8. Context Old and New
One of the most important areas of interrelation between different areas of the Bible that we must keep in mind in our study is that of the connection between the Hebrew and Greek Scriptures – the Old and New Testaments. It is not just that the New Testament followed the Old, but also that the two are connected at a number of levels that affect our understanding of both parts.
Augustine may have been the first one who said that the New Testament is concealed in the Old Testament and the Old Testament is revealed in the New Testament. This means that there is a tremendous amount of context that we must consider in our study of the Scriptures. Thousands of verses in the Old Testament find fulfillment or explanation in the New, and almost threequarters of the material in the New Testament is either a quotation from or allusion to material in the Old Testament. In practical terms, this means that although it is natural to see the two Testaments as being separate and to study them that way, we need to continually look at related material in the Old and the New. The New Testament Hidden in the Old No area of interconnection between the two Testaments is more important, of course, than that regarding the promised Messiah. We see figurative allusions to the One who would rescue humanity from the very first chapters of the Bible when God tells the serpent "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 3:15), to the words found in the very last chapter of the Old Testament: "the sun of righteousness will rise with healing in its rays" (Malachi 4:2). Between these references the Old Testament contains hundreds (by some counts over 600) messianic references, many of them amazingly detailed.
For example, in Psalm 22, which was written somewhere around 1000 BC, we find not only the prediction: "they pierce my hands and my feet" (Psalm 22:16), but also a total of eleven distinct prophecies which were clearly fulfilled in the crucifixion of Jesus Christ. In the same way, in Isaiah 52:13-53:12 (from around 740680 BC), in addition to the prophecy "But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was on him, and by his wounds we are healed" (Isaiah 53:5), we find every verse of this whole section is a detailed description of the sacrificial servant Messiah.
It is only as we look at the New Testament accounts of the death of Christ from the perspective of these far older references that we can fully understand the later accounts – which is why, of course, the New Testament writers quoted them so often: not simply to "prove" that Jesus was the promised Messiah, but to explain the full significance of that fact.
Although they are the best known of all the Old Testament scriptures that foreshadow events in the New, the messianic references are not the only ones that help us understand the later scriptures. In addition to prophecies relating to other individuals (such as John the Baptist and Judas the betrayer of Christ), many aspects of the Old Testament clarify details found in the New. The Old Testament Revealed in the New In his sermon on the Day of Pentecost, after the giving of the Holy Spirit, the apostle Peter cited not only Old Testament prophecies of the Messiah that were fulfilled by Christ (Acts 3:25-28, 34-35), but also other scriptures speaking of the pouring out of the Spirit of God (Acts 3:17-18) and the opportunity of salvation being given to all the Gentiles (Acts 3:21). These events were mysteries without explanation during the Old Testament era and were only made clear in the events that occurred in New Testament times.
We must not limit our understanding of the principle of the "Old revealed in the New" to prophetic statements, however. There are many New Testament scriptures that clarify or explain Old Testament writings. In the book of Hebrews, for example, we have a detailed description of the workings of the tabernacle and the later temple that not only reveals the meaning of the various parts of those structures and their sacrificial rituals, but also shows that the physical structures mirror a spiritual temple which give the earlier physical counterparts their true significance (Hebrews 8-9).
In the following case study we will see just how much keeping the connections between the Old and New Testaments in mind can expand our understanding and appreciation for biblical texts.
Case Study: Seeing Isaiah in Revelation The New Testament book of Revelation quotes the Old Testament hundreds of times (estimates range depending on whether only direct quotations or allusions are counted). Looked at another way, of the 404 verses in Revelation, some 278 of them (almost 70%) make clear reference to the Old Testament, and some of those verses actually contain two, or even three, Old Testament parallels.
For example, we can better understand Revelation's vision of a "new heaven and new earth" (Revelation 21), by comparing it with prophecies in Chapter 60 of the book of Isaiah. When we do this, we see that the apostle John's statements in Revelation were actually part of a continuing inspired prophetic tradition. John adds many details to the prophetic picture, but looking back at Isaiah's earlier words can also provide more context for John's later statements. Parallel Visions Isaiah 60:1 "the glory of the Lord rises upon you." Revelation 21:3 "God's dwelling place is now among the people, and he will dwell with them." Isaiah 60:3 "Nations will come to your light, and kings to the brightness of your dawn."
Revelation 21:24 "The nations will walk by its light, and the kings of the earth will bring their splendor into it." Isaiah 60:5 "the wealth on the seas will be brought to you," Revelation 21:1 "and there was no longer any sea." Isaiah 60:5 "… to you the riches of the nations will come." Revelation 21:26 "The glory and honor of the nations will be brought into it." The Holy City Isaiah 60:11 "Your gates will always stand open, they will never be shut, day or night," Revelation 21:25 "On no day will its gates ever be shut, for there will be no night there." Isaiah 60:12 "For the nation or kingdom that will not serve you will perish; it will be utterly ruined." Revelation 21:8 "But the cowardly, the unbelieving, the vile, the murderers, the sexually immoral, those who practice magic arts, the idolaters and all liars—they will be consigned to the fiery lake of burning sulfur." Isaiah 60:14 "the City of the Lord, Zion of the Holy One of Israel." Revelation 21:10 "the Holy City, Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God." Isaiah 60:18 "you will call your walls Salvation and your gates Praise." Revelation 21:12, 21 "It had a great, high wall with twelve gates and with twelve angels at the gates. On the gates were written the names of the twelve tribes of Israel ... The twelve gates were twelve pearls, each gate made of a single pearl."
The End of Darkness Isaiah 60:19 "The sun will no more be your light by day, nor will the brightness of the moon shine on you, for the Lord will be your everlasting light, and your God will be your glory." Revelation 21:23 "The city does not need the sun or the moon to shine on it, for the glory of God gives it light, and the Lamb is its lamp." Isaiah 60:20 "Your sun will never set again, and your moon will wane no more; the Lord will be your everlasting light," Revelation 21:25 "…for there will be no night there." Isaiah 60:20 "… and your days of sorrow will end." Revelation 21:4 "He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away." Isaiah 60:21 "Then all your people will be righteous and they will possess the land forever." Revelation 21:27 "Nothing impure will ever enter it, nor will anyone who does what is shameful or deceitful, but only those whose names are written in the Lamb's book of life." The two chapters are so similar that some sceptics claim John "copied" Isaiah in Revelation, but this can hardly be the case because John knew a great many of his readers would be familiar with the book of Isaiah. Besides, John's vision contains many details that are additional to and independent of what Isaiah wrote – which fits the overall principle of progressive revelation through time that we find unfolding throughout the Bible.