Why Preach The Old Testament?

Paul Mahan

It is a foolish question really, but one which many would ask in our day. Why preach the Old Testament? There are many reasons. Here are but a few. . .

1. IT IS GOD'S WORD! Do we need another reason? God's Word, all of It, is to be read, heard, studied and heeded with fear, praise, worship and thanksgiving. God's Word, all of It, is "forever." "Forever O Lord, Thy Word is Settled In Heaven" ( Psa.119:89). It is settled, though men are unsettled by It. It is fixed, though men have tried to alter and change It. And It still applies, even to thoroughly modern man.
2. IT REVEALS THE TRUE GOD. "I am the Lord, I change not" (Malachi 3:6). Isn't it vitally significant that in the last book of the Old Testament, our God tells us this. Just before the New Testament begins, He reminds us of His unchangeable Self. The God of the New Testament must be the same as the Old or else you have the wrong god.
3. IT REVEALS THE TRUE CHRIST. The prophesies of the Old Testament tell us everything about the Christ Who was to come. Everything He was to be, say and do. Why He was to come, what He was to do, are revealed in the Old Testament. If one does not know the prophesies of the Old Testament concerning the Christ, he will not recognize the true Christ, but will fall for a "false Christ", and "another Jesus." God hasn't changed and neither has the Son of God. "Jesus Christ the same, yesterday, today and forever" (Hebrews 13:8).
4. IT IS THE BIBLE WHICH THE LORD AND HIS APOSTLES PREACHED FROM. Dare anyone say that the Old Testament is not needed by the New Testament Church when the Church was founded and established upon It! Without question, the members of the Church today are all acquainted with the same Word of God which the early Church was acquainted with. We first hear the same messages as the fathers heard in the beginning; for "In the beginning" (Genesis 1) is where all knowledge of God begins. And thus . . .
5. IT IS THE BEGINNING OF ALL DOCTRINE. Can one miss the introduction of a book and understand the meaning and purpose of it? Can one begin in the 40th chapter of a book and understand the rest? God's Word is made up of 66 Books . . . 39 Old, 27 New. Who God is, what man is, how God saves men, all has its beginning in the first Book of God. And all doctrine (teaching) is continued unchanged through the New Testament. The doctrine of a Holy and Just God, sinful and fallen man, and his need for a righteous covering and blood atonement; begins in the first Book and is continued unchanged through the New Testament. From the first sinnner saved to the last, all have been saved ONE WAY. . . "By grace are ye saved, through faith" (Eph.2:8). The Old Testament saints were saved by looking to the Christ Who was to come. The New Testament saints are saved by looking to the Christ (the True Christ) Who has come and is coming again.