Delighting in the Old Testament E-Book

Jason DeRouchie

• Herausgeber: Crossway
• Kategorie: Religion und Spiritualität
• Sprache: Englisch

Seitenzahl: 632

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2025

Beschreibung

Understanding the Old Testament's Purpose in the Christian's Life Today The Old Testament makes up the majority of the Christian Bible, yet incorrect teaching of its texts abounds in the church. Without effectively studying these stories, covenants, and kingdoms within their close, continuing, and complete biblical contexts, believers miss the beauty of the Old Testament, including how it points to Jesus, and why it still matters today. Jason DeRouchie helps Christians delight in the books of the Old Testament and read them the way God intended—as relevant parts of Christian Scripture. This accessible guide stresses the need to keep Christ at the center and to account for the progress of salvation history when applying the Old Testament today. It helps Christians interpret the Old Testament, see how it testifies to Jesus, believe that Jesus secured every divine promise, and understand how Jesus makes Moses's law still matter. By more strongly comprehending Old Testament teachings and how they relate to the New, Christians will better enjoy the Old Testament itself and increasingly understand all that Jesus came to fulfill. - In-Depth Study: Shows the lasting relevance of Old Testament laws, history, prophecy, and wisdom, and gives insight into the authors and audience of Old Testament books - A Great Resource for Pastors, Students, and Small Groups: Prepares Christian leaders to faithfully teach the Old Testament and equips all Christians to embrace that the Old Testament is Christian Scripture - Accessible: Includes numerous case studies, "Review and Reflection" points for every chapter, and a glossary of key terms

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“This book will change the way you read the Old and the New Testaments. Beyond this, if you are a pastor or teacher, this book will change the way you preach and teach from the Old and the New Testaments. Thankfully, while Jason DeRouchie’s ideas are big, the words and the chapters are not. I will joyfully wear out my copy.”

Tom Kelby, President, Hands to the Plow Ministries; President, Table Fellowship Churches

“Jason DeRouchie’s love of the Old Testament is contagious. He loves the Old Testament because it leads him to his Savior. Neglecting the Old Testament results in an impoverished understanding of the words and works of Christ. Even though the Old Testament’s language, culture, and worldview can strike modern readers as foreign or arcane, DeRouchie demonstrates how the Old Testament can be both accessible and awe-inspiring. He does more than merely inform his readers; he seeks to inflame their hearts, beginning with the Law and all the Prophets. DeRouchie serves the global church by opening the treasures of the Old Testament, allowing them to illuminate the New Testament, exalt Jesus, and lead readers to greater faithfulness and deeper worship.”

Joe M. Allen III, Assistant Professor of Missions, Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary and Spurgeon College

“We love to tell the stories of the Old Testament to children but, sadly, often fail to rejoice in it for ourselves. In Delighting in the Old Testament, Jason DeRouchie helps us see Christ in this part of God’s word, resulting in a joy-filled faith. I highly recommend this book to you, whether you are a Christian in the pew or a leader in the church. Don’t rush through it. You will see the Old Testament Scriptures as you have never seen them before!”

Conrad Mbewe, Pastor, Kabwata Baptist Church, Lusaka, Zambia; Founding Chancellor, African Christian University

“While Christians may confess that the first three-quarters of the Bible is ‘breathed out by God’ (2 Tim. 3:16) and bears witness about Jesus (John 5:39), and although they may affirm that it is ‘profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness’ (2 Tim. 3:16), they often find it difficult to discover in it the kinds of life-transforming riches that would lead them to be ‘complete, equipped for every good work’ (2 Tim. 3:17). Put another way, it is one thing to believe that the Old Testament is a bottomless mine of life-transforming gospel gold, and it is quite another to experience its riches as one mines deeply. With Delighting in the Old Testament, Jason DeRouchie has handed us a tool for mining, helped us get started, and given us instructions so that we can dig deeply for the rest of our lives. This book provides a model for Christ-saturated and biblically grounded reading of the Old Testament as Christian Scripture. Church groups and classrooms will be blessed as they learn how to read, see, hope, and live in light of the Christ-centered message of the first three-quarters of the Bible.”

Ian J. Vaillancourt, Professor of Old Testament and Hebrew, Heritage Theological Seminary; author, The Dawning of Redemption and Treasuring the Psalms

“When it comes to Old Testament studies, Jason DeRouchie is one of this generation’s most trusted authors. In Delighting in the Old Testament, he brings his considerable gifts to bear as he walks the reader through how to read the Old Testament in light of the person and work of Christ. This accessible, reader-friendly volume will biblically inform and spiritually inspire all who read it. Whether you’re a new believer or an established scholar, I highly recommend this book.”

Jason K. Allen, President, Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary and Spurgeon College

“From bacon and tattoos to typology and hermeneutics, Delighting in the Old Testament covers an incredible amount of ground when it comes to helping us understand and apply ‘Jesus’s only Bible.’ Of particular import is how much more attention and care teachers and evangelists should take as we teach the Old Testament. All Christians stand to benefit immensely as they worship their way through this comprehensive and informative text. Feel your heart leap for joy as you see how Jesus heals you of your spiritual disabilities and purchases for you every spiritual blessing!”

Gloria Furman, author, Labor with Hope and Missional Motherhood

“For a Christian, understanding how Jesus is the center and climax of Scripture is of utmost importance. In this volume, Jason DeRouchie channels decades of study to help readers appropriately read the Old Testament as Christian Scripture by examining how Jesus fulfills all of God’s promises. I love this book because it helps believers delight in God’s word and delight in the God who gave us his word.”

Benjamin L. Merkle, M. O. Owens Jr. Chair of New Testament Studies and Research Professor of New Testament and Greek, Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary; Editor, Southeastern Theological Review

“This book is a dream come true. For years, Jason DeRouchie has won my trust. He cherishes both the Hebrew Scriptures and the Messiah himself. And without pretense or fudging, he loves to see the genuine, authentic marriage of the sacred text and its supreme Treasure. Few take both the Old Testament and Christ with such seriousness and contagious joy. Now, in this book, a world-class professor leverages his learning and skill in the Hebrew language, discourse analysis, and the full text of Scripture to train lay leaders, common Christians, and all careful students of the Bible, not just to read and understand the Old Testament better, but through it to encounter the King himself in the full sweep of his majesty and to delight in him.”

David Mathis, Senior Teacher and Executive Editor, desiringGod.org; Pastor, Cities Church, Saint Paul, Minnesota; author, Habits of Grace

“If delight is not the first word that comes to mind when you think about the Old Testament, then this book is a gift to you. Jason DeRouchie is a trusted scholar and just the man we need to teach us that the Old Testament prepares for and points to Jesus Christ. This happy discovery awaits all who read Delighting in the Old Testament.”

