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Objective

In this study, we’ll see that the Old Testament is the foundation of all that God has revealed to us about the world, about ourselves, and especially about Jesus Christ.

Key Verse

“Then I said, ‘Here I am—it is written about me in the scroll—I have come to do your will, my God.’” (Hebrews 10:7)

Introduction

When Jesus taught the people during His time on earth, He often quoted from the books of the Old Testament. These were the holy writings that God had given to the Children of Israel many centuries before Jesus was born. The Old Testament was not just a collection of old stories or religious rules. These books contained something much more important—and Jesus knew this.

Jesus knew these books showed God’s great purpose for everything He created. They told the story of how God chose a special people, the nation of Israel, and gave them wonderful promises. Most importantly, these writings promised that God would send a Redeemer—someone who would save His people from their sins.

Jesus made an amazing claim about these Old Testament writings. He said that He Himself was the promised Redeemer. He was the answer to everything written in those ancient books. All the promises about the future, all the pictures of salvation that people had been reading for hundreds of years, were pointing to Him.

This is why Jesus often told His listeners to search the scriptures carefully. He wanted them to study the Old Testament writings and discover the truth for themselves. These books were all about Him and His work to save the world. As we study through the Old Testament together, let’s remember to keep our eyes on Jesus.

• John 5:39: [Jesus said:] You study the Scriptures diligently because you think that in them you have eternal life. These are the very Scriptures that testify about me.

• Luke 24:27, 44: And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he [Jesus] explained to them what was said in all the Scriptures concerning himself….He said to them, “This is what I told you while I was still with you: Everything must be fulfilled that is written about me in the Law of Moses, the Prophets and the Psalms.”

The Old Testament contains many different types of books. There are history books that tell stories of God’s people. There are books of poetry and songs. Some books contain wise sayings and practical advice for living. Other books record the messages that God’s prophets spoke to the people.

These books were written over more than a thousand years by many different writers. Yet despite all these differences, something amazing holds them together. All these books are unified around one central message—they prepare the world for Christ.

This is exactly why we must study and understand the Old Testament today. It serves as the foundation of everything that God has shown us about Himself. The Old Testament is not just ancient history that we can ignore. Without understanding these books, we cannot fully grasp what the New Testament teaches us. The two parts of the Bible work together like a building and its foundation.

In this study, we will explore the three great themes that run through the entire Old Testament. These themes appear from the very first book, Genesis, all the way to the last book, Malachi. They form the foundation of everything the Bible teaches us about God and His plan for humanity. These three themes are simple but powerful:

• God created all things, which speaks of God’s power.
• God revealed His law, which speaks of God’s holiness.
• God promised a Redeemer, which speaks of God’s love.

Every story, every psalm, every prophecy in the Old Testament is connected to one or more of these central truths.

God Created

The first great message of the Old Testament is that there is one God who has created all things. This truth speaks of God’s power and authority over everything that exists. The message of God’s creative power is not just mentioned once and forgotten. Instead, it appears throughout the entire Old Testament, starting with the very first verse of the Bible.

• Genesis 1:1: In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.

This opening statement of Scripture lays the foundation for all that follows. It tells us that before anything else existed, God was there. He spoke, and the universe came into being. The world is not the result of chance or accident, but the work of an all-powerful Creator.

God’s power in creation is celebrated many times throughout the book of Psalms. The writers of these songs understood something important: when we see God’s creative power, we must worship Him. The message here is that God alone is worthy of our praise and worship because He alone is the Creator of all things. The following verses from the Psalms celebrate God’s creative power. Read these verses out loud, paying attention to how the writers respond to seeing God’s creation.

• Psalm 8:3-4: When I consider your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have set in place, what is mankind that you are mindful of them, human beings that you care for them?

• Psalm 33:6: By the word of the LORD the heavens were made, their starry host by the breath of his mouth.

• Psalm 102:25: In the beginning you laid the foundations of the earth, and the heavens are the work of your hands.

The book of Job also speaks many times about God’s creative power. In this book, God himself speaks to Job and asks him questions that only the Creator could ask. The clear message is that we should trust God even when we don’t understand everything He does, because He is the one who made all things.

• Job 38:4-7: “Where were you when I laid the earth’s foundation? Tell me, if you understand. Who marked off its dimensions? Surely you know! Who stretched a measuring line across it? On what were its footings set, or who laid its cornerstone—while the morning stars sang together and all the angels shouted for joy?”

