What if from now on, you came in halfway through every movie you ever watched. That means that you would purposely miss the first half of the movie and only catch the last half. What would happen to your movie watching experience? You probably wouldn’t be able to fully appreciate and understand the characters and the overall plot line. You might misunderstand why the characters were behaving a certain way and you would miss the full, intended meaning of the movie by the filmmaker. Why am I talking about this?
Because we do this all the time when it comes to the reading of the Bible. Too many Christians skip over the Old Testament and head straight over to the New Testament. We do this because we believe that the Old Testament no longer applies to us and that only the New Testament is relevant. But—just like walking in halfway through a movie robs you of understanding the plot line—so does skipping over the Old Testament.
Why does Jesus say what He does? Why do the writers of the New Testament say what they do? If you don’t know what the Old Testament prophets were saying about what was to come, then you might misunderstand or not fully understand the intended meaning of the scriptures. Understanding the Hebraic Roots of the Christian faith is paramount to understanding the actions and reactions of the biblical characters. So, don’t be late. Don’t walk into the movie part way anymore. Watch the whole movie and get the full story. That’s what I endeavor to do in my book, “Understanding Jesus“.
The more we understand the Hebraic Roots of our faith, the more we will understand Jesus.