C. J. Mahaney, Senior Pastor, Sovereign Grace Church, Louisville, Kentucky

“I have benefited from Jason DeRouchie’s work both personally and professionally for decades, and this book represents yet another gift to those who would engage its content. His work is clear, thorough, and compelling. Additionally, his argument is fundamental and essential for the full and proper interpretation of the Old Testament as Christian Scripture. If you are not convinced, repent and reread it.”

Miles V. Van Pelt, Alan Hayes Belcher, Jr. Professor of Old Testament and Biblical Languages and Director, Summer Institute for Biblical Languages, Reformed Theological Seminary, Jackson

“Jason DeRouchie is a faithful guide to the Old Testament. He shows that its theological message is that God reigns, saves, and satisfies through covenant for his glory in Christ.”

Andy Naselli, Professor of Systematic Theology and New Testament, Bethlehem College and Seminary; Elder, The North Church, Mounds View, Minnesota

“Jason DeRouchie’s work will be immensely helpful to a wide variety of readers. It is both accessible and comprehensive. It is practical and well researched. I’m looking forward to hearing of its impact in a variety of contexts around the globe.”

Ryan Robertson, President, Reaching & Teaching International Ministries; Elder, Third Avenue Baptist Church, Louisville, Kentucky

Delighting in the Old Testament

Delighting in the Old Testament

Through Christ and for Christ

Jason S. DeRouchie

Foreword by Stephen J. Wellum

Delighting in the Old Testament: Through Christ and for Christ

© 2024 by Jason S. DeRouchie

Published by Crossway1300 Crescent StreetWheaton, Illinois 60187

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopy, recording, or otherwise, without the prior permission of the publisher, except as provided for by USA copyright law. Crossway® is a registered trademark in the United States of America.

Cover design: Jordan Singer

First printing 2024

Printed in the United States of America

Unless otherwise indicated, Scripture quotations are from the ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved. The ESV text may not be quoted in any publication made available to the public by a Creative Commons license. The ESV may not be translated into any other language.

Scripture quotations marked NASB are taken from the New American Standard Bible®, copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. www.lockman.org.

Scripture quotations designated NET are from the NET Bible® copyright © 1996–2016 by Biblical Studies Press, L.L.C. http://netbible.com. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Quotations marked NETS are taken from A New English Translation of the Septuagint, © 2007 by the International Organization for Septuagint and Cognate Studies, Inc. Used by permission of Oxford University Press. All rights reserved.

Scripture quotations marked NIV are taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.™ Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved worldwide. www.zondervan.com. The “NIV” and “New International Version” are trademarks registered in the United States Patent and Trademark Office by Biblica, Inc.™

Scripture quotations marked NRSV are from the New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright © 1989 the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

All emphases in Scripture quotations have been added by the author.

Hardcover ISBN: 978-1-4335-9122-8 ePub ISBN: 978-1-4335-9124-2 PDF ISBN: 978-1-4335-9123-5

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Names: DeRouchie, Jason Shane, 1973– author. 

Title: Delighting in the Old Testament : through Christ and for Christ / Jason S. DeRouchie ; foreword by Stephen J. Wellum. 

Description: Wheaton, Illinois : Crossway, 2024. | Includes bibliographical references and indexes. 

Identifiers: LCCN 2023005477 (print) | LCCN 2023005478 (ebook) | ISBN 9781433591228 (hardcover) | ISBN 9781433591235 (pdf) | ISBN 9781433591242 (epub)

Subjects: LCSH: Jesus Christ—Biblical teaching. | Bible. Old Testament—Criticism, interpretation, etc. 

Classification: LCC BT225 .D476 2024 (print) | LCC BT225 (ebook) | DDC 221.606—dc23/eng/20230726

LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2023005477

LC ebook record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2023005478

Crossway is a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.

2023-11-16 01:44:12 PM

To Tom Kelby and Andy Naselli,

brothers who have seen, savored, served, supported, and stimulated

Contents

List of Illustrations

Foreword by Stephen J. Wellum

Preface

Abbreviations

Introduction

Ten Reasons the Old Testament Matters for Christians

Part 1

Reading Well: How Jesus Helps Christians Interpret the Old Testament

1  The Old Testament’s Audience and Comprehension

New Testament Perspective

2  The Old Testament’s Audience and Comprehension

Old Testament Perspective

3  Christ as Light and Lens for Interpreting the Old Testament

Part 2

Seeing Well: How Jesus’s Bible Testifies about Him

73

4  The Story of God’s Glory in Christ

5  Seeing and Celebrating Christ in All of Scripture

6  The Message of Genesis and the Hope for Christ

Part 3

Hoping Well: How Jesus Secures Every Divine Promise

7  The Importance and Challenge of Claiming Old Testament Promises

8  Relating Old Testament Promises to Christians

9  Claiming Old Testament Promises through Christ

PART 4

Living Well: How Jesus Makes Moses’s Law Matter

10  Relating Moses’s Law to Christians

11  Evaluating Alternative Proposals

12  When Jesus Maintains the Law

13  When Jesus Transforms or Annuls the Law

Conclusion

Tips for Delighting in the Old Testament

Glossary

Illustration Credits

General Index

Scripture Index

Illustrations

Figures

 3.1  The Bible’s progressive revelation of Old Testament mystery

 3.2  Interpreting the Old Testament through the lens of Christ

 4.1  Salvation history in the context of Scripture

 4.2  God’s KINGDOM plan through images

 4.3  Salvation history and the overlap of the ages

 8.1  Old Testament promises reach believers only through Christ

 9.1  The fulfillment of Old Testament promises through the lens of Christ

 9.2  God maintains the promise of serving as a light while extending it to all in Christ

 9.3  God maintains the promise of his presence while extending it to all in Christ

 9.4  God maintains the promise of his dwelling while extending it to all in Christ

 9.5  God maintains his promises to Israel while extending them to all in Christ

10.1  The law’s fulfillment through the lens of Christ

10.2  The law’s fulfillment over the bridge of Christ

13.1  The holiness continuum

Tables

4.1  Stages in God’s KINGDOM plan

6.1  Seven ways to see and celebrate Christ in the Old Testament

6.2  The “these are the generations” structure of Genesis

6.3  The command-promise structure of Genesis 12:1–3

8.1  Mosaic covenant blessings, curses, and restoration blessings

8.2  Paul’s use of the Old Testament in 2 Corinthians 6:16

12.1  Types of old covenant laws by content (abridged)

12.2  Types of old covenant laws by content (extended)

13.1  The centrality of the Sabbath in the Ten Commandments

Foreword

The Bible is a big book that spans centuries and consists of many topics and diverse literature. Yet, the Bible, despite being written by multiple authors and addressing various subjects, is one grand metanarrative whose central message is about what our triune Creator-covenant God planned in eternity and executed in time to glorify himself by redeeming his people, judging sin, and making all things new in Christ Jesus (Rom. 11:33–36; Eph. 1:9–10; Col. 1:15–20). Indeed, from Genesis to Revelation, the Bible’s main message is first about the triune God before it’s about us and how he—although perfectly complete and satisfied in himself—has graciously chosen to share himself with us, which results to the praise of his glorious name, his sovereign grace, and our eternal good (Eph. 2:1–10).

