Old Testament Relevance to the Church Age
Now that we have explored the expanded grace of the Church Age, it is useful to look back at the Old Testament to see how it applies today. Many Christians struggle to understand the relevance of the Old Testament to their spiritual lives. The Bible has an Old Testament and a New Testament, and most default to using the New Testament but do not understand why, or what parts of the Old Testament still apply. Some try to live the Old Testament life, thinking that is important. So what is the current relevance of the Old Testament in our spiritual life, and why are there two Testaments in the Bible anyway?
The correct terms for the two parts of the Bible are Old Covenant and New Covenant regardless of what has been printed on Bibles for many years. A Bible covenant is a contract between God and man whereby God agrees to do and provide certain things, and requirements are placed on man as the recipients of God's favor. God changes His covenants with mankind during various Ages of time in order to prove certain different issues as will be discussed further. Since the word “testament” is what people expect we will generally use that term since it would be confusing to do otherwise.
As an overview, when dealing with the issue of current relevance of the Old Testament it is important to separate the information into three categories: 1) that which was directive only to Israel and no longer valid for the Church, 2) that which is informative and remains useful in several categories, and 3) prophesies which have not yet been fulfilled. The directive portions meant only for Israel during Old Testament times are no longer valid for our spiritual direction, specifically the Mosaic Law. The informative portions generally remain valid, and are useful in several categories including historical information, lessons to be learned from the successes and failures of major figures, the Books of Wisdom, and certain other general information. Finally all unfulfilled prophecies remain valid until they are fulfilled. That is the overview, now the details will follow.
Christ is the key to understanding the Old Testament. It was generally written about Him as the future Messiah in order to reveal Him to mankind before the cross occurred. Jesus said "In the volume of the Book it is written of Me" (Heb.10:7) and "Search the Scriptures..they are they which testify of Me." (John 5:39). As part of the revelation of the coming Messiah, Israel was set up as God’s chosen people to deliver that message to the world. The Old Testament Mosaic Law was therefore given to Israel to establish how it would function as a spiritual nation to use until the Messiah would redeem mankind from the curse of sin. That was its purpose, and when that purpose was complete a new covenant would and did replace it after the cross. The Mosaic Law is the early part of the Old Testament which provided laws, moral codes, social directives and ceremonial requirements for Israel to live by, essentially the latter part of Genesis and most of the books of Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy. These were a temporary covenant with Israel and meant only for them as God’s chosen people who were the keepers of divine truth and also required to evangelize the world. This is what it means that the Jews were God’s chosen people, since they were chosen to be the keepers of the scriptures and the evangelizers of the world, both during Old Testament times and again in the future after the Church Age. But currently all Jews who are believers are simply part of the Church.
The theme of the Old Testament was that mankind was in slavery to sin, and God would provide a Messiah to deliver mankind from the curse of sin. Once the Messiah Jesus Christ completed the salvation work on the cross this old covenant became outdated and no longer in effect, so it was set aside in favor of a new covenant to the Church, commonly known as the New Testament, which replaced the requirements of the Mosaic Law portion of the Old Testament. The Apostle Paul said “Christ is the culmination of the law so that there may be righteousness for everyone who believes.” (Romans 10:4) Although the Mosaic Law portion of the Old Testament has been set aside as directive for our spiritual life, other portions which were not part of the Mosaic Law generally remain valid, although the New Testament provides the primary spiritual life directives for the Church. Overall, the key to understanding the current validity of the Old Testament is to understand that the Mosaic Law is no longer spiritually directive for the Church Age believer. That is because Christ fulfilled it, and then He set it aside as being completed.
The Church lives under the New Testament as its directive covenant with God and is prohibited from functioning under the Mosaic Law as direction for the spiritual life of believers. This is because the work of Christ on the cross set aside the Mosaic Law as a directive covenant since “Christ is the culmination of the law...” as mentioned above. But it is all too common for Christians to accept a grace salvation by faith in Christ apart from the works of the Mosaic Law but then revert to the onerous directives of the Law as the rules governing their spiritual life. The Apostle Paul addressed this to the Galatians when he wrote "It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery." (Galatians 5:1) Any church or religious group which seeks to function under the Mosaic Law of the Old Testament as spiritually directive is violating God’s will and purpose, as Paul clearly states. The Old Testament now has a subordinate role, with prophecies remaining to be fulfilled, and the non-law portions can definitely be illustrative to us. But with regard to the Mosaic Law the cross changed how God was able to deal with man once the problem of sin had been removed as a barrier between God and man, and in turn God changed how we must live our spiritual lives now that Christ has set us free from the provisions of the Mosaic Law. God waited until after the cross to provide the New Testament, which is the new covenant with the Church. The cross was the single most important point in human history, and divided how God was able to deal with man before and after. After the cross God was able to greatly expand the grace provisions we live under and free us from onerous requirements of rituals, sacrifices, spiritual feasts, codes and prohibitions against mundane activities.
