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The Old Testament Is the Foundation of the New Testament
by Samson Hutagalung

God Is the Sovereign God

Anyone who desires to know about the Son of God, the second person the Triune God, he must study what the Bible says about itself. This is the infinite quality. Apart from the Bible no one will be able to know about the Son of God, what He has done and what He will be going to do in the future. The Holy Scripture is only book that God ever has written and given to His people. Because God was the One who wrote the Bible, it is absolutely that the Bible does not contain any mistake and error. Our God is the sovereign God who does all things perfectly. For this reason, the Bible is the most precious book to every believer. We need to know how to handle and study it.

When the Lord gave His Word to His people both in the Old and New Testament, one of the things that God wants us to know is about the Lord Jesus Christ. Because God is the author of the Bible, right from the first book till the last book of the Bible thus God gave only one theme namely the Lord Jesus Christ. Although the writing of each book of the Holy Scripture was separated in different place and time, yet the Lord had made all things perfect by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit.

For example, Isaiah 53 was already written hundreds of years before Jesus Christ came to this world but the fact there is more information given in this chapter regarding the Lord Jesus Christ. Isaiah 53 provided an information what the Lord Jesus did on the cross and what He wanted to accomplish during His life on this earth. The information we find in this chapter is more than what we find in the four gospels; Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. If the people in the Old Testament had studied and mastered Isaiah 53, all prophesies and all things that lead up to it and follow it there is no doubt that they must have believed in the Lord Jesus Christ when He came to this earth. In fact when John the Baptist pointed the people to the Lord Jesus Christ and saying, “Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world” (John 1:29), he did not really have to explain its meaning because the Jews were supposed to know it for they had been indoctrinated, taught this prophetic truth hundreds of years who the Messiah and the Lamb really was.

Thus based on Isaiah 53, the writers of the New Testament by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit often quoted this writing to prove that this prophetic truth was fulfilled in the person of Jesus Christ. This quotation can be seen for example in Matthew 8: 17, “Himself took our infirmities, and bare our sickness” (ref. Isaiah 53:4). Luke 22:37, “And he was reckoned among the transgressors” (ref. Isaiah 53:12). John 12:38, “Lord, who hath believed our report? And to whom hath the arm of the Lord been revealed?” (ref. Isaiah 53:1). Acts 8:32, “He was led as a sheep to the slaughter; and like a lamb dumb before his shearer,” (ref. Isaiah 53:7,8). Romans 10:16, “Lord who hath believed our report?” (ref. Isaiah 53:1). 1 Peter 2:25, “Ye were as sheep going astray but are now returned” (ref. Isaiah 53:6). All these verses prove that our God is sovereign God who does not make a mistake in the writing of His word.

The Sovereignty of God Seen in His Sign Miracles

Based on the fulfilment of the prophecy given in Isaiah 53, there is no doubt to conclude that our God is the true and living God. God has shown His sovereignty through the Scriptures. We can see clearly the great distinction of our God with the gods of the heathen, the gods of the world. The gods of world will never make such statement as mentioned in the book of Isaiah. For this reason we can conclude that there are two distinctions seen as the sovereignty of our God. Firstly, our God is the only God who can perform genuine sign miracles e.g. creating the world (ref. Isaiah 48:13), paying the penalty of our sins and the rising of our Lord Jesus Christ from the dead. Secondly, our God is the true and living God who can tell His people long in advance about the sign miracles which He is going to do in the future. He has totally mastered about the future just as mentioned in Isaiah 53. Only our God who is able to do the genuine sign miracles and there is no other gods because God has said, “I will not give my glory unto another” (Isaiah 48:11). Thus we should recognise that He is sovereign, and ultimate. He is omnipotent and omnipresent. God knows everything that happens in this world because He is in control.

On the other hand, though God is in control of everything in this universe, as we know by faith, man and angels are responsible to the sovereign God. Men are responsible, accountable, answerable to every thought, they think, every word they speak and everything they do. And God therefore tells us in His word, that He will come to judge everything that we do.

The Sovereignty of God Seen in the Fulfilment of His Promise

As we have seen the distinctions of our God with the gods of this universe, we are really convinced that our God is the God who is able to do genuine sign miracles. The event on the Mount Carmel when the prophet Elijah had a contest was the tremendous proof of the sovereignty of our God over the universe (1 Kings 18:20-40). He is the only true God that ever exists and nothing else.