However, if we are to grasp and comprehend the Bible’s central message, Scripture cannot be read in a piecemeal way, as if we could isolate one text from another. Instead, we must approach and interpret Scripture according to what Scripture is, or better, we must read it on its own terms. What, then, is Scripture, and what are its own terms? We can answer this by noting three truths.

First, Scripture is God’s word written through the agency of human authors unfolding God’s eternal plan (2 Tim. 3:15–17; 2 Pet. 1:20–21). Given this truth, despite Scripture’s diversity of content, there is an overall unity and coherence to it precisely because it is God’s word written. Furthermore, since Scripture is God’s word given through human authors, we cannot know what God is saying to us apart from the writing(s) and intention(s) of the human authors. What Scripture says, God says. And given that God has spoken through multiple authors over time, this requires a careful intertextual and canonical reading to understand God’s full revelation of himself. Scripture does not come to us all at once. Instead, as God’s plan unfolds, more revelation is given, and later revelation, building on the earlier, results in more clarity and understanding from the perspective of the later authors. As more revelation is given, God’s unfolding “mystery” is unveiled (see Rom. 16:25–26; Eph. 1:9; 3:3–6; Col. 1:25–27), and we discover how the individual parts fit with the whole. Even more significantly, we discover who is central to that plan, namely our Lord Jesus Christ.

Second, Scripture is God’s word written over time, hence the idea of the progress of revelation and the unfolding nature of revelation in redemptive history. Revelation, alongside redemption, occurs progressively, largely demarcated by the biblical covenants located within the larger categories of creation, fall, redemption, and the dawning of the new creation in Christ. Thus, to understand the “whole counsel of God” (Acts 20:27), we must carefully trace God’s unfolding plan as unveiled through the biblical covenants. This is why our exegesis of specific texts and entire books must result in a “biblical theology” that is concerned to read Scripture and put together the entire canon in terms of its redemptive-historical unfolding. Scripture consists of many literary forms that require careful interpretation, but what unites the biblical books is God’s unfolding plan, starting in Genesis with creation, accounting for the fall, unpacking God’s redemptive promises through the covenants, and culminating with Christ’s coming and inauguration of the new creation by the ratification of a new covenant.

Third, Scripture is God’s word centered in our Lord Jesus Christ. Although some think this statement is controversial, it is simply true to what Scripture teaches. As the New Testament opens, Jesus is presented as the fulfillment of God’s saving promises from the Old Testament (Matt. 1:1–17; Luke 1–3). All that has preceded Christ—promises, types, and covenantal unfolding—has anticipated his coming. In fact, our Lord himself unambiguously teaches us this truth. In a staggering statement, Jesus claims that he is the fulfillment of the Law and the Prophets, meaning not only that the entire Old Testament pointed to him but also that its continuing and abiding authority must be understood in light of his person and work (Matt. 5:17–20). By this statement, Jesus views himself as the eschatological goal of the Old Testament; he is the one to whom the Old Testament pointed forward and in whom all God’s plans and promises are realized.

But Jesus’s statement in Matthew 5 is not merely a one-off. In Matthew 11, as he teaches us about his relationship to John the Baptist, the last of the old covenant prophets, Jesus views himself as the focal point and center of all of history, the one who fulfills all of God’s plans and purposes in himself. The same truth is taught in Luke 24. As Jesus comes alongside to comfort two downcast disciples, he does so by going back to the Old Testament and rehearsing how the Law, Prophets, and Psalms properly spoke of him and anticipated the events occurring in his life, death, and resurrection (Luke 24:13–35, 44). A crucified Messiah isn’t something strange but precisely what the Old Testament taught and anticipated. As Jesus unpacks Scripture, he magnificently explains how the Old Testament, properly interpreted and despite its diversity, is about him.

These truths are also taught by the opening thesis statement of the book of Hebrews. “Long ago,” the author reminds his readers, “God spoke to our fathers by the prophets,” and he did so “at many times and in many ways” (Heb. 1:1). God’s word is given over time, and it points forward to something more to come. In fact, the phrase, “at many times and in many ways,” underscores this point. God gave the Old Testament revelation, and it is, therefore, fully true and authoritative. Yet it is purposely incomplete as it points beyond itself to Christ’s coming. But what the prophets looked forward to—namely, “the last days” and the coming of Messiah Jesus, now, “in Son” (en huiō, Heb. 1:2)—is here. In other words, in Christ’s coming and work, the entirety of God’s previous revelation and redemptive purposes have now reached their fulfillment. All of this reminds us that there was no reduction of the Old Testament’s authority, but God intended the Old Testament to point beyond itself to his full self-disclosure in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Although these truths are plainly taught in Scripture, unfortunately today’s evangelical church has a difficult time making sense of them. We struggle over how Scripture, especially the Old Testament, is to be applied to our lives and how it is rightly about our Lord Jesus Christ. The Old Testament has become almost a foreign book to many in our churches. Even some prominent pastors advocate a Marcion-like “unhitching” of the Old Testament from the New, since, after all, the church is the people of the new covenant, not the old. But the problem with this kind of teaching is that it denies what Scripture teaches in a whole host of ways.

For starters, it denies what Paul teaches in 2 Timothy 3:15–17. In this important statement, we often forget that Paul’s reference to “Scripture” is first referring to the Old Testament as God’s breathed-out word and, thus, as fully authoritative for Christians. What he assumes is that the church is grounding its doctrine and life on the Old Testament, since the New Testament is still being written. As a result, it is not only wrong but also dangerous to ignore the Old Testament since it, along with the New Testament, functions for us as the basis for how we are rightly to think about God and live before him as his redeemed people in Christ. No doubt it is true that as Christians we are not “under the law” as a covenant now that Christ has come. However, this does not mean that the entire Old Testament, including the Mosaic covenant, does not continue to function for us as Scripture and, thus, to demand our complete devotion, study, and obedience.

