to mostly bad, remember that all of them miss the mark of meeting God’s Old Testament expectations. This points us to God’s better way through Jesus as revealed in the New Testament.
May these Old Testament sinners and saints inform us to embrace Jesus, either to become his disciple or to live as one.
How do you view the Old Testament? Who are some of your favorite Old Testament characters? Why?
[Discover more in Acts 17:11.]
