The Old Testament powerfully illustrates the truths of God

The Old Testament of the Bible is generally far less understood by Christians compared to the New Testament. After all, the New Testament is the climax, and we have letters which give direct teaching to us. Do this, think like this, avoid this. We know what to do with this kind of thing, while the stories in the Old Testament seem harder to apply.

At this point, we do need to note that most cultures around the world transmit their knowledge through stories and songs rather than direct instruction. The Aboriginal people use the Dreamtime stories and songlines to transmit points that are remembered and vivid in a way just telling the punchline is not. Likewise, the Old Testament stories (also called narrative) help us to get a vivid picture of God and his purposes in a way that a letter or textbook will not.

Let’s look at two examples of this.

The book of Romans tells us that the wages of sin is death (Rom 6:23). This means that sin, disobeying God’s laws or rebelling against God, will lead to death, both literal and eternal. That seems like a straightforward idea. Many people reading this understand the basic idea.

However, we don’t always walk away from that passage truly having the seriousness of sin driven home. The Old Testament is full of example that help with this.

For example, when David sinned with Bathsheba in 2 Samuel 11, a series of events led to the intentional killing of Bathsheba’s husband and, later on, the death of the child of Bathsheba. David’s sin led to both deaths. They were deaths that would not have happened without David’s sin. His lust led to a chain of events that led to real death. Sin has consequences of great significance.

Or, to use another example, you could look to the conquest of the promised land in the book of Joshua. In a passage problematic for so many, the people of God were instructed to kill every man, woman and child in certain places. This was a sign to them of God’s judgement. Although they were no better, by God’s grace they lived. Under God’s wrath, the people of Canaan were killed. As they stood post-battle, they saw the terrible judgement on sin, and it was supposed to be an object lesson they never forgot. This is where sin leads.

It is one thing to know sin leads to death, but those seem like abstract concepts until you see them illustrated. The Old Testament has great value here. It puts flesh on the bones of our theology.

The application of this idea is that when we give into temptation and intentionally sin, that act is worthy of death like that of David’s son or Jericho’s inhabitants. This is a terrible, horrible truth. The wonderful Christian message is that there is a great payment for our sin to be found in Jesus. A right understanding of the horror of sin, a message driven home by the conquest and Bathsheba episodes, will help us appreciate how much we are saved from. This is no abstract concept but a matter of life and death.

The Old Testament paints a picture where the New Testament says it plainly. The same message by the same God. Using both Testaments will fill out our understanding in a way just sticking with the New Testament will not.