Furthermore, this kind of teaching undercuts the biblical and theological foundation for the New Testament and thus seriously risks misunderstanding who Jesus is, along with the entire message of the gospel. Our Lord Jesus Christ does not appear de novo in the New Testament, that is, out of thin air. Instead, who Jesus is and what he has done in his redemptive work is entirely dependent on the biblical-theological framework, content, and structures of the Old Testament. Unless we ground the gospel first in the Old Testament, we will quickly lose the central truths of Christian theology. This is why ignorance of the Old Testament is no small matter. In truth, it’s a matter of life and death, and as such, given our lack of knowing the Old Testament, it is not surprising that the theological life and health of today’s evangelical church is in trouble.

Given this sober truth and stark reality, I am thrilled to recommend Jason DeRouchie’s excellent and timely work, Delighting in the Old Testament: Through Christ and for Christ. For the time in which we live, this book helps the church properly recover the breadth, depth, and beauty of the Old Testament. In a succinct way, DeRouchie teaches the church how to read the Old Testament properly and apply it to our lives in light of Christ’s incarnation and new covenant work. What the church is desperately lacking about how to understand and apply the Old Testament as Christian Scripture to our lives, DeRouchie remedies by providing sound instruction. In so doing, he teaches us how the Bible’s covenantal storyline, types, and glorious promises are centered in Christ, fulfilled in him, and applied to the church. Probably the most helpful feature of the book is the various case studies. For example, by applying specific texts, DeRouchie illustrates how to read and apply the Mosaic law to our lives as new covenant believers. By avoiding the extremes of a strict continuity or total discontinuity of the application of the law-covenant to us today, he moves beyond mere theory to practice and masterfully demonstrates how to apply correctly God’s word to our lives.

Generally speaking, the evangelical church is deficient in basic biblical and theological knowledge and literacy. If this serious problem is not remedied, the church will continue to drift as she is tossed back and forth by every wind of doctrine (Eph. 4:14). The remedy to our present situation is sound and faithful biblical and theological exposition, which DeRouchie wonderfully provides. My prayer is that this book will be widely read, digested, and applied. If it is, then the church will be strengthened, fortified, and better equipped to know and glorify our triune God as we learn to proclaim anew the unsearchable riches of Christ (Col. 1:27–28) from the whole counsel of God (Acts 20:27).

Stephen J. Wellum

Professor of Christian Theology

The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary

Louisville, KY

Preface

What’s the Point of This Book?

Is the Old Testament still significant for believers today? Can Christians faithfully see anticipations of Christ there and celebrate him? How should believers engage Old Testament texts that address ancient covenants and kingdoms and that are filled with promises and laws from a different age in salvation history? This book guides readers into delighting in the Old Testament through Christ and for Christ.

Through my parenting, pastoral ministry, biblical counseling, international missions, and leadership training both in the academy and in rural and urban churches, the Lord has continued to show me how vitally important his Old Testament word is for Christians today. So many doctrinal and ethical challenges arise from unhealthy approaches to the Old Testament.1 Furthermore, the Old Testament clarifies most doctrinal and ethical answers when Christians read it properly through Christ and for Christ.

This book seeks to be immensely practical, for it addresses:

reading the Old Testament how God intends (part 1),seeingJesus where Scripture discloses him (part 2),hoping in all God’s promises for us (part 3), andliving faithfully in relation to God’s law (part 4).

Three-fourths of our Christian Bible is Old Testament, which was written “for our instruction” and to serve us (Rom. 15:4; 1 Cor. 10:11; 1 Pet. 1:12). Indeed, “all Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness” (2 Tim. 3:16). This volume seeks to equip Christian laypeople and leaders to delight in the reality that the Old Testament is Christian Scripture.

Jesus stands at the center of God’s purposes in creation and salvation. All the Old Testament’s laws, history, prophecy, and wisdom point to Jesus in various ways, and through him God fulfills all that the Old Testament anticipates (Matt. 5:17–18; Mark 1:15; Acts 3:18; 1 Cor. 1:23–24). “Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes” (Rom. 10:4), and “all the promises of God find their Yes in him” (2 Cor. 1:20). The old covenant regulations regarding “food and drink . . . festival or a new moon or a Sabbath” were all “a shadow of the things to come, but the substance belongs to Christ” (Col. 2:16–17). “He is before all things, and in him all things hold together” (Col. 1:17).

Paul told Timothy, “What you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses entrust to faithful men, who will be able to teach others also” (2 Tim. 2:2). The apostle envisioned four generations of multiplication, and I write this book with a similar intent. I hope Christian laypeople and leaders will learn from this tool and then guide others through family devotions, Bible studies, classroom instruction, and sermons, all so that more and more Christians can receive from and relish the Old Testament as God intended.

One great way to profit from this book is to approach it in a small group, one chapter per week, under the care of a coach who has already worked through the material. Once complete, the group members could each become coaches in new groups.

An Overview of the Book

After an introduction that supplies ten reasons why the Old Testament is important for believers, the book has four parts:

1. “Reading Well—How Jesus Helps Christians Interpret the Old Testament” (chaps. 1–3): Both Old and New Testament authors recognized that God gave the Old Testament for those connected to the messianic era and that only through Jesus does God enable people to read the Old Testament as God intends. Christians alone bear the spiritual ability to interpret the full meaning of the Old Testament, and Christ’s life, death, and resurrection provide a necessary lens for understanding rightly all God means.

2. “Seeing Well—How Jesus’s Bible Testifies about Him” (chaps. 4–6): Along with reading through Christ, Christians must see that Christ’s glory is the end to which God gave the Old Testament. This section offers seven ways the biblical authors model reading the Old Testament for Christ. It concludes with a case study in reading Genesis this way.

3. “Hoping Well—How Jesus Secures Every Divine Promise” (chaps. 7–9): In Jesus, Old Testament promises remain a vital means for Christians to grow in holiness and persevere through suffering. This section highlights weaknesses in the way prosperity preachers approach biblical promises. It then offers key principles that guided the New Testament authors when they appropriated Old Testament promises and shows how Jesus fulfills promises by maintaining them (with or without extension), transforming them, or completing them.

