February 2021 - Profoundly Simple

How to connect the Old and New Testament through backstory

Recognizing how to connect the Old and New Testament through backstory gives us another Scripture pairing tool with which to build our Bible knowledge.

Scripture pairings

In our series of Scripture pairings, verses from the Old Testament and New Testament complement one another and enhance the meaning or what we experience from them. This week we’ll pair two passages through backstory, to find deeper understanding in the New Testament passage from a storyline in the Old Testament.

We can gain greater insight from a Bible passage when we know the backstory, the plotline referenced or alluded to in the verses we’re reading. This week we’ll look for clues as to the originating storyline from the Old Testament and how it helps us understand the New Testament verses in our look at Scripture pairings.

Gospel of Matthew

In the Gospel of Matthew, the first book of the New Testament, Jesus is speaking to some Pharisees and teachers of the law when he shares these words:

“For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of a huge fish, so the Son of Man will be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.” Matthew 12:40 NIV

Jonah and Jesus

Have you heard of Jonah? If not, that’s okay, in this verse Jesus shares a highlight of Jonah’s plight.

Maybe you recognize this fish tale from a children’s Bible story. Did you know this comes from the Old Testament?

If we look at this one verse from Matthew, do you see the phrase “three days and three nights” repeated?

The Son of Man is Jesus. He compares Jonah’s journey into the depths with His own. Jesus makes the comparison between Jonah’s stint in the fish to the time frame Jesus’ body will be buried. For Jesus, that’s the span between His death on the cross (crucifixion) and His rising from the dead (resurrection) three days later.

Where to find Jonah’s story

We now have a sense of who Jonah is, but where do we find his story?

The verse that precedes this one refers to the “prophet Jonah.”

Old Testament Prophet

If you weren’t sure where to find Jonah’s story in the Bible, this phrase points us toward the Prophets of the Old Testament.

The Prophets, the long list of mostly hard to pronounce names at the end of the Old Testament, would have been a part of the Scriptures with which the people of Jesus day would have been familiar.

Minor Prophet

If we look in the table of contents in our Bible or flip pages until we find it, we’ll see Jonah near the end of the Old Testament in the Minor Prophets section. These are the shorter prophetic books, in fact, Jonah is only one page front and back in my Bible. His story is short enough to read in one sitting.

Jonah’s story

There’s more we could say about Jonah, but for now consider reading his story if you don’t yet know it. Since my Bible study group started with the Old Testament, we were familiar with Jonah’s story when we came to the reference in Matthew.

Here’s the verse from Jonah:

“Now the Lord provided a huge fish to swallow Jonah, and Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights.” Jonah 1:17 NIV

We’ve merely highlighted the connection between these two verses from this storyline. For a fuller picture of the comparison, read the book of Jonah and Matthew 10:38-41.

Greater depth to passage

When we connect the Old and New Testament through backstory we enhance our understanding of each passage. In this case, the Old Testament storyline provides a backdrop for the New Testament teaching from Jesus. His own words in the Matthew passage also bring greater depth to the Old Testament verses.

Tool for understanding

This is one of my favorite kinds of match ups. Once you know the story from the Old Testament you can set New Testament Scripture against that backdrop. If you remember the storyline, you have one more tool for understanding the New Testament passage and a way to step back and view the backdrop. Jesus used examples familiar to his listeners. When we know the story he draws from, we gain greater insight too.

Find deeper significance

We can find deeper significance in the passage when we recognize the story connection between the Old and New Testament.

A few more clues

Searching for backstory pairs well with finding phrases that clue us in when a quote in the New Testament is from a prophetic book in the Old Testament. That’s the skill we looked at here:

Scripture pairing – Old Testament quoted in the New Testament

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Scripture pairing – Old Testament quoted in the New Testament

Sometimes a scripture pairing consists of the same verses found in two places in the Bible. How do we match up a passage from the Old Testament quoted in the New Testament? Discover the clues to decipher this memorable match.

