An Old Testament Reading Lesson

By Steven J. Hogan

How It All Fits
It was by God’s grace that I finally figured out how to read the Old Testament. I was so excited! For the first time in my life, I could see the entire big scheme of things, how everything in the Bible fits in with God’s future plans.

My prayer and desire is to help you know how to read the Old Testament, so you can more clearly understand God’s plans for the Jewish people, the Church, and the ages to come.

Ground Rules
First, here are some basic, Biblical ground rules that you need to know:

1. The Old Testament is true, and it needs to be taken literally. For example, Israel means Israel; Jerusalem means Jerusalem; and forever means forever.

2. God’s promises to the Jewish people regarding their land, salvation, and King have not been changed or nullified. They are still true, and God will surely carry them out.

3. Israel has not been replaced by the Church with regard to God’s plans. Promises made to Israel are not figuratively being fulfilled by the Church, but will literally be fulfilled by the Jewish people.

4. You can’t understand the future of the Church if you don’t understand the future of the Jewish people, for God’s work with them in the End Times is in conjunction with His work for the Church. The 70^th Week of the Book of Daniel (that is, the final 7 years of this era of human history) is a key time frame for both Jews and Christians.

5. Old Testament prophecies can usually be placed in one of four time periods: (1) Relating to the writer’s time period, and shortly thereafter. (2) Relating to Christ’s 1st coming. (3) Relating to Christ’s 2nd coming. (4) Relating to Christ’s kingdom age. (A prophecy may have both a “near” and “far” fulfillment.)

Examples
Here are some examples of how Old Testament prophecies fit in one of these four time periods – (1), (2), (3) or (4). Psalm 22:1-21 speaks about Christ’s suffering on the cross, and this refers to Christ’s 1st coming (2). Then Psalm 22:28 says:, “The kingdom is the Lord’s and He rules over the nations.” This refers to Christ’s coming kingdom age (4).

Psalm 37:29: “The righteous will inherit the land and dwell in it forever.” This Psalm tells us about the fulfillment of God’s promise to the Jewish people that they will inherit some land, and this too is speaking about the coming Kingdom Age (or the Millennial Kingdom Age, which will last for 1,000 years) (4).

Psalm 98:2-3: “The Lord has made known His salvation … He has remembered His lovingkindness and His faithfulness to the house of Israel.” This verse refers to the house of Israel, and therefore does not refer to the salvation of people during the Church Age, but to the salvation of the Jewish people at the 2nd coming of Christ (3).

Isaiah 9:6 is a classic, for the first part of the verse, “A child will be born to us, a son will be given us” is referring to Christ’s 1st coming (2), and the very next part of the verse, “and the government will rest on His shoulders” talks about the kingdom age (4).

Ezekiel 37:21-23 is one of my favorite prophetic passages, for in these 3 verses we read about the fulfillment of God’s promises to the Jewish people with regard to their land (v. 21), their King (v. 22), and their salvation (v. 23). These prophecies are clearly referring to Christ’s 2nd coming (3), and His kingdom age (4).

Micah 5:2-5 tells us 2 different things, that the coming Messiah will be born in Bethlehem which takes place at Christ’s 1st coming (2), and that “He will be great to the ends of the earth,” and this no doubt is speaking about the Kingdom Age (4).

Key Passages
Christians living in these end times of this Church age have a distinct advantage. We can look at a particular prophecy, and then look back in history and see if it has taken place or not, if it is a past or future event. We can see where everything fits, in time periods (1), (2), (3) or (4).

It’s essential to learn how to rightly read the Old Testament so we can properly interpret God’s prophetic Word. By this we can understand His future plans for both the Jewish people and the Church. You’ll be thrilled as God gives you understanding and then enables you to Biblically visualize the future God has for you, and for all His people.

There are hundreds and hundreds of verses in the Old Testament that predict God’s plans for the Jewish people. Here are some others I’d encourage you to check out in your spare time:

Psalm 47; Psalm 67; Psalm 102:12-28; Psalm 105:5-8; Psalm 130; Isaiah 2:1-5; Isaiah 60; Isaiah 61:1-2; Jeremiah 32:6-44; Ezekiel 37:24-28; Daniel 12:1-13; Hosea 1:10-11 (the triple play); Joel 2:27-32 (the Jewish people and the Church); Haggai 2:4-9; Zechariah 2:10-12; and Zechariah 14:9.

Steven J. Hogan has been a pastor-teacher for more than 25 years, and the pastor at Hope Bible Church of Tampa, Florida, since 2003.