A discussion about how God divides human history into periods of time, referred to as Ages in the Bible, helps us understand why the Old Testament has been set aside. Although not part of this study due to its complexities, a brief explanation of Ages is necessary to see how we fit into God's overall plan since each Age has unique features. God does not constantly change His mind and therefore change how He deals with man, but rather He has a multi-faceted plan for human history which must play out in stages. Those stages each have different requirements and rules (covenants) necessitating changes in God’s direction to man during the various Ages of time. God has divided human history into Ages which are:
1) Age of the Patriarchs: from Adam until Moses (i.e., Israel established as a nation)
2) Age of Israel Part I: from Moses to the Cross, then an interruption inserts the Church Age
3) Age of the Church: from the Cross until the Rapture (Resurrection of the Church)
4) Age of Israel Part II: resumes and finishes Age of Israel during the seven year Tribulation
5) Millennium: the 1000 year reign of Christ completes human history.
We see there are four Ages, however they cover five separate periods of time since the Age of Israel is split into two separate parts, with the Church Age inserted between those two parts. The Tribulation will resume and finish the Age of Israel since it was interrupted seven years short of completion when the Church Age was instituted shortly after the cross on the Day of Pentecost (Acts 2:1-3). It is important to understand that the Tribulation is part of the Age of Israel since this explains many things about events which will occur during that period of time. This will be discussed in a later chapter, and for additional details my book "The Future Times: Biblical Prophecies About the Remainder of Time & Beyond" is available free online.
Going back to the first Age when Adam and the woman sinned in the Garden of Eden, God needed to either condemn them immediately to the Lake of Fire or provide a plan for salvation. God chose to provide salvation through a future Messiah who would eventually be Jesus Christ. This Messiah Savior would not be provided immediately after the first sin, therefore God divided how He would interact with mankind into stages with the Messiah's salvation work being the central issue in human history. God established a plan which included the various Ages discussed above, and they would require different covenants as time progressed to define how God and man would interact during each Age. God first made some simple covenants with Adam and the Patriarchs until the time came for God to set aside a nation called Israel as His people chosen to serve Him by being the keeper of the scriptures and the evangelizers of the world. At the proper time in human history, the Age of Israel began and covenants were made with Israel, which eventually became the Old Testament. Then the most important dividing issue in the plan of God occurred, which was the cross when the Messiah paid for the sins of all mankind, past and future, and satisfied the demands of God’s perfect character by making full payment for sin. As previously discussed, God needed to deal with man in certain different ways until the salvation work was actually completed on the cross, then after the cross He was able to offer increased grace and access to Himself once the sin issue was finally removed. This is the defining issue with regard to why there was an Old Testament which dealt with mankind in a provisional way and then a New Testament which deals with mankind under the reality of completion of reconciliation between God and man. Therefore God provided the Old Testament to be used until the cross, then the Law portion of it was set aside as no longer directive to believers after its usefulness was complete, and a new covenant was given to the Church.
The New Testament defines which parts of the Old Testament remain directive, which parts have been shut down, and which parts are now used for reference, information, illustrations and as simple doctrines which have universal application to all Ages due to their generality. To be clear, the Old Testament is still useful, even though much of it is no longer directive regarding how Church Age believers must live the spiritual life. But there is a big difference between useful and directive, and that is the main point being made here. A covenant is directive to the Age for which it was intended, but is not directive to other Ages unless re-certified in the new successor covenant.
