What the Old Testament Means for Christians
And if you are Christ’s, then you are Abraham’s offspring, heirs according to promise.
Galatians 3:29
In our Wednesday night Bible study, we are currently studying the Book of Exodus. Recently, someone asked, “Of what relevance is the Book of Exodus to Christians?” At first glance, the answer seems obvious: because the story of the Exodus is in the Bible, and we study the Bible. However, when you think about it, there is more to the question. As Gentile Christians, we are neither Israelites nor Jewish. What does the Exodus story mean for us? The same question could be asked for many parts of the Old Testament.
Curious, I asked several Christians their opinion on the matter. The answers I received were interesting in that they revolved much around metaphor. I heard things like, “Moses had faith in God, and this is a lesson for us in our Christian lives,” and “The Israelites strayed from God even after being delivered and this is a lesson for all believers to hold true to our faith.” These points are certainly true, and we are wise to draw these lessons. However, for two reasons set forth below, I would like to introduce the possibility that the story of the Exodus, and the Old Testament itself, carries more meaning than the metaphorical to Christians. These reasons are directly relevant to us in our lives as Christians.
To begin, I stated above that, as Gentile Christians, we are neither Israelites nor Jewish. While this is certainly true in one sense, in another, it is not. While we are not ethnically Israelite or Jewish, as believers, we have, in effect, been adopted into the line of Abraham, and therefore are heirs to that covenantal relationship. The Apostle Paul states unequivocally, “And if you are Christ’s, then you are Abraham’s offspring, heirs according to promise.” (Galatians 3:29). To impress this point, in Romans chapter 11, Paul utilizes the image of an olive tree, explaining that Gentile Christians have been grafted onto the covenantal tree of Abraham. While the tree root represents God’s original covenant, and the natural branches are the original Israelites, we, as Gentile Christians, are new branches that have been grafted onto that tree. The stories of the Old Testament are therefore directly relevant to us because God’s covenant now extends to us. We are His people, and God’s demonstration of His mighty power, acting through his prophet, Moses, speaks to us as heirs of His covenant with Abraham.
There is even a larger point regarding the Old Testament’s relevancy to Christians. The Bible, as a whole, tells a singular overarching story; that of man’s restoration with God. Therefore, every biblical story is directly relevant to that all-encompassing narrative; and you, as a believer, are now part of that story. God was present with man in the Garden of Eden (Genesis 3:8). Because of the Fall, man lost that privilege, and the biblical narrative that follows is the story of man’s restoration to that status. At Babel, God separated man into nations, later choosing one nation, Israel, to introduce his laws, and himself, into the world. God delivered Israel from captivity, only to see Israel suffer repeated cycles of apostasy, rescue and restoration. When God himself entered the world, in the person of Christ, Mark records Jesus’s first words: “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand” (Mark 1:15). Paul follows this idea, describing the “glory that is to be revealed to us” and saying that “creation itself will be set free from its bondage” (Romans 8:18, 21). In the final inauguration of God’s Kingdom, there will be a “new heaven and new earth,” where the “dwelling place of God [will be] with man” (Revelation 21:1, 3).
This is the biblical story; this is our story: God created earth as a place where He would dwell with man; and restored with God, we will live in the Garden, again. Every story in the Bible, every word, relates, in some way, to that narrative. We are now heirs to that story, not just as passive readers, but active participants in the greatest tale ever told. Each one of us has a role to play in that story; in inaugurating God’s Kingdom and returning us to the Garden. The events of the Old Testament are more than metaphors for us, as Gentile Christians, for we have now been grafted onto the familial covenantal tree of God, and are active participants in thousands of years of history leading to the restoration of God’s Kingdom on earth.
In Christ,
Mort Taylor