In The Rule Golden you learned that the guiding principle of the New Covenant is the golden rule, just as the guiding principle of the Old Covenant is the rule golden; and God’s hope was always that the consequences of the rule golden would teach people to love the golden rule.

So why then, did God wait 4,000 years to bring the New Covenant to the world? Well… He didn’t. We were raised to believe the gospel is a new thing, something to which those poor people in the OT had no access; but speaking of the Israelites at Sinai, Paul says

“For indeed we have had good news [the gospel] preached to us, even as they also did, but the word they heard didn’t profit them, because it wasn’t mixed with faith by those who heard” (Hebrews 4:2).

See, Christians have this idea that Jesus brought a completely new religion that Moses hadn’t known. That the gospel began when Jesus began preaching in 27 A. D. But they couldn’t be more wrong! Not only was the gospel widely known before then, it was capable of bringing salvation by faith!

For Paul told Timothy “From infancy, you have known the holy Scriptures which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith, which is in Christ Jesus” (2 Timothy 3:14-16). Remember, when Timothy was young there was no New Testament!

Which means these scriptures can only have been the Old Testament; which Paul told him were able, on their own, to make Timothy wise “for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus!”

Jesus likewise told the Pharisees “if you believed Moses, you would believe me; for he wrote about me. But if you don’t believe his writings, how will you believe my words?” (John 5:46). If they had believed the doctrines of Moses – the doctrines in the Old Testament – then they would have believed the doctrines of Jesus because Moses wrote about Jesus!

John 8:39-40 They answered him, “Our father is Abraham.” Jesus said to them, “If you were Abraham’s children, you would do the works of Abraham. But now you seek to kill me, a man who has told you the truth, which I heard from God. Abraham didn’t do this.”

This tells us that Abraham heard the truth from God – and in context, that would mean the same truth Jesus had just told them, that the Son would make them free from sin (verses 31-36). Something, therefore, that Abraham also knew!

So then you shouldn’t be surprised to find out that Paul says, point-blank, that Abraham heard the gospel of Christ!

Galatians 3:8 The Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the Good News [the gospel] beforehand to Abraham, saying, “In you all the nations will be blessed.”

This plainly says that the good news – which is the modern English meaning of the archaic word “gospel” – was preached to Abraham. The gospel about the salvation of the Gentiles by faith, through the seed of Abraham!

Galatians 3:16-17 Now the promises were spoken to Abraham and to his seed. He doesn’t say, “To seeds,” as of many, but as of one, “To your seed,” which is Christ. Now I say this. A covenant confirmed beforehand by God in Christ, the law, which came four hundred thirty years after, does not annul, so as to make the promise of no effect.

Thus the covenant Abraham made with God in Genesis 15 – which is the context here – was a covenant about Christ. Which is why Jesus also told the Pharisees “Your father Abraham rejoiced to see my day. He saw it, and was glad” (John 8:56).

So how could he have “seen Jesus’ day” if he had not known the gospel of Jesus?

THE OLD TESTAMENT GOSPEL

Everyone knows the OT taught about Jesus; prophesying the virgin birth, betrayal, death, resurrection and many other events in His life. But what almost no one knows is the OT also taught the SAME teachings He taught!

Christians today largely think of the Old Testament as a waste of space – totally superseded by the New Testament, to the point they sometimes cut it out of their Bibles altogether (except Psalms and Proverbs). But those scriptures they ignore are able to make them wise unto faith – for Jesus plainly said that Moses’ writings were about Him!

In fact, a large part of the New Testament consists of quotes, paraphrases, or commentaries on Old Testament verses. For example, Jesus said “Blessed are the meek: for they shall inherit the earth”; but few realize He was just quoting Psalms 37:11 “But the meek shall inherit the earth; and shall delight themselves in the abundance of peace.”

Indeed, the entire list of the beatitudes can be traced back to the Old Testament; blessings for the poor in spirit, for example, can be traced back to Psalms 34:18, “The LORD… saves such as be of a contrite spirit.”

So Jesus just read that verse and told the multitudes, based on these scriptures, “if you’re poor in spirit, good things happen to you (you are blessed). If you’re meek, good things happen to you – like inheriting the Earth.” And so on.

But this wasn’t a new teaching, this was just culling important verses out of the Old Testament and bringing them front and center for attention! Verses which had always been there, but which the religion of the Pharisees left in the background to focus on meticulous ritual laws about washing and offerings and so on.

And those things were fine – God had, after all, commanded them to do so – but they were never the true point of the Old Testament. So one of Jesus’ main occupations was to teach anyone who would listen what the important things were in the Old Testament, the things they should have focused on!

Matthew 23:23 Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you tithe mint, dill, and cumin, and have left undone the weightier matters of the law: justice, mercy, and faith. But you ought to have done these, and not to have left the other undone.

So it wasn’t wrong to tithe – but it was wrong to make doing that your main focus of worship, to the point where you ignored the more important things which were taught by the same scriptures! Which is why Jesus told them…

Matthew 12:7 But if you had known what this means, ‘I desire mercy, and not sacrifice,’ you would not have condemned the guiltless.