4. “Living Well—How Jesus Makes Moses’s Law Matter” (chaps. 10–13): None of Moses’s law-covenant is directly binding on believers today, but all of Moses’s law still guides us when read in view of how Christ fulfills the law. Specifically, Moses’s law still matters in the way it reveals God’s character, anticipates the saving work of Christ, and models what justice and love looked like in the age before Christ. This section evaluates alternative approaches to old covenant law, including several defective and dangerous perspectives. It then supplies four case studies to show how Jesus maintains the law (with or without extension), transforms the law, or annuls the law.

The conclusion provides seven tips for delighting in the Old Testament. Every chapter (as well as the introduction and conclusion) closes with “Review and Reflection” questions, and the book ends with a glossary of key terms for easy reference.

A Word about Footnotes and the Term “Law”

This book has many footnotes, some of which are lengthy. Sometimes these notes show my homework, but other times they simply direct the reader to other resources that handle the topic at hand. I encourage all lay readers to skip the footnotes since they sometimes include academic material that is only pertinent to advanced readers. Nothing substantial will be lost from the book’s message if you skip them all, so please don’t let their presence overwhelm or distract you!

Within both the ESV and this book’s body, the capitalized term “Law” usually refers to the first canonical division of Jesus’s Hebrew Scriptures. These five books of Moses (Genesis–Deuteronomy) are also known as the Pentateuch, and some refer to the corpus by the Hebrew term “Torah.” In contrast, the lower-case term “law” refers to instruction or a legal prescription, which elsewhere some render as “torah.” Thus, “Moses’s law” or “the law” commonly refers to the body of guiding precepts that shape the stipulations of the old Mosaic covenant and that are found within the Law/Torah/Pentateuch, most specifically in Exodus–Deuteronomy.

Some Words of Thanks

This book captures my maturing reflections on the central role Christ plays in biblical interpretation. They are now decades in the making and saturated with Yahweh’s grace. After equipping me through formal education, God used a single lunch conversation eighteen years ago with John Piper and Justin Taylor to right the trajectory of my life and ministry and to set me on a path of gospel hope and of seeing and savoring Jesus in all of Scripture. After listening to me speak of my desire to make much of God’s glory as an Old Testament professor, Taylor kindly asserted, “I hear a lot about God’s glory and very little about Jesus.”

As a Christian, did my hermeneutical approach and ministry practice align with the truth that God created all things (including the Old Testament) by the Son, through the Son, and for the Son (Col. 1:16) and that “all the promises of God find their Yes in [the Son of God, Jesus Christ]” (2 Cor. 1:20)? Could I, who like Paul was a teacher of Jesus’s Bible, say with the apostle, “I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified” (1 Cor. 2:2; cf. 1:23)? Did I approach Abraham as one who saw and rejoiced in Jesus’s day (John 8:56), even if from afar (Heb. 11:13; cf. Matt. 13:17), and did I affirm that Moses, in his writings, wrote of the divine Son (John 5:46–47; cf. 5:39)? Did I grasp that to “understand the [Old Testament] Scriptures” means that in them I should find a unified message declaring the saving work of the Messiah and the mission he would spark (Luke 24:45–46; cf. Acts 26:22–23)? Did I truly believe that “God foretold by the mouth of all the prophets, that his Christ would suffer” (Acts 3:18; cf. 3:24), and did I recognize that they were all carefully searching and inquiring about the person and time of Christ’s sufferings and subsequent glories and yet “were serving not themselves” but us (1 Pet. 1:10–12; cf. Acts 10:43; Rom. 15:4; 1 Cor. 10:11)? Did I affirm that Paul and Timothy’s sacred writings could only make others wise for salvation—past, present, and future—when linked to faith in Christ (2 Tim. 3:15)? Did the principles guiding my interpretation of the Old Testament affirm that there were “mysteries” kept secret there that only the lens of Christ’s coming could disclose (Rom. 16:25–26; cf. Isa 29:18; Jer. 30:24; Dan. 12:8–9) and that, because of this, the apostolic teaching provides a necessary grid for properly grasping all that God wants us to gain from the Old Testament (Acts 2:42; Eph. 2:20)? In short, did I interpret and preach old covenant materials in a way that embraces that “only through Christ” does God lift the veil, allowing us to fully understand and appropriate their significance (2 Cor. 3:14–15)?2

With such questions shaping my soul, the years that followed sitting under Piper’s faithful preaching at Bethlehem Baptist Church sharpened the sword I had been taught to wield and awakened a commitment within me and my family to spread a passion for the supremacy of God in all things for the joy of all peoples through Jesus Christ. I am especially grateful to Pastor John for his investment in my life through the years and for his modeling what it means to study, practice, and teach God’s word in a way that seeks the obedience of faith among all the nations for the sake of Christ’s name (Rom. 1:5). Much of what this book teaches I shaped during our years of partnership at Bethlehem College & Seminary. Piper has faithfully committed to cherish the majesty of the triune God through careful study, the treasuring of truth, humble holiness, and pastoral and joyful proclamation shaped in a context of divine sovereignty and driven by love for the nations. I have received all of these from him, and I thank him for leading me and so many others to love Jesus and to treasure the gospel more.

I thank Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary’s trustees, President Jason Allen, Provost Jason Duesing, and other administrators for granting me a research sabbatical in spring 2022 to complete this book. To be for the church around the globe means that we must remain for Christ in all things. I am grateful to be part of an institution that is committed to this vision.

I also thank the Crossway team for their commitment to biblical faithfulness and for accepting and supporting this project. Chris Cowan served as my editor, and he provided Christ-honoring oversight, careful copyediting, and wise counsel that have made the whole book better.

Many other notes of thanks are in order. I thank my doctoral fellow Brian Verrett for aiding my initial ponderings in how best to shape this book. I thank former students Joel Dougherty, Ryan Eagy, and Joey Karrigan for helping me design the book’s images. I also thank those who read through the manuscript and offered useful feedback: Joey Allen, Brandon Benziger, Teresa DeRouchie, Tyler Hall, Scott Jamison, Tom Kelby, Joey Reichhoff, Ian Vaillancourt, and Nate Weller. I rejoice in my wife Teresa and all my children who encouraged me and celebrated with me in seeing this volume completed.

I dedicate this study to two of my dear friends—Tom Kelby and Andy Naselli. Their companionship, brotherhood, and gospel collaboration have been sweet gifts to my soul through many years, trials, and joys. My work with Tom began in 2008 with the training of rural pastors in Wisconsin. His joy in the Lord, his faithfulness, and his biblical wisdom and practice have been a rich blessing to me and my family. I celebrate our relationship and partnership that now continue through the global service of Hands to the Plow Ministries. Andy and I were colleagues for many years at Bethlehem College & Seminary, and at that time we co-taught an advanced biblical theology course during which I solidified many of this book’s elements. I praise the Lord for our years of friendship and the deep commitments to Scripture, Christ, and his church that I have witnessed in his life. May the Lord keep us faithful and use us to see all the nations he has made worship before him and glorify his name (Ps. 86:9).

