Covenant Contrasts Part 19
Here are three more contrasts between the old and new covenant, the Old and New Testaments.
The old covenant is the SHADOW, the new covenant is the REALITY. The old covenant contains the MYSTERY, the new covenant is the REVELATION. The old covenant points to the PROMISE. The new covenant is the FULFILLMENT. Why would we teach as necessary for living the Christian life the shadow, the mystery, or the promise when the reality, the revelation, and the fulfillment are waiting for us to explore, understand, and live into?
Because we have been taught that all Scripture is of equal importance – even in this new covenant age – we think that we need to be reading and teaching from both the Old and New Testaments to proclaim the whole counsel of God. But if you have read this series of posts, you know that the old covenant is obsolete, over and done (God’s words, not mine in Hebrews 8:13 and elsewhere).
Can we learn from the shadow, the mystery, and the promise? Yes, – I wrote a whole book about it, Jesus The Purpose and the End of the Old Testament – but we LIVE according to the reality, the revelation, and the fulfillment of the new covenant. We live in the fulfillment and the provisions of the new covenant.
When we preach the shadow as a way to live the Christian life, we are not only misleading our hearers, but we are missing so much of the joy, freedom, and grace that came to us in the new!