The Old Testament comes at the front of our Bibles and takes up a larger portion of the whole than the New Testament. Yet, most Christians view the Old Testament as something that has passed away and has relevance only for teaching history or for understanding the Jews.
There are some who are willing to admit that the Old and New Testament are dependent on each other. The New cannot be understood without the Old. Also, there are so many quotes in the New Testament that come from the Old, that much of what we find in the New is repetition. Yet, how many of these believers really know the Old Testament?
There are two areas in particular where Christians seem to lack knowledge. This is, of course, a general statement and doesn't necessarily reflect everyone, but seems to hold overall. The first area is that of prophecy. How many churches teach prophecy? Some don't because of the many potential views that exist across Christianity. In some ways, this is understandable. Perhaps, though, the solution is to teach without necessarily becoming dogmatic. The Bible opens up when we view history through the eyes of prophecy. Interconnections between the various prophetical books is an amazing testimony to the overall cohesiveness of Scripture and to God's plan. The second area is that of the Torah, primarily the aspects of the Law. How many churches preach on the Feasts of the Lord, the sacrifices, or the laws regarding the red heifer?
Since there is no longer a Temple there are laws that are no longer applicable to us. There are also laws that apply only to priests, or to men, or to women. Yet, the understanding of these laws is the foundation of modern Judaism, even though there are aspects that are not currently applicable. What they learn about is the essence of God and how to relate to Him.
As Christians we have the most complete understanding of God because we have both the New and Old Testaments. With Yeshua's coming much of the Old makes more sense and we can fully grasp the redemption that Yeshua provided in His death and resurrection. And don't we also long to understand God's essence and how we are to relate to Him? However, if we relegate the Old Testament to the category of "done that," we won't learn the intracacies of the Old Testament that tell us the very baseline information that we seek.
You see, it is the Torah that is our foundation. The rest of the Bible is built on it. Yeshua and His disciples, only knowing the Old Testament, lived on and taught from the Torah. The rest of the Old Testament and the New spring from the Torah. Without the Torah there would be nothing. How can we emulate our master Yeshua by ignoring it? God forbid!
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