Jason S. DeRouchie

Savoring the sweetness of the light (Eccl. 11:7–8)

Christmas 2022

1  Some of those challenges this book addresses include health and wealth prosperity teaching and the Christian’s relationship to old covenant promises and laws.

2  This paragraph came from Jason S. DeRouchie, “Lifting the Veil: Reading and Preaching Jesus’ Bible through Christ and for Christ,” SBJT 22, no. 3 (2018): 158. Used with permission.

Abbreviations

AB  Anchor Bible

ABD  Anchor Bible Dictionary. Edited by David Noel Freedman. 6 vols. New York: Doublday, 1992

ApOTC  Apollos Old Testament Commentary

BBR  Bulletin for Biblical Research

BECNT  Baker Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament

Bib  Biblica

BSac  Bibliotheca Sacra

BZNW  Beihefte zur Zeitschrift für die alttestamentliche Wissenschaft

DBSJ  Detroit Baptist Seminary Journal

DJG  Dictionary of Jesus and the Gospels. Edited by Joel B. Green and Scott McKnight. Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1992

DLNT  Dictionary of the Later New Testament and Its Development. Edited by R. P. Martin and P. H. Davids. Downers Grove, IL: InterVasity Press, 1997

DNTUOT  Dictionary of the New Testament Use of the Old Testament. Edited by G. K. Beale, D. A. Carson, Benjamin A. Gladd, and Andrew David Naselli. Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2023

DOTP  Dictionary of the Old Testament: Pentateuch. Edited by T. Desmond Alexander and David W. Baker. Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 2003

EBC  Expositor’s Bible Commentary

ExpTim  Expository Times

GTJ  Grace Theological Journal

HALOT  The Hebrew and Aramaic Lexicon of the Old Testament. Ludwig Koehler, Walter Baumgertner, and Johann J. Stamm. Translated and edited under the supervision of Mervyn E. J. Richardson. 4 vols. Leiden: Brill, 1994–1999

JBL  Journal of Biblical Literature

JBMW  Journal of Biblical Manhood and Womanhood

JBTS  Journal of Biblical and Theological Studies

JETS  Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society

JSNT  Journal for the Study of the New Testament

JSOT  Journal for the Study of the Old Testament

JSOTSup  Journal for the Study of the Old Testament Supplement Series

JSPHS  Journal for the Study of Paul and His Letters

LHBOTS  The Library of Hebrew Bible/Old Testament Studies

LNTS  The Library of New Testament Studies

LQ  Lutheran Quarterly

LXX  Septuagint

MJT  Midwestern Journal of Theology

NAC  New American Commentary

NDBT  New Dictionary of Biblical Theology. Edited by T. Desmond Alexander and Brian S. Rosner. Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 2000

NICNT  New International Commentary on the New Testament

NICOT  New International Commentary on the Old Testament

NIDB  The New Interpreter’s Dictionary of the Bible. Edited by Katherine Doob Sakenfeld. 5 vols. Nashville: Abingdon, 2007

NIDOTTE  New International Dictionary of Old Testament Theology and Exegesis. Edited Willem A. VanGemeren. 5 vols. Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1997

NIVAC  NIV Application Commentary

NovT  Novum Testamentum

NSBT  New Studies in Biblical Theology

NTS  New Testament Studies

PNTC  Pillar New Testament Commentary

RB  Revue biblique

RTR  Reformed Theological Review

SBJT  The Southern Baptist Journal of Theology

SOTBT  Studies in Old Testament Biblical Theology

StBibLit  Studies in Biblical Literature (Lang)

STR  Southeastern Theological Review

TDOT  Theological Dictionary of the Old Testament. Edited by G. Johannes Botterweck, Helmer Ringgren, and Heinz-Joseph Fabry. Translated by John T. Willis et al. 8 vols. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1974–2018

Them  Themelios

TJ  Trinity Journal

TLOT  Theological Lexicon of the Old Testament. Edited by Ernst Jenni, with assistance from Claus Westermann. Translated by Mark E. Biddle. 3 vols. Peabody, MA: Hendrickson, 1997

TMSJ  The Master’s Seminary Journal

TNTC  Tyndale New Testament Commentary

TynBul  Tyndale Bulletin

WBC  Word Biblical Commentary

WTJ  Westminster Theological Journal

WUNT  Wissenschaftliche Veröffentlichungen der deutschen Orient-Gesellschaft

ZECNT  Zondervan Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament

Introduction

Ten Reasons the Old Testament Matters for Christians

For our instruction.

Romans 15:4

Is Christ really part of the Old Testament message? Should I as a believer in the twenty-first century claim Old Testament promises as mine? Do the laws of the Mosaic covenant still matter today for followers of Jesus? In short, is the Old Testament Christian Scripture, and if so, how should we approach it?

Delighting in the Old Testament: Through Christ and for Christ seeks to help Christians make connections to Christ and practical application to the Christian life from every page of the Old Testament. As we will see, this goal is not to turn “all Old Testament texts into predictions of or, more precisely, pictures foreshadowing the coming of Jesus,”1 though this is true of some texts. Instead, it seeks to clarify what the apostle Paul, as an Old Testament preacher, meant when he told the Corinthians, “I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified” (1 Cor. 2:2). In D. A. Carson’s words,

This does not mean that this was a new departure for Paul, still less that Paul was devoted to blissful ignorance of anything and everything other than the cross. No, what he means is that all he does and teaches is tied to the cross. He cannot long talk about Christian joy, or Christian ethics, or Christian fellowship, or the Christian doctrine of God, or anything else, without finally tying it to the cross. Paul is gospel-centered; he is cross-centered.2

Therefore, this book is a study in biblical and practical theology. It supplies a rationale for thinking about the Old Testament like Jesus and Paul did. It also guides Christians in faithfully reading the Old Testament and in properly responding to its claims. For all who are looking to Jesus as Savior, sovereign, and satisfier, this book seeks to help you:

by faith see and celebrate Christ as we read the Old Testament in faithful ways,rightly hope in Old Testament promises through Jesus, andgenuinely love others with the help of the old covenant law when appropriating it in view of how Jesus fulfills it.