As you’ve seen many times in this series, God had only ever wanted people to obey the golden rule. The rule golden, and later all the sacrifices and offerings, were meant as incentives and guides and corrections to achieve the golden rule – and by thinking that the sacrifices and such were the point, the Pharisees missed the real point. At least, most of them.

Mark 12:33-35 The scribe said to him, “Truly, teacher, you have said well that he is one, and there is none other but he, and to love him with all the heart, and with all the understanding, with all the soul, and with all the strength, and to love his neighbour as himself, is more important than all whole burnt offerings and sacrifices.”

NT OT

So yes, there are a lot of legalities and restrictions in the Old Testament. But in between all that, the truth God really wanted us to know was always taught, and always available for those who would listen.

For instance, loving your enemies is a key New Testament concept. One wholly unknown in the Old Testament right? I mean, doing good to those who hurt you, feeding even those who are actively working against you, is quintessentially Christian. Which is why Paul said

Romans 12:19-21 Don’t seek revenge yourselves, beloved, but give place to God’s wrath. For it is written, “Vengeance belongs to me; I will repay, says the Lord.” Therefore “If your enemy is hungry, feed him. If he is thirsty, give him a drink; for in doing so, you will heap coals of fire on his head.” “Don’t be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.”

But what few realize is that this passage was copied directly out of Old Testament verses; I mean, Paul plainly said “it is written” that vengeance belongs to God (Deuteronomy 32:35); and the next verse was a direct quote from the Proverbs:

Proverbs 25:21-22 If your enemy is hungry, give him food to eat. If he is thirsty, give him water to drink: for you will heap coals of fire on his head, and Yahweh will reward you.

So the only thing new here is Paul’s statement “don’t be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.” These words were new, but they were simply a conclusion he drew from these two scriptures… a conclusion that anyone could have, and should have, drawn from these Old Testament verses!

Christians today think Paul taught many new doctrines which Moses did not teach in the Old Testament. But ask him yourself! WHERE did Paul get his doctrines?

Acts 26:22-23 …I stand to this day testifying both to small and great, saying nothing but what the prophets and Moses said would happen, how the Christ must suffer, and how, by the resurrection of the dead, he would be first to proclaim light both to these people and to the Gentiles.

Paul said he taught NO OTHER THING than what the Old Testament said! But unfortunately, then as now, people were so focused on the Old Testament’s “an eye for an eye” teachings (Exodus 21:22-27), that they missed doing good to your enemies, which was also taught by Moses, practically with the same breath!

For Moses said “If you meet your enemy’s ox or his donkey going astray, you shall surely bring it back to him again. If you see the donkey of him who hates you fallen down under his burden, don’t leave him, you shall surely help him with it” (Exodus 23:4-5).

Indeed, the OT is full of examples and commands to feed the poor, love your enemies, be meek, and so on. Solomon taught “Don’t rejoice when your enemy falls. Don’t let your heart be glad when he is overthrown; lest Yahweh see it, and it displease him, and he turn away his wrath from him” (Proverbs 24:17).

The New Testament does not in any way disagree with the Old; it clarifies, expands, and builds on the Old – but it never contradicts it. Remember, the only things the New Testament abolished were the things in the Old Testament that God never wanted in the first place!

THE WORD IN YOUR HEART

Indeed, I would argue that there is not a single concept in the New Testament not found in the Old Testament. Cloaked in symbols sometimes, yes, meant to be a little bit hard to understand for sure – but it was always there, to those willing to put forth the effort to understand God’s word:

Proverbs 25:2 It is the glory of God to conceal a thing, but the glory of kings is to search out a matter.

So let’s look at a specific example of how the New Covenant was hidden by God within the text of the Old Covenant, and a king “searched it out.”

For Paul was promised a crown in the kingdom of God, to rule with Jesus in His throne (2 Timothy 4:8) – thus future-king-Paul’s “glory” was in uncovering this thing that God had gloried in hiding from the unworthy Israelites, when Moses told them:

Deuteronomy 30:11-14 For this commandment which I command you this day, it is not too hard for you, neither is it far off. It is not in heaven, that you should say, “Who shall go up for us to heaven, and bring it to us, and make us to hear it, that we may do it?” Neither is it beyond the sea, that you should say, “Who shall go over the sea for us, and bring it to us, and make us to hear it, that we may do it?” But the WORD is very near to you, in your mouth, and in your heart, that you may do it.

Now you can see how your average Israelite didn’t see anything about Christ, the new covenant or the golden rule in that. Blah-blah-blah keep the commandments I gave you, you’ve got the truth you need, don’t listen to other prophets, etc., was the easy conclusion to draw from these words.

