Expert: Marilyn - 4/9/2007

Question
why do we need a new testament and a old testament when god said my word is the same now and for eternity and will never change from this day on and for ever more. who is men to change it or try to say what the creator  meant to say or you cant see it in its entirely or it do not mean what you think it mean god said he say what he mean and he mean what he say.pjonesjap@AOL.COM

Answer
Hello Patricia;

The Old Testament is also known as the Old Covenant.  A Covenant is a binding agreement between two or more people.  In the case of the Old Covenant, or Old Testament, several covenants are described.  

First was God's Covenant with Adam which was fairly simple.  Adam & Eve were supposed to enjoy, take care of and manage planet earth, have a family and NOT eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.

When that covenant was broken, God made a new one.  This one wasn't terribly complicated either, but it contained a promise that the "Offspring" of the woman would come and whup the devil.  Because of God's killing an animal to cover Adam & Eve and Abel's sacrifice of a perfect lamb, it's also understood that people were now supposed to offer an animal sacrifice as a substitute to pay for their sins.

This Covenant went on for a while until human beings became so rotten God was sorry He'd ever made them.  That's when He informed Noah it was time to build the ark.

Noah built the ark, he and his family went inside and so did pairs of all animals plus extras of the ones that they'd need for food.  After the flood God sent the rainbow to symoblize the new covenant.  God promised He'd never flood the earth again and people were supposed to continue offering animal sacrifices to pay for sin.

Next, God made a covenant with Abraham.  He promised Abraham that he'd have so many children he could never count them all, that he'd be the father of nations and that he'd be blessed.  All Abraham had to do was believe God and he did.  

Abraham had several kids, but only one of them was the "child of promise," the specific one God had in mind to start the Jewish nation.  It was through the Jewish nation that God would implement the next phase of His plan.  Abraham's other kids did start other nations.  Ishmael started the Arabs and they're still a pain for his half-brother's kin, the Israelites, today.

The Abrahamic Covenant included a four-hundred year stint in Egypt for Abraham's descendants.  Moses, an Israelite who'd been raised in Egypt, returned to take the people out.  When they made it to Mount Sinai, God started a new covenant in earnest.  It was obvious the old way wasn't working.  So, He gave Moses the Ten Commandments and other rules to teach the people how to behave.  The Ten Commandments are the foundation of all God's covenants since.  This covenant, based on the Ten Commandments and the less important laws, lasted until the New Covenant.  

If you are familiar with the Ten Commandments, you know that they're very difficult to keep.  Most of us break at least one every day.  God blessed the Israelites when they struggled to obey the Ten Commandments and kept the other laws.  They still had to offer animal sacrifices for their sins, but now a priesthood existed with rituals and its own rules to offer the sacrifices on behalf of the people.  Eventually, sacrifices could only be made in Jerusalem at the Temple--and there was only one Temple, though there was often a synagogue in every town of any significant size in order to teach the people the Word of God.

The New Covenant is not based on animal sacrifice, but on the sacrifice of One Perfect God Man, Jesus.  Animal sacrifices were never meant to be a permanent fix--an animal cannot pay for a human being's sin, it can only provide a temporary fix.  Throughout the Old Testament books the Messiah was described and prophesied about.  In Psalm 22 you can read about what Jesus expected it to feel like as He went to the cross to make the final payment for sin.  Compare that Psalm with the story of Jesus' arrest and His crucifixion in the first four books of the New Testament and you will see, Psalm 22 is right on.  Pslam 22 is just one of the prophetic scriptures predicting Messiah and what He'd suffer and His future Kingdom.

Jesus and the New Covenant were predicted and looked forward to throughout the Old Testament.  All the Old Covenant believers looked forward to the day when the Messiah would come.  That Messiah is Jesus and He is the One who started the New Covenant written in His own Blood, a better Covenant because His sacrifice truly pays for sin.

The Old Testament and the New Testament are actually one entire work of God through human beings and for human beings.  The verse you are quoting above is actually found in the New Testament:  Hebrews 13:8, "Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today and forever."  In John chapter one the Bible tell us Jesus is the Word of God made Flesh, so you're not wrong.  

In Revelation 22:18 & 19 people are warned not to mess with God's Word, adding or subtracting anything from it.  You quote it, but it also appears in the New Testament.

The Jewish scribes who copied the Old Testament did an amazing job of copying the words from an old, worn out scroll to a new one so that the new version was perfect.  They definitely had the sense that the Word should not be messed with, but I don't know of a verse in the Old Testament that warns about messing with God's Word so obviously and clearly as the verse in Revelation.  If you know the location of such a verse in the Old Testament, send it to me.

The New Covenant is for every person on the planet so that we may be redeemed from sin and be reconciled to God--to become His companions once again as Adam & Eve were before they sinned.  Jesus obeyed every Old Testament Law, fulfilled the Law perfectly and paid for every sin.  If a person will confess aloud, "Jesus is Lord," an believe in his heart Jesus rose from the dead, he will be saved, Romans 10:9.

God has not changed.  His objective has been the same.  He created humans to fellowship with Him.  When they sinned, He began working on a way to fix the problem and Jesus is the final, total and permanent fix--salvation, John 3:16.

Blessings,

Marilyn