Our New Gospel in the Old Testament

Jesus and his Gospel in the first five Bible books we’ve now seen

We’ve been through (1) Genesis, (2) Exodus, (3) Leviticus, (4) Numbers and (5) Deuteronomy. (Click on each if you haven’t seen it and want to). Now let’s step back, and see the New Testament Gospel of Jesus.

A Parenthesis: Jesus is in Old Testament History

Jesus says the whole Old Testament pointed to him (Luke 24:27). Even the gospel that Jesus came to bring us was promised beforehand through the Old prophets, and it was all concerning his Son Jesus (Rom 1:1–3). Jesus is the answer to all expectations voiced in the Old Testament.

‘Testament’ is a synonym for ‘Covenant,’ and they both refer to promises between God and man. The Old Testament was more what we lawyers call ‘BILATERAL,’ meaning two parties to what we today call a contract.

Israelites had to keep their part of the contract by keeping the law. If they did they were blessed, and if they didn’t they were cursed.

But Jesus took the curse away (Gal 3:13). He left us with the blessings (Acts 3:22–26, Eph 1:3). Thus the gospel is said to be ‘good news of good things’ (Rom 10:15).

We Are No Longer Parties but Beneficiaries

Thus, we are no longer ‘parties’ to God’s promises in the New Testament, but are instead ‘beneficiaries’ of his blessings. Any lawyer will tell you it’s a whole lot better to be a beneficiary than a party.

Parties have a duty they must perform. As beneficiaries we too have a job to do, but it is just to BELIEVE and ACCEPT God’s covenant that he has given us (John 6:39). Behaving under the Old law never worked, so God changed things and requires us to believe what he says and trust him.

There is still a judgment for us Paul says, but our judgment is only for the beliefs of our hearts, which is judged by the gospel (Rom 2:16), and if we truly believe and live the gospel of Jesus in earthly life (II Thes 1:7–8).

The Old Testament points to Jesus who came to fulfill the covenant of our heavenly Abba Father God. Paul says that the good news God promised to the Old Covenant fathers has now been fulfilled for us in the New Covenant by the resurrection of Jesus (Acts 13:32–33).

After creation and the fall of man in early Genesis. Chapters 4–11 show how mankind was bent on evil. God destroyed them in the flood at the time of Noah, but they were seemingly just as bad after the flood.

Disobedience Leads to Bondage in Some Way

The Israelites come into bondage in Egypt, and their deliverance by God in Exodus is a preview of salvation in Jesus. They are then given the law by Moses at Mount Sinai and are established as a nation. Leviticus reveals the life that these special people of God are supposed to live in relationship with him, and Deuteronomy is meant to prepare them for entry into the Promised Land of Canaan.

The goal of the Old Testament is God establishing his Kingdom, or his nation to be set apart to him. This begins with the calling of Abraham in Genesis 12, who is the father of faith in God, even if he’s not perfect, saying his wife is his sister, and then having sex with Hagar.

Things Changed for the Better with King David

David and Solomon are established as God’s good kings in the Promised Land, even if Solomon never totally follows in the footsteps of his dad David. But then there is a decline in God’s nation. It splits between Israel to the north and Judah to the south. But this comes later.

The Old Testament is a Preview of the New

The message of the Old Testament and the New is two things: (1) the story of God’s chosen people, Israel, and (2) them living as a family with him and with each other. This was partially accomplished in the Old Testament, but only as a preview of life in the New with Jesus. Movies call it a ‘sneak preview’ of things to come.

The gospel and the Holy Spirit give us a divine type of fellowship, and God working in us for his purposes (Phil 1:5–7). If we continue in the gospel, God uses it to fulfill his word in us from the Old(Col 1:23–29). It’s nothing we have to do — just what we trust and believe.

The focus of God’s people being empowered by his gospel is not total. There are so many denominational schisms today that deviate from the gospel that it’s hard for many Christians to discern the truth… the whole truth… and nothing but the truth of the gospel (as we lawyers say). We are bombarded by different theologies and human opinions that are not the truth and reality of God.

The problem is that if we don’t know gospel truth, we must try to figure it out, which is going back to the FORBIDDEN ‘Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil’ — trying to figure out what is good or bad, right or wrong.

This is why we are called ‘BELIEVERS,’ not ‘REASONERS.’ Paul says not everyone believes and lives God’s gospel. We like choices, and prefer to be able to choose what we are going to believe and live. We don’t like to be told what we must believe — even by God himself. (Selah)

All revelation from God is progressive. If we fail the grasp and believe the basics, then revelation usually stops, and the gospel remains a mystery.

Paul speaks of the mystery of the gospel a few times. Thus Jesus says, “To him who has (belief in the revelation of God’s gospel), will more revelation be given him. But to him who does not have this revelation, even what he may have will be taken away from him” (my paraphrase).

The New Testament Gospel Blesses and Profits Us

Jesus very clearly says our ‘work’ is to believe (John 6:29), and this belief is to be of the gospel of his Father’s Kingdom (Mark 1:14–15). If we don’t believe the gospel, we are UN-believers, like the ancient Israelites, and the gospel is of no profit to us (Heb 4:1–2).

The Gospel Fulfills God’s Word in Us (Col 1:23–25)

Our age today is (1) the gospel, and (2) the Holy Spirit, who is ‘the spirit of (gospel) truth.’ We’re to live in them. We are to continue in the gospel (Col 1:23). We are to minister and live the New only (II Cor 3:6).

This means we are to receive and live in the blessings of the New as BENEFICIARIES. Our belief today amounts to us believing and living the gospel that Jesus says to believe (Mark 1:15). The gospel is the plan of God for our lives. To not integrate it into us is UN-belief.

Much of Old Testament thought pointed to this new revelation. The whole Old Testament is meant to point us to Christ Jesus. If it doesn’t do this, we miss the Bible.

Jesus says that Moses wrote about him (John 5:45–46). This means all five of the books we’ve just looked at. symbolic of our New Covenant communion in Jesus: “This is the New Covenant in my blood.”

All of the characters and events of the Old Testament are interesting, and we should be familiar with them. But they are not revelation as far as the truth of God is concerned and what we should live (II Cor 3:6 revisited).

In closing: because of the ineffective ways of the past, God’s ways are much easier today. Jesus says his way is easy, his burden is light.