The message of God’s creative power is also repeated by the prophets throughout Israel’s history. These men of God proclaimed this truth to show the people that there is only one true God, and He has created all things. They wanted people to understand that the idols they worshiped were powerless, but the God of Israel was the maker of heaven and earth.

• Isaiah 42:5: This is what God the Lord says—the Creator of the heavens, who stretches them out, who spreads out the earth with all that springs from it, who gives breath to its people, and life to those who walk on it.

• Jeremiah 14:22: Do any of the worthless idols of the nations bring rain? Do the skies themselves send down showers? No, it is you, Lord our God. Therefore our hope is in you, for you are the one who does all this.

• Zechariah 12:1: The Lord, who stretches out the heavens, who lays the foundation of the earth, and who forms the human spirit within a person, declares.

This same message appears again at the end of the Old Testament. The people of Israel had returned from their captivity in Babylon. We see this truth in the prayer of the Levites when they gathered to worship God after their return. The message here is both comforting and encouraging. The same God who created the heavens and earth in the beginning will be faithful to make all things new for His people.

• Nehemiah 9:6: You alone are the Lord. You made the heavens, even the highest heavens, and all their starry host, the earth and all that is on it, the seas and all that is in them. You give life to everything, and the multitudes of heaven worship you.

Why is this message about God’s creative power so important throughout the Old Testament? The answer is simple but profound. God’s power to create speaks of His authority and control over all things. Because He made us, we belong to Him. Because He formed us from the dust of the earth, we must answer to Him for how we live our lives. We are not accidents of nature, but the deliberate creation of a loving God. (Notebook Moment: How does knowing you are deliberately created by God change the way you think about your life’s purpose?)

• Isaiah 29:16: You turn things upside down, as if the potter were thought to be like the clay! Shall what is formed say to the one who formed it, “You did not make me”? Can the pot say to the potter, “You know nothing”?

This truth about God as Creator changes everything about how we see ourselves and our world. We are not alone in the universe. We are not the result of random forces. Instead, we are the work of God’s hands, created by the same power that spoke the stars into existence.

💡REFLECT Think about a time when you looked up at the night sky and saw the stars, or stood before a mountain, or watched the ocean. What did you feel? Did these things make you feel small or amazed by their power? Consider how the same God who created these mighty things by simply speaking them into existence also has complete power over your life and circumstances.

God Revealed

The second great message of the Old Testament is that God has revealed His law to us. This truth speaks of God’s holiness and moral perfection. God is not only powerful as the Creator, but He is also completely pure and righteous. Because of His holy nature, He cannot ignore sin or pretend that wrong behavior doesn’t matter. Instead, He has given us His law to show us what is right and what is wrong.

From the very beginning of human history, God made His will known to people. He did not leave Adam and Eve to guess what He expected from them. Even in the Garden of Eden, before sin entered the world, God gave a clear commandment that showed His authority and their need to obey Him.

• Genesis 2:16-17: And the Lord God commanded the man, “You are free to eat from any tree in the garden; but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat from it you will certainly die.”

After sin entered the world, God did not abandon humanity to confusion about right and wrong. The knowledge of God’s will was carefully preserved among the early patriarchs—the fathers of faith like Abel, Noah, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. These men knew God personally and understood His standards for living. They passed this knowledge down to their families and taught their children to fear the Lord.

• Genesis 4:26: Seth also had a son, and he named him Enosh. At that time people began to call on the name of the Lord.

• Genesis 6:8: But Noah found favor in the eyes of the Lord.

• Genesis 18:19: For I have chosen him [Abraham], so that he will direct his children and his household after him to keep the way of the Lord by doing what is right and just, so that the Lord will bring about for Abraham what he has promised him.”

• Genesis 35:2-3: So Jacob said to his household and to all who were with him, “Get rid of the foreign gods you have with you, and purify yourselves and change your clothes. ³ Then come, let us go up to Bethel, where I will build an altar to God, who answered me in the day of my distress and who has been with me wherever I have gone.”

• Genesis 39:9: [Joseph is speaking:] “No one is greater in this house than I am. My master has withheld nothing from me except you, because you are his wife. How then could I do such a wicked thing and sin against God?”

Later in history, God revealed His law in a more complete and formal way through Moses to the Children of Israel. At Mount Sinai, God gave the Ten Commandments and many other laws that would guide His people in how to live as a holy nation. This was not just a one-time event that was quickly forgotten. Throughout Israel’s long history, the message of God’s law was repeated again and again by leaders, priests, and prophets who reminded the people of their duty to obey God. (Notebook Moment: Think about the leaders in your life—parents, pastors, teachers, bosses. How do they remind you of what’s right and wrong? What happens when people stop listening to moral guidance?)

