The Consistency & Unity of the Old and New Testaments! 

   I have often struggled with pastor's or people's ideas that things were so different in the O.T. compared to the New Testament. I do know that it is a New Covenant and the Holy Spirit is present in a new way. However I knew that much of the 'coloring' or 'tone' was wrong - the sense they give you that God was mean in the O.T. and Jesus is 'nice' in the N.T.

   Consider this: In the Old Testament we are always told that they had to follow the Law to be saved (or something close to that). You know, that isn't true. When you really read the Old Testament they were given the Law to bring order and health to the new nation that God was creating. Abraham was the father of the Israelites in Egypt - he was a gentile, not a Jew. God created the Israelites out of the Gentiles! (Abram was from Ur of the Chaldeans = Babylonia) Anyway, the Law was not their means to get righteousness. They were told to obey the Law.... for their own good (I says this 3x or more in Deuteronomy 5-13 - these chapters are amazing, all of Jesus' 3 quotes to rebuke the devil come from Deuteronomy). There were not told to obey they Law to make themselves righteous.

   Abraham lived about 430 years before the Law. He was the ultimate example. It says that Abraham believed God and it was credited to him as righteousness (Romans 4:3)! Do you see that. It was trusting God and what He said to Abraham that made Abraham righteous! It was not obeying the Law that made him righteous - but Abraham did want to do all the he knew was right but only because He loved God - not to earn something that God was already giving him i.e. salvation! (Habakkuk 2:4 confirms this when he says, "The just shall live by faith.")

   You may say - "Great Chris,... so what!" Well here is the powerful thing to me ---- This is just the way it is today in the New Testament under the New Covenant :

   1) We are made righteous not by our works but by believing upon Jesus - i.e. that He really was God and that God really fought unto death for us - to destroy our sins and infect us with a new kind of life - a life that never dies.

   2) We do not earn our righteousness or get into Heaven by obeying all the words of Jesus or Paul - many turn their words into a second LAW... it is not so. We obey Jesus words because we love Him and want to be like Him (John 15 - if you love Me then remain in Me and obey what I say.)

   Isn't the parallel amazing? It is the same sort of thing in the Old Testament as the New Testament. One major difference I do want to mention - in the New Covenant we have so much more Revelation and Understanding about HOW God accomplished forgiveness. He did it by becoming a human, dying for us AND smashing through death to come back to life. The Old Testament sacrifices didn't really forgive sins - but they gave the people a point of contact for their faith to trust God that they would be forgiven. And the sacrifice was a perfect prophetic picture of Jesus. They looked forward to the Messiah in the exact way we look back to Jesus.

   So - why is that so important? Because you can see that the way in which God relates to People is consistent! We are always saved by trusting Him. We never earn our Righteousness by works but it is given to us as a gift. Whether in the Old Testament or in the New Testament... the means of salvation is the same... trusting God.

   One last thought: On the last day, the "judgment day" - something surprising is going to happen. God is looking for people to praise and reward! I Corinthians 4:5 "At that time each will receive his praise from God." We are not used to this idea about the Judgment day. However the parables in the Gospels confirm it. We typically only fear the negative side but God is looking to reward those who partner with Him. Matthew 25: The parable of the Sheep and the Goats or the parable of the 10 talents*. God is always looking to reward those who are looking to Him!

   Now here is the point - God tells us not to try to earn our righteousness by obeying the Law (but to obey it because we love Him and want to be like Him) - but He says that He will reward us when we do obey the Law. And that is confusing at times. God is seeking to reward those people who are already saved on the last day. He wants to reward everything He can - all that we do to obey the good commandments through the Holy Spirit to bear fruit (Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, humility and self-control) - all of this will be a reward on top of already being saved!

   That really helps me think about life - and I hope it helps you too.

   * Note - in the Parable of the 10 talents - did you ever see the question mark in Matt 25:26... it is very significant! When the 1 talent guys says, "I knew you were a hard man (to God) reaping where you did not sow...." and God says, "Oh, so you knew I was a hard man did you ????????????" In other words - NO, that is a lie, I am not a hard man. We often miss this subtle point and fear that God might be agreeing with Him. Chris