However, Paul – with, to be fair, the benefit of hindsight, which we likewise have – quoted the same speech and annotated it for us:

Romans 10:5-8 For Moses writes about the righteousness of the law, “The one who does them will live by them.” But the righteousness which is of faith says this, “Don’t say in your heart, ‘Who will ascend into heaven?’ (that is, to bring Christ down); or, ‘Who will descend into the abyss?’ (that is, to bring Christ up from the dead.)” But what does it say? “The word is near you, in your mouth, and in your heart;” that is, the word of faith, which we preach:

Now Paul read that passage of Moses, and concluded that, despite mentioning the law, this passage was meant to be understood as teaching the righteousness of faith! The very same one Paul preached! But how did he arrive at that conclusion?

First off, because this word – with these commandments – were in their hearts. And the only definition of the New Covenant given in the Bible, as I’ve explained in the past, is:

Hebrews 8:8, 10 I will make a new covenant… with the house of Israel… “I will put my laws into their mind, I will also write them on their heart. I will be their God, and they will be my people.”

So right way, knowing that, you can see that this was about the New Covenant, and the righteousness of faith, and keeping the laws internally, as they were always meant to be kept – not having the laws written on your doorpost, but on your heart.

But there’s more to it than this; for if you pay close attention, Moses had said “don’t let your heart say ‘who will go to heaven, and bring the Word to us.’” And Paul, knowing that Jesus was the Word (John 1:1-3), concluded this meant “who will go to heaven and bring Christ down to us.” Thus, Paul knew this passage was about the righteousness through faith in Christ!

And finally, Moses’ conclusion was that “the word [Christ, remember] was very near to you “in your mouth, and in your heart.” Again, with the benefit of hindsight we can clearly see that “Christ being in your heart” is a reference to the holy spirit being in us.

Galatians 4:6 And because ye are sons, God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your hearts, crying, Abba, Father.

You can see, therefore, how the gospel was taught by Moses – for those who listened carefully. And now we can validate Jesus’ words that Moses wrote about Him! And by doing so, we can shame the Pharisees who studied these words minutely but missed the obvious meaning.

Well ok, not that obvious but it wasn’t that hard either!

THE OLD HOLY SPIRIT

But wait a moment, I think I see you thinking “Whoa, slow down, back the truck up… they couldn’t have had Christ in their hearts, because they didn’t have the holy spirit back then! It only came to Earth after Pentecost!”

About that. Yeah… no, they had the holy spirit too.

1 Peter 1:10-11 Concerning this salvation, the prophets sought and searched diligently, who prophesied of the grace that would come to you, searching for who or what kind of time the Spirit of Christ, which was in them, pointed to, when he predicted the sufferings of Christ, and the glories that would follow them.

It truly boggles my mind how so many people can believe the holy spirit wasn’t around in the Old Testament, and that if it was, it certainly couldn’t be IN people… when the New Testament so plainly says that it was very much in people – in fact, it was in EVERY person who ever prophesied, by definition!

2 Peter 1:21 For no prophecy ever came by the will of man: but holy men of God spoke, being moved by the Holy Spirit.

Acts 28:25 …The Holy Spirit spoke rightly through Isaiah, the prophet, to our fathers,

Psalms 51:11 Don’t throw me from your presence, and don’t take your holy Spirit from me.

So it is beyond all argument that the holy spirit worked in men’s hearts in the Old Testament precisely as it does in the New Testament. And as always, that holy spirit testified of Christ, of what would come, and most importantly – of what He expected from us.

Acts 3:20-24 And that he may send the Christ… of which God has given word by the mouth of his holy prophets, who have been from the earliest times. And all the prophets from Samuel and those who came after, every one of them, gave word of these days.

So Israel didn’t need to ascend to heaven to get the word of faith – “to bring Christ to them” – because He was already there with them! He always had been (except when they ticked Him off, which was often). For Paul said of ancient Israel in 1 Corinthians 10:4 “…they drank of a spiritual rock that followed them, and the rock was Christ.”

And yet somehow, most of the Christian world believes in “progressive revelation” – that what God told Abraham and Moses was very different, and vastly inferior, to what He later revealed to David, which in turn was far less than what He revealed to Paul. These scriptures prove they are wrong!

The gospel of the kingdom, both physical AND spiritual, was taught from the very beginning! Paul clearly says that Israel heard, and Abraham believed, the same gospel which was preached to us; for Paul uses him as a prime example of having faith and by it receiving the grace of salvation!

Abraham understood the teachings of Jesus, we are told by Jesus Himself. So there is no escaping the conclusion that Abraham was a New Covenant Christian! In fact, Paul defines a New Covenant Christian as someone who does the things Abraham did!

Galatians 3:6 Even as Abraham “believed God, and it was counted to him for righteousness.” Know therefore that those who are of faith, the same are children of Abraham.

Galatians 3:29 If you are Christ’s, then you are Abraham’s seed and heirs according to promise.

Thus, if you are a Christian, you are a spiritual heir of Abraham. How then, could Abraham not have known the gospel? Since He was literally the Father of New Covenant Christians, for He was the very first one!

Think about that!