Old and New Testament: God's Plan is the Same

 

I don’t think I cracked open much of the Old Testament, except for Psalm and Proverbs, as a kid.

Now I understand how important it is to see the nature of God through his people in the context of both covenants. The Bible is a story with God as the central figure. He creates and builds and causes us to flourish. We in turn get to tell of His character and redemption; we are fruitful and we multiply.

There is a tendency to see the Bible as two separate stories with different histories and different ideas about human nature. I had a professor once describe the Old Testament attitude of God versus the New Testament attitude. Clearly he thought the God of the Hebrews was a vindictive, petulant deity who was never satisfied. The New Testament God (in the person of Jesus) is a lovely creature, gentle and warm who goes around doing good.

 Even if I can understand the confusion, reading the Bible clears up the fogginess as some discover much later in life.

Admittedly I’ve learned much about the Old Testament from ministers who took time to explain how the covenant worked. God make a covenant with Abraham and much of the symbolic sacrifices point to a savior. Not to mention the prophecies that point to specific details in the life of Christ. I needed someone to show me, but hearing it caused me to seek out more detail about the Old Testament. The Law of Moses in Deuteronomy describes the Lord’s purpose for His children. None of it is frivolous or impossible. All serves a larger purpose for righteousness or good health or good order.

Prophesies about Jesus are the thread that connects Abraham’s promise to the savior of the world. 

The Jews didn’t see it then and many still don’t, but it’s human nature to not get the big picture. We don’t often see what God is doing because our perception is limited by culture and personal ability, even geopolitical realities of the day. I have to stop myself sometimes and ask “What are You doing in my life that I’m unaware of Lord?” But in order to ask that, we need to remove as much of our preconceived notions about life as we can. That’s tough to do.

The Jews thought the savior would be a political figure who would cast off the Roman government and return Israel to its greatness. In the same way we in America are hoping for the same thing, a return to political greatness and relative stability. I don’t think America’s best days are behind her, but we won’t recover anything without acknowledging the Creator of order and commerce and justice. That’s where we’ve missed it and I don’t think that’s even controversial anymore. But maybe God wants to do something different and better for the world than just making America the jewel in the crown (it has been no doubt).

America makes the world safe for democracy even now.

But maybe God wants a flourishing of a different kind. Instead of markets for commerce how about markets for ideas? Instead of another real estate bonanza where Target, Home Depot and Starbucks get to gobble up more space, how about one where locals trade goods and services? Maybe we’ll see a return to doctors doing house calls and caring for patients instead of writing scripts for every ailment.

I think we’ve all traded a little personal responsibility for comfort in some way.

I’m totally spit balling here. No one hates department stores or restaurants or hardware chains. It’s a model that’s worked well for a long time but so much is corrupted that’s it’s time for something new. Greed skews our perception about what money is for. Nearly all of the big companies in the world are owned by 2 or 3 conglomerates. We live with the illusion of choice. Those conglomerates buy each other’s stock and have a real interest in keeping the whole thing afloat. The dollar gets more worthless with every QE (Quantitative Easing) buying program the Fed goes on.

We will break free but not without some financial pain. Slave labor makes the products that fund corrupt governments and corrupt business leaders. I’m not just talking about China but everywhere. They’re in league together and they despise the God of the universe. You can tell by the music, movies and literature they promote. There is countless suffering that we aren’t even aware of because it’s hidden. I believe exposure is coming on a massive scale and it’s going to reset a lot of our priorities, both individual priorities and national ones.

The most important part of life right now is to humble ourselves and let God realign our priorities. We can’t know exactly how the next few years will unfold but I believe God’s people will become the leaders for a new age. It’s easy to see how globalism has failed and assume the opposite kind of reality will dominate the next few years. Instead of the flatness of globalism we get the peaks and valleys of small businesses—a return to a simpler time where producers lived next to consumers. But maybe not, God gave people creativity to design and build and flourish.

We might see a hybrid model of development that reduces barriers like globalism but retains a unique local character. Again, just spit balling.

What do the Old and New testaments and the story of Christ have to do with all of this trade talk? The common thread is God’s plan for humans remains to be fruitful and multiply. That hasn’t changed because when we follow that instruction we spread out the knowledge of the Creator like a fragrance and it goes on forever. God made a way to redemption for all time. Adam’s fall set in motion the coming of Christ to ‘fix’ that brokenness and restore us to the Creator.