The Scary Ol’ Testament

Back again, excited to share some word with you all<3

The Old Testament can be scary.

It’s intimidating to go from the New Testament to the Old. The New Testament is something we want to read because it speaks of the God who is lovely and warm. However, it’s an interesting concept when it is considered that the New Testament is the Old Testament revealed. 

It is no coincidence that it almost seems like two different Gods in each testament. Before He came down to Earth, we severely misunderstood who Jesus would be, and who God is. (Shocker I know, it’s almost like we still misunderstand God all the time). A lot of the old guys, like Paul in his jail cell for instance, thought Jesus would be coming to the Earth to essentially bring the Almighty right hand of God down onto all of the unbelievers as punishment. They were ready for some redemption, some revenge.

Instead, they got Love. Agape. My pastor gave a sermon over the word “agape” this past Sunday. It is the Greek translation for “loving in action.” The verb Love, not the feeling. That is the kind of love Jesus IS. 

He ate lunch with us even when we didn’t believe in Him. He made sure we were always secure and safe especially when we didn’t feel that way. Jesus died to know us. He died because (quoting my girl Charlie Breda here) “People are fickle! That’s what we do!! However, God will never be.”

The other night, I was reading out of the 40th chapter of the book of Isaiah. I went in expecting to read the whole chapter but I only reached verse two and I was stunned. 

“Speak tenderly to Jerusalem, and proclaim to her that her hard service has been completed, that her sin has been paid for, that she has received from the LORD’s hand double for all her sins.”

At first I thought: Okay cool, King Hezekiah (the prophet who wrote the book of Isaiah) was referring to the resurrection. Easter, when the ultimate price was paid for all of our sins. Then God told me to read it again. Then it hit: “Landry, this is the Old Testament.”

Let me break it down into a bit of a history lesson (oh yeah I did research). 

Isaiah was written by King Hezekiah sometime between 740 and 700 BC. BC. BEFORE CHRIST!! Jesus of Nazareth wasn’t even born until sometime between the 6th and 4th centuries. I must admit, I read much more of the New Testament than I do of the Old. That, on top of knowing how the story line goes and where it ends, leads me to often forget to take notice of the context of what I’m reading in the Bible. Especially when it’s a prophet doing the writing. 

The point here is, it matches up. What do ya know, the author of the Universe made sure the story lines up, even and especially when it doesn’t seem like it sometimes. Before Christ, during Christ, and after Christ rose to heaven. Even our human timeline, the way we mark centuries is in reference to Christ: Before Christ. After death. BC. AD.

The fact that centuries before Jesus was even born, His followers had faith in what He would do, is incredible. Even if they weren’t exactly sure what they were Keeping faith in. It’s heavy, and I encourage you not to overlook the concept as I have. 

Another example. Ezekiel 37, The Valley of Dry Bones. Let me tell ya, this is one of my absolute favorite passages in the Bible. Another prophetic word. This entire chapter is explaining Easter, and I’m sure, much more than I will ever realize on this side of heaven.

Ezekiel 37:11-14:

Then he said to me: “Son of man, these bones are the people of Israel. They say, ‘Our bones are dried up and our hope is gone; we are cut off.’ ¹² Therefore prophesy and say to them: ‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says: My people, I am going to open your graves and bring you up from them; I will bring you back to the land of Israel. ¹³ Then you, my people, will know that I am the Lord, when I open your graves and bring you up from them. ¹⁴ I will put my Spirit in you and you will live, and I will settle you in your own land. Then you will know that I the Lord have spoken, and I have done it, declares the Lord.’”

Again, resurrection. A Son of Man resurrecting an entire nation that has lost all hope. They are spiritually dead. So dead and for so long that the bones in this world-of-a-tomb, are dry. Easter. Not the pastel one, but the one where we were all dead in sin before we were even born, and yet Jesus died the most painful death known to man anyways. Our God cheated death by dying. Wild. 

Back to Ezekiel. Our prophet Ezekiel wrote most of the Word that was brought to him, in exile. His calling was received around 592 BC. Jesus, again, hadn’t been born yet. Even if He had been born around 400 BC, He would have been merely one years old. 

Two prophets. Two prophetic words of the Old Testament. 

The Old Testament cannot be ignored simply because we didn’t know enough about Jesus back when it was written. I hate to break it to ya, but not one of us will ever know enough about Jesus on this side of heaven. Don’t discredit what was written before, because it sure did predict a whole lot of what came after. 

Until next time, 

Landry

PS.

I’VE GOT T-SHIRTS TO SELL!!

I’ll be posting a mini blog, and tons of pictures on the socials very very soon, giving you all of the gory details of my favorite fundraiser yet. Couldn’t be more excited for this, proud of what the Lord is cultivating here.   

Feel free to email me now, or any time, to get a jump start on the t-shirt ordering process!!