In search of a pair

When I was a kid, we played a game called memory. After turning over a card in search of a pair, you had to remember where you had seen the one that matched.

What does this have to do with the Bible?

Paired up scripture passages

Once we’re familiar enough with the content of the Bible we may recall where paired up passages are, especially connections between the Old and New Testament. But what if we aren’t that familiar with what’s in the Bible?

Is there a shorter route to recognition?

Yes!

Simple clues

A few simple clues can lead us to these memorable matches.

Scripture pairing New Testament

One such pairing is found in chapter two of Acts, a book of the New Testament. Acts follows the four Gospels in the New Testament lineup.

Day of Pentecost

Today’s section, like the previous post, occurs on the Day of Pentecost when the Holy Spirit came down upon the followers of Jesus who were gathered together.

Peter, one of the disciples speaks to explain the events taking place:

“This is what was spoken by the prophet Joel.” (Acts 2:16)

“‘In the last days, God says,
  I will pour out my Spirit on all people.
Your sons and daughters will prophesy,
  your young men will see visions,
  your old men will dream dreams.
Even on my servants, both men and women,
  I will pour out my Spirit in those days,
and they will prophesy.’” Acts 2:17-18 NIV

This is a cool passage by itself. God will pour out His Spirit on all people. This also describes what has just happened in the preceding verses of Acts chapter two on the Day of Pentecost.

Here’s a reminder of what we discovered with Pentecost:

Connection contrast – Tower of Babel and Pentecost

Key verse

A key verse in today’s passage is Acts 2:16. These were the words of Joel, a prophet.

What’s the significance?

Scripture pairing Old Testament passage

This is our link to the Old Testament. Here’s the original passage:

“And afterward,
I will pour out my Spirit on all people.
Your sons and daughters will prophesy,
your old men will dream dreams,
your young men will see visions.
Even on my servants, both men and women,
I will pour out my Spirit in those days.” Joel 2:28-29 NIV

Pretty cool, huh?

This is a powerful passage he’s quoting.

Did you see that? Peter quotes Scripture. Though it may not be clear from how he says it, after all, Joel could just be some guy he knows with the title of prophet.

But that’s not the case. Joel is a prophet of the Old Testament whose words are recorded in the book of Joel.

Where verses originated in Old Testament

The passage in Acts helps us find where these verses originated in the Old Testament.

Do you remember what verse 16 said?

Spoken by the prophet

We can glean some clues from the wording in verse 16.

“This is what was spoken by the prophet Joel.” (Acts 2:16)

This passage in Acts is from the minor prophet book of Joel.

Clues in phrases

We can find clues in the New Testament as to the origin of a passage by looking for phrases like “spoken by the prophet” or “it is written.”

Remember names of prophets

Another piece that helps us recognize the correlation to verses spoken by an Old Testament prophet is to remember the names of the prophets. I know this may seem like a lot because, let’s be honest, there are a lot of them.

Reference books of the Bible

As you become more familiar with these occurrences in the Bible, you’ll start to recognize which references are books of the Bible.

We can see where this quote originates, simply by looking at the verse that leads into the quote.

We can then connect the Old and New Testament through this scripture pairing of the same passage in two places.

Why does this matter?

Discover a backdrop or backstory for context of these verses.
Gain greater comprehension of Bible content through this type of scripture pairing.
A way to read or experience the Old Testament as it relates to the New Testament.

I appreciate having the background of the Old Testament when I read the New Testament. For me it’s like watching the first of a movie trilogy. The inside jokes, knowing nods from an awareness of what came before or where that phrase first came to light.

If you prefer to focus on the New Testament, there’s a way to make some of these connections to the Old Testament simply through clues found in the words you read. These clues can often give us just enough information to determine the original location of the phrase we found.

There are other ways that segments of scripture come together. Finding an exact match or quote between the Old Testament and New Testament is just one way.

