The (Old) Gospel Story
“The gospel is understandable only as the completion of something that God began in the history of Israel. This excludes the possibility of Christians either dismissing or diminishing the importance of the OT (Old Testament), or of attempting to “purge” the gospel of its Jewish origins and context.” -James R. Edwards
“The New Testament is to Mark not a breach with the Old Testament, but a fulfillment of it…”
“The news which Jesus now heralded in Galilee was that God’s hour had struck, the time to which all the Old Testament had looked forward. God’s reign upon earth, a concept familiar from the prophets, was about to begin.” – R. Alan Cole
One of the sad realities in the life of many Christ followers is a lack of “Biblical Literacy”. What I mean by this term is that many people who claim to be followers of Jesus have very little knowledge of the Bible in general and even less of the Old Testament in particular. Many Christians have never read the entire Bible. Far too few see no problem with leaving all that ‘stuff’ from before Matthew 1:1 behind (well maybe we will take the Psalms, okay maybe even just part of that book too). Here is the problem: as the commentators above state, without the Old Testament, our understanding of the gospel is far too shallow. Without an understanding of God’s work in redemptive history from Genesis- Malachi, there is far too little to anchor the gospel. Mark 1 is just one clear example. Mark doesn’t want us to see the good news about Jesus the Messiah, the Son of God as a ‘random’ moment selected by God for reasons hidden from our view. He wants us to see that Jesus is the fulfillment of all of redemptive history. All that has come before has pointed to this Messiah, the Son of God. All that will follow flows from Him and His work. This is not God finally stepping into human history. This is God reaching out in a unique way yes, but, it is to do what God has done from the Garden forward: seeking humanity, making a way for relationship with humanity by His stooping down to rescue them. Not knowing the OT, is why I suspect that John the Baptist feels so, weird to us. We don’t see him as the final Old Testament prophet but as a ‘one-of-a-kind’ street preacher with a penchant for eating bugs. He isn’t though. He is in fact the preparer of the way for Jesus the Messiah. He was the ‘second Elijah’ which to this day (tragically) many Jews anticipate arriving on the scene anytime now. Mark joins his voice with the rest of the New Testament writers in saying to us, “You don’t have to keep looking, John the Baptist was the ‘second Elijah’. Remember he spoke of One greater who would come after him, that One is Jesus of Nazareth.” And Mark and the other gospels will then go on to prove their point. Showing us time and again how Jesus fulfilled the OT anticipation of Messiah. And from that foundation, we can grow a far better understanding of concepts like “The Kingdom of God”. Here again Jesus is not announcing a new concept but filling in an old concept. It is Jesus, the bringer of the good news who will usher in the Kingdom of God on earth. But, its not what you expect when you hear the word ‘kingdom’ because, you must allow the OT to define that word for you. So, here is my challenge to you, read the OT. See the ‘New’ Testament in light of the Old. Then and only then will we begin to grasp the depth, beauty and many facets of the (old) gospel story.
Here are some practical helps to get you reading the Bible:
Mission 119 is a Bible reading plan with audio commentary for each day (10 minutes of reading, 10 minutes of commentary). If you commit to the plan, it will take about 3 years to get from Genesis to Revelation but, it will be well worth the effort! While not technically a “C&MA” resource it was developed by Dr. John Soper who is as Alliance as they come.
The Gospel Coalition (TGC) is a non-denominational group of like-minded Christians. They offer a one year reading plan with commentary by D.A. Carson (who is a fantastic commentator on Scripture). You can check out the audio commentary here and sign up for the reading plan here.