Another important consideration is that Jesus Christ fulfilled vast portions of the Old Testament, including numerous prophecies, analogous rituals (all animal sacrifices, feasts, etc), "types" of Christ, representative Temple furniture including the Ark of the Covenant, and other portions which represented the future Messiah, whether directly or indirectly. This means those portions of the Old Testament are completed and therefore no longer valid, except historically, since there cannot be another Messiah. Vast portions of the Mosaic Law were representational analogies to Christ the Messiah and His work of salvation, and He fulfilled all the Mosaic Law requirements for righteousness and reconciliation which the Law could never provide, and on the cross paid in full the penalty for sin required by God the Father. The entirety of the animal sacrifices, food offerings, Levitical priesthood rituals, tabernacle and temple furnishings, and so on presented the future Messiah in analogous terms which demonstrated how God required a real sacrifice for the sin issue, and the animals and other offerings were merely representative of the future Messiah. But they never pleased God of themselves, they only taught how God would be pleased by the Messiah. By taking away the sin issue and providing reconciliation between God and man on the basis of faith in Himself, Christ fulfilled and then canceled the Mosaic Law as a directive code. Then the New Testament outlined the new provisions which replaced the temporary provisions of the now retired Mosaic Law. John 1:17 says: “For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.” Romans 10:4 “Christ is the culmination of the law so that there may be righteousness for everyone who believes.” Hebrews 7:18 “The former regulation is set aside because it was weak and useless 19 (for the law made nothing perfect), and a better hope is introduced, by which we draw near to God.” Ephesians 2:14 “For he himself is our peace, who has made the two groups one and has destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility, 15 by setting aside in his flesh the law with its commands and regulations.” Colossians 1:13 says: “He forgave us all our sins, 14 having canceled the charge of our legal indebtedness, which stood against us and condemned us; he has taken it away, nailing it to the cross.” Hebrews 9:10 says the Levitical offerings were “external regulations applying until the time of the new order” meaning the new covenant of the Church Age as outlined in the New Testament. We see how the Bible clearly says the Mosaic Law has been fulfilled, has come to an end, and has been set aside. The Mosaic Law was fulfilled by Jesus Christ who kept it perfectly before His death on the cross, then on the cross paid the penalty for sin as required in the Law, so the Mosaic Law is no longer directive to believers after the cross. Going back now to living under the Law of Moses is going back into a system which has been deactivated. It is like saying the work of Christ was not effective. We can learn many things from the Old Testament but must not live under the Mosaic Law as a directive covenant. The Church has been set free from the restrictions of the Law of Moses, and must not re-shackle itself or it will lose out on the expanded grace plan God has in store for believers during the Church Age.
Provided below are additional verses which address the issue of the Mosaic Law vs. the grace plan for the Church Age:
Hebrews 10:1-4 “The law is only a shadow of the good things that are coming—not the realities themselves. For this reason it can never, by the same sacrifices repeated endlessly year after year, make perfect those who draw near to worship. 2 Otherwise, would they not have stopped being offered? For the worshipers would have been cleansed once for all, and would no longer have felt guilty for their sins. 3 But those sacrifices are an annual reminder of sins. 4 It is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins.”
Philippians 3:9 “not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ—the righteousness that comes from God on the basis of faith.”
Romans 3:19 “Now we know that whatever the law says, it says to those who are under the law, so that every mouth may be silenced and the whole world held accountable to God. 20 Therefore no one will be declared righteous in God’s sight by the works of the law; rather, through the law we become conscious of our sin. 21 But now apart from the law the righteousness of God has been made known, to which the Law and the Prophets testify. 22 This righteousness is given through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe.”
Romans 3:28 “For we maintain that a person is justified by faith apart from the works of the law.”
Romans 8: 1-4: “Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, 2 because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit who gives life has set you free from the law of sin and death. 3 For what the law was powerless to do because it was weakened by the flesh, God did by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh to be a sin offering. And so he condemned sin in the flesh, 4 in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fully met in us, who do not live according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.”
Romans 5:20 “The law was brought in so that the trespass might increase. But where sin increased, grace increased all the more, 21 so that, just as sin reigned in death, so also grace might reign through righteousness to bring eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.”
Galatians 2:16 “Know that a person is not justified by the works of the law, but by faith in Jesus Christ. So we, too, have put our faith in Christ Jesus that we may be justified by faith in Christ and not by the works of the law, because by the works of the law no one will be justified.”
