“For My names sake”
Challenge your preconceptions or your preconceptions will challenge you.
Intro: This is intended to help open the Old Testament (OT) more to the “searchers of Truth”. Christians have many preconceptions, passed down through traditions, about the OT that make it confusing and even uncomfortable to read. When viewed as God intended it is a Book about a loving God doing everything possible for mankind.
First, the OT is about “Christ”, the Creator (John chap 1), the Son of God, soon to also become Jesus, the Son of Man. Christ is the one who visited and chose Abram to begin a witness to “all nations”. Christ is the one who lead the Hebrews (Semites) out of Egypt (1 Cor 10:4) and gave them the 10 Commandments. “If you obey these commandments and statutes I have given you, I will make you priests to the world (Ex 10:6). (A common misconception is that they were saved individually by keeping the commandments). They were to be “saved” or sustained by God as a nation to be witnesses to the world, all nations, of the coming Messiah. Hebrew Chap 11 states how they were saved individually, “by Faith” in a coming Messiah, just as we believe in a risen Messiah. The “Trust in God” is the same. Ps 118:8, Is 50:10
The Hebrews were given 3 separate laws that they were to “honor” that would witness of a just and loving God; the moral law: 10 Commandments, the ceremonial law: promise of a coming Savior, and the governmental law: justice for all. When the nation followed these laws and statutes (example: David) the whole world was aware of the “One true God” and many “believed”.
One special example is Rahab the harlot of Jericho, who having heard of the works of the Hebrew God, put her trust in Him and hid the spies. She was spared, married into the “Semites” and became an ancestor of Jesus Himself (Matt 1: 5). FYI Ruth the Moabite and Bathsheba the Hittite are also ancestors of Jesus due to the witness of the Semites. I use the word Semite because many people, even whole towns, joined the Hebrews due to their witness of God.
The OT has many histories of the Hebrew, then after the split, Israel and Judah nations. These small countries at the crossroads of the world were rich and the envy of all other nations. But as long as they kept their trust in God and not idols, Christ sustained them often with miracles. All this was for “His name’s sake”. His name was to be witness to all kingdoms as a loving just God. When the Semites removed their trust from God to idols, God reacted for His name’s sake, for His name was not then being truly represented to the nations. None of this changed the way they were saved individually and there are many stories of trusting individuals being cared for by God despite the nations apostasy.
I pray this helps because the OT is important. The Apostles preached the Gospel using scripture. It wasn’t the New Testament, it hadn’t been written yet. Another benefit to understanding the OT; Of the 404 verses in the book of Revelation, 270 refer to the OT. Revelation means to reveal and I can witness that it can have a dramatic affect on a Christian’s faith.