• Exodus 31:18: When the Lord finished speaking to Moses on Mount Sinai, he gave him the two tablets of the covenant law, the tablets of stone inscribed by the finger of God.

• Leviticus 19:2: “Speak to the entire assembly of Israel and say to them: ‘Be holy because I, the Lord your God, am holy.'”

• Deuteronomy 10:12-13: And now, Israel, what does the Lord your God ask of you but to fear the Lord your God, to walk in obedience to him, to love him, to serve the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul, and to observe the Lord’s commands and decrees that I am giving you today for your own good?

• Joshua 1:8: Keep this Book of the Law always on your lips; meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do everything written in it. Then you will be prosperous and successful.

• 1 Kings 3:2: The people, however, were still sacrificing at the high places, because a temple had not yet been built for the Name of the Lord.

• 2 Chronicles 34:30-31: He went up to the temple of the Lord with the people of Judah, the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the priests and the Levites—all the people from the least to the greatest. He read in their hearing all the words of the Book of the Covenant, which had been found in the temple of the Lord. ³¹ The king stood by his pillar and renewed the covenant in the presence of the Lord—to follow the Lord and keep his commands, statutes and decrees with all his heart and all his soul, and to obey the words of the covenant written in this book.

• Nehemiah 8:2-3: So on the first day of the seventh month Ezra the priest brought the Law before the assembly, which was made up of men and women and all who were able to understand. ³ He read it aloud from daybreak till noon as he faced the square before the Water Gate in the presence of the men, women and others who could understand. And all the people listened attentively to the Book of the Law.

But why did God give us His law? What was His purpose in revealing these commandments to us? The apostle Paul, writing in the New Testament, helps us understand the true purpose of God’s law. He tells us that the law was never meant to be a way for people to earn their salvation by good works. Instead, the law serves as a mirror that shows us our sin and reveals God’s perfect holiness to us. When we honestly compare our lives to God’s standards, we quickly discover that we fall far short of His perfection.

• Romans 3:20: Therefore no one will be declared righteous in God’s sight by the works of the law; rather, through the law we become conscious of our sin.

• Romans 7:7: What shall we say, then? Is the law sinful? Certainly not! Nevertheless, I would not have known what sin was had it not been for the law. For I would not have known what coveting really was if the law had not said, “You shall not covet.”

This discovery leads us to a crucial question that strikes at the heart of the human condition. If God is perfectly holy and righteous, and if we cannot keep His law perfectly, then how can we be saved? How can sinful people like us ever stand in the presence of a holy God? The law shows us our desperate need, but it cannot provide the solution. We need something more than rules and commandments. We need a Redeemer—someone who can bridge the gap between God’s holiness and our sinfulness.

God Promised

The third great message of the Old Testament is that God has promised a Redeemer. This truth speaks of God’s amazing love and grace toward sinful humanity. We have seen that God is powerful as Creator and holy as the Lawgiver. Now we discover that this same God is also loving and merciful. He did not leave us hopeless in our sin. Instead, from the very beginning, He promised to send someone who would save us from our sins and restore our relationship with Him.

God’s promise of a Redeemer actually begins in the very first book of the Bible. Immediately after Adam and Eve disobeyed God’s law in the Garden of Eden, God made the first promise of someone who would defeat Satan and restore what sin had broken. Later, God expanded this promise when He told Abraham that through his family, all the nations of the earth would be blessed.

These early promises in Genesis are like seeds that grow and develop throughout the rest of the Old Testament, becoming clearer and more detailed as the centuries pass. When we study Genesis, we will look at these promises more carefully. But they are important to mention now because they show that God always planned to send a Redeemer. Salvation was God’s idea from the start.

• Genesis 3:15: And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and hers; he will crush your head, and you will strike his heel.

• Genesis 22:18: And through your offspring all nations on earth will be blessed, because you have obeyed me.

The book of Hebrews in the New Testament helps us understand how all these Old Testament promises find their fulfillment. The writer tells us clearly that the entire Old Testament points forward to Christ and is completely fulfilled in Him. Every promise, every prophecy, and every picture of salvation that we find in the Old Testament has its answer in Jesus Christ.

• Hebrews 1:1-3: In the past God spoke to our ancestors through the prophets at many times and in various ways, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, and through whom also he made the universe. The Son is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of his being, sustaining all things by his powerful word. After he had provided purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty in heaven.