The Apostle Paul was hounded by a group of religious unbelievers called “Judaizers” who sought to undo the teaching of Paul wherever he went, such as in Galatia. Paul taught that the grace of God had been expanded after Christ set us free from the Mosaic Law. But each time Paul left a town, the Judaizers went into those same places such as Galatia and told those believers they must live under the Law and ignore Paul’s teachings. Afterward Paul wrote a blistering epistle to the Galatians to reinforce his grace message, and these are representative passages on the subject of the Mosaic Law:
Galatians 3:13: “Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us”
Galatians 3:19: “Why, then, was the law given at all? It was added because of transgressions until the Seed to whom the promise referred had come.”
Galatians 4:9-11: “But now that you know God—or rather are known by God—how is it that you are turning back to those weak and miserable forces? Do you wish to be enslaved by them all over again? 10 You are observing special days and months and seasons and years! 11 I fear for you, that somehow I have wasted my efforts on you.”
Galatians 4:21-25: “Tell me, you who want to be under the law, are you not aware of what the law says? 22 For it is written that Abraham had two sons, one by the slave woman and the other by the free woman. 23 His son by the slave woman was born according to the flesh, but his son by the free woman was born as the result of a divine promise. 24 These things are being taken figuratively: The women represent two covenants. One covenant is from Mount Sinai and bears children who are to be slaves: This is Hagar. 25 Now Hagar stands for Mount Sinai in Arabia and corresponds to the present city of Jerusalem, because she is in slavery with her children.
Galatians 5:1 “It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery.”
Galatians 5:4 ”You who are trying to be justified by the law have been alienated from Christ; you have fallen away from grace.”
Galatians 5:18 “But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law.”
Paul made it very clear to the Galatians that Christ freed us from the drudgery and curse of the Mosaic Law, and that we must not return to it. The Law was only given to Israel to teach them about the future Messiah, and to show them how no one can be saved on their own since no one can keep the Law perfectly except the Messiah Jesus Christ the God-Man. Now that the cross has occurred, we are free from the Law, and it has been set aside. If a believer after the cross attempts to go back and live under the Mosaic Law they are in fact rejecting the work of Christ on the cross which fulfilled those Old Testament provisions. They reject the reality of the expanded grace plan purchased at great price by the Lord Jesus Christ and instead go back into the shadows and attempt to worship under the limited provisions which God Himself has set aside. They reject the new covenant in exchange for a powerless old covenant. Since the work of Christ was successful at completing the Old Testament requirements, they are no longer in effect and discarded as the means of serving God. The new covenant as outlined in the New Testament is now the way to please God, since God's plan has moved on to a new and better stage focused on expanded grace.
Another future change in covenants will occur when the Millennium begins under the direct rule of Jesus Christ on earth. When Christ returns He will implement the promised “New Covenant to Israel” and a new set of currently unrevealed principles, doctrines and requirements for worship will be put in place to worship Christ the King as the God-Man Ruler on who is present on the earth. With Christ present on the earth there will be changes made which require eliminating the old new covenant, which is the one we are living under now during the Church Age.
Jeremiah 31:33 “This is the covenant I will make with the people of Israel after that time [Millennium],” declares the Lord. “I will put my law in their minds and write it on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people. 34 No longer will they teach their neighbor, or say to one another, ‘Know the Lord,’ because they will all know me, from the least of them to the greatest,” declares the Lord.”
When that occurs, the current New Testament will be set aside just as the Old Testament has been set aside during the Church Age. Mankind must keep up with God and live under the rules outlined for the Age in which that person lives. We must not try to live in someone else’s Age by living under their outdated and superseded covenant.
The Mosaic Law was never a means of salvation, but rather showed how man could never save himself since the issue of sin could not be conquered by any sinful person. No one could ever attain the perfect righteousness required to live with God forever on their own. Therefore salvation has always been by faith in the Messiah (Savior). During the Old Testament people believed that God would send a Messiah to reconcile God and mankind, and by this faith in a future Messiah they gained salvation. After the cross people gain salvation by believing in Jesus Christ as the actual Savior. Once the reality of the cross has occurred, those provisions which looked forward to reconciliation between God and mankind were set aside. The shadows have been replaced by the reality, and with that a new set of divine rules apply.
It may come as a shock, but the Church is not even under the Ten Commandments since it is part of the Mosaic Law. They were given to Israel to establish order and discipline in the Jewish society, and dealt with issues facing them as a struggling new nation just rel