Should We USE the OLD TESTAMENT?
Jesus commanded: "Man SHALL live by EVERY Word of
God." How can we prove that He
included the Old Testament in that command? -- that He meant ALL the Bible?
By Herbert W. Armstrong
DID YOU
ever observe people going to Sunday school or Church on a Sunday morning? And did you ever notice what a large portion
of them -- if they carry any Scriptures with them at all -- have merely a NEW
Testament!
A young
man who had been a student in a Bible college for a couple of years once came
to me and confessed: "I'm all mixed up -- frustrated! After all my Bible study, I suddenly woke up
to realize that I'm not SURE that the Jesus of Nazareth, who lived 1900 years
ago, really WAS the CHRIST!
"I've
heard you say over the air that we must PROVE all things -- even what we have
thought that we believed. Suddenly I
woke up," he confessed," to realize that I never actually PROVED that
Jesus was the promised Messiah! That
realization FLOORS me. I'm totally
FRUSTRATED. "Tell me," he
said earnestly, "HOW can I Prove it? -- HOW can I KNOW? How can I BE SURE?"
Was this YOUR Experience, Too?
That young
man had never studied the OLD Testament of his Bible very much. I opened his Bible to certain OLD Testament
Scriptures, and out of THEM he found POSITIVE, SATISFYING PROOF that Jesus was
the Messiah -- the SAVIOR of the world!
I'm going to show you brethren, now, a part of what I opened up to him
in His Bible.
Many have
gained the idea that Christians should never read the Old Testament at
all! Many seem to believe THAT part of
the Bible was DONE AWAY -- that it was only for the Jewish people of long ago
-- that its message is DEAD today!
So Let's
EXAMINE this question!
Certainly
our Church -- the
The OLD
COVENANT -- meaning the AGREEMENT between God and
Do you
know, brethren, that for about six years after the crucifixion and resurrection
of Jesus Christ and the founding of the NEW Testament Church, that this New
Testament Church had and used ONLY THE OLD TESTAMENT SCRIPTURES?
Christ
preached the GOSPEL OF THE KINGDOM -- the same Gospel He commanded every
minister to preach under the NEW Testament
dispensation, yet do you know He preached ALTOGETHER OUT OF THE OLD TESTAMENT
SCRIPTURES?
Church Built on Old Testament Scriptures
I wonder
if you fully realize that the CHURCH was BUILT UPON THE WRITINGS OF THE OLD
TESTAMENT PROPHETS, as well as on the APOSTLES?
Notice Ephesians 2:19-20; "Now therefore ye ... ARE BUILT UPON THE
FOUNDATION OF THE APOSTLES AND PROPHETS, Jesus Christ Himself being the chief
cornerstone."
Notice
Jesus' own example: While Jesus was sent from God as the Messenger of the NEW
COVENANT -- Yet HE PREACHED THAT MESSAGE OUT OF THE OLD TESTAMENT
SCRIPTURES. He said, as recorded in John
5:39: "SEARCH THE SCRIPTURES; for IN THEM ye think ye have ETERNAL LIFE,
and THEY are they which TESTIFY OF ME."
Yes, they TESTIFY OF CHRIST. And do you know, brethren, YOU COULD NOT
PROVE Jesus of Nazareth was the CHRIST, the MESSIAH, the Son of God -- your
SAVIOR and mine -- WITHOUT THE OLD TESTAMENT SCRIPTURES?
If we are
definitely to establish and PROVE, beyond doubt, that Jesus is the Messiah --
the Saviour, we must prove it by bringing Him through the door of the Old
Testament Scriptures -- the prophecies PROVING Him to be the divine Son of the
living God! For, as He said, THEY
TESTIFY OF HIM!
Notice
further what Jesus preached during His earthly ministry. John 5:46-47: "For had ye BELIEVED
Moses, ye would have believed me: for HE WROTE OF ME. But if ye BELIEVE NOT HIS WRITINGS, how shall
ye believe my words?"
Moses
wrote the first five Books of the Old Testament -- the part which has often
been referred to as "the Law."