As we study the Old Testament together, we will follow the guidance that this passage gives us. We will discover that God revealed His plan of redemption gradually over many centuries. He did not give all the information at once, but spoke to His people in many different ways throughout their history.

God spoke at different times. The story of redemption unfolds slowly from Genesis to Malachi. What God revealed to Adam and Eve in the Garden was added to by what He told Noah, then Abraham, then Moses, and finally David and the prophets. Each generation received more light and understanding about God’s plan to save His people.

God spoke in different ways. Sometimes God spoke directly to people, as He did with Abraham and Moses. Other times He communicated through dreams and visions, as with Joseph and Daniel. He spoke through mighty acts of power, like the plagues in Egypt and the crossing of the Red Sea. He also spoke through the everyday experiences of life, showing His people lessons about faith, obedience, and trust.

God spoke to different people. The Lord did not limit His communication to one type of person. He spoke to shepherds like David, to priests like Samuel, to kings like Solomon, to farmers like Amos, and to government officials like Daniel. He used people from every walk of life to communicate His message of hope and redemption.

These differences help us understand the rich variety we find in the Old Testament. As we explore these ancient books, we will discover laws that teach us about God’s holiness, genealogies that trace God’s faithful promises through the generations, histories that show God’s patience with His people, poetry that expresses the deepest emotions of the human heart, proverbs that give practical wisdom for daily living, and prophecies that look forward to the coming Redeemer. All these different types of writing were produced over more than 1000 years by many different authors. Yet despite this great diversity of time, people, and literary styles, everything has one central focus—everything points us to Christ. He is the Redeemer that God promised from the beginning. (Notebook Moment: How might this truth change the way you read Old Testament stories?)

Throughout the Old Testament, Christ is presented to us in three distinct but related ways, and recognizing these will help us see Him more clearly as we study:

We see Him in prophecies. Many passages directly predict the coming of the Messiah, telling us where He would be born, how He would live, how He would die, and how He would rise again. These prophecies, written hundreds of years before Christ’s birth, show us that God had a detailed plan for our salvation.

We see Him in pictures. The Old Testament is filled with people, events, and ceremonies that serve as symbols or previews of what Christ would do. The Passover lamb, the bronze serpent in the wilderness, and the sacrificial system all paint pictures that help us understand Christ’s work of salvation.

We see Him appearing as the Angel of the Lord. In several important passages, we find mysterious appearances of “the Angel of the Lord” who speaks and acts as God Himself. Many Bible scholars believe these are actual appearances of Christ before His incarnation, giving us glimpses of the eternal Son of God.

As we journey through the Old Testament together, Christ will be our main focus and our guiding light. We will ask ourselves constantly: How does this passage point to Christ? What does this teach us about our need for a Redeemer? How does this prepare us to understand what Jesus accomplished for us? This approach will help us see the Old Testament not as a collection of ancient stories, but as God’s single plan to save His people through the promised Redeemer.

Conclusion

So what have we learned? The Old Testament presents three great themes that work together to reveal God’s character: God created the world (showing His power), God revealed the law (showing His holiness), and God promised a Redeemer (showing His love).

The Old Testament is the foundation of everything God has revealed to us. Just as a building cannot stand without a solid foundation, we cannot properly understand the New Testament without first understanding these Old Testament truths.

Without these foundational truths, the gospel message would not make sense. Why do we need a Savior? Because the holy God who created us has given us His law, and we have broken it. How can we be sure that Jesus has the power to save us? Because He is the same God who created the heavens and earth by the power of His word.

This is why we must study and understand the Old Testament. When we grasp these three great themes, we are ready to see how perfectly they are fulfilled in Jesus Christ.

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🔍 Go Deeper

This is an optional section designed to guide you deeper into some of the topics of this lesson. Remember that you can always come back to this at another time. One strategy is to go through the entire Old Testament Survey once, and then come back and review each lesson and then complete the “Go Deeper” sections. As always, make sure to have your notebook in hand to answer to write down your thoughts as you answer these questions.

1. This lesson teaches that Christ appears in the Old Testament “in pictures”—people, events, and ceremonies that serve as previews of what Christ would do. The New Testament writers help us see these connections. Look up each pair of verses below, read them carefully, and identify the picture of Christ’s work that is being revealed:

• Exodus 17:6 and 1 Corinthians 10:4
• Numbers 21:8-9 and John 3:14-15
• Exodus 12:21-23 and 1 Corinthians 5:7