Chap. 11 Christ's Object Lessons COL. Things New and Old (excerpt)

"The word of God includes the Scriptures of the Old Testament as well as of the New. One is not
complete without the other. Christ declared that the truths of the Old Testament are as valuable as those
of the New. Christ was as much man's Redeemer in the beginning of the world as He is today. Before
He clothed His divinity with humanity and came to our world, the gospel message was given by Adam,
Seth, Enoch, Methuselah, and Noah. Abraham in Canaan and Lot in Sodom bore the message, and
from generation to generation faithful messengers proclaimed the Coming One. The rites of the Jewish
economy were instituted by Christ Himself. He was the foundation of their system of sacrificial offerings,
the great antitype of all their religious service. The blood shed as the sacrifices were offered pointed to
the sacrifice of the Lamb of God. All the typical offerings were fulfilled in Him.  {COL 126.2}
     Christ as manifested to the patriarchs, as symbolized in the sacrificial service, as portrayed in the law,
and as revealed by the prophets, is the riches of the Old Testament. Christ in His life, His death, and His
resurrection, Christ as He is manifested by the Holy Spirit, is the treasure of the New Testament. Our
Saviour, the outshining of the Father's glory, is both the Old and the New.
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 {COL 126.3}
     Of Christ's life and death and intercession, which prophets had foretold, the apostles were to go
forth as witnesses. Christ in His humiliation, in His purity and holiness, in His matchless love, was to be
their theme. And in order to preach the gospel in its fullness, they must present the Saviour not only as
revealed in His life and teachings, but as foretold by the prophets of the Old Testament and as
symbolized by the sacrificial service.  {COL 127.1}
     Christ in His teaching presented old truths of which He Himself was the originator, truths which He
had spoken through patriarchs and prophets; but He now shed upon them a new light. How different
appeared their meaning! A flood of light and spirituality was brought in by His explanation. And He
promised that the Holy Spirit should enlighten the disciples, that the word of God should be ever
unfolding to them. They would be able to present its truths in new beauty.  {COL 127.2}
     Ever since the first promise of redemption was spoken in Eden, the life, the character, and the
mediatorial work of Christ have been the study of human minds. Yet every mind through whom the Holy
Spirit has worked has presented these themes in a light that is fresh and new. The truths of redemption
are capable of constant development and expansion. Though old, they are ever new, constantly
revealing to the seeker for truth a greater glory and a mightier power.  {COL 127.3}
     In every age there is a new development of truth, a message of God to the people of that generation.
The old truths are all essential; new truth is not independent of the old, but an unfolding of it. It is only as
the old truths are understood that we can comprehend the new. When Christ desired to open to His
disciples the truth of His resurrection, He began "at Moses and all the prophets"
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and "expounded unto them in all the scriptures the things concerning Himself." Luke 24:27. But it is the
light which shines in the fresh unfolding of truth that glorifies the old. He who rejects or neglects the new
does not really possess the old. For him it loses its vital power and becomes but a lifeless form.  {COL
127.4}
     There are those who profess to believe and to teach the truths of the Old Testament, while they
reject the New. But in refusing to receive the teachings of Christ, they show that they do not believe that
which patriarchs and prophets have spoken. "Had ye believed Moses," Christ said, "ye would have
believed Me; for he wrote of Me." John 5:46. Hence there is no real power in their teaching of even the
Old Testament.  {COL 128.1}
     Many who claim to believe and to teach the gospel are in a similar error. They set aside the Old
Testament Scriptures, of which Christ declared, "They are they which testify of Me." John 5:39. In
rejecting the Old, they virtually reject the New; for both are parts of an inseparable whole. No man can
rightly present the law of God without the gospel, or the gospel without the law. The law is the gospel
embodied, and the gospel is the law unfolded. The law is the root, the gospel is the fragrant blossom
and fruit which it bears.  {COL 128.2}
     The Old Testament sheds light upon the New, and the New upon the Old. Each is a revelation of the
glory of God in Christ. Both present truths that will continually reveal new depths of meaning to the
earnest seeker."  {COL 128.3}