For whatsoever things were written aforetime were written for our learning, that we through patience and comfort of the scriptures might have hope. Romans 15:4
The Jews claim the Old Testament, and only the Old Testament, is their Bible. And there is no question that it is focused on the Israelites: their history, their spiritual experiences, their God-given religion, their prophets, and their ordinances. It would seem on the surface that there is very little for the Gentiles in the Old Testament. But don’t be fooled by that. None of the apostle Paul’s epistles is more clearly directed toward the Gentiles than the book of Romans. And yet, the book of Romans has at least 60 quotes from the Old Testament. So, there must be a great deal in the Old Testament for us Gentiles. And our text today confirms it.
The ‘things that were written aforetime’, that is, the Old Testament, is not only the Bible for the Jews, but it is also a critical part of the Bible for the Gentiles. Our text says it was written for our learning. There is much that you and I will never learn until we turn to the Old Testament. But God has given it to us for a vast treasure house to explore and study.
One of the great benefits of the Old Testament is the experiences of those whose lives are recorded there. From their encounters with God, their mistakes, their victories, and their observations, we can glean precious things for our own lives. This we are told in 1 Corinthians 10:11: ‘Now all these things happened unto them for ensamples: and they are written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the world are come’. A wise person once said it is far cheaper to learn from others’ mistakes than it is from our own. How kind of God to record the mistakes of Old Testament characters for us to learn from!
The Old Testament also contains a wealth of types and shadows of the Lord Jesus Christ. That is why Jesus, in His discourse with the two disciples on the road to Emmaus, could open up the Scriptures to them and reveal things concerning Himself (Luke 24:27). In the Old Testament offerings described in Leviticus, in the detailed descriptions of the tabernacle and the temple, in the great messianic Psalms such as the 22nd, the 69th, the 88th, and many others, we find details and depths that are not available to us in the narratives of the New Testament.
Another treasure trove of the Old Testament is prophecy. Prophetic words concerning the Messiah, and His life, ministry, and death, are to be found throughout the 39 books. But so are messages relating to end-time events that we are looking forward to from our own perspective. Much of what we read in the books of Daniel and Ezekiel, for example, have yet to come to pass, and provide us with details that are not contained in the New Testament.
God does not want us to neglect the reading and study of the Old Testament. It is every bit as much His Word as the New. – Jim MacIntosh