Question:  Dear Greg,

            Since the Old Testament is the old covenant pointing to Christ, are the prophecies contained in the Old Testament still valid, and if so, where could one find a list of those that have not been fulfilled yet?

            Thanks for your ministry,

            Tom

Answer:  Dear Tom,

            Let me try to reason this from a Christ-centered perspective one step at a time:

1.      The cross of Christ is the focal point of all history, whether it is recognized or not.

2.      Jesus fulfilled all prophecies about himself.

3.      Most of the Old Testament prophecies are about Jesus— his first or second coming, his cross, his resurrection, etc.

4.      The old covenant ended at the cross.  Jesus fulfilled all of the obligations of the covenant perfectly.  He paid for our sin.  He abolished the handwriting of the ordinances.  He took the bill of our sin and stamped “paid in full” on it with his blood.

5.      Jewish Christians (and at the beginning of the church all Christians were Jewish) began to ask, “what does that mean about our customs, rituals, ceremonies and traditions?”  The book of Galatians answers theologically, philosophically and liturgically (ceremonies, etc.).  Hebrews is written to Hebrew Christians just a few years before the Temple in Jerusalem was destroyed.  It was written in order to prepare them for the fact that a building that made possible sacrifices and ceremonies and the continuance of the old covenant, even in Christian clothing, would be destroyed.  BUT--Jesus would still be alive.  He is risen.  He is not destroyed.  Christianity continues, the old covenant ends (it ended at the cross, of course).  Hebrews is a book that carefully examines all of the old covenant stipulations and concludes that Jesus is superior to them all.

6.      Galatians 4:8-10, Colossians 2:6-23, and Hebrews chapters 4 and 10.  Once Christ, the reality, is come, there is no need for the ceremonies, days and observances that pointed to him being observed.

7.      A basic key to understanding Scripture is understanding the meaning that the message had to its original listeners and readers before attempting to understand what relevance it has to us today, or what relevance it may have in the future.

8.      When God tells Jews, living under the old covenant, that there will be a time when all nations will obey God, he uses terms that are familiar to them to describe the happiness, unity and serenity that will one day come.  He does not tell them that every day will be like Christmas.  He does not tell them that everyone will have his own DVD player, SUV, or that they will all take vacations in Hawaii.  He uses their culture, their customs and their traditions.  In so doing is he saying that all nations will literally keep Hebrew holy days of the old covenant after the cross of Christ?  The Jews who read the passage initially did not understand the cross of Christ, no matter how many prophecies like Psalm 22 and Isaiah 53 they had read.  They only understood their reality (like us!).  They did not understand either the first or Second Coming of Christ.  They couldn’t understand— the veil of the old covenant was in the way.  Read and study 2 Corinthians 3:1-18.  The only way for that veil to be taken away is in Jesus.  For example, see verse 15 and 16, “Even to this day when Moses is read, a veil covers their hearts.  But whenever anyone turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away.”

9.      The cross of Christ changes everything.  Everything.  Jesus brings a new covenant.  He gives us his new life— resurrected life.  He tells us not to put new wine into old wineskins.  Hebrews 9:26 tells us that Christ came once for all (once and for all), to deal with sin, with the old covenant and with legalism in order to bring us a new way, not just another religion, but himself— authentic Christianity.  When we accept him we are called out of all religion and called to worship him alone, even if that religion was part of the old covenant.  Hebrews 12:18-29 tells Christians that we have not come to Mt. Sinai, that was “burning with fire, darkness, gloom and storm” (verse 18).  Christians have not come to Moses, but to Mt. Zion, the heavenly Jerusalem, “to Jesus the mediator of the new covenant” (verse 24).  The kingdom we are receiving is not built upon Sinai, but upon the new Jerusalem, and it “cannot be shaken” (verse 28).

            In Christ,

            Greg Albrecht