Devotions Connecting the OT and the NT

Young people get the most out of a worship service packed with quick snappy venues and well-placed one liners that rock their world. On the other hand, adults discover meaning through a pattern of interconnections where a similar theme is woven through various experiences. Adults love a well-connected service that ties together the scripture and application, the songs and prayers, a dramatic reading and the tensions that come out of the newspaper this week. I have discovered that adults cherish a worship time that promotes the close connections between the promises in the OT and the Christian life in the NT. So for a month read a devotional each day so you can see how God loves to supply us with meaningful connections over a thousand years of Bible history. Click the download button to read the file.

A famous quip about the relationship of the two testaments reads, “the New is in the Old concealed; the Old is in the New revealed.” In 2 Cor 3:15 Paul explains that when Jewish readers examine their Scriptures, a veil covers their hearts and only when they turn to Christ is the veil removed. Jewish exegetes, on the other hand, protest that Christians place a mask over their face so that they cannot see the real meaning of Israel’s Scriptures. They contend that the person of Jesus masks the original intent of the Scriptures. Who is correct?

We will attempt to unravel and uncover the concealment. What principles did Christians use to make clear that Jesus was the fulfillment of the OT? How do the OT and the NT tie together into a meaningful whole that pumps our spiritual veins with divine meaning and energy?

Here are the statistical results that scholars have unearthed about the relationship of the two testaments. There are 1604 NT citations of 1276 different OT passages. In fact, 229 of the 260 chapters in the NT have at least two references to the OT while 19 chapters have one instance, leaving only 12 chapters without a specific reference to the OT.

I hope that you will find these investigations and applications both compelling and inspiring. Jesus can be hailed as the focus of the entire Bible and as the lens through which we discern the ultimate meaning of reality. May the reality of your faith be deepened this month!