The Old Testament Witness to Christ and His Kingdom, Mentor's Guide, MG09

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T H E O L D T E S T A M E N T W I T N E S S T O C H R I S T A N D H I S K I N G D O M

theological and spiritual end in relationship to him as the Messiah of God was unacceptable to them, even blasphemous. This Christo-centric use of the Bible is equally controversial today, especially in the world of biblical criticism, which sees such a laser-guided approach to such a diverse set of literature problematic. What is your thought? Based on what you know today, how would you understand the nature of the OT in its relationship to Jesus Christ? How far can you take this kind of hermeneutic before you skew or misread the basic message of the OT?

The Promise Given

Segment 1: Promise and Fulfillment in the Old and New Testaments

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Rev. Dr. Don L. Davis

The relationship of the Old Testament to the New Testament can be effectively understood through the idea of progressive revelation, which affirms that God has revealed himself progressively and definitively throughout the history of his people, and finally through Jesus Christ. God in diverse manners and at different times made himself known to the nation of Israel in limited ways, but in these last days he has spoken to us through his Son. Jesus of Nazareth is God’s final and full revelation of himself, now testified of in Scripture. As Augustine suggests: “In the OT the NT lies hidden; in the NT the OT stands revealed.” The testaments have a complimentary relationship, the OT providing the introduction to the NT’s conclusion about Christ, the OT as anticipation to the NT’s climax about God’s salvation story in Christ. Furthermore, the OT prefigures Christ’s person and work fully embodied in the NT. While the OT is the ineffective former revelation of God’s salvation, the NT can be seen as the consummated latter, and the universalized call of which the OT is particularized to the nation of Israel. The connection of the testaments can be seen in the promise and fulfillment motif, especially in the way the NT affirms how the OT’s work is to provide a compelling and definitive witness to the person of Messiah fulfilled in the person of Jesus Christ in the history of the patriarchs, the nation of Israel, the Messianic prophecies, and the moral standards of the Law. Our objective for this segment, Promise and Fulfillment in the Old and New Testaments , is to enable you to see that:

Summary of Segment 1