Putting it Back Together
Our goal here at the Whole Testament, is to do our best to help put the Old Testament and the New Testament back together. Most people are very much unaware of the problems that the little white page between Malachi 4 and Matthew 1 has caused throughout the passed 2000 years. When we take the New Testament out of the context of the Old Testament, it looses a lot of its significance. We read right over passages that are shouting these amazing truths, but we completely miss it because our Western minds have very little understanding of the ancient backdrop to the passage. For example, in Genesis 22 we find the story of Abraham taking Isaac to Mt. Moriah to offer him as a sacrifice to Adonai. There are a handful of wonderful details that make this story so amazing and if we are not careful, we will completely miss them. Below is a short list just to get you interested. Our goal here at “The Whole Testament” is not to get you to agree with us, but to increase your desire to know the Scriptures better. If we can do that by giving you something to go study, or making you mad at us for saying something you don’t agree with, then we have succeeded. If you know your Bible better for stopping by with us, we have accomplished our goal. Back to the story. Here is that list I was talking about:
1. God tested Abraham by asking him to sacrifice his “only son, whom he loved” You know Abraham had two sons at this point in the story? The language is significant. It wants future readers to connect it with God’s only son, whom he loved. Jesus (or Yeshua whichever you prefer)
2. God tells Abraham to take his son, the son of the promise, to the Mountains of Moriah. The mountains Moriah is where Jerusalem is built. Which happens to be the same location as the crucifixion of God’s only Son, the Son of the Promise. God told Abraham, “You take your son to the same place I will take my son”.
3. Abraham lays the wood for the offering on the back of Isaac. Jesus had to carry his own cross, the wood for the offering on his back.
4. Gen. 22:8 Abraham says “God will provide himself a lamb”. John 1:29 says, “Behold the Lamb of God”
5. Abraham believed God could raise Isaac from the dead. {Heb 11:19 ESV} 19 He considered that God was able even to raise him from the dead, from which, figuratively speaking, he did receive him back. Jesus also was raised from the dead.
Here are a couple not so obvious ones, that we get from a deeper study of the Text and the ancient traditions about the story.
6. The story says, “Abraham took the boy”, so in our minds we see a young child. In reality, Abraham was about 133ish, and Isaac was around 33. At least in his mid 30’s. Not a young boy. Isaac willingly allowed his father to tie him up and lay him on the altar. Jesus also went willingly to Mt. Moriah to be offered up as an offering. He could have stopped it just as easily as a 30 year old could prevent a 130 year old from tying him up. Jesus was willing.
7. {Gen 22:13 ESV} 13 And Abraham lifted up his eyes and looked, and behold, behind him was a ram, caught in a thicket by his horns.
In the Hebrew language there is something significant in this passage. We often miss it through the translation. It says Abraham looked “Behind” him. As we read it, it totally makes sense to say that Abraham looked behind him, as if he turned around and there was a lamb he didn’t see because it was behind his back. BUT…. a better translation would be, “And Abraham raised his eyes and saw-behold a ram!-afterwards, caught in a thicket.” (I got this translation from my Tanach. Google it) In Hebrew, the word behind is more often related to time as opposed to space. So it isn’t Abraham looked behind him in the space he couldn’t see, but it is He looked “afterward” as related to time. There are lots of commentator’s suggestions as to why the Bible uses this word. I believe God allowed Abraham to see what would come after him. The same story playing out thousands of years later on Mt. Moriah where God would sacrifice His one and only Son at the age of 33, as the substitutionary sacrifice for the sins of the world. {Jhn 8:56 KJV} 56 Your father Abraham rejoiced to see my day: and he saw [it], and was glad.
Come join us on a journey to unlock these Old Testament truths about our New Testament Messiah. Let’s remove the Old and New. Lets put them back together and search out The Whole Testament together.