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:
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:
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.
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?
Revelation, the last book of the Bible, is where we find comparison to the final stretch of the bike ride. Join me as we shine some light on the path.
Perspective
We had traveled over several trestles on the length of this bike ride. They first appeared far in the distance – I hadn’t even realized they were a part of the route.
As we progressed further I began to realize they were an integral part of the trail. I started to see them in relation to other sections of the landscape of this trek. We can make a similar connection to the book of Revelation against the backdrop of the whole Bible.
Return to the tunnel
One more book to go. Revelation. Remember that tunnel at the beginning of the ride? The shuttle bus dropped us back at the wrong end of it in my opinion, but that’s the only place it stops. I think it’s really good that I had no clue I would have to ride through this tunnel one more time. I personally think that would have been my undoing had I realized this traumatic tunnel where I had encountered my fears would be my point of escape.
Revelation
For me, the book of Revelation was kind of like that too. The letters of Paul and others were comprehensible and then came Revelation, steeped in imagery. If I had thought the Gospel of John was hard to read with all of its visuals, Revelation came across like a bad dream. Well, it is the vision of the Gospel writer John.
Avoided reading
For years I avoided reading Revelation. Since I didn’t initially get the imagery of the Book of John, I had an even harder time understanding Revelation, penned by the same author.
Like the tunnel at the beginning of the ride, my first attempt at reading Revelation was a plunge into incomprehension and darkness. Nothing made sense.
Connections to the beginning
Once I read through the whole Bible though I saw some connections to the beginning in Genesis. Which is fun since I had to ride back through the tunnel at the end of the ride. And if you recall from early posts about this bike ride I referred to the start of the Old Testament as the long dark tunnel.
Tunnel of darkness
At the start of the ride I ran into the 1.661 mile long tunnel of darkness and unknown obstacles, many of which were internal (fears). Which was the same tunnel I now approached on the return.
Trying to initially read through the Bible I also encountered the long dark tunnel of the first five books of the Bible – Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy.
Same issues
The beauty of the similarity of this journey is that in some ways, the same issues I had with getting started with the Bible, were the same ones that prevented me from crossing the finish line with this behemoth book in the first place. This last book of Revelation, this prophecy for the next chapter with Jesus, revealed nothing to me initially, only confusion.
Confidence
So what changed?
Well, for one thing, my confidence to even open it and read what was in it.
When I did, I was astounded. No, I didn’t suddenly have a full comprehension of what was in it. I was still confused. But my Bible was open to Revelation, and I was open to taking a look at God’s Word this far into the Bible – at the end of the book but not the end of the story.
What I noticed
So what did I notice?
I noticed this Revelation was a vision, what God had revealed to the Gospel writer John while he was exiled on an island. (Revelation 1:1,9-10)
I recognized references from Genesis (tree of life, tribes) and names for Jesus – the Lion of Judah, the Lamb, and the Root of David. I remembered reading about Judah in Genesis, the Lamb in Exodus, and about David in 1 and 2 Samuel. And those are just some of the places we find them.
Did I understand everything I read? No. Did I read through it even though I didn’t fully grasp it? Yes. Did I gain more confidence having read through it and opened this book in the first place? Yes.
I recognized more from Revelation because I had taken a chance at the beginning to read from Genesis, Exodus, and further in.
The point wasn’t to comprehend everything, but have a better sense of what was there.
As with the tunnel. The 1.661 mile tunnel was still dark and much too long for my taste. The ceiling still dripped water and the road still slanted toward the gutters. But I knew that now. I was aware of those elements, those aspects of this previously unknown path.
I had ridden the length of the trail. I knew what to expect, even if what I knew was that I would still be traveling in darkness. That revelation provided a level of assurance as I made the return trip through this space that had tripped me up at the onset.
What changed
We raced through the tunnel. Partly because we were hungry and way behind schedule, but also because I had grown a bit on the journey.
It was the same tunnel, but I was changed.
I now had the strength to endure, the tools to continue on this journey in spite of the darkness I would inevitably encounter. And I knew for certain I was riding toward the light.
I knew for certain I was riding toward the light.
Through my experience of the entire ride, the clunky start, the angst, the hesitation, I had gained skills over the course of my journey. And perspective. As I learned more about the route I saw how the pieces fit together. I could see where I’d been and where I was headed. And though I still struggled periodically along the route, I gained skills that helped me as I continued along the path.
Had skills
So by the time I arrived at this tunnel that had plunged me into darkness and confrontation of my fears, I had skills that helped me cope with the darkness and confidence that I was indeed riding toward the light.
Remember that mud stripe I saw on the backs of the ones who had ridden through the tunnel on the way in? That stripe came from riding quickly through the tunnel. When my husband and I emerged from the darkness we discovered that we now had the tell-tale sign of an experienced rider.
I wore my mud proudly. Yes, I rode the route. I pedaled fast. I sailed through the tunnel. I had enough light on the way back. I had confidence to soar through the darkness to reach the light.
And much in the way we were tagged by the trail and our experience with it, so do we, as we dive into Scripture and pursue the length of the journey, emerge as ones who have been with Jesus.
“When they saw the courage of Peter and John and realized that they were unschooled, ordinary men, they were astonished and they took note that these men had been with Jesus.” Acts 4:13 NIV
