The more I read the Bible the more the two Testaments complement each other to my thought and life applications. They bind themselves as a whole document – before (Old Testament) and after Jesus Christ on earth (New). The Apostles used the Old in introducing the New in God’s Gospel to the World. The New fulfills the Old. Note the several following comparisons:
| Old Testament – | New Testament – |
| Isaiah 45:23 – Before me every knee will bow, by me every tongue will swear. | Philippians 2:10-11 – that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow . . . and every tongue confess. |
| Leviticus 19:18 – . . . love your neighbor as yourself. | Matthew 19:19 – Jesus replied, “Love your neighbor as yourself.” |
| Psalm 22:18 – They divide my garments among them and cast lots for my clothing. | John 19:24 – They divided my garments among them and cast lots for my clothing. |
| Psalm 110:4 – You are a priest forever, in the order of Melchizedek. | Hebrews 7:12 – You are a priest forever, in the order of Melchizedek. |
The Old Testament and much of the New, until we arrive at the Epistle to the Romans are largely taken up with history and human experiences relating to the presence and absence of God. (Later passages of the writings of the theologian, the Apostle Paul, maintain some of the human parable, example, or experience.) From the experiences of Adam and Eve to those of the Apostles and Jesus, a reader is afforded a sweep of human history designed to inform about the human condition, and attitudes, as well as the greatness of God to the redemption of persons. The Old Testament defines the problem of sin in all persons, and the New resolves the problem for all.
Pre-Christian history looked forward to adequate redemption: Christian lives in fulfillment.
The condition of the human race is shown to be unsatisfactory, so that persons need divine help to emerge from an earthly sojourn to a heavenly settlement – if all goes well. The purpose of the Old Testament and the New is to show that God has provided salvation through a system (order) of forgiveness, based on the suffering of the innocent for the guilty, or the perfect for the imperfect. There is something in the procedure that preserves the love, equity and fairness of God, by taking acceptable payment from God to God – for the violation of holiness, holiness that is a constant characteristic of God. Forgiveness is not an excuse, but a gift of value – purchased, and made available through love and the agency of the Holy Spirit. Thus God becomes a true Father, dealing with reality, not a doting grandfatherly figure avoiding the reality of flawed constitutions in his adopted children. The comparisons of the Testaments show that the worship due God in the Old Testament is afforded through Jesus Christ in the New. The mirrored Christ (Messiah) in the Old Testament is revealed in the living Christ (Redeemer) of the New. The New is now. We can use our time to wrestle with mystery, or acknowledge it in faith – then to rest. The mystery is not denied, but Christ is affirmed in the mystery. In the fullness of time, Christ came in fulfillment. The first foreshadowed the second in the legal tender of animal sacrifice. The second offering, in Christ, paid the price in bullion for the legal tender. *Mark W. Lee, Sr. — 2016, 2020