Folks, if you call yourself a New Testament Christian then you are telling yourself a lie. You are deceived and there's no getting around it.
The New Testament is firmly rooted in the Old Testament, and just like a tree, if you cut off the root, the trunk will fall.
There's a bunch of folks running around right now trying to "reinterpret" Jesus Christ. They pay close attention to the New Testament, particularly the recorded words of Jesus, and use that limited scope to prove that Jesus of Nazareth was only a man, and not the Son of God. And by narrowing their focus, they make a pretty strong case. If you neglect all of the prophecy in the Old Testament, the hundreds of verses that predict the time of His birth, His purpose, His career, and His death in exquisite detail, it becomes much easier to discard the miracles Jesus' performed as simple folk tales. It is only when you place Jesus' life in context of Old Testament prophecy that you discover the incontrovertible truth that He is God.
Here's a simple example. We've all heard the story about the Three Wise Men:
1 Now after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of Herod the king, behold, wise men from the east came to Jerusalem,
2 saying, “Where is he who has been born king of the Jews? For we saw his star when it rose and have come to worship him.”
3 When Herod the king heard this, he was troubled, and all Jerusalem with him;
4 and assembling all the chief priests and scribes of the people, he inquired of them where the Christ was to be born.
5 They told him, “In Bethlehem of Judea, for so it is written by the prophet:
6 “‘And you, O Bethlehem, in the land of Judah,
are by no means least among the rulers of Judah;
for from you shall come a ruler
who will shepherd my people Israel.’”
7 Then Herod summoned the wise men secretly and ascertained from them what time the star had appeared.
8 And he sent them to Bethlehem, saying, “Go and search diligently for the child, and when you have found him, bring me word, that I too may come and worship him.”
9 After listening to the king, they went on their way. And behold, the star that they had seen when it rose went before them until it came to rest over the place where the child was.
10 When they saw the star, they rejoiced exceedingly with great joy.
11 And going into the house they saw the child with Mary his mother, and they fell down and worshiped him. Then, opening their treasures, they offered him gifts, gold and frankincense and myrrh.
12 And being warned in a dream not to return to Herod, they departed to their own country by another way.
There's a lot going on in this story that most of us rarely take the time to appreciate. First of all is a simple but profound question: How did the wise men know what the star represented? Apparently, they read the Scriptures because Numbers 24:17 gives an answer:
I see him, but not now;
I behold him, but not near:
a star shall come out of Jacob,
and a scepter shall rise out of Israel;
When Herod wanted to know when and where the Messiah would be born, he asked the Pharisees and they quoted the Old Testament, in this case, Micah 5:2
But you, O Bethlehem Ephrathah,
who are too little to be among the clans of Judah,
from you shall come forth for me
one who is to be ruler in Israel,
whose coming forth is from of old,
from ancient days.
This leads us directly back to the first prophecy in the Bible, Genesis 3:15, which predicts the coming of a Messiah, Jesus Christ, the "seed" of a woman.
The point is that if you remove the prophecy, the birth oif Jesus becomes just another birth, with no significance attached. However, knowledge of the Old Testament, the Scriptures, tells us that the Jews knew where their Savior would come from, and when. IN fact, the knowledge wasn't all that esoteric if wise men from another country knew of it.
Which brings me to a kind of interesting point. How did the wise men from the east know of a Jewish prophecy, and come to take it seriously enough to undertake a long journey to a small town in a backwater country, bringing with them fine gifts? Let's take a look at Daniel 2:48:
Then the king gave Daniel high honors and many great o gifts, and made him ruler over the whole p province of Babylon and q chief prefect over all the wise men of Babylon.
There's that phrase, 'wise men' again. What makes this really interesting is that the word magi is a Greek transliteration of a Babylonian word.
And to close the circle, if we look at a map, what country lies directly to the east of Israel?
Babylon.
Was Daniel taken into captivity, then given authority over all the magi of Babylon, just so that hundreds of years later, a group of Magi would recognize the significance of a star appearing in the sky at a precise time?
More importantly for the sake of this discussion, when we understand the prophetic accuracy of the Old Testament, we gain a richer understanding of the nature of Jesus of Nazareth. He was not a random child born on a random day. His birth was foretold in exacting detail centuries beforehand. For this reason alone, the Old Testament is vital if we want to understand Jesus and His message to us.
But there is another, deeper reason...Jesus told us to study the Old Testament.
He told us to study the Scriptures, and those Scriptures are none other than what we call the Old Testament. He told us that the Scriptures were all about Him. He told us that He did not come to replace the Law, but to fulfil the prophecies of the Law. He told us that the Law would stand unchanged and immutable until every bit of it was fulfilled. He quoted frequently from Scripture, using it to teach His disciples. In short, the Old Testament formed the core of His ministry. How then can any of us say that the New Testament is more important than the Old?
It's a deception.
One more proof.
Many New Testament Christians point to the Sermon on the Mount as where Jesus replaces Mosaic Law with the "New Law." They quote Matt 5:38-41:
38 “You have heard that it was said, y ‘An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.’
39 But I say to you, Do not resist the one who is evil. But if anyone slaps you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also.
40 And if anyone would sue you and take your tunic, let him have your cloak as well.
41 And if anyone forces you to go one mile, go with him two miles.
They say that Jesus is directly replacing the Law of the Prophets. Oddly, they completely ignore what He said in the very same speech:
17 “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..
18 For truly, I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not an iota, not dot, will pass from the Law until all is accomplished.
19 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
How can we reconcile this seeming contradiction? New Testament Christians just shrug it off. Biblical Christians realize that in His examples, Jesus is not talking about ignoring the Law, but about leaving the punishment to Him. If we want to know His mercy, then we must show that mercy to our fellow men. Following the Law is a matter of the heart, not the body. Jesus excoriates the Pharisees, who followed the letter of the Law with great diligence, but completely ignored the Spirit of the Law. They complied out of obligation, and in search of power, not out of true love and devotion.
When asked later what the greatest commandments were, he replied from Scripture, not some new law.
35 And one of them, a lawyer, asked him a question to test him.
36 “Teacher, which is the great commandment in the Law?”
37 And he said to him, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.
38 This is the great and first commandment.
39 And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself.
40 On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets.”
He quoted Deuteronomy 6:5 and Leviticus 19:18
Jesus points to these two Old Testament Commandments and tells us straight out that these are the keys to all of the Law and Prophecy in Scripture. Think about that for a moment. Jesus said straight out, with no equivocation or misdirection or ambiguity that all of the Law rested on these two verses from the Old Testament.
And some of us in our arrogance try to tell ourselves that the Old Testament isn't really all that important anymore; we're "New Testament" Christians.
Like I said, I was there once. Fortunately, I've been given the grace and knowledge to see through that deception.