To understand the Old Testament fully, we must start reading it as believers in the resurrected Jesus, with God having awakened our spiritual senses to perceive and hear rightly. As Paul notes, Scripture’s truths are “spiritually discerned” (1 Cor. 2:14) and only through Christ does God enable us to read the old covenant materials as God intended (2 Cor. 3:14). This, in turn, allows our biblical interpretation as Christians to reach its rightful end of “beholding the glory of the Lord” and “being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another” (2 Cor. 3:14–18). Thus, we read for Christ.

Some Christians may query, if we are part of the new covenant, why should we seek to understand and apply the Old Testament? While I will develop my response throughout the remainder of this book, I will give ten reasons here why the first word in the phrase “Old Testament” must not mean “unimportant or insignificant to Christians.”3

1. The Old Testament Was Jesus’s Only Bible and Makes Up 75 Percent of Our Christian Scripture

If word count says anything, the Old Testament matters to God, who gave us his word in a book. In fact, it was his first special revelation, and it set a foundation for the fulfillment we find in Jesus in the New Testament. The Old Testament was the only Bible of Jesus and the earliest church (e.g., Luke 24:44; Acts 24:14; 2 Tim. 3:15), and it is a major part of our Scriptures. Jesus said, “Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them” (Matt. 5:17). “The Law and the Prophets” to which he refers is the Old Testament.

2. The Old Testament Influences Our Understanding of Key Biblical Teachings

By the end of the Law (Genesis–Deuteronomy), the Bible has already described or alluded to all five of the major covenants that guide Scripture’s plot structure (Adamic/Noahic, Abrahamic, Mosaic, Davidic, and new). The rest of the Old Testament then builds on this portrait in detail. Accordingly, the Old Testament story heightens hope for a better king, a blessed people, and a broader land, all of which the New Testament then realizes. Specifically, as I note elsewhere:

The Adamic-Noahic covenant with creation establishes the crisis and context of global curse and common grace out of which the other covenants clarify God’s solution and saving grace. The Abrahamic covenant forecasts the hope of Christ and new creation through its conditional yet certain kingdom promises of land(s), seed, blessing, and divine presence. The remaining covenants clarify how God fulfilled these promises in two progressive phases. In the Mosaic covenant (phase 1) Abraham’s offspring as a single nation experience blessing and curse, which results in their exile from the promised land. The Davidic covenant recalls the promises of a royal Deliverer and declares the specific line through whom he will rise. Then the new covenant (phase 2) realizes these hopes in an already-but-not yet way through the person and perfect obedience of Christ Jesus, whose kingdom work overcomes the curse with universal blessing, makes Abraham the father of many nations to the ends of the earth, and reconciles all things to God through the new creation.4

Without the Old Testament, we wouldn’t understand the problem for which Jesus and the New Testament supply the solution. “As one trespass led to condemnation for all men, so one act of righteousness leads to justification and life for all men” (Rom. 5:18). Similarly, we would miss so many features of God’s salvation story without the Old Testament. Just consider how Paul speaks regarding the Israelites: “To them belong the adoption, the glory, the covenants, the giving of the law, the worship, and the promises. To them belong the patriarchs, and from their race, according to the flesh, is the Christ, who is God over all, blessed forever. Amen” (Rom. 9:4–5). Finally, without the Old Testament, we wouldn’t grasp the various types and shadows that point to Jesus. The Old Testament alone clarifies what John meant when he said of Jesus, “Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!” (John 1:29). And the Old Testament indicates what Jesus meant when he said of his body, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up” (John 2:19, 21).

Furthermore, there are some doctrines of Scripture that are best understood only from the Old Testament. For example, where is there a clearer description of how God created the world than Genesis 1:1–2:3? Where else can we go other than the Old Testament to rightly understand sacred space and the temple? Where other than the Psalter should we go to know what Paul means by “psalms and hymns and spiritual songs” (Eph. 5:19; Col. 3:16)?5 Where better than Isaiah 40 does the Bible declare the incomparability of God, whose revealed name is “Yahweh” (usually rendered in English translations as “the Lord”), which means, “he causes to be.”6 Where other than Isaiah 53 can we get a more succinct expression of penal substitutionary atonement—when God poured out his wrath for our sin on his Son?7 All of these are principally derived from our understanding of the Old Testament.

Finally, the New Testament worldview and teachings are built on the framework supplied in the Old Testament. In the New Testament we find literally hundreds of Old Testament quotations, allusions, and echoes, none of which we will fully grasp apart from saturating ourselves in Jesus’s Bible.8

3. We Meet the Same God in Both Testaments

Note how the book of Hebrews begins: “Long ago, at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son” (Heb. 1:1–2). The very God who spoke through Old Testament prophets like Moses, Isaiah, and Malachi speaks through Jesus!

Now you may ask, “But isn’t the Old Testament’s God one of wrath and burden, whereas the God of the New Testament is about grace and freedom?” Let’s consider some texts, first from the Old Testament and then from the New.

Perhaps the clearest and most significant Old Testament statement of Yahweh’s character and action is Exodus 34:6: “The Lord, the Lord, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness.” The Old Testament then reasserts this truth numerous times to clarify why it is that God continued to pardon and preserve a wayward people: “But the Lord was gracious to them and had compassion on them, and he turned toward them, because of his covenant with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and would not destroy them, nor has he cast them from his presence until now” (2 Kings 13:23). “For if you return to the Lord, your brothers and your children will find compassion with their captors and return to this land. For the Lord your God is gracious and merciful and will not turn away his face from you, if you return to him” (2 Chron. 30:9). “Many years you bore with them and warned them by your Spirit through your prophets. Yet they would not give ear. Therefore you gave them into the hand of the peoples of the lands. Nevertheless, in your great mercies you did not make an end of them or forsake them, for you are a gracious and merciful God” (Neh. 9:30–31). Thus, God’s grace fills the Old Testament.

Furthermore, in the New Testament, Jesus speaks about hell more than anyone else. He declares, “Do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather fear him who can destroy both soul and body in hell” (Matt. 10:28). Similarly, “Whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him to have a great millstone fastened around his neck and to be drowned in the depth of the sea” (Matt. 18:6). Paul, citing Deuteronomy 32:35, asserts, “Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave it to the wrath of God, for it is written, ‘Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord’” (Rom. 12:19). Also, the author of Hebrews says, “For if we go on sinning deliberately after receiving the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, but a fearful expectation of judgment, and a fury of fire that will consume the adversaries” (Heb. 10:26–27). Peter spoke of his own role as a messenger of judgment and then contrasted this with how the Old Testament prophets like Samuel, Jeremiah, and Zechariah pointed to Jesus as the one through whom people would receive forgiveness: “He commanded us to preach to the people and to testify that he is the one appointed by God to be judge of the living and the dead. To him all the prophets bear witness that everyone who believes in him receives forgiveness of sins through his name” (Acts 10:42–43).

