The number of articles which will be written under the above heading is unknown as I undertake to write article number five. The reason for such is there is so much that needs our attention as we write about the Old Testament. There are both small and great points to be made as we just “run” through the Old Testament.
For instance, do you know why the word “Lord” appears in all capital letter one time but at other times it is not? Or, have you even noticed this? Let us here look at one passage: “The LORD said unto my Lord, Sit thou at my right hand, until I make thine enemies such thy footstool” (Psa. 110:1). Of course, I am using the old King James Version of 1611. Notice that the first time the word Lord appears it is in all capital letters – “LORD”! The second time it appears it has the first letter capitalized but the other letters are in the lower case. Why so? The word “LORD” is the Hebrew “yeh-ho-vaw” and is a reference to what we call to the Godhead, or “God the Father” in this verse. Keep in mind as we read this verse, that David is writing! While the second word “Lord” is the Hebrew “ādōn” and means: “sovereign, that is, controller (human or divine).” Here it is divine and points to the coming Christ! The scene is God the Father speaking to his Son and he is inviting him (the Son) to take his set at his (God the Father) right hand. Read the words of Hebrews: “Who being the brightness of his glory, and the express image of his person, and upholding all things by the word of his power, when he had by himself purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high” (Heb. 1:3). After the death, burial, and the resurrection, the Son was to take his rightful place at the “right hand of the Majesty on high” and this is just what took place! Jesus put the mouths of the Pharisees to silence by quoting this verse, then he asked them: “Saying, What think ye of Christ? whose son is he? They say unto him, The Son of David.” Let us stop just here to make the point, that Jesus was the son of David in the flesh but the Son of God in the Spirit! Before continuing, this verse needs our attention: “And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth” (John 1:14). This is what Psalms means! Continuing with the words of Jesus to the Pharisees: “He saith unto them, How then doth David in spirit call him Lord, saying, The LORD said unto my Lord, Sit thou on my right hand, till I make thine enemies thy footstool? If David then call him Lord, how is he his son? And no man was able to answer him a word, neither durst any man from that day forth ask him any more questions” (Matt. 22:42-46). As we might say, “End of subject!”
This is just one lesson the Old Testament has for us but notice the words of the Prophet: “And the Gentiles shall see thy righteousness, and all kings thy glory: and thou shalt be called by a new name, which the mouth of the LORD shall name” (Isa. 62:2). There has been great debate through the years about the name Christian! However, if we believe Isaiah, there is no debate but certainty! The “mouth of the LORD” (Notice the all caps, frw.) shall name!” So, what was/is that “new name?” The only “new name” in the New Testament is Christian! Here is how it came about. Luke wrote: “And it came to pass, that a whole year they assembled themselves with the church, and taught much people. And the disciples were called Christians first in Antioch” (Acts 11:26). Search the New Testament all you would like but “Christian” is the only “new name” that is to be found! And, let us not forget that it was the “LORD” who gave it and not man! The word “Christian” only appears three times in the Bible, the passage we just noticed and in Acts 26:28, and I Peter 4:16. The fact that it appears but three times does not take away from the importance of the name “CHRISTian!” It has “Christ’ in it! Let men debate the subject, let men give all kinds of thought to the name “Christian” but Isaiah said, “which the mouth of the LORD shall name” and that settles it!
The Old Testament is so rich it is hard to bring this part of our article to a conclusion! However, we will continue to address other subjects in the next article! Keeping in mind, “That the Old Testament is the New Testament concealed and the New Testament is the Old Testament revealed.” This means in part, that God foretold so many things in the Old Testament that he would reveal in the New Testament, but we cannot cover but so few!
Friends, let no one tell you that the Old Testament is unimportant! It holds God’s great “mystery” as Paul wrote: “And to make all men see what is the fellowship of the mystery, which from the beginning of the world hath been hid in God, who created all things by Jesus Christ: To the intent that now unto the principalities and powers in heavenly places might be known by the church the manifold wisdom of God, According to the eternal purpose which he purposed in Christ Jesus our Lord: In whom we have boldness and access with confidence by the faith of him” (Eph. 3:9-12). How does man find a stopping place when writing about the “eternal purpose” of God?
Frank R. Williams