Things New and Old
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Christ as manifested to the patriarchs, as symbolized in the sacrifi-
cial service, as portrayed in the law, and as revealed by the prophets,
is the riches of the Old Testament. Christ in His life, His death, and
His resurrection, Christ as He is manifested by the Holy Spirit, is the
treasure of the New Testament. Our Saviour, the outshining of the
Father’s glory, is both the Old and the New.
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Of Christ’s life and death and intercession, which prophets had
foretold, the apostles were to go forth as witnesses. Christ in His
humiliation, in His purity and holiness, in His matchless love, was to
be their theme. And in order to preach the gospel in its fullness, they
must present the Saviour not only as revealed in His life and teachings,
but as foretold by the prophets of the Old Testament and as symbolized
by the sacrificial service.
Christ in His teaching presented old truths of which He Himself
was the originator, truths which He had spoken through patriarchs
and prophets; but He now shed upon them a new light. How different
appeared their meaning! A flood of light and spirituality was brought
in by His explanation. And He promised that the Holy Spirit should
enlighten the disciples, that the word of God should be ever unfolding
to them. They would be able to present its truths in new beauty.
Ever since the first promise of redemption was spoken in Eden, the
life, the character, and the mediatorial work of Christ have been the
study of human minds. Yet every mind through whom the Holy Spirit
has worked has presented these themes in a light that is fresh and new.
The truths of redemption are capable of constant development and
expansion. Though old, they are ever new, constantly revealing to the
seeker for truth a greater glory and a mightier power.
In every age there is a new development of truth, a message of God
to the people of that generation. The old truths are all essential; new
truth is not independent of the old, but an unfolding of it. It is only as
the old truths are understood that we can comprehend the new. When
Christ desired to open to His disciples the truth of His resurrection, He
began “at Moses and all the prophets” and “expounded unto them in
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all the scriptures the things concerning Himself.”
Luke 24:27
. But it
is the light which shines in the fresh unfolding of truth that glorifies
the old. He who rejects or neglects the new does not really possess the
old. For him it loses its vital power and becomes but a lifeless form.