God is as wrathful in the New Testament as he is in the Old, and the Old Testament is filled with manifestations of God’s saving grace. Certainly, there are numerous expressions of Yahweh’s righteous anger in the Old Testament, just as there are massive manifestations of blood-bought mercy in the New Testament. Indeed, in Jesus all saving grace reaches its climax. Nevertheless, what is important is to recognize that we meet the same God in the Old Testament as we do in the New. In the whole Bible we meet a God who is faithful to his promises both to bless and to curse. He takes both sin and repentance seriously, and so should we!

4. The Old Testament Announces the Very “Good News” We Enjoy

Gospel means “good news” and refers to the truth that, through Jesus’s life, death, and resurrection, God reigns over all and saves and satisfies sinners who believe. Paul states that “the Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the gospel beforehand to Abraham, saying, ‘In you shall all the nations be blessed’” (Gal. 3:8). Abraham was already aware of the message of global salvation we now enjoy. Similarly, in the opening of Romans, Paul stresses that the Lord “promised beforehand through his prophets in the holy Scriptures” (i.e., the Old Testament prophets) the very powerful “gospel of God . . . concerning his Son” that he preached and in which we now rest (Rom. 1:1–3, 16). Foremost among these prophets was Isaiah, who anticipated the day when Yahweh’s royal servant (the Messiah) and the many servants identified with him would herald comforting “good news” to the poor and broken—news that the saving God reigns through his anointed royal deliverer (Isa. 61:1; cf. 40:9–11; 52:7–10; Luke 4:16–21). Reading the Old Testament, therefore, is one of God’s given ways for us to better grasp and delight in the gospel (see also Heb. 4:2).

5. Both the Old and New Covenants Call Us to Love and Clarify What Love Looks Like

Within the old covenant, love was what Yahweh called Israel to do (Deut. 6:5; 10:19); all the other commandments clarified how to do it. This was part of Jesus’s point when he stressed that all the Old Testament hangs on the call to love God and neighbor: “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment. And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets” (Matt. 22:37–40). Christ emphasized, “Whatever you wish that others would do to you, do also to them, for this is the Law and the Prophets” (Matt. 7:12). Similarly, Paul notes, “The whole law is fulfilled in one word: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself’” (Gal. 5:14; cf. Rom. 13:8, 10). As with Israel, the Lord calls Christians to lives characterized by love. However, he now gives all members of the new covenant the ability to do what he commands. As Moses himself asserts, the very reason God promised to circumcise hearts in the new covenant age was “so that you will love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul” (Deut. 30:6). Moses’s old covenant law called for life-encompassing love, and Christians today can gain clarity from the Old Testament on the wide-ranging impact of love in all of life. As we will see, this happens rightly only when we account for how Jesus fulfills every particular law.

6. Jesus Came Not to Set Aside the Old Testament but to Fulfill It

Moses said that those enjoying circumcised hearts in the new covenant age would “obey the voice of the Lord and keep all his commandments that I command you today” (Deut. 30:8). Moses knew that the laws he was proclaiming in Deuteronomy would matter for those living in the days of restoration.

Similarly, far from setting aside the Old Testament, Jesus stressed that he came to fulfill it, and he highlighted how the Old Testament’s instruction was lastingly relevant for his followers.

Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them. For truly, I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not an iota, not a dot, will pass from the Law until all is accomplished. Therefore whoever relaxes one of the least of these commandments and teaches others to do the same will be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever does them and teaches them will be called great in the kingdom of heaven. (Matt. 5:17–19)

In chapters 10–13 we’ll consider further the significance of this text, but what is important to note here is that, while the age of the old covenant has come to an end (Rom. 6:14–15; 1 Cor. 9:20–21; Gal. 5:18; cf. Luke 16:16), the Old Testament itself maintains lasting relevance for us in the way it displays the character of God (e.g., Rom. 7:12), points to the excellencies of Christ, and portrays for us the scope of love in all its facets (Matt. 22:37–40).

7. Jesus Said That All the Old Testament Points to Him

After his first encounter with Jesus, Philip announced to Nathanael, “We have found him of whom Moses in the Law and also the prophets wrote” (John 1:45). Do you want to see and celebrate Jesus as much as you can? The Old Testament authors wrote about him! As Jesus himself said, “You search the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; and it is they that bear witness about me” (John 5:39; cf. 5:46–47). Then, following his resurrection, “beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he interpreted to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning himself” (Luke 24:27). Abner Chou notes, “The text does not say Jesus read all the Scriptures as about himself. It states he expounded the things concerning himself that are throughout the Scriptures.”9 This distinction is important, for the Old Testament addresses many things other than Christ—an array of experiences, persons, powers, and perspectives. Nevertheless, we must not limit Jesus’s meaning to a handful of “specific messianic prophecies” or to his affirmation that he is “the embodiment of YHWH” and “embodies the fulfillment of the whole promise of the Hebrew Bible” as the biblical story climaxes in Jesus.10

Indeed, as the use of Scripture in Luke and Acts illustrates, the phrase “all the Scriptures” in Luke 24:27 points not only to these elements but also “to patterns and prefigurements that anticipate the arrival of David’s greater Son.”11 When Jesus “opened . . . the Scriptures” and his disciples’ “minds to understand” them (Luke 24:32, 45), he shows that his entire Bible—the Law, the Prophets, and the Writings—declares a unified message of the Messiah’s suffering and triumph and the mission his life would generate: “that the Christ should suffer and on the third day rise from the dead, and that repentance and forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem. You are witnesses of these things” (24:46–48; cf. 24:44). As Brian Tabb articulates, “Luke 24:47 establishes the Christological focus of his disciples’ preaching (in Jesus’s name), their central message (repentance for the forgiveness of sins), and the universal scope of their mission (to all nations).”12 Similarly, Paul taught “nothing but what the prophets and Moses said would come to pass: that the Christ must suffer and that, by being the first to rise from the dead, he would proclaim light both to our people and to the Gentiles” (Acts 26:22–23).13 As an Old Testament preacher, he could declare, “I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified” (1 Cor. 2:2). As we will see in chapters 4–6, if you want to know Jesus more, read the Old Testament through believing eyes!

8. New Testament Authors Expect Us to Read the Old Testament

The New Testament often cites the Old Testament in ways that call us to look back at the original context. For example, Matthew 27–28 portray Christ’s tribulation and triumph at the cross by recalling Psalm 22 many times. Jesus quotes Psalm 22:1 when he declares, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” (Matt.