http://bloggingforchrist-brillantvictory.blogspot.com/2013/04/this-age-not-under-law-and-prophets.html
http://bloggingforchrist-brillantvictory.blogspot.com/2013/04/the-old-testament-not-our-rule-of-faith.html
The Old Testament is very valuable for three things. It contains:
- History
- Prophecy
- Types
A careful study of the Old Testament is necessary to a correct understanding of the New Testament. In the New Testament are numerous references to Old Testament events and familiarity with the history of those events is necessary to an understanding of what the New Testament teaches.
HISTORY
Inspired
The history contained in the Old Testament is not different from history written by any historian, except that Old Testament history is inspired. Historians make mistakes and sometimes what they relate is untrue, but in the Old Testament, every word is inspired.
The history of creation is given in the Old Testament. It is the only Book where we can learn the exact facts concerning the origin of things. Genesis is hated by atheist and skeptics, in fact the infidel world, because it gives God as the Creator of all things. If Genesis is true, then the doctrine of evolution is untrue. They cannot both be true.
Confirmed by Archaeologists
The Old Testament has been confirmed by archaeologists. The spade has uncovered ancient ruins which show that the Biblical account is true, and at no time has it been shown that the Bible account is false or even in the slightest detail in error. To know history accurately, one must know the Old Testament.
Tells Good and Bad
The history in the Old Testament tells the bad as well as the good in men and women. Why tell the bad? If only the good in the Bible characters were related, we might form the idea that they were more than human, and it would be discouraging to us, but when the bad conduct of such men as David and Solomon and Samson and even Abraham is recounted, we can see that they were human and in need of a Savior the same as we. We can learn how that man and women are saved notwithstanding their imperfections - the glorious doctrine of salvation by grace is exemplified.
Warning for Us
What these Old Testament characters did is not intended as an example for us. Sometimes what they did is a terrible warning to us. The bad things are not recorded for us to copy, but we learn how God dealt with His people. For instance, we can read with profit how God dealt with His people. For instance, we can read with profit how Noah built the Ark under the instructions of God, but we are not to practice building tabernacles. We can read with profit how Abraham offered his son, Isaac, in sacrifice. What they did is not intended as our rule of faith and practice from the Old Testament.
Misuse of Historical Events
Some of the historical events in the Old Testament were types of things in the New Testament, but where such is the case we are plainly told in some place that they are types. For instance, the crossing of the Red Sea is a type of baptism and the elevating of the serpent of brass is a type of the crucifixion of Christ, but we are somewhere told that these are intended as types. To give spiritual meaning to the historical events related in the Old Testament is a dangerous practice, unless we are distinctly told somewhere in the Bible that the event has a spiritual significance.
PROPHECY
By prophecy we mean history written in advance. God knew all His works before He did them. He knew what He was going to do and when He was going to do it, and He inspired the prophets to foretell it. Prophecy is not a guess but an actual account of events before they come to pass. It is one of the best proofs of the inspiration of the Bible.
We are not under the prophets as a rule of faith and practice but what they prophesied will certainly come to pass. We do not go to the prophets to learn what to do in our religious life, but we go to the prophecies to learn what God intends to do with us and with all the rest of mankind. God's purposes are revealed by the prophets. A study of prophecy is not only fascinating but very profitable.
What God will do is revealed in prophecy and what we should do is revealed in the New Testament.
TYPES
A type is a picture, a shadow. The Old Testament abounds in types and a study of them makes the work of Jesus as our Savor clear and also what the church is and does is made clear. A type is a shadow - a shadow of things to come.
We should use the types mentioned in the Bible and not be guilty of manufacturing types. In past years a great book was written, known as Butler's Analogy and it was widely read. It had such influence on the preachers of a past generation that every similarity was taken as a type of something. It developed a generation of preachers who spiritualized everything. Many preachers indulge in that sort of thing to this day.
The Bible should be allowed to mean just exactly what it says. If we do not know the meaning of the words used in a passage, we should go to a dictionary and learn the meaning just exactly as we do when reading any other book, or as we do when reading a newspaper. The Bible means what it says. Many times I have been asked what a passage means and my answer is: It means exactly what it says.
A man asked me one time what it means where Moses cast down a rod and it became a serpent and God told him to "take it by the tail." My answer was, "It means what it says."
The questioner persisted, and said, "What does it mean by taking it by the tail?
My answer was: "It means not to take it by the head or the middle, but by the tail."
"But," said the questioner, "does it not have some spiritual meaning?" It certainly does not have any spiritual significance. It is not a type of anything for the reason the Bible nowhere says it should be so used. The Holy Spirit made all the types He wanted, and certainly we should not be guilty of making any more. Such as that is mending the Word of God and is equivalent to adding to the Bible.
