Why Study the Old Testament?

“…remember the former things of old;
for I am God, and there is no other;
    I am God, and there is none like me,
 declaring the end from the beginning
    and from ancient times things not yet done,
saying, ‘My counsel shall stand,
    and I will accomplish all my purpose…’”

Isaiah 46:9-10 ESV

I feel like it’s a study technique of today that often promotes that the Old Testament is good to know but we’re New Testament Christians, we don’t live under that anymore. While this is partly true, for instance, with dietary food laws in Leviticus, etc., this doesn’t negate the absolute importance of the Old Testament. In fact, I would say I didn’t truly understand a large portion of the New Testament until I started studying the Old Testament! So, here are seven reasons that I find studying the Old Testament as being vital for my walk with God.

1. It is Truth. We have covered this in a past article, but Scripture is our standard of Truth. Our culture and society have a fickle and waning standard of truth that comes and goes. This has been such a huge comfort to me with how crazy the times are right now. This verse has been particularly comforting: “The grass withers, the flower fades, but the word of our God will stand forever” (Isaiah 40:8 ESV). All of the Old Testament is truth and is considered the very Word of God (2 Timothy 3:16-18). We cannot pick and choose from the Bible what we want to believe or not believe; If you buy one part, you buy it all. 
2. History Repeats Itself. We see this all of the time in our studies of society and culture, the Bible is no exception. And I would argue, it’s meant to be that way. Throughout the Biblical timeline, notable patterns can be recognized: When sin first occurred, a death had to occur to atone for the sin which later would be seen as Jesus dying for our sins; the Israelites were awaiting their deliverance from a tyrannical rule in Egypt, we too are awaiting our deliverance from this life of pain and death (Revelation 19-22); etc. There are so many places in the Bible, Old Testament included, where you can see the comparisons of ‘then, now, and yet to come.’ This has been so helpful for me when studying the Old Testament: this Biblical story is moving in a direction, and in a way, it’s a predictable pattern. But the only way we know this is by actually reading the whole Bible to see that direction!
3. We are Still the Same Type of People. It’s easy to get caught up in the cultural differences in the societies back then and with ours now. But truly, when you look in close examination, they’re not all that different. Scandals and failures were marked all throughout the Bible. The Bible does not always show the ‘super heroes’ (I don’t agree with the term, this was addressed in another article). For instance, King David essentially raped a woman and had her husband killed to cover it all up (2 Samuel 11-12). This sounds like something you’d hear on a Soap Opera! The message of the Bible is clear though: mankind is doomed, apart from a savior. We’re marked by brokenness, we need restoration.
4. It Points us Forward to Jesus. The Old Testament is pointing us to a coming Savior. We see it all over the Old Testament: the killing of an animal to atone for the sins of rebellious mankind (Genesis 3), an heir from Abraham will be a blessing to the whole world (Genesis 12:1-3), a King that will come that will have an everlasting kingdom (2 Samuel 7), the prophets (Isaiah, Ezekiel, Jeremiah, etc.), etc. All of the Old Testament is pointing forward to a King that is coming that will rule forever, save His people, and destroy sin/evil/death.
5. It Shows us our Depravity. This sort of branches from point #3, but the Old Testament shows us how bad off we are and how holy God is. We can never truly grasp how holy (Hebrew word for “set apart”) God is, but we start to catch glimpses of it in the Old Testament. We begin to understand why God deals with sin in such a way, because it is rebellion against an infinitely holy God. The punishment can fit the crime if we can begin to understand the infinite holiness of the God that was wronged. The Old Testament reveals to us why we need a Savior, One that can advocate for us. We don’t need to be told how good of people we are, we need to see the infinitely holy God and our need for restoration with Him.
6. It Shows us God’s Faithfulness. This also builds off of point #5, but God is infinitely holy and righteous, yet He is willing to save a people for Himself. This is a people that really hate Him at their core, but He does it for His namesake (Isaiah 48:9-11). Check out this section in Exodus 34:6-7 ESV: “The LORD passed before him and proclaimed, ‘The LORD, the LORD, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness, keeping steadfast love for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, but who will by no means clear the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children and the children’s children, to the third and the fourth generation.'”
7. It shows us what it means for “Jesus to be God.” So when Jesus comes on to the scene and not only claims but demonstrates that He is God, we catch the weight of that by knowing who God is in the Old Testament. For instance, especially in the Gospel of John, on certain occasions, Jesus uses the term “Ego Eimi” in Greek. This translates to “I AM,” which is Him stating He is a part of the Yahweh Trinity (see this article where we discuss this further). So when Jesus is using that term, there is real and serious weight behind it. Jesus is not just a prophet. He’s not just a good teacher or a wise person. This is God in the flesh. We understand the weight of that if we know who this God is in the Old Testament.

-Austin