And Jesus said, "IF ye believe not his writings, HOW SHALL YE
BELIEVE MY WORDS?"
And if we
today cannot know and BELIEVE the things Moses wrote to be TRUE, HOW CAN WE
BELIEVE CHRIST'S WORDS? They are as much
a PART of Holy Scripture as those New Testament books QUOTING the Lord!
We Must Believe ALL the Prophets
Another
time, AFTER HIS resurrection, we find this example of Jesus' preaching recorded
in Luke 24:25-27: "Then He said unto them, O fools, and slow of heart to
BELIEVE ALL that THE PROPHETS have spoken."
How did
Philip of Bethsaida know that Jesus was the Christ?
Read John 1:45: "Philip findeth Nathanael, and
saith unto him, we have found Him, OF WHOM MOSES IN THE LAW, AND THE PROPHETS,
DID WRITE, Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph."
What ARE
some of these Old Testament Prophecies which PROVE that Jesus of Nazareth was
the Son of God, the MESSIAH?
First,
Isaiah 7:14: "Therefore the Lord himself shall give you a sign; Behold a
virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel."
Now
notice, a VIRGIN was to bear a son. The
son was to be of a human VIRGIN, to have a human mother, but NOT a human
father. And the name of this son, to be born as a baby, to grow up to manhood,
was to be "IMMANUEL," which, when translated, means, "GOD WITH
US."
And the fulfilment of that prophecy is recorded in
the New Testament, in Matt. 1:20-23. "But while he thought on these things
behold the angel of the Lord appeared unto him in a dream, saying, Joseph, thou
son of David, fear not to take unto thee Mary thy wife: for that which is
conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit.
And she shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt call his name JESUS: for
he shall save his people from their sins.
Now all this was done, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken of
the Lord by the prophet, saying, Behold, a virgin shall be with child, and
shall bring forth a son, and they shall call his name Emmanuel, which being
interpreted is, God with us."
And now,
let's read right on. Matt. 2:1-4:
"Now when Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judaea in the days of Herod the
king, behold, there came wise men from the east to
Now WHY?
-- how would the chief priests and the scribes know
where Christ should be born? BECAUSE IT
WAS WRITTEN IN A PROPHECY OF THEIR SCRIPTURES!
Continue, Verses 5-6: "And they said unto him, In Bethlehem of
Judaea: for thus it is written by the prophet, And thou
So the Old
Testament Scriptures added another detail.
The MESSIAH who was to be the future RULER OF ISRAEL not only was to be
born of a virgin -- He was to be born and first appear in the little city of
But now
let us see how the wonderful 53rd chapter of Isaiah foretold His FIRST coming.
Foretold in Old Testament
Here is
what Isaiah 53:1-5, 8, 12 reads:
"Who
hath believed our report? and to whom is the arm of the Lord revealed? For he shall grow up before him as a tender
plant, and as a root out of a dry ground: he hath no form nor comeliness; and when
we shall see him, there is no beauty that we should desire him. He is despised and rejected of men; a man of
sorrows, and acquainted with grief: and we hid as it were our faces from him;
he was despised, and we esteemed him not.
Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did
esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted. But he was wounded for our transgressions, he
was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and
with his stripes we are healed ... He
was taken from prison and from judgment: and who shall declare his
generation? for
he was cut off out of the land of the living: for the transgression of my
people was he stricken. Therefore will
I divide him a portion with the great, and he shall divide the spoil with the
strong; because he hath poured out his soul unto death: and he was numbered
with the transgressors; and he bare the sin of many, and made intercession for
the transgressors."
HERE we
see it foretold that the Messiah was to be BORN, and to GROW UP from a child
that He was to be despised and rejected, NOT hailed as a mighty King and
Deliverer! If the Jews of 1900 years ago
had only known and understood the Scriptures -- and had their HEARTS been
honest and their MINDS open -- they would have recognized and accepted their
Messiah and the Saviour! But they were
then following the religious traditions of THEIR time, just as nearly ALL the
other churches are doing today. The Jews
did NOT understand their Scriptures, just as Christendom does NOT understand
the Bible today!