As the only true and living God, our God can predict the future and fulfil them. The Lord said through the prophet Isaiah saying, “Remember the former things of old: for I am God, and there is none else; I am God, and there is none like me, Declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times the things that are not yet done, saying, My counsel shall stand, and I will do all my pleasure” (Isaiah 46:9-10). This is awful saying that the Lord ever said in the history of the world. What the Lord Jesus had done and accomplished was not known just in the New Testament. The crucifixion of the Son of God on the cross had been pre-programmed and planed by God. Everything has been spelt out in the Old Testament hundreds years in advance. There is a great need to know that what the Lord Jesus Christ had accomplished for us on the cross was based on the previous revelation mentioned centuries in advance in the Old Testament Scriptures.

However it is sad to say that many people who deliberately ignore the teaching in the Old Testament about the Lord Jesus Christ even though they have it in their Bible. On the other hand there are many people in this world who do not have even the Old Testament Scriptures in their own languages. Many missionaries struggle to own the New Testament in the languages where they are serving.

Can we imagine if certain groups of people hold only the gospel of Matthew? Can you think what is in their mind when they read Matthew 1:1 for the first time? They will read it in this way, “The book of the generation of Jesus Christ, the son of the David, the son of Abraham.” And the questions raised who is David? Was he Jesus’ father? Who is Abraham? Was he His grandfather? The answer is no, for there are a thousand of years between each of those names pack with significant and prophecy that make Jesus known automatically before we read Matthew 1:2. Thus the most important for us, evangelical Christians today is to open the book in the Old Testament and let the Holy Spirit tells us about Christ the Lord in the precious book. There are hundreds of quotations in the New Testament pointing back to the Old Testament. We can glance the basis who Christ is in the Old Testament, and not only known in the New Testament. Indeed there is a weakness among the Christians that without realising in our heart and mind that the New Testament has the foundation from the Old Testament.

The True and Living God only Who can Tell about the Future

The First Prophecy concerning the Lord Jesus Christ

Soon after the fall of man as recorded in Genesis 3:1-13 the Lord knew that there would be no mere man who can earn salvation by his own good works. God knew the heart and ability of man that there was no way in which man could please God. The fall of man has brought curses to all mankind and no one will spare (ref. Genesis 3:14-21). What it was recorded in Genesis 3:1-13 was the proof in the human history that Satan successfully won over Adam through Eve and the serpent. Although serpent was seen in this scenario but Satan was behind the serpent to achieve his purpose to deceive Adam and Eve.

However, though Adam and Eve have disobeyed God, the Lord was still merciful to them. In Genesis 3:21 we read, “Unto Adam also and to his wife did the Lord God make coats skins and clothed them.” In order to clothe them the Lord has to kill the animal and made the skins to be their clothes. This is to say that there was the shedding blood of the animal in that time which symbolised that Adam and Eve were covered from the sins by symbolic innocent blood which was pointing to the blood of Jesus Christ. Thus it was after the fall of man, when God pronounced the curse to Satan, God predicted for the first time of the coming Saviour of the world (Gen. 3:15). Without the shedding blood of Him to cover the sins of man there will be no remission of sins. For this reason Genesis 3:15 is well known as the Proto-evangelion (the first gospel preached by God to mankind). Thus there is a need to study on this passage in order to understand the deeper meaning of the curse that God pronounced to Satan.

Proto-evangelion

"And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel” (Genesis 3:15).

This verse can be considered as John 3:16 in the Old Testament because based on this verse alone clearly seen the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ preached to Adam and Eve by God Himself. Thus there are three things that need to be studied on this verse.

First, God said to Satan, “I will put enmity between thee and the woman.” Based on this verse, the woman must have known that Satan is not her friend but enemy. The word ‘enmity’ in Hebrew can be meant as ‘personal enmity’ which breaks our relationship with God. Satan may appear very friendly and look like the angles of light but nevertheless we must understand that they are satanic truth. They deceive people with their own words and not following the truth of the Word of God (2 John 7-11).

Second, “and between thy seed (Satan’s) and her see.” The question is asked, who is the seed of Satan? The answer is every unregenerate human being in the world. The moment we are conceived we are of Satan. Every baby born is unsaved, lost, and inherit human nature from the parents, grandfather and back to Adam. Just as David said, “in sin did my mother conceived me” (Psalm 51:5). This is to say that the sinful nature of every man did not come from the parents or from the neighbourhood influences but it was because of the fall of our first parents. Thus every ever baby born is unsaved including the first baby that was ever born namely Cain. The New Testament said that he is of the evil one who murdered his brother.

On the other hand everyone who has been born again is the seed of the woman. Thus there are two human races or groups of the people in the world namely those who are saved and walk in the light, and those who are lost and walk in darkness.

