In the movie Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark, Professor Jones is trying to explain to a couple of government officials what the lost Ark of the Covenant is. He tells them what it looks like, what it was used for, what was in it, and the significance of finding it. They are listening, but are looking at him like a deer in the headlights. When he realizes they are not following his thinking he asks them, “Didn’t you guys ever go to Sunday School?”
The deeper insinuation here is that if you had gone to Sunday School you should have been taught how the history of the Old Testament and the teachings of the New Testament go hand in hand; what was said and done in the old one ties together everything that is said and done in the new one. The Old Testament is more than the history of the Hebrews – it is foundational as it shows how God wants to reveal Himself to us all. The New Testament shows us how we can live in relationship with this God who has been pursuing us since the beginning, now that He is among us in the person of His Son, Jesus Christ.
Through the prophet Isaiah, God said, “Remember the former things long past, for I am God, and there is no other, I am God, and there is no one like Me, declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times things which have not been done, saying, ‘My purpose will be established.’” - Isaiah 46:9-10 NASB
Although, as Christians, we might look at the Old Testament as being for Jews and the New Testament for Christians, God has always been following the same plan. He states that He declares the end from the beginning and from the beginning things that haven’t happened yet. He has been on the same course since time began.
This also messes up some Christians into thinking that there are rules and laws to be followed that were written in the Old Testament that we should be following today. What we have here is a failure to recognize God’s plan, to connect the dots that tie the Old and New Testaments together.
God covenanted with Abraham, then Isaac, then Jacob, as individuals to bless them and their descendants so that He could use them to put His entire plan of redemption together for the whole world. By the time the descendants of Abraham came out of Egypt they were a small nation. God continued the covenant relationship He had begun with Abraham with this new nation. He would be their God and they would be His people and He would continue his plan of redeeming the world through this relationship.
He redeemed this tiny nation from the bondage of slavery and made them free and His own. But as fallen people they were unable to live up to their end of the covenant. So, God instituted the sacrificial offerings for sin and guilt and laid out the rules of the law for them to know what to do for living a good life.
When just the right time came (Galatians 4:4) God sent His Son into the lineage of Abraham. He was born of a virgin by the Holy Spirit (Isaiah 7:14, Matthew 1:23), was born subject to the law, and lived completely without sin (1 Peter 2:22). He offered Himself as the one sacrifice (Hebrews 10:10) to replace all the old sacrifices that could not help us become free from sin and guilt and bought our freedom (Hebrews 9:13-15, Galatians 4:5). He redeemed us from our bondage and slavery to the law, sin, and guilt and put us back into the right relationship with God that God has desired since the beginning (Galatians 2:16). This redemption from the law, sin, and guilt was illustrated in the Old Testament and fulfilled in Christ’s work while He was among us! (John 1:14)
What we as Christians need to remember is that the old law was made to remind us that we cannot get to God on our own…the sacrifices, blood and death were ceremonial illustrations of outward cleansing but could not cleanse our sins (Hebrews 10:4).
So, as Christians, we are free from the old law that only illustrated the redemption to come. Christ has adopted us and mediated for us a right relationship with His father in place of the old law. He is our sacrifice and law for living a good life with God. If we feel we have a need to practice certain holy days, or rituals and celebrations, or behaviors during times and seasons, we are missing the point of Jesus’ message and work of redemption, thus making the sacrifice of Christ powerless in our lives.
As Christians, we no longer have to keep reminding ourselves over and over of our inadequacies and inabilities in approaching God by following the law from long ago (Hebrews 4:14-16) and its ultimate purpose was to point to Jesus Christ, the Son of God, who is our Redeemer setting us free from the sin and guilt that the old law was a constant reminder of. (Romans 6:1-14)
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