For a refresher on the minor prophets:

A bike and the Bible – Daniel and the minor prophets – part 13

What’s “A bike and the Bible?”

A quick ride through the entire Bible to get your bearings.

Here’s the starting point:

A bike and the Bible – an adventure – intro – part 1

Or you can type “A bike in the Bible” into the search bar for quick access to all 17 short posts.

Connection through contrast – Tower of Babel and Pentecost

Sometime opposites attract. Pairing Scripture passages through contrast, like the Tower of Babel and Pentecost, gives us a deeper meaning and connection between the Old and New Testament.

Scripture pairings

As I’ve spent time reading the Bible, I’ve noticed patterns and pairings of Scripture. Passages that stand well on their own are enhanced when viewed in light of another related passage, even a contrasting one.

I think it’s fun to be able to recognize correlations between the Old and New Testament.

The Tower of Babel in the Old Testament (Genesis) and the Day of Pentecost in the New Testament (Acts) are one such pairing.

Tower of Babel

The story of the Tower of Babel is found in Genesis 11:1-8. To summarize, the people, who at that time all spoke the same language, wanted to build a tower to reach heaven for their own personal gain. This was not such a good idea. The Lord scattered the people and confused their language so they couldn’t understand one another.

“That is why it was called Babel—because there the Lord confused the language of the whole world. From there the Lord scattered them over the face of the whole earth.” Genesis 11:9 NIV

In summary,

man tried to reach heaven
man wanted to make a name for himself
God scattered the people and confused the language

Scripture contrast

Another short passage in Scripture presents a different association between heaven and earth. This one’s found in the New Testament.

Day of Pentecost

In the Book of Acts on a day called Pentecost, the Holy Spirit came down from heaven like a rushing wind upon the apostles who were gathered together.

“All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them.” Acts 2:4 NIV

A crowd heard the sound, but not only that,

“Each one heard their own language being spoken.” Acts 2:6b NIV

What words did they hear?

“We hear them declaring the wonders of God in our own tongues!” Acts 2:11b NIV

In summary,

the Holy Spirit came down to man from heaven
people heard their own language and understood
God’s name was praised, not man’s

The connection

Do you see the connection? The pairing of these two passages?

Each set of verses on its own is a self-contained story or event. Together they give us a deeper connection between the Old Testament and the New Testament.

How?

Through contrast

In this case it’s through the contrast of what occurs.

Did you see it?

If not, take another glance back at the two storylines.

Experience the connection

Much like tasting food instead of just looking at it, I think experiencing the connection in Scripture for ourselves leads to a more meaningful and lasting impression from words read.

Expect to see deeper connection

Are you new to making this kind of connection in Scripture? I think seeing them is just a matter of practice of expecting to see a deeper connection than what’s in plain sight or on the surface. The more we open ourselves to the possibility that a passage pulls from another place in the Bible, the more we allow ourselves to see the bigger picture and deeper significance of what we’ve read.

The more times we open our Bible, the more we see in the Scriptures.

The contrast

The people building the tower sought to elevate their own name and status.

The people at Pentecost praised the Lord’s name.

The pattern

We can simplify this into a short phrase:

Man reaches for heaven.

Heaven reaches for man.

The contrast.

Why this matters

Why does this matter?

We see the bigger picture when we recognize connecting points, even contrasting ones. Recognition simply comes from having seen something before. If we train ourselves to consider there could be a more significant correlation, we open ourselves up to being able to see these meaningful connections.

As you may have noticed, I’m a proponent of reading the Old Testament to shed light on the New Testament. Yes, the New Testament gives us Jesus. The Old Testament gives us the backstory and deeper meaning.

Want to see where the Tower of Babel fits into the context of Genesis?

Through Genesis – shedding light on the journey

Want a glimpse at where Acts stacks up in the New Testament lineup?

A bike and the Bible – The Gospels, Acts, and Romans – part 14