For almost a decade, I studied French. Three to five times a week over 10 years, I learned paradigms, vocabulary, songs, and skits. When I was 24, I spent some time in Quebec on holidays and discovered that 10 years of language study had not made me conversant in French. Rather, I felt like I was hacking the language to bits.
I grew up studying the Bible in the same way as I learned French. I knew the characters and events of the Bible in Sunday School. Friends and family taught me well, but I realize that there were significant gaps. Laws. Genealogies. Wars. Ancient rituals. Sacrifices. The Old Testament can feel quite daunting. And some stories were selected and taught over and over. David and Goliath. Sampson. Jesus calms the storm.
I remember reading the Bible as a boy and thinking, “I don’t like the Old Testament. It’s so complicated. I don’t understand it.” My dad encouraged me to press on and read more, but I didn’t have the tools to put the Bible together. The accounts seemed disjointed, disconnected, and I didn’t know that I needed to put the Bible together as one grand history of redemption.
The problem I faced was that I grew up reading the Old Testament with selected portions given to me, but no one ever helped me to put the entire Bible together. We never talked about Ehud’s sword disappearing into the fat of Eglon or Jael putting a tent spike through Sisera’s head. What would mom think if I brought home a picture of brains splattered across the page?!?
The problem we have in reading the Bible is not unlike how we’ve learned French. Disconnected, disjointed, unrelated, we want to move on quickly to the New Testament. But if we fail to understand how the Old Testament moves, we miss the beauty of Christ, the shadows that prepare us for God in the flesh breaking on to the scene gives us an understanding of the Old Testament and the Old Testament sheds light on the New.
Knowing Christ means that we know Him not only from the Gospels and Epistles, but knowing him as he is presented in types and shadows in the Old Testament. Modern Christianity, sadly, can barely endure the Old Testament. Maybe find some principles to apply. But many don’t know what to do with all those laws. No mixed fibres? No touching pigskins? So are my poly/cotton blends sinful? Have I disobeyed God if I’ve touched a football?
By missing the glory of the Old Testament, we don’t know how to answer the criticisms that are launched against our faith, we don’t see how amazing God is in weaving history together, and we miss out on the glory and goodness of Jesus to us.
What we need today is a recovery of and enjoyment of the Old Testament. Not like the disjointed learning French in elementary school today, but the comprehensive understanding that gives us a framework for all of life. So as we journey through the end of Leviticus, I pray that Christ becomes more precious to you!
~See you Sunday!
Pastor Andrew
As we gather for Sunday worship, we want you to meet with God and be transformed by the Word. Prepare your heart by reading the passage and listening to the songs for Sunday.