In many modern American churches there is a tendency to ignore the Old Testament. Sometimes this is done because people believe that we don't need the Old Testament anymore. After all, God did give us the New Testament to replace the Old, right? Still others ignore the Old Testament because they simply don't know what to do with it. It is written in a culture so far separated from our own that it can be difficult to understand what is going on.
There are probably many other reasons why Christians today don't study the Old Testament. In any case, this habit we have of ignoring the first two thirds of the Bible hurts us more than we realize. The New Testament is not a stand alone collection of books. It is designed to build upon and follow the Old. When we don't know the Old Testament we then misconstrue or simply misunderstand the New. There is almost no better example than the book of Hebrews.
This is something we completely miss in churches today. If we talk about covenant, which we rarely do, we do so only to say that we are no longer under the old covenant but under a new one. This is true, but we fail to grasp the significance of covenant. We tend to say that the old covenant wasn't working, so Jesus came and gave us a new one. Nothing could be farther from the truth!
The reason we are a part of a new covenant is precisely BECAUSE the old one did its job! Jesus is the fulfillment of the old covenant in every way. The goal of that covenant, starting with Abraham, was to address the issue of sin and to kick start the process of new creation. Guess what? It worked!
The author of Hebrews spends the majority of the letter detailing how all the elements of old covenant find their fulfillment, meaning, and truth in Jesus. The old covenant, in all its commands and symbols, pointed to Jesus. In Jesus the mediating role of the high priest reaches its climax. It is Jesus who is the new Passover that leads his people to freedom. Jesus is the atonement for our sins that the sacrifices of old pointed to. Jesus is the perfect temple, the place where heaven and earth meet.
Jesus has completely fulfilled the old covenant. Its purpose is complete. We now live in a new covenant with our God, but this time we have a perfect mediator, high priest, and king in Jesus. So how does God want us to live in this new covenant relationship? Well, the same as before actually. He wants us to live by faith.
The most well known chapter in Hebrews is chapter 11, the "faith hall of fame." The problem is that we usually skip the rest of the book and go straight for this chapter, because we may not be familiar with covenant but boy do we know about faith. The point of the chapter, though, is that faith and covenant go together!
Our part of the covenant is to live by faith. By doing this we follow in the footsteps of so many who have lived by faith in relationship with God. God does not expect us to be perfect, just look at the people in the "faith hall of fame!" What he wants is our trust and willingness to follow where he leads.
There are probably many other reasons why Christians today don't study the Old Testament. In any case, this habit we have of ignoring the first two thirds of the Bible hurts us more than we realize. The New Testament is not a stand alone collection of books. It is designed to build upon and follow the Old. When we don't know the Old Testament we then misconstrue or simply misunderstand the New. There is almost no better example than the book of Hebrews.
Background
The letter to the Hebrews is the only New Testament book that we genuinely have no idea who the author is. It is attested to in the early church as canonical as far back as we have record, but we don't know who wrote it. Some have suggested Paul over the years, but Paul identifies himself in all his other letters. Still some have suggested people like Barnabas, Silas, Apollos, Luke, or one of the other apostles. The simple truth is we don't know.
What we do know is that the book of Hebrews was written before AD 70, the year Jerusalem was destroyed and the temple obliterated. The letter makes many references to a still presently active Jewish sacrificial system. This could not be the case if the letter were written after the temple was destroyed, since the Jews by and large stopped sacrificing after that.
The letter is addressed to Jewish Christians, hence the name Hebrews. The issue at stake appears to be that these Jewish Christians, after facing significant persecution, are tempted to abandon Christ and return to Judaism. Judaism was, after all, a legal religion in the Roman Empire.
Themes
One theme dominates all others in the book of Hebrews, and that is the covenant. A covenant is a very special, two-way promise. This means that in order for the covenant to work both sides need to faithful. From the beginning God has sought to redeem the world through a covenant relationship with humanity. This was the method through which God would rescue creation from sin and evil.This is something we completely miss in churches today. If we talk about covenant, which we rarely do, we do so only to say that we are no longer under the old covenant but under a new one. This is true, but we fail to grasp the significance of covenant. We tend to say that the old covenant wasn't working, so Jesus came and gave us a new one. Nothing could be farther from the truth!
The reason we are a part of a new covenant is precisely BECAUSE the old one did its job! Jesus is the fulfillment of the old covenant in every way. The goal of that covenant, starting with Abraham, was to address the issue of sin and to kick start the process of new creation. Guess what? It worked!
The author of Hebrews spends the majority of the letter detailing how all the elements of old covenant find their fulfillment, meaning, and truth in Jesus. The old covenant, in all its commands and symbols, pointed to Jesus. In Jesus the mediating role of the high priest reaches its climax. It is Jesus who is the new Passover that leads his people to freedom. Jesus is the atonement for our sins that the sacrifices of old pointed to. Jesus is the perfect temple, the place where heaven and earth meet.
Jesus has completely fulfilled the old covenant. Its purpose is complete. We now live in a new covenant with our God, but this time we have a perfect mediator, high priest, and king in Jesus. So how does God want us to live in this new covenant relationship? Well, the same as before actually. He wants us to live by faith.
The most well known chapter in Hebrews is chapter 11, the "faith hall of fame." The problem is that we usually skip the rest of the book and go straight for this chapter, because we may not be familiar with covenant but boy do we know about faith. The point of the chapter, though, is that faith and covenant go together!
Our part of the covenant is to live by faith. By doing this we follow in the footsteps of so many who have lived by faith in relationship with God. God does not expect us to be perfect, just look at the people in the "faith hall of fame!" What he wants is our trust and willingness to follow where he leads.
Theological Point
Jesus fulfilled the old covenant and is the author of the new one. We are called to live by faith in a special relationship with God. By doing so we become a part of God's plans and purposes for this world, which find their perfection and meaning in Jesus.
Conclusion
When we leave out the Old Testament we miss what Jesus did for us. The book of Hebrews makes very little sense if we don't know the story of the covenant, and how God revealed himself through Israel. Everything Jesus did was in fulfillment of God's covenant purposes to deal with evil and redeem the world. Now we are called to live by faith in a new covenant where Jesus himself is our high priest and king.
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