reading the New Testament after reading the Old

I'm reading the Bible chronologically this year, and I've just made it out of the Old Testament (yes, in October).

Wow. It's like when you've spent a few months watching TV shows on your little laptop and then you go over to a friend's house and see something on her HD. You thought you'd been watching before - and you had - and you thought'd you'd gotten the gist of it - and you had - but you had no idea how brilliant and big and glorious it all was.

Reading the gospels after reading all of the Old Testmanet is like that. My jaw keeps dropping.

I read Joseph addressed by the angel as "Son of David" and the weight of that label astounds me. He's introduced by the gospel writer as "a righteous man" and then, when he obeys the angel without question, you see that it's true. With his simple obedience and good heart, this is an Isrealite Jeremiah would have swooned over.

I hear the story of Jesus making a whip of cords and driving the merchants out of the temple and I almost can't catch my breath, because it's HIM, it's the LORD. It's the same Person, the same words, but all of the sudden He is a man and He's present and this is what the God of Jeremiah and Isaiah and Ezekiel does when He becomes incarnate. He chastizes and punishes, and yet spares, and He tells you why He's doing it and He cares. It's like the words of the prophets come to life and walking around. In fact, that's exactly what it is.

This isn't anything new and special; I think everyone who's read the OT and then the NT has probably seen this. But it's stopping me in my tracks with amazement nonetheless. Because it's the same personality. The continuity isn't in genre or time period or even cultural mores. But it's in person. Jesus is God. With the OT so fresh in my mind, I can see it in every word He speaks, in every action He does. This is the God who created, who loved, who chose, who guided, who dictated, who rebuked, who urged, who forgave, why will you die, oh Israel?, who promised. This is what God looks like when He becomes man, this is what He has to look like. This is why writing "Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, and today, and forever" was true. Because He was, and He is, and He will be.

Wow. Just, wow.

peace of Christ to you,
Jessica Snell