The New Testament in 30 Days
In September of 2020, in response to what I felt was the Lord’s leading, I set out to read the entire Bible by the end of the year. More detail can be found in my previous post (Old Testament in 60 Days 2020), but I finished the New Testament today, December 16. Much of my experience confirmed what I expected but breathed new life on the Word of God, and some of my experiences were surprising. In this post, I will draw conclusions from my New Testament reading while looking back to those from the Old Testament.
1. Fulfillment, not just replacement.
Having seen Jesus all over the Old Testament, reading the New in the timeline I did shed light on Jesus as the fulfillment of all the OT saints were longing for. Jesus fulfilled the law, completing the task of righteousness required for you and me. He lived the sinless life that the OT saints strived for. He died as the sacrificial Lamb, as their systems had foreshadowed for centuries. It’s as if all creation breathes a sigh of relief when Jesus says the work is finished. He didn’t just wipe out the old but completed it.
2. Salvation without sanctification is a myth.
We know this. We point to James 2 all the time. Faith without works is indeed dead. But, this truth is all over the New Testament. Try to place the idea that one can pray and receive Jesus as Savior without doing what He says or loving what He loves or living for what He lives for (the glory of His Father) and you would have no ground to even begin. When the earliest followers of Jesus began with Him, they knew what they were signing on for. In every letter of Paul, he calls for radical holiness. He instructs his readers to continue, to persevere, to do so “more and more” over and over and over. This is how we can know we will be counted among those names written in the Book of Life (where Revelation ends) - we have been cleansed and are being cleansed from all impurity.
3. Jesus’ death closed the gap between us and God by bringing the Spirit to us.
This was surprising to me. I know this, but I found it all over as I read quickly. Reading several chapters at a time has a way of calling to mind more of the story in its context for me (I spelled this out in the OT post), and I saw many times that the coming of the Spirt is such an essential part of the work Jesus did. In Revelation 22 we’re invited to drink from the river of life, which calls to mind the same water that flows out of us in John 7 (the Holy Spirit). We are to walk by and sow to the Spirit (Galatians 5-6), we are sealed by (Ephesians 1) the same Spirit we are called to be filled with (Ephesians 4). Everything shifts in Acts 2 when the Spirit comes. He comes to glorify Jesus (John 16), and He opens the door to the nearness of God for us.
4. Suffering is essential to the Christian life.
Hard times aren’t just to be endured. God doesn’t just allow them. They’re essential. Jesus suffered and told us we would too. The early Christians suffered, and their pastors told them it was part of God’s plan. Suffering causes us to cling to Him, and we are shaped in it. We can try to run from it but only to our detriment. It’s best for us to lean in and persevere, praying for it to be taken away but knowing this is part of our calling. Any supposed Christianity that emphasizes the avoidance of suffering is not New Testament Christianity.
All is for His glory. This is the theme of the whole Bible. Creation is for His glory. Judgment and salvation are for His glory. The end of the Bible is just as it should be. God’s creation is all resurrected to see Him for who He is. Some are resurrected for life and some are resurrected to be thrown into the lake of fire. All see Him for He really is. He is glorious. He’s holy. He’s completely pure. He’s the most beautiful Being a mind can conceive of and far more than that. And, the story of the Scripture is that He wants you to know Him. Read the Bible for yourself and be amazed that this God can be known.