This
wonderful 53rd chapter of Isaiah tells us the Messiah was to come in human
flesh, to grow up, to bear our afflictions and OUR SICKNESSES. Yes, HE was to be WOUNDED and to suffer for
our physical, as well as spiritual transgressions, so that by His stripes --
His BODY broken for us -- WE are to be HEALED when sick! MANY OF US do not fully grasp THAT truth,
even today!
And did
you know, brethren, that EVERY ONE of the original evangelists who preached
Christ and the GOSPEL of CHRIST -- which is the GOSPEL Christ preached, the NEW
Testament GOSPEL OF THE KINGDOM -- EVERY ONE of them whose preaching is
recorded in the NEW TESTAMENT, preached CHRIST and the GOSPEL out of the OLD
TESTAMENT SCRIPTURES?
Yes, THAT
IS the way the true FAITH ONCE DELIVERED was originally preached, in all its
purity and truth! And that is what WE do
today!
New Testament PROOF!
Notice how
PETER used the Old Testament in preaching the Gospel of CHRIST, when delivering
the first inspired sermon the day the NEW TESTAMENT CHURCH was really
established: "But Peter, standing up with the eleven, lifted up his voice,
and said, unto them, Ye men of Judaea, and all ye that dwell at Jerusalem, be
this known unto you, and hearken to my words: For these are not drunken, as ye
suppose, seeing it is but the third hour of the day. But this is that which was spoken by the
prophet Joel; And it shall come to pass in the last days, saith God, I will
pour out of my Spirit upon all flesh: and your sons and your daughters shall
prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream
dreams" (Acts
After
concluding Joel's prophecy of the coming of the OTHER Comforter, the HOLY
SPIRIT, Peter continues in verse 25: "For David speaketh concerning him, I
foresaw the Lord always before my face, for he is on my right hand, that I
should not be moved."
Through
the remainder of his sermon on that day of Pentecost, Peter continued to preach
Christ from the Old Testament -- and 3000 precious souls were CONVERTED through
Old Testament preaching that day!
Later,
Philip was sent by the angel of the Lord to preach to the eunuch from
And yet,
some people today still say, "You can't do that -- you can't preach CHRIST
out of the Old Testament." But the
Spirit-led PHILIP did it -- Jesus Himself did it -- PETER did it -- yes, ALL
the first century evangelists of the true, original PURE
Now
consider Paul. How did HE preach? In the very last chapter of Acts, we read of
Paul, after he had gone to Rome: "And when they had appointed him a day,
there came many to him into his lodging; to whom he expounded and testified the
kingdom of God, persuading them concerning Jesus, both out of the law of Moses,
and out of the prophets, from morning till evening" (Acts 28:23).
A very
large portion of the New Testament is simply the Old Testament QUOTED. The New is BASED on the Old. The New Testament GOSPEL is based on the
PROMISES God made to Abraham -- for if we are Christ's, then we ARE Abraham's
children and HEIRS according to the PROMISES (Gal. 3:29). Without the Book of Genesis, how could you
establish the PROMISES you hope to inherit THROUGH CHRIST?
Yes,
brethren, your hope of ETERNAL LIFE rests upon the Book of GENESIS!
Notice,
too, the writings of Peter: "We have also a more sure word of prophecy;
whereunto ye do well that ye take heed, as unto a light that shineth in a dark
place, until the day dawn, and the day star arise in your hearts: Knowing this
first, that no prophecy of the scripture is of any private interpretation. For the prophecy came not in old time by the
will of man: but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy
Spirit" (II Peter
And Paul's
instruction to the New Testament Church in Romans 15:4: "For whatsoever
things were written aforetime were written for our learning, that we through
patience and comfort of the scriptures might have hope."
And how
shall we have UNDERSTANDING of salvation?
Paul wrote Timothy: "And that from a child thou hast known the Holy
Scriptures, which are able to make thee wise unto
salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus. All scripture is given by inspiration of God,
and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in
righteousness: That the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto
all good works" (II Tim.
And so,
brethren, let us say with DAVID: "Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a
light unto my path" (Psalm 119:105).