Why Christians should study the Old Testament?

These days, Christians like to hear easy sermons. Light food is always easy to digest, but the lord wants us to chew the cud, and that requires solid food. Solid food is always a sign for mature believers, as Hebrews 5:14 says, “But solid food is for the mature, who by constant use have trained themselves to distinguish good from evil.” We would find solid food when we dig and learn to understand more about the God we worship. The Old Testament has 929 chapters and the New Testament has 260 chapters. Therefore, ignoring these 929 chapters is ignoring about  75% of the knowledge we should know about our God, so I will discuss 10 important reasons for a Christian to study the Old Testament.

1- God’s Faithfulness to His covenant

If we didn’t read God’s story with Abraham and God’s story with David, we would not see a great picture of God fulfilling His promises to humans. If he makes a promise to one of us, He will surely do it. God promised Abraham, “The whole land of Canaan, where you now reside as a foreigner, I will give as an everlasting possession to you and your descendants after you; and I will be their God,” and God made His promise to him. And promised David, “When your days are fulfilled and you lie down with your fathers, I will raise up your offspring after you, who shall come from your body, and I will establish his kingdom. 13 He shall build a house for my name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever.” 2 Sam 7:12-13.

2- God is unchangeable

The Old Testament tells a history of approximately 2500 years. During all these years, He never changed. That way, we can understand the New Testament better when it says, “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever” Heb 13:8. In Psalms 102:27, “but you are the same, and your years have no end.” God was the same with Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, the nation of Israel, nations, Nineveh, Cyrus, king of Persia, Rahab, and many others. God is never influenced by age or circumstances, and He will remain faithful with us as well as He was with anyone who believed in Him.

3- The credibility of the New Testament

The Old Testament is the basis of the New Testament. Jesus didn’t come from Himself overnight. Jesus came to fulfill the Old Testament prophesies. God promised His people a savior, but that savior should suffer and die for His people’s sin such asin Isaiah 52-53 and Psalms 22. When I debate with Muslims, I use that a lot and compare the Quran and the Bible. The Quran lacks prophecies to foretell about Mohammed before he came. And that is a huge difference. God promised from Adam and Eve that there will someone would come to crush the serpent’s head to all the prophets. And that was what Jesus explained to the 2 disciples on the way to Emmaus.  

 4- Profitable

Paul said to his disciple Timothy, “All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable” 2 Tim 3:16. He was telling him about the books in the Old Testament. So of an apostle like Paul said that, we should care about these books since it is profitable. Thus, if a preacher or a teacher doesn’t teach the OT, that would not profit them in the best way.

5- It is God’s word

God doesn’t speak in vain; God has a purpose in a strong relationship with His people through His words. God’s word leads to righteousness: “Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path” Ps 119:105.

6- To understand redemption through Jesus Christ:

In the New Testament, John the Baptizer said about Jesus, “Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world” John 1:29. God of the Old Testament gave the animal sacrificial system for his people’s sins, and all these sacrifices referred to Jesus as the sacrifice to the whole world. Hebrews 9:22 “without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness of sins.” So we can understand the New Testament better through studying the Old Testament. 

7- Understand Israel as a nation

Only through the Old Testament can we understand how Israel started and became a nation. Abraham was called by God from Ur to Canaan, then his grandson Jacob had 12 children, and then all of them went to Egypt as Immigrants. They multiplied, and God saved them when they served as slaves in Egypt. Then, they occupied the land of the Philistines.

8- Understanding the roots of the setting of the New Testament

Jesus preached in the Jewish temple. Through the Old Testament we can know that God chose to dwell among His people, so He commanded Moses to build the tabernacle. Then Solomon built the temple.

9- The Old Testament God revealed Himself as He did in Jesus in the New Testament

In Hebrews 1:1-2, “Long ago, at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets, 2 but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed the heir of all things, through whom also he created the world.” So the Old Testament writings are as important as Jesus, because Jesus was the spoken word of God in the Old Testament.

10- A tool to win souls for God

One of the great sermons of Peter in the New Testament won 3000 people, citing Joel 2 and Psalms 16. If it was helpful with Peter, it should be helpful to us today. So as a preacher, I should care about teaching the Old Testament.