When we read of the Passover and then read where Jesus is our Passover, we know that the Passover is a type because the Bible says so.
When we read of Moses lifting up the serpent in the wilderness, we know that this was a type of Christ because Jesus said it was:
Everything and every event in te Bible that was intended to be a type is mentioned somewhere by some inspired writer as being a type. We should not be guilty of inventing types, because the Spirit has given us all we need.
Confirmed by Archaeologists
The Old Testament has been confirmed by archaeologists. The spade has uncovered ancient ruins which show that the Biblical account is true, and at no time has it been shown that the Bible account is false or even in the slightest detail in error. To know history accurately, one must know the Old Testament.
Tells Good and Bad
The history in the Old Testament tells the bad as well as the good in men and women. Why tell the bad? If only the good in the Bible characters were related, we might form the idea that they were more than human, and it would be discouraging to us, but when the bad conduct of such men as David and Solomon and Samson and even Abraham is recounted, we can see that they were human and in need of a Savior the same as we. We can learn how that man and women are saved notwithstanding their imperfections - the glorious doctrine of salvation by grace is exemplified.
Warning for Us
What these Old Testament characters did is not intended as an example for us. Sometimes what they did is a terrible warning to us. The bad things are not recorded for us to copy, but we learn how God dealt with His people. For instance, we can read with profit how God dealt with His people. For instance, we can read with profit how Noah built the Ark under the instructions of God, but we are not to practice building tabernacles. We can read with profit how Abraham offered his son, Isaac, in sacrifice. What they did is not intended as our rule of faith and practice from the Old Testament.
Misuse of Historical Events
Some of the historical events in the Old Testament were types of things in the New Testament, but where such is the case we are plainly told in some place that they are types. For instance, the crossing of the Red Sea is a type of baptism and the elevating of the serpent of brass is a type of the crucifixion of Christ, but we are somewhere told that these are intended as types. To give spiritual meaning to the historical events related in the Old Testament is a dangerous practice, unless we are distinctly told somewhere in the Bible that the event has a spiritual significance.
PROPHECY
By prophecy we mean history written in advance. God knew all His works before He did them. He knew what He was going to do and when He was going to do it, and He inspired the prophets to foretell it. Prophecy is not a guess but an actual account of events before they come to pass. It is one of the best proofs of the inspiration of the Bible.
We are not under the prophets as a rule of faith and practice but what they prophesied will certainly come to pass. We do not go to the prophets to learn what to do in our religious life, but we go to the prophecies to learn what God intends to do with us and with all the rest of mankind. God's purposes are revealed by the prophets. A study of prophecy is not only fascinating but very profitable.
What God will do is revealed in prophecy and what we should do is revealed in the New Testament.
TYPES
A type is a picture, a shadow. The Old Testament abounds in types and a study of them makes the work of Jesus as our Savor clear and also what the church is and does is made clear. A type is a shadow - a shadow of things to come.
We should use the types mentioned in the Bible and not be guilty of manufacturing types. In past years a great book was written, known as Butler's Analogy and it was widely read. It had such influence on the preachers of a past generation that every similarity was taken as a type of something. It developed a generation of preachers who spiritualized everything. Many preachers indulge in that sort of thing to this day.
The Bible should be allowed to mean just exactly what it says. If we do not know the meaning of the words used in a passage, we should go to a dictionary and learn the meaning just exactly as we do when reading any other book, or as we do when reading a newspaper. The Bible means what it says. Many times I have been asked what a passage means and my answer is: It means exactly what it says.
A man asked me one time what it means where Moses cast down a rod and it became a serpent and God told him to "take it by the tail." My answer was, "It means what it says."
The questioner persisted, and said, "What does it mean by taking it by the tail?
My answer was: "It means not to take it by the head or the middle, but by the tail."
"But," said the questioner, "does it not have some spiritual meaning?" It certainly does not have any spiritual significance. It is not a type of anything for the reason the Bible nowhere says it should be so used. The Holy Spirit made all the types He wanted, and certainly we should not be guilty of making any more. Such as that is mending the Word of God and is equivalent to adding to the Bible.
When we read of the Passover and then read where Jesus is our Passover, we know that the Passover is a type because the Bible says so.
When we read of Moses lifting up the serpent in the wilderness, we know that this was a type of Christ because Jesus said it was:
"And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up" (John 3:14).
Everything and every event in te Bible that was intended to be a type is mentioned somewhere by some inspired writer as being a type. We should not be guilty of inventing types, because the Spirit has given us all we need.
