“Don’t misunderstand why I have come. I did not come to abolish the law of Moses or the writings of the prophets. No, I came to accomplish their purpose.
I tell you the truth, until heaven and earth disappear, not even the smallest detail of God’s law will disappear until its purpose is achieved. So if you ignore the least commandment and teach others to do the same, you will be called the least in the Kingdom of Heaven. But anyone who obeys God’s laws and teaches them will be called great in the Kingdom of Heaven.
“But I warn you — unless your righteousness is better than the righteousness of the teachers of religious law and the Pharisees, you will never enter the Kingdom of Heaven! Matthew 5:17-20 NLT
Why is so much of the church today focused on feeling really good about an accessible God whose real job is to supply my needs? It is because, if we know the Bible at all, which is by no means certain, it is only the last quarter of the Bible. That is terribly unfortunate. It is unfortunate because that part of the Bible – what we know as the New Testament – is quite incomplete. It is intentionally so. The writers of the New Testament were thoroughly familiar with their Bible, what we call the Old Testament, and, in bringing that revelation to completion saw no need to repeat its truths. They assumed that their readers would know that material also and would read what they were writing in the light of “the Bible.” But if you don’t read what they wrote in the light of their Bible, you will get a warped picture of God, of salvation, and of the Christian life.
Why will our view of God, salvation, and the Christian life be warped? It is because if we do not know that the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ is absolutely other, is terrifyingly holy, is always right, is perfectly pure, is totally just, and is breath-takingly glorious, there is a real possibility that given the New Testament’s stress on his accessibility, his grace, his patience, his mercy, and his love, we will construct a blind, heavenly grandfather who pats us on our heads and says in the face of our self-serving lusts, “Aw, that’s alright, honey.” The New Testament is not presenting an alternate view of God from that of the Old Testament. Rather, it is completing that understanding. If the grandfather God loves you, so what? But if the God whose very glance would destroy you loves you and makes a way for you to live in his presence, that is GOOD NEWS!
If you are ever to be a robust, mature Christian, you need to master the Old Testament.
Called To Be Transformed 