Old vs New Testament Conundrums

Over the past year, I have had several occasions where I feel like I finally understood a few of the conundrums of the Old and New Testament stories. There were ‘aha!’ moments that led me to better understand the Father, the I Am. (Here is one explanation of a parable that always troubled me but no longer.) And those moments have led to a yearning to know the Father better. So, this year, I’ll take us on the journey to know the Father as revealed through the Son.

Malachi 3:6 says ‘I the Lord do not change.’ Even this is hard to fully grasp. Do you struggle with understanding how God in the Old Testament is the same, the exact representation (Hebrews 1:3), as Jesus in the New Testament, like I do? We know in our head that the God of the Old Testament is the same God of the New Testament, but our hearts have trouble understanding the apparent differences.

God is immutable

On the one side are these aha moments and the knowledge that God is the same yesterday, today and tomorrow, while the other side holds my limited vision of contradictions. This is the start of the journey this year. Since God is immutable, let’s start with the approachable Jesus and through Him, uncover the hidden in those apparent contradictions. Jesus himself encourages this in saying, ‘I have made you known to them, and will continue to make you known in order that the love you have for me may be in them and that I myself may be in them,’ from John 17:26. What greater desire can we have then to know the Father and Son, that we will know their love and Jesus will be in us? I want Jesus to make the Father known to me. I want to know his love deeply. I want to be His dwelling.

Study the Son to know the Father

So begins a study of the Son, specifically we will start with the gospels. I feel led to study and query the person of Christ: his actions, words and lessons, his character, and his people, and what those reveal about the Father. The way I see this playing out is to study a Gospel at a time, focusing on one of these listed aspects. We should have time in the last half of the year to then look back at some of the Old Testament with this new understanding of God, relationship with Him, to see those old stories through a new lens.

Join the Study, Matthew: The Son reveals the Father in words and lessons

We will start with a study in Matthew, seeking the Father through words and lessons in the Gospel. This will likely take a couple of months, with a Bible Study of 10 or 12 lessons and some support material along the way. I hope you’ll join in this study of The Son reveals the Father.

Other verses that affirm Jesus reveals the Father (excerpts here (NIV), not full verses) and push me on this inquiry:

John 10:30 I and the Father are one

John 5:19 whatever the Father does the Son does also

John 14:9-11 Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father

Luke 10:22, Matthew 11:27 no one knows who the Father is except the Son and those to whom the Son chooses to reveal him

Hebrews 1:3 The Son is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of his being

Col 1:15 The Son is the image of the invisible God

Col 2:9 For in Christ all the fullness of the Deity lives in bodily form