Third, “he shall bruise your head, and thou shalt bruise his heel.” Who is this ‘he’ mentioned in this verse? ‘He’ here is referring to the seed of the woman. Satan will be bruised by the seed of the woman, the ultimate seed, the representative of all the saved people that ever lived namely Jesus Christ. However in the process of bruising the heel of Jesus Christ as happened on the cross by Satan through Judas Iscariot who helped to kill Jesus on the cross, Satan’s head would be bruised. “Now is the judgment of this world: now shall the prince of this world (Satan) be cast out” (John 12:31).

The Fulfilment of Proto-evangelion

Having seen the exposition of Genesis 3:15 as described above, the questions again raised, how do we know this verse is talking about Satan, Jesus, believer and unbelievers, for it does not say anything about them here? To answer this question it is important to know the manner in which God reveals the revelation in the Old Testament. What the Lord has mentioned in this verse is just a little seed which through the centuries keep growing through the progressive revelation. And when the Bible finally completed (all 66 books), then we can look back and we may say with conviction that now we understand what God meant in the book of Genesis.

One of the proved texts  in the New Testament concerning what the Lord has said in Genesis 3:15 is found in Romans 16:20 saying, “The God of peace shall bruise Satan under your feet shortly.” This verse is saying that our God will bruise Satan under the feet of believers. In the kingdom age Satan will be on the bottomless pit, because Jesus has bruised his head on the Calvary cross. However though Satan was already bruised his head, and yet he is still roaming around like a lion, seeking whom he may endeavour (1 Peter 5:8), but soon he will be cast out by the Lord and for a thousand years he will be bound (Revelation 2:1-2).

The question further raises, how do we know the ancient serpent in Genesis 3 was really Satan? The answer is found in the last book of the complete revelation of God, the Bible. Revelation 12:9 says, “And the great dragon was cast, and old serpent, called the Devil, and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world: he was cast out into the earth, and his angels were cast out with him.” Truly the Lord has revealed to us in the book of Revelation what is meant in the book of Genesis.

How did we expect Adam and Eve to understand all these that mentioned in Genesis 3:15? The answer is they believed God and what the Lord had told them. Just like Abraham, he was justified when “he believed in the LORD; and he counted it to him for righteousness” (Genesis 15:6). Abraham did not know everything what we know today, but the Old Testament saint knew that the coming Saviour, the Messiah would die on their behalf to cleanse all their sins. Their faiths were looking forward for the Lamb of God that was going to be offered on the Calvary cross and what the Messiah would do for them. As for us, the New Testament saints who live after the death of Jesus Christ, we look back what the Lord Jesus Christ had done on the cross.

In the light of what the Lord had told Adam and Eve in verse 20 of Genesis, “And Adam called his wife’s name Eve; because she was the mother of all living,” Adam understood the meaning of the prophecy of God in Genesis 3:15. He knew that through the seed of Eve, would come the seed that would bruise the head of Satan, our enemy. For this reason, Adam honoured Eve by calling her the mother of all living because through her seed would come the Saviour to save us from our enemy. Adam and Eve might not know that this promised Messiah would come after thousands of years past, but they believed in God and what He had said that the promise would be fulfilled. Therefore right from the beginning, the Bible tells us that there will be a Saviour who will bruise the head of the Satan, though He himself suffers in the process.

The Promise of the Coming Saviour

The Promise to Abraham

In Genesis 12, God told us through Abraham something that equally important concerning the promised coming Messiah. This was happenned long after the flood, even after the Babel, c.a. 2100 BC. The Lord chose one man from the land of Chaldeans as the promise progressively revealed. As God said to Abraham, “Now the Lord had said unto Abram, Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred and from thy father’s house, unto a land that I will show thee; and I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great; and thou shalt be a blessing; and I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee: and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed” (Genesis 12:1-3). In these verses, we can see the clear divine promise given to Abraham and his descendants. If any nations cursed the seeds of Abraham the Lord would curse them. There will be divine retribution, because God has chosen the seeds of Abraham as a nation in order to bring the Messiah to this earth, though they are still the enemy of the gospel (Romans 11). However the Lord said to Abraham, “In thee (Abraham) shall all families of the earth be blessed.” Abraham was not worthy for all these. He was chosen, not because he was sinless for the Bible tells us that Abraham once told a lie when he said that his wife was his sister. However the curses were given by God to those nations which were against the descendants of Abraham. This is truly the fulfilment of the prophecy given by God. The Lord has done so in order to fulfil what he has promised in Genesis 3:15. As Paul said in Galatians 3:16 sayaing, “Now to Abraham and his seed were the promises made. He saith not, and to seeds, as of many; but as of one, and to thy seed which is Christ.” The ‘seed’ here is referring to the ‘seed of the woman’ in Genesis 3:15. Hence through the seed (Jesus Christ) all the people of this earth will be blessed.

As we have seen the relation between the promise in the Old Testament and its fulfilment progressively, we can conclude that what the Lord has said in the New Testament has the foundation in the Old Testament. However there is a great demand to study the Scripture carefully and diligently with humility. In this generation, there is a most disturbing fact for Seminary students. By studying three to four years, they expected to know everything. This is impossible because if we really study the Bible, it will never end because every chapter of the Bible is dependable to each verse in the whole Bible.

There were two problems of many people today in understanding the word of God. Firstly, we do not even know that the Lord has said. Secondly we do not even take time and ask the Lord to help us to understand what the Lord has said. Perhaps there are many people who can memorise many verses but they never understand the meaning of those verses. The Jews and scribes could remember chapters by chapters and yet they did not understand what they did. It is not because of memorising the verses then we have eternal life and know the word of God but because of the indwelling of the Holy Spirit within us, we have the capacity to begin to understand what we read. Our eyes open to understand His Word because of the Holy Spirit. However one of the things that the Lord asks us to do is that we should learn from ‘the seed,’ namely the Lord Jesus Christ. We need the discipline in many ways in life as we live for the Lord. Therefore in learning the word of the Lord, let us make this as our prayer, “Lord, remove all the excuses whatsoever that avoid me from the mastering the only book namely the Bible. This is to show that I love you as my Lord.”

The Promise to Jacob

When the Lord called Abraham in Genesis 12, it was the beginning of his career, but as for Jacob, his grandson, the promise was given as the end of his career in Genesis 49. So 250 years had already passed since God called Abraham. Jacob was in Egypt as prophesied in the Scriptures that the Israelites would be in the strange country for hundreds of years (Genesis 12:41), when he prophesied concerning his son, Judah. In Genesis 49, Jacob gathered his twelve sons just before his death.

Although Joseph was the one who was used by God to bring the Israelites to Egypt, and yet Joseph was not the one through whom the Messiah would come. Genesis 49:8-10 told us that it was from the line of Judah that Messiah would come. Judah was the one who recommended Joseph to be sold to the Ishmaelites instead of killing him in the pits (Genesis 37:26-28). However it was Judah who came forth as one of the eleven brothers who showed the conviction of sin and courage to stand for the truth when Joseph confronted them in Egypt (Genesis 44:16-18). Thus the Lord said to Judah through Jacob in Genesis 49:8-10, “ Judah, thou art he whom thy brethren shall praise: thy hand shall be in the neck of thine enemies; thy father’s children shall bow down before thee. Judah is a lion’s whelp: from the prey, my son, thou art gone up: he stooped down, he couched as a lion, and as an old lion; who shall rouse him up? The sceptre shall not depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver from between his feet until Shiloh come; and unto him shall the gathering of the people be.”

In verse 10 of this chapter again we read, “The sceptre shall not depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver from between his feet until Shiloh come; and unto him shall the gathering of the people be.” Who will be in the world the “ Shiloh”? The Bible never mentioned anything about this name. However the Lord has revealed his revelation progressively in which what we can not understand in the book of Genesis, other prophetic books of the Bible can help us to see the light and the meaning of those difficult passages.

In this junction, it is necessary to consult the writing of the prophet Ezekiel. In Ezekiel 21:25-27 God said concerning the wicked king of Judah, Zedekiah, “And thou, profane wicked prince of Israel, whose day is come, when iniquity shall have an end, thus saith the Lord God; Remove the diadem, and take off the crown: this shall not be the same: exalt him that is low, and abase him that is high. I will overturn, overturn, overturn, it: and it shall be no more, until he come whose right it is; and I will give it him.”  In verse 27, God spoke three times the word “overturn.” This is to say that the Lord would truly destroy the monarchy of the king of Judah. Since this last king, the monarchy of Israel never restored even to this day. There will be no monarchy in Israel until “He comes whose right it is and I will give it him.”

Furthermore in Ezekiel 21:27 we notice the phrase “whose right it is.” Who is this “whose right it is”? In Hebrew this phrase is “esherloh” which is the same basic word as “shiloh.” Thus “shiloh” which was mentioned in Genesis 49:10 was referring to “esherloh” (whose right it is) as mentioned in Ezekiel 21:27 namely the Lord Jesus Christ. When the “shiloh” comes and sets His kingdom on this earth, all the people on this earth will be obedience to Him. This prophecy was given by God through Jacob and Ezekiel although it was hard to understand, yet the Lord has revealed it in His Holy Book that we may know and study it. Thus we may conclude that the Messiah who is Christ Jesus has been promised by God to Jacob that the Messiah will come from the line of Judah. Amen.